the sciences, liberality, and enlightenment was nothing else than the
result of Luther's work of printing and scattering Bibles through Europe. By the
light of the Scriptures the nations saw the despotic power that had kept them in
ignorance, and they arose with Luther in the strength of the Lord, and burst the
fetters that had bound them so long. They found and learned the truth, and the
truth made them free. John 8:32; 17:17.
On page 43 he says: "Though it is not a direct article of the Christian system
that this world that we inhabit is the whole of the habitable creation, yet it is so
worked up therewith, from what is called the Mosaic account of creation, that to
believe otherwise, that is, that God created a plurality of worlds, at least as
numerous as what we call stars, renders the Christian system of faith at once
little and ridiculous, and scatters it in the mind like feathers in the air. The two
beliefs cannot be held together in the same mind; and he who thinks that he
believes both has thought but little of either."
So far from this being the truth, it is directly the contrary. And I shall show that
the two beliefs not only can, but must, "be held together in the same mind;" and
that he who does not believe both "has thought but little of either." "Through faith
we understand that the worlds [plural] were framed by the word of God." Heb.
11:3. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds
[plural]." Heb. 1:1, 2. "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith
the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these
things, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by names by
the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth." Isa.
40:25, 26. Also Ps. 147:4; Job 9:9; 38:31, 32; Ps. 33:6.
Again, on page 43: "A world of the extent of ours may, at first thought, appear
to us to be great; but if we compare it with the immensity of space in which it is
suspended, like a bubble in the air, it is infinitely less in proportion than the
smallest grain of sand is to the size of the world, or the finest particle of dew to
the whole ocean." I suppose Mr. Paine thought, when he penned this, that he
was announcing to Bible believers something they had never known, or thought
anything of; but he was grievously in error. More than twenty-five hundred years
before he wrote this, it was announced and written in words far more forcible and
sublime. Isa. 40:16, 17: "Behold, the nations are a drop of a bucket, and are
counted as the small dust of the balance. . . . All nations before him are as
nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity."
The following, on mystery and miracle, pages 50 and 52, is sound and good,
therefore we hold it fast: "With respect to mystery, everything we behold is, in one
sense, a mystery to us; our own existence is a mystery; the whole vegetable
world is a mystery. . . . But though every created thing is, in this sense, a mystery,
the word mystery cannot be applied to moral truth, any more than obscurity can
be applied to light. The God in whom we believe is a God of moral truth, and not
a God of mystery or obscurity. Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is a fog of
human inventions, that obscures the truth and represents it in distortion." Every
Bible believer, every Christian, can indorse this; for the Bible is a revelation, and
not a mystery.
He continues: "In the sense that everything may be said to be a mystery, so
also may it be said that everything is a miracle, and no one thing is a greater
miracle than another. The elephant, though larger, is not a greater miracle than a
mite; nor a mountain a great miracle than an atom. To an almighty power it is no
more difficult to make the one than the other; and no more difficult to make a
million of worlds than to make one. Everything, therefore, is a miracle, in one
sense, while in the other sense, there is no such thing as a miracle. It is a miracle
when compared to our power, and to our comprehension; it is not a miracle
compared to the power that performs it."
This is all true. At the marriage in Cana of Galilee it was in reality no more of a
miracle for Christ to turn the water into wine, than is performed before our eyes
every season. The vine which he has created draws sustenance from the
moisture of the earth and air; it buds, blossoms, bears grapes, they ripen, we
extract the juice, and, lo, we have wine. So the only difference is, that there he
did in an instant what here is done in a season; and the one required no greater
exertion of his power than the other, for his power is almighty. The first was only a
miracle in that it was "contrary to the established constitution or course of things."
Dr. Horne gives this as the definition of a miracle: "A miracle is an effect or event
contrary to the established constitution or course of things, or a sensible
constitution or course of things, or a sensible suspension or controlment of, or
deviation from, the known laws of nature," etc. "Thus, the production of grain by
vegetation is according to a law of nature; were it to fall like rain from the clouds,
there would be a miracle." Yet even in that case, it would be no more of a miracle
to the power that performs it, than it is in the present case where it is produced
by vegetation; for it would be the Almighty Power which performed both.
(To be continued.)
April 8, 1880
"A Review of Paine's 'Age of Reason.' (Continued.)" Advent Review
and Sabbath Herald 55, 15 , pp. 226, 227.
BY ELD. A. T. JONES
(Continued.)
AS Part First of the "Age of Reason," which we have just been examining,
was written to show that there is no need of a revelation, so Part Second was
written to show that the Bible is not true. And as we showed conclusively that his
arguments in part First demand a revelation, we shall find also that Part Second
fails to disprove the truth of the Bible. In Part First he said he had no Bible. But
now he has a Bible and Testament; he says on page 64, "They will now find that I
have furnished myself with a Bible and a Testament."
The first thing that we find worthy of note in this connection is on pages 73,
74: "I come now to speak of historical and chronological evidence. The
chronology that I shall use is the Bible chronology. I beging with the book of
Genesis. In the 14th chapter of Genesis, the writer gives an account of Lot's
being taken prisoner in a battle between the four kings against five, and carried
off; and that when the account of Lot's being taken came to Abraham, he armed
all his household, and marched to rescue Lot from the captors; and that he
pursued them unto Dan." "I now come . . . to show that there was not such place
as Dan till many years after the death of Moses; and, consequently, that Moses
could not be the writer of the book of Genesis.
"To establish this in proof, it is necessary to refer from Genesis
to the 18th chapter of the book called the book of Judges. It is said
(verse 27) that the (the Danites) came unto Laish to a people that
were quiet and secure; and they smote them with the edge of the
sword, and burned the city with fire; and they built a city (verse 28)
and dwelt therein, and called the name of the city, Dan, after the
name of Dan their father; howbeit the name of the city was called
Laish at the first. Therefore the writer of the book of Genesis must
have been some person who lived after the town of Laish had the
name of Dan, and who that person was nobody knows; and
consequently the book of Genesis is anonymous, and without
authority."
Now, it is an historical fact that there was just such a place as Dan, not only at
the time when the book of Genesis was written, but at the time that Abraham
pursued after the kings and rescued Lot. Josephus says: "When Abraham heard
of their calamity, he was at once afraid for Lot his knsman, and pitied the
Sodomites his friends and neighbors; and thinking it proper to afford them
assistance, he did not delay it, but marched hastily, and the fifth night fell
227
upon the Assyrians, near Dan, for that is the name of the other spring
