Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-04-15

winch were elupfOfuefSu tneSe SIX
words. taken from the twenty-sixth
chapter OF Matthew: Take. eat; this
is my body Then be placed that
cloth over table and simply rested
his hand upon IL and said nothing.
No matter what arguments were
brought forward, he answered moth
ing. All that he did was to point to
the one sentence written upon the ia
BILE, ''Take, eat; this is my body
But" said John Calvin. Christ also
said, Il am the vine. we are the
branches Are you going to take that
sentence literally? Does that sentence
imply that Jesus is stick?' But the
reformer would answer nothing. All
that he did was to point TO the one
sentence upon the table, which read.
''Take. eat; this Is my body" So In
the same way the faith curists pure
and simple will not accept the trend
of the Bibles teachings They will not
compare passage with passage. They
will not see that every leaf of every
chapter of every book OF the Bible
teaches that faith must 60 hand in
hand with works. They will not see
that 1t is almost impossible TO find an
incident where Christ healed the sick
unless at the same time he compelled
action upon the part OF those whom
he would physically help.
The Divine Physician.
Did not Christ compel action upon
the part OF him that was blind? After
he had Amounted the blind eyes with a
moist clay did he not say unto the
young man, go wash In the pool OF
Siloamr He went his way, therefore,
and washed and came seeing. Did not
Christ compel action upon the part OF
the ten lepers? $50 show yourselves
unto the priests. And it came to pass
as they went they were cleansed." Did
not God compel the leper Naaman to
leave the faroff Damascus and dip sew
en- times in the Jordan before his flesh
became like unto that OF little child?
am not here advocating any heretical
idea that Christ cannot and will not
in many cases heal our physical dis
eases, but assert that as people we
have no more right to expect the Dl-
vine Physician to answer our prayers
for health without any cooperative ef-
fort.on our part than we have q right
to expect our Divine Commissary to
give us our daily bread without our
working for IL. We have just as much
right to kneel down at night and say
the Lords Prayer, "Give us this day
our daily bread" and then in our en-
gerness TO expect next morning n vi
sionary breakfast to jump out of n vi
sionary fire and siZzle upon n vision
airy broiler and the water faucet to fill
the pot with visionary coffee or the
yeast to tumble the empty bread tray
down the dummy filed with visionary
hot toast as we have to expect the sick
TO be made well without our own eff
fort upon which divine blessing has
been invoked - faith to react upon
works; works always in the invalid's
room to go hand I'm hand with faith!
jobs Comfortera.
Faith cure teachings, pure aud sim
pie, are not only contrary to Scriptural
common sense, but also antagonistic
to the commentators with which the
Bible again and again honors human
medicament and the physicians pre-
scriptions. The only passage In the
Bible which in any way might be con-
strued by the casual reader as n slur
upon doctors and drugs is that one so
often quoted by faith curists from the
words found I'm the book OF Job: aye
are forgers of lies. Ye are all physi-
clans OF no value" But Job Is not
here abiding TO true physicians at ALL
This sentence Is n figure OF speech
Job had lost patience with his three
friends, EliphaZ, Zophar and Bildad
These three friends, instead OF COM
forting him in his time OF trouble,
came around with enough groans and
wines to make n well man sick or
sick man still sicker. They asserted
that Jobs boils were the results OF his
sins, and Job, in disgust. plainly told
them IL they could bring no better
comfort than that they had all better
clear out. Instead of grooming around
job as they did they ought to. have
spoken words or true comfort to him,
as did Christ in his remarks about the
blind man when he said. Neither hath
this man sinned nor his parents, butt
ne was born blind-"that the works OF
God should be made manifest In him. /"
III the Bible does not honor the ply
sician's medicament, why did Paul
thirty years after the death OF Jesus
Christ write about Luke, his fellow
traveller, as the beloved physician?,
III Paul did not honor the physicians
profession, would he have written
thus? In their missionary tours Paul
saw good old DIR. Luke, like sweet
faced old DIR. Mcclure OF Drumtochty.
going from the cradles OF the children
TO the beds OF the old folks and carry
Ing physical Arrangement for pain
Wherever he went, and he wrote about
good old DR.. Luke as we ourselves NAV
nave written about some beloved fam
lily physician.
An HOnored Profession.
III the Bible does not honor the med
1cal procession why did Christ use as
Illustration this sentence for one OF |
his sermon: They that be whole need
not physician, but they that are |
sickY' Does not that divine statement |
mean, They that are sick need a
physician?" When Hezekiah was sick
unto death he prayed 10 God to give |
him a longer lease OF life. God an
swered that prayer. But how? Through |
human medicament Isaiah. the proph-
ct told the nurse to make q poultice |
out OF figs and put it upon the kings
boil. and he recovered. Hezekiah pray
ed. Oh, yes. But in answer to that /
prayer God told him to use a sanctified
poultice. What did Paul mean when
he wrote TO Timothy TO take little
wine for thy stomach's sake" Paul
was merely prescribing a dose of med
icine for sick colleague Paul writes
thus to Timothy, because the Holy Land
with but few exceptions is noted for
It's impure waters; therefore Paul, as
common sense Christian, prescribes
4 little medicine when he says. Drink
no water, but use little wine for thy
sake" All through the Bible