The St. Joseph observer., 1922-12-23

llal ne tOulO lluNs u lllllH Nllliht anu !
set him IN the midst and said: He
that humDleth himself. as this little
child shall bo greatest In the Kingdom
OF heaven"
We need more Of this ehlld-like un-
derstanding OF God. l love to think
of some OF the instances OF child-llke
faith and understanding That nave
come to nay attention. In a western
city recently / heard Of little girl,
six years old, who attended the Chris
tian Science Sunday for a year
and was much Interested. Presently
she had a spell Of sickness, ana the
parents, not being Christian scientists,
called in a doctor. 1t was severe
illness and no cure was effected by
the doctors. They finally said that
she could never be we'll AS she had
curvature of the spine. After the
doctors had given her Np sie asked
her mother II she mi@ht gee her
Christian Science sunaa! -sSh0ol
teacher. Upon the occasion Of the /
teachers visit, when she saw the little
bent figure sitting in the bed, the !
first thought that came to her was,
"God makes crooked things straight /
and invo!untarily she repeated this. |
The child looked up with great won !
dcrmpnt and asked, Where does II
say tnat?" The teacher pointed ont /
To- her the 10th verse OF the 4-nd I
chapter of Isaiah, where IT iS found. |
Tho mother states that the little girl /
kept the Bible b. her in the bed and !
studied the verse until II seemed 10 |
become part of her own thought.
and she would say TO her mother day
after day. Don't feel too sorry for
me. you know God makes the crooked
things straight. and He will neal me.
Then she you'd say to her playn - es
as they would come in to see her:
You need not feel badly about me.
because / am not going to be this way
long; God makes the crooked things
straight and lie will make me We'll
with her simple faith and trust IN
| God, this baby girl was back in the
| Sunday-school in a few weeks, per-
| fcctly healed and straight, for God
does make the crooked things straight.
Was not this the faith Of which
| Jesus thought when he said: what
| things soCVer We desire, when yc pray,
| believe that We receive them, and ye
| shall have them? We need moro Of
! this prayer of confidence OF under
standing, of victory, of achievements
| We need less whining and moaning
! and wailng. We need to do as Mrs.
! Eddy SAYS in the textbook: Rise in
| the strength Of Spirit to resist all that
| is unlike good God has made man
| capable Of this. and nothing can vitiata
| the ability and power divincly be-
| slowed on man (S. & H., =. 393).
| There Is no condition Of lack, eiscord.
| imperfection, that can come to your
life or business but that you can rise
above il. II is not true. God sends
| good, not evil, and there is no other
| power that can send evil into our lives,
and we need to rise in this Child-liEe
| strength and confidence in God and
| know that victory is ours. Was not
| this the example Jesus gave us as he
| stood before the tomb Of his we'll
| beloved friend? He did not pray ask
| -, ,l &c ha
his words are: Father, l thank Thee
that Thou hast heard me. And l knew
that Thou nearest me always ana
then he called. Lazarus. come forth"
This is the faith we need. this is
the prayer we need today. No matter
II you are out of a Job, or your bust
ness seems TO be on the verge OF
bankruptcy; if you win purge your
consciousness of every evil, unjust.
envious, un-God-like thought, look to
the Father and say as the Master
said, II thank Thee that Thou hast
heard me, and that Thou dost always
hear me-, you can know that-even In
this hosS- your problem is solved.
The power of God is omnipresent.
omnipotent. Let US quit trusting in a
material power. Let us stop fearing
the physical sense-testimony, let us
look to God, approach Him with the
| right thought, the right understand
ing, and know that in Him is healing,
| Is victory, is salvation is life; for the
Master said: And this is life eternal.
that they might know Thee the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent"
Someone asks: well, what shall
do?" Seek ye first the kingdom OF
God and His Righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto YOU"
That IS what you need to do. Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul and
with all thy MIND, and "thOu shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself." That
is what you need to do. How shall
| love Code" you say Love your
feuow-man. It Is said in the Bible
that the man who says he loves God
and does not love his follow-mau is a
liar. How can he love God whom he
hath not seen If he does not love his
| fellow man?
Let us change our thought towards
the world. Let US understand that
man is spiritual. Let us begin, as the
text book says, to rise above the ply
steal sense, to replace the objects OF
material sense with spiritual ideas.
Christian Science teaches that true
creation is not moulding forms out OF
matter, but 1t is the Embodiment of