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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
June 1926
death bed. But no scientist can tell us out of his science where it came from nor where it goes. It is not matter, it is life. “ Thus Par and No Farther!" The great atheist scientist, Huxley, said: “ Of this thing which leads to the origin of life and living matter, it may be said that we know nothing.” Darwin said that the origin of life constitutes a question which it is beyond the knowl- edge of man to answer. Lord Kelvin said: “ Here scien tific thought is compelled to accept the idea of creative power.. . . . Let them not imagine that any bokuspokus of electricity or viscous fluids would make a living cell. . . • Nothing approaching to a cell of living creature has ever yet been made. No artificial process, whatever, could make living matter out of dead.” At this point the scientists, if they walk at all, must again walk by faith and not by sight. And from this point the scientists have no advantage over any other man. All of us must reach out beyond the things of sense and time if we search effectively for the sources of life. So the scientists tell us frankly that they have no facts which enable them to tell us— as scientists— where life came from or how it got here. The Satisfactory Answer of Scripture As the scientists canhot answer our second question, and will not even attempt'to answer it, I again go to my Bible for the answer, and there again, in the first chapter of the first book, I find the answer in satisfying complete ness. There I learn not only that God first made matter and fashioned it into this earth of ours, but that afterwards— perhaps long afterwards— in His own good time, He Himself brought the life which He created and joined it to the mat ter which also He had created. God speaks in the first chapter of Genesis:' "God said, ‘Lei the earth bring forth grass’—and the earth brought forth grass.—God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life —and God created great whales and every living creature that moveth—which the waters brought forth abundantly.—God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature'—and it was so. The Lard God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” God Joined life to matter. He alone can do it. "The Lord gave” is the only answer the human heart has ever had to our second question, and the Bible gives the answer. Of origins in the vast world of the living, the Bible alone speaks. If I reject the Bible answer I have no answer. ni. IF A MAN DIE, SHALL HE LIVE AGAIN? The third question grows out of the other two: first, the problem of earth’s origin; second, the problem of life’s presence in the earth; and third, the future life. What about the resurrection? If a man die, shall he live again? Is there such a kinship between God and His creat ures that the grave is not the end? Will He who gave us life give us also life eternal? Our interest in the third question is far more vital and intense than in either or both of the others. Matter is, and we have it, whether or not we can account for it; life is, and we have it, whether or not we can trace it to its source: but if there is a bridge across Death’s chasm into a future life, we must find the way. How sad our fate if we miss it. Naturally, we must, in this domain, walk by faith and not by sight. Not many have returned to us from the Kingdom of the Dead. The scientists have no information about the future life, except the knowledge that is common to all of us. The vast ages before the creation of matter
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" t h e TREE OF KNOWLEDGE The Bible Con tains 3,566- 480 l e t t e r s , 810,697 w o r d s , 31,175 v e r s e s , 1,189 chapters, a n d 66 books. The longest c h a p t e r is the 119th Psalm; the s h o r t e s t and m i d d l e chapter the 117th Psalm. The middle v e r s e is the 8th of the 118th Psalm. The longest name is in the 8tb chapter - of Isaiah. The word "and” occurs 46,627 times. The w o r d L o r d 8,000 t i me s . The 37th chapter of Isaiah and the 19th chapter of the 2nd book of Kings are a l i k e . The
longest v e r s e is the 9th of the 8th chapter of Esther; t h e shortest verse
is the 25th of the 11th chapter of John. In the 21st verse of the 7th chapter of Ezra is the alphabet. The finest piece of reading is the 26th chapter of Acts. The name of .God is not mentioned in the book of Esther. The Bible contains knowl edge, wisdom, holiness and love. Courtesy Oxford University Press
and of life, and the eternities of a future life, are alike outside of the exclusive field of knowledge of the present day scientist. An Impenetrable Veil Still we turn to the scientists, but here again- we get no answer They tell us, indeed, that since man’s earliest ages, everywhere men have confidently- counted upon a resurrec tion from the dead and a life after death, a life more abun dant than this life. It is the all but universal expectation of the human heart in every age and in every part of the earth. The power which fashioned the human heart must have given it this expectation. How else would all hearts have it? But the scientists tell us that the veil of death is to science an impenetrable veil. In this field of human knowledge the scientists make no claims. They themselves declare to us that here they can neither lead nor advise. The Veil Lifted So, again, since Science is unable to answer, I turn to my Bible arid again I find the answer there., God first lifted the veil that we might know that He created the heavens and the earth. He lifted it again that we might see Him join life to matter. Again He lifted the veil that we might see Him transmute earthly life into heavenly life. He per mitted us to witness the crowning drama of His Providence — a drama with songs of angels as its prologue, and the promise of angels as its epilogue— a drama whose action covered a baby’s birth in a manger, a sinless life, Infinite Life Incarnate, a tragic death, a stranger’s tomb, and a demonstration of the grave-breaking power of Deity in Humanity— a drama which began on the darkest night of the world and ended on its most radiant morning— a drama which answers our third question. (Continued on page 370)
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