Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1905-01-05
Observation-Disclosures
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

nov lIl' Ollpl 10 " Atll'' WI ~ NV
texts. They are accustomed To seeing
1t dealt with rs Il repository of short
passages. to be used as sermon start
ing points. or as notices to hang upon
walls or to mini to memory. This IS
Il pernicious idea. =. square look At this
fourth gospel goes far To prove this.
For the book proceeds with all the
logical sequence of a philosophical
treatise; one part is dependent upon
the other. almost as truly as the prooo-
sitions of Euclid. The whole finds its
reason for beng in the closing words
of the a~Igument-for the last chapter
is In the nature of an apendiN- These
are written that o may believe that
Jesus is the Christ. the Son of God, and
that believing yc may have life in his
name That is the key which unlocks
every paSsage IN n work; ii is the
master word.
SO John. unlike the %synoptists. as the
three other gospel writer's who treat the
same material are called. is not. strictly
speaking. Il biographer of Jesus, but an
interpreter. His book is not Il narra-
tive of facts: it is the unfolding of a
great argument. He deals with prin-
ciples, with utteiances. with motives,
where the other apostles treat of
events. AS ii was John who leaned
upon the breast of his hero on the night
of The farewell feast, so it is John who
is closest to the spirit of the same Jesus
and who sets forth his divine character
n mission SO clearly that the pages
penned by him are the mo~st-thunlbed
portion of every Christians bible. As
II lawyer who had become editor of n
daily paper once said to me. 1T Is the
gospel of John that appeals to mo most.
He satisfies boil my intellect II my
heart, and makes Jesus real to me as =
Savior"
"socins L;fe.'
Petlilri nA,as dc n.orc h9Ym than
Almiral l'oso's to,pe1ocs or big guns.
Take he phrase. seeing life" which
has come to have an evil significance.
When a young man talks about seeing
life" we know he usually means see
ing the seamy side of life: hat which
savors of death. He wants to see what
is decadent n putrefying in the city,
to know its sin and sham and folly.
AS countless penitent prodigals can
testify, ii was death they saw. not
life.
Now John the apostle WAX the great
seer of life. He discerned when he
knew Jesus, that "in him was life: and
the life was the light of men, There
is no hesitation or eQuivocation in
Johns expression of this stupendous
truth: he knew that life was in Jesus
N'u ic I'Vi COIllc ~ snare II, anu
had seen others share it,. He under
stood the mission of this hero to be,
Il am come that We might have life,
and that We might nave 1t more abund-.
antly.' For hat is the worlds need.
Life. more life!
It's life of which our veins are scant.
In his book. THE Workers. Pro-
fessor Wycoff tells how he had lived
and worked with a certain mpa of
miners, n then was called unex-
pectedly to preach to them. What
should he say? Then it flashed upon
him that the sum of all his expert
ments and discoveries was that those
men needed life, full, broad. high. vital
life. N not a mere animal existence.
There is a field for interesting
thought in the allied facts that where
Jesus is not known. there existence
Is most barren of all that constitutes
real life; and that where his gospel
has been most fully received, there
life has expanded to it's richest and
most joyous possibilities. The foolish
youth who tries to see life' in the
dark ways of evil would know, were
ne not foolish. that it is the men who
nave followed the CLEAN of Jesus-the
Iennysons. the Kelvins, the Gladstones.
the Brookses. who have found life in
It's largeness and power.
Tho Biologists Last Word.
Mention of Lord Kelvin's name s,p-
gests a further aspect of the truth.
namely. that Christ is the author of
physical life. as well as of spiritual. a
few weeks ago Lord Kelvin, who is adj
mittedly the worlds foremost living
scientist, was addressing the students
or y London medical college. Speaking
OF rhe beginnings of life. he said:
ID no Imagine that any hocus poems
OF electricity will oyar ~,o1.. "a.
cell. Let not your youthful minds he
daZzled by the newspapers. so that you
VIII com to believe that there is anv
prospect of any process being found in
laboratory by which can be created
amy living thing. whether the minutest
germ IN bacteriology or anything great
en-. Nothing approaching the living
cell has ever yet been made. The re-
suit OF an enormous. Intricate and thor
ough investigation by Huxley to estab-
llsh the proposition hat no artificial
process whatever can make living mat
ter III of dead
That is to say. the last word of TWEEN
tieth century science the as
sertfon of John that "all things were
through Him: and without Him was
not anything made that hath beer
maze In Him was life
The Church's Mission.
III. ffehry van Dyke, the author
preacher. uttered a sentiment concern.
ing the church's mission, at the dedica.
ton of h new church in New York
which was erected in memory of DR.
Maltbie b. Babcock, that is being
widely quoted. He said: What Is
greatly needed in these days are
churches that can get close to the life
of h people: churches that will know
how to help a man when he gets into
difficulties; churches hat understand
how the poor live: churches that ar,
neither side tables for poor relative.
nor mere gloomy praying closets
Churches are needed that can assist /:
man to oun his life splendidly. The,
should be called vital churches"
THINGS TO LIVE FOR.