Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-04-15
Ta1mage
Sermon
BY REQ.
Frank De o0hf
Tain age. ID. D.

sickness, as well as in health. God re-
Quires our cooperation and the ex-
ercise OF our faith, and that the divine
blessing follows this union of faith
and works. The text is Genesis xxx,
80. And the hocks brought forth cat
tie, ringstraked, speckled and spotted"
Laban. though a man OF wealth and
influence among the Hebrews OF his
day, was yet, like many rich men in
our time, mean and unprincipled where
bargain was involved. In his COM
pact with Jacob the weak points OF
his character were strikingly revealed.
He had two daughters. Leah was
tender eyed, but Rachel was very beau
tiful;" in other words, the elder sister
was homely and unattractive. She
was a maiden lady whom no one cared
TO marry; her eyes were infiamed, or
watery, or cast" her disposition was
evidently as much askew as her eyes.
Jacob was deeply in love with the
younger sister, but after he had served
seven long years for her old Laban
cheated him out of his promised bride
and palmed OFF upon the young man
the unattractive elder sister Then,
y
Jacob had to serve seven more long
wives instead OF one.
Power OF the Mind.
At the end of his fourteen years of
service Jacob prepared to leave his IA
ther-in-law's employ. He wanted to
take his two wives and go off and
build n home of his own somewhere.
This, however, Latan did not wish him
to do. SO the crafty Laban made con-
tract with Jacob that If he would stay
and continue in charge of his herds OF
cattle and Aoeks of sheep he, Laban,
would give TO the young man as pay
ment for his services all the calves and
the lambs and the kids that were born
ringstraked or, speGkled or spotted.
Jacob agreed to the bargain. But
when he agreed the young man was
craftier than the old man. AS the ia
ther-in-law had been unprincipled with
. Jacob. so Jacob was unprincipled now
with Laban. What did Jacob do? Did
he allow nature to simply take its usual
coursef No. He began to scheme and
to cunningly influence the colors OF
the calves, the kids and the lambs
Of green poplar and hazel and chestnut
and laid those rods of white and black
In the watering troughs OF the herds
and the flocks- Then, when the cows
and the sheep and the goats came to
drink out Of the watering troughs the
black and white rods reflected in the
water made such n startling impress
sion upon them that the calves, kids
and lambs born thereafter were influ-
enced by that prenatal shock, and most
OF them were ringstraked and spotted
and speckled. Thus Jacobs herds
grew larger than Laban's, and the
craft of the INSCRIPTIONS son-in-law
overreached the dishonesty of the IA
ther-in-law.
After Jacob placed the rods OF green
poplar and hazel and chestnut in the
watering troughs the startling and far
reaching effect produced upon the ami
mails is not to be wondered ut. IL
You place n stick in the water, by the
laws OF reflection that wood may seem
TO become creature of life. / remem-
Der when lad once dropping my fish
ing pole. and as it lay ut the bottom
Of the brook the Tipples made that rod
look like long serpent wriggling up
stream. AS these cattle stoop to drink
/ see them start back MS though VEN
emous kissing snake was lifting up
Ills fatal fangs to strike. My text pre-
sents one OF the best Instances TO be
found in literature OF the far reaching
effect OF the mind over the physical
body.
Mental MnIIucinations.
We may grant today the influence
OF the mind over the body. but we do
not go SO far as to assert that all phys
zeal diseases or abnormalities are the
direct results OF mental hallucinations
as the straked, spotted and speckled
progeny OF the cows. sheep and goats
were the result of Jacobs wicked act.
We do not advocate the theory that
surgeons knife is only another name
for butchers ak, that modern hos
pital is only Satanic incubator, that
medicine bottle is only fools poison
and that sickness is only a synonym
Tor sin; but, as there are thousands
and tens OF thousands OF men and wo-
men who honestly believe In faith
cure, pure and simple. as we term
that definition, / have chosen In this
sermon to preach on Jesus Christ as
the Divine Healer and to show both
from Biblical and q, common sense
standpoint that the surgeons knife
and the physicians prescription have
part in the worlds Christianization
ana civilization as well as the minis
ter's pulpit and the eonsecrated school
teachers desk.
Thu Bible teaches us that faith
should always go hand In hand with
WORKS. The same divine laws which |
apply 10 men in. ordinary walks of life |
apply also to the patient in the in !
valids room or upon the hospital OPP |
Grating table. The Christ who stands |
by the sick bed is the same Christ who |
accompanies us when, in health and |
strength. we so forth to fight the great |
battle or life. Christ wants no drones |
In the busy human beehives of the |
woriuS struggle for daily bread. He |
wants no drones in the worlds strug-
gle for physical health. That struggle
ought to be just as commendable in |
mans sight as is the struggle for daily
bread. In the final extremity. when
all human effort Is exhausted, we NAV
look to God alone; but until that point
Is reached we must both work and
pray; work ceaselessly, and bravely,
and hopefully. and invoke the divine
blessing on our labors.
Works and Faith.
BUT, though the whole trend of the
bible teaches that works and faith. as
twin sisters, should go hand in hand
In search OF the waters of physical
health, yet faith curists blind their
eyes and stop their ears to these Bib
heal teachings. They get hold on
one little passage OF Scripture and
separate 1t from ali its surrounding
connections. AS a sweet morsel they
turn 1t over and over and over again.
They magnify it. They distort it, and
then they rest their entire belief upon
II Ihese people may be good at heart,
but they treat Scripture somewhat as
a famous reformer did in the noted
meeting he had with John Calvin Ia |