SUNAY READING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2586, 21 August 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNAY READING.

SAVING FAITH

' By Dr. W. J. DAAVSON

x \nd now I’ put it to you whether thero is not a real saving force in faith?. Suppose you have a faith no wider in its s.cope, no more varied in its elements, than faith in the bare fact of the human soul, will not that faith save you if you will dare to rule your life by it? It will save you from materialism, that deadliest foe of man, for if you believe in your own soul you must seek to live not after the flesh, but after the spirit. It will save “you from the corruption and pollution of the world, for yours will bo the selfreverence and the pure idealism, which must needs love the highest when you see it. It will save you from despair at the grave, for you will recognise yourself as a creature fitted for immortal destinies. And as you live by such a faith, you wili find it aways drawing its circle wider. It will soon-come to include Christ, for there will <be nothing incredible in the thought of God revealed in Christ, since God is revealed in all men. It will include the Resurrection. of Christ, flpr if man be a spirit, whose real life lies not in the body, but in the soul, it will no longer seem incredible that one should rise from the dead. It will include the vision of a far-off Eternity, for he who has eternity within his heart, cannot doubt that he is the heir of things unseen. At every stage of life faith will prove your salvation. He that believes in high things is saved from the tyranny of low things; he that believes in God Is saved from the snare of the Evil One. And he that believes not is condemned. He is condemned not by any arbitrary tribunal, but at the bar of his own better nature; ho condemns himself to a low, and poor/ and mean, and perhaps a wicked life by his own refusal to believe the witness of his own spirit. For the real cause of ruin in a thousand lives around us is not crime or vice or lust, which are secondary causes only; the primary cause is the lack of that strong and living faith which lifts men above the power of vice or lust, by enabling them to live as seeing things that are invisible. The old evangelistic watcJAvord, “Only believe,” lias a truer sanction than we imagine, for belief is the key of conduct, and Christ states a truth, sanctioned by the long history and experience of men upon the earth through all ages when He says, “He that “believes shall be saved, and he that disbelieves shall be condemned.”

My brethren, Christ waits even now to teach you the mystery and joy of faith. He bids you come to Him, doubts and all. even as he did not turn away from the man who cried, “Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief.” Concerning those doubts, whatever they may be, I would counsel you to weigh B icon’s wise word, “A little philosophy inclines men to- atheism; but depth of philosophy bringeth men’s minds back to religion.’"’ I would beg you to have some regard for that enormous mass of testimony, drawn from more than nineteen centuries of Christian history, to the real power of faith to inspire the noblest lives, before you turn your face from Christ. I speak to you as cho Ambassador of Christ, I plead with you for your own soul. The time must come, and come soon, when, to quote the phrase of a great materialistic writer, we must “pass out into the midnight.” But there is no midnight for the Christian, for Christ has turned darkness into everlasting light. The deepening shadows of the earthly evening do but reveal the more clearly the divine stars of faith. 1 preach to you what I have found true amid a thousand difficulties and temptations, that faith saves; and I make my confession that all I am I owe to the faith I have learned through Jesus Christ. And so I have but one message to proclaim, and may God give us all grace to receive it—He that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart shall be saved, and be that believeth not shall be condemned.

THE GIFT OF HEALING

CHURCH AND MEDICAL UNION

The recently formed Church and Medical Union, which has been established on lines suggested by the recent Lambeth Conference, held a meeting at the Church House, Wesminstcr, recently and a paper was read by Lieut. Colonel J. S. Hepworth on “The Gift of Healing.” The Gospel words “Take no thought” lie interpreted as “Do not worry.” He admitted that Christian Science had undoubtedly helped many people through mental suggestion. The Church should no longer stand aside helpless, but should go hand in hand with the physician and proclaim her mission to "heal the sick body as well as the soul. Hitherto no organised attempt- had been made in England to bring into harmony the teaching of the Church and medical science. Having referred to the success of the Emmanuel movement in Boston, Colonel Hepworth advocated the institution of a liealing-house in each diocese, where specially appointed physicians would reside in community, ready to attend to the wants.of the people, rich and poor alike. Ultimately every large parish-or large centre of religious work should have its resident clerical healer as part of its staff. Colonel Hepworth laid the first emphasis on prayer, but urged that, if the work was to succeed, parson and doctor must work together for the redemption of the whole man —body soul anc} spirit. In the discussion that followed the paper, one gentleman, not a Christian Scientist, said lie recovered from a six years’ illness when he realised that the whole thing was a matter of mind. Two years ago lie said he would not "have a cold, and ho had never had one since.

‘‘Salvation Smith” is one of tlie bestknown Salvationists in London. As a member of the Stoek Exchange he has, in years gone by, had to go through a good deal of horseplay and rough usage, but members of. the “house” have long since come to recognise him as a. useful individual to have around when uneasy consciences Avant a little assisting, and many a five-pound note—in tho way of conscience money—has passed into Air Clement Smith’s collecting box for the benefit of the poor and needy. Mr Smith’s devices for the extraction of coin from his fellow stockbrokers are varied. • Last year he exhibited a bogging elephant (a mode,! of course), while this Christmas he . went round with .« fdmbrniriue v ,iml got it full!