The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-08-27

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preaching Christ from Il pulpit, but
ask whether your light is shining. so
that men seeing your daily life realize
that God Is IN you Of truth? Is 1t
spirit filled life which breaches the
gentleness of Jesus Christ wherever
you GO? The sailors Of that Alexan-
drian corn ship believed In Paul. be-
cause Paul's face. like Moses face
after he had been upon Mount Sinai.
was shining and radiating with the su
pernal love of the Divine Teacher.
Brave In Counsel.
But there was still another reason
ence over the sailors of the Alexan-
dran corn ship He had spirit filed
life. Oh. yes! Every one who came
In touch with him realized that. But
he was also one who was faithful in
pointing out a mans past 'ti'takes.
When the ship was tossinG a4d tum-
bling about In the Mediterranean cy-
clone he practically said this: Il am
a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. |
am messenger of the Lord God Al
mighty. Men, last night one of Gods
angels came to me and said; Fear not.
Paul Thou must be brought before
Caesar, and. 10. God hath given thee
all them that sail with thee Yes. we
are all going to be saved. every one Of
us" But stop How did Paul intro
Iuce this statement which had come
from God? He turned and pointed his
finger ut those trembling alors and
said: Men. the reason you are In your
present plight is because you would
not heed my advice in the beginning.
| told YOU not to loose fr0Al Crete !
told YOU we would get into difficulty If
you did But you wanted to hasten on
and get to Phenice and spend the win
ter there In sin and carousal You have
made one mistake. Now will you make
anotherf" And. my friend, you and |
can never preach Jesus Christ Alright
unless we are first brave enough to
point out to men the errors of their
past life. We cannot teach men to
come to Christ unless we, like Paul.
are first faithful In warning men
against the sinful acts of their bygone
years.
1t does not take very much grace to
go and compliment man on his VIZ
tues and praise him when he is do
ing right. But ii takes lots of grit to
put your finger upon the weaknesses
., al W
il doing wrong. 1t takes lots OF grit
for a Nathan to stand up and say to
King David. Thou art libertine and
a murderer 1t takes lots OF grit
for the members of privy council oil
King Solomon to say to the young
prince Rchoboam; Thou art wrong
Comply with the requests of the PEG
ple and they will serve thee And
when they said 1t they knew that theil
advice would cost them their officia
positions. 1t takes lots Of grit for Il
young preacher like Henry Ward
Beecher to be at the head of church
In Indianapolis, where most OF Its
members are antagonistic to the aboli
| ZIONIST movement, and stand up ant
defy a whole community and say, 1.-The
slave ought to be free" 1t takes lots OF
grit for young clerk. when he Is
asked to do something dishonest. t.
say to his employer: NO. sir. l vii
not do 1t. because 1t is wrong l
takes lots of grit for young girl wht
| loves young man devOtedly to say Il
that young man: Harry, l love yNi
| | love you with all my heart. and ye
If you are not true to your better self
| and II you do not turn your back upoI
| your evil associates. l must turn In.
! back upon you" In other words, !
| takes lots of grit to come to you
| friends and neighbors and place you
finger upon the weak spot Of thel
mental, moral aud spiritual life ant
say: Here. YOU must change. In or
der to do right for the future yo,
must rectify this wrong OF the past,
Are you willing az friend to pom
out to your friends the weaknesses 0
their lives, as Paul warned the sailor
OF the Alexandrian corn ship?
A story Of Edward Livingston.
/ For my own part I can think OF n
greater JOY than that which woul'
come to us II we were to 60 to thos
we love to warn them Of their sin
and weaknesses, which are threaten
ing to destroy them. There Is beau
tiful story told about the great Ed
ward Livingston. Perhaps he was tn
greatest Of all the great men who hav
borne that family name. But few
men have been greater from world
standpoint than he. He was represent
alive In congress, mayor OF New Yor
city, United States senator from Lou
siana, secretary Of state and ministe
to France. One day In his old age
friend said to him, Senator, what wa
the supreme moment Of your life!
without moments hesitation, he RI
piled: "some years ago that suprem
moment came when was deliverin
an address at the dedication of tn
Masonic temple at New Orleans.
was speaking upon the duty Of ma
loving man. Among other things
said: My brethren. have you searche
your hearts? DO you find any lurkin
animosity against brother? Hav
you the felicity never to have chez
L.