[UPWARD TENDENCY—REFORMATION NOT A
FAILURE—MISSIONARY WORK.]
THE effort we have made, and are now making, at reformation, can never prove a failure upon any ground, unless it be that we have not moral courage enough, as the disciples of Christ—have not sufficient integrity to the great principles of the gospel, to which we have pledged ourselves, to maintain them against the mighty torrent of opposition from the various ranks of bigotry, prejudice, and partyism, together with the combined influence of unbelief and sin. The position we occupy can never fail. While the holy prophets live and speak in their writing; while the preaching of the apostles, their lives, miracles and martyrdoms, live in the memory of men; while Jesus lives, and the throne of the Almighty, upon which he sits, stands unmoved, the position we occupy can not fail. The gospel will live and he who believes it shall never die. The men who believe the gospel, who love it, and hold on to it—keep the faith, press it to their hearts, love and reverence him who gave it, will live co-existent with the years of God. They will never fail; their lives, in this mortal state, will fail; but they, at the same moment, will triumph. They are not in any doubt and uncertainty, in calling upon their fellow man to return to the faith as it was at the beginning. They have no fears that they are wrong, or that they can possibly be mistaken in making the best effort in their power to determine precisely what the ancient faith was, separating it from everything else, and maintaining it before the world. They know they are right in this. In one word, they believe the gospel, maintain and defend it, and nothing else. It is the system they believe, maintain and defend and nothing else. They may not understand everything contained in it, as others who have other systems, do not understand everything in their system; but the system itself we know to be right, infallibly right and that we are infallibly right in maintaining it; not because we understand everything contained in it; but because we know the author of it, and know him to be divine—infallible. We know him, love him and regard him; therefore we know that what proceeds from him is infallible, and love it and regard it.
[MEN CAN BELIEVE AND DO BELIEVE.]
WHY does the speculator offer one dollar more to-day, than he did yesterday, per barrel for flour? Because he believes the news he has received, of an advance in some other market. Why does that pork dealer advance the price one dollar per barrel? Because he believes the news of an advance in some other market. Why does that trader refuse that bank bill? Because he believes the statement in the detector, that it is under par. Look through the various departments in life, business transactions and all, and see what a vast amount of it is done by faith. All business men are daily and hourly acting in matters where thousands of dollars are involved upon faith, and acting with great confidence, too. Look at that man at the post office, opening a letter and reading! In a few minutes you see him stopping quickly and closing an engagement, involving thousands of dollars! What is he acting upon? Faith in the letter just received and read. Look at that other man, waiting for a dispatch. Presently he receives and reads it. In a few minutes he is waiting the arrival of the cars. As the cars approach, you notice him eyeing the passengers as they come out of the train. Presently he rests his eye upon a man. In the next moment the man is arrested! What is he acting upon? Faith in the telegraphic dispatch he had just received. Thus we perceive men are constantly acting upon faith in all the affairs of this life.
Is it possible that men who are thus constantly, and without hesitation, acting upon faith, will have the assurance to apologize for their unbelief in matters of religion, by saying they cannot believe? It will also be observed that the men thus acting are not merely a few credulous and thoughtless persons, but business men of all classes—men of the first order of mind, thus showing that they can believe and do believe, in matters of great importance, and thus demonstrating that they can believe in matters of religion, as well as others, if they will but give a candid attention to the evidence. The same faculties of the mind exercised in believing the news of the day, political, commercial, or of sickness, health, or accidents, etc., are exercised in believing the divine testimonies. The same mind that believes the testimony of men, is exercised in believing the testimony of God. The difference in the effect produced upon the human soul, by divine testimony, or divine faith, from that produced by human testimony, or what is purely human faith, is not that the same mind, or the same faculties of the mind are not exercised in both cases, nor is it owing to the difference between divine and human testimony; but the difference is in the things believed—the difference between divine and human things believed. Heavenly things believed would, beyond all dispute, make a different impression from that produced by the belief of earthly things, however true they might be. A mere earthly truth, even if proved by divine testimony, could produce no more than an earthly impression; but a heavenly truth, if proved by earthly testimony, would produce a heavenly impression. The same mind that understands and believes that there is an advance in the flour market, believes that the Lord rose from the dead, but the effect produced by the faith in one instance, is very different from that produced in the other instance; not because different powers are exercised in believing; nor because the testimony differs; but because the things believed differ.
The relation a thing believed sustains to the believer, is the main cause of its effect upon him. Robert Owen, who professed to have read, and traveled forty years, without being able to find any evidence of the truth of christianity, has lately become a believer in Spiritualism. How is it, that he is so slow to believe in one case, but so ready to believe in the other? The reason is to be found in the relation these two things to be believed, sustain to him. The belief in modern Spiritualism involves nothing, requires nothing and promises nothing. It is merely a speculative subject, for vain and idle curiosity; placing no man under any new obligations who believes it. It is a very suitable thing to catch a man of a perverted mind and heart; one who has rejected Jesus; resisted the testimonies of the Holy Spirit, and despised the Bible during an earthly pilgrimage of many years, which God has mercifully and graciously granted him. But the fact that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God—that he is divine—that he is alive and lives forever and ever, is a fact sustaining a different relation to time. It is not a speculative fact for idle curiosity; not a mere theme for empty, cold and unfeeling hearts; for idle, confused and wandering brains; but a fact, intimately connected with all mankind; a fact, in which the destinies of all men are involved; one, too, bearing upon the lives and conduct of all men. Here is the reason that many are so slow to believe this, the greatest and most important of all the facts presented for the belief of mankind: it requires a holy life. A strange feature truly is it, in men, that they should prefer to believe that which requires nothing, proposes nothing and promises nothing, to that requiring the purest life, most exalted character, and ennobled feelings, promising the approbation of the Almighty now, and eternal joy in the world to come!