Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-03-30

CONDUCTED By
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
THE oMNIpREsENcE OF con.


The God of the Bible is not more manifest
ly superior to the gods Of heather nations Of,
account of his Omnipotence and Omniscience
than He is on account Of His 0mnipfeseAce.
All the gods which heathen nations worshiped
were weak There were possible things which
they could not do. Jupiter, who is styled the
king of men and father of the gods, was con-
trolled by circumstances, and there were facts
which he did not know. The God which is re-
vealed in the Scriptures, controls and governs
all things and is Himself uncontrolled. He
knows all things, the evil as well as the good
The heathen gods possessed, OF were supposed
to possess something which family resembled
both Omnipotence and Omliiseience. When
Jupiter thundered, we are told "haf the heav-
ems shook, " and he was thought to be able to
discover intrigues which ordinary beings could
not ; but it never was claimed for Jupiter, by
his most devout worshipers, that he was the
God of all the EARTH Great as he was, he was
local God, the god of only, at most, few
nations. This is one of the peculiar attrib-
utes of that God which is revealed the Scrip
lures, and was worshiped by the Jews of old
and by Christians in every part of the world
at present.
Thsi is often practically lost sight Of. The
God of Asia is the God of Europe, and the
God of Europe is the God of America. The
God of Heaven is the God of earth, and the
God of the earth is the God of the ocean. The
God Of the Bible is God alone
Pagan nations demanded that all who resided
even temporarily in a particular country, should
worship the gods Of that country. The indi-
vidual who went to foreign country was ex-
pected to worship, not the gods that he wor-
SHIPPED when at home, but the gods of the
| country in which he was. To have done 9TH
erwise would have been an idolatrous act.
Every province had it's own divinities just
as it had it's own rulers Not to worship these
divnities was an act of rebellion against the
civil authorities, and open contempt towards
the tutelar deities of the country. The an
cient Pagan was forced, by the nature Of his
religious system, to change his objects of re.
hgious worship as often as he changed his
abode. The gods of the hills did not preside
over the valleys. The ocean deities exercised
no dominion over the land, and those of the
land had no government on the ocean. The
sailor prayed to his divinities, and those who
dwelt on the land prayed to their gods. Eve
ry tradesman had his own particular gods, and
even every family had its divinities. The god
of the farmer was not the god that presided
over the shepherds, and the god of the shep'
herds was different from the god of the me-
chanic and merchant. The god of the Jew,
however, was God over all-the God of heaven
and earth, of all nations, the only God, every
where present and ruling over ALL
The Jew, no matter where he was, whether
| in Palestine or in Chaldea, worshiped the same
God in the same way. If he departed from
this prescribed rule he was an idolator. The
God that the ancient Jew worshiped is the God
of the Christian. The fundamental law OF
the Jewish religion has never been changed
1t never will be changed. The first principal
laid down in that code is that there is one God
and only one. The second is, that we must
worship God in the manner which He has laid
down in His word. Circumstances may con-
troll us in everything else, but it is sinful to
allow them to control US in the mode or man
ner in which we worship God. In the Christ
! ian religion everything is prescribed. The
law is universal It includes all people and
kindred and tongues, and embraces from the
rising to the setting sun. This universally
in the object of worship and uniformity in the
mode of worship is founded upon the Omni-
presence of God. His moral laws are not To-
cal, but universal. What they require of any
single individual they require of the whole
race.