One may stand in a pulpit and preach Truth. He may have, as a vehicle for the communication of that Truth, the eloquence of Demosthenes; but unless the preacher lives by the doctrine he preaches, his hearers won't take a single living thought to heart. For there can be powerful arguments brought against the verity of the best statements that can be made. Take the greatest and truest of all affirmations in the universe, God is good. Can we not find arguments to infinity to refute that? Hear John Stuart Mill's conclusion, "God is either not all powerful, or not all good." And he shows why, arguing from the mortal standpoint with mighty reasonableness. But the simplest hearted man with the slowest of tongues — Moses like, may so live the goodness of God that man may know the fulness of it. A pure character sends abroad conviction like sun-warmth. It spreads through a community powerfully. And the more silently it tells its story, the more powerfully; for the nearer God's own manner of proceeding it is. The eloquent man is he whose heart is wholly convinced. Do not the Christian Scientists prove this? They are deeply convinced of the reign of universal harmony and the non-existence of evil and discords, like sin and sickness. Abiding in that faith, they enter the presence of the claim to discord. The silent argument, based on conviction, overpowers and extinguishes the false claim, and health and harmony come forward. The lie cannot stand in the presence of Truth. God made you and He made you good, they argue to their patients, and no sickness can abide where that Truth has lighted. They must live up to their convictions, else they are powerless to preach salvation and effect it — salvation from sin and sickness. If a scientist be not wholly convinced or live not holily, his patients will not live to harmony and wholeness. Dear brothers and sisters, let us dwell under the shadow of holiness — powerful to perfect cleansing. There can be no argument to withstand us abiding there.
