The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-12-13

people for Grant and Garfield I'm their
hours OF dreadful anguish: and yet
cannot be SO harsh az to presume that
Christian people would indulge the inn
piety OF petitioning Cod for relief which
they questioned either His power or
His Willingness To bestow. Ii Is true
you come little tardily To the Great
Physician with your cherished sick and
somewhat. IL must be confessed I'm the
spirit OF the old elder who pnayed. 20
God. we come 20 Thee because We have
no other place To co. IL is only after
the doctors, patent nostrums. seven
bark liniment. mud baths. electrical
shocks. blue glass, pig-nut bread, cod
liver OH and tepid water have left Won
desolate and hopeless. that you 20 10
God. the infinite fountain Of light. toy
and life. with your loved sick ones and
even then. nst trusting God for the re-
lief you ask, for the chances are many
10 one that yov pray with medicines i'm
your pocket and doctors az your call.
All OF YOU say. have said "A thousand
times "In God we live move. and have
our being" but do you really believe,
this? For IL Is simply equivalent 10
saying: I'm God We live. have our
health and immoftahty' / some times
doubt whether you do believe H. FOR
Won act as N this beautiful declaration
~ the Allness OF God We're a nro,nisa
made 10 the ear. 40 be- broken IN the
hone. and that. i'm fact. your life and
health rest I'm human aids. material
tbinps. the dull, Implying clods of
earth. This VIII not do, moral belief
that does not find expression i'm act H.
mt an intellectual conviction. YOU may
deceive others. possibly Yourselves but
vo,t cannot deceive the Infinite I sub
min To you this simple proposition: "
v,i beljeve you live ana move I'm Cod.
should you not. as mere act OF intel
lectual Integrity. Of common honesty.
trust your life and health 10 their in
finite Keeper
healing power is nor very strange: il Is
the natural result of the ancestral opin-
ION I smoke Of a momen1 ago. our faith
srs believed. and taught US to believe.
that God makes MS sick that God
makes us blind and deaf and lame. and
therefore we can easily understand how
reluctantly and doubtingy one who be-
lieves that God Is the fruitful source
Of All his sorrow and heartache. would
co ia Him with a confding petition for
relief from the very sOrroWs He has
ueroupht. And herr S The marked dis
,incti5n between the old churches
thought Of God and our thought Of Him
C,hrjstlan scientists dD not believe that
God makes you SICK 0r blind on deaf or
han but we do believe that God is in
heals all our disease
You ask for help as a last resort,
but vou do not expect il. Perhaps |
can illustrate the thought ! am trying
IN enforce. \ few years ago. in a New
England district. the drouth was SO
great that all the churches agreed that
an "a given sabbath there should be
itnited prayer 10 G. "a for rain. AS the
neople from one country home were
starting TO their place of worship. A
litfIe girl said, "Wait for me- "A moment,
I have forgotten something and ran
IN the house and brought out an um-
breIla. whereupon her mother, her pious
mother. her God-f airing but not God
trusting mother. said. why, child,
what on earth do YOU want with an
umbrella today? The prospect OF rain
was never SO distant" The little girl.
with the confiding and abiding trust of
a chIId replied, = thought YOU, were
going 10 pray TO God for rain"
The fact is my friends our respective
concepts OF God are wide apart. Chris
tian Scientists do not believe that In
finite Goodness filled the world with
reprobates and sinners simply TO give
Himself occupation in pardoning their
sins ito the praise Of His glorious
grace" or in torturng them with sick
ness anguish and flame " 10 the praise
OF His glorious Justice" but they do
believe aud act upon the belief, that
God is Infinite Love, the bountiful
Source and Preserver of all life. the
Great Physician who heals all our dis
eases.