The Review and Herald, Vol. 55, No. 13 (March 25, 1880)

The Review and Herald

March 25, 1880

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · March 25, 1880

MISSIONARY ADDRESS.

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

It is not my intention this evening to confine myself to any particular portion of Scripture, but to speak for a short time in regard to working for the Master.

When we realize the fact that we are not our own, but bought with an infinite price, even the blood of the Son of God, we shall have no desire to devote our mental or physical powers to our own personal interests; but we shall feel a deep sense of our obligations to the Creator and to his cause, and of our duty to faithfully perform what he requires of us.

There never was a time when I realized more fully the value of souls than at the present. There never was a time in the history of our cause when we could do more for the conversion of sinners than now. There is much to be done; and there are those whose services the Lord will accept, if they will consecrate themselves unreservedly to him.

Some of the youth have been diligent and persevering, and they are now making their mark, and are occupying important positions in the cause of God. We often hear persons speak of the talents and ability of these youth as though God had bestowed upon them special gifts; but this is a mistake. It is the use we make of the talents given us, that makes us strong. There are many who might be well qualified to engage in the work of the Lord, who fail to improve upon the ability God has given them.

Let us take two young men as examples of these two classes. One is ever ready to make the most of his time and opportunities. He feels the importance of using his powers to the glory of God. Circumstances are against him; he has difficulties and obstacles to meet; but he does not complain of the trials that beset him. He accommodates himself to the circumstances, or so controls them as to make them serve his best interests. This individual's abilities are strengthened, his talents are increased; and he finally becomes a fully developed man, fitted to occupy some important position in society, and in the cause of God. When placed in any office of trust, he is able to exercise good judgment, and to discharge his duties with faithfulness and efficiency.

The other young man has similar difficulties to meet, but instead of bravely surmounting every obstacle, he complains, wishing things were different, and saying if he only had circumstances to suit his mind, what a splendid success he would make! This young man is destined to make a failure; because he does not apply his mind to his work, and does not determine that, live or die, sink or swim, he will so improve the abilities God has given him, as to make a success of life.

God has not bestowed upon us all the same talents and abilities. For this reason, we are not all capable of filling the same position with the same degree of success. Again, many talents have been given to some, while others have received but few. The latter are responsible only for what they have; while those more richly endowed will be held to account for the wise improvement of all that has been committed to them. Every one is capable of using the talents intrusted to him, of developing and increasing them.

Persons often speak of Dr. Kellogg as one whom God has especially called, and is using in his service. But while we believe that he is a man of God, we believe that the Lord did not accept him to the exclusion of others. He has met the difficulties of his situation, and mastered them. He has improved his time to increase his talents, and God has accepted his labors.

Not long since, a young man came to see us about obtaining a situation. Upon inquiry, he said that he had been at work on a farm, but that he could not fix his mind on his work. He desired some other kind of labor, and thought he would give himself to the Lord. Because he did not enjoy the plain, simple duties of life, he concluded to leave them, and devote himself to the cause of God. “Young man,” said I, “you are making a mistake. It is necessary that you should prove yourself faithful wherever you are. If called to work upon the farm, or to engage in any of the ordinary duties of life, you should show that you can make a success there; and when you have done this, the Lord may see fit to give you some greater responsibility.”

Many are like this youth. They do not enjoy the every-day duties of life. They think that if they were in some responsible position they would make a success. They have a desire to do some great work; but they are always standing still. They yield to circumstances instead of meeting difficulties with fortitude, determined to improve their abilities and gain a valuable experience.

In my youth I made up my mind that, should I allow myself to be controlled by circumstances, my life would be a failure; I went about whatever I regarded as duty, even though the surroundings were against me. My father would frequently say, “Ellen, if it were your duty to go to such a place, it would be made so plain that you could have no doubt in the matter. In consideration of your youth and feebleness, the Lord will give you clear evidence of your duty; and he will give you strength to do it without difficulty.” “But,” said I, “father, if difficulties appear, I must summon greater resolution to meet them, and in doing this I shall gain a valuable experience, one that will help me to wisely use the abilities intrusted to my care.”

Here is a work for every one of us to do. Never did I see and sense the value of souls as I do at the present time. How can we realize the importance of the work of salvation? In comparison with the value of the soul, everything else sinks into insignificance. This world and its treasures, this life and its happiness, are of little consequence, when we compare them with the joy of even one soul eternally saved. Until we have clear and distinct ideas of what that soul will enjoy when saved in the kingdom of glory; until we can fully comprehend the value of that life which measures with the life of God; until we can fully realize the riches of that reward which is laid up for those who overcome and gain the victory,—we cannot know the inestimable value of the soul.

We should train our minds to dwell on the importance of working for the salvation of souls for whom Christ has died. We should not feel that this work is of no special consequence; I fear that many of us are too often indifferent in this respect. At times, when I have labored excessively day after day, burdened with a sense of the great work that yet remained to be done, and have seen men and women of intelligence who professed to be followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, idly passing away the time, I have inquired, In view of the impending Judgment, how can they be indifferent in regard to the salvation of souls? If I had a

thousand lives, I would devote them all to the service of the Lord.

Not all are called to preach the word, but there are other ways in which we may be of service in the cause of God. Many feel themselves excused from doing anything, because they cannot stand in the desk and explain the truths of the gospel. But let us consider, dear friends, what joy unspeakable will fill our hearts in the day of God, if, as we gather around the great white throne, we shall see souls, saved through our instrumentality, with the crown of immortal glory upon their brows. How shall we feel as we look upon that company, and see one soul saved through our agency, who has saved others, and these still others,—a large assembly brought into the haven of rest as the result of our labors, there to lay their crowns at Jesus' feet, and to praise him with immortal tongues throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity.

(To be continued.)

“EVERY YEAR.”

The spring has less of brightness Every year, And the snow a ghastlier whiteness Every year; Nor do summer flowers quicken, Nor autumnal fruitage thicken As they once did, for we sicken Every year.

It is growing darker, colder, Every year, As the heart and soul grow older Every year; I care not now for the dancing, Or for eyes with passion glancing, Love is less and less entrancing Every year.

Of the loves and sorrows blended Every year, Of the joys of friendship ended Every year, Of the ties that still might bind me Until time to death resigned me, My infirmities remind me Every year.

Oh! how sad to look before me Every year, While the clouds grow darker o’er me Every year, Where we see the blossoms faded That to bloom we might have aided, And immortal garlands braided Every year.

To the past go more dead faces Every year, Come no new ones in their places Every year; Everywhere the sad eyes meet us, In the evening dark they greet us, And to come to them entreat us, Every year.

“You are growing old,” they tell us, “Every year;” “You are more alone,” they tell us, “Every year. You can win no new affection, You have only recollection, Deeper sorrow and dejection Every year.”

Thank the Lord, no clouds are shifting, Every year, O’er the land to where we’re drifting Every year; There no losses e’er will grieve us, There no loving faces leave us, Nor will death of friends bereave us, Every year.

—Selected.

WILL BAPTISTS THINK OF IT?

In the Examiner and Chronicle of Feb. 26 is a letter from some one who subscribes himself “Churchman,” the object of which is to justify the “church” in changing the ordinance of baptism, and show the unreasonableness of Baptists in objecting to this. He begins by attempting to show that several changes have been made by the church in the administration of the Lord’s supper, some of one character and some of another; and yet Baptists allow these, and then the question is raised, Why should Baptists be more particular to enforce the exact form of administering the rite of baptism than that of the Lord’s supper? In the course of its reasoning, it calls the attention of the Examiner to the Sabbath, after this fashion:—

“Permit me to say, in conclusion, that I fail to see how the simple statement in the New Testament that the apostles were gathered together, and that Paul preached to the brethren at Troas ‘on the first day of the week,’ can abrogate and annul the fourth commandment, given at Sinai ‘midst tempest, fire and smoke,’ written upon tables of stone which were the work of God, the writing thereon being the writing of God, graven upon the tables. Ex. 24:12. The setting aside of the fourth commandment was without question the solemn act of ‘the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth,’ of which act we certainly have no record whatever in the New Testament. If the church had the right and power to abrogate one of the God-given ten commandments, and if she duly exercised that right, why deny to her the right and the power to decide as to the best mode of applying the element of water in the administration of holy baptism?”

The object of this is to show the inconsistency of Baptists in refusing to accept the action of the church in changing the form of baptism, while they accept that in relation to the Sabbath. The point made is that Baptists indorse the principle in regard to the Sabbath that they condemn in respect to baptism. If from respect to the Scriptures they maintain the necessity of performing the rite of baptism according to the commandment of Christ, why not be equally scrupulous in regard to the Sabbath; for the commandment plainly requires the observance of the seventh day? To this, the Chronicle offers the following reply:—

“Baptists do not believe that the Troas example abrogated and annulled the fourth commandment. They believe that it never has been abrogated or annulled, and that it never will be. What they believe is, that Christ and his apostles observed the first day of the week as the Lord’s day, or Christian Sabbath, in commemoration of the completion of a grander event than that of the creation, and that it ought to be observed with a twofold sense of obligation,—that arising out of a command of the decalogue, setting apart for rest and worship a seventh part of the week, and the example of Christ and his apostles in making the first day of the week the Lord’s day.”

This is an important statement. Baptists do not believe that the fourth commandment has been abrogated or annulled, or that it ever will be. Now, what is the “fourth commandment,” and how does it read? Here it is, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work. . . . 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.” We mean no offense when we ask, Do Baptists believe this commandment still binding? What evidence do they give that they believe it binding on them? During our whole life we have been acquainted with the denomination of which the Examiner is an honored representative, and we declare that they do not even try to obey the fourth commandment. That requires the keeping of the seventh day, but these Baptists keep the first day, a day not known in the commandment.

The Examiner goes on to say, “What they believe is, that Christ and his apostles observed the first day of the week as the Lord’s day, or Christian Sabbath, in commemoration of the completion of a grander event than that of the creation, and that it ought to be observed with a twofold sense of obligation,—that arising out of a command of the decalogue, setting apart for rest and worship a seventh part of the week, and the example of Christ and his apostles in making the first day of the week the Lord’s day.”

We have, then, the Examiner as authority that this is the Baptist’s creed on this subject; on which we remark:—

1. Nothing is said in the Scriptures about Christ and his apostles observing the first day of the week for any purpose whatever. How, then, can Baptists hold, as an article of their faith, that concerning which the Bible is entirely silent? We had supposed this was unbaptistic.

2. There is nothing in the Scriptures concerning keeping the Lord’s day, unless this phrase refers to the Sabbath day, the day Jehovah calls his holy day, the day of which Christ said he was Lord. There is no evidence whatever that Rev. 1:10 refers to the first day of the week.

3. The phrase “Christian Sabbath” is unknown to the Bible, and should not appear here. It is a gilded phrase, and has no other effect than to deceive.

4. To keep the first, or any other day of the week, to commemorate the work of redemption is, to say the least of it, a work of supererogation, as the Bible lays on us no such obligation. That we are to commemorate the redemptive work is not denied; but for this, two ordinances are appointed, baptism and the Lord’s supper. If another had been required, the record would have informed us concerning it. Its silence upon the subject should teach us to be silent.

5. The decalogue does not simply set apart one day in the week for sacred purposes, but it sets apart for that purpose a particular day, which it especially marks and describes. It is the day Jehovah rested on, blessed, and sanctified at the close of creation. It is more, then, than “a seventh part of a week;” it is a particular seventh part. The keeping of the first day of the week cannot be done in obedience to the fourth commandment of the decalogue. The thing is impossible.—Sabbath Recorder.

THEY SHALL FIND HIM.

By Wm. M. Taylor

“But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” Deut. 4:29.

“They shall find” Jehovah. To many this promise would read very like a threatening, inasmuch as they know that they have sinned against God, and their guilty consciences associate him with vengeance. But when it is said that the contrite souls shall find God, the meaning is not that he will reveal himself to them in their punishment, but rather that he will make himself known to them as he would have done had they never wandered away from him. They shall find the God whom they had lost, and they shall find him toward them precisely as he was before they lost him.

We can never have a better illustration of what this promise implies than in the beautiful and touching parable of the prodigal son. How did the prodigal find his father? Did the father hunt him off his grounds when he saw him coming near? Did he bolt the door of his mansion against his entrance? Did he order him off to seek an abode for himself elsewhere? Or, admitting him to his house, did he taunt him with his ingratitude, and tell him that he didn't know “when he was well off,” or that he “reckoned he had made a very fine thing of it,” or that some people were all the better for getting a draft of their own brewing, or the like? Not at all. That would only have made his father's house more intolerable to him than the swineherd's quarters that he had left, and driven him away again with a rooted aversion to his parent. But as it was, that one passionate embrace, and those warm tears that dropped so profusely on his neck, revealed to him that his father was his father still, and that whatever else had been changed, the loving heart still beat in tenderest affection toward him. No words of recrimination were uttered. No reference to the past was made. And so the idea of being a servant where he had formerly been a son, was utterly abandoned by the youth, as he sobbed out his penitential words, “Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.”

Now, it is not otherwise with our Father in Heaven; and when he promises that the penitent shall find him, he means that he will receive him with open arms, and “kiss the past into forgetfulness.” The returning one shall find God as a God of forgiveness, saying unto him, “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins;” and as he makes this discovery the penitent shall sing, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.”

The qualification annexed to the promise is, “If thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” Now, what is it to seek God? We need not look for him in outward forms or ceremonies of worship. The search we make for him must be spiritual, and it must be made in the way which he has himself commanded. We must seek God thus, by coming in faith to Jesus Christ. We must give up everything else to which the heart or soul clings as the ground of its hope, or the source of its delight. Christ will have the whole heart, or he will accept none of it. So we must not think to divide the honor of our salvation between him and any good work of our own, or to divide the empire of our heart between him and any darling lust or favorite sin. We must give up everything for him, and be willing that he should be our only Saviour and our only sovereign. There must be no half-heartedness, no Ananias and Sapphira-like keeping back a part of that which we have professed to give, no mental reservation, no bartering “buts,” like that of him who said, “Lord, I will follow thee, but;” nothing but an unqualified submission of the soul to be saved on God's terms and in God's way. This is seeking God with all the heart and with all the soul.

Now, friends, what have you to say to all this? I am aware that this is humbling doctrine to human pride, but it is divine doctrine, and humbling as it is, is it not better to be saved in God's way, than not to be saved at all? The Pharisee must strip off his self-righteousness, and be content to be saved, not for his tithes, and his prayers, and his phylacteries, but as a sinner, by the grace of God. The formalist must lay aside the garments of his outer worship, and be content to be saved, not for his church attendance, or his church membership, or his gift in prayer, but as a sinner, by the grace of God. The man of intellect must renounce his pride of reason, and be content to be saved, not for his genius, or his mental abilities, or his literary productions, or his artistic skill, but as a sinner, by the grace of God. And equally the sinner must renounce all sin. There must be nothing to dispute the supremacy of the soul and heart with Jesus. Everything that comes into antagonism to him must be given up. The seeking heart must be a single heart, and the penitent must come in the spirit of the psalmist when he cried, “Unite my heart to fear thy name.”

You may ask on what grounds you are warranted to believe that the promise of God will be kept to you. As Abraham said after God had promised to give him the land of Canaan, so you may say regarding this promise, “Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” And in answer I have to remind you that this is God's promise. What better security would you have than that? The word of man, especially when given in writing, and in the shape of a solemn promise, is commonly relied on by us; and if I am going on a journey, I shall carry with me a letter of credit, signed, it may be, by one whom I have never seen, yet counted so secure by me that I take no thought concerning it, and rely that I shall have my money in foreign cities just as I may need it. Can I trust a fellow-man thus, and shall I place no reliance on the promise of my God? Down unbelief! When Jehovah promises, then to disbelieve is to make him a liar, and shall I incur a guilt like that? Nay; rather let me take him at his word, and so set to my seal that God is true.

But we have something more than the word of God to rest on here, for he has made this promise over sacrifice. Is it to be imagined that the covenant of mercy, confirmed and sealed by the blood of his own Son, can be in any degree broken? Nay; the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but this covenant of peace shall never be removed, and no one who seeks the Lord with all his heart and all his soul, shall seek him in vain.—Condensed from a sermon by Wm. M. Taylor, D. D.

A REVIEW OF PAINE'S “AGE OF REASON.”

By Alonzo T. Jones

BY ELD. A. T. JONES.

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.” Isa. 1:18.

In this brief review I do not propose to enter upon the evidences nor the defense of Christianity, nor on the truthfulness of the Bible, only so far as shall be necessary in showing the weakness of the opposition as represented by what is called the “Age of Reason.” For “though a doctrine should be maintained or admitted on the strength or correctness of its principles, yet in the mind of the inquirer its strength is more readily appreciated by a discovery of the weakness or defects of an opposite view.” And as the “Age of Reason” is held and flourished by many of the opponents of the Bible as one of their most effective weapons, we wish, in this brief notice, to maintain our position by an exposure of some of the many weaknesses and defects of that book, and at the same time to inquire whether the “age of reason” did not begin before the time when Mr. Paine wrote his book. I shall not have a word to say against Thomas Paine as an individual. Whatever his private character may have been, it shall have no bearing in this instance against the strength of his arguments. We shall present every argument fairly, and examine it fairly, proving all things, holding fast that which is good; for even in this work we shall find some things which are comparatively good. As long as he reasons upon evidence, he reasons justly, as far as he will go; but when he rejects evidence, we see the natural result,—he is at sea and his reasonings are sadly at fault.

Paine was a Deist, and therefore he did not, as some do, who profess to have learned from him, deny all possibility of there being a God, and attribute everything to chance. He says on page 1, “I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life,” My faith and hope are precisely the same.

Again, on the same page, he says, “I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.” I also believe all this, and more; I believe in the remainder of the verse. Micah 6:8: “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” He, of course, does not believe all this; and here the singular anomaly is presented of a man writing a work against the Bible and against all revelation, and using, in one of his first sentences, a plagiarism from that very book.

On page 27 we read: “It is only by the exercise of reason that man can discover God. Take away that reason, and he would be incapable of understanding anything; and, in this case, it would be just as consistent to read even the book called the Bible to a horse as to a man.” That is true; but he makes a sad mistake in supposing that we reject reason (see same paragraph) when we accept the Scriptures. So far from this, it is entirely to the reason that the Scriptures appeal. Isa. 1:18: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.” Rom. 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Acts 17:2: “And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.” Again, chap. 18:4: “And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.” 2 Tim. 3:16: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable, . . . that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” Now compare with this Job 32:8: “But there is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” These two instances are the only ones where the word “inspiration” is used in all the Bible. One says that the Scriptures are given by inspiration of God, and are profitable for man; the other, that the “inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” Then is it not self-evident that the Scriptures are submitted, and appeal, to the understanding, the reason? And by this it is clearly evident that they mistake utterly who say that the Scriptures reject reason.

Again he says, on page 27, “Almost the only parts of the book called the Bible that convey to us any idea of God, are some chapters in Job and the 19th psalm. I recollect no other.” He did well to take the precaution to say that he recollected no other; for there are many others. See Ps. 8:3; 33:6, 7; 65:1–13; 89:11, 12; 102:25; 104:1–35; 146:5, 6; Isa. 40:12–17, 22–26; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; 51:13; Jer. 10:10–13; and multitudes more. Of course there is not space to quote all these texts here; and I would ask every one who reads the article to read it Bible in hand, and turn to every passage to which reference is made. He says of these passages in Job and the 19th psalm, “Those parts are true deistical compositions; for they treat of the Deity through his works. They take the book of creation as the word of God; they refer to no other book, and all the inferences they make are drawn from that volume.”

Then he gives Addison’s paraphrase of the first six verses of the 19th psalm; for he says on page 28, “I keep no Bible.” (!!!) If he had kept, or even borrowed, a Bible and read the rest of that psalm, he would have found that David did refer to another than the book of creation. In verses 7 and 8 the psalmist says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” Now verse 11: “Moreover by them is thy servant warned; and in keeping of them is great reward.”

It is clear that by “the law,” “the commandment,” “the judgments,” of the Lord, David means the ten commandments, which are abundantly proven to be the law of God (Ex. 24:12; 31:18; 32:15, 16; Deut. 10:4, 5), by which the servants of God are “warned,” and in keeping of which is “great reward.” The “warning,” the second commandment: “Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.” Now the reward: “Showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” The promise of reward is confirmed by Jesus, and Mr. Paine admits that he “preached most excellent morality,” page 10; for he said to him who asked how he might obtain eternal life, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Matt. 19:16, 17; Rev. 22:14. Now search your “book of creation,” hunt through all the forms of nature, and not the least hint of any reward can be found. Then what is the ground of his “hope for happiness beyond this life.” He has none. But the servant of the Lord looks at his holy law, by keeping of which he receives great reward, through faith in the adorable Redeemer, and his “hope for happiness beyond this life” is “an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.” Heb. 6:19. David, in the last verse of the psalm already referred to, says: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” Thus it is evident that David did refer to some other volume than the book of creation, and that other volume revealed to him the law of God, the Redeemer, and the reward.

Nor is Mr. Paine any more fortunate in his statement concerning Job. Job argues the case as follows: “How should man be just with God? if he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.” Job 2, 3. “If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong; and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead? If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.” Verses 19, 20. “For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.” Verse 32. In chap. 16:21, 22, he says: “Oh that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbor! When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.” He is brought “to death, and to the house appointed for all living” (chap. 30:23), but before he enters, he asks, “If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.” Chap. 14:14. His mind reaches forward to the time when his “change” shall come, and he exclaims with rapture, “Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this

body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not a stranger [margin].” Chap. 19:23–27.

Ay, Job, your words have been “written,” yea, they have been “printed in a book;” and there they stand, an everlasting refutation of the statement of Thomas Paine, that the book of Job is a true deistical composition. Far be it from either Job or the psalmist, ever to have written a deistical composition.

On page 65, Mr. Paine would convey the impression that he understood the Bible; but I have begun to doubt it. On pages 28, 29, he pursues a line of reasoning which is sound and good, and which will compel him to admit all that is claimed for the Bible. His own reasoning drives him to it. He says:—

“I recollect not enough of the passages in Job to insert them correctly; but there is one occurs to me that is applicable to the subject I am speaking on. ‘Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?’ I know not how the printers have pointed this passage, for I keep no Bible; but it contains two distinct questions, that admit of distinct answers:—

“1. Canst thou by searching find out God? Yes; because in the first place, I know I did not make myself, and yet I have existence; and by searching into the nature of other things, I find that no other thing could make itself; and yet millions of other things exist: therefore it is that I know, by positive conclusion resulting from this search, that there is a power superior to all these things, and that power is God.

“2. Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? No; not only because the power and wisdom he has manifested in the structure of the creation that I behold is to me incomprehensible, but because even this manifestation, great as it is, is probably but a small display of that immensity of power and wisdom by which millions of other worlds, to me invisible by their distance, were created and continue to exist.

“It is evident that both of these questions were put to the reason of the person to whom they are supposed to have been addressed; and it is only by admitting the first question to be answered affirmatively, that the second could follow. It would have been unnecessary, and even absurd, to have put a second question, more difficult than the first, if the first question had been answered negatively. The two questions have different objects; the first refers to the existence of God, the second to his attributes; reason can discover the one, but it falls infinitely short in discovering the whole of the other.”

This is sound reasoning. In fact, I know not how it could be improved. But when he admits that “reason falls infinitely short in discovering the attributes of God,” he admits all that is claimed for the Bible. For in that he admits the necessity of a revelation, and this very necessity, we claim the Bible supplies, therefore his argument admits all that is claimed for the Bible; that is, the revelation of the attributes of God, and of his will to men.

He says further: “Religion is the belief of a God and the practice of moral truth; or, in other words, a practical imitation of the moral goodness of God.”—p. 51. But as man’s “reason cannot discover the attributes [the moral goodness] of God,” how is it possible for him to imitate it? On page 33, Mr. Paine would have “the Almighty lecturer say to the inhabitants of the globe, . . . Learn from my munificence to all, to be kind to each other.” And again, page 28, “Let him [man] believe this with the force it is impossible to repel, if he permits his reason to act, and his rule of moral life will follow of course.”

But suppose that men will not be “kind to each other.” Suppose they should do as they are doing every day before our eyes, “the libertine mocking over the grave of blighted hopes; the priceless treasure of virtuous purity, around which cluster the fondest hopes of earth, sported with as a mere toy; the vain rolling in wealth accumulated by fraud and oppression; vice exalted to the pinnacle of fame; to hear the praises of him whose very presence is loathsome by reason of the filthiness of his iniquities;” the red-handed murderer walking at liberty, while his innocent victim lies cold in death; the artful seducer exulting over the ruin of fated innocence; the embezzling bank officer living in ease and luxury upon the scanty savings of poor widows and orphans; am I to look upon all this and say, with a complacent smile, This is right? in this I rejoice? this is the imitation of the moral goodness of God? God forbid.

And are these all to “hope for happiness beyond this life”? the murderer to receive the same reward as the murdered? the seducer the same reward as his victim? the robber the same reward as the robbed? the bad with the good? Is this the justice of God? No! No!! So far as the “book of creation” is concerned, it is forever silent on this subject. But can it be possible that the “Supreme One, who has so nicely arranged the material world, and subjected it to certain laws,” has left man, the supreme intelligence of the world, wholly without law? That would not be reasonable.

And this also Mr. Paine admits in his argument. On page 155 he says: “Here we are. We cannot conceive how we came here ourselves, and yet we know for a fact that we are here. We must know also that the power that called us into being, can, if he please, and when he pleases, call us to account for the manner in which we have lived here; and, therefore, without seeking any other motive for the belief, it is rational to believe that he will, for we know beforehand that he can.” Now, reader, I ask in all soberness, Is it reasonable to suppose that God holds us responsible, and will “call us to account, for the manner in which we have lived here,” and at the same time withholds from us all rules, all directions, as to how we ought to live? In all reason the answer must be, No.

We have all read or heard of the king who made strict laws and had them posted throughout his kingdom, but so high that no one could read them, and then punished the people for not obeying them. The world justly holds that he was a tyrant. Yet Mr. Paine’s position and arguments charge God with just such folly. It is not “common sense,” nor is it in accordance with “the rights of man.” It is not justice. And Eld. J. H. Waggoner, in his work on the Atonement, says: “Can any one dispassionately reason and reflect on this subject, and accept the idea of a God of even partial justice? The idea is alike repugnant to reason and to reverence. God must be strictly, infinitely just. I should choose to be annihilated rather than to possess immortal existence in a universe governed or controlled by a being of almighty power, but lacking justice.” And as justice is and must be one of the attributes of God, and as the “creation” does not reveal it, and as “reason falls infinitely short of discovering it,” it must be revealed somewhere else. And it is. Job 37:23: “Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out [‘to perfection,’ of course]; he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice.” As he will call every man “to account for the manner in which he has lived here,” and as Justice requires that he should give them directions how to live, we find that he has done this also. We quote Paine’s own authority, the 19th psalm, verses 7–11: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes. . . . The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. . . . Moreover by them is thy servant warned; and in keeping of them there is great reward.” See also Isa. 48:17.

Now I have proved plainly and conclusively from these positions of Mr. Paine, that his reasoning demands just such a revelation as the Bible supplies.