Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1912-09-18
CHRISTIAN EHDElvOR.
Prayer Meeting Topic For the Week
6soinnioo Sept, u. 1912.

Prayer Meeting Topic For the Week
Beginning Sept. q, 1912.
Topic.-Believe. Believe nnuchl Believe
strongly.-Jo XII 1T-27, 4i-4s Edited by
Rev. Sherman H. Doyle. d. D.
The raising of Lazarus from the
dead was the greatest miracle ever
performed by Jesus Christ The
daughter of Jairus, whom Jesus raised,
had just died. The son of the widow
Of Main had been dead but few
hours. In these instances the oppo-
nents of Christianity might have
questioned the reality of death. but in
raising Lazarus Christ absolutely dem
onstrated His power over death, fol
Lazarus had been dead four days. IL
was a miracle intended to inspire
faith, and at the same time 1t was
preceded by expressions of faith that
were remarkable under the circum
stances. There Is illustrated here be
lief, much belief and strong belief
belief in God. belief in Christ as the
Son of God and belief In the future
and the resurrection Of the dead--the
three cardinal articles of Christian
faith, upon which all Christian faith
is based.
Believe, Religion is based upon
faith. 1t has been defined as belief IN
God and the future life. together with
everything that naturally follows such
belief To live without faith is impos
sible No religion can possibly be
formed upon the basis of pure ration.
alism, the power of the human mind
to comprehend and to explain all
things concerning the present and fu
ture life. To eliminate the supernat-
ural from religion is at one stroke to
utterly destroy religion. "We walk
0ive) by faith. not by sight" Almost
every action of every day in life is an
exercise of faith. We eat because we
believe that food sustains our life. yet
we do not know just how the food
that we eat becomes life. All business
is based upon faith, as well as all SO
cial and political life. If we may exer
else faith in such relationships, faith
in which we cannot understand. faith
In our fellow men. who are so often
faithless, is it unreasonable for Us to
believe In God and in the higher
realms Of life, where we know so in,
finitely much less TO exercise faiths
Far from it. Under the conditions of
human life unbeIief is a Thousand
times more unreasonable than the
most superstitious faith.
Believe much! When it comes to
faith there can be no middle ground.
We must believe much-in fact. be
lieve all or reject all, for every articl,
of religious faith is interviewer with
every other article. No one can be-
lieve part of the Bible and deny part
of it. If false in part. ii can have no
claim to truthfulness in any other part
If we knew a history of the United
States to be untrue in some particu-
lars, what faith could we put in any
of it? To believe in Christ as perfect
man but not as God is absurdly incon,
sistent. He claimed to be God, and
hence il He were not His claim TO
perfect humanity falls. Faith in God
carries with 1t faith in all the acts of
oou ANt oht Gull ilitill uiN Auti Iut
infinite surely cannot be bound. I'm
less boundless. ii at once ceases to be
infinity. II we believe In a supreme
infinite Being, creator and preserver of
the universe, how can we doubt any
thing justly attributed to Him? Would
any miracle be too great for such Be
ing? 1t must be all or nothing. and
therefore it is the part of reason and of
wisdom and of common sense to have
much faith. great faith, complete faith.
Believe strongly! Christian faith
should indeed be strong faith. A faith
that Is weak is unsatisfactory. 1t
keeps us in constant turmoil and con-
fusion. 1t cannot inspire us to lives of
devotion and self sacrifice such as a
true faith demands of us. No lack Of
knowledge should daunt our faith; no
attack of the adversary should shake
it and no practical demands upon 1t
should find 1t wanting Believe! Be
lieve much! Believe strongly. and ex.
emplify such characteristics Of faith
by constant, consistent and conse-
Grated Christian life.