Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-06-26
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REPRoVE WORKS OF DARKNESS
Ephesians v, 11-2t-June 30.

raging. proverbs Xxx, L.
Light and darkness are used as fig
ures and as synonyms for truth and
untruth, righteousness and sin. Thus,
God is Light and in Him is no dark
| ness at ALL" Thus also Jesus said, Il
am the Light of the world" Thus
also He said of His followers when
He was leaving them, "Ye are the
light of the world" Let your light
so shine before men that they may
see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in heaven"
On the contrary, Satan is styled the
Prince of darkness" and his rule of
unrighteousness is styled 'tthe king
| dom of darkness" and those subject
| to his influence are styled "the chill
| dren of darkness" Evil works con-
| trary to the Lord and righteousness
are styled works of darkness"
When our first parents sinned they
forfeited fellowship with God. and be-
cause of disobedienee became children
| of the Adversary. Thus our entire
race came under the influence of the
| darkness of sin. y night of sin. sor-
ROW and death has followed for now
| six thousand years. We have the
promise of a glorious morning when
| Messiah shall reign, when Satan shall
| be bound for a thousand years. and
when the Sun of Righteousness shall
arise with healing in His. beams
But this morning has not yet come,
we have it merely by faith, by hope.
Gods promises respecting that glori-
Gus morning are figuratively called
light" and those promises constitute
the Bible. So the Scriptures, after
telling us that darkness covers the
earth and gross darkness the heather,
tell us also that the Bible is light
to the path of Gods people in the
midst of this darkness-"Th Word is
lamp to my feet and a lantern to
| my footsteps" psalm cxix, 1861 st.
Peter said, We have a more sure
Word of prophecy, to which we do well
| that we take heed, as unto a light that
shineth in a dark place until the day
| dawn. IL Peter i, 1-19.
Light Reproves Darkness.
Surely it is as true today as it was
| in Jesus day that a very small num-
Der of humanity. comparatively, have
the true light of the Gospel of God,
| the Holy Spirit illuminating their
minds and hearts, and who set this
Hight upon a candlestick that it may
give light in the midst of darkness.
But although these are few in number
they are very precious to the Lord.
He calls them His saints. His jewels,
and tells us that at His second coming,
prior TO the setting up of His King
dom to rule the world these as His
| jewels shall be gathered to Himself
beyond the yeil-changed by the power
| of the First Resurrection from human
to the divine nature, These He tells
US He will gather as His true wheat"
| in the Harvest of this Age, into His
heavenly garner, changed in a mo-
n,ent in the twinkling of an eye;'
.'FheHz shall the righteous shrine fort h
as the sun in the Kingdom of their
| Father. Matthew xiii, 43.
1t is this class that the Apostle adj
dresses in this lesson-4the. same class
which the Savior addressed, saying.
Fear not, little flock, for it is your
Fathers good pleasure to give you the
Kingdom. duke xii, 32) When the
Father shall give these the Kingdom
as joint-heirs with their Redeemer,
everything will be changed. The
Prince of Darkness will be bound for
a thousand years. The Prince of
Light will shine forth to scatter all
the darkness and miasma of sin, sor-
lrow, ignorance and superstition.
The Light bearers Responsibility.
In today's lesson the Apostle is ex-
planning the responsibility of these
| light-bearers. They represent God in
this dark, benighted world. They are
not able to let all of this glorious
light so shine before men as to scatter
the gross darkness of the present time
but they can do much to glorify their
Father and can measurably scatter the
thick darkness. Obligation to do this
is laid upon them.
These are not expected to convert
the. world. but merely to find a suf-
| ficient number of similar characters to
themselves to complete the fore
ordained memberships in the Church,
| the Bride class Faithfulness and
zeal in this service will determine
whether they will be worthy of a
place in the Bride class at ALL and. if
worthy, how high a station of honor
they may occupy. Let us give heed
gladly to the Divine Word respecting
| our obligation.
We must have no fellowship with
| the unfruitful works of darkness, but
rather reprove Them" How searching,
| how postive-absolutely no fellow
ship with them, More than this, we
must not be content with a negative
opposition, but must "reprove Them
| However wisely we may seek to fulfil
these requirements, they are sure to
bring to us the enmity, the disfavor
and the disappointment of many whom
| we love, and whose good opinion we
strongly desire. But as good soldiers
of the Lord Jesus Christ we must be
loyal and faithful. He that is
ashamed of the Master and His Word
and the principles of Righteousness for
which He stands. of him will the
Savior be ashamed when He comes to
| establish His Kingdom.
Evidently the Apostle does not mean
that we shall undertake to reprove
everything that is out of accord with
our high ideals of the Divine will, be-
cause he here says. IT Is a shame
even to speak of those things which
are done of them in secret" We must
| manifest our disapproval when we are