Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-01-05

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i'll the self-same way that Jesus did
them. whether we want to or not, be-
cause there Is no way whereby we
may enter the kingdom save through
Him. If he is the way, and the only
way, then you and l can only reach
that kingdom of God which is within
us by doing what he did, and as he
did, to the accomplishment of our in
dividual salvation, in the manner
Jesus Indicated.
Where, in the Bible, do we find
the permission given to anyone to
separate any part of this promise from
the rest of it? Whence comes the
authority to say that Gods word may
still be used to destroy sin and save
sinners, but it can't be used to destroy
sickness and save the sick?
Look back to the time of the
Emperor Constantine, when he as
sumed to be the head of the church of
Christ on earth. He found the sick
still being brought to the churches so
that the elders might heal them. He
began to clothe the simple faith in
form, ceremony and ritual! He cloth
ed himself in gorgeous robes, and
finally succeeded in so pleasing the
eyes and ears of the people that they
clothed the spirit of the world in the
grave clothes of the letter and the
ability to heal was lost. Don't you
see from that time to this, mankind
has been trying to excuse itself
for it's unbelief, because it has not
been obedient to the wayshower by
and through whom we must reach the
kingdom of God?
Let us all go back beyond Constan-
tine to Christ. Let us forget that
Constantine ever existed, and let us
take that simple, plain, sweet, alto
gether lovely religion that Jesus
preached; let us take that word into
our homes, into our business into our
everyday lives, until we know what it
means to love our neighbor as our
selves. Then we< shall find we can
pray the prayer of the righteous man.
which ascendeth unto the throne, and
which accomplished much Then we
shall find the truth of that state
ment: ASK whatsoever We will in
my name, believing, and that shall ye
surely receive there being no one
who can fail to receive, who turns to
God with the same absolute conf
dence and trust with which our way
shower turned to Him.
death is an Enemy
Now, what about this belief of sin,
disease and death being real? You
know universal belief is not any
more a foundation for fact than Il
would be if the belief We're confined
to one, person To illustrate what I
mean by this, am going to call your
attention to the time of Columbus.
You remember that he was treated
with scorn and contempt and cast into
prison because he stood up before the
wise men of his time, land l want 10
say this to you that every generation
thinks its wise men are the wisest
men that ever were wise, and the peg
pie four hundred years ago thought
Just that, and said, every one of your
scientific deductions, every one Of
your scientific theses, every one Ct
your scientific experiments to provo
that this earth is fiat do not amount
TO anything at all, because the earth
is sphere. Who was right? Column
bus was right, of course, and the wise
men were all wrong. What effect did
the universal false belief have OH the
shape of the earth? None; the earth
kept on being a sphere Just the. same.
What effect did the false belief have
on the people who believed it to be
true? So long as the people believed
the false belief to be true, they were
held within the narrow confines of
that belief, and stayed on that little
speck of the earths surface because
they feared that if they sailed to a
certain point, they would fall off the
edge of the earth on to that something
or nothing on which Atlas did or didn't
stand when he did Or didn't hold up
the earth.
The universal belief about death
is that it is either the gateway to
Heaven or the entrance down below.
This belief should lead us logically to
destroy the innocent infant in order
to insure its gaining the kingdom, and
the action of the natives of India in
casting their babes into the river
Gauges, was based on sound logic, and
good reason; but the belief that death
is ever friend is fallacious.
Death is an enemy. Christ proved
its unreality, and overcame it in ac.
Sotual "lLI tuc low Vi LnuS IN
dicating ultimate freedom from death
for all mankind. Do you think this a
statement impossible of acceptance
1t is not an original one, by any
means, and is simply a reiteration of
what Paul said. Paul didn't say you
can go on overcoming all things until
it comes to death, and that you are a
helpless victim when that presents it.
self. He said the last enemy to be de-
stroyed is death and in his letter to
Timothy he wrote: Christ Jesus hath
abolished death and brought life and
Immortality to light Do you believe
Paul knew what he was writing? Do
you believe the statements to be true ?
We, as Christian Scientists, accept
them without modification or qualif-
cation, because they are so absolutely
in accord with what our Master did
and said.
EuIogizes Mrs. Eddy.
The revelation of Christian Science
came to Mrs. Eddy as the result of Il
lifetime spent in continuous search
and desire for the spirit of the word
| and the things ne God Mrc Eddr in