Reason and Miracles · Improvement Era

REASON AND MIRACLES 259

We are not dependent, then, upon the records that have come down to us from past ages, for a knowledge of miraculous manifestations of the power of God and his special providence. In our own day, with its marvelous enlightenment and scientific achievements, miracles have been performed. Visions have been given; the sick have been healed; evil spirits have been cast out; angels have visited men; all these things have been attested by unimpeachable witnesses. Reason, therefore, in my judgment, has the strongest possible logical basis for the acceptance of miracles. There is no stronger evidence of the truth of any proposition than competent testimony. But, says the skeptic, "we live in a universe that is guided everywhere by law, and miracles presuppose the violation of the laws of nature." This argument confuses the meaning of the term "law" as used in the natural sciences with the sense in which the same term is employed in jurisprudence. When we speak of the laws of nature, we do not refer to a code of laws formulated for the guidance in their conduct of the objects of which the universe is composed and of the forces that operate upon them; we mere-

ly mean a statement of what human experience and observation teach, regarding the co-existence or sequence of phenomena. When we speak of gravitation, for instance, as a "law" of nature we only say that, as far as human observation goes, material bodies attract each other, in proportion to their distance and size. But we do not say that the same bodies can never, or will never, take an opposite course and repel each other, setting the "law" of gravitation at naught in obedience to some other law. In fact, the so-called laws of nature present as many exceptions as rules. We raise a weight from the ground, in spite of the law of gravitation, suspending for a moment, seemingly, its operation, and our bodies, for years, resist decay because of the action of the life-force within, thus defying, apparently, the chemical "laws" that we say "govern" matter. One force neu- tralizes another. And above all physical forces there is the divine will that controls them, as a sailor his vessel. God is the supreme commander. "As a captain, with a word of command, turns his immense ship in whatever direction he chooses, and controls his engines and everything, so God directs and controls his universe and all that pertains thereto, not contrary to, but in conformity with, laws and forces known to him, even though unknown to us" (Commentary on the Doc. and Cov., p. 637). The supremacy of God in the universe is the first and chief of the laws of nature. That fact gives reason a logical basis for acceptance of miracles. As already noted, the speaker characterized the preaching

260 IMPROVEMENT ERA

and teaching that "Joshua made the sun stand still,*' as a "painful sin and a disgrace." The objection is mainly directed against the expression "stand still," I presume. At least, that is generally the point of attack, the bull's eye at which skeptics aim. They accept the popular expression used even by our astronomers that the sun "rises" and "sets," without a murmur, but they absolutely refuse to hear that the sun stood "still," because, they say, it is the earth and not the sun that moves. They forget that popular expressions are perfectly legitimate when they convey the meaning they are intended to represent, even if they are not technically correct. But with regard to the expression in Joshua 10:12-14, the fault, if there is any, is that of the Bible translators and not of the original author of the book. The word translated "stand still" means "to be silent," and then to "tarry," to "wait," to "rest." Only in that sense does it mean to "stand still." The meaning is, as scholars tell us, that the sun "tarried" or lin- — gered above the horizon a whole day a miracle that can be seen every year in the beautiful lands of the midnight sun. How it was done is not stated. A slight dip of the earth's poles would have suffered for that great miracle; or it might have been accomplished by means of refraction of the rays of the sun in the atmosphere; or some other means might have been employed. Joshua merely tells us that the day was lengthened by the lingering of the sun above the horizon, until victory was achieved. Fortunately, Joshua is not the only witness we have to this miracle. Mr. R. A. Torry, in his pamphlet on Difficulties in the Bible, tells us Herodotus was shown by priests in Egypt a record of a long day. The Chinese records are said to register a long day in the reign of the Emperor Yao. The Mexicans also are the possessors of a record according to which the sun "stood still" for one entire day in the year which has been calculated to correspond with the year in which Joshua invaded Palestine. A candid examination of the evidence from every angle will, I think, justify the conclusion that reason can find no logical basis for rejecting the miracles or the special providence of God. If we reject the miraculous element in religion, including revelation, we will be in the position of the Athenian philosophers, who laughed their gods to scorn and then raised an altar to an unknown God; for we can never learn to know God from what nature alone and the laws of nature reveal.

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The Glory of God 'I beseech thee, shew me thy glory." Moses to the Lord. (Exodus 33:18.)

The following is a part of the 19th Psalm, with the refrain | added, — "The Glory of God is Intelligence." 1 I

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handiwork For the Glory of God is Intelligence!

| Day unto day uttereth speech, 1 And night unto night sheweth knowledge, For the Glory of God is Intelligence! There is no speech nor language | Where their voice is not heard | For the Glory of God is Intelligence! Their line is gone out through all the earth,

        And their words to the end of the world
           For the Glory of God is Intelligence!

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the |

simple, For the Glory of God is Intelligence! The statues of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, | The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the | 1 eyes | For the Glory of God is Intelligence! |

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous | altogether | For the Glory of God is Intelligence! §

More are they to be desired than gold, yea, than much |

fine gold; § | Sweeter also than honey and the honey comb For the Glory of God is Intelligence! 1 Moreover by them is thy servant warned; And in keeping of them there is great reward I For the Glory of God is Intelligence Amen! — § Brigham H. Roberts. |

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"Mormons" in Liege During the War By Elder A. P. Horbach, Secretary of the Belgian Mission

In behalf of the local priesthood Elder Horbach writes to the Era a short account of the Liege branch, during the great war of 1914-19: "On the sixth of August, 1914, the day of the bombardment of the city by the Germans, the missionaries, as per information received at the American consular office, left the city. During a fortnight or more, we lived in terror of the Boches, who bombarded the fort, burned the houses, and plundered and shot the inhabitants. Oh, how we missed the missionaries during that time, and how the members would have been happy to meet together, to pray, and to hear the comforting words of the gospel! For ten months we were not able to assemble. We were not allowed even to go into our meeting room which we had rented by the month, the last rent having been paid until August 31. The furniture and other things in the room were considered to be the property of the missionaries, and consequently we could recover nothing from the landlord out of the room; and for ten months, the landlord let all lie in place expecting the return of the missionaries. We had only one teacher in Liege branch when it was abandoned, Herbert Huysecom; and two deacons, Charlep Devignez and Arthur Horbach. Serain branch had two deacons, Maximilien Renard, and Michel Pleger; one elder, Victor Pirotte; one priest, Joseph Dien, completed the local priesthood. However, they dwelt so far out in the country that they could help us only from time to time. After ten months of expectation, the members of the local priesthood, their minds being somewhat calmed, felt that it was out of place not to meet together, and so decided to do the work of the missionaries, which heretofore they had not done, having been too busy with earning their livelihood. But now nobody worked, owing to the German occupation, and so it was possible for them to go and visit the members of the Church, to exhort them and even to distribute tracts and carry on a propaganda. Our first meeting was held in the home of a member, but on the following Sunday, all the members of the Church having been informed of the meeting, the house became too small for the members of Serain, who came to meet jointly with the members of Liege. All of them finding themselves in the same condition as to room, by a mutual agreement we met Sunday after Sunday at the teach-