First, it must have existed before man. Second, it must have possessed
the powers of speech; and, therefore, must have been an intelligence. We
have already seen this in our reflections upon the fact that the
life-long deaf, who are deprived of hearing words spoken, are always
dumb; so man, if he had never heard words spoken, would have remained
dumb. He that created the ear, could He not hear? Did He not know what
He was doing? He that arranged the vocal powers of man, could He not
speak? Is there no evidence of an intelligent authorship here? He who
not only created but also endowed man with all His noble and God-like
attributes, would He not delight in visiting man and talking with him
and learning him the art of speech? Did man not have the privilege of
learning to talk? Did he not hear and learn from the "ancient of
days"--from his great author? Is it not unreasonable to suppose that the
author of man's being took no delight in him? _Without this_ the first
man could never have commanded the use of words. Here we have the
"Arriere pensee" clue, that is, the clue in mental reservation; and here
we meet the axiom. The clear is the true, and the "Ariadne," the clue
that leads us out of the labyrinth. Language at the first must have been
specific. This, in the nature of the case, must have been true; that is,
each and every word must have been used in such a manner as to convey a
certain definite idea. As we have already seen how mathematics aid us in
passing back to the first man, so we can easily see how to reach an
approximate idea of his mental condition. Physiologically, he might have
been a full developed athlete, but in mentality, like the helpless
infant. He is at the first uneducated. True, he possesses powers of
mind, but they are inactive. No thought has passed through his mind to
wake him up. He opens his eyes and immediately he thinks, he hears, and
thought is increased. He is connected with the objective world of things
by means of the five senses, and his mind goes to work upon these. His
thoughts are all his own; he himself thought them; they were within his
reach. He saw and heard, but his thoughts, like yours and mine, did not
go beyond his perceivings. Yes, he wakes up and hears a rustling sound
in the air just above his head; looking up he discovers a pair of the
birds of Paradise flying over him; they light on the branch of a tree
near by. These were the first things seen; he saw them in the morning of
the first day of his life. He looks and looks, and thinks these birds
are older than himself, for he remembers having seen them at the moment
of the first consciousness. The question possible came up, Whence came
they, and all the other things which I now see and hear? Were they
always here? No answer is found. His curiosity is aroused; his reason
is perplexed; he _would be_ puzzled. He now reaches for thoughts too
high for him; neither bird, beast, nor any other part of all creation
can give the light he seeks. Whichever way he turns he receives no
answer; he is bewildered; he is now anxious for light and ready to
receive it. Man has found his extremity, and this is God's opportunity.
He visits man and talks to him, and man, hearing the speech of his
Creator, learns to talk. He is now able to ask for the solution of the
perplexing problem of the ages, From whence came all these beautiful and
useful things with which I am surrounded? Did they come of themselves,
or did somebody make and arrange them? Here the Lord drives away all his
troubles, simply saying: "I created all these things; the earth and the
heavens, and all that is in them, the sun, moon and the stars also, and
I now place you here in this beautiful Eden, earth, to dress and keep
it." Thus man obtained the use of language and the foundation of
religion at the same time. Of this I will speak more at length in my
next. Tell them farewell.
N.B.--Let the determined skeptic answer these essays if he can, and if
he can not, let him be an honest man and surrender.