The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-01-17

| women! Hear me, children, who pro
fess to be my disciples. Ye are tht
light Of the world, by which the worlt
may judge whether or no my gospel is
q saving gospel" Ye members OF
! Christian churches, is it not an over
whelming fact that it depends on oul
lives what is the estimate the worlo
will form of the religion we profess
What an impressive fact it is that mer
will determine by our lives whether
| Christianity is the sustaining. the
| Transforming power that it claims tt
be!
Christ's disciples, in the first place
must have a divine light. Their fires
must be ignited at the great affairs OF
Gods mercy. They must so live and
act that they shall feel God has par
| doned and cleansed them from all sin.
They must so live and act that other
| people will feel that spiritual fires are
burning within them and that those
| spiritual fires are cleansing the impuri-
ties out of our lives, The greatest puri-
fer on earth is fire. AS we are appoint
ed to 1ead others to the Christian al
tars we must guide them by Il fame
which is pure, because ChriSt's fires
have burned and are burning within
us.
We Need che Divine Flame.
Only the divine light can produce the
true light of life Zone day the lantern
was talking to the candles which stood
upon the mantel." wrote an magma
tive author. ooh, how much my mas
ter thinks of me-" it said. HE has Of
ten told me it would be impossible for
him to go out into the dark nights if I
did not go with him to point out the
way" AYE, aye" answered candle.
''that may be all true. But your master
would sing a different song if it We're
not for my bright eye in your socket,
shining through your windows of glass
Did it never occur to you, 0 lantern,
that you would amount to naught I'M
less my light shone within you and
through your" Christian disciples. does
it not occur to you that you are as moth
ing and will continue to be as nothing
as a divine light unless Christ's light is
in you and shines through you? We
must have a divine fl: me burning with
in us before we can be divine Hight to
a sinful and dying world.
. But, though the divine fame within
us is absolutely essential for the send
ing forth of divine light out Of our
lives, how many of Christ's professed
disciples neglect imparting the holy
fires within themselves which are al
ways burning at Gods mercy seat! In
one of the heather temples of the east
saw a fire which, the priest told me.
had been in existence hundreds of
years. Those priests never allow that
fire to go out. Have we always kept
the divine fame burning within us?
By diligent and unceasing prayer, by
continual reading of Gods word, by
holy communications with Gods saints.
by 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 walk
ing hand in hand with God? Do not
think for one instant that you can i'm
pose upon the world an earthly fame
as a heavenly light.
Music For Music's Sake.
A musician told me recently that she
could intuitively feel when she was
playing whether or not the members of
her audience loved. music. If there
were twenty listeners present and nine
teen were merely pretending to be low
ers of harmony, she would play over the
heads of those nineteen to the twenti-
eth, who loved music for music's sake
So in your life God knows whether
your light is divine fame, and man
also intuitively can separate the earth
~ light from the divine. Oh, SO called
Christian disciples, before you attempt
to lead others to the cross get the di-
vine fires burning within you at the al
tars of your own hearts! Be not like
the FIVE foolish virgins with lamps. but
with no divine oil for their lamps.
Pray, pray, pray! Plead, plead, plead
at the affairs Of mercy for this. light
He only can make the spiritual fires
burn within you.
When the divine fires begin to burn
within US, what happens? Their infu-
ence exerts itself all around us. Their
power is felt by the people with whom
we come in contact. Their quick ening
rays fall on 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 Ameri-
can flowers growing In the gardens Of
the Swiss hamlets far from their ma
tive soil. When our gospel light be-
gins to shine it will develop 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 think that spir-
itual seeds are a great deal like the
common seeds we plant in our gardens z
Their development depends not more
upon the soil than the sunbeams which
kiss them. 'ssNhat is the matter with
my garden?'' ask neighbor. II have
bought exactly the same kind of seed
as you. have faithfully Watered the
ground every morning and evening