The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1895-08-30
rs FAITH 0MNIPOTENT ?

New York Herald.
IL thou canst believe, all things are possible
to him that elieveth.-Mark, ix., 23
The incident referred to is not mere
ly remarkable but startling, for it
sets us to thinking along unusual
lines. We very naturally ask whether
Jesus meant all He said, or whether
the expression used, "All things are
possible to him that believeth," was
merely rhetorical aud intended as a
severe rebuke of the sccptcism
which prevailed among the higher
classes and was reflected in the lower.
1t is evident that the little audience
which had gathered on the occasion
were astounded at the Inference. aud
still more astounded at the complete
cure which Immediately followed it.
That same incredulity has prevailed
during the last nineteen centuries,
and it is certain that If the Lord
should rc-appcar and repeat His words
and His miracle we should be torn by
bcwildering doubts and declare that
His statement was opposed to the
scientific knowledge OF our time. We
could no more accept it us the reyela-
tion of law higher than the physi-
cal laws with which we are acquainted
than did the two or three learned
Pharisccs who looked askance at each
other and said, in the. language of a
shrug, that Jesus was simply an hon
est enthusiast, ignorant of the mex
plorable forces which govern the ma
tcrial universe.
Suppose we spend moment in ask
ing what Jesus could have intended
to convey TO his hearers by the phrase:
"All things are possible to him that
bclieveth." 1t is clear that He used
no figure of speech, but told what He
regarded as literal truth. He was
either mistaken in judgment or we
have done ourselves an injury in not
accepting His statement and making
it factor in our lives. In the gener-
al opinion of our day, and it is day
of brilliant scientific achievement
and wonderfully successful research,
the body controls the mind far more
than the mind controls the body.
Jesus declared, however, that the
mind is the imperator, and that even
our physical funcrions, our health as
well as the measure of happiness we
enjoy, depend very largely on what
we believe or do not believe; or in
other words, that man is what his
mind makes him. A good thought,
according to the revelation Of the
Lord, is better than powerful drug.
While not denying that the world is
filled with physical disorders and de-
rangemcnts, He intimates that we
must seek for the cause Of evil In the
hearts OF men, and allows us to infer
that il our thinking were true and
our feelings pure, or to state the mat
ter in a different way, If we lived
closer to God and regarded Him as an
actual rather than theological Faith
er, we should have better bodies as
well as more wholesome souls. Dis
eases are the consequence OF c0ndi-
tions Of mind, and when the mistakes
of the mind are rectitied the ailments
Of the body will be cured.
At frst we turn aside from such
theory as irrational and impractical.
Science arches its eyebrows and won
dcrs how long mere dreams will i'm
pose on the populacc. Religious folk
attempt to explain the words Of Jesus
in some odd fashion that is unsutis-
factory TO themselves and to every.
body else. But there stands the state.
ment-tlrm, exhexible andimpcrative.
On second thought, We get faint
glimpse Of something that makes us
tremulous. 1t Is true, after all, that
some maladies have been cured by the
remedial agency Of faith. We can nc
longer snser, for the facts are not tt
be denied. Even the family Of Thoni
| as has examined them and been forced