Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1911-09-21

oCNs anu nc ldI4s Jesus the cap
tain of their salvation" (Hebrews
2:10, III. 1t was St. John who nam
ed him the faithful witness (Rev.
1:5).
l repeat. therefore, that what was
possible for Jesus of Nazareth is
possible for every man in this world.
This fact does not detract from the
glory and honor due unto him and it
gives us a practical basis for hope.
He based the whole achievement
on knowing, on knowing the truth,
on knowing the true God and the real
man. While endeavoring % know
more of Truth, We need to remember
that Truth is inseparable from Love
and from Life. A condition of
thought that was absolutely devoid
of love would be devoid of truth and
of life. The knowledge of one must
include knowledge of the other; so
that in developing our knowledge of
one we must not neglect to cultivate
gospels plainly show that Jesus made
learning to love the first and great
step toward truth and life, and the
second step, like unto the first. was
more love; and he showed that the
knowledge of love must be gained by
doing deeds of love You will re-
member that John said, Every one
that loveth is born of God, and know
eth God" Love, Life, and Truth
are synonyms for God and the know
ledge thereof is a synonym for man
Jesus authorized this statement when
he said, This is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent
WHAT is KNOWLEDGE.
A man, therefore, being what he
knows, the question arises, What is
knowledge? Is it what the five
senses report to the brain? What
is the source of true thoughts or
ideas? Do they originate in the
| nervous system? What is the stan
dard of reality? Is it material, or
is it spiritual?
The human mind receives impress
| Christian Science is not alone in
saying that these sensations de not
constitute knowledge Sense i'm
pressions are nothing more than the
raw material of belief, to be accept
ed or corrected according to ones
| understanding. Let me quote a par
agraph from one of the popular ency
clopedias:
In all scientific inquiry, the first
step is to scrutinize the evidence of
the senses, whose indications are al
| ways imperfect and often misleading.
| History shows again and again that
| the supposed scientific beliefs of
one age are at variance with the
scientific facts of a later age. In
every such case, it will be found
that the earlier and false science
| has laid too great stress on the ap-
parent and has failed through insult
| ficient knowledge In apprehending the
real' New Standard Encyclopedia)
From this it may be seen that every
| system CT science makes distinc
| ton between what is real and what
| is merely apparent to the physical
| senses. Christian Science differs
from all other systems of thought
in recognizing Spirit as the only real
substance and spiritual understanding
as the only true consciousness
| These propositions deny much that
| has been accepted as fact, but it is
! we'll to remember that there was a
/ time in every stage of human progress
when wisdom was with the minority.
A true idea is always perceived by
one person, then received by a few,
and afterward adopted by a substan
! tial minority before it finds favor with
the majority. The notion that the
term science is limited to a know
ledge of matter and its phenomena
and the notion that Spirit and it's
phenomena are unknowable, these fal
| lacies furnish the only pretext for
denying to Christian Science the
right to it's name That it's teach
| presume, could be attested by a
goodly number of witnesses from this
audience.
THE NEW BIRTH.
The idea of substance and reality
given by Christian Science is con-
firmed by the lesson which Nicodem-
US received from Christ Jesus. So it
is by other incidents and teaching
in the Bible. I mention this in par
ticular because no incident in the
Bible is more enlightening, and it is
not generally understood. 1t shows
| think, that the substance of the
real man is Spirit; and you may no
tice that the cognition Of reality is
not left to the physical senses.
At another time Jesus said, at
is the Spirit that quickeneth THAT
is, giveth lifel; the flesh profiteth
nothing" What is "the flesh?" From
these sayings we gather that it is
opposed to Spirit; it does not give
life; indeed it is wholly Improbable;
and we must get rid of it in order to
enter into the kingdom of God. It
is therefore mere negation; but
we must analyze its claims iii order
to recognize it and reject it, Chris
tan Science analyses the flesh as
the belief that man is born of both
Spirit and matter; the belief that
man is mingling of life and death,
good and evil, spiritual sense and ma
terial sense: the belief of material
selfhood; the belief of life, intelli-
I'll