The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1902-11-07

above darkest Africa" and reveals
the sad scene of desolation in the land
| our Lord loved and where He declared
Himself the Light of the world. 1t
sees the unrest of Europe and follows
the shiploads of, emigrants as they
crowd into the gateway of the western
world.
Take the wings of Imagination and
mount up to the chariot of the sun,
and ride with him over all the face of
the earth. Peep into every land, mark
every city as you pass, behold the
teeming millions as they surge hither
and thither; step from mountain
peak to mountain peak and skip over
the isles of the sea. The sun is known
everywhere and welcomed right
heartily. 1t is the only source of light.
Jesus as the Light of the world is
the one and only universal light illu-
minating the moral darkness Of the
world. Where the Light of Jesus is
not permitted to shine it is darkest
America, and darkest Europe, and
darkest Africa, and darkest Asia.
Where the Light of Jesus is allowed
to penetrate, there is the brightness
of Eternal Life, whether it be in the
enlightened land of America or in the
jungles of India; whether in the places
where civilization haswrought its best
work or in the most benighted land.
Every ancient nation, China. Japan.
India, Egypt, Persia, has its gods and
its own religion, but each is peculiar
to its own land and people and can
gain no foothold in other lands, but
wonderful it is that the Light of
Jesus shines for all. The most learned
and the unlettered, the rich and poor,
the jewellers in every land meet on
common ground in Christ and rejoice
in His light.
The sun gives life. Let the scien-
fist tell you what this world would
be without the sun. Take your health
lest and hardest plant and place ii
in a cold, dark, damp cellar. Visit 1t
in the course of a few days, and be
hold what a change. The leaves have
turned from healthy green to a sick
" yellow, the stalk appears wilted and
unsteady. But take it out to the sun
light and let it drink in its life-giving
heat and light, and in a few days the
plant regains its vigor. What is the
lesson of the fall and winter days in
the northern chimes? The trees are
bare and lifeless, the grass is brown
and dead and the flowers of the sum-
mer time have faded and passed away.
Why? Because the sun in his strength
has ceased to shine and GOODNESS and
death follow. The life-giyer has
passed to the south and nature for
the time being is dead.
Jesus as the Light of the world gives
life. ''In Him was life and the life
was the Light Of men" And as there
is no other source of life for the nat
ural world but in the sun, so in the
spiritual realm there is life in none
other than in the Light of the world.
The natural condition Of the soul of
man is one of darkness and death, and
only the Light of the Christ can dis
pei the darkness and call it into life.
Into the home at Bethany where
death had come and the beloved broth
er lay rotting in his tomb, Jesus en-
tered and the Light of His presence
penetrated the tomb and called back
to life again the one who three days
before had died. And He who raised
the physically dead declared that He
was the resurrection and the Life and
that whatsoever believeth in Him
should not taste death, but was passed
from death unto life
The sun reveals. Did you never no
tice in the faint early morning light
how the landscape appears grotesque
and misshapen, and nothing seems in
its right proportions, but as the full
light of the sun bursts above the hori-
zon, revealing the landscape in all its
fullness and beauty, every tree and
hush, every swaying branch and nod
ding flower. stands out for just what
it is. The light of the sun reveals ma
ture in all her attractiveness. But
night settling down upon the scene
shuts out all the detail and paints the
landscape in one black, shapeless
mass.
Jesus as the Light of the world re-
veals In the dim, uncertain light of
mans natural mind nothing is seen
in its right proportions. Human rea
son distorts and changes, and every
shade of belief, every miscOnceptiOn
is made to appear clothed in righteous
ness and truth. The human mind can
argue away personal God and per-
sonal Devil. can Danish to oblivion the
reality of hell and throw open wide
the gates Of Heaven. and turn the
broad road into a universal thorough
fare leading thereto. But it takes the
Light of Jesus to dispel mental and
moral misconceptions and to reveal
things in their true relations and pro-
portions. The way is rough and I'M
certain and the precipice is on eithe,
hand to those who walk in the dark
ness Of the world. but the Light which
streams from Jesus presence leads
on and on in plain path straight up
to the throne Of God. The human
mind can store away Gods Word un
til its reading is known from Genesis
20 Revelation, but without Jesus the
Light to illuminate its truths it is
4 shut book The Devil can quote
Scripture with the most blatant in
fdel, but both abide in darkness, for
Jesus is the only Light which can re-
veal.
The Pharisee, standing in the tenn |
pie, prayed in the darkness of his own
mind thus with himself Scripture is
particular to intimate that he did not |
pray to God): "God, thank Thee that |
I am not as other men are, eXtOrtion- !
ers. unjust, adulterers. or even as this |
publican. 1 fast twice in the week, / |
give tithes of all that l possess"
What a magnificent fellow he was in |
his own eyes, but the Light OF Jesus. |
turned upon him, penetrates the
veneer and reveals him a miserab bic, |
self-righteous hypocrite; while the
publican, standing afar off and beating |
Ii hreast in desnerate need. crias: |