Can So Many Be Wrong?
(Times and Seasons, Dec. 1, 1844, Vol. 5, p. 730)

I commenced with 2d Samuel 18th chapter, showing that men were often permitted to run and bear tidings, when in reality they were not chosen; nor can they ever publish the truth when they undertake it. On account of their wonderful aspiring principle and disposition, add continual importunity, they are permitted to go. They are often called good men, as in the present case, but like Ahimaaz, they have heard a great tumult, but, "knew not anything about the matter." "Some cry one thing, and some another;" although, they are all under the influence of the same spirit, and acknowledge each is "orthodox," only disagreeing in little "nonessentials;" yet they always find one essential to arouse the minds, and excite the fears of the people, by false representations; and finally some old mother has died wonderfully happy, shouting Hallelujah! Glory!! and very soon some body else begins to feel the benign influence of the noisy spirit, they are straightway called into the crazy-pen, where astonishing feats are performed, and amidst the most abominable confusion and obscenity, many get religion, and are now completely qualified to receive an inheritance in the Kingdom, away beyond the bounds of time and space; where they shall ever dwell in the presence, and enjoy eternally the smiles of a God who sits on the "tip top of a topless throne," a being "without body or parts, or passions." Very different from the God, who hid Moses in the cleft of the rock with his hand, or Jesus either, for the Angels said "This same Jesus shall return in like manner," &c. When Peter had preached to the people on the day of Pentecost, until they were "pricked in their hearts," they knew that God worked by means, and there was something for them to do, and when the inquiry was made, Peter was able to give the necessary instruction, without hesitation, and without his "opinion." He had been instructed himself by the God of Heaven. He had not any desire to make an image in the form of a calf, and call it an anxious seat, a mourning bench, nor had he been to college, and learned to make spiritualizing machines, and convert the truth of God into a lie. A poor illiterate fisherman had no more sense than to speak what the Lord put into his mouth. "Repent and be baptized" &c. This was the order of God. The promise was to them, and their children, and as many as the Lord our God shall call. If the same order is not yet to be observed, it follows most certainly, that God has ceased to call men. Paul taught the same doctrine, and practised the same ordinances as Peter did, and called it the gospel of Jesus Christ: "The power of God unto salvation, to every one that believed." (See Rom. 6th chapter, Heb. 6th chapter, and Acts 19th chapter.) He also pronounced a curse on any one, even an angle from heaven, who should preach any other gospel. (Eph. 1st chapter.) There was "one Lord, one faith, and one baptism." Consequently the apostles and elders all taught the same thing: being organized, set in order, and being authorised to administer to the Saints. (James 5th chapter.)

This is the law and testimony exhibited clearly, and "If they abide not therein, it is because there is no light in them." The Jews continued in all things written in the law of Moses, because it was the commandment of God; nor do they believe the Messiah has yet come. Often the inquiry is made by the present generation, can so many people be wrong? So many good preachers, and so happy at camp-meetings. I ask could all the Antedeluvians, only Noah and his posterity, be wrong? Could all the inhabitants of that great city, Sodom, be wrong, only Lot and his two daughters? Could all Israel, and the world be wrong, only a few despised Nazarines, in the days of Jesus Christ’s probation? Yes, it was so. Those who alone claimed to be the people of God, who actually held the oracles of God in their own hands, desired a murderer in his stead. The Rabbis influenced the people, just as they do now, and said "Let his blood be upon us, and our children!" Mark the calamities that fell on that people, and then only see with what unconcern the professing world cry out against the prophet and Saints of God: like those who slew Stephen, they gnash their teeth with rage! Take care! Remember those who spake against Moses.

(1st Kings 22d chapter.) A lying spirit was permitted to go from the presence of God, to seduce four hundred of Ahab’s prophets, that Ahab might go out and fall in battle. While one prophet determined to speak only what the Lord put in his mouth, he declared the evil that would befall Ahab, for which he was severely afflicted.

The religion of this generation is just like that of Ahab: (2d Kings 17th chapter,) their priesthood being originated with the Old Lady. (Rev. 17th chapter.) "By their works you shall know them." Wonderful attainments, gay attire, sumptuous fare, golden cups, and praise of men! The greatest characteristic of piety—"Shed the blood of Saints and Prophets." Recollect David slew Uriah, although he did not wield the weapon of death with his own hand. The cruel principles practised by Apostate Rome, drove the church of Jesus Christ into the wilderness. Job said, "In the wilderness there is no way."

(James J. Strang, Northern Islander, June 24, 1852, p. 286)

Its Natural Causes-Changes Accompanying It-Certainty As A Fact In Science

To one well acquainted with the surface and appearance of the earth, the extent of its continents, and the height of its mountains, nothing would be more difficult to conceive possible than an universal deluge. Yet are we required, not merely by the traditions of nearly all nations, but by our faith in the sacred oracles, to believe that such an event has taken place in the time past.

I propose, in a brief essay, to show that such an event, however impossible it may be now, was, at the creation, quite possible; and beyond the mere testimony of historic writing, to show from the geologic structure of the earth, and its planetary arrangement, that it has occurred.

The great difficulty in believing in the verity of an universal deluge arises from the impossibility of obtaining water to produce it. Water will naturally and forever seek its own level. The mass of the waters find their common level at the surface of the ocean. If all the lakes, rivers and fountains of were drained into the ocean, they would suffice to raise it but a very few feet--probably not more than two or three. But the highest mountains are elevated some five miles above the level of the ocean. From what source was the water supplied that deluged these mountains?

This is the great question concerning the deluge. This we propose to answer, not merely to the fanatical, but to the philosophical, in a manner perfectly satisfactory to the rational and thinking.

Any one will readily admit that such an event as an universal deluge must have effected great changes; and must also have been produced by means of great changes of some kind or other.-Though the earth in its present condition could not be deluged, was it not so created that it could be deluged as easily as any other great event in nature could be produced?

Gen. i. 1, 6, 75 8, 9, 10.- "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament heaven. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he seas."

By this short account it appears that the earth was not created as it now is, with its surface one vast ocean, broken by two continents, and specked with innumerable islands. It was a vast surface of land, with here and there in its deepest vallies a gathering together of waters called seas. The great body of water which has filled up these seas till they join together in one vast ocean was then the waters "above the firmament." For God formed the firmament, that is, the natural heavens, dividing the waters above it from the waters below it.

There was, then, at the creation, a vast body of water above the firmament. That water should thus be held above the firmament cannot be regarded as incredible, since the planet Jupiter is found by modem astronomers to be thus situated at the present time. It has its belts or rings of aqueous matter constantly surrounding it, and the centripetal and centrifugal attractions which keep all the planets in their proper orbits would, as they do in the case of the planet Jupiter, keep this water at the proper elevation above the earth. So it did not require any act of violence to the laws of nature to keep a great body of the water above the firmament, and therefore off from the earth, leaving the principal part of the earth dry land, fit for the habitation of man, for whom it seems most perculiarly designed.

The planet Jupiter has no change of seasons; no natural division into zones. The plane of its equator and ecliptic are identical, and its days and nights are continually of the same length. And, though astronomers have not observed the fact, it is nevertheless a demonstrable truth, that its nights are distinguished from its days by a very moderate degree of darkness, quite insufficient to break off men's ordinary avocation. For the reflections of light upon the internal surface of its rings must extend its twilight quite round its circurmference.--So, too, when the earth was in like manner surrounded by its waters above the firmament, it could not properly be said that day and night alternated, but evening and morning altertnated.-There was no night there.

It is an interesting fact in this connection that all mention of natural events and of the habits of the antediluvians confirm us in the opinion that previous to the deluge there was no change of season, no burning heat, or freezing cold, but a perpetual harvest in spring time.

It is nowhere mentioned that any of the Antediluvians lived in houses. True, one tribe, "dwelt in tents." Gen. iv. 20. Yet this is spoken of as a marked peculiarity which distinguished them from other tribes. I may safely affirm further that the sacred writer did not originally assert that the sons of Jabal dwelt in "tents," but only that they dwelt in changeable habitations. They were herdsmen; or, in the simple language of the sacred historian, "such as have cattle," and wandered about from place to place, dwelling where inclination led them, instead of cities or fixed places, where various tribes constantly dwelt.

Previous to the deluge men wore clothing, it is true; but this was merely to cover themselves for shame, (Gen. iii. 7,21) and not to protect from inclement weather; and the ideas of heat and cold are nowhere named or alluded to till after the deluge. Seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, rain and drouth are all ideas originating with the deluge. At the time of the creation we are told that it did not rain, but that God caused a mist to go up from the earth, and water it. Gen. ii. 6.

When the flood abated from the earth, God "spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you: neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood: neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you; and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant which is between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." Gen. ix. 8 to 16.

Thus it appears that the rainbow was not known till after the deluge. Yet any one having the slightest acquaintance with the laws of light can readily see that there could be no rain but the rainbow would appear to those who were on the sunny side of the storm. It is vain to pretend that the rainbow was miraculously introduced. It is produced by well known natural causes; causes existing in the nature of light itself, and therefore coeval with it. The non-existence of the rainbow previous to the deluge, therefore pre-supposes the non-existence of rain, and of clouds high above the earth.

To account for all these facts, so different from what we find in the present state of the earth, we have only to give credence to the account of the creation in Genesis that God made a firmament to divide the waters above the firmament from the water below, and that he gave the earth the same manner of motion with the planet Juniper, which has its firmament dividing its waters in the same manner.

The waters around the earth protected the equatorical regions from the burning heat, and the reflected rays from the sides of the rings made up for the loss of heat by the obliquity of the sun's rays in the polar regions. The water was so near above that mists did not rise into clouds; but if the tendency to ascend was strong, the mists would be attracted to the waters above.--If not strong enough for that, they watered the earth in dews, which, falling on the earth every day, always watered without ever drenching it.

With the poles of the earth always perpendicular to the ecliptic, there could be no change of seasons; and the warmth and moisture of every part of the earth gave it universal and perpetual fruitfulness. In the cultivation of the soil man had only to contend with thorns and thistles, (Gen. iii. 18) which, like the fruits, were everywhere spontaneous. With such a climate the growth of plants could not but be exuberant in every part of the earth; and, considering these facts, the geological remains of equatorial plants of enormous size, near the poles, can no longer surprise us.

Corresponding to this theory the sacred historian, speaking of the coming of the flood, says, "the same day were all the foundations of the great deep broken up, and the WINDOWS OF HEAVEN WERE OPENED." The opening of the windows of heaven can mean nothing but the pouring down of the waters above the firmament.

As to the means by which the waters were precipitated to the earth, it does not become me to speak dogmatically. But it is enough to know that a large comet passing in the immediate vicinity of the earth would be cause sufficient to incline down the waters by deranging the balance of centripetal and centrifugal attraction, and thus deluge the earth and produce an alternation of seasons by one single act.

There could be no bow before the deluge, for there was no rain. There could be none during the deluge, for the rain was then universal, and there was no sunny side on which to form a bow.

But as soon as the deluge was finished, God set the bow in the cloud; not be creating a new law of light, but only by that change of circumstances which brought it into action. The law of light by which the refraction of the sun's rays at a certain angle produces the rainbow is doubtless eternal--immutable--essential to the existence of light itself, and therefore could not have been produced by the exercise of creative power even, at the time of the deluge. It must have been in existence as a scientific truth as long as light had a being.

The same act which precipitated the waters above the firmament to the earth, also broke up the fountains of the great deep. For the attractive power of a comet or other heavenly body sufficient to change the position of the earth in its orbit would produce a tide even in the inland seas of the Antediluvian earth sufficient to inundate all the low grounds about their shores.

A question will be raised, how does it happen that the water does not now cover the whole earth? For, says the sacred writer, "the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole heavens were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered." Gen. vii. 19, 20.

This objection is predicated upon the theory that the water stood at a dead level fifteen cubits above the tops of the mountains. Such a theory is not warranted by the language of the sacred historian. The historian waters prevailed fifteen cubits where the writer speak of; probably where the ark was; but in regard to the high hills and the tops of the mountains, we are only assured that they were covered. After this (Gen. viii.) we leam that the waters abated, but we do not learn that any part of them were returned to the heavens, or in any way removed, except by abating; that is, sinking down to their natural level. In thus sinking down the present division of land and water, with some slight differences, was doubtless formed, without any diminution of the quantity of water, which, in the act of precipitation, "covered the tops of the highest mountains," so as to destroy everything "that had the breath of life."

After the deluge, the Lord said, "I will not any more curse the ground for man's sake, neither will I again smite every living thing, as I have done." And the earth having lost its perenial productiveness, in the alternation of seasons, which was established by the change of the direction of the earth's axis, he promised farther, (Gen. viii. 22,) "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." This is the first mention in all human records, of any such changes.--They were new facts, founded on the new state of the earth, and the promise was that the earth should not be any farther cursed, so as to take away the advantages it then possessed.

Agreeing with this hypothesis is the fact that throughout all northern Europe and Asia the skeletons of elephants and other animals peculiar to the tropics are found in vast abundance. Indeed, not many years since the carcass of an elephant was discovered imbeded in a vast mass of ice near North Cape in Norway, in a state of nearly perfect preservation. It was first brought to light by the sliding on of a vast avalanche, undermined by the constant washing of the sea. The flesh was being devoured by the bears as fast as it thawed out, but so perfect was its preservation that almost the entire hide, as well as the skeleton, were preserved for the royal museum. This carcass, previous to the abrasion of the ice, was imbedded several hundred feet beneath the surface of snow and ice, where it had been left at the abating of the waters of the deluge, frozen by the first frosts, and covered by the first snows ever witnessed on the earth.

There are places where the waters are constantly wearing away the coasts of Greenland, and imbedded in ice, and covered with snows, are cane brakes as regular as any on the Mississippi, and of as luxuriant a growth as those of Central America. These must have grown, as the animals lived, at a period when the polar regions had a tropical climate; that is, in the Antediluvian world.

In the Delta of the Mississippi, the Niger and several other large rivers, forests are found standing where they grew, buried in the alluvian which has been accumulating for ages, and remaining perfect in their structure to about sea level. Those forests are extensive in Louisiana, and in the lower part of the State the trees are found entire. Further up the tops are rotted away down to sea level, but in either places if you dig down to the roots they are found to stand in the soil where they grew.--These forests must have grown when the surface of the ocean was below where their roots now are.

Geologists have attempted to account for the existence of these forests by supposing that the ground has sunk since they grew. But it is a well known fact that the downsinking and up-rising of the earth goes on so very slowly as to be scarcely perceptible in a generation.--Consequently if these grounds had merely sunk by the burning out of internal fires, (as the countries bordering on the German ocean are supposed to be,) the forests would have utterly wasted long before the waters rose over them so as to preserve them.

Unquestionably these forests are Antediluvian. They grew on their present level, and were drowned out and preserved from decay by the waters of the ocean, which was filled up at the subsiding of the deluge so as to cover them; those portions of the forest not entirely submerged rotting off near the surface of the water, and preserved merely the stumps. The annual deposit of mud since that time have filled up these narrow and shallow portions of the ocean, and made Deltas where were formerly the estuaries of the great rivers.

This hypothesis stands with the account given by the sacred historian, both of the creation, the history of the antediluvians and the deluge. It agrees with a vast mass of facts discovered by the scientific in modem times in the geology of the earth. It makes the flood a possible and probable fact, which would otherwise be incredible and impossible. And I submit that the various facts and circumstances referred to in the course of this article, show it not merely possible and probable, but true." (Northern Islander, June 24, 1852, p. 286, 288)

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Faith And Intelligence
(Gospel Herald, Vol. 4, p. 5/593)

“In reading the proof of the article ‘on faith,’ in our last No., we were struck with the remarks on the necessity of intelligence in order to work by faith.  The question immediately raised, what kind of intelligence is necessary that we may work by faith?  We should have added a note at the time in answer to the question, but it was too late to do so in that paper.  It is very certain that men do constantly, through faith, do work, not having intelligence to understand the working.  We sow grain in faith of reaping a crop by the germination and growth of that we sow.  But not one of us has the slightest knowlege of the law of germination—of the immediate means by which kernels of wheat, sown in a soil, will rot away and yet grow up and extract from that soil and the atmosphere and actually form anew forty times as many more similar kernels.  The wheat grower has intelligence to know the external act, but not the secret working.  He knows that he should put his wheat in the soil, but the only reason he can give for doing so is that others have done it before him successfully.  But as to any positive intelligence upon the reason for doing it, he cannot tell why it will not grow as well in water or a bank of mere sand.  He only knows it will not.  Yet men, with their want of intelligence of the law of germination, are able to produce germination of nearly all seeds.  All the animals (and man with them) are profoundly ignorant of the law of animal life.  Yet can they produce it.  As ignorant of the principle of life as is the unhatched gosling of the keys of the resurrection, by knowing the external act by which it is produced, they are abundantly able to multiply being like themselves.

“If we turn to the ordinances of God’s house we shall find many parallel examples:—

“ ‘Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him.’ James 5:14, 15.

“This rule has been practiced by many thousand persons during the last nineteen years, and, to say the least of it, with better success than has attended any system of medical treatment whatever.  The same system has been constantly resorted to for the removal of every bodily decease that man is subject to, from crushed flesh and broken bones to the merest casual pain, and by men of every grade of intelligence, from the most skillful physician to him who had never felt a disease or listened to any remedy but his, and in every class of disease, and by every grade of intelligence has it been attended with the same results.

“It would appear therefore that the intelligence necessary to the healing of disease by faith is not a knowledge of the nature of disease, nor of the scientific workings of the remedy.  The intelligence necessary to work by faith in that case is a knowledge simply of the ordinance of administering to the sick.  If we possessed direct scientific intelligence of the means by which the anointing and the hands remove the disease, we should not be left to exercise it in the name of a superior.  We could use it in our own names; communicate the intelligence and with it the power to others without reference to the priesthood; and the system of healing, practiced by the saints, would pass into the body of medical science.—For it is very evident that if our intelligence extends behind the external ordinance of healing, to the nature of the disease, and the workings by which the anointing and the hands remove it, we have then the same knowledge that God has, and therefore can exercise it in our own name as well as he can in him, and can delegate others to exercise it in our names as well as he can to exercise it in him.—The intelligence therefore necessary to exercise effectual faith for the healing of the sick is merely a knowledge of the ordinance, coupled of course with the authority to administer it.  And this authority may be given to one who is ignorant of disease, and yet be effectual.  Or it may be refused to those who are well acquainted with disease, and their intelligence will not answer in place of authority.

“By faith Moses lifted his hand over the Red Sea that it divided, so that all Israel passed through.  This was a miraculous exercise of power on the part of Moses.  It is very true that with a well grounded faith a good engineer, having plenty of means, may go there now and build a dry passage through.  The difference in their faith is this, Moses’ faith was grounded on the power of God, which he exercised by his intelligence of the external ordinance, without any knowledge of its secret workings.  But the engineer who should build a road across equally passable, would ground his faith upon his own power to do that kind of work, and his knowledge of all the ways and means by which it was accomplished.

“Consequently the engineer would not work in the name of God, but in his own name, or that of any persons to whom he saw fit to sell his service and the benefit of his intelligence.  Moses, as a man, had no more power over the waters of the Red Sea than Pharaoh.  The scriptures do not show or suggest that he had any more intelligence or scientific knowledge of the cause of motion in water.  But he had intelligence of an ordinance by which the power of God, who holds it as in his hand, could be brought to bear upon it.  And, possessing that power by priesthood, and having faith to exercise it, he brought the intelligence of God, who does understand the secret means, to bear upon the waters.

“An exact parallel to this is the case in the question presented by our inquiring brother in the last number.  If we had intelligence of an ordinance by which we could say to a sycamore tree, ‘be plucked up, and be cast into the sea,’ and it should be done, and had faith in the ordinance, we could do that by as simple external means as that used in healing the sick, and with as little intelligence as to actual application of force to the tree as we have of the application of healing to the diseased.  But not having intelligence of any ordinance by which the power of God is brought to bear upon the tree, by his servants, the priesthood, we may still do it in our own name if we have a well grounded faith in our own intelligence.  However it may have been in the time of Christ, it is certain that there are now many men who understand well how to remove a sycamore or any other tree, of any size whatever, from any place to any other, and even to preserve it alive and its growth unimpaired.  And if the distance was not very great, the removal might be made instantaneous.  The removal would be made by mechanical power, and any man, exercise it with success, must either have intelligence to entirely understand the operation of it in all its bearings, or must act in strict obedience to one that does.  Unless he understands all things in that particular business, in all their bearings, the moment he brings in his own discretion he is liable to go wrong.  The very thing which he thinks essential may be ruinous.  thus it is in all cases, when we act in the name of another.

“To return to the ordinance for the healing of the sick.  The command is to anoint.  We may surmise that an ablution is better.—And we may have many reasons for it, which seem to us conclusive.  Indeed, we may have no doubt that we know it would be better.  Acting on this suggestion, a man can exercise his own power, and bring to bear all his own intelligence, with all the faith he has in himself.  But keeping strictly to the ordinance which God has appointed, he will exercise the power of God, and bring to bear the intelligence of God, with all the faith he has in God.

“The prophet Elijah called down fire from heaven, by which he consumed his sacrifice.  To do so he required the knowledge of the proper ordinance, faith in it, and to have the priesthood, which authorized him to use it.  In other words, it was necessary to know how to do what God had appointed in the premises; to believe enough in the ordinance to truly execute it, and to be authorized to do so.—Possessing all this, the intelligence of God was brought into exercise, and his intelligence of the secret means by which fire is gathered in the deep blue sky, and guided, easy as a plaything, to the appointed place, was put in requisition.

“Not so when Franklin called a shaft from heaven to slay an ox.—He needed no priesthood; no power from God; no faith in any but himself.  He had studied the secret means of calling fire from heaven.  He had got the intelligence in his own mind; not of an ordinance by which to exercise the power of God, but of the secret means by which he could guide the fires from the blue ethereal.—True, he worked by faith.  But it was by faith in the intelligence by which Benjamin Franklin possessed power, and not in that by which the Lord God Almighty possesses it.

“ Franklin ’s intelligence was communicable, and has been communicated to many others, each of whom, being possessed of the same intelligence, can do the same things.  Had he seen fit to keep his knowledge a secret, still others could have produced the same results without any intelligence whatever of the principles involved, by a strict obedience to his commands.  But stepping aside from a most strict obedience to each and every command, (and some of them would seem very  insipid and extremely unreasonable,) he would fail altogether of producing any result, or perhaps bring the fire upon himself instead of the sacrifice.  So we, when we attempt to exercise the power of God in any case, as often as we attempt to exercise our own judgment in derogation of God’s commandments, no matter how much the most reasonable our course may appear to be, either fail altogether or bring evils on oursleves.

“It is worthy of remark, too, that if we had the same intelligence which God has concerning fire, we should not need to pray to God as Elijah did.  We could then call it down by our own power.—Understanding the ways and means, we should have nothing to do but use them, thanking nobody.  And upon this exists the distinction between ‘faith toward God’ and faith in ourselves.  By faith Alexander conquered the world.  Faith in whom?  In himself.—The soil for that faith to produce in was his own intelligence.  If he had not had faith in himself, he could not have brought that intelligence into active and efficient exercise.  His faith terminating in himself, he looked to no superior for aid.  By his intelligence he provided the material for war, both men and munitions, an arranged them with proper skill.  His intelligence being sufficient to accomplish the end with means within his reach, his faith in himself was well founded.  Through faith, in himself, he subdued kingdoms.

“But those servants of God who, through faith, obtained a good report, must have rested their faith on a higher object than themselves.  Accordingly there is a marked difference in the means by which they subdued kingdoms and those used by him.  He used the strategy of war with skill.  They the ordinances of God in the strictest obedience.  His acts were the consummation of human wisdom, the admiration of the warriors of all ages.  Theirs was the very mockery of human folly; the laughing stock of every military man, and of all who have not faith towards God.  So unreasonable did their conduct and commands appear, that no man could follow them a single step unlesss he was prepared to swallow anything, however ridiculous.  Indeed, the only reason any man on earth can give for the most brilliant acts in their career of conquest is, simply, ‘Moses said so, Joshua said so,’ or ‘Gideon said so.’

“As these ideas are somewhat out of the course of ordinary thought, we have thought fit to illustrate them by a few strong examples:—

“ ‘Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.  And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek; to-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill, with the rod of God in my hand.  So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek:  and Moses, Aaron, and Hur, went up to the top of the hill.  And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.  But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put in under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.  And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.’ Exodus 17:8-13.

“Certainly no man can give any reason why Israel should prevail when Moses, who was far from the battle field, held up his hands, or why Amalek should when he held them down.  And no man has intelligence enough to know what connection ‘the rod’ had with the fate of the battle.  Yet it was by faith in so extraordinary and apparently unreasonable an act that ‘Joshua put Amalek and his people to flight by the edge of the sward.’  Had he waited for Moses to give a reason satisfactory to human intelligence for such and act, he would never through faith subdued a kingdom.  Joshua and Israel had intelligence enough to know what Moses, the prophet of God, told them to do.  With Moses they had faith enough to do it, asking no questions.  They had no more intelligence of the means by which the position of Moses’  hands affected the fate of the day than we have.  But their faith rested upon God, who did understand that matter perfectly.  And by that faith they subdued.  And it is by such faith that they obtained a good report.  There is no merit in the faith which believes with a reason.  Only in that which believes because of a mandate.

“At the sixth chapter of Joshua is an account of another feat of arms, so perfectly contrary to all human sense and intelligence that it is difficult to believe otherwise than that if the most popular General of the age should undertake to imitate it, he would be deserted by his soldiers and imprisoned by his officers as a maniac.  The victory won over Jericho was won by men who had intelligence enough to understand orders, and faith enough to obey them.  And the faith that would obey such orders, must be near neighbor to what men call gullibility.  But if they had got beyond that, to the knowledge of the science of throwing down walls by the sound of ram’s horns, it is at least fortunate that the science was so soon lost.  It would be dangerous in the hands of most men.  And with that intelligence they could have subdued kingdoms, merely by faith in themselves, which would not have obtained to them ‘a good report’ before God.

“Faith is the gift of God; that is, true faith:  faith toward God.—God by the spirit gives it to every one as he will.  1 Cor. 12:9,11.  He gives it to us to profit with, not to abuse.  And consequently he will give us as much faith as we will profit with.  The ministry of very few persons requires such extraordinary works as removing trees and mountains by the word of faith.  to all others it would be unprofitable and could not be given.  If any who had such a ministry have ways and means of their own devising, in which they have faith, then though God should give them this faith also, it would be a mixed faith resting on two objects, God and man; producing its fruits by the exercise of two different intelligences, and in its fruits neither like the one nor the other; or, more likely, having no fruits at all, from the incongruous joining.  Such faith it will be readily seen is not like a grain of mustard seed, which is a perfect mustard germ, and will not, by admixture, produce a mongrel of something else.

“The faith, then, which is like a grain of mustard seed, and is sufficient to remove mountains, can be possessed only by those whose ministry may require the doing of such an act.  It rests on God alone, without the slightest dependence on our power.  It can only be exercised by those who have intelligence enough to understand the external ordinance by which we are authorized to put God’s infinite intelligence in requisition.  And the faith itself, to avail, must be strong enough to perform the ordinance, no doubting, but in every act thereof having perfect confidence, that through the ordinance the end will be accomplished.

“We are very well aware that the exercise of such faith as this cannot be expected of most men.  Especially in the present age of the world, self-sufficiency is a prevailing characteristic.  With the prevailing pride and arrogancy, it is indeed a meek man who is willing to yield up his individuality so as to be a mere member in the church of God in the same relation that the hand or the foot holds to the body, having no will of its own, but obeying invariably the dictate of the head.  Christ teaches this humility in the following transaction:—

“ ‘At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?  And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’  Matt. 18:1-4.

“The question arises, how does a little child humble himself?  He relies implicitly on his parent or tutors.  The end of his argument is, ‘my pa said so.’  Obedience is his rule.  The knowledge of his parents is his dependence.  He kindles the fire, ignorant of the occasion which demands it.  He eats the bread of to-day, not troubling himself for the supply of to-morrow.  He fears bears, panthers and other wild beasts, which he has never seen, because his parents call them dangerous.  In brief, the simple authority of his superiors is the beginning and the end of his wisdom.  He has found himself dependent on his parent.  He knows their delegated authority in his teachers.  He unhesitatingly submits to their ipsi dixit, not knowing why it is given.  His faith, is, that they know what ought to be done, and how to do it.

“Accordingly the child, when he first goes to school, begins according to the direction of his teacher, to say, A, B, C, and neither knowing nor having any capacity to understand what good it will do him.  Directly he is set to spelling words, knowing no reason for it except the mandate of his teacher.  He cannot form the slightest idea what he is to learn by it, or what good the knowledge will ever do him.  In mathematics, regarded as the most demonstrable science, he can see no reason why, after setting units under unite, tens under tens, &c., he adds up one column of figures at a time, nor why he carries one for every ten and sets down the excess.  Nor can he tell why he multiplies by one figure at a time, or why he sets the unit of each part of the product under the particular figure used in producing it.  So of every act in the entire study of arithmetic.—The only reason that does or can exist in the mind of the child is, simply, ‘the master said so.’  True, in the end he may learn to understand all the reasons involved in these several processes.—But when he has advanced to this knowledge, he is perfect as his master is perfect, in that thing.  consequently his faith then centres on himself, and not on his master or parent, just as God’s faith by which he works rests on his own power and intelligence; whereas faith towards God, rests on God’s superior intelligence and power.

“The conduct of Abraham in the sacrifice of Isaac is an eminent example of this child like faith.  God had forbidden that man should slay his fellow man.  Gen. 9:5.  He had also promised great blessings to Abraham’s seed in the line of Isaac.  Notwithstanding this law and these promises, God afterwards said to him, ‘Abraham, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and offer him upon one of the mountains which I will tell the of.’—Gen. 22. Heb. 11.  Abraham was a man of humility.  He was like a child.  His faith rested on the intelligence of God.  Had it terminated on himself, Paul would not have written, ‘by faith Abraham offered up Isaac, accounting that GOD was able to raise him up even from the dead,’ but would have said accounting that he was able to raise him up.

‘Moreover, had Abraham looked behind the command for a reason, he might have found some apparently strong reasons against obeying God at all.  First, he might have replied to God, truly you have forbidden to shed blood; I would obey in anything reasonable, but I could not violate one of your laws.  It would be difficult to answer such an objection.  Further, he might have said, if I slay Isaac, the covenant you have made to me must fail.  I cannot raise Isaac up, and if I slay him there will be no seed to inherit the promises.  Abraham’s intelligence did not extend to raising the dead.—Neither did it extend to a reconciliation of these apparently incongruous commands.  But he understood perfectly well what God meant when he said, ‘offer Isaac for a burnt offering.’  ‘And he rose up early in the morning,  and clave the wood for a burnt offering, and took Isaac, and went to the place which God had told him,’ asking no questions, but accounting that God’s knowledge was sufficient for the emergency.