God is writing a book
Waldo, Howard Lansing, 1852-1936
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Photograph by courtesy of Mount Wilson Solar Observa- tory, Carnegie Institute, Washington. Qn | i, God Is Writing a... Book HOWARD L.’ WALDO, M.D. DORRANCE ¢ COMPANY PHILADELPHIA COPYRIGHT 1925 DORRANCE & CO INC MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA To the Memory of My Daughter BERTHA WALDO VAN BLARCOM Who is “ Among the Seraphs, Round About God’s Throne” Thanks are due to D. Appleton and Company for per- mission to use material from The Earth’s Beginning by Robert S. Ball, Evolution and Religious Thought and Elements of Geology by Joseph LeConte, and The Ice Age in America by G. F. Wright; to Doubleday, Page and Company for quotations from Astronomy for Everybody by Simon Newcomb; to Ginn and Company for permission to use excerpts from Ancient Times, a History of the Early World by James Henry Breasted, and Lessons in Astronomy by Charles A. Young; to MacMillan and Company for permission to quote from God, the Invisible King and The Outline of History by H. G. Wells; to Charles Scribner’s Sons for material from Men of the Old Stone Age and Origin and Evolu- tion of Life by H. G. Osborne. PREFACE The author of the following pages does not claim that they contain any original ideas. Whatever ideas they may contain have been gleaned from many sources, the result of a course of reading which covers a period of many years; and the writer is unable, after such a lapse of time, to tell, in many instances, the source from which a particular thought has been derived. By reading and re-reading the inspirations of a favorite author and pondering upon his philosophy, his ideas eventually become your own, a part of your mental and spiritual life. A man who for years has made a practice of marking all the striking passages in all the books he reads, and frequently recording in his notes the ideas which these passages suggest, though not always exactly copying what he reads, may transcribe his notes and fail to recognize or remember the source from which they came. So, if anyone detects plagiarism in these pages, the author will plead guilty in advance. The author is deeply indebted to the writings of Dar- win, Tyndal, Huxley, LeConte, Arrhenius, Breasted, Professor Charles A. Young, Simon Newcomb, H. G. Wells, Sir Robert S. Ball, Henry Drummond, O. M. Mitchell, Sir Oliver Lodge, Henry F. Osborne, J. H. Fabre, G. Frederick Wright, John Fiske, Chalmers Mit- chell, Emerson, Croll, Roosevelt, Sir John Lubbock, Car- lyle, Lecky, Biblical writers and others, for the ideas which he has tried to absorb and make his own, and which he has here endeavored to express. He has not been a reader of infidel or atheistic literature, and is not familiar with the mental attitude of those who scoff at religion and the teachings of the Bible. He has felt for many years that religion, which is simply love and veneration for the PREFACE Creator and love of mankind, must be stripped of the confusions of theology, which have been taught and sub- scribed to for many centuries, before it can accomplish its great work, the comfort and elevation of man and his release from the superstitions which he has inherited from his remotest ancestry. Few people think on religious matters; they take their religion, with its theological encumbrances, as it is given to them by the clergy, with the assurance that hell and damnation will be the everlasting portion of those who disbelieve or reject. Religion and theology have thus become one and inseparable, and must be accepted or re- jected as such, the individual assuming the consequences of his choice. It is a quite recent notion, and one not generally held, that a man may see God in the stars and clouds and storms, in the ocean and forests and extended landscapes, in the mountains and in the flocks and herds, and in the faces of men and women and innocent children. That man may adore the God who made all these things, love Him and his fellow man, and devote a life of strenuous service to those who are weak and sick, vicious and igno- rant, unfortunate and filthy, and still not be a depraved sinner, although he feels no need of a Savior and is not conscious of guilt. If his life conforms to the highest standard of his generation he is not worried about his future state. When his pastor or his bishop or the pope announces “Thus saith the Lord,” he is likely to remark, “Ts that so? How did you hear of it? ‘Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteous- ness, and speaketh the truth in his heart; he that back- biteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor; in whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt and PREFACE changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved. He that hath clean hands and a pure heart’ shall see God.” A man may be guilty of stinginess, intemperance, anger, cruelty, laziness, be both a physical and moral coward with affection for still other vices, and still not hate God. He may even yet strive by all means in his power to escape from these vices, and attain unto the clean hands and pure heart which will enable him to see God. What is said about the church in these pages must not be construed as an attack, for it is not; simply a few facts have been stated—a very few; many more of the same sort might have been mentioned. There is no reason why the truth should not be stated. History should neither be suppressed nor falsified. It is no disgrace to an individual that improprieties and brutalities were practiced or even tolerated by his for- bears, so long as he does not practice or tolerate them. It is no disgrace to an organization that its founders and early adherents were guilty of practices which we, in these enlightened days, condemn. Man is a religious animal; he cannot live without re- ligion, but that religion must be adapted to his growing intelligence, and must conform to the scientific knowledge of the age, or it will not be acceptable. Religions die hard, and advancing civilizations have ever been hampered with theologies that had outlived their usefulness and are out of harmony with the culture and intelligence of the times. Our own age is no exception. There are more educated people now than ever before; more who are able and inclined to judge of the reasonableness of a dogma, and who will not accept a faith which does not appeal to their common sense, or which is antagonistic to the demonstrated facts of science. It is desirable above all things that men should have PREFACE a religion by which they may live and die, which may guide them to the truth, and which may be readjusted from time to time to conform to the new truths which science may reveal to men. There is no impiety in this revision of creeds, and it should be done without conflict or bitterness. Where is there a better place to learn the truth than in the book which God is writing? and is it not high time that men should read and believe that book? Science and religion should be one; there can be no conflict between them if both are true, and, if there is not complete agreement, both should be carefully ex- amined for errors, which should be as promptly and honestly eliminated from the one as from the other. It is pitiful to see men bound by ancient creeds, afraid to enjoy the overflowing bounty which God has given them for fear they may offend Him, afraid to question the authority or sanctity of their creeds for fear of draw- ing down upon themselves the wrath of an offended God. When we criticise the church we do not mean its humble and devout members; they are the victims of ignorance, superstition and fear, and, in general, are doing the best they know. It is the organization which holds them in bondage that is to be held to account before the intelli- gence of coming centuries. We know so little of the political and social evolution of the Far East that no account has been taken of it in these pages. It would seem that Europe and America furnish all the material for lessons along these lines that is needed. We have good reason to believe that China, up to the fourteenth century or later, was possessed of a culture far in advance of any that existed elsewhere, after the decay of Greek and Roman culture in the fifth century A.D. The Chinese early developed a code of manners which indicated a refinement of sentiment and an appre- PREFACE ciation of the rights of and respect due to others which we of the twentieth century might copy with advantage. They were centuries in advance of Europe in their de- velopment of the arts of agriculture, pottery making and painting, and probably had developed, in a crude way, the art of printing and the manufacture of gunpowder. Why did not China continue to lead the world in the arts, sciences and refinements of civilization? Perhaps the answer is not hard to find. Her religion has been a veneration and worship of her ancestors; what was good enough for her grandfather was good enough for her. There was little in the teachings of Confucius to encourage a desire for change, and for centuries a liberal education in China has consisted almost solely of an ability to read, and the memorizing of innumerable pages of Chinese classics. The written language of the Chinese is so complicated that it is the labor of a lifetime to learn to read, write and memorize the classics, leaving no time for original thought and philosophizing. Troy, N. Y. Howarp L. WALDo. a) gh GOD IS WRITING A BOOK Ni or: bo : i'd ray toe 4 a nar h The fy keh ee rey. is : RE a | wths hy TT i Ae YEAR | uy : Phy ke Mein Vol see ee y he $ Pow eh ay aA Say O ’ “f ia P a ¥ ft i] i an 1 y : i i. , ian y ant i 4 i his hit \ Sie } , wie ‘ 4 i: Tae F hyn is y dy 7 t) 4 ry [oan 1s Ya rh Vii ee é e i . i} - ‘es! Ma & fy 1% 1f i rit 1 ial at Te ‘A Be ae » i Ara Mia a 0 i Vi r ; " i. iy é { q| rT Fs { Pit of Ral iy ay Ces J 1 j ay) ti * " t ; a ites, ri me ¢ ' Sie ee Wire : pa ly A Pan | ' ae rp! ig 4 As Ss iy ut i" Pecy \ re, i Rhy Vile spe They i Uy ” 2 i ih 1 es CARs i$ 4 ur, Wahi : - Wet hee ; é b A as f i ay Lata hie yeivia Pf a “2, 7a) ’ Pri vis an ie : Roe Doe i 5 cy ; ay oe a evry os Bava iv) yi ote 1 yf es we ye CHAP TE Rat God is writing a book. He has been writing it for countless millenniums, and will continue to write for countless millenniums. The book will never be com- pleted, for, as God had no beginning, so He will have no ending; and He will continue to record His wonderful works in His book throughout eternity. God is in no hurry to complete His records and does not desire that men shall read them until the fulness of time. Thousands of pages in this book were written before men appeared on this planet, and only a few of them has man so far attempted to read. The very existence of these pages is one of man’s quite recent discoveries. A peculiarity of this book, in which it differs from all others, is that it is entirely true. It contains no errors. The best and wisest men have frequently fallen into error in the books which they have written. They have un- intentionally distorted facts and drawn erroneous con- clusions, but God never mis-states a fact or makes an error in recording the progress of His work, and unlike man, He never speculates or draws conclusions. His book will never be revised. It will stand forever as it is written. Few men know of its existence and fewer care to read it. Some of its pages lie open for whosoever has eyes and a heart to learn; but some of its pages are covered deep under the mountains and the oceans, and some are 13 14 GOD IS WRITING A BOOK hidden among the stars, to be read only by those who are hungering and thristing for knowledge, willing to devote their lives to the search for truth as written by God. Many of its pages are bound up with the history and literature of the human race, and can only be identified and separated from the pages written by man by those who have spiritual discernment and are willing and able to read and believe God’s book rather than the writings of fellow mortals. Some of its pages are written on the minds and hearts of men and women and children, and may be discerned in the great social, political and religious movements of human history. It may thus be seen that God uses all sorts of material on which to write, and the implement with which He writes is ever varying. He is writing all around us every day, but we do not often see His message, and when we see it we frequently refuse to read. Poor, ignorant, stupid man must learn to read, for only by so doing can he become wise. And as he reads, those truths which were once obscure will become clear. When the little child learns first to read, he cannot understand all that wise men write; but as the years go by and he perseveres, these obscure passages become clear to his growing mind. So he who is learning to read God’s book must at first laboriously spell it out, often without understanding ; but if he will patiently strive to learn and comprehend, he will more and more appreciate the great book which God is writing. He can never, in this world, comprehend it all. God is infinite and His book is in- finite, and it will require eternity and an infinite mind to understand Him and His book. Let us learn to read this book as best we may, and ac- cept its teachings though they may not always confirm the teachings of men and though they may destroy ven- erable superstitions which have been dear to us and to our ancestors. GOD IS WRITING A BOOK 15 Let us never forget that what is written in this book is true, and that all truth is divine; there is no such dis- tinction as secular truth and divine truth. God’s book records the things which He has been doing for ages past, although perhaps not all that He has done. Some of its pages, probably many of them, are so far beyond our comprehension that we can never know of their existence while we remain in this tabernacle, and it may be one of the occupations of eternity to find them out and read them. Besides being a record of God’s activities, this book tells us of His laws, which do not change. They not only govern this earth in the minutest detail, but the universe of which this planet is an infinitesimal part. When created beings break God’s laws the penalty is sure. The fact that the disobedience was due entirely to ignorance does not affect the punishment in any par- ticular; therefore a knowledge of God’s laws is of more importance than any other knowledge, and can be ob- tained only by reading God’s book. While sages and holy men of ages past have been able to read occasional pages of this book, and have had faint conceptions of the mag- nitude and importance of the volume from which these pages were taken, mankind as yet is only commencing its study and has not even learned its entire alphabet. Science, which, if genuine, is a search for truth, is slowly picking out the words and arranging the pages, so that future generations may read more easily and more correctly. “Science consists of the body of well ascertained and verified facts and laws of Nature. It is clearly to be distinguished from the mass of theories, hypotheses and opinions which are of value in the progress of science.” 4 In reading this book whose author is God, the wisest men are often unable to translate it or comprehend its meaning, and some are unwilling to admit that there is 1 The Origin and Evolution of Life, H. G. Osborne, p. 1. 16 GOD IS WRITING A BOOK anything written at all, or that God delivers any message except by direct communication through the minds and writings of men. His book is a revelation of God written by Himself, and, as studied and translated in recent centuries, enables us to know some things of His majesty and greatness and power which were not revealed to the men of former days. Boe the Naamathite voiced the conviction of his age when he said: “Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as Heaven, what canst thou do? Deeper than Hell, what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.” Truly, many of the ways of God are past finding out. His ways are not as our ways nor His thoughts as our thoughts, but we should strive to learn to read His book, for therein we find many things written about His ways and thoughts and laws which were past finding out in the days of Zophar, but which now are so plainly written that he who runs may read them if he will. While mortal man, immortal if you please, will never know the ‘Almighty to perfection,’ he may find out so much of Him as to be able to worship Him in spirit and in truth, if not indeed the whole truth. The heights of heaven were inaccessible to Zophar the Naamathite, and he supposed they would always remain beyond the ken of man, but modern science has scaled heights and penetrated depths to immeasurable distances ; has determined the motions and sizes and weights and chemical compositions of many stars in the firmament, and is continually adding to our knowledge. Edward Everett, in an oration at the dedication of Dudley Observatory, Albany, said, “From more than two hundred observatories in Europe and America the glorious artillery of science is nightly assaulting the skies” GOD IS WRITING A BOOK 7 and is gaining wonderful triumphs in those glittering fields. Science has penetrated deeply into the structure of our globe, and has learned many things about its history which take us back millions of years before the days of Zophar,—things which are so plainly written in this book of God’s that no one can misunderstand. When Zophar told Job that the measure of God was longer than the earth and broader than the sea, he had no conception of the greatness of the truth which he was stating. He supposed that this infinitesimal earth of ours was the centre of God’s universe, the special and only great object of His care: that the sun and moon and stars revolved about it to give it light and heat, created solely for its benefit. When he stated that God was bigger than the earth and sea, he had stretched his imagination to its utmost limit and he supposed that man could go no farther. But by searching, man has gone infinitely farther, and will continue to advance and learn of God as long as it shall please God to leave him upon His footstool. The Hebrew poets and seers had a poetical conception of the wisdom and majesty and power of God, but they knew so little, in detail, of His works and laws that their writings must today be classed as poetical fictions, though poetry and fiction of the sublimest order. Dogmatists have ever discouraged and often forbidden the reading of God’s book, as they have forbidden the reading of many good books written by men, for fear that God’s truth might expose the superstitions of ages and contradict the dogmas of men. Even the wise and good Prophet Isaiah says, “There is no searching of His understanding.” —IJsaiah XL: 25. This was a poetical truth when it was written, but it is not a scientific truth today. Man should read God’s book in a devout and humble spirit, never for a moment forgetting who its author is, 18 GOD IS WRITING A BOOK and he should announce his interpretations with all modesty and reverence, for God’s truth must not be twisted to a lie. Countless books have been written by men telling us all about God: what He thinks, how He feels, what He will do, what He regards as sin and what His attitude is toward the sinner. They tell us how to determine who will be forever blest in the enjoyments of Paradise, and who will be forever tormented in the fires of Hell. Various methods have been invented by which the guilty one may escape the damnation he so richly deserves, and reap the rewards of the righteous after having enjoyed all the pleasures of sin. The men who have written these books and devised these schemes of redemption have often been good men who verily believed that the truth was in them and that they were called of God to “save” the world. Often their standards of morality have been high, and the world has been immensely benefited by their saintly lives and teach- ings, though a major portion of their teachings was mani- festly error, the wisdom of man, which is foolishness, and not the wisdom of God. So far as we can learn, all the civilizations of ancient and modern times were largely influenced by the popular or current conceptions of the deities. In Greece and Rome there were many gods, most of whom were not possessed of or influenced by high standards of morality: as a consequence, their worshipers were no better than the gods of their own making. These gods were simply men and women of a larger growth, in whom were found all the passions and lusts of mortals. It was left to the Hebrews to develop a god of right- eousness. The process of his evolution was a slow one. Most of their liturgy and ceremonial worship was copied from the barbarous tribes about them, and their god in early times was a fierce and terrible deity to be feared, GOD IS WRITING A BOOK 19 and only propitiated by the endless taking of life and the shedding of rivers of blood. This horrible god, who ordered the extermination of whole races of people who were no worse than their neighbors and the people who were commanded to ex- terminate them, was slowly supplanted in the Hebrew mind by a god of mercy and justice who would not toler- ate iniquity. Human sacrifices were common among the tribes in Canaan and surrounding countries, and would seem to have been almost universal among almost all primitive peoples. These human sacrifices were supposed to bring general prosperity and cause an abundant harvest. In- fluenced by example, Abraham concluded that an angered god could be best appeased by the sacrifice of his son Isaac. It was perfectly natural that he should relieve himself of all responsibility in the matter by asserting that he was obeying the command of God, and to this day there are good people who try to excuse Abraham for a crime which he eventually had not the courage to per- petrate, by exonerating him on the grounds he himself offers. We should not worry about this horrible god of the early Hebrews ; he was man-made, and not the One whom we adore and Whose book we shall try to study. When the Hebrews first grasped the idea of mono- theism they clothed God with many, perhaps most, of the gross qualities of the heathen gods about them, and eased their consciences, after committing the most awful crimes, by asserting that they were obeying the God of the Jews. The ancient Hebrew literature is rich, exceedingly rich, in history and myth, legend and poetry and fiction. When the author of the Book of Job had completed his wonder- ful poem he had no idea that any future generations would consider it an historical document, any more than Shakespeare presumed he was writing history when he wrote Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or Tennyson when he 20 GOD IS WRITING A BOOK wrote The Idylls of the King, or Homer when he penned his immortal verse. It is not to be supposed that whoever wrote the history of the creation as contained in the Book of Genesis, had any idea that the literary critics of succeeding ages would accept it as authentic history, much less as the word of God. Until the time of Abraham this book is legend and myth, not history. The Book of Jonah is a fine ex- ample of the short story, but not of an historical docu- ment. The Hebrew poets and prophets were men of the high- est ideals and great literary gifts, and they often rose to the sublimest heights of eloquence. They were men of the deepest religious convictions, philosophers and seers who were able to penetrate the future because they had studied the past and had a correct appreciation of moral values. They apprehended the moral laws of the universe, and were thus able to predict accurately the re- sults of human conduct. But modern theologians have attributed to their writings a significance which they themselves would never have acknowledged, and claim for them an authority which they would have repudiated. In so far as they spoke God’s truth and raised the souls of men from the contemplation of that which was false and earthly and carnal to truth and justice, holiness and godliness, they were writing a page in God’s Book. What shall we say of Saint Paul? How can we express our admiration for his saintly life, his zeal, his enthusiasm and his amazing labors in elevating the standards of morality and promoting true religion in the hearts of men? When he reasoned of righteousness and temper- ance and justice it is no wonder that Felix trembled and that Festus called him crazy. It seemed to these judges, as to some more modern judges, that any man who would devote his life to the practice of temperance and justice and righteousness must be demented. It was very well to extol these virtues in the abstract, but to practice them GOD IS WRITING A BOOK 21 in the concrete was to them evidence of a diseased mind. Paul’s undoubted sincerity, his sure grasp of the highest principles of morality, and the living church, of which he was the founder, have placed him beyond the range of criticism for nearly nineteen hundred years. If it had not been for his labors what would have become of the early church? What other apostle had the physical courage or the mental equipment to face and conquer a hostile world? And what would future ages have known of Christianity if it had not been for the labors and writings and personal zeal of Paul? As the centuries go by, his influence is more and more potent for good: as men grow wiser and better they more perfectly appreciate the perfection of his moral precepts and his interpreta- tion of the wonderful teachings and life of Christ, his Master. If subsequent history has shown that he was in error as to the time and manner of the triumph of righteousness and its reign upon earth, that in no way reflects upon the soundness of his intuition that the time would come when righteousness would fill the whole earth, and the King of Righteousness should be its ruler. Paul apparently thought he knew who that King would be. Perhaps he did (?). Paul was a man, and like other men was not always able to escape or rise above the customs and superstitions of his age and the traditions of his elders and associates ; but this does not affect the moral character of his work. At our distance, and with our opportunities, we can see clearly some things that were beyond his vision. Paul was a man and wrote and lived as a man, but in his life and writings we may clearly discern one of the pages of God’s book; such a page as perhaps it has been given to no other man to write. Theologians and dogmatists have, for these many cen- turies, been teaching men that the ancient Hebrew litera- ture, the writings of the early Christian church, the writ- 22 GOD IS WRITING A BOOK ings and traditions of the fathers are the word of God. Further than this, these same theologians and dogmatists insist that we must accept as the word of God the inter- pretations which they have seen fit to make of these writ- ings of men. Hell and purgatory are the reward of those who refuse to accept the teachings of the church in these matters. Repudiating its authority and denying the truth of its theology we must not forget the wonderful influence for good which the church has exercised in the past and is exercising today. What could most men and women do without their church and their faith? How could they endure existence longer if it were destroyed? “Strong was he that had a church, what we can call a church; he stood thereby, though in the centre of im- mensities, in the conflux of eternities, yet manlike to- wards God and man; the vague, shoreless Universe had become for him a firm city and dwelling which he knew. Such virtue was in belief. Well might men prize their Credo, and raise stateliest temples for it and reverend Hierarchies, and give it the tithe of their substance; it was worth living for and dying for.” ? Other churches than the Christian church and other re- ligions than that championed by Paul have met the needs of millions of peoples. The pagan Greeks and Romans, while they had count- less gods, did not have much religion, and, aside from the comforts of philosophy, had not much to live or die by. Prince Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, so accu- rately divined the needs of the oriental mind and soul that to this day about one-third of the human race are content to live and die in the Buddhist faith. To the practical modern mind the conduct of Gautama in forsaking his wife and newborn son to lead the lazy life of a ragged tramp, searching for wisdom and light by sitting alone in the forests and later engaging in end- 2 French Revolution, Carlyle. Vol. I, Chap. 11, p. 7. GOD IS WRITING A BOOK 23 less talk with men as lazy and ignorant as himself, seems the acme of absurdity, cruelty and heartlessness. He forgot his great first duty to his wife and child and left them to their fate, that he might lead the life of a mendi- cant, eating the food which had been prepared by the labor of others, and devoting himself to meditation that he might find peace and repose for his own selfish soul. Gautama was hailed as the Buddha by his disciples; his paternity was not of man, his mother was a vir- gin at the time of his birth, having become pregnant as the result of a dream. These virgin births are not uncommon, even at the present time, as any physician having a large general practice can testify. Perhaps Gautama wrote a page in God’s book. The absolute self-abnegation and limitless love taught by Gautama is well illustrated by the following fable: “Buddha, incarnated as a hare, jumped into the fire to cook himself for a meal for a beggar, having previously shaken himself three times, so that none of the insects in his fur should perish with him.” 8 The moral precepts of the wise man Confucius have served, to some extent, to keep from putrefaction the minds and souls of other millions. It can hardly be said that he wrote a page in God’s book—perhaps a line. Mahomet, though not a great prophet, did a great work. He rescued millions of people from idolatry and nature worship, and taught them that there was but one God. His teaching was crude, his morality sensual and his ideals low, but his religion was better than that which it sup- planted, for it was monotheistic. Mahomet was the au- thor of a book, but we can concede to it only a small place in God’s great book. Many other faiths and crude superstitions have held in bondage the minds and souls of men. They have been largely religions of fear; the earth and the sea, the air and the forests have been peopled with demons, to propitiate 3 Varieties of Religious Experience, William James, p. 283. 24 GOD IS WRITING A BOOK whom incantations and sacrifices and painful penances and often human sacrifices have been thought necessary. Mankind has lived in terror of these false gods, the creation of his own benighted imagination, “till all the joy of living has been quenched by fear.” All the spectacu- lar manifestations of Nature—earthquakes, volcanoes, cyclones, lightning and thunder, eclipses, and epidemics of fatal diseases, have been looked upon as evidences of the wrath of the gods. God has always been a mystery and always will be, and primitive man has always needed a symbol, a temple, or a priest, before which and through whom he could ap- proach the deity and receive some assurance of acceptance and pardon. The utterances of these priests or oracles, like the words of wisdom from the oracle at Delphi, have always been received with awe and reverence. The tem- ples have often been places of asylum to which the criminal and the persecuted could flee for safety, and within which no physical violence need be feared. The offices of priest, medicine man, and physician, were often combined in the same individual, who, within the precincts of the temple, and before the visible symbols of the deity, could drive out the evil spirits which were causing disease, and at the same time secure the favor of the god by making a suitable offering. In this manner temples often became hospitals, and pools of Bethesda held out hope to the souls and bodies and minds of suffering sinners. False prophets have arisen in every age, who, inspired by the lust for power, notoriety or lucre, have not feared to speak “in the name of the Lord” for their own personal profit. It has been a favorite scheme of these deceivers to require of their followers a fairly high standard of morals, and to preach a religion more or less spiritual. These things serve to blind the eyes of the simple and to unloose their purse strings. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, pretended to have discovered, by the spirit of God, the Book of GOD IS WRITING A BOOK 25 Mormon, in a mound in Wayne or Ontario County, in the State of New York; it was written on metallic plates in an unknown, lost language. This language he was able to read by using a pair of spectacles called urim and thummim, found in the mound with the plates. Smith was manifestly an imposter, though we should not accuse all his followers of insincerity, for many of them have proven by their lives and their devotion to duty that they were above reproach. Their founder inculcated the prac- tice of all the virtues and did not tolerate polygamy; the latter was the result of a subsequent “revelation” to his successor, Brigham Young. Mrs. Eddy was, perhaps, the shrewdest of the modern false prophets. Under the guise of an unctious sancti- moniousness she succeeded in drawing untold wealth from the pockets of the simple, and succeeded in convincing many people that the testimony of the senses was not to be accepted. Like hosts of other freak religions, her doctrines are having their day, and soon will be heard of no more. CHAPTER GIL “When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, what is man that Thou art mindful of him?” “Thy throne eternal ages stood Ere seas or stars were made; Before the hills in order stood Or earth received her frame.” 1 A consideration of the heavens has always been a source of inspiration to the devout soul, and the more accurate and complete the knowledge of the observer the more is he filled with awe and reverence. The Hebrew poet knew almost nothing of the bright objects which attracted his attention: their distance, size, motions, and composi- tion were matters about which he could not possibly have any accurate information. Had he known what we do about these matters he would certainly have been filled with astonishment when told that there are, in these days, men who can behold this daily manifestation of the power and wisdom and greatness of the Almighty and still not bow in reverence, or who can even deny that there is a God. Most people who believe in God, who admit that He is a great God, who will agree that He is all-powerful, still have no conception of the greatness of His universe, or the vast extent of His power and the splendor of His creation. When they admit that He is the God of the whole earth and has controlled and will control all its destinies through all time, they have about reached the limit of their appreciation. The world is slow to realize 1 Tsaac Watts. 26 GOD IS WRITING A BOOK 27 that God is writing every day in this great book of His, and that man, insignificant and ignorant as he is, may read some portions of this book, and, by study, may pro- gressively read more and more and understand it better and better. The idea that our solar system—which includes the Sun, Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, about seven hundred asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, with numerous satellites or moons, and at least some of the comets—were all formed by the condensation, contrac- tion, and eventual cooling of an immense nebula, was original with the great philosopher _ Immanuel Kant, who died in 1804. The French mathematician Laplace de- veloped this theory still further, which is now generally known by his name, Laplace’s Nebular Hypothesis. This hypothesis, which is simply the preface to the doc- trine of evolution as further developed by the immortal Darwin, has been the ground for many a fierce conflict between the scientists on one hand and the theologians and dogmatists on the other. The latter controversialists have not seemed to be able to understand that all truth is God’s truth, and that when God writes a chapter in His book He is simply recording what He has done and the laws by which He operates, making no effort to conform to the opinions or dogmas of men. “Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill, He treasures up His vast designs And works His sov’reign will.” 2 The scientist has been asked many times: “How do you know that our solar system developed from a nebula, and that suns and planets are now being formed by the rotation, condensation and cooling of nebule?” The answer has been: “I know it by observation and reflec- tion, and I am unable to arrive at any other conclusion.” 2 Cowper. 28 GOD IS WRITING A BOOK The familiar illustration of the apple seed and the apple tree is perhaps known to all: the apple seed does not look very much like the apple tree. If we had had no oppor- tunity for observation we should say that they were in no way related, and that those “self-styled scientists,” who “assumed” that the little apple seed had in it the poten- tiality of the matured apple tree with its blossoms and fruit, were not entitled to serious consideration. But if we will observe and reflect for a few years, we may change our minds. If we plant the seed in favorable soil and give it light and water, we may soon find the little twig sprouting out of the ground, and in a few years we are convinced that the growth is an apple tree. If we will observe its surroundings carefully we will notice that there are other similar twigs and trees in all stages of de- velopment, from the smallest sprout to the mature growth, to the tree that is dying and that is dead. 