ariably operative. Unless matter
is eternal, which is unthinkable, there was nothing out of which the
world could be made, but God himself; and, reverently be it said,
matter seems to retain fit capabilities for such source. Is not this
the teaching of the Bible? I come to the old Book. I come to that
man who was taken up into the arcana of the third heaven, the holy
of holies, and heard things impossible to word. I find he makes a
clear, unequivocal statement of this truth as God's revelation to
him. "By faith," says the author of Hebrews, "we understand the
worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen
were not made of things which do appear." In Corinthians, Paul
says--But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom [as a
source] are all things; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom [as a
creative worker] are all things. So in Romans he says--"For out of
him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory
forever. Amen."

[Page 259]
God's intimate relation to matter is explained. No wonder the forces
respond to his will; no wonder pantheism--the idea that matter is
God--has had such a hold upon the minds of men. Matter, derived
from him, bears marks of its parentage, is sustained by him, and
when the Divine will shall draw it nearer to himself the new power
and capabilities of a new creation shall appear. Let us pay a higher
respect to the attractions and affinities; to the plan and power
of growth; to the wisdom of the ant; the geometry of the bee; the
migrating instinct that rises and stretches its wings toward a
provided South--for it is all God's present wisdom and power. Let
us come to that true insight of the old prophets, who are fittingly
called seers; whose eyes pierced the veil of matter, and saw God
clothing the grass of the field, feeding the sparrows, giving snow
like wool and scattering hoar-frost like ashes, and ever standing on
the bow of our wide-sailing world, and ever saying to all tumultuous
forces, "Peace, be still." Let us, with more reverent step, walk
the leafy solitudes, and say:

"Father, thy hand
Hath reared these venerable columns: Thou
Did'st weave this verdant roof. Thou did'st look down
Upon the naked earth, and forthwise rose
All these fair ranks of trees. They in Thy sun
Budded, and shook their green leaves in Thy breeze.

"That delicate forest flower,
With scented breath and looks so like a