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Abana & Pharpar
McKee & Co., Printers Wellington: Custom House Quay.
1897
Introduction.
Popular Astronomy; a General Description of the Heavens,
"Having reached these upper heights, we can now attempt to represent the constitution of the Heavens as a whole."
"In infinite space the stars are strewn in immense clusters, like archipelagoes of islands in the ocean of the heavens. To go from one star to another in the same archipelago light takes years to pass from one archipelago to another it takes thousands of years. Each of these stars is a sun similar to ours, surrounded, doubtless, at least for the most part, by worlds gravitating in its light; each of these planets possesses, sooner or later, a natural history adapted for its constitution, and serves fur many ages as the abode of a multitude of living beings of different species. Attempt to count the number of stars which people the universe, the number of living beings who are born and die in all these worlds, the pleasures and pains, the smiles and tears, the virtues and vices! Imagination, stop thy flight!"
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O All Ye Works of the Lord, Bless Ye the Lord: Praise him, and Magnify him for ever.
O that Men would therefore Praise the Lord for his Goodness: and Declare the Wonders that he Doeth for the Children of Men.
Now, Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour; but he was a leper.
And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she was waiting on Naaman's wife.
And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria; for he would recover him of his leprosy.
And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.
And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.
And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.
And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send into me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.
And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore has thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned, and went away in a rage.
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And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith unto thee, Wash, and be clean?
Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.
But he said, As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused.
And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord.
In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing.
And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.
But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.
So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said. Is all well?
And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.
And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him.
And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed.
But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him. Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither.
And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?
The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as; snow.
Blessed are they who Accept the King. Dom of Heaven as Little Children.
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"When we abandon the doctrine that some infinite being created matter and force, and enacted a code of laws for their government, the idea of interference will be lost. The real priest will then be, not the mouthpiece of some pretended deity, but the interpreter of nature." . . . Beyond the universe there is nothing, and within the universe the supernatural does not and cannot exist. The moment these great truths are understood and admitted, a belief in general or special providence becomes impossible. From that instant men will cease their vain efforts to please an imaginary being, and will give their time and attention to the affairs of this world. They will abandon the idea of attaining any object by prayer and supplication. . . . The plans of mankind will no longer be interfered with by the linger of a supposed omnipotence, and no one will believe that nations or individuals are protected or destroyed by any deity whatever. Science, freed from the chains of pious custom and evangelical prejudice, will, within her sphere, be supreme. . . . Man should cease to expect aid from on high. By this time he should know that Heaven has no ear to hear, and no hand to help. The present is the necessary child of all the past. There has been no chance, and there can be no interference. . . . Nature, so far as we can discover, without passion and without intention, forms, transforms, and retransforms forever. She neither weeps nor rejoices. She produces man without purpose, and obliterates him without regret. She knows no distinction between the beneficial and the hurtful. . . . Only through man does nature take cognizance of the good, the true, and the beautiful, and so far; as we know, man is the highest intelligence. And yet man continues to believe that there is some power independent of and superior to nature, and still endeavours by form, ceremony, supplication, hypocrisy, and sacrifice, to obtain its aid. His best energies have been wasted in the service of this phantom. . . . Man must learn to rely upon himself. Heading Bibles will not protect him from the blasts of winter, but houses I and fires and clothing will. To prevent famine one plough is worth a million sermons, and even patent medicines will cure more diseases than all the prayers uttered since the beginning of the world. . . . The thoughts of man, in order to be of any real worth must be free. Under the influence of fear the brain is paralyzed, and instead of bravely solving page 7
a problem for itself, tremblingly adopts the solution of another. So long as a majority of men will cringe to the very earth before some potty prince or king, what must be the infinite abjectness of their little souls in the presence of their supposed Creator and God? Under these circumstances what can their thoughts be worth? . . . Who can appreciate the mercy of so making the world that all animals devour animals; so that every mouth is a slaughterhouse, and every stomach a tomb? Is it possible to discover infinite intelligence and love in universal and eternal carnage? What should we think of a father who should give a farm to his children, and before giving them possession, should plant upon it thousands of deadly shrubs and vines; should stock it with ferocious reptiles; should take pains to put a few swamps in the neighbourhood to breed malaria; should so arrange matters, that the ground would occasionally open and swallow a few of his darlings; and besides all this, should establish a few volcanoes in the immediate vicinity, that might at any moment overwhelm his children with rivers of fire? Suppose that this father neglected to tell his children which of the plants were deadly; that the reptiles were poisonous; failed to say anything about the earthquakes; and kept the the volcano business a profound secret; would we pronounce him angel or fiend? And yet this is exactly what the orthodox God has done. . . . Having shown how man created gods, and how he became the trembling slave of his own creation, the questions naturally arise—how did he free himself even a little, from these monarchs of the sky, from these despots of the clouds, from this aristocracy of the air? How did he, even to the extent that he has, outgrow his ignorant, abject terror, and throw off the yoke of superstition? . . . In spite of all religion, the geologist penetrated the earth, read her history in books of stone, and found, written within her bosom, souvenirs of all the ages. Old ideas perished in the retort of the chemists, and useful truths took their places. One by one religious conceptions have been placed in the crucible of Hence and thus far, nothing but dross has been found. A new world has been discovered by the microscope; everywhere has been found the infinite; in every direction man has investigated and explored; and nowhere, in earth or stars, has been found the footsteps of any being superior to or independent of nature. Nowhere has been discovered the slightest evidence of any interference from without. These are the sublime truths that enable men to throw off the yoke of superstition. These are the splendid facts that snatched the sceptre of authority from the hands of priests."
After reading the above, then how most pitiable and absurd, "O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men." Still, one might derive some little even of refreshment turning from the above to the Christian's song of reverential praise—parents with their little ones present and all joining:—
Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide Thee.
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see,
Only Thou art Holy: there is none beside Thee
Perfect in power, in love, and purity.
Then to the Christians sure and certain hope that they esteem their great and beloved privilege to know that they are themselves, and privileged to teach their little ones, that if they fear God and effort His commandments—Love the Lord Jesus Christ
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—and act as instructed, they are "children of God, inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven." What again do the Evolutionists teach us? Shortly this:—Mankind, like all the other animals, were evolved originalIy from some protoplastic sort of stuff. Heavenly Father they have none. How can they when old mother Evolution "bossed" and still continues to "boss" the whole show? Some animals evolved in one direction, some in another: man evolved till at one stage he was a baboon. Why so many baboons should be content still to continue baboons, evolutionists have not yet quite discovered. They will doubtless look more into their Bibles—the rocks—and tell us later on. And so the baboons evolved and evolved till man appeared. It might seem almost cruel at this stage to remind all those sweetly pretty creatures—the coming mothers of coming mankinds—when seen playing golf, croquet, riding their bicycles, going to theatres, Ac., that their great grandpas and grandmas, uncles and aunts, with more or less of removes, were baboons; that all the kangaroos and puppy dogs, Ac., are with more or less of removes their cousins. Very cruel! then why do it? Cui bono? Some, unbeliever might ask, if man evolved and evolved originally from some protoplastic sort of stuff, with no other guidance and control around than the guidance and control of old mother Evolution, what was to prevent an evolutionist evolving till of the same dimensions as Mount Tongariro, requiring a hat to protect his head when walking abroad wider and broader than Lake Taupo. Of course there would in such case be difficulties; when one may consider the vast of fat oxen necessary to give so enlarged an evolutionist a good meal, the vast of fleeces to give him a dress suit: houses he could have none—all vegetables and fruits of the earth would be utterly useless to him. Then to picture the consternation, the speedy and all round reduction to a condition of "cracky billy," followed by a general stampede of all the fishes on the occasion of a visit to the ocean of so enlarged an evolutionist to his morning bath. Happily it is not so. Evolutionists are just a nice convenient size; shearing his sheep to get his dress suit just the proper size; seated at his meals with his legs of mutton, vegetables, and fruits, all just the proper sizes. Wonderful little fellows! Of course there is this objection to the acceptation of all evolutionists teach—their extreme youth. Their brains are so very young—the bones used in their construction such young, almost quite new, bones—I only a few months since not bones at all, but some other sorts or somethings. Then to come down from archipelagoes of stars to evolutionists; they do look very small. Why, take any ordinary sized evolutionist, lop a little here, chop just a little there perhaps, he can readily be stowed away inside any ordinary corn or wheat sack. Any larger than ordinary, stow three or
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four of them in a wool bale and sew them up. Not much when inside such bags or wool bales; but just take any one of them out and stick him on top of a footstool, supply him with a telescope just a little longer than himself and let him take his spies abroad among the archipelagoes of stars, then hear him talk! Wonderful little fellows! Then try to puzzle an evolutionist to shut him up. Show him a watch; ask him "Did any one make that watch?" Make that watch? of course! Waterbury? keeps good time no doubt? Point him to the sun. Tell how the sun goes his course; keeps his appointed place in the heavens, taking with him all his "chicky-biddies"—the planets, the wonderful exactitude of the movements of the planets, enabling astronomers to foretell the transits of Venus, eclipses, &c. Ask him if there was a Maker, a Creator, an Overruler there. "Creator, Over-ruler? Tut! tut! Old Mother Evolution and Nature fixed all that up. What do evolutionists want with a Creator? 'A king can make a belted knight a marquis, duke, and a' that, but an evolutionist's beyond his might; good faith he may na' fa' that.'" Ask him about his Heavenly Father. "Heavenly Father, tut! tut! Do you ever hear our cousins the kangaroos, hyænas, puppy dogs, and others of our relatives talk about their Heavenly Father, tut! tut!" Tell an evolutionist how "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;" ask him about his Redeemer. "Redeemer, tut! tut!" "Snarls and snails and puppy dogs' tails that evolutionists are made of." What do puppy dogs' tails want with a Redeemer? Tut! tut!" Ask him about his soul. He smiles: "'Aven't got any!" Wonderful little fellows! Then they are so very generous. Their great generosity in inviting all mankind to share with them in all the elevating glories of their beauteous pedigrees, to wash with them in the waters of their glorious Abana, soon to lead them to washings in the Agnostics' Pharpar. Wonderful little fellows! They live their lives free from any responsibilities other than those dictated from time to time by their necessities and surrounding here. Soulless they came and, like their cousins the puppy Jogs, soulless they go They wither like the leaves, and like their cousins the puppy dogs, they die and there is an end of them. "O that men would sing the praises of their good mothers, Dames Evolution and Nature, and declare the wonders they have done and are still doing for their little ones the children of men!"
Turn we to another picture—to see a Christian mother trotting about with her little ones like a hen with its "chicky-biddies." She points them to the sun, tells them how very big the sun is, that if this earth were in the centre of the sun there would be room for the moon to go round this earth inside the sun, leaving a very big, big, margin outside the circle so made
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by the moon inside the sun; tells them how the sun pursues his course, keeping always his appointed place in the Heavens, taking with him all his "chicky-biddies "—the planets; how the planets go all trotting along at great speed through space round the sun, from which they all derive their heat and light: how the earth is so placed in the Heavens as to give them their summer, autumn, winter and spring; how their Heavenly Father created and overrules all. When, exactly, He so created them she cannot tell them now, nor is it at all necessary they should know just now; how their Heavenly Father created all those pretty stars they see in the Heavens around them, all—with the exception of the planets—doubtless suns with their planets revolving round them; how their Heavenly Father created myriads of stars, which cannot be seen with the naked eye, in the vasty archipelagoes of stars in the ocean of the Heavens around them; how that if they are good little boys and girls, and if they live to grow up to be good men and women, ever remembering "the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom;" how that if they fear God and earnestly effort His commandments, they are privileged to love God and pray to Him and trust Him as their Heavenly Father; how that if they love the Lord Jesus, are truly repentant for their sins, and trust for forgiveness and salvation through His merits and all that He has done for them; how that if they love their neighbours and are kind to them, love and are kind always and to everybody, and are true and just in all their dealings; how that if they sing and duly practice their little
I love to hear the story
Which Angel voices tell,
How once the King of Glory
Came down on earth to dwell.
I am both weak and sinful,
But this I surely know,
The Lord came down to save me,
Because he fovea me so.
I love to hear the story
Which Angel voices tell,
How once the King of Glory
Came down on earth to dwell.
I'm glad my Blessed Saviour
Was once a child like me,
To show how pure and holy
His little ones might be;
And if I try to follow
His footsteps here below
He never will forget me,
Because he loves me so.
I love to hear the story
Which angel voices tell,
How once the King of Glory
Came down on earth to dwell.
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To sing His love and mercy
My sweetest songs I'll raise;
And though I cannot see Him
I know he hears my praise:
For he has kindly promised
That even I may go
To sing among his Angels,
Because He loves me so.
I love to hear the story
Which Angel voices tell,
How once the King of Glory
Came down on earth to dwell.
—Amen.
How that if they bear patiently any of the ills of life, ever remembering their little "Thy will be done," ever keeping their attention fixed with the eye of faith, remembering this is not their abiding or final city, on the happy beyond, whether they die on land or at sea, die after a long and painful illness, die of this disease or that, when they die they will go to dwell for over and ever in those blessed abodes prepared by their Heavenly Father, for all who love the Lord Jesus, ages and ages before the foundation of the world. Why, that Christian mother can give the mothers of the Atheists, Deists, Infidels, Freethinkers, Agnostics, Evolutionists all points, and have allotted to her, and walk away with, all the cakes.
"Time's up"—Just so! Time's up. Popes, Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Archdeacons, Priests, Deans, Vicars, Deacons, Elders, Divines, and Christian Teachers all, what have you to say for yourselves? What happens to employees when they display a disregard for the instructions and wishes of their employers and masters! (A voice: "they get the sack.") Just so—they "get the sack." What have you to show why you should not all get the sack? Have you forgotten the commands and instructions of your great Master? "A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another." "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another." Have you forgotten your sailing orders "Be of one mind, teach the same thing?" Again "Determine to know naught among mankind but Christ Jesus and Him crucified." Do not many of you teach that there is salvation for those only who are privileged to be in the bosom of this or that church? That those only can be saved who have the sacraments administered to them by those among you possessed of apostolic succession. Is not to teach thus, to "teach for doctrine the commandments of men?" Is not to teach thus to effort "to shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men?" Were any of you with your apostolic succession and your exclusive churches crucified for the sins of the world? Was any of your "blood shed for the remission of sin?" Can it be said of any of you "He
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was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed?" Do not many of you presume to teach that the infinite God and Father of all caused His little ones to be deceived when He ordained them to be taught—"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth from all sin?" Do not many of you teach that it is necessary to salvation to eternal life that the souls of mankind must be detained in, and pass through your by man ordained human abomination, your Jordan of the Gehazis, you call Purgatory? Is not to teach thus a grievous offence against the Most High? Is not to teach thus most manifestly "to teach for doctrine the commandments of men?" Is not to teach thus to cruelly mislead and deceive your fellows? Is not to teach thus a distinct effort on your part to "shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men?" Have you forgotten the terrible denunciations on record against those who so do? Go read!
you read in your histories what the great conquering Roman wrote when describing one of his victories, "Veni Vidi Vici," do you then proceed to say "Oh someone wrote that for him." Why in one case more than another? You to scoff at miracles! Why what are you but each a little, more or less, peripatetic trot-about miracle? You to look down from the lofty heights of your wonderous lambkin intellects with pitying commiseration upon Christian men and women who read their Bibles, who nightly and every day thank their Heavenly Father for their Bibles given to them and their little ones, "a light to their path, a lamp to their feet!" Who pray—
"Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we, Thine unworthy servants, do give Thee most humble and hearty thanks for all Thy goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men. We bless Thee for our creation, preservation and all the blessings of this life; but above all for Thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace and for the hope of glory. And, we beseech 'Thee, give us that due sense of all Thy mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, and that we show forth thy praises, not only with our lips, but in our lives; by giving up ourselves to Thy service, and by walking before Thee in holiness and right cousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with Thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory, world without end.
—Amen.
The sort of people to be despised by little chaps like you, those Christian men and women, are they not? What you little chaps want is something to do to keep you out of mischief, here "Love thy neighbour as thyself." Rather a large order for little chaps like you! You may be told what a great preacher once told his hearers—" My friends, if you can't be religious, be as religious as you can be." There you are! If you cannot love your neighbours as yourselves, do the best you can; love them as well as you can love them. Make that your rule and guide. Perfection can scarcely be expected from you. When you have that properly fixed up, here "Do unto others as you would be done by." Whatever is the matter with all you little chaps? "What's gane wrang wi ye?" Is it not enough for you to know the Lord made the Heavens and the earth, "the sea and all that in them is," the countless myriads of the stars in the heavens, and so ordered that in time there should be produced on earth little chaps like you? Do you want to know what became of all the souls of men who died before Christ came, and the sort of wings you will have in the next world? Why not be content with what you have? Measure the diameter of the sun, the size and distance of the planets, see to your phonographs, photographs, electricities, and all such. Do not try to pry into the mysteries of creation; be content to "wait a wee." If you want to know the number of the stars, go and count them. Then how can you little chaps possibly count the stars, when you cannot see, may be, one hundredth part of them, even with
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your spectacles on. Try and think just a little less of yourselves. Try and be content with what you have. Are not "the means of grace and hope of glory" good enough for you? Is not eternal life long enough? Would you like it elongated a little! Be content to leave all you cannot possibly grasp, and cook prehend in all reverential submission to and with Him who is from everlasting to everlasting, to Him all pervading where ever is, is God, to Him who doeth all things well, your infinite Creator, God and Heavenly Father. You are all of you very careful with those bones of yours, when you ride your bicycles, your horses and carriages, climb up the riggings of your ships and otherwise, with many otherwises. Is it necessary for you to be told that ere long you will have to leave those bones and put in an appearance elsewhere and otherwise? Now would you not all like when you so put in an appearance elsewhere to be nice, clean little chaps? Just all try to be nice, good little chaps. You would soon all be much happier. You might! shortly find yourselves evolved into a condition of being possessed] of "joy and peace in believing." Go, like good little chaps, to those Christians and ask them, "What must I do to be saved. They will tell you, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." They will tell you, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." And, so continuing in your resolve to be good little chaps, "Accept the Kindgom of Heaven as little children." Ta ta, little chaps, ta ta! Au Revoir.
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Wellington: McKee & Co., Printers, Custom House Quay, New Zealand.