our prophecies of death are prophecies of more life.
We know no better world: whatever else there may be is of things hoped
for, not of things seen. The objects are here, not hidden nor far to
seek: And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very
good.

These good things are the present things and the living things. The
account is silent on the things that were not created, the chaos, the
darkness, the abyss. Plato, in the "Republic," reasoned that the works
of the creator must be good because the creator is good. This goodness
is in the essence of things; and we sadly need to make it a part in our
philosophy of life. The earth is the scene of our life, and probably the
very source of it. The heaven, so far as human beings know, is the
source only of death; in fact, we have peopled it with the dead. We have
built our philosophy on the dead.

We seem to have overlooked the goodness of the earth in the establishing
of our affairs, and even in our philosophies. It is reserved as a theme
for preachers and for poets. And yet, the goodness of the planet is the
basic fact in our existence.

I am not speaking of good in an abstract way, in the sense in which some
of us suppose the creator to have expressed himself as pleased or
satisfied with his work. The earth is good in itself, and its products
are good in themselves. The earth sustains all things. It satisfies. It
matters not whether this satisfaction is the result of adaptation in the
process of evolution; the fact remains that the creation is good.

To the common man the earth propounds no system of philosophy or of
theology. The man makes his own personal contact, deals with the facts
as they are or as he conceives them to be, and is not swept into any
system. He has no right to assume a bad or evil earth, although it is
difficult to cast off the hindrance of centuries of teaching. When he is
properly educated he will get a new resource from his relationships.

It may be difficult to demonstrate this goodness. In the nature of
things we must assume it, although we know that we could not subsist on
a sphere of the opposite qualities. The important consideration is that
we appreciate it, and this not in any sentimental and impersonal way. To
every bird the air is good; and a man knows it is good if he is worth
being a man. To every fish the water is good. To every beast its food
is good, and its time of sleep is good. The creatures experience that
l