Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1904-12-21
CHRISTIAN ENDEAvoR.
Prayer Meeting Topic For the Week
L Beginning Dec. 70.

"a
Beginning Dec. 20.
BY REV. s. H. DOYLE.
Topic.-The light of the world.-Isa TX,
~
Sir Edwin Arnold in his Light of
Asia" presents Buddhism as the light
bf the orient, but Christ, the author
and finisher of the Christian faith, is
proclaimed in the Scriptures to be the
tight of the world. Even in the Old
Testament Scriptures, when Christ is
especially spoken of as the Messiah
who was to come to Israel, the chosen
peop.e of God, there are many indica-
lions that, while He was to come first
of all to His own people, yet His mis-
sion was not to be limited by the bound
aries of one race, but was through them
to extend to every nation, people, kim
dred and tongue upon the face of the
earth. Thus Isaiah testifies when he
declares that the people that walked
In darkness have seen great light;
they that dwell in the land of the shad-
ow of death, upon them hath the light
shined" The greatest of the Hebrew
prophets thus recognizes the fact that,
while the child was to be born unto Is
rael, yet His light was to shine through
out the world.
1t is in the New Testament, however,
that the doctrine of Christ as the light
of the world is fully developed and the
work of spreading the light worldwide
Is begun. Christ came and sent His
disciples first to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel" and yet He positively
declared, Il am the light of the world
and again in the parable of the sower,
1.-THE field is the world" And in a most
mysterious way God opened up the
way for the Messiah Of Israel to be-
come the light of the world. Israel
rejected the Messiah, and then He was
presented to the world A mysterious
way, and yet Gods way, and one that
will work together with the end at
itained for good. Israel will return, and
then not only she, but the rest of the
world, will be saved with her, and with
her enlarged vision, through Christ,
bigotry and prejudice will have passed
away, and she will rejoice with heaven
over the lost gentiles even that were
found and saved through Israers Mes
atah.
The light of the world has come,
but the knowledge of the light has
not yet been spread throughout the
world This has been the work of
,Christ's church from the beginning.
go We into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature" was
Christ's command to His church as
embodied in the apostles and early
disciples. They responded with zea.
and energy and became light bearers
TO the world They lifted up Christ
and His cross, and before the first
Christian century had passed away the
Roman world had heard of Christ, had
seen the light, and thousands of souls
had been saved in Him. But there
are still those who sit in moral and
spiritual darkness, and who are dead
in trespasses and in sins. and who
therefore need Christ, the light. If
we have seen the light, are we doing
our part in spreading 1t abroad? If
at this Christmas season we appreciate
the blessings that we enjoy. let us con-
secrate ourselves to more determined
efforts to set Christ, the light of the
world, before all the peoples of the
world.
BIBLE READINGS.
Ps. xvii, ]; xxxvi, 8; xcvii, IL, ID;
Exix, Jos; Isa TX, 1; Matt V, 14-16; John
4, ZIP; viii, IL; tx, 5; xii. 35, SO.