Morning journal and courier., 1890-01-07
Faiths True Province n Defined by
DIR. McChesney.

DR.. mcChesney.
Rev. DR.. NcChesney in his last Sunday
evenings sermon at Trinity M. E. church
spoke Of the true province of faith as COM
trasted with the faith cure theories. His
text was: "Holding faith and a good CON-
science which some having put away have
made shipwreck." A brief outline only of
the discussion Is as follows: Genuine faith
has staying qualities. A man at war with
his conscience Is engaged in losing battle
A conscientious man also may make ship
wreck Of faith because faith has missed it's
true objective.
There II % much peril In claiming too much
for faith ~ In claiming too little.
Modern miracle workers don't take kindly
to the teachings Of st. Paul. The great his
toric Church of Rome has practically exclude
Malta you would find statues of 81. Paul at
the corners of the streets-statues with an
open Bible in the hand; but If you were to
stand by one of those statues and read aloud
to the multitude or sell copy of st. Paul's
epistles You would get into Jail inside
OF two hours, and that, too, under the
British dsg.
Superstition IL % remorseless as the grave.
Whenever miracles become the standing
| order of the moral sphere then power IL
gone.
There is not promise in the New Testa-
ment justifying the expectation of the per-
manency of the miraculous among men.
the dead the miracle would soon become too
common TO be reported at any length in the
have been told Of pretendsr who once
resided In New Haven who claimed marvel
lous healing powers. He cured q man who
hadn't spoken by making rs though he
would str,nsls him. The nute man imme,
his money.
Strong mental stimulants will accomplish
wonders and 90 We have not only faith cures,
but mind cures and elairvoyant msrvels and
spiritualistic prodigies In which some one
gets relief from one who 10 supposed
to be In communion with the spirit Of per-
hsps dead Indian.
Such wonders abound with and without
faith.
God is immansnt in nature. Nature is
one Of Gods modes of revelation of his
power and benevolsnce.
Naturalists are too apt to exclude God
from nature. A faith which ignores the
remedial does practically the same thing.
Laws In nature are simply the modes of
the divine operation.
The law of prayer il as well understood as
grsvitation, and its recognition 10 older in
the annals of human experience.
Faith which makes void any known law
of God contradiets scripture and before IL
IL labelled should be put under the micro
scope.
DR.. Paget, that eminent authority on sur
gical pathology, says: The instances of re-
msrkable recovery Of persons from disease
and injury seem to be only examples of
law larger than the grasp of our science, the
law which expresses our creators will. Even
In nature there are forces which In scope are
larger than the grasp of science. This fact
should make rs eager to widen the scope of
our science, instead Of repudiating what We
now have.
The law of mortality and the law of heal
ing strive for the mastery. The law of
prayer IL also permanent law, and not to
be treated a. an exceptional thing - though
God could not answer prayer without work.
ing miracle.
Faith, when IL misses Its true objective,
tends to ono or the other Of the extremes of
insanity or inHdelity. Instances were
quoted by DR.. lcChesnsy to support this
view.
The typical scept;c Of to-day denies the
supernatural altogether. It is the natural re-
bound from modern miracles.
Why In 1t that 30 many Of the keenest
minds of the age are scepticsa answer, in
part, because much of what passes for Chris
tianity ID either baptized heathenism or fa-
naticism, or Laodicsan lukewarmness or dig
nined man-millinery, In which q decorated
altar Is of more account than moral charac-
tor.