Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/76

 disclosure of Divine laws, the knowledge of a spiritual world, life after death, and the kind of life here that is the best preparation for eternal uses. Such would constitute a revelation whereby there might be rapid development to a highest form of civilization, the essentials of which in all cases are the knowledge of God and the observance of His laws. It is evident from the Word that not until the decline of the first civilization, was open communication with heaven and the Lord closed, and revelation confined to prophet, seer, and the written Word.

The worship of God is essentially the aspiration for His qualities, which could not have taken place prior to revelation of Him. The existence of worship necessarily implies a prior revelation of the Divine Being, and since there is no race of people without a form of religion, or a time known when there was not some knowledge of God, the evidence of all historic records, that the revelation of God was coeval with the creation of man, is in every way substantiated. Not only most clear and positive, but actual and extensive data must be brought forth to merit attention in controverting the evidence of all history and the natural inference from the world's practice and testimony, that the knowledge of goodness and truth is of Divine origin and primarily derived from revelation.