The Tupelo journal., 1903-12-25

NOlt1Eh reason why II is the SlOrl-
"A Gus Gospel of Christ is that it is a
complete Gospel. On Gods part it
needs nothing more to make it effective
and abiding. Paul had trouble with
the glorious Gospel, who tried to tack
on various amendments, and if he were
alive to-day he would find ever greater
need to cry out against this great wick
edness, for men have not ceased to at
tempt to remodel and recast the Gospel
OF Christ. Having their minds dark
ened and being pulled up in the wisdom
OF the world they misinterpret and mis-
apply the truth of the Gospel. 1t be-
comes distorted and disrupted. But the
Gospel needs not the touch of human
wisdom to make it complete. Every
thing which man makes is subject to
change and improvement. The article
or machine made to-day is out of late
because some improvement
produces a superior machine. Mans
handiwork never bears the stamp of
nothing beyond" But not SO with
God does. His glorious Gospel is
all that it can be and needs to be. 1t is
absolutely complete. The only thing
which remains to be done is for man to
apply the perfect Gospel to his needs.
Theoretically sin has been punished and
man reconciled to God. The sin of the
whole world rested upon the Christ as
He suffered on the cross. 1t remains for
man to appropriate the mighty truth
of that sacrifice. The reason a soul is
not saved is not because Christ has not
made full atonement for sin, but because
the soul does not accept the truth of
that atonement. 1t is not necessary that
Christ go upon the cross again and die
IN order that the sinner to-day may find
cleansing from sin. Christ suffered once
and for all for sin. His blood ~cleanses
from all sin. And the only thing which
shuts the sinner away from the cleans
ing and deliverance which Christ has
wrought for him is refusal to accept an
accomplished fact. The Gospel is for
ever complete, and because of this
blessed fact is, indeed, the glorious Cos
pei.
d UT the god of this world is busy
- binding the minds OF them which
believe not, lest the light of the glori-
Gus Gospel of Christ should shine I'M
to them. Here is the great, golden,
glorious hight of the sun shining upon
the world, and here is a Door deluded
mar who shuts himself within the
walls OF his home. He draws the
blinds close and chinks up the cracks.
He then lights the feeble gas jet or
the lamp and, priding himself on the
light which he has made, shouts TO
the man standing in the flood Of
blessed sunlight outside that he can
not see any sunlight, and does not be-
lieve that it is shining at all; that the
man in the sunlight does not know
what he is talking about. A mar who
would thus deny the existence of the
sunlight because he had shut himself
away from that light would be pro-
nounced a fool, and yet that is exactly
what the soul which refuses to see the
light of the glorious Gospel is doing.
The Light has come into the world,
but men love darkness rather than
the sunlight flooding the earth is
ready to burst into the darkened room
as soon as the blinds are raised, SO the
blessed light of the Gospel is filling
the earth and waiting to burst into the
darkened chamber of the soul as soon
as the blinds of unbelief are raised.
How foolish for man to shut himself
up within himself and cry: Il see no
glorious light" The mar standing
without and rejoicing in that light
shouts back: open the window and
let the light come in and then you will
see and rejoice even as do l." Oh,
that men would! But the heart of I'M
belief remains cold and dark and hope
less. Refusing to yield to the God of
Heaven it has become subject to the
god of this world, who blinds the mind
and shuts out the light Of the glorious
Gospel of Christ.
A GREAT responsibility rests upon
"A those TO whom the light has
ONE. If it is indeed to you the glo-
rious Gospel, why should you not be
eager to speak OF it's glories to others?
What selfishness ON the part of the
Christian to possess SO rare a gift and
not be willing and anxious that others
should come into possession of it, too.
How many Observation-Disclosures
Christians we have. No wonder the
light becomes feebler and feebler INTO
them, until they begin to doubt
whether the light of the glorious Cos
pei has ever really shined in their
hearts at all. The light put under the
bushel fiickers and gasps and dies be-
cause it cannot live long in the sitting
atmosphere. The oxygen is soon ex-
hausted and then out it goes. So it is
with the light of the glorious Gospel
shut within the heart of the Christian.
1t is soon dimmed. 1t cannot long
shine there. 1t must shine INTO others
il it would flood the life within. There
is that withholdeth than is meet,