The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-07-21
Specia1 Contributors.
THE MINISTRY OF NATURE.
MARION d. SHUTTER.
Minneapolis, Minn)

Various are the uses of nature. She
ministers to us in ordinary things. She
gives US the air we breathe, the food
we eat, the stones and trees that make
our dwellings, the fabrics which cover
US. She lends her forces to do our bid
ding, to bear US upon our journeys, to
watt our words to distant friends. Sings
Herbert:
For us the winds do blow,
The earth doth rest, heaven move, and fount-
aims flow;
Nothing we see but means our good
AS our delight or as our treasure"
From nature the poet has drawn his
imagery, the artist his forms Of beauty,
the architect his designs. The Egyp-
tian column was the Lotus in stone,
the Anthemion on Greek temples came
from a clump Of willows, the Gothic
church is the forest in marble. From
nature the mathematician gets his pro-
portions, the philosopher his problems,
the teacher his illustrations. The He
brew prophets caught its terrible i'm
ages, Jesus its gentler ones. The birds
of the air sang and the lilies of the field
blossomed in his talks. The harvest
never bore grain more golden than in
his discourses, and never were brighter
sunsets than those that lit~up his par
ables.
Nature is poet, artist, preacher of
righteousness and consolation, prophet
e hope. Consciously or unconsciously
nature is perpetual Inspiration We
are helped and eheered by outward
things more than we know. A dive or
a brisk walk in the open air often exor-
cises the blue demons that at times pos
sess us. A breath of cold regenerates
us. Crystals of frost under foot or a
dash Of rain in the face exhilarates and
inspires; the sluggish pulses are quick
ened and the brain begins to dance.
When the world inside the house looks
dark and stupid, the wider horizon
beyond city walls will restore us. Like
the tabled AntRus, every time we
touch the earth our strength isreneWed.
Nature somehow infuses herself into
us. We catch the spilit OF the scene.
There is a life in the object that gives
life to us. Every one upon whom the
mountain has bestowed something of
n Oh of h ~. opI
its own tranquility, knows this. Every
one knows this who has felt his trou-
bIes borne away by the rushing stream
at his feet, his soul warmed by the shin
ing sun, his courage reused by the ris-
ing wind. Every one knows this who
has felt the unrest of his soul speaking
itself out in the thunderstorm, leaving
his bosom at peace; who has found his
hope of Immortality strengthened by
the opening bud of the returning
spring.
The prevailing aspect of nature is
beautiful. There are things unsightly
indeed, hut these with Christian char
ity she tries to cover. The decaying
log will have its mantle of moss, the
wild flower will blossom in the wrinkles
of the rock.
Not wholly mereiless is nature, as
some have deemed, mo sentimentalist"
indeed, yet just and kind. The very
rigidity of her laws is good, the uniform
impartiality Of her processes, is bene-
6cent. The sun rises on evil and good,
and rain falls upon just and unjust.
This impartiality of nature is used by
Jesus to illustrate the perfection of
God; and it is to this perfection of i'm
partiality in the treatment of friends
and foes, that he exhorts his disciples.
Not wholly meTciless therefore her
recuperative and remedial forces are
abundant. She repairs her losses She
tries to heal all wounds, whether in the
bark of tree or in the person Of man.
The old and dead she turns into new
sources of fruitfulness and use. The
leaf that is ground under the heal to-
day, prepares the soil for other grOwths
tomorrow. Life and beauty are in
the ascendant. EvermOre do they tri-
umph over death and ugliness. The
universe itself suggests that what is
good and fair must finally prevail. That
am not yet what l shall be, what l
must be, the yeriest insect shall chirp
in my ears. That my sins and mis-
takes must be purged away, and from
my dead self something better arise, is
natures word to my soul when out of