Gold Nugget 142 - Another Sphere
… It is man’s natural tendency to try and to do without God, to trust the bow, and the chariots of human providing. The story of the prodigal is repeated constantly. Every man says in effect, “Father, give me my portion; let me see how I can do for myself without thee.” It is only by-and-by, when he finds that there are worse friends than the Father, and wearier places than the home, that clothed in rags, with failing heart and many a tear, he says, “I will arise, and go to my Father.” …
In proportion as our powers develop, our liability to trust to them, and not to him who gave them, increases. In our day physical sciences have grown, and the principles so educed have been swiftly and boldly applied to our necessities. We are pointed to evidences in every direction of the constancy of law and the absence of fortuity. Indeed, the religious fallacy of Judah has been formulated into the philosophy of Positivism, which recognizes nothing but that which the intellect can prove, and excludes everything spiritual and supernatural. It points out that in human distresses we should turn to science, not to God; and that the study of political economy and natural science may fairly supersede the preaching of righteousness as a means of salvation to a people.
We do not disparage scientific discoveries, but rather rejoice that they are made so frequently and fearlessly. We only ask men to recognize that there is another sphere not discoverable by the intellect, which underlies and impinges upon the sphere of sensuous life, and that, while things are temporal, there are things unseen which are eternal.
Well may one of the characters in ‘The New Republic’ be represented as saying to such teachers, “Your mind is so occupied with subduing matter, that it is entirely forgetful of subduing itself – a thing, trust me, that is far more important.” But the disappointment of men’s shrewdest anticipations proves that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. “The shields of the earth” (the means of defence, temporal and spiritual) “belong to the Lord.”
The Pulpit Commentary, Hosea p.26, Hosea 1:7, (A. Rowland)
Gold Nugget 142
Another Sphere
