St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-12-13


am not as other men are, extortion-
ers, unjust, adulterers, or even as this
publican. I fast twice in the week, ]
give tithes of all that possess. u
What magnificent fellow he was in
his own eyes, but the Light of Jesus,
turned upon him, penetrates the
veneer and reveals him . miserable.
self-righteous hypocrite; while the
publican, standing afar of and beating
his breast, in desperate need, cries:
GOD be merciful to me. sinner" For
the Light of Jesus had revealed the
true state of his heart to him. So it
will be with everyone into whose
heart the searchlight Of Jesus right
eousness penetrates. 1t will reveal .
sinner every time, and in the same
blessed Light will shine forth .
Saviour's face.
The sun purifes. The room from
which the sunshine is persistently ex-
cluded fairly swarms with microbes.
To live in such an atmosphere breeds
sickness and death. But give the sun
chance and it will purify the air; it
will dry up the dampness and mold;
it will paint sunbeams on the floor
and drive grim-visaged death from his
lurking in the corners. The sun will
distill the water from stagnant and
foul-smelling pool and give it back to
the earth in pure and refreshing rain.
Jesus as the Light of the worldpuri-
fies. In the presence of Jesus sin
stood revealed. The hidden iniquity
of the heart was laid bare. But not
only was this true, but the iniquity
of the heart and the sins of the out
ward life were swept away. By faith,
the purifying Light of Jesus was al
lowed to cleanse from all sin. The foul
leper was healed, and the fouler lep-
rosy of sin was cleansed away. The
demon-possessed were delivered and
the heart purified from the defiling
presence. The palsied were healed and
told trat their sins were forgiven
them and to go and sin no more. Into
every life where Jesus was allowed to
come the Light revealed its need and
purified from sin. "And if we walk
in the Light as He is in the Light .
the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son.
cleanseth from all SIM"
Reflected Light.-"As long as am
in the world, am the Light OF tho
world" To see how wonderfully this
was true of Jesus, one needs but to
read the record of the Gospels. Wher-
ever He went the sin and hypocrisy OF
man were revealed in the pure, white
light of His presence. The Scribes and
Pharisees, the doctors of the law and
the rabbis were stripped Of their out
ward cloaks of religious forms and
ceremonies, and stood revealed in their
true character. The whited sepul-
chers were shown to be full Of dead
mems bones. Traps laid for Jesus
were sprung by his deft, unerring hand
and always caught those who laid them.
How wonderful! Surely, Jesus, as long
as He was in the world, was the Light
of the world. But how is it now? Has
He ceased thus to be? No, for He de-
clared that His disciples were the Light
of the world. His Lightshines through
them. Luke, in his Gospel, wrote OF
''all that Jesus began both to do and to
teach." and then in the Acts goes on to
tell all that Jesus continued to do
through His disciples, and the blessed
story is still being written.
The Light must shine in before it can
shine out. The mirror perfectly re-
fleets the light or image which comes
before it, but it is all on the surface.
The sun or the image does not become
part of the mirror. But it is different
with the disciples of Jesus Christ. In
order that they may perfectly reflect
the Light of Jesus. that Light must
penetrate the innermost recesses of
the life before it can be given back to a
world lost in the darkness of sin. Like
the diamond, we must drink in the light
in order to flash it out again. Moses
face shone, and the face of Stephen
became as luminous as the face of an
angel, because the very soul and be-
ing were saturated with the Divine
presence.
The disciple of Jesus must live up to
the light he has before he can secure
more light. Put this in your heart, O,
Christian. and ponder it deeply. Have
you wondered why you did not have
more light, why the Word of God was
so little understood by you, why it's
pages were not luminous with the fas-
scinating presence of the Christ? The
Lord cannot give more Of the light of
His presence until you use the light
You already have, and live it out in your
life. God never intended His eternal
truth to be theory, but Giving epis-
tie, known and read of all men," The
early disciples lived in the Light, and
their accusers ''took knowledge Of
them, that they had been with Jesus"
What glorious tribute
Not very many nights ago saw the
great luminous moon climb the heav-
ems. It was one magnificent, glowing,
effulgent light, and the earth was
bathed in the beauty of its presence.
It was glorious sight On the lip,
of everyone was heard the expression
Of delight. But as it neared the zenith
something seemed to be the matter. A
deep shadow crept across the face of
that glowing moon, and the earth was
cast into darkness. It could no longer
rejoice in its light. What was the mat
ter? Had the sun ceased to shine? Or
had the moon rolled off into space be-
hind the stars? No,the sun still shone,
and the moon was still there, but some
thing had come between the suns light
and the moons rejecting surface and
darkness resulted. The earth cut of
the light and the moon was in eclipse.
The things of the world have come be-
tween Jesus, the Light, and the people
of the world, and they are in the dark
ness of an eclipse. And, oh, how many.