THE TWO TESTIMONIES OF GOD-CREATION

AND THE WORD.

Psalm xix.

FROM the very beginning it has been one great aim of the adversary to cast discredit upon the word of God; "ye shall not surely die," was his bold assertion to the woman, in direct denial of what the Lord had said: no marvel then, that in these last days, he endeavours by every means in his power, to weaken the soul's confidence in the Scriptures of truth, and succeeds, to a great extent, in inducing many to deny that they are altogether inspired of God. The apostle could say, "we are not ignorant of his devices;" let us also, with the Lord's help, seek to be skilful in detecting the workings of the enemy, and be quick to perceive his wiles. In this attack upon the word of God, one of his most subtle plans is to enlist on his side some of the Lord's own saints, and by inducing them to take. up carnal weapons of argument in defence of the word, he most skilfully strengthens by their means his own Thus we hear of attempts being made to reconcile (as it is called) the word of God, with the theories and geological discoveries of the day; and in seeking

cause.

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to do this, the various plans adopted eventually tend to lower the value in which God's inspiration should be held. Some even, while professing reverence for the Scriptures, go so far as to assert that they are not adapted to the present advance of light and knowledge; others hold only a partial inspiration, and place thereby human reasoning, and the evidence of the natural sense, above the direct revelations of God. Thus from the avowed rationalist, down to the learned and, yet it may be, believing philosopher, we find every kind of open or covert attack upon the written testimonies of God.

The true place of faith is to say, "let God be true and every man a liar;" and we must begin by giving the lie to our own selves; our vain imaginings, our fancied wisdom, our clear deductions, must fall like so many Dagons before the truth of God. It is not for us to attempt to reconcile God's word with the observations made by men, or their deductions from their fancied discoveries. To seek to do this, is virtually to deny that it is God's word. We have to take the high, and yet humble ground of faith, and to assert the truth of what the Lord hath said, simply because HE hath said it, against all "the oppositions of science, falsely so called;" the word of the Lord needs no confirmation; we must take the weapons of faith, instead of clothing ourselves with the armour of Saul.

The nineteenth Psalm, in a most beautiful strain, di

rects our meditations to the two great testimonies of God-Creation, and Revelation. Faith is needed for the understanding of one as well as the other. Thus in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, Paul prefaces the list of individual examples of faith by this great declaration, "through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear;" and we shall find that both creation, and God's written word, will alike be misunderstood, yea both will become stumbling-blocks to the soul, unless they are received and read by faith. The Jews "stumbled at the word," and Christ consequently became to them the rock of offence. 1 Pet. ii. 8. The Greeks stumbled at God's testimony in creation, they sought after wisdom, and Christ crucified became to them foolishness; and like those of whom the apostle speaks in Rom. i., “their foolish heart was darkened: professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." So surely is it also at the present day; many are snared and taken through disbelief of the great testimonies of God, both as contained in His word relative to the Lord Jesus Christ, and as to His eternal power and Godhead as displayed in creation. Men will not bow to the instructions of God, but they prefer their own wisdom, and thus human philosophy is trusted instead of the revelations of God.

What a blessing it is to have simple, child-like faith

-to take God at His word-to believe what he says; the soul will thereby avoid being entangled in the theories and subtleties of the times. Where we are ignorant, let us own our ignorance, and peacefully await the light of that bright and glorious day, when that which is perfect shall come, and that which is in part shall be done away. But this supposes another precious grace of the Spirit-humility. We must be content to be fools in the estimation of the learned and wise of this world, and this is not pleasant to the flesh, which likes to preserve its own self-esteem, and to receive honour from men. Let us, however, wait for a little, and we shall see who are the really wise. David was but a ruddy youth in the eyes of the great Goliath, but the despised stripling turned out in the sequel to be the true giant, whilst the mighty uncircumcised Philistine fell under the blow of a pebble from a brook.

But as Satan's great aim of old was to obscure the light of truth, as displayed in creation, so in these days his great object of attack is the light of the word. The nineteenth Psalm having therefore opened with the great declaration of the handy work of God, as manifested in creation, proceeds to expatiate on the perfection of God's word. "The law of the Lord is perfect ;" and of all arguments in favour of its perfection, the best is that it "converts the soul." This is the believer's strong ground of defence on behalf of the

Scriptures, namely, that they have been used of God. to the saving of his soul; they have met his need; they have revealed to him a Saviour, Christ the Lord; they are to him the word of life, "the incorruptible seed that liveth and abideth for ever." Thereby the troubled conscience has found peace; therein God has proclaimed the forgiveness of sins. This is the strong ground which the saint should ever take and maintain with reference to the Scriptures, nor should he descend to the use of any carnal weapons of mere human reasoning. But alas! what a fool is man! He will own in these days that God made the heavens and the earth, but he does not think that God has written a correct account of His own creation. He is the wise God in fashioning the universe, but unwise in recording the works of His own hands. And thus one use at present made of the discoveries of science, and of the very study of God's own works, is to deny that the God who planted the heavens, and hung the world upon nothing, is to be credited in His own written word. Will not the words of the Lord out of the whirlwind fitly apply to such reasoners? "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days? Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth? Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the