w and feeds the young ravens which cry, that
brings the bud to blossom and the flower to fruit.
The same power that upholds nature, is working also in man.
The same great laws that guide alike the star and the atom control
human life. The laws that govern the heart’s action, regulating the
flow of the current of life to the body, are the laws of the mighty
Intelligence that has the jurisdiction of the soul. From Him all life
proceeds. Only in harmony with Him can be found its true sphere
of action. For all the objects of His creation the condition is the
same—a life sustained by receiving the life of God, a life exercised
[100] in harmony with the Creator’s will. To transgress His law, physical,
mental, or moral, is to place one’s self out of harmony with the
universe, to introduce discord, anarchy, ruin.
To him who learns thus to interpret its teachings, all nature
becomes illuminated; the world is a lesson book, life a school. The
unity of man with nature and with God, the universal dominion of
law, the results of transgression, cannot fail of impressing the mind
and molding the character.
These are lessons that our children need to learn. To the little
child, not yet capable of learning from the printed page or of being
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Chapter 10—God in Nature 75
introduced to the routine of the schoolroom, nature presents an unfailing
source of instruction and delight. The heart not yet hardened
by contact with evil is quick to recognize the Presence that pervades
all created things. The ear as yet undulled by the world’s clamor is
attentive to the Voice that speaks through nature’s utterances. And
for those of older years, needing continually its silent reminders of
the spiritual and eternal, nature’s teaching will be no less a source
of pleasure and of instruction. As the dwellers in Eden learned
from nature’s pages, as Moses discerned God’s handwriting on the
Arabian plains and mountains, and the child Jesus on the hillsides
of Nazareth, so the children of today may learn of Him. The unseen
is illustrated by the seen. On everything upon the earth, from the
loftiest tree of the forest to the lichen that clings to the rock, from the
boundless ocean to the tiniest shell on the shore, they may behold
the image and superscription of God.
So far as possible, let the child from his earliest years be placed
where this wonderful lesson book shall be open before him. Let him [101]
behold the glorious scenes painted by the great Master Artist upon
the shifting canvas of the heavens, let him become acquainted with
the wonders of earth and sea, let him watch the unfolding mysteries
of the changing seasons, and, in all His works, learn of the Creator.
In no other way can the foundation of a true education be so
firmly and surely laid. Yet even the child, as he comes in contact
with nature, will see cause for perplexity. He cannot but recognize
the working of antagonistic forces. It is here that nature needs an
interpreter. Looking upon the evil manifest even in the natural world,
all have the same sorrowful lesson to learn—“An enemy hath done
this.” Matthew 13:28.
Only in the light that shines from Calvary can nature’s teaching
be read aright. Through the story of Bethlehem and the cross let it
be shown how good is to conquer evil, and how every blessing that
comes to us is a gift of redemption.
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In brier and thorn, in thistle and tare, is represented the evil that
blights and mars. In singing bird and opening blossom, in rain and
sunshine, in summer breeze and gentle dew, in ten thousand objects
in nature, from the oak of the forest to the violet that blossoms at its
root, is seen the love that restores. And nature still speaks to us of
God’s goodness.
76 Education
“I know the thoughts tha
