Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-11-01

conception about what God really is
Jesus found it exceedingly difficult Il
get the people to accept the truth about
Him. 1t was necessary to avoid, in sc
far as possible, any statement about
God that would be open to doubt or con
troversy. He endeavored therefore to
portray a right apprehension of God
by making the people familiar with the
effect of divine power on humanity. The
popular belief prevailed then as now
that God sends sickness to discipline
mortals and bring them to God. But
when Jesus portrayed the nature of God
as He actually is, it had the effect of
healing the sick in every case and
thereby proved, in manner that admit.
ted of no doubt or controversy, that
sickness is no part of Gods nature. An.
other popular belief adhered to then as
new was that God knows, or at least
permits, sin. That too was disposed of
! by showing the effect divine power had
in cleansing sinners even as light always
dispells darkness. Moreover people be.
lieved then as now that God takes away
our loved ones for some inserutable pur.
pose; and this belief has unquestionably
thrust more people into infidelity and
agnosticism than have ever been rescued
therefrom. But when eJsus declared the
truth about God as He actually is, it de-
stroyed death and the grave, and
thereby proved the nature of God to be
Life. ~" For am come that they might
have life, and that they might have it
more abundantly." "This is life etern.
al, that they might know thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent"
People could see the physical changes
wrought by Jesus readily enough, and in
manner that admitted of no doubt.
But natural question to follow is this,
Gould it be taught to others' 1t is said
that no one really understands thing
for himself, until he can teach it to an.
other. That Jesus made disciples who
could repeat his healing ministry was
the proof that the healing power could
be taught to others, and that he under.
stood it. Indeer the early Christians
proved the same thing by continuing
those works Of healing for 300 years
after the time of Jesus. Even so the
Christian Scientist is today perpetual.
ing that healing ministry just to the
degree that he gains correct under
standing of Him "whom to know Alright
is life eternal, '-an understanding of
the God and Father to whom Jesus
prayed.
Healing Law.
The first man in Bible history to
know God well enough to heal sickness
and sin was Moses, and it came about
by his recognition that the divine pow
er operates through law. Before that he
knew God only as the great "I am, -
but that was not sufficient to win con-
fidence in himself as the messenger of
God. The necessity 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
supremacy over personified evil. The
second was the healing of leprosy.
Perhaps those two were selected be-
cause none but the p wer of God has
ever been known to destroy leprosy
and sin. But that exhibition of divine
power over sickness and sin revealed
to Moses the existence of well de.
fined law of healing which enabled
him, thereafter, to employ the divine
power, guided by the intelligence of a
well defined law, in healing leprosy
and serpent bites. 1t revealed to him
the existence of certain facts concern
ing the healing nature of God in which
no variation has ever been perceived.
1t marked the existence of an unchang-
ing 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.
God Is Truth.
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. y
And Jesus indicated the intimate rela-
ton that exists between Truth and the
healing law, when he said, "Ye shall
know the truth and the truth shall
make you free That is, knowledge
of God, not as human form, but as
Truth has healing effect. Mrs. Ed