Chapter 9

2. The mockers here described certainly talk exactly like our modern _uniformitarians_; for they argue that "from the days that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." They imply that in the days of "the fathers" some people were foolish enough to believe differently; but since they "fell asleep" we have learned better. It should also be carefully noted that their theory of uniformity stretches back, not to the _close_ of Creation, but to "the _beginning_ of the Creation." Plainly, then, _Creation itself is embraced in their scheme of absolute uniformity_; and according to their view all distinction is smoothed out between Creation and the present perpetuation of the world by second causes. How could we ask for a more accurate word picture of the modern popular doctrines of the evolutionists and their characteristic methods of reasoning than is here given us by an inspired prophecy nearly two thousand years ago?

VI

The call of the hour to the Church of Christ is for a renewed confidence in that Guide Book which she has brought with her down the centuries. As her Divine Lord went away, He commissioned her to carry His good tidings to all peoples; and so long as she remained true to this commission and to her instruction book, the world's cunning sophistries could not deceive her, nor could the cruel power of a world empire stifle her voice. And now when her absent Lord is about to return again, it surely behooves her to set her house in order, and to return with candor and fidelity to that written code of instruction left with her by her departing Master.

For the old-time friends of the Bible, the night of darkness and doubt is rapidly passing; the morning of a fuller knowledge and a fuller confidence is at hand. Gone are those agonies of doubt regarding the truthfulness of the Bible's history and the adequacy of its ethics for the needs of our modern world. Abandoned forever are all those futile attempts at compromise, in a vain and painful endeavor to translate the record of Creation into the language of a pseudo-science now rapidly being outgrown, and to adapt the plan of salvation to the false standards of an artificial age that seems to be rapidly disintegrating before the Church's very eyes. She now realizes that her Bible is more accurate than the world's science, her simple gospel wiser than its philosophy.

The hour has struck; a sublime opportunity is before her; for the God of nature has Himself opened up before His Church the long-sealed chapters in His larger book, and is now pointing out the marvellous agreement between His book of nature and His written record. The strongest message of the Church has often been heard amid the darkest ages of apostasy. And the prophecies of the Bible have repeatedly pointed out a special message that the Church is to bear to the world in that darkest hour just before the breaking of eternal day,--a message that we now see is wonderfully adapted to this age of evolutionism in science and pantheism in philosophy. Looking down along the darkening vistas of the coming years, the great Jehovah saw how a vastly increased knowledge of His created works would be perverted into a burlesque of Creation, and how this would result in a wide-spread apostasy in which His written Word would be derided and scorned. Thus He timed a special reform for His faithful people to give to the world just before the end, calling upon the disbelievers in Creation then living to "worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters" (Rev. 14: 7). And so now, when the darkness of evolutionism and pantheism is most dense, a light from above has illuminated the record in the book of nature, the language of which is already more familiar to our modern world than the language of the book so long distrusted and almost derided. This message itself from the book of nature is full of the essential ideas of the Gospel, faith in a Creator, who by His tireless care for the particles composing our bodies keeps them in order, and by healing our injuries and curing our diseases inspires us with faith in Him as our Saviour and Redeemer. And in such an hour, in such a world crisis, He has placed within the power of His Church these modern means of travel and quick communication, in order to speed on this last work of His Church so as to complete it in "this generation."

* * * * *

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