and the sad exhibitions of human weakness--the outgrowth of a fallen human nature! [Footnote A: Professor Joseph Le Conte, Professor of Geology and Natural History in the University of California, answering a supposed objection that one might not live and work effectively in the presence of the Immanent Deity, said: "It may alas! be true that this view [Immanence of God in the world] brings us too near Him in our sense of spiritual nakedness and short-coming. It may, indeed, be that we can not live and work in the continual realized presence of the Infinite. It may, indeed, be that we must still wear the evil of a practical materialism on our hearts and minds. It may, indeed, be that in our practical life and scientific work we must still continue to think of natural forces as efficient agents. But, if so, let us at least remember that this attitude of mind must be regarded only as our ordinary work-clothes--necessary work-clothes it may be of our outer lower life--to be put aside when we return home to our inner higher life, religious and philosophical. (Evolution in Its Relation to Religious Thought"--1902--pp. 302-3.)] [Footnote B: Isaiah xi:3, 4.] [Footnote C: St. John vii:24.] _5. The Helpfulness that Comes from the Sense of the Nearness of God--His Immanence:_ Moreover, if the view point of this treatise be the true one, and all the attributes of the Divine nature are carried over into the Divine Spirit that proceeds forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space--being the God Immanent--then one may be assured that living at all times and in all places in the presence of the Immanent Spirit, he resides in the atmosphere, at least, of the wisdom, the love, and the mercy of God; which can but add to his comfort, to his assurance, to his strength. Such an one with David can say-- "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."[A] [Footnote A: Psalms, cxl:23, 24.] And else he may say-- "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou are near me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort mc."[A] [Footnote A: Psalm, xxiii:24.] Under this sense of nearness, which springs from the doctrine of Immanence, one may again say with David: "Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; "To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. "Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield."[A] [Footnote A: Psalms xxxiii:18-20.] And yet again: "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all."[A] [Footnote A: Psalms xxxiv:18, 19.] Also: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.