Modern science has demonstrated that of all unreliable things, ancient science is the most unreliable. We should, therefore, expect to eventually see modern science remanded to the same category. One of the greatest inventors of the age, Mr. Edison, whose inventions have had to do wholly with modern science, tells us that he has been constantly thrown off the track and misled by the frauds of science. He thus expresses his estimate of the authorities in modern science:
"They [the text-books] are mostly misleading. I get mad with myself when I think I have believed what was so learnedly set out in them.
_There are more frauds in science than anywhere else_.... Take a whole pile of them and you will find uncertainty, if _not imposition_, in half of what they state as scientific truth. They have time and again set down _experiments as done by them_, curious, out-of-the-way experiments, _that they never did_, and upon which they have founded so-called scientific truths. I have been thrown off my track often by them, and for months at a time.
You see a great name, and you believe it. Try the experiment yourself, and you find the result altogether different.... I tell you I"d rather know nothing about a thing in science, nine times out of ten, than what the books would tell me--for practical purposes, for applied science, the best science, the only science, I"d rather take the thing up and go through with it myself. I"d find out more about it than any one could tell me, and I"d be sure of what I know. That"s the thing. Professor this or that will controvert you out of the books, and prove out of the books it can"t be so, though you have it right in the hollow of your hand all the time and could break his spectacles with it."
Thus it is that these authorities have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. This is a marvelous age, an age of unsurpa.s.sed invention and discovery of truth, but it is not the _ne plus ultra_ of human wisdom--if we are to take any lessons from the past ages.
The wave theory of sound, which has been regarded as a settled scientific fact since the days of Pythagorean, is now vigorously attacked, and the adherents to the orthodox ground will have to rally their forces and reconsider their proofs, if they save the theory from slumbering among the follies of the past.
In the past few years the world has been startled by the bold theory of evolution, as advocated by Darwin, Haeckel, Huxley and others. Many have felt uneasy about the foundations of our faith. But such alarm is all premature. The glaring contradictions of one another of these modern apostles of a "gospel of dirt," and their self-stultification, are enough to convince any thoughtful reader, that if the race has not developed from apes, a few of them bear marks of descent from a.s.ses!
The credulity of this cla.s.s of men is simply marvelous. They can believe that a moneron can be developed into a man, but can not believe in a miracle! Their wonderful development of a moneron into a man terminates with the boundary line of time, and thus the _ne plus ultra_ is reached of their "infinite progression!"
In order to a proper appreciation of the present life, we must be deeply impressed with the nature of that which lies beyond. No one can well spend the present life who does not spend it in view of the life to come. Man must properly appreciate himself before he can live in harmonious relations with his being. No man can have that appreciation of himself essential to a true life, who believes that his ancestors were monerons and mud-turtles!
While there are many striking resemblances between animals and man, just such as we should expect to find from the hand of the same Creator, who began farthest from himself and worked to his own divine model, yet there are striking differentiae which demand profound consideration. Animals come into the world with the knowledge of their ancestors. The beaver knows just what its ancestors knew before the flood. It is born into the world with that transmitted knowledge. Its posterity will know no more during the millennium. On the contrary, man is born into the world an intellectual blank. However wise his parents, he inherits not one idea. He knows absolutely nothing except what he learns--learns from teachers and by experience. It would be incomprehensibly strange if man in his development from a mollusk, should acc.u.mulate inherited knowledge till he reaches the _ne plus ultra_ of terrestrial life, and then by a sudden break in the chain of nature lose it all, and come into the world a born fool!! This would be "development," "natural selection," and the "survival of the fittest,"
with a vengeance! Here is a chasm between man and the lower animals, made by the hand of G.o.d, that human wisdom can never bridge.
In his intellectual, moral and spiritual development, man starts from zero. G.o.d has thus ordained it. He is dependent on progression for all that he is and all that he is to be. G.o.d simply gives him a start in this world, with the numberless ages of eternity before him for infinite advancement. The idea, therefore, that "death ends all" nips in the bud this grand conception of man"s greatness, and blights forever that which is n.o.blest and truest in his nature. To regard this life as the _ne plus ultra_ of man"s development, is to charge nature with a freak of folly, and an abortion in her best works. Men may laud human virtue for human virtue"s sake; but if man is but the moth of a day, the fire-fly whose phosph.o.r.escent light flashes for a moment and then goes out in eternal night, his virtues are but the tales of the hour that have their value in the telling. If this life is all there is of man, then he is the most unmeaning portion of the creation of G.o.d.
There is for him no perfection, no satisfying of his inherent wants, and the whole of his existence is a sham and a fraud. As Young has beautifully said:
"How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, How complicate, how wonderful, is man!
How pa.s.sing wonder He who made him such!
Who centered in our make such strange extremes, From different natures marvelously mixed, Connection exquisite of distant worlds!
Distinguished link in being"s endless chain!
Midway from nothing to the Deity!
A beam ethereal, sullied, and absorbed!
Though sullied and dishonored, still divine!
Dim miniature of greatness absolute!
An heir of glory! a frail child of dust!
Helpless immortal! insect infinite!
A worm! a G.o.d!--I tremble at myself, And in myself am lost. At home, a stranger.
Thought wanders up and down, surprised, aghast, And wondering at her own. How reason reels!
O, what a miracle to man is man!
Triumphantly distressed! What joy! what dread!
Alternately transported and alarmed!
What can preserve my life? or what destroy?
An angel"s arm can"t s.n.a.t.c.h me from the grave; Legions of angels can"t confine me there."
It is only when we thus look beyond this life, and contemplate his relation to the Deity, that we realize the true dignity of man.
It is natural that you should desire power--power to bless the race and bring it nearer to G.o.d. Do not be discouraged if you do not find this power clothed in the world"s pomp and parade. The most G.o.d-like power comes not in this way. G.o.d works by quiet forces that man may scorn but can not equal. Behold that mountain of ice in the polar sea held by the relentless grip of a winter"s frost. All the engineering power of man could not shake it upon its throne. All the locomotives in the world could not move it an inch. But nature unveils her smiling face when the springtime comes, the sun sheds upon it his gentle rays, noiseless as the grave, too mild to hurt an infant"s flesh, and soon these mountains of ice relax their grip and glide away into the great deep! This is power. This power you may possess, and should strive to possess, through the gentle forces of a regenerated nature, till the quiet influences you exert for G.o.d will pa.s.s beyond the bounds of time and be expended on a sh.o.r.eless eternity.
In conclusion, then, let me urge you to live for eternity, and let the life that now is be with reference to that which is to come. Then will you progress from the low plane of our terrestrial sphere to a.s.sociation with G.o.d, and eternity alone will mark the _ne plus ultra_ in intellectual and spiritual development toward the Divine Being.
PART III.--SELECTIONS.
NEW TESTAMENT VIEWS OF CHRIST.
I.--CHRIST THE LAMB OF G.o.d.
"Behold, the Lamb of G.o.d, that taketh away the sin of the world"
(John i. 29)
The New Testament presents a many-sided view of Christ. From each point of view he appears in a new relation, and we study him in a different character. We can see but one side of a mountain by approaching it from only one direction. We must view it from every point from which it presents a different aspect, before we have seen it as it is. So we should study Christ in the many characters in which He is introduced upon the sacred page, that we may understand more of the many dear relations He sustains to us. The more we know of Him in His various relations, the more we will love Him and the better we will serve Him.
We therefore purpose a number of articles under the general t.i.tle of "New Testament Views of Christ." They will appear, we trust, with as much regularity as the press of other matters will permit.
After the temptation, Jesus returned to where John was baptizing, and began the work of gathering about Him His apostles. On different occasions, as Jesus moved among the mult.i.tudes during this visit, John pointed Him out as the Lamb of G.o.d. And John said, "I knew him not; but he that sent me to baptize in water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizeth with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of G.o.d" (John i. 33, 34). Both before and after this statement, John calls Him the Lamb of G.o.d. John knew that He was to make the Messiah manifest to Israel by His baptism, for G.o.d had told him so. He did not know Jesus to be the Christ till after His baptism, yet he shrank back from the idea of baptizing him, and pleaded his unworthiness. He was worthy, and specially appointed of G.o.d, to make manifest the Messiah, but gave way under a sense of unworthiness at the thought of baptizing his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth! What a flood of light does this pour upon the private life of the Son of Mary! John knew Jesus as a _man_; and while he doubtless had hopes that He was the long-promised One, he did not _know_ it, and could not base his refusal of baptism on that ground. John was baptizing for the remission of sins, and required those whom he baptized to confess their sins, and his knowledge of the spotless life of Jesus caused him to shrink at the thought of administering to Him such a baptism. Thus impressed with the purity and innocence of Jesus, it is not strange that he should call Him the Lamb of G.o.d.
But innocence is not the only prominent feature in contemplating Jesus as a lamb. The idea of sacrifice to which innocence and purity are essential has pre-eminence. The first accepted offering on the earth, of which we have an account, was a lamb. It was offered in faith; hence by divine direction. That Abel saw anything in it beyond an act of simple obedience to G.o.d in an arbitrary appointment, we have no reason to believe. He did what G.o.d directed, and because it was directed. This is the essential element of obedience in all ages, regardless of the thing required. Nothing else can be the "obedience of faith."
What different conceptions had G.o.d and Abel of that sacrifice! Abel saw in it only a "firstling of his flock." G.o.d saw in it His own Son--"the Lamb of G.o.d that taketh away the sin of the world." Not only so, but on this account was it directed. The fact that this was not revealed to Abel, shows that G.o.d intends us to obey Him in what He directs, without being concerned about the reasons He has for the requirement. He who sees the end from the beginning makes the first in execution conform to that which is to be last. Hence, the first act of worship, and every subsequent act, from the divine point of view, harmonizes with the perfection which in the fullness of times, was given us in Christ Jesus. The lamb of Abel borrowed all its value and significance from the Lamb of G.o.d. While we are enabled to see this through the development of the scheme of redemption, he was not; and the fact that his act of simple obedience in ignorance of G.o.d"s far-seeing purposes is recorded as an example for us, is of unspeakable value to the child of faith.
During the four thousand years in which G.o.d was preparing the world for Christ, both in patriarchal and Jewish worship, a lamb without spot or blemish was the most prominent offering for sin. In every case the offering was made as directed, and when made, the worshiper was a.s.sured that his sin was forgiven. Christ is our sin-offering--the Lamb of G.o.d that takes away our sins--and we must present Him before G.o.d as divinely directed. We may build no strange fire on G.o.d"s altars. We may subst.i.tute nothing for Christ as an offering for sin, and no ways of our own for G.o.d"s way, in His presentation.
In viewing Christ as the Lamb of G.o.d--the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world--the prominent feature of His saving relationship to us is His _blood_. Hence we are redeemed, not with silver and gold and perishable things, "but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." As a Lamb, Christ is sin-atoning. His power to save is not in the innocence of His life, but the merits of His death. The sacrifice of an innocent life is G.o.d"s wisdom and power to save the world. Let us remember it was for _us_ He was led as a lamb to the slaughter; that _our_ sins were laid upon Him; that He was bruised for _our_ iniquities; that He bore _our_ sins in His bosom on the tree; that by His stripes we are healed; that in His innocent life and sacrificial death, we behold the Lamb of G.o.d that taketh away the sin of the world.
NEW TESTAMENT VIEWS OF CHRIST.
II.--CHRIST THE BREAD OF LIFE.
"I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he will live forever; yea, and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world" (John vi. 48-51).
When the Israelites came out of Egypt and started on their wilderness journey to the promised land, they found themselves without sustenance.
The land furnished no supplies. In this respect they were cut off from earthly resources. In their emergency they cried unto the Lord, and G.o.d gave them bread from heaven. Each day they gathered the necessary supply. The amount for the Sabbath was gathered the day preceding.
Beyond this there was no collection for future use. An effort to save it proved a disgusting failure. Forty years did the daily supply of manna fail not, till they reached the land that G.o.d had promised.
The bread on which G.o.d fed His people from the land of bondage to the land of Canaan was a type of Christ. This is a.s.serted by both Paul and the Saviour. As such it is worthy of careful study.
1. The Israelites were wholly dependent on the daily bread which G.o.d gave. This was a want which the world could not supply. They must feed upon the heaven-supplied food or die. So is every one thus dependent on the bread of life. The world can not supply the wants of the child of G.o.d. He needs a daily food which the world does not produce. The world is to him a spiritual desert. He can not look to it to meet the wants of his spiritual nature. Being born from above, he has to live from above. When he seeks to gratify the cravings of his carnal nature by turning back to the flesh-pots of Egypt, he languishes and dies.
Be it remembered that this bread of life is Christ. It is not some theory about Him. It is not some system of theology of man"s formulation. Men may feed upon systems and theories till their souls are dwarfed and starved. Such feeding makes partisans and cold-blooded sectarians, without imparting divine life to the soul. We must come directly to Christ. Through His holy word we must study Him, a.s.similate our lives to His, feed upon Him as the bread from heaven, and drink in of His gracious spirit. The world took knowledge of the saints of old, that they had been with Jesus. And so it may now easily decide as to those of such holy companionship.
2. Christ is the bread of life. As such He has to be appropriated.
There is no virtue in bread to sustain life until it is appropriated and a.s.similated to the system. Men may starve within reach of abundance. G.o.d supplies the bread of life, but He does not compel men to eat it. They are urged to eat and live, but they may refuse and die.
Oh, the millions in our land who are starving for the bread of life, when it is offered them day by day! Unless we eat the body of the Son of G.o.d we have no life. Our salvation, therefore, depends upon eating.
Yet there is no virtue in the act of eating. The virtue is in the thing eaten. It is not putting on your coat that makes you warm, but the coat after it is on. Faith is a condition of salvation; but there is no power to save in believing. The saving virtue is in the thing believed.