The root of all wholesome thought is knowledge of thyself, For thus only canst thou learn the character of God toward thee. He made thee, and thou art; He redeemed thee, and thou wilt be: Thou art evil, yet He loveth thee; thou sinnest, yet He pardoneth thee. Though thou canst not perceive Him, yet is He in all His works, Infinite in grand outline, infinite in minute perfection: Nature is the chart of God, mapping out all His attributes; Art is the shadow of His wisdom, and copieth His resources. Thou knowest the laws of matter to be emanations of His will, And thy best reason for aught is this,--Thou, Lord, wouldst have it so. Yea, what is any law but an absolute decree of God? Or the properties of matter and mind, but the arbitrary fiats of Jehovah? He made and ordained necessity; He forged the chain of reason; And holdeth in His own right hand the first of the golden links. A fool regardeth mind as the spiritual essence of matter, And not rather matter as the gross accident of mind. Can finite govern infinite, or a part exceed the whole, Or the wisdom of God sit down at the feet of innate necessity? Necessity is a creature of His hand: for He can never change; And chance hath no existence where everything is needful. Canst thou measure Omnipotence, canst thou conceive Ubiquity, Which guideth the meanest reptile, and quickeneth the brightest seraph, Which steereth the particle of dust, and commandeth the path of the comet? To Him all things are equal, for all things are necessary. The smith was weary at his forge, and welded the metal carelessly, And the anchor breaketh in its bed; and the vessel foundereth with her crew: A word of anger is muttered, engendering the midnight murder: The sun bursteth from a cloud, and maddeneth the toiling husbandman. Shall these things be, and God not know it? Shall He know, and not be in them? shall He see, and not be among them? And how can they be otherwise than as He knoweth? Truly, the Lord is in all things; verily, He worketh in all. Think thus, and thy thoughts are firm, ascribing each circumstance to Him; Yet know surely, and believe the truth, that God willeth not evil; For adversities are blessings in disguise, and wickedness the Lord abhorreth: That He is in all things is an axiom, and that He is righteous in all: Ascribe holiness to Him, while thou musest on the mystery of sin, For infinite can grasp that, which finite cannot compass.