LESSON FROM GOD'S WAYS

Publishing Committee · Rochester, N.Y. · Jul 11, 1854

LESSON FROM GOD'S WAYS.

DAVID, the shepherd boy, the musician, the hunted fugitive, the mighty king, the sweet singer, the humble penitent, the inspired writer, the afflicted father, in his varied life, studied the ways of God, in his word and in his works. When his mind was full of this contemplation he exclaims: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me: it is high, I cannot attain unto it.” The Lord himself admonishes his people against presumption by saying, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” When the Prophet had uttered these awe-inspiring words, he proceeds to foretell that glorious time, when, instead of the thorn, shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar, shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” Isa. lv, 13. Man, with his limited thoughts, is inclined to look for the fulfillment of this prophecy in the present state, while his cities, palaces, ships, towers, and monuments are mingled with the renovated works of God.

But a reverent study of God's word will correct this childish fancy. The earth is subjected to the curse while sin remains in it. Sin will remain till Christ comes, for his coming shall find the earth as it was before the flood. The earth and the works that are therein, shall be burned up: but from the melted remains, God can create a new earth as easily as he created a glorious Paradise for Adam out of chaos. This, it is manifest, will be God's way, but it is widely different from

MAN'S THOUGHTS.

Man, who rejoices in the inventions of the steam-engine, and the magnetic telegraph, as the child rejoices over his last play-thing, imagines that God will delay the promised renovation of all things, till the wonderful powers of these inventions have been tried a little longer. He exults in the fact that he can guide steam so that it will transport him from New York to Washington in one day instead of four, and that he can send the letters which spell out his thoughts on magnetized wires with a swiftness a million times greater still. Men become “boasters,” as the Apostle foretold, and talk great swelling words about the wonderful changes they are going to bring about. In a few years, they say, we will penetrate the western forests, and thriving villages shall dot the banks of the Columbia river. We will pierce the earth's surface, and dig out its gems and gold, its iron and coal. Surely, the end will not come to cut off these important enterprizes in their midst. In such strains men often talk, “but they are vain words.”

“But God delights in the improvement of his creatures,” says one, “and therefore he will give us time to improve.” But has he not tried us six thousand years, and is he pleased with our progress? Adam and Eve had a thirst for “progress,” and “improvement,” when they aspired to be as gods, and not satisfied with the constant enjoyment of unmingled good, partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The same ambitious spirit prompts to most of our boasted “advancement in arts and sciences.” Has God, who met it then with a frown, before which the earth trembled, and clothed itself in sackcloth, become better pleased with it, after observing its operations for sixty centuries? By no means!

Let us see how he has regarded

MAN'S DEEDS.

When Eve, led on by appetite and thirst for knowledge, had partaken of that tree, whose fruit was desired to make one wise, and had found her husband willing to join, then God, who knew the awful consequences of having those hands destitute of employment, to which such hearts gave impulse, immediately brought the world, in its Eden state, to an end; for a rougher discipline was now needful. Then the Lord began to execute that glorious scheme which is designed to bring many sons into glory. But men resisted the Holy Ghost, and rejected the counsel of God against themselves. The Lord had commanded them while in Eden, to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. The earth, being very good, was designed as the abode of righteous persons. After the curse took effect, it was the manifest purpose of God to provide a remedy suited to every disease. But men continued to seek out many inventions. Their multiplication was not good in itself, and it was checked by death. When the discipline of life had been continued till its purpose was effected, in the preparation of the righteous for glory, or the wicked had corrupted their way, and hardened themselves beyond recovery, then that discipline ceased, and the individual died. The shortest lives we read of before the flood, were those of Abel and Enoch. It is often said that God will not burn up this earth, because it has not yet been all peopled. To this he has furnished an answer by the flood. Mankind were fast filling the earth then, and there were great and strong races of giants among them, but they were rebels against God, and therefore the flood swept them away.

“But God will give us time to perfect the arts,” says one. Go back and read the answer to this which God has written for 4000 years, as if to have it in readiness now. The tower of Babel was a magnificent conception, and it was rapidly advancing to its completion. But he who loves a humble and contrite spirit, severed the united family of man into fragments, to stop it in its progress. Nebuchadnezzar was a great patron of the arts, but Jehovah was not dazzled by his brilliant works. He was struck down from his rank as a man, that he might learn humility; and that great city, Babylon, the greatest wonder of the world, has crumbled into dust and passed away. The arts in Egypt were many of them far beyond the reach of modern imitation. But Thebes, their renowned city, with its temple two miles in circumference, has been in ruins for thousands of years, and Egypt has long been “the basest of kingdoms.”

Herculaneum and Pompeii are now known to have made great advances in all the arts which adorn society, and give luxury to life, but their many thousands of inhabitants were swallowed up in an instant, because their guilt was like that of Sodom.

The Lord seeth not as man seeth. The improvements which have changed the face of society so completely from what it was in the days of Abraham, have not made the characters of men more pleasing to God. On the contrary, the wonderful advances in the sciences and arts, increase pride, and worldliness of spirit. If we look at the world as God sees it, we must see that the incessant strivings after novelties are an acting forth of the spirit which led Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit. If all that is said of Mesmerism is true, we see not how secret things can be said to belong to God. For there seems to be nothing in the universe beyond its reach. While men are thus penetrating into the secret laws which govern mind and matter, infidelity abounds, and God may see that now is the time to manifest himself to the humble who have waited for him, and to abase the pride of those who have not liked to retain God in their knowledge.

Pride is a characteristic of this age. “The glorious nineteenth century” is the theme of every day's boast. But “pride goeth before destruction,” as God has taught us in his works as well as in his word. The angels kept not their first estate, doubtless because they sought something higher, and they were cast down to be kept in chains under darkness. They presented the same temptation to our first parents, who, seeking to be as gods, brought shame and death on themselves. Pride kept the people of the old world from submitting to God, and the flood swept them away. Pride led to the confusion of Babel, and it has continued a Babel-like confusion among the works of God to this day. But the day is at hand when the Lord alone shall be exalted. For that day let us wait in faith, and while it tarries, let us watch and be sober, always abounding in the work of the Lord.