Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-07-22

of his time who could send the slug
gish blood OF health coursing through
the withered limbs OF him sick with
the palsy. Yet today, as study Christ.
the healer Of the sick. 1 see that the
work he did has been taken up by his
followers and its triumphs multiplied
by the word OF his power he gave sight
to n few blind men. but i'm our day the
Christian surgeons. by their operations,
are giving sight TO thousands The vir-
tue from his garment stopped one issue
Of blood. but in our day the Christian
physician. with his indictments. Is
stopping thousands OF issues. Chrlst's
touch relieved few sufferers of pain.
but in the hospitals OF our time thou
sands pass painlessly through suffer
ing which in former times would have
racked them with excruciating torture.
If you would learn some OF the mar
vels of man as a healer. read Professor
Whites marvellous collection of facts
in his book entitled The Wonders OF
Modern Surgery" Up to 1870. SO per
cent OF all those who had fractured leg
or arm with the bone protrudlng
through the skin died Now. through
the discoveries resultant from the life's
work of Sir Joseph Lister, practically
all those with fractured limb bones
get well. Once when gangrened leg
had 10 be amputated a shrieking, yell
ing patient was held down by main
strength and the leg cut or as quickly
as possible. as butcher with his AK
would chop meat. Then the bleeding
stump was scared with boiling pitch
Seventy-five per cent OF those patients
died. Now such operations are con-
sidered practically harmless. A Whit
Of ether. a breath OF chloroform, deep
sleep. n painless operation. and the
heavy eyelids open. All the horrors OF
that operation are n blank. Our
uncles. our aunts, our parents. our
grandparents, died by the hundreds of
Inflammation Of the bowels Along
comes surgery and says: Down on the
table quick! Out with that appendix"
And today clubs could be formed by
the hundreds OF those who would have
died of appendicitis unless death had
been driven back at the point OF the
surgeons knife.
wonders OF Modern Medicine.
ern surgery" any more marvellous than
the wonders of modern medicine2 p
Is the power OF modern medicine to
cure disease any more marvellous today
than the power OF modern bacteria
logical Investigations to prevent dis
ease? You see Christ stopping here
and there TO open n blinded eye or TO
unstop Il deaf ear or To loosen the
heavy and labored breathing OF the
asthmatic sufferer. But todny the
achievements of the healer include
more than here and there an isolated
physical cure. / see the lights in thou
sands of hospital windows cleaning
like the stars in the heavens. / see the
white robed nurses and the doctors
coming forth rs did the angels OF
health who troubled the waters at the
pool or Bethesda, crying TO the sick ev-
erywhere. Come and be cured OF your
ailments!' / see thousands and tens
of thousands OF strong men and WON
en- who would have died twenty years
younger than they are now had they
lived and been sick I'm the days when
Christ lived and he had seen them not
or touched them not. Christ MS the
physician of the body was n wonder
worker. But man today as curer OF
physical ailments is accomplishing far
moro than Christ ever did. Man is not
only opening the eyes of those born
blind, but he is making by the thou
sand and the tens OF thousands the
deaf and the dumb speak until this an
cient miracle has ceased to be n won
der because of its commences.
Now, study Christ from another
standpoint. What did Jesus come
down upon earth TO do? He came TO
save the world? oh. yes; nc came TO
save the world by drawing men unto
himself and banding them together as
Christians. That means men were 10
become followers OF himself. Yet, after
ne came 10 earth and was born in the
manager and lived In Nazareth. he liter
ally became the "despised and the re.
1ected or men, After he had lived
and suffered, preached and worked on
and on until the day when he was
crucified. the converts he had won
Were only little handful OF followers
at the foot or his cross. II 1 should |
take you TO country pastor and say.
Rev. Air. So-and-so. how large is your
churchr he would say: "Oh, very
small. We have only sixscore mem. |
bers all told. But we are part OF the
great Presbyterian church. with IT'S
hundreds OF thousands and millions of |
members. Therefore we are proud
10 belong 10 the great body OF this |
church militant" But Jesus when he |
died did not have any great church. |
he was only the humble Naza, !
rene with one hundred and twenty
oiscipies all told In Jerusalem. From |
worldly standpoint Christ's life |
seemed 10 be an abJect failure. Do
you wonder that Christ said TO his
disciples In the words of my text. He
mat beIjeveth on me- the works that I |
DO shall be do also. and greater works |
than these shall be doi" How has the
promise been fulfilled ia the great |
preachers and organizers OF the Chris |
tan church? Inspired by his life and |
teaching. men hive arisen whose |
achievements. as far as they can ba \
measured by numbers. have surpassed
thousandfold those OF their Divine
Master.
Growth Of the ". NJ. C. A.
Compare IL YOU will the rapid ad-
vancement OF Christianity during the
century just passed with the seeming
iy paltry number OF 40 whom Christ
gathered about him In Jerusalem dur
ing his earthly ministry. In 1874
George Williams or London organized
the first \. NJ, c. A. association OF the
world. Forty-slx years later. as a di.
rect outgrowth OF his work. there were
O62o different Y. NJ. c. A. association /
societies with their enrolment OF ESQ.,
900 members, with property worth over
$26.oOOeOO. In 1865 William Booth.
humble Methodist minister, stepped
out OF the church of his birth and I'm |
Nottingham, England, organized the
Christian Mission, the outgrowth of |
which Is the modern Salvation Army. In