Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1905-05-12
LAMPS AM LIuhIs.

LAMPS AM LIuhiS.
"Ne are the light of the world."-
Matt. ", II.
1ht utterance of the beatitudes is
ended; Their application must begin.
1he danger is that they shall be no
more than beautiful attitudes. These
deeds, they are the outlines of the
characteristics that produce light-g.v-
ing lives. Jesus did not speak these
words so that preachers might have
SO many suitable texts on which to
hang their thoughts, but that people
might have plain paths for the prac-
tce of virtue. One of tile most COM
mon mistakes is that of supposiIg
that all required of man is tnat he
shall indorse these doctrines. Jesus
little cares whether we indorse them
OF not, so long as we learn to do them.
There were already plenty who could
analyZe his teachings; he wanted men
and women to demonstrate them.
Therefore, he called, not for lamps to
carry the light of his truth, but for
lights, lives burning with and living
that truth.
He became the light of the world by
giving a life to the world; SO must ali
they who follow him. Light is life,
and every life is lightgiver. The life,
of the world depends not upon the
number or the beauty of its lamps;
it depends on the clear shining Of its
lights. The salvation Of the world de-
pends not On our orthodox thinking,
nor upon our effective organizing, but
upon our enlightening living. Men are
anxious and distressed because the
fashion in candlesticks changes; some
have spent their whole lives trying to
show how much better is brass can
dlestick than glass one; they would
redeem humanity by the shape of the
lamp or the logic of the inscription
thereon.
The hope Of the world Is in larger
things. 1t is neither in pulpit nor in
press; it is in the people; it is not in
the church, but in character. There
is no preaching that begins to be as
powerful as personality, no logic like
that of life There was a life that
led men with its clear light before
ever a creed was formally stated, and
it will still be life that shall lead
them whether they remember their
creeds or forget them.
The many little, apparently insg-
nificant, lights consisting of all these
Christlike lives, shining together have
turned their darkness into day. We
speak Of the dark ages" and we be-
lieve that these are now the ages of
light The enlightening Of the world,
the end Of those days of the darkness
Of sin, superstition, slavery, and sor-
row, has come about because men
have learned to lift up their heads to
the great light Of all lives they then
have learned of him the duty of giving
light Under the inspiration of his life
they could not be content to enjoy
selfishly the light of learning for them
selves; he gave them the light of love
as well as that Of learning, and love
taught men to give out their light, not
for their own adorning or glory but
for the leading and enlightening of ALL
Whether great or small, here is
SOmethiny no man can eScaDe. if he
has a life he is some kind of light.
And they who profess to follow the
light of all lives must be his kind Of
Il light. He sends them into the world
even as he came himself, to live life.
That is every mans work. He cannot
pay another to do his living, his shin
ing for him. There is nothing that
can be accepted as a substitute for
this. 1t is simple, so simple that men
ever seek more involved ways; the
way to do the sublime work of saving
the world is the simple way Of living
out always the best you know.
Better is it to be a glowing tallow
dip in a tin candlestick than a costly
wax unwilling to burn even though
set in a golden stand. There is no
brilliance without burning; no enlight-
ening without much loss, and the
world is lifted by those lives that, like
his, have never stopped to count their
losses.