"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of light—"
And then he adds immediately, "With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."[A]
[Footnote A: James i:17.]
2. The Quality of Regularity of Law—How Secured: View the matter, then, from which standpoint you may, government of the world by the personal, sovereign will of God, or the government of God through the reign of law, the quality of regularity, that can only come of inexorableness—arising either from the quality of God's attributes, or the inherent nature of law—is necessary to a sense of security, to right mental attitude, to rational thinking and right conduct. All this becomes apparent if the matter is thought upon conversely. If a reign of law is supposed to exist and the law is not inexorable, but may be set aside, suspended, abridged, enlarged, or its penalties annulled; and these changes affected not by the operation of any fixed principle, or by some controlling higher law, but capriciously, through the interposition of some sovereign will, call it special providence or what not, then, of course, you have no reign of law at all; but the reign of a sovereign will that operates independent of law. Under such government—if, indeed, it could be called government—all would be confusion, uncertainty, perplexity, doubt, despair. Happily no such conditions exist; but instead there exists a divine government in the world, operating through a reign of law; and the virtue and value of that government arises from the inexorableness of law.
3. Where, Then, is Mercy? If, however, the exorableness of law is to be insisted upon up to this degree of emphasis, where then does mercy, which is supposed to mitigate somewhat the severity and inexorableness of law; and, furthermore, is supposed in some way to represent the direct and gracious act of God when mitigating the law's severity—where does Mercy appear? At what point does she enter into the moral and spiritual economy? A large question, this, and one not to be considered just yet, except to say that the entrance of Mercy into the economy of the moral and spiritual kingdom, is not in violation of law, but in harmony with it. In fact, as we shall see somewhat later, Mercy takes her part in the economy of the moral and spiritual kingdoms because of the existence of a reign of law, rather than in derogation of it.
4. Destructive Forces Under the Dominion of Law: When a reign of law is conceived as governing in the physical world, then the conception must include the destructive, or disintegrating forces as operating under law as well as the constructive or integrating forces, else your reign of law is not universal.
Moses stood with God and beheld the multitude of his creations: "And the Lord God said unto Moses, For mine own purpose have I made these things; * * * and by the word of my power, have I created them. * * * And worlds without number have I created; and I have created them for mine own purpose. * * * Behold there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they with man. * * * And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof, even so shall another come, and there is no end to my works, neither to my words."[A]
[Footnote A: Book of Moses (P. of G. P.) i:31-38.]
This passage implies constant movement in the universe. The statement, "As one earth shall pass away and the heavens thereof, even so shall another come," corresponds somewhat to the modern scientist's notion of "evolution and devolution;"[A] but the thing to be noted here is that not only is God represented as having created these worlds and world-systems "by the word of his power;" but also that "there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of his power." By which we are to understand that destructive as well as creating forces in the physical world operate under law. So also should we understand that in the moral and spiritual world, where there appears to be a modification of the inexorableness of law, such as comes in a manifestation of Mercy in the modification, or suspension, or the obliteration of the penalty of a law by the forgiveness of sin—for "sin is the transgression of the law"[B]—all this must not be thought upon as capriciousness, the arbitrary act of Deity in the interests of special favorites. No; the manifestation of mercy which seems to set aside the severity of the law, which seems to soften its inexorableness by allowing an escape from its penalty, by forgiveness of sins—this is the result of the operation of law, as much so as when the law proceeds to the utmost of its severity, to the extreme manifestation of its inexorableness in the exaction of the utmost farthing of its penalty. It is not by special and personal favor that men shall have forgiveness of sins, and find shelter under the wings of Mercy. That must be obtained, if obtained at all, under the operation of law governing the application of Mercy in the economy of the moral and spiritual world; by law that operates upon all alike. Forgiveness of sins, like other blessings, is predicated upon the obedience to law, and is not based upon personal favor. "There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundation of the world, upon which all blessings are predicated; and when we obtain any blessing from God it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated"[C]—forgiveness of sins with the rest. It is because we live under this reign of law that the scriptures teach that God is no respector of persons. God "regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward."[D] "Neither doth God respect any person; yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him."[E] "Peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile; for there is no respect of persons with God."[F] "Call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work."[G]
[Footnote A: "While new cosmic bodies arise and develop out of rotating masses of nebula in some parts of the universe, in other parts old, extinct, frigid suns come into collision, and are once more reduced by the heat generated to the condition of nebulae. * * * While minute and then larger bodies are being formed by this pyknotic [condensing] process in one part of space, and the intermediate ether increases its strain, the opposite process—the destruction of cosmic bodies by collision—is taking place in another quarter. The immense quantity of heat which is generated in this mechanical process of the collision of swiftly moving bodies represents the new kinetic energy which effects the movement of the resultant nebulae and the construction of new rotating bodies. The eternal drama begins afresh. Even our mother earth, which was formed of part of the gyrating solar system millions of ages ago, will grow cold and lifeless after the lapse of further millions, and, gradually narrowing its orbit, will fall eventually into the sun." (Ernest Haeckel: "Riddle of the Universe"—1900,—pp. 240, 243).]