Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1907-07-19
he is filed with loathlng at an unsatls-

he Is filed with loathing at an unsatls-
factory life,
With the true man, to be saved is
something other than being taken just
as he is and lifted to some sheltered
spot where he may be protected from
the consequences of his own evil-doings.
He desires change in character rather
than in condition; he would turn life
from its briers and tangles, its passions
and sorrows to some way that Is lifted
clear above the fear, follies, and fail
ures of the past.
He is not worried about doctrines or
opinions; he is not fearing punish
nlent for intellectual vagaries or credal
shortcomings. So if you answer his
deep questlpnings with demand that
he accept certain doctrines, that he
force himself to faith in certain facts
about even the greatest Of the sons of
men, your remedy seems unrelated to :
his disease; he turns away empty and
unhelped.
And yet the answer that satisfied
men long ago has in it all men need to-
day.. But it contains more than we
realize. 1t means something more by
far than the formal intellectual acqui-
escence with certain historical state
ments. No man ever solved the prob
lens of his life or found firm places
for his feet by seeking his way through
any Intellectual propositions.
But If we can but see the significance
OF that life lived long ago; If we can
but receive its wonderful message, then
we find life, we overcome the past, and
enter upon our own salvation. 1t is not
words about Jesus that save men; it is.
taking him ana all his life as the word,
the message, about God and man, about
the way of life, and the truth Of all
things, that leads the life out into full
| glory and freedom.
Here was life, lived on the plane
of our own, meeting our ne~ls, sor-
rows and assaults, yet marveously
clear, uninterruptedly in touch with
heaven, revealing supernatural sources
of spiritual strength, touched with the
feeling of our infirmities, but show
ing the possibility of overcoming them
by yet closer touch with the infinite
Here was a life that ever turned its
face to the Father Of all; life that
looked up and lived up. Sin is living
down, missing, and falling away from
the mark of mans possibilities. Saliva
ton is living up, growing, going for
ward, reaching toward the mark. Catch
the trend Of that life, look on life with
his eyes, turn in the direction he faces.
In other words, believe that he is right
and set yourself with him.
Here was life that ever believed in
the possibilities of better things. Jesus
had faith in the possibility Of good
ness; he believed in virtue, honor,
truth. He may not have seen much Of
these things in others; but he believed
there could be more, and he looked on
the virtues as things not unattainabe
for himself. A man indeed Is lost when
he has ceased to believe in the possibil-
ity of goodness for himself or in his
fellows.
Nor was this all; here was life in
the beauty of harmony and helpfulness
with all other men. He was hated by
the breeders Of discomfort and preju-
dices because he was by his own life
teaching men to live together as broth
ers. His was not only face turned
toward a Father in heaven; it was
tender face, and helping hand turned
toward all his fellows.
To believe on Jesus Christ may have
little to do with questions of history
Or of philology; it has to do with see
ing in him and in his Hfe the best in
depreciation of life, the secret of our
living, the message for our own man
hood; with seeing life through his
eyes. setting the face in the direction
that he lived, seeing God and man as
he saw them, finding in him our teach
er, following him as our master in the
art Of living