1.—THE AGNOSTIC
“THE fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; but fools despise wisdom and instruction." “How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity; and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?” "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," are wise words, spoken by the wisest of men; and God always looks at the heart. Now the fool spoken of in the 14th Psalm has a large family today, and the so-called "Agnostic" has doubtless many children in every part of the habitable globe. But, adds the Spirit of God, “They are corrupt; they have done abominable works; there is none that doeth good." The infidel's heart has got no place in it for God, and hence his vain mind and darkened understanding blind his heart through ignorance; and, being “past feeling, he gives himself over to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”
Yet God, in His grace, has given man countless proofs of His existence, and heaven, earth, sky, and sea, alike proclaim the glory of His handiwork.
The flashing comet, and the tiny blade of grass equally declare His power and wisdom, and the smallest insect, as well as the mightiest lion that roars in the forest, proclaim to all but the fool that their creator is God. Angels, who do His bidding; and demons, who "believe and tremble,” both alike acknowledge His existence, but it is man only, the grandest of all His works, who dares in his folly to say, "No God for me.”
What do you say, dear reader? Has God got any place in your heart and life, or are you still an unbeliever? Not only has the God who loves you revealed Himself in creation, but fully manifested Himself in "the Word, who was made flesh," His only Begotten, well-beloved Son. To know Him and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, is life eternal; but if you possess not this knowledge you are still a lost sinner, and “dead in trespasses and sins.” The believer, however, is privileged to say, " We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." Reader, do you thus know Him? If not, your mind is still blinded by the god of this world, and it is this terrible fact which hinders the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, from shining into your heart. “But we preach Christ crucified "; and the light from the glory of God still shines on that dark spot at Calvary, where man consummated his guilt and folly in the murder of God's Holy One. Notwithstanding this, the perfect sacrifice, once offered on that altar, has fully, and forever, met every claim of divine justice, and is God's own answer, in perfect love, to all man's hatred.
Then, “turn ye, turn ye; why will ye die. As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth." No longer, then, dear reader, close your ears to the wooings of divine grace. But remember that the day is fast approaching when God will no longer show mercy, but will laugh at the fool's calamity, and mock when his fear cometh. Beware, lest you die in your sins, and stand hereafter at the bar of judgment as simply an unbelieving fool! But " if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”
S. T.