The morning journal-courier., 1908-03-18

The natural imperfectionS of man | Kind are such and the intellectual lim- itations by virtue of the lack of that thorough mental education which trains to see accurately and widely are SD common that we should judge each other and our fellow men with great charity and kindness, With kindness 1 would now speak
 Beware of mistaking a part for the whole. If blush will send my blood to the surface of the body and if vio- lent emotion of that sort might break a small blood vessel and bring on nose bleed, plainly, from a mental source, then. if should cut my face the next time I shave, should I look on the razor In my hand and see the blood on my image in the mirror, and say this is an effect of mental emoaon? If by men tai action I may irritate my nerves until they cry out with pain. then, if In field thorn pierces my hand, buries itself in the flesh which testers, should I say that this too has mem tai cause? If the doctors of medicines. who are men of trained observation, long experience and much knowledge, discover, enthusiastically, that germ whose source they know enters the body from without and causes typhoid fever, should we deny their statement and say that typhoid fever is simply the effect of a mental cause? Is 1t not more wise to recognize both mental and material cause.of different bodily conditions.
 If the mind can cure some diseases, is it necessary or wise to affirm tha, it can cure all diseases? Because a man has a mind or soul which acts, as It seems, on body. Is 1t wise to deny the existence of material body and to become an idealist to whose thought there is nothing but spirit? Is it wise to become pantheist and deny the existence of a visible and tangible uni verse and 10 affirm that God is all' and to regard everything as only a ,2art of God? Is 1t not more wise to believe that the common sense of man kind-and common sense is really the common consensus of feeling and opin- lth NiNi NiiiNi N6 tiiihh NNtiS }ion should agree--is more likely to be correct than the opinion of a few per sons who would set aside the ordinary opinions of men?
 Beware of constructing a science Of the universe and a philosophy of be-' ing and a theology out of some one ex, perience, like that of becoming free from a disease. This is the supreme error of some persons who from one experience believe theory of the unl- verse which Ignores unnumbered other facts They desert a society, like the Christian church which has existed and which has benefited countless numbers through centuries to enter some society whose leaders are ego tistical enough 10 affirm that the world and the church were in ignorance until their birth. Is such assertion of a long tried and approved society wiser l think not Beware of making somo fact or phase of healing the test of divine reve- lation and the instrument by which to measure Jesus, For instance faith Is | said in the New Testament to have been the condition of healing In some l instances. Shall We say therefore that faith was not merely the condition but the power of healing? that Jesus had no power? that the power was not In him? that all that Jesus did was sim, ply to let looso certain forces which of themselves worked the seeming mlra- cle? Shall we say that this principle should be applied to the record of the 1 life of Jesus found in the New Testa-
 ment and that we should reject from that record every healing act of Jesus which cannot be repeated now and that we should accept as true only those works of Jesus which men can repro dance now? This would be to reduce Jesus to the level on which men should i live and to make him just what any
 man of righteousness and faith should
 faith of the entire church in all It's history; for there has been no sect, however heretical as judged by the or thodoxy party, which has not, in some way, exalted Jesus above men. This is either to overlook much Of the teach ing of New Testament or to deny 1t utterly. What does the New Testament
 say? Had Jesus no power? We read that when the Pharsees and doctors of
 the law were present the power tGreek
 the dunamis. the dynamite--our wordl of the Lord was present to heal.' Luke 5.l7. When the sick woman touched the
 hem of his garment and was healed.
 dynamite, agaim has gone out of me,
 Luke s:46
 Agin we may inquire whether the mi
 racles of healing or of other sorts were
 performed simply to show the com
 passion of. Jesus and to begin work
 of physical ministry which his disciples
 should continue? That Jesus pitied men and healed some of them is part of the
 record. But the purpose of miracles,
 according to Jesus own testimony (be- leving our records, of course as,true)
 was to attest his Messiahship and tc
 introduce him as Saviour
 There are two words used in the l NeW 1tstdnttilt lo ueSiRnate nlirdClts One is dunamis, mighty act The ether and m ore common one is semeion
 sign. A semeion. was a credential
 Now a credential is not given for the
 person accredited but for the person to whom he is accredited. Credentials must be in language intelligible to the persons to whom the person bear
 ing them Is accredited. The people of
 Jesus times looked for signs Of spir- itual power and mission in miraculous acts. Jesus, speaking in parables and
 working miracles, conformed to the ig-
 norance and need of men. When John
 the Baptist sent two disciples to ask Jesus whether He was the Messiah, Jesus said: Go and toll John what you