Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1906-04-20
SOLVING LIES PROBLEMS.
By Rev. Andrew Hagerman

Jesus saith unto him, / am the way
and the truth and the life; no man
cometh unto the Father but by me-
John IA &c.
These words of Christ to his perpieX-
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 life:"
Three burning questions, therefore,
in human experience are here present
ed to us, viz: Whom to follow! Wnat
to believe? How to live?
Whom to follow? We are blinded by
sin, weakened by inherited corruption,
befogged with an evil environment anu
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 fulhli-
ment of these desires.
But how can Christ be said to be the
way back to right living and to God:
Because lie is the revelation of the
great loving heart of God to us. LIE
fatherhood of God is made plain ana
real to us by Christ. AS he lived in
the Father and with the Father, so may
we. Be a follower Of him, for a kno"I-
edge of Christ opens eyes, it never dark
ems them.
A second question facing us i'll daily
experience is what to believe. rms
may not be an age of doubt greater
than some previous ones, but it IS Il
time when many things are being re-
stated and differently stated. Under
these circumstances many and many
one to-day is asking. and ] believe with
an honest heart, After ALL what is
tl.uth?" Back to the Christ must this
generation go as all others have had
to do. if they would know what to be-
lieye in the face Of all the new dis
coyerieS 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 set
aside Christ eXemplif1ed 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.
II 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 not
comprehend it's debt to him and his
fight of life thus brought to the re-
gions beyond.
Christ is the life of all morality,
too. Sometimes morality descends by
Inheritance unacknoWledged. Some
times it enters into the life of a man
like cOntagion from his environment.
Sometimes mans own selfish heart
conyinces him that to be moral is to
do the best thing for himself. vet. in its
final analysis, the great cause of up
Brightness, 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 we'll 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 is
his nearness and power within the in
dividual--to you and to me in our
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 our
days of largest ingathering and in our
times of keenest loss, Christ is in orr
life.