The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1894-10-20

W nat SIN ana salvation? What religion
and science? In fact, what are we, and
what is all this that goes on about us? Is
it all dream? Are we realities? Whence
came all, why is all, whittier goeth all?
The philosopher of negaton smiles Sc
renely at these questions, and blandly ans
wers "Why, all that is Nature, and we
know no more" Whence came Nature p
" know not )" Who governs Nature-"I
know not !" What is the object of Ma
ture?-"I know mott What is the ma
ture of Nature - know not" answers
the atheist and agnostic. Could there be
better exhibition OF intention to evade the
issue? Could there, then, be a stronger
and agnosticism? am willing to accept
the definition of Nature as the atheist gives
1T. Nature is the sum total of the natural
phenomena which are perceptible by the
human senses. The heaven and earth, the
seas and air, the mountains and valleys and
rivers, with all its woods, forests, fields and
gardens with man and beast and winged
creature and creeping things the sum total
OF this universal panorama, with all its con-
Stellations and planets, its elements, COM
pounds, with its coming and going, its
never-endlng motion and constant action
and reaction all this, the complex and
simple, the lofty and lowly, the formidable
and weak, the solid and vapor, from the
ends TO the ends of the universe, is Nature.
There is, however, ii great difference be-
tween mine and the skeptics conception of
that word Nature and of the thing it rep
resentS. To the skeptic, Nature is not only
result, but cause-stands for creation and
Creator. All matter is self-created, is self
sufficient, operates Of itself, without pur-
pose, without design, without harmony and
unity. And in the very next breath the
same skeptic will speak of the forces of ma
ture of chemical affinity, gravitation, of life
and death, generation and reproduction, of
reason, memory, and love and free will and
destiny.
1t requires but a little thought to see
how utterly absurd the skeptic's position is.
His very nature, in which he eXults, in
which he believes, by which he lives and
has his being, that very nature by which
he lives and has his being, that very nature
by which he is entraced, and which he
parades as the essence of his philosophy of
negaton, destroys the very basis on which
he stands, and presents us with the stronger
proofs of God. That Nature which is so
eloquently described, does it not reveal
beauty sublime, unity and harmony? Does
Does not all nature reveal "A consistent evo-
luton from lower to higher forms? Does
it not while manifesting matter, reveal an
underlying or controlling spirit? Or what
is that energy by which all things move?
What is the law of gravitation but the ac-
ton of an infinite Will? What is evolu-
ton but the process of creative mind?
What is Nature but Gods handiwork?
THE heavens declare the glory of God, and
the armament tells of thework of his hands,
Nature is not dead matter. The entire
movable universe is an immense unit ami
mated throughout all its parts by single
principle of lfe-by soul which is God.
That God is a reality, call him what you
may. But it is folly to say that the uni
verse is only Nature. The universe is Ma
ture plus God. The more we understand
Nature, the more we comprehend God.
The more we love Nature, the more we
will love. We cannot escape the religion
of Nature. The book of Nature is a great
universal bible. All may read therein and
will find untold revelation. The revela-
ton on Sinai did not tell us all that God
knows. There are more revelations in
store for us. We must learn the alphabet
of the book of Nature before we can read
what God has written. All the physical
laws of which the scientist speaks so know
ingly are but the laws of God.