I  know  that  vague  recognitions  of  purpose
and  adaptation,  of  lines  that  seem  to  meet
somewhere  out  of  sight,  of  beneficence  and
discipline  shining  through  the  clouds,  of  a
world  singing  hymns  of  praise  to  some  far-off
glory,  may  be  said  to  be  very  different  from
the  old-fashioned  belief  in  a  Creator  who
compounded  the  world  some  thousands  of
years  ago,  and  interferes  from  time  to  time
with  the  orderly  working  of  its  machinery.
No  doubt  they  are ;  and  the  most  devout
minds  are  now  learning  to  see  that  that  old-
fashioned  conception,  though  it  might  minister
to  a  pure  and  elevating  worship,  was  not  in
itself  a  very  worthy  one.  The  thoughts  of
men  concerning  creation  and  the  Creator
needed  to  be  widened  ;  and  we  are  now  going
through  this  beneficial  process.  And,  in  the
next  place,  the  Christian  does  not  expect  to


Study  and  (i  The  Things  Above."     367

learn  from  nature  all  that  can  be  known  about
God.  It  is  from  other  quarters  that  we  look
for  and  receive  the  revelation  of  a  Being
whom  we  may  love  and  trust,  and  to  whose
guidance  we  may  commit  ourselves.  It  is
enough  if  nature,  by  its  blanks  as  well  as  by
its  voices,  bears  its  own  proper  witness  to  a
supreme  Being,  incomprehensible  indeed,  but
living,  righteous,  and  good.
