Chapter XIII: Science, or Faith? (3)

There is your comrade Smith, whom you have known for years, actually got up to speak in meeting. You are surprised; but listen: "Neighbors and friends, most of you know I never cared much about religion, and was often given to take more liquor than was good for me, and then I would fight and curse awful bad. I knew as well as anybody that it wasn't right, and always felt bad after a spree, and many a time I said I would turn over a new leaf, and be good. But it was all no use, for as soon as any of the fellows would come around after me, I always went along with them, till at last I gave it up and said it was no use to try. Still, whenever any of my acquaintances died, I felt scared like; and I kept away as far as I could from churches and preachers and such like, because I could not bear to think about God and judgment to come. Well, about five weeks ago my little Minnie set on me one Sabbath morning to carry her to church, and to please the little creature--for she is as pert a darling as you could see anywhere--I told my wife to get her ready, and we would go. She seemed as if she would cry, and kept talking to herself all the way. When we got into the church the singing almost upset me, for I had not been to a church since I was a little fellow, just before father and mother died. But it seemed as if it was the same tune, and as if the tune brought them all back, and as if I saw them again and all the family, and heard mother sing as she used to, and I forgot church and everything, and thought I was a little fellow playing about on the floor just as I used to do when I was a happy child. When they stopped I was so sorry, and wished I could just be as innocent and as happy as I was then. Well, it seemed like the preacher had been reading my thoughts, for he gave out for his text, '_Verily, verily, I say unto you, unless a man be born again he can not see the kingdom of God._' He began to preach how Jesus can give us new hearts, and save us from our sins; that his blood cleanses from all sin; that he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through him. The tears came into my eyes, and I could hardly keep my mouth shut till I got out. When I got home I knelt down, and cried to Jesus to save me from my sins; and my wife prayed too, and we cried for mercy. The Lord heard us, and I felt light and happy, and I went to church again, and sung with the rest. And the best of it is, the Lord delivered me from the drink; as I told a man who asked where I was going to-day, and I told him I was going to prayer-meeting, for I had got religion now. He said there were a great many religions, and most of them wrong, and a great many people said all religion was only a notion, and preaching only nonsense. I says to him, 'Look here, stranger, do you see that tavern there?' 'Yes,' says he. 'Well,' says I, 'do you see me?' 'I do, of course,' says he. 'Well,' says I, 'every little fellow in these parts knows that so long as Tom Smith had a quarter in his pocket he could never pass that tavern without having a drink. All the men in Jefferson could not stop him. Now look here,' says I, 'there is my week's wages, and I can go past, and thank God I don't feel the least like drinking, for the Lord Jesus has saved me from it. If you call that a notion, it is a mighty powerful notion, and it is a notion that has put clothes on my children's backs, and plenty of good food on my table, and songs of praise to the Lord in my mouth. _That's a fact, stranger._ Glory be to God for it. And I would recommend you to come to prayer-meeting with me, and maybe you would get religion too. A great many people are getting religion now.'"

His last remark is certainly very true. There are so many, and of such various characters and grades of life, and in so many places, that every reader can easily find several Tom Smiths of his own acquaintance, whose conversions display all the essential facts of this case, and prove that:

5. The facts of religious experience _are better attested, and more unobjectionable_ than those of any other science.

Unless they can be shown to be unreasonable or impossible, we are bound to receive them, when presented by the experimentists who have discovered them, though personally we may not have any such experience; just as we believe the chemists, or the astronomers who relate their discoveries which personally we have not observed. But the facts of religion are _by no means unreasonable_. They can not be shown to contradict any known law of the human mind. It is true they are mysterious. But so are the facts of physical science--heat, light, electricity, gravitation. Of either, we may be quite certain that such phenomena exist, and utterly ignorant of the mode of their operation. It were as utterly unphilosophical to deny that Almighty God could impart nervous energy to the languid limbs of your sick neighbor, because you are ignorant of its origin and means of transmission, as to deny that God could impart spiritual electricity to his paralyzed soul, because you are ignorant of the mode in which he bestows it. And ignorance is all that you can plead in this case. You must just admit that having tried an experiment which you have not, your religious friend has a right to know more than you.

Moreover, the facts of religion are presented for belief upon _the most abundant and reliable testimony_. In physical science you must rely on the testimony of a very few observers--the great bulk even of scientific men having no opportunity of testing the facts themselves, and being well satisfied if any fact is confirmed by the testimony of two or three philosophers--and this testimony often contradictory, and always fallible, as the discordant results of their experiments prove. But here you have a great multitude of experimentists, in every city and village of the land, of every variety of intellect and education, prosecuting the same course of experiments, and all arriving at the same results. They do not all confess the _same_ sins, but they all felt the power of _some_ sin, and felt miserable in their guilt. And however they may differ in their external circumstances, their inward constitution, or in their views of the outward part of religion, there is no difference among them about the great facts of their religious experience. They all believed the faithful saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, cried to God for mercy through him, and received peace of mind, grace to live a new life, and to delight in the worship of God. Do you know any science which has been prosecuted by one-hundredth part of this number of inquirers? Which has been confirmed by one-thousandth part of this number of experimenters? Or any experiment tried with such uniform and unfailing success as this, "_Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved?_"[384] Why then do you hesitate to admit the correctness of these facts? Is it because you perceive they lead to results which you dislike?

They do lead to results. They are effects and tell us of a cause. They are powerful effects, and proclaim a powerful cause. They are moral and spiritual effects, and assure us of the existence of a moral and spiritual agent who has caused them. They are holy effects, and convince your sinful soul that they are produced by a holy being. But they are also benevolent, life-giving, blessed effects, and proclaim that God is love. The Lord, the Spirit, is as plainly declared in the facts of religious experience, as the Creator is in the creation of the universe; and it were as rank Atheism to attribute these orderly and blessed results to chance or to evil passions, as to attribute the Cosmos to blind fate, or to the beasts that perish. He is as much an enemy to his happiness who denies the one, as a foe to his reason who rejects the other. Dear reader, why should you not believe in,

6. _The only science which can make you happy?_ which can bestow peace of mind, nerve you to conquer your evil habits, enable you to live a holy and happy life, and to die with a blessed hope of a glorious resurrection? You know there is no science which makes any such offers, or which you would believe if it did. But the Bible unfolds a science which does, and enables you to believe it too. The facts of religious experience give most convincing evidence of the reality and power of the grace of God. It were as easy to persuade a Christian that he had produced this change of heart and life by the excitement of his own feelings, as that he had kindled the sun with a lucifer match. And the character of the work and the worker assures him that it will not be left unfinished. His faith receives these facts of religious experience as the first installments upon God's bonds, and as pledges for the payment of the remainder of his promises. The joy and peace which God gives him now, prove most satisfactorily his ability and willingness to give him larger measures of these enjoyments when he is capable of receiving them. Just as we have good reason to believe that he who has made the sun to rise out of darkness will guide him onward in his course to perfect day, have we also good reason to believe that he that hath begun the good work of his grace in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Christ is in us the hope of glory. This eternal life, which is begun in our souls, is so much superior to mere animal vitality, that we can not doubt that he who has given us the greater, will also give us the lesser, and quicken our mortal bodies also, by his Spirit which dwelleth in us. We know that our Redeemer liveth.

7. And now, in conclusion, dear reader, we ask you not to take these things on our testimony, nor yet on our experience; _but to try for yourself_. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good. Come see the Savior who has saved us, and be saved by him too. There is nothing more dangerous, unless resisting the evidence of the truth as it is in Jesus, than acknowledging this to be truth without immediately obeying the gospel. God requires your immediate and cordial acceptance of Christ to save you from your sins. He tells you that the only way of escape from your sins now and from hell hereafter is through him; for there is none other name given under heaven or among men whereby you must be saved. He promises to hear your prayer and give you his Holy Spirit to work in you the work of faith with power, if you will only and earnestly ask. "_Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: What man is there of you whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?_"[385]

Thus you will come to possess an actual experimental knowledge of the most excellent of the sciences. In the present begun enjoyment of eternal life you will, not merely believe in, but positively _know_, its Author, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. You will rest in no fallible and erring testimony of man's wisdom, but your faith will stand in the power of God. You will be able to say, "_Now we believe not because of thy sayings: for we have heard him ourselves, and_ KNOW _that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the World._"[386]

Hear God's own warrant and invitation to your poor, thirsty soul, to forsake your vanities and come and be eternally blessed in Christ. Have the witness in yourself and be a living proof of the blessed reality of religion.

"Ho every one that thirsteth! Come ye to the waters!
And he who hath no money! Come ye, buy and eat!
Yea, come! Buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?
And your labor for that which satisfieth not?
Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good,
And let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Incline your ear and come unto me:
Hear and your soul shall live:
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
Even the sure mercies of David.
Behold! I have given him for a witness to the people,
A leader and a commander to the people:
Behold! thou shall call nations that thou knowest not,
And nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee,
Because of the Lord thy God,
And for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee.

"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found,
Call ye upon him while he is near:
Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him,
And to our God for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are my ways higher than your ways,
And my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven,
And return not thither again,
But water the earth, and cause it to bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater;
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:
It shall not return unto me void,
But it shall accomplish that which I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.
The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing,
And all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree,
And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree:
_And it shall be to the Lord for a name,
For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off._"

FOOTNOTES:

[322] Holyoak's Discussion with Grant and Tonney.

[323] Bacon Novum Organum, I. xlix. xlvi.

[324] Sir W. Hamilton's Lectures, I. 53.

[325] Journal of Speculative Philosophy, I. 20.

[326] Humboldt, _Cosmos_, Vol. I. p. 7, 156.

[327] Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid, 356.

[328] Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1852.

[329] Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1852.

[330] _Cosmos_, 4, 518. Dick's _Celestial Scenery_, chap. III. Sec. 7.

[331] _Cosmos_, 1, 75. Loomis' _Progress of Astronomy_, pp. 34, 40

[332] Loomis' _Progress of Astronomy_, p. 34, etc.

[333] _Outlines of Astronomy_, III. Sec. 13, 140.

[334] Thus several of the best telescopes in the world are rendered nearly useless by the passage of heavy railroad trains in their vicinity.

[335] Somerville's Physical Sciences, VI.

[336] Cosmos IV. 477. Phillips' Address to the British Association, 1865.

[337] North British Review, LXV.

[338] Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1864, 158.

[339] Cosmos I. 109.

[340] Cosmos IV. 501.

[341] Cosmos IV. 378.

[342] Harper's Magazine, June, 1872, p. 149.

[343] Annual Scientific Discovery, 1864, 134.

[344] Cosmos III. 40; IV. 363. Annual, 1861, 395, 396.

[345] Cosmos IV. 474.

[346] Kendall's Uranography, p. 11.

[347] Cosmos, 443-5.

[348] North British Review, No. LXV.

[349] Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1852, 119.

[350] Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1854, 150.

[351] Cosmos III. 115.

[352] Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1860.

[353] Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1852, 139.

[354] Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1864, 166.

[355] Plurality of Worlds, XII.

[356] North British Review, LXV.

[357] God's Glory in the Heavens, 168.

[358] Annual Scientific Discovery, 1863, 324.

[359] Cosmos IV. 378.

[360] See this proved chapter XI., _Daylight Before Sunrise_.

[361] See the possibility of such a source of volcanic action, of such a formation of plutonic rocks, proved by Lyell. _Principles_, chaps. XXXII. and XII.

[362] Sir David Brewster, K. H., D. C. L., F. R. S., _More Worlds than One_, p. 56.

[363] _Rudiments of Geology_, W. & R. Chambers, p. 10.

[364] Lyell's _Principles of Geology_, p. 3.

[365] Miller, _Old Red Sandstone_, p. 25.

[366] Hugh Miller, _Footprints of the Creator_, p. 313.

[367] American Cyclopædia, 1863, p. 374. Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1861, p. 351.

[368] London Quarterly Review, 1866, No. 51, p. 240.

[369] Lyell's Second Visit to the United States.

[370] _The Advance_, Chicago, May 28, 1868.

[371] Geological Time.

[372] _Principles_, Chaps. III. and IV.

[373] _Principles_, chap. XI.

[374] _Principles_, p. 530.

[375] _Principles_, chap. XXXI.

[376] Chambers' Cyclopædia Art. Appalachians.

[377] Types of Mankind, 329, 335, 338.

[378] The American Journal of Science and Art, edited by Profs. Silliman and Dana, XXVI. 235, 300.

[379] Frazer--Blending Lights, p. 113.

[380] De Vore's _Modern Magic_, 58.

[381] Isaiah, chap. xlviii. 22.

[382] John, chap. iii.

[383] 2 Timothy, chap. iii. Read the whole chapter.

[384] Romans, chap. x. Read the chapter.

[385] The Sermon on the Mount. Read it all.

[386] John, chap. iv.

[THE END.]

Transcriber's Notes:

Missing punctuation, including periods, hyphens, and commas, has been added.

Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

Variations in spelling have been left as in the original in the following words:

coveredst coverest
orang-otang orang-outang
water-skin waterskin

The following words use an oe ligature in the original:

foetus Phoenician
Phoebus Phoenicians
Phoenicia

The spelling of the last name of Scottish astronomer John Pringle Nichol has been corrected throughout the text.

The spelling of the last name of French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck has been corrected throughout the text.

The spelling of the last name of French physicist Claude-Servais-Mathias Pouillet has been corrected throughout the text.

The spelling of the last name of Hellenistic astrologer Vettius Valens has been corrected throughout the text.

The spelling of the last name of French mathematician Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier has been corrected throughout the text.

A series of three asterisks * * * represents an ellipsis in the text. Shorter and longer rows of asterisks have been standardized to three asterisks.

The carat ^ character indicates that the following numbers (enclosed in {} brackets) are superscripted in the original.

The mathematical formula 4+3/2 is rendered 4 + 1-1/2 in the original.

Footnote 15 reads "Origin of Species, 4, 10, 127, 9, 97, 100, 409, 410, 415, 423. Descent of Man, 192, 204, and II.--15, 257." The page number "9" is probably a typographical error, but it has been left as in the original.