Day dawning; or Reason and religion reconciled and the way of happiness made plain

Contents

I "Let THERE BE Light." 7

II Whence are we ? 9

III Why are we ? and Why are we as we are ? 15

II. Whence Are We?

WE can, we think, safely assume that we are^ and shall proceed in these pages on the basis of that assumption. If then we are^ the questions naturally arise, Whence are we ? Why are we? Why are we as we are? and What are we to be? The evidence is unmistakable that we are born into this world, and that wonderful provision has been made for the preservation of our lives and the promotion of our happiness. Now, as our earthly parents have watched over and tenderly cared for us during the years of our infancy, when we were very helpless and dependent, the inference is certainly reasonable that a Great Father — one greater than all earthly fathers — has created, watches over, and protects all. But one may say, ** I can see my earthly father \ but, unless you can show me what you call the Great Father, how am I to know that he exists ? "

We reply, that you do not see your earthly father ; you see only the body in which the soul or the real man resides. You do not see even all the body ; you see only the external parts of it, while the internal parts, ^* fearfully and wonderfully made,'^ are hidden from view. Even so it is with our Great Father and the universe in which he resides. You see the external parts of that in which he moves, and of which he is the light and life; but you do not see Him. Figuratively speaking, you can scarce penetrate the cuticle of the globe on which you live ; its greatest depths are utterly unknown. You can traverse its surface round and round, and float in its atmosphere ; but whether its centre is a molten mass, an empty space, or a solid body, no man can positively prove. We see its surface portions only; the larger part of it is all unseen. On a clear night we look abroad and see lO DA V DA WNING.

countless stars, which to our vision seem only like so many lamps hung in the heavens, but which, by the aid of science, we know to be great spheres, many of them immensely larger than the globe on which we live, yet how little do we know of them at the most. If then, we can know so little of the Great Seen and still have faith in its existence as an immense reality, why doubt the existence of the Great Unseen — why doubt the existence of an Infinite and Supreme Intelligence ? The inference seems at least reasonable that what our souls are to our bodies, the Spirit of the Great Father is to the universe of matter. Our bodies may be changed or destroyed, and our souls still be unaffected; wonderful changes may and do take place in the universe, and still God, the Spirit, is eternally the unchanged and unchangeable One.

" But,'' it may be asked, '' how do I know, reasoning from analogy, that what you call the Great Unseen has any existence at all ? There is in the form of a man a fair presumption that, what you call the real man exists ; how am I to know, by this method of reasoning, that what you call God, or the Great Father, exists?''

Answering, we admit that the analogy is incomplete with respect to form, and must be so from the very nature of the case. Man is finite ; God is infinite, and although if God could be embodied as we are he would doubtless take the form of a man, yet his nature as the Infinite Being precludes the possibility of his appearing to us in bodily form only. It is evident that if he were so to appear, he would still be present everywhere else, and so, in his infinitude, be incapable of being seen by finite vision. Air cannot be seen by the eye, and yet mainly through the medium of two of our other senses, viz : hearing and feeling, we are made aware of its presence. -^ The wind bloweth where it listeth ; we hear the sound thereof, yet know not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth." We say the air is hot, or cold, or pleasant, as the case may be ; now it comes to us freighted with the fragrance of flowers ; and now it is laden with unpleasant odors ; at one time it vitalizes the blood and quickens all the

WHENCE ARE WE? 11

springs of life ; at another, the deadly malaria is its destructive companion ; and yet in all its conditions it is ever unseen. Steam and electricity are both invisible, and yet what powerful agents they are ! The movements of the latter, in particular, frequently excite wonder and alarm ; indeed how cold and almost insensible, are almost, if not all, the things we see in comparison with those powerful and subtile forces which belong to the invisible world. Besides, the visible and tangible are subject to constant mutations ; now existing in one form or condition, and now in another; how eminently important, therefore, it is that the eternal and unchangeable God should, in his vitality, be invisible. The fact that He does not appear now here and now there in bodily form, instead of weakening, should rather strengthen our faith in Him as the unchanged and unchangeable One. The apostle Paul concisely, but we believe truly, says : '' The things which are seen are temporal^ but the things which are not seen are eternaL ' ' Let all doubts, therefore, be removed, and let us not only believe that God is ^ but also that he is the Author of all good, and that He will reward all those that diligently seek Him. Happily, the analogy between the unseen God and the invisible forces of his creation is not the only proof of his existence j although this we think ought to satisfy the most skeptical ; we have in nature manifold, nay, almost innumerable evidences of his handiwork : the theory that matter in its own inherent powers, and without the contrivance and direction of a Supreme Intelligence, evolves all the forms of life, and produces the wonderful variety so generally displayed in nature, is one which certainly can find no favor in our experience or best convictions. On the contrary, the conviction is irresistible that they are the product of the Divine wisdom and goodness ; and in contemplating them we are led to exclaim with the poet :

'* When all thy mercies, O my God, My rising soul surveys, Transported with the view I'm lost In wonder, love and praise."

Not only does the earth produce in great abundance all the necessaries of life, but the amplest provision has been made for the production of things not absolutely required to sustain life. The whole world in which we live, as respects the works of God within it, may be said to be a Garden of Eden, that is, a garden of pleasure or delight. Our Great Father is supremely good not only in the ordinary gifts of His providence, but also in what may be termed the more delicate manifestations of His goodness. Who, that enjoys the pleasant fruits, the sight of flowers and their delightful fragrance, and the warbling of birds, can be otherwise than assured of the loving-kindness of our Great Father ?

When the day's work is over, and we seek repose, how softly He closes our eyelids in peaceful slumber; and after the night's refreshing sleep, in which we are almost conscious of his watchful though silent presence, how gently, to our waking eyes. He breaks the morning light. Many, if not all, of the heavenly bodies that move in and through space, do so with a velocity fearful to contemplate ; our own earth, in its orbit round the sun, moving at the rate of about sixty-eight thousand miles per hour, or at the rate of about nineteen miles per second, and yet there is no collision among these mighty masses; nothing in their movements to disturb even a timid child ; indeed the perfect harmony of their movements was, by the ancients, poetically called the ''music of the spheres,'' so unobtrusive is their passage, and imperceptible their progress from moment to moment through space. But in nothing, we think, is the delicacy of the Divine goodness more manifest than in beautiful and fragrant flowers ; how elegantly and gracefully they are formed and fringed ; how exquisite the contrast and blending of their colors ; and how delightful their fragrance, which seems, as it were, the very breath of heaven. When we consider that these comparatively unimportant things are the work of the Almighty hand, and, although existing in wonderful variety, contribute but little, if at all, to our maintenance, but are given us chiefly or only for our gratification, how firm ought our faith to be that He who so

WHENCE ARE WE? 13

kindly and profusely provides for our lesser^ will make abundant provision for our greater needs.

But, it may be said, the manifestations of the Divine power are not always, in manner and form, so mild and gentle ; we have, at times, thunder and lightning, storm and tempest, extremes of heat and cold, etc. It is true we occasionally have such phenomena, but they are the exceptions and not the rule ; and, when they do appear, they generally do an immense amount of good, and but little harm, and that only incidentally. The operations of nature are necessarily on a large scale, and when she is unusually demonstrative^ it is when, in a brief space of time, she has an unusually large amount of work to do. The sultry air is laden with pestilent vapors, whose quick removal is desirable, and the lightning and storm come, apparently to terrify the timid and make a display of power, but in reality to purify the air and neutralize its deleterious qualities. This kind of work is necessarily demonstrative, and sometimes hazardous^ and is, therefore, we believe, required to be performed quickly, in order that the damage, if any, may be as small as possible, and the fears created by it soon over. One life, by its power, may be suddenly taken away, while thousands are preserved from death through its benign influence. Besides, sudden death is generally, if not invariably, unattended with pain. As a rule the operations of nature are evidently well calculated to excite admiration and gratitude, and, as they are generally without sudden or startling incidents, they seldom excite fear. How musical, for example, is the sound of the wind through the trees, the falling of the rain, and how almost noiseless the fall of the leaves and the beautiful snow ! Clearly the Divine gentleness is in all, over all, and through all.

The works of our Great Father prove, as we have seen, that He is full of benevolence and love, and we believe that He created the world chiefly for the purpose of enjoying it with, and of imparting happiness to, offspring, who He desired should be, so far as the finite could resemble the Infinite, as nearly as possible

14 £>A V DA WNING,

like himself. We therefore gladly accept the following statement contained in the sacred writings as literally true, viz : that '^ God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him j male and female created He them/' It will be observed that in this statement there is an apparent repetition ; but it will be seen that the words employed were all required in order that its meaning might not be rendered ambiguous or obscure by too great brevity of language. If the declaration had concluded with the words, '^God created man in His own image,'' it might have given rise to a question as to which of the two the words, ^'his own image," were intended to apply, there being two words, ^^God" and *'man," either one of which could have been taken as the antecedent. But as if to remove all doubts, and make the statement perfectly clear, it is added, that " In the image of God created He him." There are, it is said, among the followers of Mohammed, those who entertain the belief that women do not exist in a future state ; that, like the irrational creatures, they were only made for the convenience and happiness of man ; but the affirmation in our best of books is, that '^ In the image of God created He him ; male and female created He them ' ' ; thus placing woman on an equality with man. And doubtless both are required to make the likeness to the Divine original complete. Briefly, man may be said to represent the power of God, and woman the love of God. If then we are in the image of God, how great are our privileges, and how grave are our responsibilities ! We should endeavor, as far as possible, to make ourselves acquainted with God our Father and his works ; to try to think as he thinks, to act as he acts, as far as the finite can act like the Infinite, and to endeavor to feel as he feels. Our relationship to Him implies the right or possession on our part of perfect freedom of action, for as he is free to act according to his own volition, so we are free to act according to ours. If this be not so, then we are not, in this respect at least, created in his image, but are mere automatons without responsibility — passive beings only, and not free-agents. Our

WHY ARE WE ? E TC. 15

Great Father would have us enjoy freedom^ and this could not be done if compulsory restraints or restrictions upon our freedom were constantly imposed. It is true there are monitors that are constantly reminding us of danger when we stray from the path of rectitude ; but these are kindly sent as warnings, not as masters over the will. The freedom of the will may, we think, be considered absolute.

Having thus far considered the nature and character of God, and our relationship to Him, and having found, to our own satisfaction at least, that we are his offspring, for ourselves, satisfactorily solving the question, " Whence are we? '* we shall now proceed to consider, as best we may, the questions, '^ Why are we? " and ^^ Why are we as we are ? " together with such other subjects as may be of interest in, or may properly belong to this discussion.

III

WHY ARE WE? AND WHY ARE WE AS WE ARE?

AS has already been observed, we believe our Great Father created this beautiful world of ours for the purpose of enjoying it with, and of imparting happiness to, offspring. This therefore is probably one of the best reasons that could be given as to why we are. Evidently, our existence would be undesirable if we could not derive rational enjoyment from it. The sacred writings inform us that the garden which the Lord God planted, and into which he put the man whom he had formed, was a Garden of Eden, that is, a garden of pleasure or delight, and that out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. *' But/* it may be asked, ** why is it that in a world so beautiful, and under the constant care of a Being so good, and with man created in the Divine image, there is evil in the world? Why is it that, notwithstanding the abundant evidences of the delicacy of the Divine goodness, man should still neglect, contend with, and even war against his fellow man ? ' ' We will give what we believe to be a correct answer to these questions. As has been stated, man was created in the Divine image ; he is therefore as free to exercise his own will, without direct restraint upon it, as God is free to exercise his without restraint ; and while it is true that man may be, and doubtless is, largely influenced by circumstances surrounding him, and a variety of influences operating upon him, all more or less afl'ecting the determination of his will, yet are his volitions, we believe, always voluntary and never compelled ; he is free — so far as his will is concerned — absolutely free :

'^ An oppressor may hold his body bound, Yet know not what a range his spirit takes Unconscious of a chain ^

Besides, the perfect freedom with which men perform not only good, but also evil deeds, would seem to prove their possession of an unfettered will, for surely if God could impose direct restraints upon man^s will, and still preserve man in His perfect image, He would do so in all cases where evil deeds would be attempted. The fact that He does not so operate upon man^s will when apparently He might, in this manner, obviate, and indeed prevent the existence of all evil, is one of the strongest proofs we can have, that the freedom of the will is complete and that it is indispensable to the happiness of an intelligent being. We know there are those who allege that things are as they are because God has purposed them to be so — that He does all things according to the good counsel of His own will, and that consequently whatever is is right — that '^his judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out"; and that therefore we

WHY ARE WE ? ETC, 17

should simply believe what has been revealed through the medium of the sacred writings, and trust God for the rest. Now, while we are free to admit that, as an instrumentality, the Scriptures are of inestimable value, and that there is much, very much, which finite beings, at present, cannot, and perhaps may never know, respecting the works of God, still we believe it is our privilege and our duty to avail ourselves of all the sources of knowledge within our reach or comprehension, particularly such as relate to our happiness and responsibilities. The Bible is unquestionably a lamp to our feet as we grope through the dark ways and places of this world ; but, valuable as it is, it does not. contain all that may profitably be known. While as a literary production, it can hardly be surpassed ; it reveals but little with respect to science or art. As a moral teacher, incomparable ; its pages still need the illumination of the Divine Spirit for their proper interpretation. The Book itself tells us to '^ try all things y and hold fast that which is good : *Mt says, ''Seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you : '* it would have us come into the happy possession of the hid treasures of wisdom and knowledge from every useful source. As we have said, there is much that cannot now, and never may be known, by created beings. Who, for example, can comprehend Infinity ? By the utmost stretch of the imagination no human intellect can comprehend the illimitable : nor is the infinitesimal hardly less inscrutable : minute as the smallest atom may be, it is still, theoretically, indefinitely divisible; the infinite and the infinitesinial are beyond our comprehension ; we simply know that we exist somewhere between the infinitesimal on the one hand, and t,he infinite on the other : nor can we conceive of time which never began, nor of duration which shall never end.

We only know that we exist somewhere between the eternal past and the eternal future. But thank God we may know what is better than all this knowledge, — that He is our Great Father, and that wearer his children. Assuming then that it is our right and privilege to investigate, as far as possible, all subjects, we return to the consideration of the question as to why it is that evil is allowed to exist in the v/orld. We have seen that the principal object our Great Father had in calling man into existence was that He might enjoy him, and make man's existence a state of rational enjoyment to man himself; we have also seen that to be complete in the Divine image man must be free. But how secure to man the greatest amount of happiness ? One might say, by God's conferring on man all the attributes, in their fullness or perfection, which God himself possesses. But, thus qualified or empowered, man would be an infinite being, and to our finite comprehension it would seem impossible that there could be more than one Infinite being, for it has been said, and we believe truly, that ^' the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him." Admitting, however, that God could at once create innumerable Beings, each one of them to correspond, in all things, precisely with himself, it is evident that such Beings could hardly sustain to Him the relationship of children ; they would be simply co-associates ; and all the endearments which arise out of the relationship of parent and child would seem to be impossible ; the co-associates being at once invested with plenary abilities or powers, could hardly realize any of the feelings or emotions incident to the dependence of childhood ; and the Great Father himself, instead of watching over all with the tenderest interest and solicitude, which is his great joy, having no occasion for the employment of his goodness, mercy and love, would under such circumstances, doubtless, regard the Universe as too monotonous for the tolerance even of an Infinite Being. The conclusion is therefore, we think, irresistible, that to be enjoyed by Him and to derive the greatest amount of happiness possible from their own existence, the children or offspring of God must be free, progressive beings, and be dependent upon Him. In this, as in all things else, whatever may be said concerning the evils that are in the world, the Divine goodness is abundantly manifest. As we have said, we exist somewhere between the infinitesimal on the one hand and the infinite on the

WHY ARE WE ? ETC, 19

other. Our natures commence with the former, and we develop by imperceptible degrees of growth in the direction of the latter. We thus have, as progressive beings, the largest scope possible for the enjoyment of progression. We speak of this progress or growth as operating in obedience to the requirements of what we call natural law ; but whether natural law is a principle which, being contrived and established by the Infinite and Divine Intelligence, develops, by its own inherent force, into certain intended results, or is simply a procession of infinitesimal, and therefore unobservable or undiscoverable miracles, we shall probably, as finite beings, never know. It is enough for us to be assured that our Great Father is its Author, and that therefore we can place in its operations the most implicit trust. By natural law the existence of living things must necessarily commence with the infinitesimal, as otherwise life would evidently have to originate in each case through the medium of what we call the supernatural. Through the medium of natural development, we have infancy with its innocence, and all the loving attentions, and tender solicitudes, that cluster round it ; youth with its ardor, hope and promise ; middle age with its strength, action and affluence of enjoyments, and old age with its ripe experience, influence, hope and trust — a trust, amounting to an assurance, that the same Great Father, who has so abundantly blessed and protected it in all the years of its sojourn here, will provide for it still greater blessings in the world to come. Briefly, to be natural, and to enjoy his existence as a free-agent, man's existence must commence with the infinitesimal, and then progress through the various stages of development, by imperceptible degrees of growth. Indeed all other creatures, sensitive or insensitive, must commence and develop in the same manner also, to the fulfilment of their respective destinies; as only through this medium could they be made fully interesting and enjoyable to man. Evidently, if all things originated and proceeded through the medium of what we call the supernatural, our interest in life would be greatly diminished, if not completely lost. We should, doubtless, soon tire of an existence which, supported by the supernatural, would require but little or no effort of any kind for any purpose on our part, or else murmur unless greater and greater supernatural displays of goodness and power were constantly made.

IV. The Cause Or Occasion Of Evil

WE will now give what we believe to be a reasonable solution of the cause or occasion of evil as it appears in the world. As human beings, in order to enjoy their existence naturally, and to the greatest advantage, must develop gradually, or by imperceptible degrees of growth, it follows that,; necessarily, the earlier years of human life must be passed in a state of comparative ignorance and inexperience. Mankind is thus rendered peculiarly liable, at such a time, to the commission of errors or mistakes ; and these, when committed, lead, unless soon corrected, quite frequently to still further departures from a proper course, until at last, as in some instances, men sink to the lowest depths of degradation. ^* But if this liability is necessary, does it not,'' it may be asked, '^indicate a defect in the Divine economy ? If the ignorant and inexperienced are not prevented by the arm of Divine power from doing injury to themselves and others, does not that fact betray a certain weakness or inefficiency in the administration of the affairs of the Divine government ? " Nay, verily ; but rather on the contrary, we have in all this an assurance that our Great Father is unwilling to interpose anything between us and our perfect freedom of thought and action — freedom being one of the conditions most

THE CAUSE OR OCCASION OF EVIL. , 21

indispensable to our happiness. Without freedom we should be simply the abject and trembling slaves or subjects of a mightymonarch, and not the children of a loving and Almighty Father. The evils into which the human race has fallen through ignorance are, it is true, very great, sometimes they are appalling ; but, great as they are, they are nevertheless small in comparison with the happiness man generally enjoys ; and this fact, in the experience of man, will, of itself, doubtless ever be found sufficient to vindicate fully the wisdom and goodness of the Creator's plans. Even evils themselves have their uses : the sufferings they cause are, to man, constant reminders that he has wandered from the path of rectitude ; they excite to reformation of life and character, and subdue pride : and although human nature would doubtless generally be happier without than with them, they cannot be said to inflict upon it absolute harm. There are doubtless Divine compensations somewhere for all our sufferings and sorrows. Our Great Father has made us liable to the commission of errors through our ignorance and inexperience, not that He takes any pleasure in our mistakes, but because, to enable us to be happy as his children, He could not constitute us otherwise. Progress and development are necessary incidents of our happiness, and in order that their scope may be as extensive as possible, and our lives all through, be what we call natural, our existence must necessarily be commenced in ignorance. Doubtless our Great Father would never have subjected his children to this liability if, by any possibility, consistent with their happiness it could have been avoided. This view is, we think, justified by the apostle Paul, where he says, *' the creature was made subject to vanity, no^ wiV/mgfy, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope." Jesus said: *^ It must needs be that offences come " ; not that there was anything in the Divine Economy necessarily requiring them, but because man in his ignorance could hardly avoid them. Let any one, no matter how expert he may be, undertake to walk in a perfectly straight line, and not to deviate a hair's breadth to the right hand or to the left, and he will find the accomplishment of such an undertaking almost, if not entirely, impossible. How much less, therefore, shall those who are ignorant and inexperienced be able to guide their steps in the line of perfect rectitude? We know there are those who attribute all our errors and woes to what they call the apostasy of Adam — that

'' In Adam's fall We sinned 2)\.^^

Now, that we have inherited imperfections and evils from our ancestors, physical and otherwise, is only too evident : the history and condition of man, unmistakably prove this ; but it should be borne in mind that evils are not necessarily sins. '' But,*' it may be asked, ^^ does not evil come as the result of disobedience to some law, natural or divine ; and is not such disobedience sin ? " We answer, not necessarily ; a law broken in ignorance can hardly be charged as a sin upon the transgressor ; it is an error, or mistake, but not, in such a case, a sin ; and we can easily imagine that Adam's first transgression was more an error than an act of voluntary or wilful disobedience. It seems very improbable that a being fresh from the hand of God, and made in God's image, should have committed any act with the intention of violating the Divine command. The Scripture statement concerning the fall is, that ^^ when the woman saw the tree (of knowledge of good and evil) was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat ; and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat." Now when we consider that this tree, like other trees in the garden, was good for food, and pleasant to the sight, and that in addition to these qualities, it was a tree to be desired to make one wise, we can hardly marvel that our first parents ate of it. However improper or injurious the act may have been to themselves and their posterity, it does not seem clear that it was done in the spirit of rebellion to the government of God. Our first parents were, necessarily, ignorant and inexperienced ; and finding the tree of knowledge