Revolving upon its own axis, and describing an
ample circuit through the boundless fields of space, is a planet of the solar
system bearing upon its surface a population of nearly a thousand millions
subject to sin, disease and death. This orb of the starry heavens shines with a
glory similar to that of its kindred spheres. Viewed from them it is seen
sparkling "like a diamond in the sky," and with the rest of the
heavens declares the glory of God, and shews forth the handywork of Him that
did create it.
This celestial orb, which is a world or system of
itself, is styled "the earth." It is the habitation of races of
animals which graze its fields, lurk in its forests, soar through its
atmosphere and pass through the paths of its seas. At the head of all these is
a creature like themselves, animal, sensual and mortal. He is called
"man." He has replenished the earth and subdued it, and filled it
with his renown. His crimes, however, rather than his virtues, have illustrated
and distinguished him with an unhappy pre-eminence above all other created
things. His heart is evil, and, left to its uncontrolled impulses, he becomes
licentious, merciless and more cruel than the fiercest
beasts of prey.
Such is the being that claims the independent
sovereignty of the globe. He has founded dominions, principalities and powers;
he has built great cities and vaunted himself in the works of his hands,
saying, "are not these by the might of my power
and for the honour of my majesty?" He repudiates all lordship over him and
claims the inalienable and inherent right of self government, and of
establishing whatever civil and ecclesiastical institutions are best suited to
his sensuality and caprice. Hence, at successive periods, the earth has become
the area of fierce and pandemoniac conflicts; its tragedies have baptised its
soil in blood, and the mingled cries of the oppressor and the victim have
ascended to the throne of the Most High.
Skilled in the wisdom which comes from beneath,
he is by nature ignorant of that which is "first pure, and then peaceable,
gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
partiality and without hypocrisy." This is a disposition to which the
animal man, under the guidance of his fleshly mind has no affinity. His
propensity is to obey the lust of his nature, and to do its evil works,
"which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, sects,
envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings and such like" (Gal 5:19). All
these make up the character of the world, "the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eye and the pride of life," upon which is enstamped the seal of
God's eternal reprobation. "They who do such things shall not inherit the
Such is the world of human kind-the great and
impious enemy of God upon the earth. Its mind is not subject to His law neither
indeed can it be. What shall we say to these things?
Is the world as we behold it a finality? Are
generations of men, rebellious against God, and destroyers of the earth, to
occupy it successively through an endless series of ages? Are men to repeat the
history of the past for ever? Is the earth always to be cursed and sin and
death to reign victorious? Who can answer these enquiries? If we survey the
starry canopy, thence no sign or voice is given expressive of the truth. They
declare the eternal power and divinity of their Creator, but they speak not of
the destiny of the earth or of man upon it. If we question the mountains and
hills, the plains and valleys, the rivers, seas and oceans of the earth, and
demand their origin, why they were created, their rocks, their strata, their
fossils or deposits afford us no response. Turn we to man and ask him
"whence camest thou, and what is thy destiny, whence all the evil of thy
nature, why art thou mortal, who made thee, who involved thee in this widespread
ruin and calamity on every side"? Ask an infant of days the history of the
past, and he can as well detail it as man can answer these enquiries without a
revelation from Him who is before all and to whom is known from the beginning
all He intends shall come to pass. So true is it, that, unaided by light from
heaven, "since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor
perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what is
prepared for him that waiteth for Him; but" adds the apostle in his
comment upon these words of the prophet, "God hath revealed these things
unto us by His spirit…which things we apostles speak, not in the words which
man's wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, interpreting
spiritual things in spiritual words" (1Cor 2:9-10,13).
To the Bible, then, all must come at last if they
would be truly wise in spiritual things, This is a
great truth which few of the sons of men have learned to appreciate according
to its importance. A man may be a theologian profoundly skilled in all
questions of "divinity;" he may be well versed in the mythology of
the heathen world, be able to speak all languages of the nations, compute the
distances of orb from orb, and weigh them in the scales of rigid calculation;
he may know all science and be able to solve all mysteries-but if he know not
the true meaning of the Bible he seemeth only to be wise, while he is, in fact,
a fool. Therefore the apostle says "Let no man deceive himself. If any man
among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may
be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is
written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord
knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man
glory in men" (1Cor
But while God lightly esteems the wisdom of the
reputed wise, there is a wisdom which He invites all men to embrace. This is
styled "the wisdom of God in a mystery." It is also termed
"the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world, which none
of the princes of this world knew." It is said to be hidden in a mystery,
because until the apostolic age it was not clearly made known. This will appear
from the following texts:--"Now Him that is of power to establish you
according to the revelation of THE MYSTERY which was kept secret in the times
of the ages, but now (in the time, or age, of the apostles) is made
manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets made known to all nations for
the obedience of faith" (Rom 16:25-26). "By revelation God made
known unto me (Paul) THE MYSTERY which in other ages (former ages under the law
of Moses) was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto
the holy apostles and prophets by the spirit, that the Gentiles should be
fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by
the gospel" (Eph 3:3,5-6). Here is "the
knowledge of God," in which are contained "exceeding great and
precious promises," the understanding of which is able to make a man wise,
and a "partaker of the divine nature." Now although
these hidden things have been clearly made known they still continue to be
styled "the mystery," not because of their unintelligibility, but
because they were once secret. Hence the things preached unto the
Gentiles, and by them believed, are styled by Paul "the mystery of the
faith," and the "the mystery of godliness," some of the items of
which he enumerates, such as "God manifest in the flesh, justified by the
spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world,
received up in glory" (1Tim 3:16). Thus an intelligible mystery
characterises the once hidden wisdom of God, and becomes the subject matter of
an enlightened faith. This, however, is not the case with regard to religious
systems which are not of the Truth. Unintelligible mystery if
the ultima ratio for all difficulties which are insoluble by the symbols
of ecclesiastical communities, whose text of universal application is, that
"secret things belong to God, but the things which are revealed, to us and
to our children." This is true; but then those things which were
secret in the days of Moses have been revealed by God to the apostles and
prophets for our information. No one has any right to set up his own ignorance
as the limit of that which God has revealed. A thing may be unknown to such a
man, but it does not therefore follow that it is either absolutely
unintelligible or a secret. He may not know of it, or, if explained to him, he
may not have intellect enough to comprehend it, or his prejudices or sectarian
bias may darken his understanding-this by no means makes the thing
unintelligible or mysterious to other people. All that such persons have a
right to say is, "we do not know anything about it." They may confess
their own ignorance and resolve to look into the matter, or not but they are
presumptuously overstepping the bounds of propriety to venture to do more.
This, however, is not the practice of those who have no secondary interests to
subserve apart from the Truth. They only desire to know that they may believe
and do; but where to know more would jeopardise the vested interests of a sect
and extort the confession of its leaders and members that they were in error
and knew not the Truth, investigation is discouraged and the things proscribed
as too speculative and mysterious for comprehension, or if understood, of no
practical utility. In this way mankind infold themselves as in the mantle of
their self-esteem. They repress all progress and glorify their own ignorance by
detracting from things which they fear to look into, or apprehend are far above
their reach.
Besides glorying in men, this unfortunate
peculiarity of the human mind has developed the organisation of a system of
things impiously hostile to the institutions and wisdom of Jehovah. It is a
system of many subordinate parts. It is animated by one spirit which, under
various modifications, pervades and actuates the whole. It is an evil spirit
and may be detected wherever the dogma of unintelligible mystery is at work.
The name of this system is "Mystery." Its baneful effects began to be
visible in the apostolic age. It was then styled "the mystery of
iniquity" which, as was predicted, has, like a cancer, eaten out the
Truth, and substituted in place thereof a civil and ecclesiastical
constitution, styled "harlots and abominations of the earth," such as
we behold on every side.
"Wisdom," says the Scripture, "is
the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get
understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to
honour when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thy head an ornament of
grace; a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee." If thou would'st, O
reader, get this wisdom, happy art thou if thou findest it. "For the
merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and gain thereof
then fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst
desire are not to be compared to her. Length of days is in her right hand; and
in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all
her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon
her; and happy is everyone that retaineth her" (Prov
The Scriptures can do everything for us in
relation to the light. This is known, felt and keenly appreciated by all
interested in the support of error. Hence, in the days of Diocletian, one of
the pagan predecessors of
Let us then "cease from men whose breath is
in their nostrils, for wherein are they to be accounted of?" "They be blind leaders of the blind" in whom is no light,
because they speak not according to the law and the testimony of God. Let us
repudiate their dogmatisms; let us renounce their mysteries; and let us declare
our independence of all human authority in matters of faith and practice extra
the Word of God. The Scriptures are able to make us wise, which the traditions
of "divines" are not. Let us then come to these Scriptures, for we
have the assurance that he who seeks shall find; though we must also bear in
mind that "many shall seek to enter in but shall not be able." We
must seek by the light of Scripture, and not permit that light to be obscured
by high thoughts and vain imaginations which exalt themselves against the
knowledge of God. Great is the consolation that "the wise shall understand,"
and "shine as the brightness of the firmament." Be this then our
happiness to understand believe and do, that we may be blessed in our deed and
attain to the glorious liberty and manifestation of the sons of God.
To the Bible then let us turn, as to "a
light shining in a dark place," and with humility, teachableness and
independence of mind let us diligently enquire into the things which it reveals
for the obedience and confirmation of faith. The object before us then will be
to present such a connected view of this truthful and wonderful Book as will
open the reader's eyes and enable him to understand it and expound it to
others, that he may become a "workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the Word of Truth," and be able intelligently to
"contend for the faith," and by "turning many to righteousness,
to shine as the stars for ever and ever." In effecting this purpose we
must proceed as we would with any other book, or in teaching any of the arts
and sciences, namely, begin at the beginning, or with the elements of things.
This was the method adopted by the spirit of God in the instruction of the
Israelites by Moses. He began His revelations by giving them,
and us through them, an account of the creation of the heaven and the earth, of
animals and of man. This then would seem to be the proper place for us to start
from, and as we have the system completely revealed, which they had not, we may
extend our enquiries into the reason, or philosophy, of things farther than they. Be this then our commencement, and may the Lord
Himself prosper our endeavours to decipher and understand His will and
testament, and to disentangle them from the crude traditions and dogmatisms of
contemporary theologies, useful in their beginning as oppositions to the
"mystery of iniquity," but now waxed old and ready to vanish away
with the thing they have antagonised; but which, though consumptive of the
civil and ecclesiastical tyranny of the "image of the beast," have by
their glosses in effect taken from the people "the Key of knowledge"
and thus shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men. Our endeavour will be to
restore this Key that they may understand "the mysteries of the Kingdom
and "have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into
the city" (