THE HOPE OF GOD’S PEOPLE.
“They Willingly are Ignorant.”
If men would trust God instead of poor, fallible, erring men, how much better it would be. God has given us the history of this world in the past, and has forecast its future. He tells us in the Bible that the earth was created by the power of His word. “He spake, and it was.” It tells us that by the same word the cosmos that then existed was destroyed by a flood; and by that same word the present cosmos is reserved unto fire, when all sin shall be destroyed, and the new heavens and new earth will remain forever. Here are the apostles’ words:— “There shall come in the last days scoffers, . . . saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water [‘compacted out of water and amidst water,’ R. V.]; whereby [by the word of God], the world [cosmos, order, arrangement] that then was, being overflowed with water, perished; but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. . . . But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:3–13. This is but one witness to God’s cosmogony; there are many. Others tell us that the world will wax old like a garment before God changes it as a vesture. Heb. 1:10–12. There will be rents, and tears, and breaks, even as in the old garment, while some parts are seemingly as good as new; and these symptoms of age and disintegration will increase till the seven last plagues (Revelation 16) complete the work of desolation on account of sin (Isa. 24:1–6). In the ever-increasing outcroppings of disease and pestilence, despite improved sanitary regulations, of plague and famine, of tempest and cyclone, of earthquake, and tidal wave, and volcanic eruption, we see the fulfilment of the “more sure word of prophecy.” Men ignore it, are willingly ignorant of it; tell us that all the cataclysms and upheavals of the past are the results of evolution, and cover the world with the vaguest uncertainty as regards knowledge of the future, and lull the people to the sleep of death. This has been emphasized anew by the great convulsion on the island of Martinique. The volcano of Pelee had warned the citizens of St. Pierre of the coming calamity. The people would doubtless have escaped in great numbers, if it had not been for science and an unwarranted exercise of authority. This is the news that has come to us from that fearful charnel-house of St. Pierre. From news brought by the Danish warship Valkyrien, David Bornn of the Hearst newspapers reports from St. Thomas as follows:— They [the ship’s officers] bring a copy of a newspaper, dated May 7, in which notice is given that the commission of scientists appointed by the government have examined Mount Pelee, and determined that there is no danger of further serious eruption. The paper was found in a house wherein there were seven dead persons, who were apparently suffocated by gas, as they were not burned. The commission referred to was appointed by the government to reassure the people of St. Pierre. They came to the doomed city, and studied the phenomena of the volcano, and their report was that Pelee showed no indication of abnormal violence, but that the indications were identical with recognized phenomena of volcanoes generally. They further reported that the position of the craters and neighboring valleys projecting toward the sea allowed them to affirm that the security of St. Pierre was not threatened. Every member of the commission perished the morning after this report was promulgated. Thus by ignorant, blind science were the officials lulled to sleep. Many of the people, following their God-given instincts, would have fled in fear from the doomed city; but the governor—let him be nameless—placed a cordon of soldiers and police about the city, and refused to let the free people of France go forth. He, however, yielding perhaps to human fear rather than the conclusions of “science,” left the island in a vessel the day previous to the great convulsion. There are many things that science has discovered, for which we are glad. There are many things rediscovered, which God revealed long ago. There are many blessings which, in the providence of God, have come to us through science. But when science attempts to set aside God’s Book of the ages by its vaticinations founded on unproved hypotheses, we prefer the Word of God, the Holy Bible. But many will not be convinced. They “willingly are ignorant.” What matter tho a lame, and blind, and halting science has been demonstrated to be wrong nine hundred and ninety-nine times, still will they follow it in preference to the Bible. And so the science of men will remain willingly ignorant, and will oppose the only true knowledge, till the last plagues of finished sin fall upon the world and engulf every scoffer in the last great earthquake. “But will faith in what the Bible says prevent the earthquake, the volcanic outburst, the tidal wave?” asks one. No, it will not; but the Bible warns the souls in error, and he who believes the warning may escape. Some day “the earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall be moved to and fro like a hut, and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.” Isa. 24:18–21. Then the windows from on high shall be open, and the foundations of the earth shall shake; and those who have depended upon the husks of human vanity will say, “My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.” Then fear, and the pit, and the snare will be upon the inhabitants of earth. But the children of God, they who knew what was coming, they who knew that above it all God ruled, will also be there. They have made God their trust, and this is the song that they will sing:— “God is our refuge and strength.
A very present help in trouble.”7Therefore will not we fear, tho the earth be removed,
And tho the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Tho the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
Tho the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” And then they look away by faith to God’s haven of rest, and again burst forth,— “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, and that when the morning appeareth.” And so we anchor in God. He is our hope in all these troubles and calamities. He who stilled stormy Galilee will keep the souls who trust in Him despite all the cataclysms and convulsions of time. “Trust ye in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.”