THE MYSTERIES OF THE BIBLE AND RELIGION.
By George B. Thompson
BY ELDER GEO. B. THOMPSON. UNBELIEVERS of this and every age have assigned as a reason why they cannot accept the Bible and religion because there are some mysteries connected with them. This, say they, is the cause of our skepticism. We cannot accept anything we cannot reason out. That there are many things in the Bible, and the "mystery of godliness" which are beyond the scope of our intellectual powers we wish neither to palliate nor deny. We rejoice that it is so, and deem it better wisdom to dilate, if possible, the mind to the amplitude of the mysteries rather than straiten the mysteries to the narrow compass of human reason. The eternity of God, his creating worlds from nothing and holding them in place by a word, the incarnation of Christ, and the events in connection with the plan of redemption, are some of the innumerable things which we cannot unravel with the candle of human reason. But that is no reason why they are not true, or that we will never understand them. Many things which now are among the simplest elements of our knowledge, were to us, when children, utterly incomprehensible. And it was not becoming in us then to oppose our knowledge against that of our teacher. Neither is it now. God is our Teacher, and we are certainly reprehensible if we dare oppose our reason against his. The Bible and religion deal in eternal realities, and it will require an eternity to fathom this, but even this is promised. The most gigantic mind can and will expand by reflecting on the "mysteries of godliness." Now we are finite, peering, as it were, through some narrow crevice at fields of knowledge, but by and by we will be lifted to a summit from whence we can behold this rich domain more clearly. Why should men desire to grasp all mysteries? Better be content to acknowledge their fallibility, for it is axiomatic that "that which may be comprehended is less than the hands that grasp it." There are numerous forms of intelligence, of which man is neither the highest nor the lowest. Nobler creatures in higher spheres understand many things which to us are inexplicable. Let man be content to drink at the fountain of intelligence. How idle is the assertion that we believe nothing that is not within the grasp of our mental powers! In the multitudinous forms of animal and vegetable life which surround us, there are numberless things which we know are so, but we cannot understand them. The mysteriousness of the laws which govern them are too deep for us to fathom. Science tells us some things, but not all. Philosophers and chemists have, as a result of their research, learned some facts, and can demonstrate some things. Astronomers have by study learned some facts about the planetary world, yet they all know and admit that in all these things there is an unnavigated sea beyond. Man knows that he lives and that the world is radiant with animal life, but can he solve the problem of his own existence? Some have tried it, but after reading the explanation we knew as little as before. Elaborate descriptions have been written and violent disputes engaged in about force, matter, etc., but when summed up, the answer simply amounted to this, Force is force, and matter is matter; the subjects were still involved in doubts, perplexities, and diversities of opinion. Now we ask in all candor, Is it consistent to accept all the occult mysteries of science, and so many things which are enshrouded in impenetrable fog, and then reject the Bible and religion because they too have some mysteries? To be consistent, the rejectors of incomprehensibilities must discard everything in which a mystery is found. Think of this. What would be left?—Simply nothing. Then let us accept the Bible and the religion of Jesus Christ. It will make us sons of God and heirs of immortality. It contains deep mines of truth, and rich promises, too vast for us to estimate. But let human reason bow before God and believe. We are not to understand that we may believe, but believe that we may understand. Never by searching can we find God, but by faith we receive all there is of him. How grand the thought! Let us like children come to God and learn, not by questions and doubts, but accepting as true his faithful utterances, and he will produce the facts. Says the learned author of "Ecclesiastical Polity":— When I behold with my eyes some small and scarce discernible grain, or seed, whereof nature maketh a promise that a tree shall come; and when afterward of that tree any skillful artificer undertaketh to frame some exquisite and curious work, I look for the event, I make no question about performance, either of one or of the other. Shall I simply credit nature in things natural? Shall I, in things artificial, rely myself on art, never offering to make doubt? and in that which is above both art and nature, refuse to believe the Author of both, except he acquaint me with his ways, and lay the secret of his skill before me? Let all ponder these queries, and in humility come to God, confess our insensibility of conviction in the past, and open our hearts to the word of God, which is able to build us up and give us an inheritance among the sanctified.