A One Hundred Years' Conflict around the Bible on Calvin's Battle-ground.
The Religious Condition of Geneva in 1806.
IN 1806, religion, in Geneva, was at a low ebb. French infidelity had made deep inroads on the faith of the once mighty church of Calvin. In the theological school which the reformers had founded, nothing but a miserable deism was taught. Incredible as it may seem, the Bible was not even used as a text-book, except for the study of Hebrew and Greek. No doctrinal course was to be found on the list of studies. And the great majority of pastors of the churches in Geneva had no faith in Christ as the Saviour and the Son of God.
A Great Revival Begins.
Between 1815 and 1820, an English Methodist and a Scotch Baptist, named Wilcox and Haldane, both laymen, spent some time in Geneva, sowing the seeds of Gospel truth. These seeds took ground in the hearts of a company of theological students named Gaussen, Bost, Malan, Guers, Merle d'Aubigné, Frédéric Monod, and others.
A great fire was kindled. The cardinal doctrines of the Bible, such as the divinity of Christ, salvation through faith and not through works, the new birth, the vicarious death, the resurrection and the second coming of Christ, began to be preached with juvenile enthusiasm by these young men. The "venerable company" of pastors in Geneva became alarmed, and endeavored by every means in their power to stop the proclamation of what they called dangerous errors. Several of the young revivalists were discharged and went abroad, preaching in many darkened districts of Switzerland, France, Germany, Holland, and Canada, the glorious, and to them newly-discovered, doctrine of the Gospel.
In 1821, some of them founded in Geneva a school of theology, from which the truth could be sent forth as of old. Among the founders were Louis Gaussen and Merle d'Aubigné. The former took up the doctrinal teaching of the Bible, and the latter, ecclesiastical history. He has since become widely known by his "History of the Reformation in the 16th Century."
The school of the "Oratoire" soon became a powerful center of religious revival and profound and reverential Bible study. Scores of faithful preachers and colporteurs went out from it; the official churches were themselves benefited, and for a time it seemed that the Bible had gained the day, and it had, gloriously.
An Unexpected Storm.
In 1851, however, a painful event took place. In the very school of the "Oratoire," some Belgian, French, and Canadian theological students rose up suddenly and decidedly against the authenticity and the authority of the Bible. Instead of discharging said students, the professors thought best to take up with them a thorough study of the very truths called in question by them. Among many books which grew out of this discussion, was a powerful work by Gaussen on the "Canon of the Holy Scriptures." Twenty years before, the same man had written a masterly treatise on "Theopneustia: the Plenary Inspiration of the Scriptures."
Another enthusiastic champion arose at that time to use his pen and voice against the attacks on the Bible. This was Count Agénor de Gasparin, a prolific writer and eloquent speaker, who had been a deputy at the French Chamber, where his defense of liberty of conscience had cost him his seat. In 1853, Gasparin published a work entitled "The Schools of Doubt and the School of Faith," in which he unmasked the "pious" enemies of the Bible, and forced an open discussion of this important question. Again, the day was won. The impenitent adversaries seemed to beat a retreat and wait for better times.
A Scene In Geneva; Mount Blanc in the Distance.
German Higher Critics at Work.
All this while, however, German rationalism had been quietly at work seeking, through scientific weapons, successfully to overthrow, while pretending to build up, the whole structure of the Sacred Writings. Eickhorn, De Wette, Schleiermacher, Reuss, plied their mighty minds to the task of creating modern biblical, or "higher, criticism." In 1876, J. Wellhausen summed up and presented with an enormous and apparently irresistible array of so-called "scientific facts," the ingenious theories of his predecessors of half a century. The sum total of it all was that none of the books of the Old Testament were written before 800 B.C. The prophetical books were written first, and are partially authentic; then came the books of Moses, "so called," which were "elaborated by pious forgers after the Babylonish captivity;" and finally the Psalms, which are wrongly attributed to David. As to Daniel, it was written two or three hundred years after the time of that prophet, and, of course, by another pious forger. "Thus," says Wellhausen, "the primitive history of Israel, as found in the books which bear the names of Moses and Joshua, must be eliminated in their entirety as impossible . . . and wholly unworthy of confidence."
French Protestantism Contaminated.
The success of Wellhausen has been prodigious. Hypnotized by his teaching, the professors of our divinity schools have imbibed it, and teach it to their students. In Paris, Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel, Montauban, the new generations of ministers are being fed on this poisonous food. Prominent among these false teachers was the late Auguste Sabatier, of the Paris theological academy, whose talent enabled him to exert a wide influence, and from under whose brilliant teaching scores and scores of young pastors went out to spread infidelity throughout the ranks of the Huguenots.
So far, the deadly work was going on mainly among the clergy. Now it was ready to take another step. In 1888, the Revue de Théologie Pratique propounded the question "as to how the young ministers were to initiate their flocks into the results of present day evangelical [?] theology."
In the same year, a scholarly pastor in Lausanne said publicly: "The absolute authority of the Holy Scriptures can no more serve as a foundation to our faith. Pastors know it, but dare not say so; and yet, the secret is oozing out, and thus skepticism is spreading among the people."
More recently some ministers, growing bolder, have begun to write books designed for the general public and even the Sunday-schools, bringing out the Old Testament history according to the new religion. In these books the miraculous events in the history of the patriarchs and of Israel are called legends, passed under silence, or explained away. Yet there is little harmony among critics, some going a good deal farther than others.
In the Sunday-schools.
Still another bold and fearful step was to be taken. In the Sunday-school work, these blind promoters of infidelity found themselves facing a strange and disagreeable situation. If they taught the Old and New Testament in the old-fashioned way, as being true throughout, what about their honesty and sincerity? And if they began to tell the children that the Creation, the Fall, the Flood, the confusion of tongues, and the miracles of Elijah and Elisha, were not true events, but pious legends and myths, who knew what might happen? Perhaps a revolution among the Christian people would place these pastors where their work would have to stop. Both their pocketbook and their new theology might suffer from their acting frankly and honestly. Which of the two should they sacrifice—their position, or their honesty? Things have come to a point where neither silence nor utterance is safe.7
Hence the following advertisement which occurred not long ago in our religious papers, emanating from the Sunday-school district committee of one of the Swiss cantons:-
Desirous of promoting the spiritual [?] welfare of our children, and especially of importing more light on the study and teaching of the Old Testament to our Sunday-school teachers, the Sunday-school Board calls for prize essays on the following subject:
How are we to present to children the narratives of the Old Testament, while taking into account, on the one hand, the requirements of Christ, our faith, and on the other, the results of science and of Bible criticism!
A prize of 1,000 francs was to be given to the best essayist.
Recent Developments.
This question is leavening at the present time the whole body of Protestant churches in France. In the State Church, as in the Free Church, the younger and more advanced (?) members of the clergy are calling loudly for an amendment to the confessions of faith, such as will allow them to teach their ideas in an unobstructed way. The older members, while shaken in their faith, are not disposed to go so far as their young colleagues, and therefore oppose the change proposed.
Two years ago, at Clairac, where the Free Churches held their annual conference, the two parties came up face to face with opposite resolutions. A stormy debate was avoided by the question being ruled out as unconstitutional. And yet, the leading men in these churches advocate a rapprochement, if not a fusion, with the elder churches from which they seceded in 1848. They urge (1) that these national churches will be placed on the same footing as they themselves when the new bill shall become a law; (2) that these official churches are "evoluting in a clearly evangelical sense" toward the "great redemption facts." Indeed, the only evolution which has taken place is that of the Free Churches toward unbelief and higher criticism.
At Rheims, last May, at the general synod of the official churches, a significant resolution was passed. In view of the impending separation of the churches from the state, it was voted to invite their "liberal," or Unitarian, sister churches, from which they had seceded in 1872, to join them again in a "national synod," as soon as the separation law shall be enforced by the government. Here again is a resolution by the greater body of the Huguenot churches which is distinctly a step backward toward a more complete and disastrous apostasy from the old standard of the Reformers, of the Apostles, and of our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ.
And if these things be not "signs of the times," we would like to know what are. The last great apostasy is upon us. JEAN VUILLEUMIER.
Gland, Switzerland.
DEPARTING FROM THE FAITH.
By Editor
THE following paragraph is from the Word and Way, a substantial Baptist journal, therefore Baptists will not censure us for referring to it:
If Baptists had an episcopal form of government we would have on hand some highly sensational heresy trials. In the pulpit of a wealthy Baptist church the pastor stood the other day and attacked the old Baptist faith. His theme was honesty as the basis of character. Preachers, he said, are not honest in that they continue to preach old doctrines which they can no longer defend. As for him he did not believe the Genesis story of the Fall. He did not believe that we are all sinners because Eve ate an apple. He did not believe that Christ came into the world to confer righteousness on sinners. And this man goes as a Baptist and is pastor of one of the wealthiest churches in the land.
In the fourth chapter of 1 Timothy we are told that “the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits.” So, however humiliating it may be to note such things, we should not be surprised when the “sure Word of prophecy” is plainly fulfilled. This is nothing against the Baptist Church as a whole; for who could “depart from the faith” but such as have once embraced the faith. The denominational responsibility rests to the extent that such teaching is endorsed by retaining and acknowledging such teachers.
Another quotation from the same paper is on the same line, altho referring to a Baptist periodical. Here it is:
An esteemed Baptist contemporary says: “Denominations should exist.” How a Baptist can be a consistent Baptist and give his consent to the necessity of the divine right of any other denomination is more than we can understand.
There was reason for the existence of the Baptist denomination, and had they followed the light given them in their watchword, “Thus saith the Lord,” they would undoubtedly have been led to far broader conceptions of truth. But when they stopped to build a creed, they virtually said to all converts, Here is the end of truth; thus far shalt thou go, and no farther. A limited creed is always the point whence departures from the faith begin to radiate. The unrestricted Word of God always invites the seeker after truth to go on from faith to faith. “All Scripture is profitable for doctrine,” and things new and old are to be found in the law of God by faithful searching. But when one begins to deny the plain scriptural teaching, or to compromise with unscriptural doctrines, he is plainly departing from the faith.
What is true of the Baptist denomination is also true of others. Perhaps they were providentially called out to maintain some neglected, tho essential, doctrine; but when they assumed that they had all truth because God blessed them in the advocacy of what they did have, and rejected error which others held before them, they cut themselves off from receiving further light from the Word of God. Hence it has been necessary, as God would reveal new light, to raise up those through whom He could proclaim it. This is not because He desires a multitude of sects, but because Gospel truth in all its fulness must go to the world.
Ancient Israel had the truth, but they thought they had it all; and because they would not receive further light through the prophets, they were left in the darkness of their own traditions. Because they would not walk in the light, and accept all the truth brought to them from the Scriptures, they were rejected as a people. From this we may learn that any other sect, tho especially called out of God, will share a similar fate if they take a similar course. Israel failed because of unbelief, and it is only unbelief that causes one to halt, refusing further light from the Word. The result is sure to be compromise with error, and departure from the faith—a special characteristic of the last days.
G.
THE ONLY SOLUTION.
By G.
A PROMINENT Sunday-school superintendent of Washington, D. C., after spending a vacation season on the Massachusetts coast, tells the Post, of the capital city, of his impressions. Here is one prominent feature of his story:
What impressed me most of all that I saw on my trip was the lamentable disregard shown for the Sabbath by the young people of Boston. Every Sunday at least 150,000 of them flock and swarm out to the so-called popular suburban resorts that lie along the coast. I am not opposed to a rational use of Sabbath leisure; indeed were the influences at these places other than evil, I think I should commend an outing whose purpose was the healthful recreation of sea-bathing and the honest enjoyment of those God-given pleasures, clear skies and fresh sea air, to be indulged in, of course, only after the duties to the Lord’s day have been fulfilled. But the attractions of the resorts in question are all of an evil and demoralizing tendency. . . . I confess, however, when I saw the dark, narrow streets of Boston and considered how these young men had to spend their working days within the darker buildings that line them, I realize how almost irresistible was their temptation to fly to the sea and the air when Sunday released them. It is a great problem, and the blessing of millions await the mind that can solve it. It is a matter that is now occupying my thoughts to a great extent, altho solely as a national question. The city of Washington has no such problem; we are all one great, open-air park here.
But a legitimate solution of this “great problem,” and really the only one, would be for the state to refuse license to those demoralizing places. But so long as even the religious people can see evil in them only on Sunday, they will probably be allowed to run. True reformation must necessarily make slow progress as long as it is sought in a way that recognizes evil as legitimate six days in the week. A seventh-part-of-time morality never will reach the hearts of the people.
It is the business of civil government to repress incivility, and to prohibit all such occupations as tend only to beget and to foster incivility. But the moral or civil welfare of the people never can be conserved by making certain acts or callings legitimate on one day and criminal on another day. The only consistent thing to do, is to prohibit at all times and in all places that which inculcates incivility or the disregard of the rights of any individual.
It is a great mistake to license dens of vice on the refreshing scenes of nature’s loveliness, where people are wont to go for a day’s outing and recuperation.
But such is the short-sightedness of most public men that they deem it public policy to adopt any measure that will bring a little money into the treasury—regardless of the ultimate cost in demoralized communities. And such is the influence of the liquor traffic that comparatively few officials can resist all of their wiles in quest of advantageous positions.
G.
Faithful Work in Every Opportunity
It has been demonstrated that a large proportion of the unemployed people of the world are out of work because they can not get the work they want to do, or can not get the pay for it which they think they ought to have. Just because things do not turn up to their liking they choose to do nothing—and complain. And it is just so in the work of the Lord; so many will do nothing rather than take the obscure duties or the work where the apparent results are small. In all departments of life the really successful ones have been those who took hold wherever opportunity pointed, regardless of the kind of work or the amount of remuneration. The willing, faithful worker, who aims to make a success of whatever comes to hand, is sure to find a place according to his ability. Some men are unfortunate enough to secure positions for which they are not qualified; hence failure is almost sure to follow. They are never prepared for unexpected reverses.
Old Ladies
Old Ladies.—The oldest woman in the United States is said to be Mrs. Mary Ramsey Woods, of Hillsborough, Oregon. She is in her one hundred nineteenth year, born two years before the United States Constitution went into effect. When sixty-six years old, she rode a horse from Tennessee to Oregon, all the way. She still is able to thread a needle and does much sewing. And while speaking of smart old ladies, it is well to refer to a colored woman of sixty-five in New York City who hobbles every day a distance of several blocks to attend a night school. She has learned to read and write, and says that when she dies she does not want to go out of the world an "old ignoramus." She is employed nearly all the day in sewing and taking care of the sick. Certainly if an old colored woman like that can get an education under such circumstances, what excuse is there for a well young man or woman?
From Old to New Style.—
It is said that Russia has at last consented to come into line with other nations in the matter of uniformity of calendar. In A.D. 1582 Pope Gregory XIII. revised the Julian Calendar, whose slightly erroneous calculation had at that date accumulated an error of ten days, and October 5 was counted as October 15. Russia and Greece, being under the influence of the Greek Church, refused to accept the new Gregorian Calendar, and have ever since maintained the Julian, or Old Style, method of computation. At the present time the difference between the two calendars is thirteen days, and is the cause of considerable confusion in business relations between Russia and the other nations.
Buddhism
Buddhism.—The Pundita Ramabai, of India, is reported as saying that the preachers who are teaching Buddhism in America have an established hospital for animals in Bombay. “In that hospital,” she continues, “there is a ward devoted to bugs, and a man is hired to feed these bugs on his blood every night. They never take any thought of the women who are dying under the weight of this philosophy, but they just show their charity toward the bugs. I recommend that hospital for the edification of American students of Buddhism. Let them stay one night in that bug ward. That will pay them for all their labors in studying that philosophy.”
Japan’s Desire for Wealth
One of the results of the Russo-Japanese War is pointed out in the following words by Mr. Frederick Palmer, war correspondent for Collier’s Weekly:
Japan is money mad. This war taught her that her great weakness lay in her poverty, and she is out now to make money with just as much energy as she prepared for her fight with Russia. She wants money, she is going to make it, and will not care who suffers, so long as she gains her end.
SECOND CORINTHIANS.
By F. D. Starr
PAUL'S second letter to the Corinthian church seems to have been written in the year A.D. 60, about one year after his first letter. In this he expresses great satisfaction that the results of his previous letter have been so beneficial to the church. The feelings that controlled him in writing the former epistle are thus stated in 2 Cor. 2:4: "For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you." "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." How completely these statements of the psalmist were fulfilled in Paul's case. He states that he had regretted having written the former epistle; it grieved him much to do anything that would cause sorrow to those whom he so dearly loved. But now he sincerely rejoices when he sees that the grief and sorrow experienced by the church were of such short duration, having wrought in them such thorough repentance and reformation.
He now counsels that the offending member should be forgiven and comforted, lest he should be completely discouraged. This is some of the experience the Gospel minister is to have in his work, restoring such as have been overtaken in a fault, where possible to do so.
The secret of Paul's ability to comfort the disconsolate was that he himself was comforted of God, to that extent that in the midst of his tribulation he was able to comfort those who were in any trouble by the comfort wherewith he was comforted. To speak of the many points of special interest in the several chapters of this book, would hardly be possible in this short article, but we would like to notice a few.
Perhaps no other portion of the epistle has received more consideration than
Chapter Three.
In this part of the book reference is made to the difference between the ministration of righteousness and the ministration of condemnation. A great misconception of the apostle's teaching, as found in this chapter, exists in many minds. Some suppose him to have here taught the abolition of the Decalogue, but the term law does not occur in this chapter at all.9How then could he have here taught its abrogation when he does not even name it? Would he here directly contradict the plain statements made in the book of Romans and elsewhere, in which he so positively asserts the eternal and binding nature of the law of God?—Most surely not.
What is it in 2 Corinthians 3 that we are so plainly taught was abrogated or superseded?—The ministration of death, or of condemnation. Paul speaks of something being abolished, but what was abolished?—That which was hidden by the veil. And what was hidden?—The glory of Moses' face. Did Moses have the veil over the Decalogue?—Nothing of the kind is intimated. He put the veil over his face, to hide the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away in Christ. If it had stated that Moses hung the veil over the law, we might have some idea that Paul referred to the Ten Commandments; but that is a different matter from what is here introduced.
A Change of Ministration.
There was a change of ministration when the new covenant was ratified, but change of ministration made no difference with the fundamental and moral principles of God's government, any more than a change in the administration of our government would involve a change in the Constitution of the United States. That document would remain intact, and just so does the law of God. No matter what changes may be made in the form of dispensation, the fundamental law of God's government remains the same.
Under the old dispensation, the transgressors usually met their punishment, which in some cases was death, soon after the offense was committed; it was administered by the officers and the people; but under the new dispensation, the servants of Christ have no commission to administer physical punishment on recreant members of the church. But because in this age "sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily," are we therefore to suppose that the new covenant has no death penalty?—No, indeed; the execution of the sentence is reserved till the future. As Adam Clarke states, "The letter of the New Testament will kill just as certainly as the letter of the Old Testament." This is proven by the experience of Ananias and Sapphira. Under what dispensation and under what covenant did their sudden death occur? The old covenant had passed away, so it was under the new covenant, and because of having transgressed the law of God, which is the rule of conduct under the new dispensation and the new covenant, as well as under the old. No warrant for transgressing the law of God can be derived from 2 Corinthians 3. Let us pray that the veil may be taken entirely away from our minds that we may see this matter clearly.
The admonition of 2 Cor. 6:14 is one that is just as much needed now as ever it was. "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." How much sad experience would have been avoided by the professed followers of Christ if this advice had been universally followed. What shipwreck of faith has often resulted because of these unscriptural alliances and partnerships!
Liberality.
Chapters 8 and 9 need to be studied on account of the forcible admonitions they give on the subject of liberality. "God loveth a cheerful giver." The example of the brethren in Macedonia going beyond their power in contributing of their substance to the cause of Christ, is one worthy of special notice and imitation.
Answering Prayer.
A most interesting experience is related by Paul in chapter 12, and the result of his repeated prayer to God that he might be relieved of the thorn in the flesh, is of special encouragement to all. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much," but sometimes the thing which we desire may be withheld from us, "God having provided some better thing for us." God may answer us by giving us assurance of grace to bear the infirmity instead of removing the difficulty. The thorn of which Paul speaks was doubtless defective eyesight. See Gal. 4:15. "My grace is sufficient for thee." What more can we want?
F. D. STARR.
THE WILL OF GOD
By W. A. Sweany
Transgression the Cause of Trouble.
MUCH of the prevalent, widespread disregard of the will of God grows out of the fear, entertained by many, that obedience thereto will entail inconvenience, temporal loss, and misfortune. It is true, as shown throughout human experience, that these experiences do, often, visit those who conform their lives to God's law. But note that it is invariably the transgression of God's law by the wicked that subjects the righteous to these experiences.
"In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity can not enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey; and the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment." Isa. 59:13-15. Obedience to Jehovah's requirements never causes trouble, strife, distress, misfortune, or loss. Those who disregard and oppose the will of God are responsible for these things.
His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. His "ways are ways of pleasantness," and all His "paths are peace." "His commandments are not grievous." "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 fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned; and in keeping of them there is great reward." Ps. 19:7-11. Because of the wicked, "all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution;" and it is "through much tribulation" that we must enter the kingdom.
The Source of Endurance.
But "His grace is sufficient" to cause us to endure, and even to rejoice in temptation, tribulation, persecution, and suffering. He "who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" "maketh the wrath of man to praise Him," so that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose." Seasoned and enriched by the grace of God, "a little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked;" for "riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven." "Riches profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death." Therefore "what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Verily "godliness is profitable unto all things; having promise of the life that now is, and also that which is to come." "The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance; but the name of the wicked shall rot." It therefore behooves every one to enter into covenant relation with Him, so that His law may be written in our hearts, and wrought out in our lives, and we "may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Jer. 31:31-34; Ps. 40:5-11; 119:11; Eze. 36:25-27; Matt. 7:21-27; Rev. 22:14.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me; seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." Hosea 4:6. These words reveal the solemn and important truth that ignorance of that which may be known is equally fatal with wilful disobedience. The antediluvians, tho fully warned, knew not of the coming Flood until it came and destroyed them all. Matt. 24:36-39. Had the Jews known, they would have repented, prepared, and been saved. Like the antediluvians, they knew not because they believed not. Altho faithfully entreated, counseled, and warned by all the prophets from Moses to Christ, the inhabitants of Jerusalem perished, because they knew not the things that belonged to their peace, and "the time of their visitation." Luke 19:41-44. Had the princes of this world known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Cor. 2:6-8. And they knew not, because they believed not. John 5:36-47.
Faith Precedes Understanding.
No man can ever understand that which he does not believe; for his unbelief prevents investigation, through which knowledge and understanding comes. The universal adoption of the principle that we must know all about a matter before we can believe it, which so many apply concerning the Scriptures, would stop all advancement in discovery, invention, and all scientific knowledge. Success in any enterprise or undertaking is impossible without belief and confidence therein. Every invention and discovery has been believed in by some one, in the face of popular scorn, ridicule, and opposition, long before it was fully understood even by the inventor or discoverer himself.
Knowledge is the result of faith; not faith the result of knowledge. It is the infidel and the skeptic who know least of the Bible. The man who refuses to believe a statement of Holy Writ until he can fully comprehend and understand it, thereby exalts his understanding as the supreme oracle of wisdom, without recourse to which nothing is to be accepted.
Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper." 2 Chron. 20:20. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Heb. 11:6. "All things are possible to him that believeth." "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief." Mark 9:23, 24.
However plainly Jehovah may declare His will concerning us, it must fail of its best effects unless we recognize and acknowledge His absolute right to command, and our unqualified duty to obey. Altho unquestioning obedience is required, yet the government of God is not, as Satan would make it appear, founded upon a blind submission, an unreasoning control. It appeals to the intellect and the conscience. "Come now, and let us reason together," is the Creator's invitation to the beings He has made.
