Tiens, tiens! c'est drole! Now the words I am
about to preach from, are supposed to have been uttered by Divine
lips; and if you thoroughly believed this, you would of your own
accord kneel down and pray that you might receive them with full
comprehension and ready obedience. But you do not believe;--so I
will not ask you to kneel down in mockery, or feign to pray when you
are ignorant of the very spirit of prayer! So take the words,--
without preparation, without thought, without gratitude, as you take
everything God gives you, and see what you can make of them. 'The
light of the body is the eye,--if therefore thine eye be single, thy
whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy
whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!'"
Here he closed the Testament, and rested it edgewise on the pulpit
cushion, keeping one hand firmly clasped upon it as he turned
himself about and surveyed the whole congregation.
"What is the exact meaning of the words, 'IF THINE EYE BE SINGLE'?
It is an expressive term; and in its curt simplicity covers a
profound truth. 'If thine eye,' namely,--the ability to see,--'be
single,' that is straight and clear, without dimness or obliquity,--
'thy whole body shall be full of light.
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