Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1915-11-16
A LARGE AUDIENCE PRESENT

Sparboe- Extract From the
Address.
The annual lecture on Christian
Science, given under the auspices Of
the local Christian Science church.
was delivered at the armory opera
house Friday evening by Bliss
Knapp, C. S. B., member of the
Board of Lectureship of the Mother
Church, the First Church of Christ
Scientist, in Boston, Mass. The at
tendance was the largest in the his
tory of these annual lectures in Web
ster City. Mr.. Knapp was introduc-
ed by Anthony Sparboe of this city
in neat and able manner. Mr..
Knapp is a good speaker and held
the close attention of his auditors
throughout his lecture. An extract
from the address follows:
The first man in Bible history to
know God we'll enough to heal sick
ness and sin was Moses, and it came
about by his recognition that the d.
vine power operates through law.
Before that he knew God only as the
great Il am" but that was not suf-
ficient to win confidence in himself
as the messenger Of God. The neces-
sity for him to speak the truth about
God so convincingly that the people
would actually believe what he said,
was the occasion for God to reveal
His healing nature by two distinct
signs. The first was with the rod by
which was proved the divine suprem-
acy over personified evil. The second
was the healing Of leprosy. Per-
haps those two were selected because
none but the power of God has ever
been known to destroy leprosy and
sin. But that exhibition of divine
power over sickness and sin reveal
ed to Moses the existence of we'll
defined law Of healing which en-
abled him, thereafter, to employ the
divine power, guided by the intelli-
gence Of we'll defined law, in heal.
ing leprosy and serpent bites. 1t
revealed to him the existence Of GER
tain facts concerning the healing ma
ture of God in which no variation
has ever been perceived. It marked
the existence Of an unchanging law
Of healing with which human beings
had been hitherto unacquainted. 1t
revealed something so definite and
tangible about the nature of God
that the people believed him just as
God said they would.
Now that which Moses saw in the
healing power Of God was the Truth;
whereupon he declared, "Thou art a
God Of truth" David later declared
in the psalms, "Thy law is the
truth" And Jesus indicated the in
innate relation that exists between
Truth and the healing law, when he
said, EYE shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you Free" That
is, knowledge Of God, not as a hui
man form, but as Truth.has a heal
Ing effect. Mrs. Eddy has therefore
accepted that scriptural definition
that God is Truth, and also its inti-
mate relation to law; for she has
written in Science and Health, "Not
personal intercommunion but divine
law is the communication of truth,
health, and harmony to earth and
humanity"
It is true that every system of re-
ligion known to men claims to be the
PRONUNCIATION of revealed truth; but
that which differentiates the demon
strable revelation Of Jesus Christ
from all others is its power to give
life and to restore health. It is the
life-giving power in Christian truth
which makes 1t demonstrable in
healing sickness and sin. One school
Of philosophers has propounded the
theory that truth is two-fold; that
there is one truth called reason, and
another truth called revelation, but
that revelation has no law and is
lacking in reasonable explanation.
The result Is agnosticism. Chris
tianity, on the other hand. teaches
there is but one Truth and this
Truth Is God. It teaches moreover
that divine Truth is expressed
through law which may be under
stood and demonstrated in Christian
healing. This teaching reconciles
reason and revelation in the oneness
Of Truth.
Some may feel they have lost
their God in thinking Of Him as
Truth; but Jesus declared In all
earnestness that "The true worship.