Nevada County picayune., 1890-06-04
RELIGIOUS COLUMN.
Edited by -. GEO. A. GARDNER
THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.

And when Abram wa. ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared te Abra,n, Il nd said unto him, am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou pericct.-tGen xvii 1.
 A great man is reported to have said that the grandest thought which ever entered his mind was, his per sonal responsibility to God; but, with due dcference to the authority of great names, we feel compelled to dissent from this opinion, and to give the thought of God pre-emi- hence over every other thought. The calibre of our thoughts is necessarily gauged by the dignity and grandeur of their objects; and as the thought of God rises higher than anything else of which we can conceive, so it must necessarily ovcrtop all other things in the majesty and loftiness of it's intrinsic excellence and dignity. lE theology, as well as in other de- partments of knowledge, certain automatic truths form the basis of all subsequent knowledge, aud he who | attempts to gainsay or controvort these sclf-evident truths destroys, or attempts to destroy, the foundation upon which all satisfactory knowl- edge rests. Not that the Christian is under any necessity of taking doubtful things for granted, in order that he may demonstrate the claims of the system of religion known as Christianity, for dispassionate in- vestigatlon of the solid proofs of the existence of God effectually dissi- pates such hypothesis.
 The symmetry and orderly ar engagement of this world, the numcr- ous marks of design and adaptation by which it is characterized in it's various departments, all proclaim the omnitic agency of supreme being !; the wonderful correlation of forces in nature, the beautiful and expressive harmony and mutual correspondence between the vegetable, animal and mineral kingdoms, can not be ex- plained upon any other theory than the supremacy and almighty power of the great creator. And when we raise our thoughts to the contempla- ton of the Armament above us, we are constrained to adopt the beauti- ful language of the PsaImist, "The heavens declare the glory of God. and the Armament showeth his handi- work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowl- edge" There is an almighty inteli- gent agent back of all the operations displayed to our senses. Behind all the tremendous forces at work around and above us there Is an unseen power whose august circumference overlaps all these visible displays, and before that ineXhaustible and mysterious power we bow with pro- found reverence and adoration. As the poet has truly said, -
 "God moves in | mysterious way,
 His wonders to perform,
 lie plants his footsteps on the sea,
 And rides upon the storm.
 Deep in unfathomable mines
 Ofncver failing skill,
 lie treasures his bright desigus,
 And works his sovereign will"
 There are four great forces cease lessly at work in nature, fire, water, air and electricity. When fire gets beyond the control of man, and sweeps away m few moments the proud works of generations, we at once recognize the existence of a fearful factor in human affairs i; when, in some mighty inundation, thousands of valuable lives and i'm mense quantities of property are de- stroyed, the terrific power of water stands confessedly demonstrated when the tornado or cyclone cuts it's swath of death and destruction through our land, we stand awe struck and trembling in the presence of the wonderful power of the air 1; when the lightnings of heaven rend the giant oak that has withstood the storms of centuries, we feel that we are in the presence of a mysterious force that permcates all nature, and that we are absolutely powcrless be- fore it's invisible and mysterious presence; but behind all these mighty forces of nature so-called, yea, behind even the greater power of gravtation itself, by which count less worlds are kept in their appro- priate orbits, there is an unseen all mighty power directed by infinite in telligence and wisdom that energies these tremendous forces, and con trols them in the interest of a wise and universal government. That power is God, who presides over the