The Science of Salvation Part 2

The Science of Salvation.—No. 2.

A. T. Jones

(Sunday Evening, Feb. 14, 1897.)

ANOTHER word or two of explanation before we begin the study to-night: No doubt a great many may have been querying somewhat whether all that was said the other evening would bear the test. It will. I was not talking at random. It is true I did not follow everything out in detail, but if you will think of what I was saying when you get it in print, you will see that it is true. When I said that the snow-drop was balanced to the earth, and the earth balanced to the snow-drop, then if a meteor several tons in weight falls upon the earth, is not the gravity greater than before? and would not that destroy the balancing of the flower to the earth?-No; because it is not the earth only that is balanced to that flower, but the universe. Do you remember that, in studying the law of gravity, the scientific statement is, Every particle of matter in the universe is attracted by every other particle, so that not only the earth, but the universe, is balanced to the needs of the flowers; so the falling of the meteorite would not increase the gravitation of the universe. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D59.1}

Just a few words of explanation in beginning: If I had been talking, in the former lesson, upon the subject of “Science in the Bible,” or “Science and the Bible,” I would have discussed more fully what gravity is, and what it is not, according to the scientific idea of the word. But I was not talking about that; all I intended to do the other night was to state the fact of the discovery of the law of gravitation, and the theory of it as a law. There are changes of view since Newton’s time, in regard to the theory of that law; but that doesn’t affect the law. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D59.2}

In strict truth, gravitation is not a law at all, but simply the power of God. There are really no “laws of nature.” The laws of nature are only the habits of God. All that the law of gravitation is, is a habit of God; the manifestation of the power of God. But as I was not discussing what it really is, I used the terms in the commonly accepted sense, and only to state it as that by which the balance of the universe is maintained. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D60.1}

I will read this evening another definition of science. This, too, is taken from one of the leading recognized scientists of the world: “Science is the most exact knowledge which we possess of any subject.” The word “science” literally means knowledge. The definition we had the other night is correct. It is the product of thinking. Also it is well enough to define it as the most exact knowledge we have on the subject. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D60.2}

Now recurring to the two points we had in the previous lesson. Where was to be found the most exact knowledge as to the difference in brightness of the stars, for seventeen hundred years before science discovered it?-In the Bible. Then where was the true science of that subject to be found?-In the Bible.-Where was the most exact knowledge of the balancing of the universe to be found for twenty-five hundred years before it was discovered?-In the Bible. Then what was the most scientific book in the world, on the subject of that science?-The Bible. Bear in mind still, that I am not talking upon science and the Bible. I am talking upon the science of salvation. And though other sciences may be referred to, it is only in inseparable connection with this chief science. It is that you and I shall know by all the evidences that we can bring together in these two hours of study, that salvation is science, that it is the highest science in the universe, that it is the most worthy of our study, and that we are acting scientifically when we are giving our chief and whole-souled study to it. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D60.3}

Now, the Bible is not a treatise upon any science except the science of salvation. It is a set treatise upon that subject. The Bible refers to other sciences; but there are no treatises in the Bible on any other science. Other sciences are referred to, as the ones that we have noticed in Corinthians and in Isaiah; why are they referred to in these places-to state a scientific point?-No; but to be used to illustrate better to our understanding the science of salvation. Why is that astronomical truth brought into 1 Cor.15:41? What is the purpose of saying, “One star differeth from another star in glory?” It goes right on to say, “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.” Just as one star differs from another in glory, so also is the resurrection. Thus you see that the purpose of calling in that scientific point, is to illustrate a point in the science of salvation, to help us the better to see a truth in the science of salvation. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D60.4}

Why did Isaiah draw into his discourse that statement of the fact of gravitation? Let us look a little further into the chapter, and we shall see. I will read that verse and then another at the end of the thought that he is following. “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?” “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy one. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” Isa.40:25, 26. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D60.5}

Not one escapes his notice, and they are all balanced to the needs of every little flower that grows in the field. But why does he call our attention to that, and bring it into his discourse in this place?-Not to state the scientific fact; but to call the attention of all people to the science of salvation. What does he make of it? We are to consider all this, and to consider what it is that has done all this? And then I read farther, “Why speakest thou O Jacob, and speakest O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?” Isa.40:27. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D60.6}

When God has so much care over the flower that grows at our feet, it is not hid nor forgotten; how then can you say that you are hidden from the Lord, and that your judgment is passed away, and he has no care for you any more? Thus you see that in every instance, the scientific truth is brought in altogether to illustrate to you and me the science of salvation. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D60.7}

Another thought: When these writers caught this, it was by revelation. Of course they did not get these things from any scientific study that this world had. The Lord was revealing his chief science, the science of salvation; and he called upon the other sciences to illustrate that. Then which of all the sciences is most important to the Lord?-Salvation, assuredly. When the Lord used the other sciences only to illustrate this, it is perfectly plain that he considers this science more important than the others. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.1}

Yet this is not all. One man named in the Bible was thoroughly versed in universal science-all the natural sciences of this world. I want you to see that there was a man thoroughly versed in the sciences that are now made so much of in the world. And I want you to see what he says in view of it all. Here is the scripture:- {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.2}

And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. 1 Kings 4:29. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.3}

He spoke of trees from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall. What is that called in science?-Botany. He understood botany better than any one else in the world. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.4}

He spoke also of beasts. What would be the scientific word if it were put there to-day?-Zoology. Solomon understood zo-ology better than any man who lives in the world to-day. He taught it; for it says he spoke of all these things. He taught these sciences. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.5}

“And of fowl.” What is that science?-Ornithology. Then Solomon taught in the sciences of botany, zo-ology, ornithology. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.6}

What next?-“And of creeping things.” What science is that?-Entomology. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.7}

“And of fishes.” What science is that?-Ichthyology. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.8}

People who read this passage of Scripture, do not usually think of Solomon as a universal scientist. But if it had been said that Solomon spoke of botany, zo-ology, ornithology, entomology, and ichthyology, they would be ready to say, What a wonderful man Solomon was. But it would not then be a particle more wonderful than it is; for it does say all that. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.9}

I read this that you might see that Solomon knew something of science, not only something of science, but more of all these sciences than any other man has ever known of any one of them. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.10}

Yet though he so thoroughly understood all these sciences, and having taught in them all, here is what he says: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter;” the sum of all that hath been said, is: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man: for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.” {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.11}

In his estimation, what took precedence of all other sciences put together?-The salvation of God. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.12}

The angels understand all the sciences, yet they consider salvation more worthy of their study than all of the other sciences put together. The prophets also considered it more worthy; and employed the others as a means to better understand salvation. And here is a man that understood the other sciences, and he says that the science of salvation transcends them all. Now I want you to see that God himself on his own part, separated from all these, considers it just so. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.13}

See here: We just read that Solomon taught all these sciences. How much of those teachings have we written out for our study?-Not one. God did not bring to us any record or report of Solomon’s teaching in botany. He did not bring to us, or put on record, a single lesson that Solomon ever taught in zo-ology, or any other one of these sciences. But he did, over and over, bring us lessons from Solomon, as well as all the rest, on the science of salvation. Then, counting the angels as giving only an angel’s opinion; counting the prophets as giving only a prophet’s opinion, and Solomon as giving only a universal scientist’s opinion; what is God’s opinion?-It is that salvation is worth more to you and me, and is more worthy of our study, than all these other sciences, this knowledge of which he himself gave. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.14}

This science that Solomon understood and taught was not such science as that of Huxley, Darwin, and the other scientists of this age. With the natural mind man can delve into natural sciences, and make many discoveries. And though they are not always correct, yet they can discover some points that are true. But that was not Solomon’s way. God gave to Solomon wisdom, so that he saw into all this by the light of God. He spoke of all this by the wisdom of God. Thus the science which Solomon taught was God’s science. The botany that he taught was genuine, divine botany. The zo-ology that he taught was divine zo-ology. It was God’s views, God’s truth, God’s science in all these things. It was not science falsely so-called. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D61.15}

Well there, that being God’s science, and it being divine in itself, why didn’t the Lord give it all to us. Why didn’t he give to the world Solomon’s treatise on botany, and on all these other subjects?-There is a reason for it; and it is that that is not what the world needs first of all. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D62.1}

A man might have all that, he might understand all that, as did Solomon. Yet what good would it do him, if he did not have the science of salvation first of all? Solomon had it all; yet when he turned his heart from God, from the science of salvation, and from the study of that with all his heart, what good did his knowledge of the other sciences do him? How much was it able to hold him back from sin? How much power was there in it to keep him back from his natural self, and from the deviltry and corruption that was in him. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D62.2}

You know that when he turned his heart from God’s science, from the science of salvation, though he had all the others, he was just as bad, just as wicked, swallowed up as thoroughly in idolatry and every profane thing, as though he did not know the A B C of anything. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D62.3}

Thus we can see why it is that the Lord did not preserve to man all there is of science. Suppose they had it all, as Solomon did, and could teach it as Solomon taught it. With the heart not surrendered to God, with the soul not saved, what good would science do them? It could not restrain them from any kind of wickedness and corruption that is in the human heart. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D62.4}

These sciences are not what the world needs to-day, first of all. The heart needs to be purified, the soul needs to be saved, the whole character rebuilt, the mind transformed into the very image and glory of God, so that the life shall reflect his righteousness, to make manifest the knowledge of God alone to all the world. Though we have all that all the sciences can give, it will profit nothing without salvation; for it will be but a little while till we shall have none of it at all. This is worth thinking about for ourselves to-day, in all our studies, readings, and researches. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D62.5}

There is another thing: God wants you and me, all men, to think right on every subject that he has anything to do with. There are men to-day thinking on all these scientific subjects, but they do not think right. They get so far along that they find no place for God at all. And the man without God, without the guidance of the thought, the mind of God, is not able to think right on these other subjects. But the mind is not right until it is renewed in the image of Him who created it. The mind is to be transformed, renewed. We are to have another mind altogether. Every thought is to be brought into obedience, in subjection, to Christ. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D62.6}

That is the work of salvation. It is to restore the image of God in the soul; to bring the mind where it will be but the reflection, the outshining, of the righteousness, the thought, of the living God. When that is done, and the work of God is finished in this world, in making known the knowledge of God to all the other people, then the Lord will open the universe and eternity to us. Then all these other subjects will be open for our study, and the Lord can say to us, Go where you will, I can trust you. The wide universe is open to you. There is nothing kept back from you. It is all your own. It belongs to you. Go where you please, stay where you please, do what you please; I can trust you. Think on whatever subject you please, delve into it as deeply as you please, you will do it rightly. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D62.7}

Now, I am not saying that men are utterly to ignore all other sciences till we reach the other world. I am simply saying that the science of salvation is to lead in the study of all of them. Has not the Lord set us an example as to what attention we should pay to these things, and what use we are to make of them? What is the purpose of reading and studying these other textbooks?-That these may help us better to understand and to teach the things of the science of salvation, than if we do not have that knowledge. That is the use made of them in the Bible. He sends us to preach that gospel with which these others had to do, and by example he has shown us how to use it. By this the Lord shows us that the science of salvation must take the lead of all the other sciences known in the universe. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D62.8}

It must take the lead of all others in this world, and when we get into that other world it will still take the lead. When eternity is open before us, and when we go anywhere we please, and think upon any subject we please, shall we turn our backs upon salvation then, and say, I have graduated in that?-No. We know it is written that “the cross of Christ will be the science and the song of the redeemed throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity.” Then, when we have finished our course here, when we have graduated, and the time comes for a grand commencement, and we enter upon an eternity of study, we shall then be more able to understand this greatest of all sciences than when we were in this world. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D62.9}

We stated in the other lesson that it is not a misuse of the words “science” and “scientific,” to apply them to salvation. Salvation is science, it is scientific. The working of the Spirit of God upon the mind, transforming the mind and all the life into the image of Jesus Christ, from sin unto righteousness-that is a scientific thing. Therefore when you study it, bear in mind that we are not in the least unscientific when we make that the chief and the all in all of every subject, all the time. These would-be scientists are unscientific in neglecting this, the chief of all sciences. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D63.1}

There is another thing that has been demonstrated; and it has been demonstrated in the three nations that are the examples in the learning of the world. The record of the Bible people, the Jewish people, God’s people as in the Bible, is professedly the example and source of study for all who propose to serve God. Greece and Rome, with their philosophy, their literature, and their laws, are the examples of many of those who profess to follow the Bible, and of all others. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D63.2}

Now we have seen that amongst God’s people there was a man who was a universal proverbialist, as well as a universal poet, and a universal scientist. His songs were a thousand and five, and his proverbs three thousand. There you see a master mind; and yet the one who had such an understanding, such wisdom, in all these things, demonstrated in his life that all such knowledge as that is absolutely impotent for any good in a man or to a man, without the science of salvation being there to control, and hold in righteousness the balance over all. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D63.3}

I called your attention awhile ago to the fact that God did not bring to us any of that scientific teaching. Now I call your attention to the fact that he did bring to us a record of that man’s life when he turned away from God. He did bring to us a record of the enormous failure that that man made in spite of all this knowledge, when he forgot the science of salvation. Why, then, did God consider it more important for you and me to record all that man’s life after he turned from God, than to bring to us a record of all the scientific instruction that he gave? In the minds of men, which is the more valuable to mankind? The record of the failure, the enormous failure, made by Solomon is of more value to mankind than would have been all of the scientific teaching that Solomon ever spoke put in a book for mankind to-day; because in that failure it was demonstrated to all the world how altogether vain and less than nothing, is all knowledge of all things without the knowledge of the salvation of God. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D63.4}

Another great example is seen in the Greeks. The natural mind never can attain to a higher, closer, and more perfect thinking than the Greek mind did. In that is portrayed the perfection of human thinking without God. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D63.5}

But what did it do for them? That is the question. What did their literature do for them? What did their philosophy do for them? What did their art do for them? What did their religion do for them? Philosophy, philo sophia-the love of wisdom. What was that wisdom?-It was absolute foolishness. God says so. What was their religion?-It was mythology only. What was their art?-God says it was idolatry. Do you remember the record? {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D63.6}

The Word of God does not say that as Paul walked among those statues and saw their art, he admired their art. No, it says: “His spirit was stirred within him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Then what was it?-Idolatry. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D63.7}

Yet even to-day men, women, and children take the remains of that which was only idolatry, and worship it, and call it art, and copy it. Their minds dwell upon it, they prepare books on it, and they teach and study it in the schools of the country. But what can come from all this? What came of it amongst the Greeks themselves? You know what it did for them. I need not repeat-literature, art, law, philosophy, all these things. Rome copied her philosophy from Greece more than it originated from herself, but the literature is there. And what did it do for the Romans?-Some things it did for the others, only, if possible, it made them worse than the others were. In all Greece, so far as my observation went, I saw everywhere that the Greeks had respect enough for woman to drape properly every figure of her they carved. A man, of course, is always naked; but when we get to Italy that respect is gone, and all are without any drapery whatever. In most cases the drapery is all gone; and by the way, the perfection of art to-day that is worshiped by those who go to Rome, and study there in art, is only the undraped female figures, and that is not art anyhow when it is done; and yet it is come to the perfection of art, and is copied everywhere, and its imperfections are copied every time. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D63.8}

I want to ask a question. Who of you have ever seen a human pair of legs from the knees down? As I stand here, the weight of my body is on my left foot. That balances altogether the weight of my body. The right foot rests with the toes on the floor. Will the muscles of my right leg be conformed exactly to those of the left?-No. But that is the wonderful piece of art. There is just that difference. The two legs are exactly alike, and we cannot discover a hair’s breadth of difference. And so we see it is not art anyhow. There is much to say about that, but I am not giving a lecture on art to-night. I am talking about what is the value of salvation, and what is the good of all things without it. What good did Rome have without it?-Her iniquities sunk her. What good did Greece have without it?-Her iniquities sunk her. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D64.1}

So, then, when the fact stands thus demonstrated in threefold measure before the world, of the absolute impotence of every effort of the human mind in its perfection to attain to any good when the heart is turned from God, what can the Lord do for the world if these three world-lessons will not teach the people? What can he do for men if they will follow in that way, in spite of these three examples of solemn warning? God has recorded these three instances to teach us the impotence of the highest effort of the mind in all branches of science, art, and literature, to do men any good, to keep them back from sin, to lead them toward any good of any kind whatever, when they forget the salvation of God and the science of salvation, which he has given to the hearts of men. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D65.1}

I ask therefore: Are we to copy the foolishness of Greek and Roman? Are we to be charmed by their idolatry, and to think it is art? Are we to be interested in their religion, when it is altogether enormity? It is not enough to say it is mythology; it is enormity. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D65.2}

But someone will say, Is not their literature invaluable? Let us see what God thought it was worth. At the time when through the Greek language he was introducing the science of salvation throughout the world, the Lord had the whole world of Greek literature before him, and the Roman, too, for that matter. Yet he found only three short sentences in the whole realm that were worth picking up and putting in this treatise on the science of salvation. I will give you them. One of them is in the seventeenth chapter of Acts. It is quoted from a Greek writer by the name of Aratus, and is this. I read from the twenty-eighth verse. Paul is speaking, and says:- {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D65.3}

“Certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” A Greek writer said that man is the offspring of God. The Lord picked that up, and said, That is true. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D65.4}

Another one is in the fifteenth chapter of first Corinthians, and the thirty-third verse. The first part of the verse is, “Be not deceived.” These are the Lord’s words. The rest of the verse is quoted from a Greek writer named Menander: “Evil communications, corrupt good manners.” {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D65.5}

The other one is in Titus, the first chapter and the twelfth verse, and is from Epimenides, as follows: “The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.” {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D65.6}

Those three passages were all that the Lord was able to find in the whole realm of Greek literature that were worth taking up and putting his endorsement upon. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D65.7}

Well, then, I do not say that this is all that anybody can use to profit. There are historical facts in the Greek language that are of value. But God is teaching the things that are most valuable to all mankind; he is teaching the principles of right and truth, not simply bringing before the world an array of facts. And all that he could find in the whole field of Greek literature that could be used in the interests of truth or righteousness as principles to guide man, was just these three statements: “We are also His offspring;” “Evil communications corrupt good manners;” and “the Cretians are alway liars.” Who else can find any more than that, that will do him any good in the way of righteousness and truth, purity and integrity? {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D65.8}

Now do not forget. The Greeks and Romans were not low down, degraded, ragged, ignorant heathen; they were aristocratic, cultivated, and most highly educated. How could it be otherwise when the things which they knew and taught are the pinnacle to which teachers of to-day aspire? Julius Caesar was one of the most accomplished men that ever lived-in courtliness, etiquette, æsthetics, and manners generally. But what was his character? The most guarded description of it, to be anywise full or fair, would be unfit to print. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D66.1}

When the Lord has shown how absolutely vain is all science, all learning of all kinds without his salvation, then I say again, What can he do for men if these things which he has set before the world will not instruct them that that is not the way to take? If men will not be instructed by these things to take the right way, to allow that God’s science is the chief, and that what he knows is the best, then how can mankind hope to escape the evil that has come upon all these that have gone before? {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D66.2}

The science of God’s salvation is the one thing for men to know, first of all; and to have that lead us, guide us, balance us, to hold us everywhere in all things, and against all things evil. And it will do all this. That is the blessed truth. I read last night, and read again:- {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D66.3}

Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. Eph.3:8, 9. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D66.4}

What is that mystery of God?-“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God, the gospel, the power of God unto salvation-that is the mystery of God; that is the science of salvation. That is the scientific truth, around which all other sciences center. That power of God unto salvation every man must have to hold him back from the evil that is in him. The evil that is born in every man will carry him to perdition, in spite of all science, all literature, all art, all religion, everything the world can furnish, or that it ever could furnish, unless he lays hold upon the power of God unto salvation, which comes to a man by faith of Jesus Christ. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D66.5}

Without that power in the heart, even the science which God taught-to say nothing of the literature, the art, the religion, and all that the heathen taught-is impotent to hold back man from sinning. Without that, every vestige of evil that is in a man will show itself, in spite of all these other things. That is why it is the power of God unto salvation: it saves man against every evil. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D66.6}

The mystery of God, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory; Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God; Christ and him crucified; that alone, that all in all, that over all, in all, through all, now and through eternity,-that is the science of salvation, the chief of all sciences; that which leads all sciences, takes precedence of all, and guides in the study of all. Let it be so with all forever. {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D66.7}

Then let the Lord by his Spirit so draw us to himself; let the heart be so opened to that power, to the fellowship of that mystery, to the Spirit of God, that he may implant there Jesus Christ, his grace and his virtue. And as we hold our hearts open to him always, and to none but him, as a flower to the sun, we obtain in all its fulness, his righteousness, his power, his salvation, his mercy, his truth, his joy, his gladness, his peace-O, and his eternal life! {February 14, 1897 ATJ, GCDB D66.8}