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TRUST.
By Luwrence Mendenhnll. ^
Within thine arms divine,
Dear Father, let me reBt;
Subserve my will to Thine,
For Thou, Lord, knowest best
And when my faith Is tried.
My Saviour be Thou near?
What have 1 aught beside
Thee, my Redeemer dear?
I need thy help each day.
Oh grant it Lord to me;
Draw near me when I pray,
My shield and buckler be.
And when death's hour draws nigh.
Lord, hold me in Thine arm.
For then I'll dare to die
As naught can do. me harm.
SCIENCE AND SALVATION.
The Philippian jailer's question, "What shall
i do to be saved?" is the greatest question that
lulls from human lips. As we saw in the article
on the universal fear, the history of life
lias been and is a perpetual tragedy. Everything
which lives has its enemy and its corresponding
fear. "The very plants are at war,"
exclaims Huxley. The law of life itself slays
when it is not kept, and the God who made us
is turned against us by our disobedience.
Therefore, since tragedy is in the very construction
of tilings and fear is as universal
as danger, the salvation must be as fundamental,
must go as deep down, as far out and as
high up, as the tragedy. In the great apostle's
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muuh v* vvr nuv J uilUi. o ^UCOHVlij JUCIICVC Uil HiC
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,"
we have such a salvation. "Christ is the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world." He
is "able to save unto the uttermost." "All
power in heaven and earth" is given unto him.
To think of him as simply a Teacher, Guide or
Example, however wise and good and beautiful,
would be to miss or side-step the tremendous
demands of the problem which science
itself has made more vivid, more acute and
more comprehensive and universal. For
science says what Paul says, "We know that
the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in
pain together until now."
In taking up the particulars of Jesus
Christ's salvation let us begin with his power.
Nature is one of our destroyers. "All
that live must die, passing through nature to
eternity." We are afraid or the earth on
which we live, of the elements in the sky above,
oi nood and lire, hunger and want, of today
with its pain and of tomorrow with its uncertainty.
The Saviour able to save to the uttermost
must have greater power than nature.
And this power Christ had. He stilled the
storm, he healed the sick, fed the hungry mul
titude, set free from pain, raised the dead.
We call these acts miracles, and there are
those to whom the term has become an offense.
They charge them with violating the natural law,
or demand that they be dropped out of consideration
as no longer necessary to belief.
But do those who make this demand know
what the proposition to save means? A distinguished
philosopher made the remark that
skepticism is caused by failure to think the
problem through. The skeptics who have no
use for the manifestations of divine power as
seen ii > mighty works of Jesus Christ have
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SC
headings
( '
not thought this problem of the eternal tragedy
through. They are only playing with it
as a means of intellectual entertainment. They
array against human hope "a legalism of nature
wmcn Kins, l'liey attempt to make science the
handmaid of doom. But science must not be
put in the position of leaving the human race
without hope and without God in the world.
After showing us how appalling is the tragedy
of existence it should permit us the privilege
of finding a way of escape. If it were not a
matter of such solemn imnort and vast nnnsc.
quenee, it would be amusing to see how some
liberal theologians insist on a view of natural
law which makes it doom and only doom, and
yet profess to believe that all men will be
saved.
If we cannot believe that Christ could save
from sickness, pain and death when he was
here demonstrating his right to be believed on
as a Saviour, how shall we believe that he ever
can save from these enemies? But we believe
that he was girded with such power, that he
is girded with it still, that whosoever believeth
on him, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
"The last enemy that shall be conquered is
death," but he will be conquered.
We turn to Christ's death, which he himself
and his apostles after him always spoke of as
higher and greater in his work of salvation
tilUU his miracle WOrkincr r?nwer> T.ifo rUov.f
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ed in tragedy; so is salvation. War has reigned
in the history of all living things. Salvation
must be an at-one-meut. This is a necessity
which science has forced upon human
thought and hope, even if we discard all the
utterances of theology. We talk about the reconciliation
of science and religion, but what
a waste of breath, when the stupendous need is
that of reconciliation between all living things
and the universe, between one creature and
another creature, between man and the God
who made them. Because of this need the
Cross is central in Christian faith.
It is not for us in this brief space and time to
enter into a discussion of the mystery of the
atonement. It is a mystery, but so is the whole
fact of the pain and travail of creation. Science
can be science without explaining the one, and
so can religion be religion without explaining
the other.
But Christ rose from the dead, and faith in
him as a Savior is faith in a living Christ. The
place and potency of this resurrection in Christian
faith are set forth by the same apostle
who answered the Philippian jailer's great
question, in his wonderful fifteenth chapter of
First Corinthians. That science has the right
to question the fact of this resurrection is not
to be disputed. But if science is to be scientific
in tho moftu* ?"i?* -1-1? *
? 11 uiuai acme me question, not
by skeptical denial, but as it settles other questions,
that is by an examination of the facts.
A scoffing philosophy may say that no evidence
can prove such a miracle, that it is impossible.
But science is old enough now and has had
enough experience in finding the "impossible"
possible to see the worthlessness of such an
answer to Christian faith. Christianity is today
the greatest force in the moral life of the
world, and its history goes back to the wonderful
inspiration of the amazing announcement,
"He is risen." This is fact. Two tremendous
reasons should prevent science from
ignoring it or scoffing at it. First, "because
> U T H [July 31, 1912
science must preserve its allegiance to facts;
and second, because it would be a wanton abuse
of its prestige for science to take from the
human heart its greatest hope, unless there is
sufficient reason for it.?The Advance.
THE BOY'S COMPANIONS.
"Where is John?" Father, who had just returned
from his day's work, made this inquiry
concerning his five-year-old son.
"i tnouglit lie was out in front watching for
you," mother replied.
"I did not see him."
"He must have gone down the street then. I
cannot keep track of him any more. He is off
every chance he gets."
"He'll be back in a few minutes," father
remarked indifferently.
Why be concerned about the child's absence?
mere was 110 clanger. The street was a quiet
suburban one, with no cars and few vehicles.
No danger! Ah! but John is more than'physical
body. He is mind and soul as well.
John returned just as father said he would,
lie had been in a neighbor's house, and there
was no harm done.
No harm? Then why did John hurry so with
his supper and leave the house so quickly when
the meal was ended?
Ah, well, the neighbors liked him. Of course
they did. Who could help it? His absence had
its advantage also, for father had time to read
the afternoon paper and mother to do her evening
work.
"Where is John?"
Five years later father asks the same question.
"I think he went down to Anderson's"
mother replied.
'.'Why does he go there so much?"
"The boys have built a cabin in Anderson's
yard."
"Which boys?"
"O, the Andersons' and the Griffiths' and
Will Hamer and Sam Van Leer and a few
more."
Boys from the best families in the neighborhood.
No cause for alarm here.
But come, father, and see that cabin. Come
quickly, for the moments are precious. This
is it. Open the door. Whew! What an odor
of stale tobacco smoke! Do not hesitate on the
threshold, for your boy is part owner here.
What is that, small box behind the rafter?
Ah, cigarettes. And these papers, father; what
are these? Dimp nnvplo Anri tViio lif+i**
. ? ?. W?w( 1/iwo XX (/txu l/uvn
with no title on its yellow cover, which is
pushed away back beneath the other papers;
what is thist
Quick, father! Have you a match? Bum
them?the booklets, the papers, the cigarettes,
the shanty?all of them!
But stop a bit. The nicotine poisoning, the
lies, the false thoughts, the corrupt practices!
Can you burn these things out of your boy and
leave him unscarred? Can you gather them
together in one hideous mass of corruption and
so utterly destroy them that he will know them
no more forever?
Can you? Say, father, if you can do this,
come wtith the speed of the lightning's flash and
the glory of the morning's light to show us
other fathers how to do it.
"Where is John?"
The same inquiry is made when another five
is past.
"He went down to the creek," mother answered.
"Why does he go down there so much?"
"They have a boat and a boathouse."
"Who?"