Religion by E. Goodrich

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 7, 1865

Religion.

By E. Goodrich

A DISCOURSE BY ELD. E. GOODRICH.

FRIENDS AND BRETHREN: The subject to which I would invite attention on this solemn and interesting occasion, is that of religion; Bible religion; divinely revealed religion. I do not propose to analyze and give to you a complete history of all the rites and qualities, the isms and schisms of the religious world. This would be endless. Neither can I expect even to discuss true religion in all its properties and relations, and all that it proposes to do. All that I may hope to do is to represent some of its more peculiar and prominent features and characteristics.

The scripture selected as the introduction of the subject is a part of the ninth and tenth verses of the second chapter of first Corinthians. It reads thus: "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit."

I understand that the apostle is here treating upon principles, negative and positive principles. I understand him as teaching that it is not for eye to see, nor ears to hear, nor the heart of man in all its varied flights of imagination to conceive of the mysteries or joys of the kingdom of God, or world to come. This is the negative. And who is there that can join a successful issue with the apostle, and say that eye can see or that ears can hear or that the heart of man can conceive of the joys or sorrows of a future state? None. The history of this world is one complete and profound silence, touching all questions that pertain to a future existence.

The apostle next introduces the positive when he says, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit." This brings us to the subject under consideration. And here is the broad and permanent platform upon which Christianity in all her faith and practice rests. But before remarking upon the text on the subject introduced, permit me to speak of the principles by which, and the manner in which, men gain knowledge, whether it be human or divine.

And first man gains knowledge by direct revelation, by being told or shown, or by receiving the testimony of some other person who has seen and heard. The knowledge that men gain in this way is very considerable; much more so than we would at first sight suppose. What would we know of this world either of its history or its relations, were it not for the eyes and ears and representations of other men? Verily next to nothing. Ask the little schoolboy how much of the earth's surface is land and how much water, and he will tell you about two thirds water and one third land. But how does he know? He was never five miles from home; and the largest body of water he ever saw is the little lake that lies down at the foot of the village. He knows because he is told. And that is just the way older people learn. They learn by receiving the testimony of others.

I apprehend that none will find fault with this principle applied to earthly things. Why should they when it is applied to divine things. If we receive the teaching of men when they speak of earthly events, why can we not believe them when they tell us of heavenly things.

The second principle by which men gain knowledge, is that of experience; or by experimenting. And here is a wide range for thought and remark; for almost all the knowledge that men have gained of this world, the arts and sciences of the day, are but the aggregate result of an infinite number of experiments. The world in all the departments of life has been cutting, and trying, scribing and marking until we have now many well-defined points and lines and many well-established rules of thought and actions, as above observed, the fruits of experimenting.

The third and last principle by which men gain knowledge is that of reason or by reasoning. Reason is simply a comparison between unknown things and things already known. And whenever a certain amount of known truth can be so arranged as to shed light on some unknown object, 'tis then, and only then, we can reason; so that the knowledge that we gain by reason is only of a secondary nature, and far more inconsiderable than we generally suppose. And as reason can only shed a borrowed light, she can neither furnish us with names dates nor distances. She can give us neither rule of action nor standard of faith. Indeed reason unaided by revelation and experience is blind, utterly blind. As a first cause, as a direct power or as a self-adjusting thing, reason is worthless; for she can neither move the least conceivable object nor discover the least imaginable secret.

But to the subject before us. The religion of the Bible, more properly the religion of the Scriptures.

The religion of the Scriptures is a divine religion; divine in all its elements and relations; divine in all its parts and principles; divine in all that it teaches and does; and divine in all that it proposes to do hereafter. And although we may, and should use a certain amount of reason, and also there is a great amount of experimental truth embraced in the same, yet the religion of the Scriptures is most plainly and positively a religion of revelation. It is a system of faith and action founded upon divine revelation.

And the first form of the Christian religion is that of a word, as a report or message; as, What word did he bring? Have you heard the report? Have you seen the messages? And those who are especially chosen to declare this word or make this report are properly called, preachers, reporters, messengers or ambassadors. And not unfrequently in reading the writings of the prophets and apostles, we find such passages of Scripture as the following: "Preach the word." 2 Tim. iv, 2. Again. "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" Isa. liii, 1. Again. "This, then, is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you." 1 John i, 5. And again. "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God." 2 Cor. v, 20. Perhaps the most simple and comprehensive word that may be used to express these different offices is that of witness. The prophets, the apostles, the Lord Jesus, and all who have had the love of God shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, are properly called witnesses for the truth of divine revelation.

And here is a field of thought and remark far too extensive to be noticed in this connection. Suffice it to say that the principles set forth in the above, apply in the same manner to divine things as to earthly things. The little schoolboy as he studies geography for the purpose of gaining a knowledge of foreign countries and the world, relies upon the reports of others. And in the study of the sciences of the day, one man's experience becomes another man's example, which he follows, adding virtue to faith, until he is enabled to add knowledge to virtue by his own experience.

What does the scholar know of countries marked "unexplored regions?" What does the Botanist know of plants whose properties have never been tested? And what would men know of their origin, present relations, and final destiny, whether there is such a place as Heaven, such a condition as a future existence, or world to come, was it not for the principle of revelation? or for the "visions" and revelations of the Lord, as seen by, and made known to, the prophets, and our own individual experience in the things of the Spirit of God? And yet notwithstanding the manifest truth of the foregoing principles applied to heavenly, as well as to earthly things, the skeptic reasons that because he has not seen the sights that prophets profess to have seen, and because he has never experienced the joys that the humble Christian says he feels; therefore these things do not exist.

We might just as well reason in the same manner concerning earthly things, that we have never seen or experienced. Suppose one should write an essay on peaches, in which he discusses the peculiar excellence and flavor of some variety, as for instance, rare-ripe.

Could the man who has never eaten a peach in his life, appreciate the language of the essayist? Certainly not. But when he tastes them he exclaims, Oh, how luscious! The half never was told me. Can the man who has never tasted liquor, to get intoxicated, know the pleasure (?) there is in getting drunk? or the horrors of the man in his fit of delirium-tremens? No. Then why should we expect to reason correctly concerning, and to understand perfectly, the religion of the Scriptures when we reject both the principle of revelation and experience?

The text quoted reads, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit." It is hardly necessary to remark that such is the nature of the question stated, and such is the language used that all who reject not only prophecy, but every operation of the Spirit of God, are necessarily excluded from all knowledge of divine things; and we might quite as well suppose that the beasts of the field could take pleasure in intellectual pursuits, as to think that the sensualist and infidel, who live only for self and the present hour, can appreciate the love of God that passeth all understanding.

But again, the language of the apostle, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Cor. ii, 14, seems more positive and plain. And for the benefit of those who are actually wise in the things of this world, and who think themselves too wise to err in divine things, we may read such passages as the following: "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." 1 Cor. i, 18.

And thus it is that all are brought upon an equal footing, by the beautiful and leveling principle of faith. And while the man who is wise to build houses, to plant vineyards, to raise grain, and to plan, and execute almost every earthly design, yet laughs to scorn the simplicity of faith, in the mouths of little children the praises of God are perfected.

But notwithstanding that the simplicity of faith is so great that it was a stumbling-block to the Jews, and is to the Gentiles foolishness, yet faith is never timid. And for sublimity of conception, for loftiness of thought, and for boldness of action and expression, there are no such words in the wisdom of this world, or volumes of reason, as those upon which faith rests, found in revelation. As we read in the Psalms concerning God, and the work of creation, "For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." Ps. xxxiii, 9.

But I fear I shall be tedious. Permit me to present a few examples illustrative of the language of scriptural revelation and I close. And the first instance to which attention is invited, is a short biographical sketch of the Psalmist David. It is found in Psalm lxxiii. And bearing in mind that the bitter yet interesting experience herein recorded, occurred before the chapter was written, it is easy to understand that the Psalmist began by declaring a conclusion—a conviction that had ripened in his own mind; and after carrying the mind back to the beginning, and after describing the dangers that he had so narrowly escaped, he ends just where he began. From the third to the sixteenth verse he gives us in very strong colors, a picture of the prosperity of the wicked. He then says, When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castest them down into destruction. The point to be noticed is that the change of the views and feelings of David resulted from being shown the end of the wicked.

Again: The prophets Enoch, Daniel, Isaiah, John and others have been shown in vision the history of this world, the final destiny of both the godly and ungodly; and the joys of "that bright world to come"—the things that are in reserve for them that love God. And the question is very plainly and beautifully stated by the Saviour in his words to Nicodemus, when he said, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness (or testimony) * And no man hath ascended up to Heaven, but he that came down from Heaven. John iii, 11-13.

Now as eyes cannot see, nor ears hear, nor the heart of man imagine the "eternal weight of glory" in store for the blessed, if we reject the testimony of what those who have been caught away and in rapturous vision, saw, and if we reject the witness of Jesus who came down from Heaven, if there is such a place as Heaven with all its immortal joys, certain it is, that there is no way of knowing it. I know not to what length these remarks might be extended, showing the necessity of faith; but I close praying for grace, mercy and peace upon all that do, or shall, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Edenboro, Pa.