The herald., 1898-11-21
Al THE CHURCHES

" " Y ' ' - y ' ' y '
At St. Johns Episcopal church yesterday
morning Rev. B. w. R. Tayler took his text
from st. Matthew
Cleansing xi:2l: For she said
Power Of Christ within herself, If
may but touch his
garment shall be WHOLE" drawing there
from three lessons-the cleansing power oi
Christ, the patience of Jairus, the faith Of
the sick woman-the last OF which was
dwelt upon at greater length.
"The most important of the three lessons
which is afforded us by this incident Is IN
analyzing the perfect faith of this diseased
woman in the cleansing power Of Christ.
It was faith which underlay her action; ii
was faith which caused her cure. True faith
Is modest and retiring; it sometimes hides
itself amid the throng which surges around
our Lord; it is wayside flower which hides
its head among the tall grasses, but it is
none the less beautiful on that account
True faith is not of the shouting kind; it is
essentially quiet. Sometimes l am tempted
to doubt the sincerity of those people who
are forever Dragging about their faith. Like
this woman, it is often content to express
itself in the hidden and unseen way OF
touching even the outer fringe of the robe
of Christ, knowing that the faithful inten-
ton is worth more in the sight of God than
the boastful performance of thing from
which the quality of faith is absent
Sometimes it may seem to us that, try
as we may, we are not able to draw near to
the close personal friendship of Christ. But
if we approach him, content to touch the
very fringe of his life, content to come into
contact with the mere outer edge of his
divine influence, it will bring with it its
blessing, not only of approval and bene-
diction, but the affectionate epithet of "son
and daughter" The drawing near to him,
the faithful placing of ourselves in his
holy guidance and influence, are the timid
and modest touch of his garment. His robe,
which symbolizes his church, brings with
It the blessing we long have sought. Daugh-
ter, son, be of good comfort, thy faith hath
made thee whole.
''The three words which have asked you
to remember all come by lessons, helping,
waiting, believing, and each lesson. is from
one of the three persons in this gospel. Let
us study to make ourselves and other men
patient, waiting beings, who know that
back of all the vast phenomena of life and
its problems and perplexities stands the
eternal God, and oh, ye women, We sisters
in Christ, think of the faith of this sick
woman, that faculty of believing in God.
Bring all your cares and sorrows and sick
ness to him. Touch him, even though it be
the hem of his garment, and ye shall be
whole"
Rev. A. A. Rice, pastor of the Universal
let church, spoke On "Jesus' View of Heav-
en-" from John iii, l3:
Jesus view mo man hath ascend
Of Heaven ed into heaven but he
that descended out of
heaven, even the Son of Man, who is in
heaven" He said, in brief: The text and
the special Scripture from which it is taken
unmistakably indicate Jesus view of heaven
That this heaven is not distant, either in
time or place, but is rather condition of
the soul, is clearly shown by the words,
''The Son of Man, who is in heaven" Jesus,
the Son of Man, standing in the midst of
men, was in heaven. The Jews considered
heaven as the local habitation Of God, and
"ascended" and descended" are words
representing our Lords association with the
Father, to know his righteous purpose and
will. The Scripture which follows speaks
of both good and evil men, and concludes
with: "He that doeth the truth cometh to
the light, that his works may be made mani
fest that they have been wrought in God"
Accordingly, heaven is an association with
God, which results in righteousness.
The life also of Jesus affords even greater
evidence of his belief in this conception of
heaven. The distinguishing characteristics
of his life are, first, an implicit faith in God
and the law of right; second, fearlessness
in the promulgation of that faith and, third,
a manner of teaching that was wholly with
out retaliatory spirit. These are charac-
teristic of Jesus alone, and each of them di-
rectly shows the end toward which his
whole life was given, the heaven which is
the goal of human life. Association with
God and his Righteousness is heaven that
touches the bounds of all time and space and
makes universal salvation sure
Rev. G. j. X. Jones, at the Church of the
Unity, took his text from Hosea xi, 0:."For
am Lord, and not
God and man." his subject be-
Ourselves ing, "God and Our
selves" He said, in
brief: One of the most continuous facts in
human history is that of mans religion. He
has ever believed in a somewhat or some one
higher and greater than himself, which or
who could and did affect his personal well
fare in every particular. In common with
all men, we are possessed by the supreme
mind that has made an ineligible world.
We are part and parcel of an intentional or
der, that is vastly beyond our comprehen-
sion. In every emotion and longing of our
hearts, in every aspiration and act of faith
of our thoughts we are part of this uni
versal nature, whose support is the living
presence of the eternal God
That we do not perceive this is because
our minds are too much absorbed by other
thoughts, by the cares and vanities of the
necessary burdens of daily life And when
we do strive to rise into the higher realms
of thought, we do so only with difficulty
The actual world, as we call it, seems to be
most real, and we cling to it. We live by our
thoughts and moods, and in them, more than
We do by the actual conditions of our physi-
cal systems. The mind and the moods of
mind make our days pleasant or otherwise
All the forces that go to make up life are un-
known in their action, and yet there are no
greater forces that exist. Somehow, there
is an intelligence capable Of ordering all this
wonderful system.
The difficulty with our thoughts of God