THE first and perhaps the most notable thing about the Convention, that would be noticed by a looker-on, was the perfect confusion of ideas as to what was really wanted. This will be plainly seen by the report which we have already given our readers. It is true that there was perfect unanimity on the point that there should be a law demanded of the Legislature, but that was the only single thing upon which there was any real agreement.
With some, nothing but a Sunday law would do; with others, nothing but a Sabbath law would answer. With some, it must be a civil Sabbath law; with others, a religious Sabbath law. With some, it must be a civil Sunday law; with others, a religious Sunday law. With some, it was a Christian Sunday that was wanted; with others, a Christian Sabbath. With some, it was a religious Sabbath law that was wanted, and a religious Sabbath law that must be had, and they were ready to go to the Legislature upon that basis; but these were very few. While with others, and these the great majority, it was a religious Sunday law or a religious Sabbath law that was wanted, but at the same time it was naively argued that to go to the Legislature with such a request would be all in vain, for the Legislature would not act upon any question of a religious nature; therefore, to get what they wanted, they must ask only for a civil Sunday law.
It was upon this last point that the discussion and the action of the Convention culminated. And by this action, there was irresistibly forced upon the mind of an observer a strong impression of the insincerity of the great majority of the members of the Sunday-law Convention. The course of the discussion and this culminating action show that the majority of the members of that Convention are willing to cover up the real purpose which they have in view, and to deliberately go to the Legislature of California under a false pretense. They show that while a religious law, and nothing else, is what they want, yet, as to openly ask the Legislature for that would be fruitless, they propose to obtain what they want—a religious Sunday law—by getting the Legislature to pass a civil Sunday law. That is, they will have the Legislature to pass a civil Sunday law and then they will enforce it as a religious Sunday law. In other words, they propose to hoodwink the Legislature of California. We hardly think they will succeed.
Another evidence of this insincerity was the ringing of the now familiar changes upon the "workingman." One had very great sympathy for the "toiling multitudes." Another was the "friend of the workingman," and "if any people are the friends of the workingman, they are the ministers." And yet not one of them was there as the representative of the workingman, nor was it the needs of the workingman upon which the call of the Convention was based. When that which gave rise to the calling of the Convention was officially stated, it was that "the Christian people of Sacramento had been disturbed in their worship, and their religious feelings had been outraged by the disregard of the Sabbath; the matter had come before the Pastors' Conference; a correspondence opened with divines throughout the State on the subject of a Sunday law; and accordingly the present Convention had been called."
It was that "the Christian people" had been disturbed in their "worship," and not that the workingmen had been deprived of their rest; it was that the "religious feelings" of "the Christian people" had been outraged, and not that the workingman had been oppressed, nor that his feelings had been outraged; it was with the "divines," and not with the workingmen throughout the State that a correspondence had been opened; it was these considerations and not the needs of the workingman that formed the basis of the call for the Convention. And yet in the face of these definite statements, some of these "divines" would get up in the Convention, and fish for the favor and try to catch the ear of the workingman, by trying to make it appear that they came there as "the friends of the workingman."
And, too, just think of a lot of "divines" called in general convention to secure the enactment of a Sunday law to protect the "worship" and the "religious feelings" of "Christian people;" and then to fulfill the purpose, and to attain to the object of that call, they, in convention assembled, unanimously decide to go up to the Legislature and demurely ask for a law entirely civil! And why is this? Why could they not go to the Legislature in the name of that purpose for which they were called? Oh, that would never do! For if the word "civil" be stricken out, "you cannot reach the Legislature." Therefore just put in the word "civil" and the purpose of the Convention will be accomplished, for we will get all we want and the Legislature will not know it. If those worthy "divines" think the Legislature of California is so exceedingly verdant as not to be able to see through that piece of wire-work, we rather think they will find themselves mistaken.
The demand of these "Christian people" for a Sunday law, because their worship was disturbed, is just as hollow a pretense as is any other part of their scheme. For if their worship was really disturbed, they have already a sufficient resource. For the protection of religious worship from disturbance, the statutes of California make provision that ought to satisfy any ordinary mortal. Section 302 of the Penal Code of California reads as follows:—8"Every person who willfully disturbs or disquiets any assemblage of people met for religious worship, by noise, profane discourse, rude or indecent behavior, or by any unnecessary noise either within the place where such meeting is held, or so near as to disturb the order and solemnity of the meeting, is guilty of a misdemeanor."
And such misdemeanor is punishable by "imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding six months, or by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or both."—Id., sec. 19.
Are not six months in jail and a fine of five hundred dollars a sufficient punishment for the disturbance of worship? Or is this penalty so insignificant that these "divines" and "Christian people" disdain to inflict so light a punishment and therefore demand a Sunday law to make the punishment heavier? But if the present penalty is insufficient to properly punish those who disturb their worship, then what will satisfy these "divines"? Where the State chastises with whips, do they want to chastise with scorpions? Do they want to imprison a man for life and mullet him of all his property for disturbing (?) their worship by working on Sunday on his farm, in his shop or garden, far away from any place of worship? We firmly believe that if the truth were told it would appear that it is not their worship at all, but their doctrine that has been disturbed.
Just a word more on their pretended friendship for the workingman. We freely hazard the opinion that if they should obtain the "civil" Sunday law which they seek, then the poor workingman, who, to support his needy family, should work on Sunday, will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We venture this opinion because of facts of which we know. In Tennessee there are lying in prison today, honest, hard-working men, whose families are dependent upon their daily labor, and these men are in that prison for working on Sunday to obtain the necessary means to support their families, and while they are in prison their families are in want, and have to be supported by the charity of Christian friends. That is the kind of friendship for the workingman that is shown in the enactment of these "civil" Sunday laws. And if the people of California want to see the same thing repeated in this State, then just let them allow these "divines" to secure the enactment of the "civil" Sunday law that they want. Then may be seen exemplified here this solicitous friendship for the workingmen.
One of the leading members of the Convention remarked that he had "been in politics long enough to know that legislators keep their finger on the public pulse, and that they generally give what the people want." From our observations in the Convention, of the speeches, and of its workings, we are prepared to give it as our private opinion, publicly expressed, that the most of the members of the Convention have been in politics long enough to know a good deal about the ways and means by which politicians too often compass their ends. J.
Justice is Gone Away Backward.
By J.
AFTER a long, careful, and fair trial, those murderous Anarchists and Socialists of Chicago were found guilty of murder and justly condemned to be hanged December 3. Since their condemnation, as well as before, every trick that is known to the tricky lawyers has been employed to deliver them from the just consequences of their crime. Not only this, but Labor Unions in different parts of the country have sent petitions in favor of the criminals, and appeals have come all the way from France, in their behalf. Politicians interested themselves in the case, and an appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court has finally been secured, and that the Supreme Court may hear and pass upon the arguments, a respite has been granted until March. It is now seriously doubted whether the murderers will receive any punishment at all or not. The Chicago correspondent of the Christian Union says:—
“It now becomes a matter of grave doubt whether the Anarchists will receive any further punishment at all. The stay of proceedings granted by Justice Scott does not necessarily set aside permanently the decision of the lower court, but it increases the probability that some way will be found, for political purposes, if for no other, to mitigate the sentences pronounced against Spies, Parsons, and their associates. It is commonly thought that our Mayor and our city officials generally are in favor of the respite, and would not be sorry to have the proceedings of the lower court permanently set aside.”
When such a terrible crime as that committed by these men finds such ready sympathy by so many Orders throughout the country, and in foreign lands, by lawyers, by politicians, and by the officials, even to the mayor, of a great city like Chicago, it shows a fearful condition of society. When the protection of criminals and the promotion of crime become essential to political preference, then Government is on the verge of ruin. And when the most influentially religious portion of society forms an alliance with this non-religious portion, as it actually proposes to do, and as it inevitably will do, then the fearful climax is reached and society itself is ready for disintegration. This know also that these are now the last days and perilous times have come. 2 Tim. 3: 1-5.
Love, the Power of the Gospel.
By James White
DR. CHALMERS closed his sermon on "The Power of the Gospel" with the following words:—
"Amid the fruitlessness of every other expedient, when power threatened to crush the heart which it could not soften—when authority lifted its voice, and laid on man an enactment to love which it could not carry—when terror shot its arrows, and they dropped ineffectual from that citadel of the human affections which stood proof against the impression of every one of them—when wrath mustered up its appalling severities, and filled that bosom with despair which it could not fill with the warmth of a confiding attachment—then the kindness of an inviting God was brought to bear on the heart of man, and got an opening through all its mysterious avenues. Goodness did what the nakedness of power could not do. It found its way through all the intricacies of the human constitution, and there, depositing the right principle of repentance, did it establish the only effectual security for the right purposes, and the right fruits of repentance."
The great mind of Dr. Chalmers never grasped a greater thought than this; and perhaps no uninspired pen could present it in a better manner than he did. It has its defects; but it is easier to discover faults in the work of another than to do a better work ourselves. Goodness is not peculiar to the gospel; "the law is holy, and just, and good," in its condemnation of iniquity, though it strikes terror to the heart of the evil-doer. The gospel does not create favor, but only brings us into harmony with the favor which we had forfeited. It does not substitute grace for justice, but enables God to be gracious to the penitent believer and yet maintain justice. Rom. 3: 23-26.
In "Testimony to the Church, No. 16," is the following paragraph:—
"Love is power. Intellectual and moral strength are involved in this principle, and cannot be separated from it. The power of wealth has a tendency to corrupt and destroy; the power of force is strong761to do hurt; but the excellence and value of pure love consist in its efficiency to do good, and to do nothing else but good. Whatsoever is done out of pure love, be it ever so little or contemptible in the sight of men, is wholly fruitful; for God measures more with how much love one worketh than the amount he doeth. Love is of God. The unconverted heart cannot originate nor produce this plant of heavenly growth, which lives alone, and flourishes only where Christ reigns. Love cannot live without action, and every act increases, strengthens, and extends it. Love will prevail and gain the victory when argument and authority are powerless. Love works not for profit nor reward; yet God has ordained that great gain shall be the certain result of every labor of love. It is diffusive in its nature, and quiet in its operation, yet strong and mighty in its purpose to overcome great evils. It is melting and transforming in its influence, and will take hold of the lives of the sinful and affect their hearts, when every other means has proved unsuccessful. Wherever the power of intellect, of authority, or of force, is employed, and love is not manifestly present, the affections and will of those whom we seek to reach assume a defensive, repelling position, and increase their strength of resistance as they are met by another power than love. Jesus was the Prince of Peace. He came into the world to bring resistance and authority into subjection to himself. Wisdom and strength he could command, but the means he employed to overcome evil were the wisdom and strength of love."
For comprehensiveness, for sublimity of thought and touching simplicity of expression, the above will rarely find a parallel. It will not only bear often reading, but must be so read to be appreciated.
And how truthful its statements! How the small services of love touch our hearts, when greater favors, conferred in a cold manner, do not affect us. How cheering to know that though our talents be few, and our abilities small, a loving heart will insure the acceptance of our service, and secure the approbation of our Father in Heaven. Then let none give up in despair. If we cannot do much, let us strive to love more, and thereby make the little we can do doubly acceptable to God. As often as I have read the above words, I have blessed Heaven for the consolation. Lord, make my love perfect and complete, and then my service shall be right. J. H. W.
The Latest Sunday Alliance.
By Editor
THE Sunday law question is springing up almost everywhere. We have reported the movement in California, and in the South. But like movements are going on in both the East and the middle West, only that there the question is on enforcing the laws already on the statute books, while in California it is to get a strict penal statute that may be enforced. In Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and other cities in the East, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and other cities in the West, the laws are being enforced. In Boston and some places in the West it is by the liquor dealers. In Philadelphia, it is by the "Law and Order League" and the "Sabbath Association;" in Reading, Pa., and Worcester, Mass., it is by the barbers' association of the Knights of Labor. In La Crosse, Wis., it is by the Norwegian population. In New York City it is by the Central Labor Union, "a radically Socialistic organization."
The Christian Union reports a like movement going on in Great Britain; this also represented by the Labor Unions. Likewise in Germany and in France. Says the Union: "A strong and apparently hopeful attempt is being made to secure the enforcement by law" of Sunday observance, "not on religious but on Socialistic grounds." And then the Union most meaningly says:—
"It is very clear that if our Sabbath [Sunday, of course] is to be preserved at all—and we are sanguine of its preservation—the non-religious sentiment of the country must be brought in to re-inforce the religious demand for Sabbath [Sunday] rest, and it is increasingly evident that this is entirely practicable. And, curiously, what renders this practicable is that horrid 'Socialism' which keeps some good people lying awake o' nights in fear and trembling. One of the Sabbath Committee in Philadelphia is, indeed, represented as relying 'upon the law of the Sabbath as promulgated by the Creator.' But the majority of Americans, including a large proportion of those who are most desirous of preserving the Sabbath, will never consent to see a purely religious obligation enforced by civil penalties. On the other hand, pure individualism affords an entirely adequate legal basis for anything like adequate Sabbath legislation. . . . Modern, and, if our readers please so to regard it, Socialistic political economy . . . holds that the community has a right to act as a unit; . . . it has a right to fix upon a legal holiday or an eight-hour standard for the normal labor day—if it judge this best. In short, no eight-hour man can consistently deny the right of society to maintain a Sabbath by legal provisions; and . . . no advocate of Sabbath laws, unless he maintains the right of the State to establish a purely religious observance, can consistently deny the right of the community to fix a normal labor day. . . . And Christian Socialism finds a place for both."
In this extract is clearly marked out the course which the Sunday cause will pursue. The religious sentiment and demand will be re-enforced by the non-religious. So-called Christianity will ally itself with Socialism to get the support of the Socialists in preserving the so-called Christian Sabbath. And by such shameful alliances as these the wicked scheme of a National Sunday law will surely succeed and persecution under it will surely follow. For when a religious element to compass its ends has to ally itself with the non-religious element, then the whole body becomes most basely corrupt and pure religion is persecuted to the death. How much more surely will this be so when, as in this impending evil, the alliance is formed with the very basest element of human society—the Socialistic. And to make the thing the more attractive to this element, the shamefully abused term "Christian" is blended with the terrible title "Socialism," and so there is introduced to the world the new phrase, "Christian Socialism," which is just as congruous as is the phrase "Holy Inquisition," and no more so. And we are very sure that the outcome will yet demonstrate that the real meanings that underlie the two incongruous phrases are very nearly identical. When a religious element to preserve its religion is forced to ally itself with the non-religious, then such religion is not worth preserving. And when a professed Christianity becomes so lost to all the vital power of real Christianity that it becomes essential to its preservation that it shall ally itself with Socialism, this of itself is proof that such Christianity is no better than such Socialism, and the sooner it should perish the better would it be for the world. As Christianity is the greatest blessing the world has ever known, so such perversion of Christianity becomes the worst bane the human race can know. Thus has it ever been. Thus only can it ever be. J.
The Missionary.
By Stephen N. Haskell
Planting the Third Angel's Message in New Zealand.—No. 3.
THE RECEPTION OF THE TRUTH AT KAEO.
As Father Hare and his family were among the first settlers of the valley, the religious interests of the place are largely attributable to his influence. They principally furnished the means, and erected the first meeting-house in that section of the country, and were liberal supporters of the preaching of the gospel. There had been a mission established among the natives for many years, but they had burned their place of worship, and the mission became somewhat demoralized. It was this family which largely supported the Methodist minister who had charge of this circuit. Though a large proportion of the settlers are professors of religion, but few of them take an active interest in religious matters.
The Orange, or anti-Catholic element, is very strong in this community, and the temperance question is also much agitated, the Hare family taking an active interest in this, and every other question of reform. I was with them three weeks, and was invited to occupy the desk on Sundays. As might be expected with a family which had received the early training this one had, they soon became much interested in the truths presented. We held nightly meetings, and visited from house to house, and gave Bible-readings, but while many were favorably impressed, but two or three families took hold of the truth during my first visit.
Father Hare and his godly wife, with one or two of his sons and their families, were the first to take their stand and begin to keep the Sabbath. Their son Robert, an unmarried young man, who had formerly been a licensed Methodist preacher, embraced the truth, and feeling the need of further education in the work, immediately made arrangements to come to America. This led him to make an entire change in his plans of life, which had been previously arranged, and relinquishing what was to him the brightest worldly prospect that he could have, sailed on the next boat for San Francisco to enter the Healdsburg College. Although thus his plans of life were changed for the truth's sake, he has had no cause for regret, but feels thankful to God that he was led to take the step he did.
During the past summer he has been laboring with a tent, and is now attending the College, designing in about one year to return to the colonies. Our visit to the place was most encouraging. We found the people warm-hearted and God-fearing, and willing, when convinced, to make any sacrifice to obey the truth.
Feeling it my duty to return to Melbourne, where we were about to begin the publication of a paper, I was obliged to leave New Zealand, though resolving to again visit the island on my way back to America. Accordingly, after perfecting arrangements for the paper in Australia, I returned to Auckland. The week after my arrival, in company with Sister Hare, the wife of Edward Hare, I again visited Kaeo. We found that during my absence considerable opposition had arisen, but that quite a number were under the conviction that we had the truth. None had been added to their numbers. At this time we remained with them two weeks. We held public meetings at night almost constantly, and labored from house to house with the people, as seemed best.
One sister, the wife of one of the sons of Father Hare, felt so much the importance of the truth which they had received, that she took the time each day to instruct her children, the oldest of whom was twelve years of age, in the doctrines of the Bible, though at the same time she was doing the work for a family of seven, and a hired man. This girl of twelve years became so familiar with the scriptures relating to our positions that she most clearly comprehended the prophecies which bring us down to the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, and also the question of the nature and destiny of man. This was clearly seen in a Bible-class which we held the last Sabbath I was there. The truth had taken a deep hold upon those who had embraced it, and others felt the importance and truthfulness of it more than before. The Sunday before leaving them, March 21, 1886, eight persons were baptized who had fully committed themselves on the Sabbath of the Lord, Father Hare and his wife, his two sons and their wives, and this daughter of one of the sons, aged twelve years, being among the number.
This baptism marked a new era in the history of the work at Kaeo, and it seemed that from this time the powers of darkness began to give way, and the spirit of conviction to rest upon the people of the truthfulness of our position. It was the first baptism that had ever taken place in this neighborhood, and there was, therefore, much prejudice against immersion. But the Spirit of God rested down upon us on the occasion, and opposition seemed at once to give way in the hearts of many. That night, after the ordinance of baptism had been administered, three more took their stand, as also others the next day; so upon Tuesday, we had another baptism of eight more. This number included other members of the Hare family, and some of the neighbors.
Tuesday night we met at the house of Father Hare, and organized a church, sixteen enrolling their names to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. We also commemorated the broken body and shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, as set forth in the word of God. Though they were young in the faith, they seemed to be fully convinced of the importance of observing the ordinance of humility, taught by the example and precept of our Saviour in the thirteenth chapter of John. A Sabbath-school was also organized, our meeting holding till past one o'clock Wednesday morning. There were some present who had not taken their stand upon the truth, but the impressions received were such as led them to think seriously of the steps the others had taken, and one of them has since accepted the truth. On Wednesday I was obliged to leave for Auckland, preparatory to taking the ship the following Tuesday for the United States.
There was no little anxiety felt by all concerned as to the first public Sabbath meeting held after organization, in the village of Kaeo. But the Lord did not leave them to themselves. On the following Monday I was greatly relieved by receiving from them the following telegram: "Sabbath-school and services well attended. Isa. 12: 1, 2."—"And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: For the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." I immediately returned the following dispatch: "Telegram received. 1 Cor. 15: 57, 58."—"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
The next boat, a month later, which brought the mail across the water, conveyed to us the intelligence that other members of the family, some of whom had manifested much opposition, had decided to keep God's commandments. Besides their regular Sabbath service, and Sabbath-school, they had organized a series of Bible-readings, seven per week, which have been continued ever since, as also a system of Sunday tract distribution. They subscribed for fifty copies of the Bible Echo, for use in remaining to those living in different parts of the colony, whom they could not reach by the tract distribution.
S. N. H.
The Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ
By Theodore L. Cuyler
The most extraordinary man who has trodden this globe since the Christian era usually signed himself "the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ." This made him nearest like his Master; for his Master came not to be ministered unto, but to minister to others, not to do his own will, but his Father's in Heaven. The stimulus with Paul was love. That flame never cooled under the engine. He did not put all his devotions into a "week of prayer," nor all his preaching into Sabbath days, nor all his efforts to save souls into "revival seasons;" and he never shirked hard fields or difficult cases. "Whose I am, whom I serve" was the badge the old toiler wore as a frontlet between his eyes.—Theo. L. Cuyler, D. D.
Performing Unpleasant Duties Faithfully
SOMETIMES men have unpleasant duties to perform, from which they naturally shrink. But duty should faithfully be performed, however unpleasant it may be, as the final consequence will be beneficial.
Preaching Doubt Cannot Inspire Faith
MEN who preach doubt can never lead others to the exercise of faith.
THE first week, in which God performed the work of creation in six days and rested on the seventh day, was just like every other week. The great God, in his days of creation and day of rest, measured off the first cycle as a sample for successive weeks till the close of time. "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created." God gives us the productions of his work at the close of each literal day. Each day was accounted of him a generation, because every day he generated or produced some new portion of his work.
ON the seventh day of the first week God rested from his work, and then blessed the day of his rest, and set it apart for the use of man. The weekly cycle of seven literal days, six for labor and the seventh for rest, which has been preserved and brought down through Bible history, originated in the great facts of the first seven days.
WHEN God spake his law with an audible voice from Sinai, he introduced the Sabbath by saying, "Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy." He then declares definitely what shall be done on the six days, and what shall not be done on the seventh. He then, in giving the reason for thus observing the week, points them back to his example on the first seven days of time. "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it." This reason appears beautiful and forcible when we understand the record of creation to mean literal days. The first six days of each week are given to man in which to labor, because God employed the same period of the first week in the work of creation. The seventh day God has reserved as a day of rest, in commemoration of his rest during the same period of time after he had performed the work of creation in six days.
BUT the infidel supposition that the events of the first week required seven vast, indefinite periods for their accomplishment, strikes directly at the foundation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. It makes indefinite and obscure that which God has made very plain. It is the worst kind of infidelity; for with many who profess to believe the record of creation, it is infidelity in disguise. It charges God with commanding men to observe the week of seven literal days in commemoration of seven indefinite periods, which is unlike his dealings with mortals, and is an impeachment of his wisdom.
INFIDEL geologists claim that the world is very much older than the Bible record makes it. They reject the Bible record because of those things which are to them evidences from the earth itself that the world has existed tens of thousands of years. And many who profess to believe the Bible record are at a loss to account, for wonderful things which are found in the earth, with the view that creation week was only seven literal days, and that the world is now only about six thousand years old. These, to free themselves from difficulties thrown in their way by infidel geologists, adopt the view that the six days of creation were six vast, indefinite periods, and the day of God's rest was another indefinite period, making senseless the fourth commandment of God's holy law. Some eagerly receive this position; for it destroys the force of the fourth commandment, and they feel a freedom from its claims upon them. They have limited ideas of the size of men, animals, and trees, before the flood, and of the great changes which then took place in the earth.
BONES of men and animals are found in the earth, in mountains and in valleys, showing that much larger men and beasts once lived upon the earth. . . . Because the bones of human beings and of animals found in the earth are much larger than those of men and animals now living, or that have existed for many generations past, some conclude that the world is older than we have any scriptural record of, and was populated long before the record of creation, by a race of beings vastly superior in size to men now upon the earth.
WITHOUT Bible history, geology can prove nothing. Relics found in the earth do give evidence of a state of things differing in many respects from the present. But the time of their existence, and how long a period these things have been in the earth, are only to be understood by Bible history. . . . When men leave the word of God in regard to history of creation, and seek to account for God's creative works upon natural principles, they are upon a boundless ocean of uncertainty. Just how God accomplished the work of creation in six literal days, he has never revealed to mortals. His creative works are just as incomprehensible as his existence.
"GREAT is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable."
"Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number."
"Which doeth great things, and unsearchable; marvelous things without number."
"God thundereth marvelously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend."
"Oh! the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor?"
THE word of God is given as a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path. Those who cast his word behind them, and seek by their own blind philosophy to trace out the wonderful mysteries of Jehovah, will stumble in darkness. A guide has been given to mortals whereby they may trace Jehovah and his works as far as will be for their good. Inspiration, in giving us the history of the flood, has explained wonderful mysteries that geology, independent of inspiration, never could.
IT has been the special work of Satan to lead fallen man to rebel against God's government,763and he has succeeded too well in his efforts. He has tried to obscure the law of God, which in itself is very plain. He has manifested a special hate against the fourth precept of the decalogue, because it defines the living God, the maker of the heavens and the earth. The plainest precepts of Jehovah are turned from, to receive infidel fables.
MAN will be left without excuse. God has given sufficient evidence upon which to base faith, if he wishes to believe. In the last days, the earth will be almost destitute of true faith. Upon the merest pretense, the word of God will be considered unreliable, while human reasoning will be received, though it be in opposition to plain Scripture facts. Men will endeavor to explain from natural causes the work of creation, which God has never revealed. But human science cannot search out the secrets of the God of Heaven, and explain the stupendous works of creation, which were a miracle of almighty power, any sooner than it can show how God came into existence.
"The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever." Men professing to be ministers of God, raise their voices against the investigation of prophecy, and tell the people that the prophecies, especially of Daniel and John, are obscure, and that we cannot understand them. But some of the very men who oppose the investigation of prophecy because it is obscure, eagerly receive the suppositions of geologists, which dispute the Mosaic record. But if God's revealed will is so difficult to be understood, certainly men should not rest their faith upon mere suppositions in regard to that which he has not revealed.
God's ways are not as our ways, neither are his thoughts as our thoughts. Human science can never account for his wondrous works. God so ordered that men, beasts, and trees, many times larger than those now upon the earth, and other things, should be buried in the earth at the time of the flood, and there be preserved to evidence to man that the inhabitants of the old world perished by a flood. God designed that the discovery of these things in the earth should establish the faith of men in inspired history. But men, with their vain reasoning, make a wrong use of these things, which God designed should lead them to exalt him. They fall into the same error as did the people before the flood—those things which God gave them as a benefit, they turned into a curse, by making a wrong use of them.