The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-04-12
Mr.. BOWEN'S TALK
lat NOON PRAYERS

At noon prayer meeting the other
day at the Alexander Young Building
Mr.. W. A. Bowen spoke substantially
as follows:
| A re-reading. this morning. of the
Advertisers editorial of last Wednes-
day. April 5th, brings out our hearty
endorsement. While the editor points
o 1t from the history of past experience
| the world over, that there is little ten
dency, in times of prosperity, to turn
| TO God. and While it Is true, so far
as Honolulu is concerned, that We are
at present well to do, owing to high
prices for sugar, and there is no great
public calamity at hand, yet he points
| out, most impressiVely in his closing
para graph, as follows:
Surely if any place needed the re-
freshment of His grace it is this sea-
port capital with it's deep and wide
spread iniquity its greed, its paganism,
its devotion to pelf, it's Grass material
ism. The harvest has long been wait
ing for a reaper and perhaps soon the
rust will come and the Totting Of tire
root. Surely Honolulu needs praying
for if prayer does any good. ooh, that
there SlOulu ne any quSSliOii VI 1IiC
value of prayer. Oh. that the editor,
or the one who wrote that, were a
praying man. and had no uncertainty
about IT'D a converted Honolulu would
be far more of a wonder than a con-
verted Wales; yet it would not be a
task too great for God. Notice the
acknowledgment of Gods power.) The
question is can the evangelical church
es bring the power and grace of God
to bear upon it? They are going to
try and let us. of all faiths, or none,
watch them with respect, if we cannot
do so with hope"
This statement can well lead up to
our consideration, today of Jesus, the
light of the world While there may
be no darkness so far as our present
financial conditions are concerned, or
so far as our public health is concerned
yet there is an admitted darkness that
comes from the presence of sin in our
midst. The forces for evil are at
work. There is need for divine light
and help.
These noon day meetings are helpful
and strengthening. leaving a beneficial
influence. And now, today, when we
take in the fact sin is prevalent here,
to the extent stated it is most fitting
of the One who said IT am the light of
the world" THE light shineth in the
darkness; and the darkness compre-
hended it not" This suggests an illus
tration.
Recently our family physician invited
our household to an exhibition of the
X-ray After turning off all other light
he said, 1.-THE X-rays are in you, each
one; in me. in the next room-an
around, whether you see it Or not.
Come into the next room and I will
show you" We went. Doors were
closed behind us. ALL was dark. ''The
light is here, but you don't see it. You
need something to interpret it for you,
so that you may see it" He held up
chemically prepared slate, and moved
it about, and because of its prepara-
ton, it was clearly visible wherever
moved. When held up against the
panels of the door, We could easily see
the brass ring, hanging from the bolt
fastener, on the other side of the pam
els. Spite of darkness, spite of inter-
vening panels, the X-rays, through the
interpreting slate, enabled us to see.
Again, other interesting experiments
were made. We could see through
each other. and observe a bullet that
it's location as it was moved here and
there. A six inch book could not hide
a coin placed in it. The genuine
character of a diamond can easily be
told as the X-ray will quickly show
the difference between that which is
glass or shoddy, and the true article.
Now the applications are as follows:
The light shineth," notice the pres
ent tense lin the darkness, and the
darkness comprehended it not" cit is
in you, in me. all around, whether you
see it or not All we need is the
sensitized heart, prepared to interpret
the X-rays of Gods love as shining
through Jesus Christ. If by means of
it we can detect the hindrances that
impede the free circulation of Christ's
redeeming blood in and through our
souls. then they can be removed. Not
only are all sin sick conditions discov-
cradle but their treatment is deter
minable. Then. too, the genuneness
of so-called heart diamonds is easily
ascertained.
When Jesus was upon earth he was
stirring force. He created problems,
and there We're divisions. The ques-
ton of what do you think of Him,
and what are you going to do with
Him. became very personal then, and
the same old questions still exist.
Are we. today. now. going to accept
Him as our personal light and Savior?