Omaha daily bee., 1899-05-10

breath. whereby we draw our conscious
Life from the Divine Principle OF the uni
verse, for aspiration and prayer are in
separable from life Man may pray well
or ill., but pray he must, since life without
some conception Of God Is impossible. SO
the nations have gone their way from the
cruel sacrifices OF earlier days up to a
noblor and truer sense Of Deity. In the
celebrated confession OF faith OF the Pres
hyterian church God Is declared TO be "ln-
finite in being and perfection most pure
spirit invisible. without body. parts or
passions most loving, gracious merciiul
and long suffering etc, etc. In the same
confession, later on, the doctrine is taught
that this same God decrees the eternal mis-
cry Of millions Of His creatures, including
infants, many OF whom never even heard Of
His name.
Tcnching DnrISens the Mind.
The tendency Of this teaching has all been
toward making man unmercifur and unjust,
and it has darkened the human mind In all
ages. and will continue to do so until the
true idea of God takes the place OF the mere
belief and opinion about Him. In our own
Whittier's words:
Fade pomp of dreadful imagery,
Wherewith mankind have dened
Their selhshness and hate and pride;
Let the scared dreamer wake TO see
The Christ Of Nazareth at his SIDE.
Gone be the faithlezsness of fear
-
Wash out the altar's bloody stain
The law Of hatred disappear,
The law Of love alone remain.
In all lands and ages there have been
earnest seekers after the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ. catching glimpses of eternal
sunshine through riffs in the heavy storm
clouds but the best word OF promise seemed
to be this: Expect nothing here, for 1t is
vain to do so, but beyond that gloomy portal
awaiting you and all some at least wifi find
l. I,wA n "A
rest" That this was at best an uncertain
sense is most evident from the awful grief
which overwhems those whose friends die,
for none would surely indulge in such dis
tress did they believe what they have been
taught, that their dear ones have gone TO
heaven.
To the New England shores, came, nearly
300 years ago a band of men and women,
seeking a place of shelter from the storm
and tempest of political and social tyranny
the necessary resultant of religious in
torerance-and there they laid the founda-
tion of faith which had in 1t life enough
to grow, and to prepare human thought
for the reception of final revelation of
God and His law-"built upon the founda-
tion of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ Himself being the chief corner
stone"
Mrs. Eddy Receives the Light.
In the midst of such surroundings Mary
BAKER EQ0y, the ulSCONeTeT anu lOuuutl vi
! Christian Science was born and reared, her
character, even from childhood, being rare
product of all that Is best in the moral and
| intellectual realm of national thought
Keenly alive to the greater problems OF life
she was ever seeking their soution-tread-
| ing with reverent footsteps the galleries oi
| throught where the sages and philosophers
had gone-seeking as they had sought-bui
! finding not the Truth of Being. At length
when hopelessly i'll. according to human
decree, the light long sought burst upon he1
| vision and the thrill of Divine Life told hel
that she was healed, and by the power OF
| God alone. Without hesitation she rose
from her bed, dressed herself and proclaimed
| to the first one she met the great Truth
which l here tonight urge upon your accept
ance, the fact that Christ has never left us
! | would love to linger over the wonderful
| story of the unfolding of this new idea-the
| reappearing of Christianity which heals the
! sick as well as reforms the sinner, just rs
| of old; which binds up broken hearts and
makes the dreary wastes of mortal exist
| ence bloom with newly awakened hope and
| falth-but time passes and / can only say
| this. that Mrs Eddy learned that Christian
| Science, as revealed to her was the Truth
| taught and practiced by Christ and His
| apostles, because it was characterized by
the signs which He said should follow them
| that believe. She learned also that 1T was
not of the world because the world hated
| head of the woman who stood alone as the
messenger of God, well knowing that she
must drink to its dregs the cup the Master
drank. But she knew that nothing coufd
| hinder her mission, because the science OF
| the Bible had been discovered, and the Law
| of healing demonstrated as the law of mind
| She had learned how Christ and His dis.
| ciples healed the sick, how their work was
! the necessary outcome of all the ancient
prophets had achieved-and how the re-
| ligion of the present time must be character
| lied, as was His and theirs, by victories over
sin. sickness and death, to be consistent
/ with the fundamental idea of the Bible
| namely, the omnipotence of God Good anc
| the consequent powerlessness of evil.
Truth Comes When Most Needed.
That this Truth came when most needed
! there can be no question-for all the
churches were deploring the blighting in
| fiuence of the crassest materialism-ani ye
unable to cope with it. Christ said, 'Wher
| the son of man COmeth, shall he find fattt
| on the earth?" How shall we answer tha
question, since faith is so often looked upor
as the evidence of ignorance and Is treated
apologetically by many protesting Chris
tians-and yet it is said in the eleventh
! chapter of Hebrews that without faith it II
impossible to please God. An eminen
writer of the present century says tina
| mere incredullty is the surest sign of {
| weak head and a corrupt heart"
| With Christian Science has come such al
| awakening Of faith and understanding tina
! even the bitterest prejudice is compelled
TO admit that the like was never witnessed
since the days of the apostles. Let me re
late an incident illustrative of this fact
which occurred recently near my home. II
this neighborhood there has been a mum
ber of remarkable cases of healing-and II
a humble home a little child lay very i'll
dying, the neighbors said. Material means
had all failed, and when the little eyes wer'
CHASING over, and the baby fingers becom
ing black and lifeess, the mother lifted thu
little form from the bed, wrapped it in
shawl, and despite the protestations o
friends and relatives who said she wa
crazed by her grief, she started out, saying
| Il know If | can reach a Christian Scientis
| my child will be saved"
She had to so some miles. but her faitl
and her love sustained her, and when sht
reached the Scientists home the student
| though startled felt that such faith coult
never be kndled by anything less than thu
| spirit of God and she felt that the victor!
would be given, and 1t was The struggle
was most severe and error threatened th'
arrest of the mother and healer in case o
failure, but after a night OF prayer anC
demonstration the clouds rolled away anC
the child was healed. The Scientist realized
that she had seen God face to face-ye:
and lived Friends, those who passed
| through such experiences are as ready t
| to prison to the ScaffOld as aQy In