Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-06-01
SOLVING LIES PROBLEMS.
By Rev. Andrew Hagerman.

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Jesus saith unto him, l am the way
and the truth and the life; no man
cometh unto the Father but by me-
John 4:6
These words of Christ to his perplex-
ed disciple, Thomas, are an answer to
doubters in every age. jeremiah ex-
claims, Where is the good way?"
PLATE cries out, "What is truth?'
James asks, what is your lifer
Three burning questions, therefore,
In human experience are here present
ed to us, viz: Whom to follow? What
to believe? How to live?
Whom to follow? We are blinded by
sin, weakened by inherited corruption
befogged with an evil environment and
yet seeking and struggling for the right
path. Something within us is ever cry
ing out for the way of life, and the
promises of God all point to the fulfill
ment Of these desires
But how can Christ be said to be the
way back to right living and to God?
Because he is the revelation of the
great loving heart Of God to us. The
fatherhood of God is made plain and
real to us by Christ. As he lived in
the Father and with the Father, so may
we. Be a follower of him, for knowl-
edge of Christ opens eyes, 1t never dark
ems them.
A second question facing us in daily
experience is what to believe. This
may not be an age of doubt greater
than some previous ones, but 1t Is a
time when many things are being re-
stated and differently stated. Under
these circumstances many and many a
one to-day is asking, and l believe with
an honest heart, after all, what Is
TRUTH? Back to the Christ must this
generation go as all Others have had
to do If they would know what to be-
lieve in the face Of all the new dis
coveries and improved opportunities of
this century.
Christ's golden rule of putting your
self in the other mans place, and act
ing accordingly, has never been SCI
aside. Christ exemplifed that rule
perfectly. Do you ask, like PLATE In
his bewilderment, what is truth?'
point you with joy to the Christ, and
bid you accept and initiate him, and
thus find a solution for all your doubts
and errors.
A final question in daily experience
Is, how to live and act. The inspira
ton and power to live Alright must
come from the same source-the Christ
1t is his who prompts to noblest duty
and to the most philanthropic service
The nations of the earth can never ex
press all they owe to Christ and his
followers for what they are. The
world of trade and commerce does moi
comprehend its debt to him and his
flight of life thus brought to the re-
gions beyond.
Christ els the life of all morality
too. Sometimes morality descends by
Inheritance unacknowledged. Some
times it enters into the life Of man
like contagion from his environment
Sometimes a mans own selfish heart
convinces him that to be moral Is tc
do the best~thing for himself, yet, in Its
final analysis, the great cause Of up
rightness, of purity, Of self-sacrifice
of disinterested love, is the Christ
Christ is the life, the rock of truth
upon which his church was founded
his divinity as well as his humanity
his Infinite power as well as his most
human love- must be acknowledged by
the church bearing his name.
Christ Is the life of the home How
often he sanctified the joys thereof
while upon earth! And he has never
since ceased in such ministrations OF
love.
But more intimate than all this 4,
his nearness and power within the In
divldual-to you and to me In oul
sweetest joys and in our most diff
cult tasks Of life. In our moments OF
greatest hopefulness and in our sea
sons of deepest depression in oul
days of largest ingathering and in oul
times of keenest loss, Christ Is in oul
life.
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