The Greeley tribune., 1904-05-12

|
Ithat your fathers ignorance of the
avs of gravitation, the form Of the
earth, the rules of navigation, the
power OF steam, compressed air, and
electricity is good enough for you.
1t is qui,e apparent that the an
tagonism of the good people Of the
old churches toChristiau Science grow
out of their impression that it is
neither Christian nor scientific. If
it is not Christian, 1t is of little i'm.
portance whether it is scientific or
not If 1t is Christian, that is II it
is tie religion that Jesus taught and
not only very bold but very reckless
Christian man to question its scien-
itic attitude. Let us then meet the
important question is it Chris
| tian?"
Now, what are the essentials of
the religion of Jesus Christ: Evil
dently Il prime essential OF that
religion is belief in God, al-powerful
| duu tNcl W iltlc pltSeul. w tlO
made all that was made and pro-
nounced all that He made good,
Infinite in wisdom, power, justice,
mercy, truth and love, Spirit to be
'worshipped 10 splrit.and in truth.
Christian Scientists believe in, wor-
ship and adore such God Do YOU?
Another essential OF the religion of
Jesus requires belief IN the Christ,
belief too, in the sense which Jesus
used the word trust, faith, reliance;
belief ia and reliance upon his Mes
sialship, his redemption and the
salvation he brought. We accent
this wholly, absolutely. Do you?
Another essential of the religion Of
Jesus requires the acceptance of the
word OF God contained IN the Old
and New TestamentS as God S rev.
eIation of Himself to man, for mans
guidance to eternal life. Christian
Scientists do this. Do you? Another
essential of the religion OF Jesus CON-
mands the acceptance of the ten CON-
.
ment and restriction, to be resolutely
and absolutely kept, one not less
than another We do this. Do you?
Still another essential Of this religion
is that you shall love God with all
your heart and your neighbor as your
self. To the keeping Of this great
commandment we bend the energy
of our lives. Do you>
Christian Scientists believe that
their life is in God, that God is their
strength and Redeemer and know
they believe it, demonstrate their
belief by going to God and God only
for life, strength and redemption
from all sickness, sorrow and sin.
You say you believe that God is the
great physician who heals all our
diseases, but do you really believe
it? If you do not 90 to "the great
physician, men viii think and God
will know you do not believe it. If
tie question were asked, ever zone of
you would say that you believe that
Jesus was sincere in his every deoar-
alton, SAID exactly what he meant,
and meant precisely what he said
DO you really believe it? Jesus said
4 to his disciples, The works that
| do ye shall do also, and greater -
| Do you believe it? II you do, you
will prove your belief in his sincerity
| by doing these works. He said to
the eleven, when giving them the
great commission to carry the gospel
to every creature, in order that they
might know whether they are preach
ing effectively or not. certain signs
shall follow them that they believe
in my name they shall cast out devils,
in my name they shall speak
with new tongues; in my uame
they shall lay hands on the sick
and the sick shall recover. " DO
| you believe that he meant this,
and yet never put it to the test?
Christian Scientists have radically
changed their thought of God; they
no longer attribute to God qualities
that no man among civilized people
anywhere could acknowledge in him
self and not meet the ostracism he
deserved. We no longer indulge the
belief that God makes US sick, or
lame, or blind for some mysterious
purpose Of His own. 1t is not within
the range of reasonable concept OF
an infinitely just and infinitely good
God that he would deliberately hold
in torture, and crush in despair
pure, sweet mother for the purpose Of
making some bad man better. Being
| infinitely just, if He were admins
tering punishment for reform and
dispensing rewards for virtue, He
would cruelty the bad man and en-
throne the good woman.