Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-01-16


light of the world by which the world
may judge whether or no my gospel is
saving gospel" Ye members of
Christian churches. is it not an over
whelming fact that it depends on ouI
lives what is the estimate the world
I'll form of the religion we profess?
What an impressive fact it is that men
will determine by our lives whether
Christianity is the sustaining. the
transforming power that it claims TO
be,
Christs 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 impurl-
ties out of our lives. The greatest purl-
I fer on earth is fire. AS we are appoint
ed TO lead others to the Christian al
tars we must guide them by flame
which is pure, because Christs fires
have burned and are burning within
us.
We Need the 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. "Oh, 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 l
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 were
not for my bright eye in your socket,
shining through your windows of glass.
Did it never occur to you, o 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 divine f lime burning with
in US before we can be divine light to
a sinful and a dying world.
But, though the divine flame within
US is absolutely essential for the send
ing forth of a divine light out of our
lives, how many of Christ's protested
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
1 saw 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 flame 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 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 a divine fame, and man
also intuitively can separate the earth
| ly 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 burr
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 quickenine
| rays Idll Oh uSluS ludl we KNOW no
) of and nourish and develop seed tina
may have been carried from remot
sources. Many years ago Mr.. Beechel
homesick and lonely, was wandering
D through an Alpine village, where, to hi
surprise, he found some of the Ameri
. can flowers growing in the gardens o
S the Swiss hamlets far from their ma
q tive soil. When our gospel light be
D gins to shine it will develop spiritua
i plants in fields or rocky soil and i
t mountain ravines, far from the place
/ we ever expect to find them.
e Spiritual Light Needed.
t Did you ever stop to think that spil
r itual seeds are a great deal like til
5 common seeds we plant in our gardens
, Their development depends not NOR
g upon the soil than the sunbeams whic
e kiss them. What is the matter wit
;. my gardenY' ask neighbor. L hav
g bought exactly the same kind of see