Welsh Journals

tt THE WELSH WEEKLY. July 15, 1892. THE KHASI'S PRAYER. An Argument and an Expostulation. By Rev. John Hughes, M.A., Liverpool, (Continued.) "An, U Blei, lada me don, to pynpaw ia lade ha rya." The chemist and the physicist can use the creation admirably to endow our civilization ; but it is of no use whatever to the theologian, who seeks to subarn it as a witness to the being and goodness of a Creator. True, therefore, are the words of Scripture, when it saith that the heavens by day, the firman ent by night, the sun which he causeth to shine, and the moon and stars which he hath ordained, have no speech nor language, and their voice is not heard. But the same Scripture saith of the. Law and the Testimony, that is, the revelation of God in His Word, that it "is sure, making wise the simple, and that it is pure enlightening the eyes." Let tnen, the agnostics, the poor deaf mutes of humanity, betake them¬ selves to the Word of God, the Law that appeals to the conscience, the Testimony that speaks to the understanding, with simple and honest hearts, waiting in a spirit of prayer like the Khasi in his forest, for the Supreme Being to reveal himself, and they will find the Bible a "lively oracle'' speaking to their souls and leading them to a knowledge of God and a belief in his being. The ;altar at Athens to the Unknown God was the last •and truest symbol of an effete paganism ; and St. Paul pointed to it from the Hill of Mars as his apology for preaching to them a new God and a new religion. Likewise the agnosticism of the age is an indirect acknowledgment on the part of our modern philosophers, that Natural Theology and its handmaid Natural Science, are not sufficient to lead sinful man to a knowledge of God ; and that they sometimes fail to produce in him even a con¬ viction of His being. This is our only apology for inviting many who are learned in science and philosophy, but whose minds are in a state of mistakeable equilibrium with reference to the most momentuous truth of our being, to an unprej udiced and prayerful perusal of the institutes of divine knowledge contained in the Word of God. We boldly summon all who may be in a doubt, or any uncertainty with reference to the great truth of God's Being, to the Scriptures as the foun¬ tain of light upon this question. The witnesses of the truth are multiplying daily through the power of this Book, and this Book alone. We are in no fear whatever of Science ; we wish it God's speed to unravel the mysteries and wealth of Nature. But there is a false logic in man which can reason falsely from the true premises supplied by Nature as the work of God; and make the Scientific literature of the age an organon of unbelief ; it is by recalling people to an honest and prayerful perusal of the Scriptures, that we can hope to make the scientific spirit of the age the instrument of its religious life ; it is by this weapon of our warfare we can pull down strongholds, and cast down the imaginations that exalt themselves proudly in these days against the knowledge of <xod ; it is by this that we can bring the thought •.and spirit, and even the doubts of the age into cap¬ tivity to the obedience of Christ. We are flooded with " Evidences " from every Christian press in the Old and the New World ; and a hundred years hence men will wonder why many of these volumes were written; and why iu the world we paid so much heed to all the frantic ravings of the demon of unbelief. But the best volume on Christian Evidences is the Bible itself; and the greatest Apologetic Institution of the age is the Bible Society, that sends the Book itself, in its own simple and divine garb, without note or comment, to all the nations of the globe. We do not make these remarks, as already intimated, to cast con¬ tempt upon the Apologetics of the age; far from it, we are only magnifying the Bible as the Word of God, and as the divinely instituted means of leading men to a knowledge of the Supreme Being. Visitors to our great cathedrals are often annoyed by sauntering loiterers, who hang about the entrance, placing their intelligence at their disposal, and descanting npon the excellence of their penny guide books; and well do we remember when we first visited St. Pauls, how we were detained long outside by one of this brotherhood. We fear that the Apologetic literature of the age may have a similar effect upon many in our days; men are detained too long from entering the grand temple of the Inspired Word and the Christian Religion by the many guide books which are pressed upon their attention ; and too many of them halt beneath the entrance, instead of being inside worshipping under the dome- These volumes of Christian Evidences have their tse no doubt; but then like the guide books, they are of far greater use to the man who is inside than the man who is outside the temple, for it is in casting your eyes around, and viewing the proportions of the temple inside; it is by rasing your eyes with wonder at the dome over¬ head, that you can only have a fair idea of its magnificence. So we say unto men in this age of overflowing Christian literature : " Abide not out¬ side, but enter the temple of God's Word if ye will know the truth." Look attentively at its grand proportions, see the unity of its design, the variety of its structure from Genesis to Revelation; advance to the Four Gospols, and look up with eyes full of worship to the magnificent dome overhead, high as Deity, with the fulness and symmetry of perfect humanity ; gaze long and listen well to the whispers of the Divine Being and the divine love as they flood through the story, and ere long, as it happened with another famous doubter, you too will feel your doubts vanish and with Thomas you will exclaim "My Lord and my God." To many of the young, whose hitherto untried beliefs may feel some tension from the current of unbelief, which tends to loosen them from the old moorings to which they were bound by the train¬ ing of a Christian home—to these we would say— acquaint yourselves with the Word of God ; abide in the reading and meditation of the Scriptures. Do not let even the Christian Apologists of the age keep you away from the Bible. If you wish to gain a firm, unwavering belief in the Divine existence you will get it through the Word of God and prayer. Be instructed by the example of the young Khasi convert; and by a prayerful perusal of the Scriptures; let the Supreme Being attest His own existence in your minds. Search the Scriptures, and abide in the knowledge of them ; and whatever doubts you feel will be soon dissipated by the light of His countenance. Avoid all occasion of public discussion about the Being * f God. Nothing has a greater tendency to spread doubt than mixing up the great truth of God's Being with the sophistries of debate. Serious argument, carried on with becoming reverence for the truth, is not to be feared; but all public dis¬ cussion where the truth is blindfolded and turned into ridicule by men whose Atheism is the pride of their lives, should be scrupulously avoided. The seeds of unbelief are sown broadcast on such occa¬ sions ; and many a mind has caught the contagion of Atheism therefrom. Avoid, therefore, these " Halls of Progress ; " flee from them as you would from a pestilence. It may be that your curiosity may prompt you to attend a silent listener; you apprehend no danger in such a place, you may think that your convictions are strong and mature enough to stand the operation, and that there can be no harm in attending once, only once, to hear the truth tested in debate. But, dear reader, you are young and inexperienced in the ways of the old serpent; you may over-estimate the strength of your convictions, as many have done before you ; and there may be hidden in your soul a germ of unbelief, which needs only the congenial atmos¬ phere of such a p'ace to sprout up into hesitation and doubt. It is a dangerous experiment ; and it is your prudence not to attempt it. Instruments of cruelty are in these habitations; unto their assembly therefore be not invited. For the same reason shun all atheistic literature. Regard the great truth of the Being of God as the most sacred of your life; too sacred to be buffeted by the scoffs of unbelievers; and never open a book written confessedly with the design of casting upon it discredit and contempt. If you wish to be preserved in the great truth, which to deny is man's greatest humiliation, let your mind abide in it; and never defile yourselves by even cutting the leaves of a book wherein it is scouted and put to open shame. Well would it be for the public weal if an index expurgatorius of such books were com¬ puted, all to be burnt by the public hangman. Do not, therefore, dear reader, breath the atmos¬ phere of such books; but let your mind dwell in the Divine apocalypse of Holy Scripture, and yours will be the strength of the man that dwelleth in the secret place in the most High, and under the shadow of the Almighty. Bring your doubts and difficulties to the great fountain of light which is in the Scriptures; and pray with the young Khasi for the divine attestation which will make you free. Verily the Khasi's prayer can be taken as repre¬ sentative of the cry of the heathen world in these days. What are all the blind gropings of paganism, from the pantheistic idealism of the plains of India to the degraded demon-worship of the Khasi Hills, but one long cry, perverted though it be by ignorance and sin, for a revelation of God and an attestation of His Being. And is it not strange that while this cry is ascending to Heaven from the heart of heathendom, there is in the centre of Christendom a spirit of unbelief that shuns the light that is streaming from heaven upon the great truth, without which man can possess no freedom and no rest. There are men living in the full blaze of a Christian civilization, whose minds are of such a high order that they confess, and confess with pride, that science involves them m the shadow of a total eclipse upon this subject. They know so much of Nature and its wonders that they are persuaded that there can be no God. But while they fail through all their philosophy and science to attain to the knowledge of the Supreme Being, multitudes of pagans, oppressed by the ignorance and prejudices of centuries, by an act of simple faith, by a single bound leap into light and assurance upon the subject. So it was in the early ages of Christianity while many who,