The assurance of God may come in part from looking outward at his
creation. This universe seems superficially to be material, but really
it is _saturated with the presence of mind_. So a city's streets,
buildings, bridges, subways, and railroads might appear to careless
thought grossly material; but the fact is that in their origin they
all are _mental_. They are not simply iron and steel and stone; they
are thought, plan, purpose materialized and made visible. The basic
fact about them is that mind shaped them and permeates every use to
which they are put. The most important and decisive force in their
origination was not anything that can be seen, but the invisible
thought that dreamed them and moulded them. So when one looks at
creation he finds something more than matter; he finds order, law,
uniformity; his mind is at home in tracing regularities, discovering
laws, and perceiving purposes. Creation is not grossly material; it is
saturated with the evidence of mind. Lord Kelvin, the chemist, walking
in the country with Liebig, his fellow-scientist, asked his companion
if he believed that the grass and flowers grew by mere chemical
forces; and Liebig answered, "No, no more than I could believe that
the books of botany describing them could grow by mere chemical
forces."
=Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that
bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name; by
the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not
one is lacking.=
=Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from
Jehovah, and the justice due to me is passed away from my God? Hast
thou not known? hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah,
the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary;
there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the
faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength. Even the
youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly
fall: but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they
shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be
weary; they shall walk, and not faint.--Isa. 40:26-31.=
_O Thou Infinite Perfection, who art the soul of all things that are
... we thank Thee for the world of matter whereon we live, wherewith
our hands are occupied, and whereby our bodies are builded up and
filled with food and furnished with all things needful to enjoy. We
thank Thee for the calmness of Night, which folds Thy children in her
arms, and rockest them into peaceful sleep, and when we wake we thank
Thee that we are still with Thee. We bless Thee for the heavens over
our head, arched with loveliness, and starred with beauty, speaking
in the poetry of nature the psalm of life which the spheres chant
before Thee to every listening soul._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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