The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-01-22

han
then temples Of the east | save /, era
which the priest told me, had boen IA axs
iEtence hundreds OF years Thoss nt,s.t.
never allow that fire TO 10 out. Have ,Ye
always kept tho divine flune b,,r,,t
within US? BY dilisent and unoea Sins
prayer, by continual Reading Of C,odls
word, by holy communications WITH
Gods saints, by n pure, gentle, true,
forgiving spirit, have we always fed
the necessary fuel to the fires of our
spiritual life? Like Enoch have we been
continually walking hand In hand with
God? Do not think for one Instant Tint
you can impose upon the world on EARTH
ly flame as heavenly light,
Made for Muslc's sake,
A musician told me recently that she
could intuitively feel when she was plsv-
ing whether or not the members of her
audience loved music. II there vera
twenty listeners present and nineteen
were merely pretending to be lovers Of
harmony, she would play over the heads
of those nineteen to the twentieth. who
loved music for musics sake. So in
your life God knows whether your light
is a divine flame, and man also intuitive-
ly can separate the earthly light from
the divine oh, so-called Christian disci-
pies, before you attempt to lead others
to the cross get the divine fires burn
ing within you at the affairs of your own
heartsl Be not like the five foolish viz
gins with lamps, but with no divine oil
for their lamps. Pray, pray. prayi Plead,
plead, plead at the affairs of mercy for
this light! He only can make the spirit
ual fires burn within you.
| When the divine fires begin to burn
within us, what happens? Their infiu-
ence exerts itself all around us. Their
power is felt by the people with whom
we come in contact Their quickening
rays fall upon fields that we know not of
and nourish and develop seed that may
have been carried from remote sources
Many years ago Mr.. Beecher, homesick
and lonely, was wandering through an
Alpine village, where, to his surprise. he
| found some of the American flowers
growing in the gardens of the Swiss
hamlets far from their native soil. When
our gospel light begins to shine 1t will de-
velop spiritual plants in fields or rocky
soil and in mountain ravines, far from
the places we ever expect to find them.
Spiritual Light Needed.
| Did you, ever stop to thinl. that spir-
itual seeds are great deal like the COM
mon seeds we plant in our gardens ?
Their development depends not more up
on the soil than the sunbeams which
| kiss them. what is the matter with my
garden?' 1 asked a neighbor. 81 have
bought exactly the same kind of seed as
you. l faithfully watered the ground
every morning and evening. l have dug
out all my weeds as soon as they pol1ed
their green heads above the surface of
, the earth. Yet here am l with a few
struggling plants looking for the world
as though were dying from a fatal at
tack of typhoid in a hospital of flowers,
while you have roses galore and great
sturdy floral beauties that are scatter
| ing their incense every whittier" "Ah, :"
answered my neghbor, you have starv-
ed your plants for light. You have not
given them the suns rays. Make your
garden not under the shade of a wall.
| Dig 1t in a place where TIE first sum
beam which dances over the eastern
| hills can play hide and seek among your
roses. Give them sunlight Flowers, like
vegetables and harvest fields must have
light They must have light!' All men
have their spiritual needs With them.
even the lowest of social outcasts. These
seeds may be developed. But what they
need Is spiritual light. II you are the
| light of the world, 1t may be your priv
| ilege by the grace of God to quicken
them into life They are dormant now.
but when the quick light implanted in
your soul shines upon them they may
awake into vigorous life and bear fruit
1 to the glory of Goa. What sinful nan
needs is gospel light divine light spirit
| ual light.
| If this deduction is true. 1 would be
careful how your spiritual light touches
that drunkard or beggar or that woman
with faded shawl who goes down under
| the gaslight. / would be careful how you
speak to that man who cheats you in
business and has lied about you. The
ancient Romans had a custom of plac-
ing lighted lamp in the coff.ns of their
dead. During the pontihcate of Paul ILL.,.
when the coffin was dug up containing
the body of Tulla, the daughter of
Cicero the famous orator. such lamp
was found among her bones. 1t was a.
strange idea to give the dead light on
their path beyond the grave. Better far
the the Christian hope that the divine
| light kindled during life in their lis,
will shed it's rays on their path to the
heavenly haven.
A Guiding Beacon.
| Our divine light is a quickening and
| transforming light. 1t is also a guild
| ing light. 1t not only calls into spiritual
activity those human seeds buried In the
quagmres of sin; 1t guides to Christ
those wandering souls which like mari
ner who has lost his reckoning, are
drifting on to destruction. How many