Their  whole  nation  or  tribe,  lived,  moved  and  had  their
being  m  God,  through  the  ages  and  generations  that  were
passed. God,  in  their  constitution,  had  given  to  them
powers  of  intellect  and  feeling,  which  rendered  them  ca-
pable of  religion,  and  which  He  sustained,  hut  of  his  sup-
port they  were  naturally  ignorani:;  and  their  messen-
gers travelled  six  thousand  miles  on  foot,  to  obtain 'in  form-
ation on  the  subject. There  is  but  one  Jehovah,  one  only
living  and  true  God. He  giveth  to  all,  life  and  breath,
and  all  things,  and  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  the  nations
of  men. In  his  wisdom,  the  world  by  wisdom,  since  man
fell,  has  not  known  him. His  existence  and  character,
have  been  made  known,  by  the  personal  manifestations
of  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirii,  who  exist  in  the  one  Je-
hovah. These  manifestations  were  made  by  divine  super-
19


214  THE    RELIGION-GIVING    OPERATION,

natural  revelations,  in  words  and  sentences,  and  in  mirac-
ulous works. These  have    been  recorded  in  the   book  of
God,  and  since  the  miraculous  powers  have  ceased  or  have
been  withdrawn,  which  was  not  long  after  the  record  was
finished,  this  record  of  God''s  word  ha^sbeen  the  established
means,  by  the  appointment  of  God,  for  enlightening  the  hu-
man mind  in  religion,  in  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  of  di-
vine and  eternal  things. Do  not  matters  of  fact  prove  these
things  to' be  true?     Why  \y ere    the  Flat  Head  Indians
obliged  to  travel  six  thausand  miles  to  obtain  this  informa-
tion from   the  Word  of  God  itself,   imparted  to  them  by
Qeneral  Clark  and  friends,  if  God  gives  to -the  mind  this
information  without  his  v/ord?    .The^arae  question  might
be  asked  in  reference  to  the  v. hole  world,  since  the  Apos-
tles were  commissioned  to  go  and  preach  the  v»^ord,  and  its
effects  in  turning  men  from  darkness  to  light  and  from  the
power  of  Satan  to  serve  the  living  God. 