Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-01-01
DAIY RECORD Usses sEprEs.
VOLUME XHI-EuMBER his.

der, admiration and awe and we feel how
manifest it IS that man is a superior being not
| Included in the realm of natural things, but
imposing upon them supernatural power,
and bringing them forth IL new and higher
forms.
Yet, while we are so attracted by, and feel
80 windy all this magni6cencs and sway of
superior kingdom, we need to be reminded
That nature, by nature, has no power to de-
ve,op itself into working powers of life and
beauty, and that the contact of mind. mans
spiritual being, is everywhere required
30 bring out and unfold what is in nature,
aud that the almost endless varieties of the
rose-that flower that plays so important q
part in the beauty Of the world-are as truly
the result of mans II tinencs as commerce. or
steamships, ior modern astronomy aud that
apples and strawberries, as they are pro-
ducsd in our gardens and orchards are as
truly the result of mans superior power act
ing upon nature as the Suez Canal, the Pyra-
niids, or the Empire of the Gar. In word,
we need continually TO be adnoaishsd of the
Imminent and constant presence of mind, as
the power that swakss and develops nature
in all her realm, and that man, in his relation
to what we call nature, is supernatural. OF
course the boundaries and limitations Of tie
theme IN this relation are obvious. It is rot
to be supposed or assumed that mans do
minion over the earth-his control Ct its pro-
duets, his power TO modify and chsnge the
world-fill cut or answer to the idea OF the
supernatural in its full scope and highest ex-
preston. The supernatural in its highest
and supreme display is the influence Of the
Infinite Mind upon the finite mind of mar
But the supernatural has degrees and grades
of manifestation, and the power Of man as
superior being over the earth, his power to
change desert into field of wheat, to make
the fii1ty sides of the mountains green and
fresh with beauty and rich with the purple
blood OF grapes, the power of his intelligence
TO cultivate wild coarse plant from a COM
parstively useless and immature state, to be
the daily food of nations or races, thus con-
tributing to raise mankind from want and
barbarism to refinement and comfort his
ability TO construct from the trees ct the
forest, and from the iron and stone that be
digs from the esFth, comfortable dwellingr,
adorned with works of beauty and use in
short, ths power and influence Of mans
spiritual nature to carry forward natural
things to hi. her excellence and to bring out
the possible world that lies dormant and hid.
der in the actual world, is the supernatural
on this plane /; the iDp)sing of power above
upon things below; and it illustrates the
supernatural in its supreme display.
In an age Of vast material oeneuests, when
the domain of law Is extended TO include oil
facts and all phenomena, and the idea Of
cause and effect, primary conception or
reason is made synonymous With order, and
will not admit break or chasm or mira Gle, it
is OF the utmost Importance that our idea of
cause and effect should NOT be included in
tbs mere succession of material facts. If
the American farmer to-day has got better
plow than the Egyptian had. it is not BE-
cause of aay law of nature, but because Of a
law shove nature originating 10 an intelligent
mind and will. If you can raise FIVE bushels of
beans on an acre of natural land, and twenty
five bushels on the game land cultivated,
it is not nature or any law Of nature that
makes the extra twenty bushels, but nature
directed by your will. Msterialism whelms
all things 10 the laws Of nature, as il laws
were their own origin and END, and furnished
their own supplies to work out their end.
But laws of nature are material for man TO
work with, just as much as stone or wood or
iron, and unless they are used, appropriated.
they are like any other raw material--they
lie where they are. God works in nature, but
He does not do everything and He utterly
refuses TO do anything more until man does
what belongs to him to do. What did nature
ever do towards making rareripe peaches
just the same that she has done towards
making sewing machines-fusnished the raw
materials. The simple fact to be impressed
on the mind is Chat the familiar
products of the earth under the hand
of man illustrate the supreme intelligent
will, and illustrate that man is being supc-
rior to nature. This is simple enough, surely,
and includes within itself thu whole theory
of moral aud intellectual world. But there
is q style Of mind that is 90 absorbed la na-
ture's laws that everything else eludes its
sight. We are told sometimes that all Truth
accords with nature, and that nature includes
all truth. But does nature include all Do
you say that man, his thoughts and specula-
tions, his character, his moralities and re-
ligions, his law and literature, his art and
industry, all that he is or does ulde- any
pressure Of the world around him, is part Of
nature, as the geologic strata, the ocean mist,
sunrise or earthquake? This does make ma
ture include sll, and there is nothing beyond
or sboveit. The walls of the world are the
limitations of being and sounding see, and
mountain strength, morning clouds and
ripening grain, the ten commandments
and the dome of st. Peter, the voyage of
Columbus, and the oosl-beds of England, the
poems of Shakespeare and the Mississippi
river, the Yosemite Valley and the electric
telegraph, a school for children and garden
of flower, are the result of the same unvary-
ing nature working for its own ends by its
own means.
But can we stand by that? Can the mind
rest in it Can our activity be limited by ii
Does a man consider hilnself part of nature
as he looks upon landscape, field OF grain
or q garden? Are mans works on this earth
a part of nature, or are they nature carried
forward into higher forms by higher power?
Does man feel that he is part of nature
when he is building house, or steering a
ship, or plowing q field, or turning noun
tain stream to carry q mill or water thirsty
landg In the education of the young do we
feel that we are part of nature Education
hn yprH
guiding, directing, teaching. The teacher
studies nature that he may take advantage of
her powers and overrule them for higher
ends. The man Of great moral conceptions
resists nature, sets himself above nature, and
makes himself law unto himself. The great
jurist who interprets laws for people, and
stretches forth the arm Of justice and equity
to the nations, does not feel that he Is part
of nature. No poet with vision and faculty
divine, dwelling in eternal beauty and truth,
ever felt that the world Of things included
him.
Tne fruits of the earth, the vintage and the
wheat, attest mans power over nature and
her laws. That power is possible for map,
because there is something in nature at re-
spends to his intelligence and will. The ma
terial world exists fer and on account OF
mind. 1t ID the instrument of mind and
whenever mind is expressed in controlling
nature, there is an illustration of the SUPER
natural. Not the highest expression Of the
supernatural. but veritable expression of it.
In the hierarchy Of powers where one rises
above the other, beginning in the laws OF na-
ture and concluding with the intelligent will
of man, we have an epitome of the universe,
and the natural and the supernatural supple
ment each other, as mind supplements mat
ter, and as infinite mind supplements finite
mind. Supernaturalism is not miracle, but
power It is not violation OF law, but
raising Law TO nobler aud more perfect ex-
preston.
SKETCHES OF LEGISLATORS.