If we descend into the sea we shall find that the reefs and
islands against which the tides of the Pacific dash in vain are built
of coral insects, whose every organ exhibits the delicate skill of a
diamond or snowflake. If we stand upon the fruitful plain where men
build cities we shall discern that each flake of the rich soil
represents the perfect crystallization of drops of melted granite. If
we take the wings of the morning and dwell upon the summit of the
Matterhorn there also we find that the mountain hath its height and
majesty through particles themselves weak and little. For the
geologist who analyzes the topmost peak of the Alpine ridge must go
back to a little flake of mica, that ages and ages ago floated along
some one of earth's rivers, too light to sink, too feeble to find the
fiber of a lichen, therefore dropped into the ooze of mire and decay.
Yet hardened by earth's processes, the day came when that flake of mica
was lifted up upon the mountain's peak, wrought into the strength of
imperishable iron, "rustless by the air, infusible by the flame,
capping the very summit of the Alpine tower. Above it--that little
obscure mica flake--the north winds rage, yet all in vain, below
it--the feeble mica flake--the snowy hills lie bowing themselves like
flocks of sheep, and the distant kingdoms fade away in unregarded
blue." [1] Around it--the weak, wave-drifted mica flake--booms all the
artillery of storms, when electric arrows with blunted points fall back
from its front, as it lifts its might and majesty toward the enduring
stars.

If ages ago the sages said, God is not in the earthquake, nor in the
storm, but in the still small voice, now science reaffirms the
declaration that omnipotence is revealed not so much through awful
cataclysms and earthquake forces as through the silent agents and
hidden processes that make the plains to be fruitful and hillsides to
be rich in corn. In the past astronomy has been the favorite science,
emphasizing the distant stars and suns. The science of the future is
to be chemistry, emphasizing atoms and elements. Journeying outward in
pursuit of the footsteps of God, advancing upon his distant and dizzy
march, man's vision faints and falls upon the horizon beyond which are
indiscernible splendors. Journeying inward upon the wings of the
microscope, we shall find that there is another realm of beauty beyond
which the utmost vision of man cannot pierce. For before the
m