COME NOW, AND LET US REASON TOGETHER.
By N. Orcutt
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword.” Isa. i, 18–20. It has ever been a marked characteristic of the dealings of the Lord with the creatures of his care, that he appeals to their reason instead of requiring blind obedience to his revealed will. After presenting motives for their consideration bearing upon their desires for happiness, their sense of gratitude, of justice and honor, he leaves them to choose, under the pressure of those motives, whether they will be willing and obedient, or, refuse and rebel, and abide the consequences of that choice. While the Romish church has enforced her peculiar tenets with the dungeon, the rack, and the fagot, and would still so do if supported by the strong arm of civil power; while Mohammed and his successors have presented the alternative of assent to the doctrines of the Koran, or the sword; the Lord, through his prophets, his only begotten Son, his apostles and messengers, and the immutable and Heaven-born principles of truth, has been inviting us to believe his promises, and obey his perfect law. Instead of using, or permitting Him to use, physical force, to compel obedience, he has used, and is using instead, the voice of expostulation and entreaty. He has been long-suffering, bearing with our infirmities, calling after the weary and heavy-laden, with sweet promises of rest; admonishing the rebellious, and comforting the humble penitent with assurance of joys to come. He has given precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little; the hand of justice stayed by the pleadings of mercy. He requires nothing of us but what is just and reasonable. He asks us to exercise faith in him, because he is the proper object of faith, because he has given us indubitable evidence that he is, in the manifestations of his power, as exhibited in the works of creation; and he has also given witness of his goodness in his forbearance, in his providential care, and in the constant workings of his sovereign will to do good to the creatures of his care. He asks us to keep his holy and perfect law, because it is but a living expression of the holy and perfect attributes of his character. To heed its pure precepts is to become more and more like him, the great Law-giver. He would have us yield obedience to his requirements, because, in so doing, we not only honor and glorify him, but, at the same time, best subserve our own best interests, and secure to ourselves the greatest possible amount of good, and of happiness, both here and hereafter. Obedience, and the enjoyment of the richest, sweetest pleasures of which we are susceptible, are inseparably connected. Godliness [god-like-ness], has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Faithful obedience may bring crosses and persecution, but with persecution an hundredfold in this world, and in the world to come, life everlasting. Are we called upon to lay down the weapons of our rebellion, to “cease to do evil, learn to do well,” to make the truth the paramount object of our lives, to buy it and sell it not, to seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, to offer our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God? It is but our reasonable service. It is his will that we be sanctified through the truth. In order for this, we must have faith in its principles. This, too, is but reasonable, for the truth carries on its front the power to convince. By the exercise of the higher faculties of our natures, we take cognizance of the evidence upon which faith is predicated. We are not required to believe without evidence. Although we exercise faith in that which we do not fully understand, and must let the practical workings of that faith be manifest in our lives, woven into its intricate web, yet the Lord has revealed enough of his purposes, plans, and designs, enough of the attributes of his character, to justify him in claiming, not only our credence but our service. How reasonable that we believe “that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” How reasonable that we love him with all our hearts, in return for the great love he has manifested toward us. How reasonable that we keep his commandments, and thus manifest our love. In his dealings with us, and revelations of his character to us in the past, he has laid the foundation for the faith he requires of us for time to come. He may, with reason, expect that, although we may not be able at all times to penetrate his wisely-concealed designs, we shall believe, love, reverence, and obey, and look for the future to vindicate his providence.