The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-07-21
THE ALMIGHTY GOD.
The Prayer Observation-Disclosures the Ex-
traordinary Manifestations Of the Su.
premo Will Through Nature. a..

preme Will Through Nature.
Not long ago leading scientist chal-
lengcd the Christian world to prayer
test. His proposition was that every
thing that came to pass in this world
came to pass in accordance with fixed
law; that any answer to prayer. in the
Christian sense, would involve vio-
lation of some law of Nature, and
therefore such thing as an answer to
prayer was impossible. This is the
ground taken by skeptics when the So
called supernatural history recorded in
the Bible is under discussion. The
passage of the Israelites through the
Red Sea or across the Jordan, as re-
corded, is impossible Of belief, because
such a miracle involves interference
with the infallible operation of law. So
of every recorded miracle. We would
not allude to this now, but for the fact
that several very intelligent and we'll
educated men and women, who are
Christians, have of late urged this
scientific difficulty in connection
with prayer, and have frankly told us
that this thought has kept them back
from prayer; for "what is the use of
praying, if every thing comes to pass
according 10 fixed laws which can not
be changed or alteredp" We had
thought that for this generation, at
least this form Of nonsense had been
set at rest.
One of the wonderful things to us
about the Bible is that it seems to have
anticipated almost if not every question
or difficulty which in all ages, could
possibly come up, and has indicated
the answer to it. Let this suffice for an
indication Of Gods answer to this diff
ticulty as to the possibility of his doing
any thing for us which seems to us con-
trary to nature, or out of line with the
ordinary workings of nature; for
miracle is only an extraordinary man
Hesitation of Gods will through nature.
When God called Abraham and con-
sttuted him the head of race of peo-
pie as yet unborn, and gave him prom
Use of a son in whom He would bless
all the nations of the earts, and by
whom He would make him the father
of many nations, Abraham for many
years understood that he was to be the
father of nations only through legal
heir and not natural one-"one born
in mine house" as he put it. To this,
God answered that such was not His
purpose. On the contrary: This shall
not be thine heir; but he that shall
come forth out of thine own bowels
shall be thine heir" Once more Abb
raham, who yielded to treason" rather
than faith, concluded that God could
not mean to do miracle. Twelve
years passed after God first called Alb
raham and made promise to him of an
heir. Twice Abraham had misinter-
preted that promise, in one case gricv-
Ously so. He could not believe that
God could do any thing contrary to nat
IRE. " Again God comes to him and tells
him plainly that son born to him and
Sarah his wife shall be the seed through
whom all the promises of the covenant
shall be fulfilled; and as if to prevent
any more neutrality-suspicious., He
calls Himself to Abraham by new
name. ~ am The Almighty God Walk
before Me-" There is something very
significant in this name, and especially
in that it was now for the first time
announced. We can easily imagine
the conversation. abraham, l made
promise to you concerning nation
which should spring from You. You
very naturally Inferred that must
have designed that 'one born Of thine
house was to be thine heir. This
corrected by telling thee that the child
should be your own; still you thought
that l could not do any thing that was
contrary to your observations of the
course of Nature. You made a mis-
take. Now tell you plainly that
AM THE ALMIGHTY Con. So hence
forth do not doubt that shall be able
to do every thing have promised. If
the thought of the fixed and apparent
iy unvarying operations of law seems
to suggest that nothing can be done
but that which has been done; and that
have made laws which bind me. just
remember who l am, the Almighty
God. and be not faithless but believ-
ing" Subsequently, when the Angel
of the Lord announced to Sarah what
God had in store for her. she laughed
in derision at the absurdity of the
idea. ''Shall bear a child which am
old?" Note the answer of the an
gel: Is any thing too hard for the
L0rdg'