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A
person must believe in God to be a Christian, for the writer,
In Heb. 11:6, declares, "Without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that his
is, and that he is a rewarder of them that dilligently seek
him." Mathematical demonstration can't prove there's a God,
but the law of cause and effect---causation---proves it beyond
reasonable doubt.
Nothing Happens to Happen...
I leave my room in disorder, with
everything scattered about, and, returning, find the books
alphabetically arranged on the shelves, the floor swept, and
curtains in order. I enquire, "Who's been in the room, and
that perchance the wind blew the things into order. We behold
a beautiful oil-painting of a wide landscape with the golden
streaks of the evening sun gilding the western sky. We enquire
as to who painted it, and are informed that a certain
blunderer spilled a can of paint accidentally and it happened
to make that valuable painting. Such answers would be an
insult to our intelligence.
What about the great universe around us,
with the starry canopy above, the mighty planetary system
revolving so regularly, and the multifor varieties of animal
and vegatable life in such a unity and harmony---did they just
happen to happen? No, indeed! They're the works of a
Master-mechanic, a great First Cause. The mighty force of
inertai and gravitation, the endless variety of flowers, the
complex mechanism of the human body are not the result of
blind and undirected forces, but bespeak intelligence and
wisdom of a superlative degree.
God---An Unseen Being...
There's no substantial argument against
the existence of God in the fact that he can't be seen. Crude
implements of peace and war are found in caves of prehistoric
men. We can't see these men, and no books contain the record
of their activities or of the time in which they lived, yet we
believe they existed, from the works they left behind.
Thousands who read these pages will never see the writer, yet
no one will believe that this book came as a result of an
accidental upsetting of a box of type. The electric light we
make use of had its existence and from first in somebody's
mind, there was a first plan---a blue-print---then an effect,
the created thing.
Who is it standing behind the curtain who
by infinite power controls and directs this great universe? To
this question the great apostle Paul replies: "God that made
the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of
heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
neither is worshiped with men's hands, as though he needed
anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all
things; ...for in him we live, and move, and have our being"
(Acts 17:19-24). The law of cause and effect is simply the
statement of a fact to which no exceptions have ever been
known.
All visible things are simply the effect
of which God is the first cause.
The law of cause and effect stated in
other terms would read that people reap what they sow,
regardless of what is sown. It's a universal law that cause
and effect are inseparably connected, however long may be the
interval detaining the effect, and are always proportionate to
each other. We may be sure that there's a reason for every
conclusion, a motive for every act, and excitement for every
motion, a why for every wherfore. This is a law of both body
and soul; of things both seen and unseen.
Reason plays its part in the conversion
of the soul, in this matter of cause and effect. Reason
inquires why do atoms crowd around a center, atom upon atom,
until a crystal globule gleams in the morning sun, or a new
planet appears in the firmament? Why is the spirit within us
so attracted by resemblances and faint analogies, when only
overpowering excitement, or sternness of will, or a habit of
attention, can confine it to one pursuit? And why all things
past, present, and to come...bound, linked together in the
steel chain of causation, so that in all the
universe...animate and inanimate, there's a necessity, natural
or moral, call it what you will, of motion, of progress from a
beginning to an end? From what beginning and to what end? Did
Adam have a beginning and what was his end? Did he have an
end? Why was Adam formed?
The old philosophies of paganism are but
the attempted solution, by reason, of the great problems of
life, the echo of the soul's deep yearning for something
outside of and beyond itself. Men may reason, analyze, and
compare, and will yet remain unsatisfied. Revelation comes to
man's rescue, and that, with the law of cause and effect, give
us a satisfactory basis for living faith. The inspiration of
the Almighty gtiveth us understanding, and thus we discover
the superstructure upon which the moral universe
rests---namely, "For thy glory, O God, all things are and were
created." Then God speaks and declares, "I made man for my
glory," and thus established the purpose of creation---a moral
universe governed by moral law. To glorify God, were all
things made. There can be no free agency, as pertaining to
man, only by reason of good and evil. To choose the good is to
refuse the wrong. Adam was put to the test and failed. The
penalty was death. For economical and gracious reasons, not
necessary to be considered here, the full execution of the
penalty was deferred; but the fatal effects of a violated law
rested heavily upon a fallen race, and impending judgment hung
over the earth---like as a man standing beside the river of
death, while the shadows deepend and total eclipse came on
apace.
Penalties Await the Guilty Soul...
Upon the wall of the universe, gleaming
with the light reflected from profane and religious history,
is the handwriting of the Eternal, which inpiration interprets
and the law of cause and effect enforces---Sinner thou shalt
die! Proud and wicked world, thou shalt come to an end!
Science and experience attest the awful truth that retribution
will follow infraction of law. If you cast yourself down from
the temple, nothing but angelic intervention will save you
from the fall. If you suffer your thoughts to rove at will,
you'll lose the pwer of logical thinking. If you neglect your
finer sensibilities, and don't check your imaginations, you'll
become a victim of passion, the slave of sensuality, and the
voltary of unbelief. If one disregards in either physics or
morals the law of cause and effect, he'll write his name as a
fool upon the book of time, and reap sooner or later the
results of his follies. The history of a race declare in
unmistakable language that the way of the transgressor is
hard. Revelation uses no abstract terms and presents no
scientific formulas, but thunders forth plainly and
emphatically, "The soul that sinneth it shall die," and, "The
wages of sin is death." Walk as carefully as he may, sooner or
later the steps of the sinner will slide; his feet will slip,
and terror and sudden destruction will come upon him. In due
time, and, it may not be far off, this world will be swept by
fire, and divine vengence will shake the highest mountains of
earth. The earth iself will melt with fervent heat---and
there'll be no ark, as was in Noah's day, that can ride on the
molten sea; and no power can stop nor prayer stay that
overthrow.
Warnings to the Sinner...
What awful warnings are given to the
sinner and what appeals are made to his reason, intellect, and
conscience, and how loudly the spirit knocks at the door of
his heart! Wherever he turns, whithersoever he looks, however
he acts, whatever he thinks, the sinner sees evidences of law
and signs of danger. The path of the Lawgiver is in the
heavens. His voice is heard in the thunder's roar and his
power is manifest in the earthquake's shock. His voice
resounds in the hollow murmurs of the past and pierces forth
above the commercial rattle of the present. In every leaf that
fades and falls, in all things small or great, in all events
momentous or inconsequent, in all places near or distant, in
all times recent or remote, law has it tokens, God has his
witnesses, and retribution its portents.
When I meditate upon these awful truths,
I wish I could write with a thousand pens and warn every man,
woman, and child in the whole wide world. Oh, awful thought to
the sinner, that in the day of judgment everything---every
event, every word, every thought---with which he has had ought
to do, directly or indirectly, will appear against him; his
own heart will condemn him; and God, who is greater than his
heart and knoweth all things, will pronounce the awful
sentence, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels"! And as it is with the
individual sinner, so shall it be with the sinful world.
Approaching retribution is written upon every page of history.
The bloodshed, the lust, the treachery,
the corruption, the avarice, the ambition, the innumerable
acts of selfishness, the records of which fill up the annals
of time---all are written upon God's book of remembrance. The
men and women whose vices, whose ungovernable passions, whose
various abominations have made them famous, like Henry VIII
and Bloddy Queen Mary; the men who carved their way to honor,
or shame, with the sword, like Napoleon and Emperor William of
Germany; the men who have crept stealthily and meanly into the
affections of other men's wives, have broken up homes and
cheated every one but the High God by their hypocrisy---these
together with such of all future ages will some day meet an
angry God, and stand face to face with all their crimes. Oh,
awful day of reckoning when sinful men must meet the One who
will ride forth with his vesture dipped in blood!
Punishment for Sin...
Justice demands that man be punished for
his sins; the law of cause and effect demands it; and the
certainty of retribution forms the basis of the system of
grace. The system of grace forms the sole alternative from the
curse. Doesn't the fact that Christ died to save from that
awful curse prove that to reject him is to meet with final
disaster---death? Sin, death, and damnation are behind the
Christian man or woman. Their pathway is steep and leads
upward, and at every step they're harassed by the enemy of all
mankind. But they hold on their way; they turn their backs
upon the evil. There's no retreat for the Christian, for
behind him is the city of death and destruction.
The law of cause and effect will in time
correct every wrong and bring every haughty spirit down.
Ultimately the feet of the wicked will slide, whether it be a
king upon a throne or a peasant wearing wooden shoes. We read
of one whom even proud Englad feared, before whose strength
even the Mistress of the Seas trembled; but we also read of
his defeat and how he meanly died in lonely exile, a prisoner,
amid the thunders of the skies and the booming of the seas.
His throne could not save him from the effects of cause in
this world, neither will bejeweled crowns and golden scepters
save in the world to come. Sin will be punished.
But there've been thousands of brave
fearless men and women whose life's record has not been kept,
except in heaven, and at whose death hardly an acquaintance,
much less a stranger, took note, who if they could speak from
their unmarked graves, would tell of a triumph more glorious
than that of which any earthly warrior ever dreamed. The
battle they fought was a moral one, but they were victors, and
by reason of the law of cause and effect are wearing crowns of
joy in a land of rest beyond the setting sun.
Separation of Good from Bad...
That a moral gulf separates unlike
characters now, every one will admit; but what about the
future beyond death? Shall the wheat and tares grow together
until the harvest and then be gathered into the same garner?
Nature and revelation agree as to the fact of a destinction
between good and evil, between good men and bad men. The issue
of the system of grace determines the certainty of
retribution. The very fact that the church of God shall
triumph over her enemies proves beyond a reasonable doubt that
the sheep shall be sparated from the goats, the wheat shall be
separated from the chaff, which is to be burned up with
unquenchable fire. The opposers of God and his church will
meet with a sad end; for we must not forget that not one drop
of righteous blood was ever shed in vain, that not one word of
contempt spoken against the saints has ever been forgotten,
and that whatever has been done to the least of the followers
of Christ has been done unto Him. We don't wonder that awful
judgment hangs over this wicked world like a black cloud. Law
claims its victims, and grace approves the claims. Where on
the face of the earth is there a spot not desecrated by the
transgressions of law and not still more desecrated by
contempt of Grace! Oh, the awful weight and sorrow of a sinful
heart! The guilt and remorse of conscience must be more
terrible than the inquisition hooks, and the weight more
crushing than that of the mountains and rocks beneath which
the sinner vainly seeks to hide himself from the vengeance of
the wrath of God.
The Final Chapter of Earth...
The awful judgment scene beggars all
description. Dante's imagination fails to set it forth
properly. No artist has ever been able to put that awful
picture upon canvas, nor writer to correctly paint it with his
pen. The contrast of that day will be that of blackest
midnight with the brightest day; a robe of purest white and a
shroud of darkest crape. The tempest will soon break upon this
old world, and the rivers will stop their onward flow to the
sea. The mighty oceans that heave and swell as if the great
heart of the earth throbbed beneath them, will lie still like
a great giant who's dead. Hushed will be the wild bird's song,
silent the shouts of mirth, and motionless the tide of life.
No more shall the sound of the woodman's ax ring out as in
primeval days, nor the artist's gaze upon the glories of the
setting sun. The orator will stop before the climax is
reached, and the poet no more shall touch immortal strings.
The king will lay off his purple robes and the lowly peasant
his wooden shoes. Statesmen will no more be needed to control
the affaris of state, nor general to lead his armies on. Mo
more shall men welcome the warm days of spring, nor feel the
winter's chilling blast. Mo more shall the children gather
home at Christmastide, nor holy incense ascend from the family
altar of prayer; for the day of earth and earthly things shall
have passed. The period of God's waiting for men to repent
will be forever over, and the door of mercy close...to open no
more. The law of cause and effect that has been held in
partial abeyance while redemption was active, and the church
of God gathered, will now assert itself in destructive power
upon a guilty world. The final separation now takes place, and
the sheep and the goats will each pursue their way out into
vast eternity---one path leading to the mansions of love and
light beyond the skies, and the other down the dark winding
pathway into the bottomless pit. The church of God will then
be safe; but death will be the state of a lost world, relieved
by no hope, softened by no consolation. Oh, why don't men stop
and think! Why don't they become awakened to God's love and
plan before it's too late? Oh, why don't men prepare to meet
their God? This is the day of mercy. The Holy Ghost says,
"Today if you will hear his voice, harden not you hearts."
God's time is now, and his place is here. Will you let the day
of mercy pass unheeded? Will you by your attitude say, "No,"
to the world's best friend, and die in sin and be lost
forever? Sinner, repent today, and begin a new and better
life. Begin NOW!
{ The End ]
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