Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-02-25
&eadiua for the Sabbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATH AN.
(Orlginal.1
THEORIES.

feature or characteristic. This is true poit-
ically as we'll as religiously. In a religious
point of view, the seventeenth century was
remarkable, among other things, for the
wonderful diligence and unremltted perse-
verance with which men of gigantic intel,
lects and prodigious scholarship studied
the Bible. BY them their cardinal doctrines
of the Scriptures were formulated, expound-
ed and defended. One religious feature of
the nineteenth century is that work is made
far more prominent than doctrine. In fact,
doctrine is nearly 0vershadoWed by work
The age is nervous-feverishly so. No one
has time to think, and few have the incli-
nation. This is to be observed in the rellg-
ious literature and in the pulpit exercises Of
the day. The religious literature ofthe day
is largely sensational in its character, and
the popular preaching of the day is largely
made up Of sophomore harangues. The
preacher teaches nothing, explains nothing,
and the people desire to learn nothing. A
grand sermon often means nothing but an
! ill-conceived and boisterously delivered lit
erary speech, often devoid of both religion
and sense.
Another feature of the present age, when
religiously considered, is the tendency to
discard old and well-illustrated and firmly
established principles, and to adopt in their
stead wild vagaries. In addition to this
there is a tendency to revive theories which
were demonstrated to be false centuries ago
and consigned to aasignominous grave:
! BY devising new theories, or reviving old
ones, men of moderate intellectual caliber
hope to win for themselves, if not distinc-
tion, at least notoriety.
Men are naturally attracted by what is
strange, but in religion there seems to be a
continual tendency to get out Of the old
paths. This was the case with the Jews of
old. God led them out of Egypt with a
strong hand and an outstretched arm, but
they were not satisfied to follow God, and
| induced Aaron to make them golden calf.
We stand amazed not only at their sin, but
at their intellectual stupidity. How could
it be possible that people who had wit
messed so many wonderful things done by
the God of heaven in their behalf, could be
so stupid as to believe for one moment that
a golden calf, made out of their earrings,
was God? Strong as this may appear,
Aaron, the brother of Moses. and first con-
secrated priest in Israel, received their ear
rings, and in some way made molten calf
and fashioned it with graver's tool. Not
only so, but he built an altar before it, and
the people shouted, "These be the gods, O.,
Israel, which brought thee up out of Egypt"
Surely they knew this was glaring false
hood. The golden calf had nothing to do
in delivering them from Egyptian bondage,
and they knew it, if they knew anything at
all. There was not a particle of sense in
anything they done in this matter, nor a
semblance of truth in anything they said.
The whole thing was not farce, but most
egregious lie. Strange that Aaron consent
ed to the proposition made by the people.
Ridiculously absurd as were the actions of
the Jews in reference to the golden calf, and
| hni the
Divine being, they were not whit behind
some of the wild theories of the present
day. Men, otherwise remarkable for their
intellectual ability and extensive learning,
entertain notions of God which show that
they are, so far as religious knowledge is
concerned, as stupidity degraded as were the
Jews when they shouted joyfully before the
golden calf which Aaron made.
We can only conjecture what were the
notions of the Jews with regard to their
connection with the golden calf any further
than that they said this calf had brought
them out of Egypt. The sacred penman
has not recorded great deal about the af-
fair. It is fair, however, to suppose that
all things, it is also fair to infer that they
believed that God brought them out of
Egypt But they said. that the calf which
Aaron made brought them out of Egypt,
hence we may logically conclude that the
Jews confounded God with calf. This is
marvelously absurd, but it is no more alb
surd than some modern theories of creation.
Some theorists hold that there never was a
creation. Everything, they say, is without
beginning. Yet they know, if they know
anything at all, that they themselves had
beginning. Others hold that there was a
time when there was nothing, and away
back in the past, no one knows when nor
how, nothing, by some kind of spontaneous
action, which no morta! can understand,
produced something. Others hold that man
is the result of process similar to that
which takes place in the transition of the
tadpole into frog. 1t seems strange that
any sane man could entertain, for one mo-
ment, such wild theory. We can see how
the Jews were led to make a golden calf.
They had been in Egypt for long time,
and during all that time they had heard OF
and seen the Egyptians worshipping bull,
and it may be that they, mingling with the
heather, learned of their way and worship
ed the bull-god of Egypt, but who of all the
countless millions who had existed since the
days of Adam, ever witnessed something
turning or erol,aing into man. Men are
very credulOus. Several individuals claim
ed that they were taken to Heaven, and
saw God face to face. They told their story
with steady countenance, and having told
it stuck to it. They attracted followers.
Any man who has the effrontry to declare
that he has been to Heaven and received a
revelation from God, will find followers,
provided he adheres firmly to his story.
This is foolish but it is not unnatural. All
men desire to go to Heaven, and to hear
something from Heaven that they do not
know, and cannot learn by any means with
in their reach. But of the many who advo-
cate the theory that man is the result of
developing or expanding principle that was
in something else, not one ever yet believed
that he himself was once monkey, or any
thing else before he was man. 1t is I'M
possible for him to believe it. He has no
desire to trace his origin back to lower Or
der of creatures, and he has not the shadow
of fact to prove that such change ever
did, or ever will take place.
The Bible theory of the origin of man is
very simple, and if it is not true, we have
and can have no satisfactory theory. A
| little, and but little common sense, enables
us to see that every theory of creation which
does not accord with the history OF that
event contained in the Bible is, in addition
to being wicked, grossly absurd and foolish.
In fact, every unscriptural theory respect
ing man, either as to his origin, responsible
tiles or destiny, is as foolish as was the
making of golden calf by the Jews, and
the direct tendency is to give that glory
which is due to God to calves. There are a
great many theories about Universal Saliva.
| ton which bear on their face every mark or
wicked folly. The man who says there is
no hell and that all men will be saved, ex-
poets others to give more credence to him
than he has in himself He expects others
to do what he cannot do. He expects, 9th