St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-01-16


fact, Paul exclaims: Il am not
ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it
is the power of God unto salvation, to
everyone that believeth." And the
preacher and disciple of the Lord Jesus
who realize this are not ashamed to
proclaim and teach the glorious Gospel
of Christ
A MOTHER reason why it is the glori-
n GUS Gospel of Christ is that it is a
complete Gospel. On Gods part it
needs nothing more to ;::::@-ke it effective
and abiding. Paul had trouble with
false teachers who sought to improve
the glorious Gospel, who tried to tack
on various amendments, and il he were
alive to-day he would find even 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or machine made to-day is out of date
tomorrow because some improvement
produces superior machine. Mans
handiwork never bears the stamp Of
nothing beyond" But not so with
what 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 light of the sun shining upon
the world, and here is poor deluded
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 food of
blessed sunlight outside that he can
not see any sunlight, and does not be-
ieve that it is shining at all; that the |
man in the sunlight does not know
what he is talking about. A man who
would thus deny the existence of the
sunlight because he had shut himself |
away from that light would be pro-
nounced fool, and yet that is exactly |
what the soul which refuses to see tho
light of the glorious Gospel is doing.
The Light has come into the world,
out men love darkness rather than
light because their deeds are evil" AS
he sunlight flooding the earth is
.eady to burst into the darkened room
Is soon as the blinds are raised, so the
blessed light of the Gospel is filing
he earth and waiting to burst into the
larkened chamber Of the soul as soon
Is the blinds of unbelief are raised.
How foolish for man to shut himself |
Up within himself and cry: Il see no
glorious light" The man standing
without and rejoicing in that light
shouts back: "Open the window and
ct the light come in and then you will
see and rejoice even as do II Oh,
hat men would! But the heart of UNI
belief remains cold and dark and hope
ess. Refusing to yield to the God OF
Heaven it has become subject to the
god of this world, who blinds the mind
md shuts out the light of the glorious
Gospel of Christ.
A GREAT responsibility rests upon
n those to whom the light has
:ome. If it is indeed to you the glo-
ious Gospel, why should you not be
lager to speak of it's glOries to others?
What selfishness on the part of the
Christian to possess SO rare gift and
lot be willing and anxious that others
should come into possession of it, too.
low many light-under-the-bu shel
Christians we have. No wonder the
light becomes feebler and feebler unto
hem, until they begin to doubt
whether the light Of the glorious Cos
,el has ever really shined in thei1
learts at all The light put under the
,ushel f1ickers and gasps and dies be-
ause it cannot live long in the sitting
The oxygen is soon ex-
lausted and then out it goes. So it is
With the light of the glorious Gospel
hut within the heart of the Christian.
t is soon dimmed. 1t cannot long
hine there. It must shine unto others
f it would food the life within. There
s that withholdeth more than is meet,
tut it tendeth to poverty" is pro-