I. If man could not reason—he would be no better
than a brute. When he will not reason—he is no better than a fool! He
who gave us souls gave us our reason. We are guilty when we refuse rightly
to use all our powers of mind. The stronger our faculties are the better, if
directed to a right end. The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's
crib; let us know the God who keeps and feeds us always. Brutes have
instincts; men have reason. Let them think often, earnestly, wisely.
II. We may have a deep sense of our needs; but we are not
fit to tell God in what he should instruct us. Nor can we judge of truths of
which we are wholly ignorant. But by using our reason aright we may learn
whether God has indeed spoken to us in the Bible. In the same way we may, by
his blessing, learn what his word means. Yet men are not saved by their wit
nor by their logic. Some seem inclined to put reason in the place of the
Almighty, and worship it. They speak great swelling words of vanity. They
say that they have too good an opinion of God to believe that he will do
such and such things; when he has often said he will do them, and when he is
doing them every day. The human mind is very weak. It is liable to many
prejudices. He who would find truth must love truth. Sincerity is always
called for. He who would find truth must search for it as for hid treasure.
III. Reason cannot believe an absurdity. No contradiction
is a truth. Men sometimes say that they believe things absurd, but they are
mistaken. No lie is of the truth. It has not its nature nor its marks. If we
knew all about it, we would see how absurd it is. A thing may be very
strange, and yet it may be true. "Wonder is broken knowledge." God never
wonders, because his knowledge is infinitely perfect.
IV. For a long time men sought to know God by reason
alone, but they utterly failed. For ages the world by wisdom attempted to
know God, but it knew him not. 1 Cor. 1:21. The more completely men were
left without divine teaching, the grosser was their ignorance. A revelation
therefore was clearly necessary. In lands where the word of God was not, the
more the arts and sciences have been cultivated, the more have false gods
been multiplied. The Chinese know many useful and ornamental arts, and have
much literature, yet they have gods by the million. The more ancient Rome
extended her conquests, the more gods did she worship in the Pantheon. The
Athenians worshiped all the gods they knew, and then to be sure they omitted
none, they erected an altar to the unknown God. Acts 17:23. Left to itself,
reason will but grope its way to the judgment through the thickest darkness.
"Whatever the light of nature could do for man before reason was depraved,
it is evident it has done little for man since."
V. Why should it be thought incredible that He who made
man should speak to him? The heathen tell us that their gods wrap themselves
up in the mantle of their dignity, and retire from human affairs. But while
the true God is in the heavens, he is also upon earth. To the teachable the
volume of nature is constantly telling its secrets. Why may not He who knows
all things, tell us something about himself, and the right way of pleasing
him? He knows all things; why should not he tell us those things which
greatly concern both his honor and our welfare? "He who planted the ear,
shall he not hear? He who formed the eye, shall he not see? He who teaches
man knowledge, shall not he know?" Psalm 94:9, 10. It is perverseness to
deny that God can make known his mind if he chooses to do it. He who knows
all things can teach us whatever it is important for us to know.
VI. A revelation, not accompanied with sufficient
evidences of its being from God, would avail us nothing. If it were
unfriendly to truth, justice, honor, kindness, or piety, we might know that
it did not come from God. If it contained falsehoods or contradictions; if
it rested on the mere assertion of some man who said God had spoken to him;
if it were accompanied with no power over the human heart and conscience; if
its doctrines were unworthy of even a good man; if it were accompanied with
no signs, or wonders, such as God only can give; if its aim was not
holiness; if those who walked most according to its spirit and precepts were
vile and bad men; in short, if it promoted ungodliness and malignity—we
could not regard it as a communication from a good God.
So, if the men who testified of the life, character,
doctrines, and miracles of Jesus Christ, had been greedy of filthy lucre,
anxious for human applause, or earnest in seeking for sensual
gratifications, and by their stories had succeeded in these base plans, we
could not have credited what they told us. But none of them ever accumulated
wealth. Instead of pleasure, they had torture. Instead of honor or applause,
they were esteemed the offscouring of all things. They were accounted as
sheep for the slaughter all the day long. They were always delivered unto
death. Yet they never swerved from their testimony, but they constantly
affirmed the truth of all they had spoken. Every kind of appropriate
evidence accompanies the revelation which God has given us.
VII. When we open the Bible we find its statements
calm, sober, reasonable; its doctrines searching and humbling to the
pride of man; its precepts pure, just, and comprehensive; its
promises plain and well suited to cheer the heart of godly men; its
threatenings awful, and suited to deter the wicked from their courses.
In short, it says nothing hurtful to man or unworthy of God; but it greatly
encourages holy men in their right ways, and God is by it more honored than
by all other books ever written. The only people who cheerfully submit all
to God, are those who firmly believe the Bible.
VIII. This book has authority over the human mind and
conscience. Such is its power, that when two noted and ingenious infidels of
former days undertook to read it through in order to find faults in it, they
were both converted, and both wrote in its favor. Its words are life and
spirit. In a day of God's power they entirely transformed three thousand of
Christ's murderers into his adoring worshipers. It still converts, purifies,
and comforts the hearts of all who truly receive it.
IX. This word of God is intended for all. Even infidels,
who know it and reject it, shall be judged by it. So said Christ, who will
judge the world: "He who rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that
judges him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the
last day." John 12:48. By searching the Scriptures David was made wiser than
his enemies. He had more understanding than all his teachers. He understood
more than the ancients. Psalm. 119:98-100. He who has ears to hear, let him
hear all that God says. He who has eyes to read, let him read all God's
word. To a great mass of people, some of them enemies and opposers, Jesus
said, "Search the Scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life;
and they are they which testify of me." John 5:39. It is a sad error in any
church to discourage the reading and study of God's word by the people. Such
take away the key of knowledge. Luke 11:52. God's word is a lamp to our feet
and a light unto our path. Psalm. 119:105.