Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1905-03-16

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are. like the beautiful sparkling waters
mat tumble down the side of Mount
Shasta, who are waters OF refreshing
and healing 10 thirsty and weary way
farers.
Every Christian should be such. for.
as the Master said. in the passage
which forms part of the present les
Ion. He that believeth on Me. as the
scripture hath said. from within him
shall flow rivers of living water" Here
is the secret Of christianity's increase.
This mightiest stream of history has
been fed by the waters of influence
OF countless rivers of life. OF course.
as John explains. Jesus spoke this of
the Spirit. who is the primal spring of
life and blessing. Christians do not
originate power. though they impart il.
We speak OF the power houses at Nj
asara. though we know full we'll that
the W Is in the falls themselves.
Just so the streams of helpfulness that
flow from a believers life have their
origin In that wonderful o%mnipotent
Spirit. who is the secret of all Chris
tian success and the solution of all the
mysteries of religion.
The Great Divider.
About great personalities events
center; but the greatest divider of
history is Jesus. lie draws men to
Himself. but He also sets them against
one another. because of their differing
judgment of Him. John Watson points
out in his Life OF the Master that
the mightiest controversies of the ages
have been conferred about the person,
character. mission and teachings of the
humble NaZarene. Whole nations have
gone to wal on His account: families
have been rent asunder: strife. argu-
ment and hostility "a everywhere
followed His advent. unto this present
day. The division that arose in Je-
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was but typical of what He has since
enSued.
In he sides that We're then arrayed
against each other We're two great
parties. The hyper-orthodox. led by
the pharisees, condemned Him. Their
vision WAS so firmly fixed upon one
minor point-that Jesus was, as they
supposed, IA Galilean, whereas the Mes
siah was to come from .Judea-that
they could not see the far more essen
tial proofs of m~esSiahship in His char
acter. Their fact was not Il fact: but
1t represents much of the opposition to
great causes and great men. Cromwell
could not be great in some eyes be-
II he had a wart on his nose;
Grant was deemed Impossible by So
ciety because ne had been a tealnster
n a tanner; this great man ia ruled
out because he eats with his knife, and
the other because his clothes are not
NuL ii Id iIlOuc. Itty tHe DIONItlcIdlISTl
of soul that survives the pharisee's
day.
On the other hand the majority Of
the plain people were disposed to be
friendly. They could interpret the
CLEAN of the Teachers eye. the tones
Of His voice. His gentle ways. His
ministry. His miracles. and His won
derful words better than they could
interpret messionic prophecy. The
heart can often see when the head is
blind: clear vision belongs to owe. The
populace were on the right tack; the
pharisees on the wrong. Tn final cit
adel of faith is the hearts of the COM
mon people.
Enter the Sword.
The fashion has always prevailed of
arguing with the sword. when you
cannot convince, crush." has ever been
a popular maxim. The great aggrega-
tons of capital on the western CONT
nent hold this creed. as many an hon
est legislator, merchant, teacher and
editor has found.
So the pharisees sought the life of
this new Teacher whose words con-
futed their pet positions. They might
not be able to meet wisdom with wis
dom. but they could at least kill the
heretic-an ecclesiastical method of pro-
cedure that goes but slowly out of
fashion. Therefore they sent their Of
ficers to arrest Jesus.
The latter belonged to I'll multi
tude." of whom the aristocratic San
hedrin spoke 50 s%cornfully. They too.
like the other common people, heard
Jesus gladly. Listening with hostile
intent. they were converted to friend
illness. A fair examination Of the
words and life of the Nazarene usually
produces this result. There passed
away within a few days. in the calm
assurance Of faith. General Lew Wal
lace. author Of Ben Hur.' who under
took a legal examination of the credi :
bility OF Christ. following an argument
with an infdel. The result was a
book which has already sold a million
high priced copies. n the conversion
Of General Wallace to discipleship
Life is more convincing than logic.