The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1898-07-21
NATURES AESTHETICS.

NATURES AESTHETICS.
MANY ARE IT'S BEAUTIES.
Ali Who Will can Behold Them.
(The Observations OF a Philosophical
Friend of Ours.)
Richmond Dispatch.
cage cannot wither nor Gu stom stale
Her infinite varieties"
Anthony and Cleopatra.
"Imitate Nature, that doeth nothing
in vain. Lord Bacon.
The prophets account of the Great
Creator and Governor is that He is
wonderful in counsel and excellent In
working" Microscopic details and
great systems and consultations alike
declare His glory and show His handi-
work. All that He does and directs
and indicates shows perfect, infinite
business qualifications. There is moth
ing overlooked, nothing wanting, moth
ing behind time, nothing incomplete !;
all bespeaks infinite prudence, wisdom,
bounty, and power. But, farther,
beauty and grandeur and loving con-
sideration are the sign manual and
send off of all the works of God. Ma
ture makes us acquainted with the
halo, the bloom, the dawn, and the ten
thousand graces that man cannot
manufacture, though from a single,
pure, devout heart he may manifest
the counterparts indicating his high
birth. There is nothing beautiful,
grand, sublime in nature that does not
find sympathetic reflection and live
response from the soul of man, suggest
ing the fatherhood of God, the SON.
ship of man. The world and all crea-
tion have been put up on aesthetic
principles for beauty and glory and
happiness. There is no speech nor
language, no grammar nor dictionary +:
but everything appeals to humanity
deep calls unto deep: o, be joyful in
the Lord Serve the Lord with glad
ness, and come before His presence
with song. That is natures appeal.
The strangest thing is how the pref
test things are found in the ugliest
wrappings; how beauty and grace are
seen in the midst OF deformlty, and
the divlnest joy will CLEAN from the
depths OF misery. Sweet, indeed, are
natures uses Of adversely. A crumb-
ling ruin is soon overspread and beau
tilted with moss or a graceful, gentle,
tree. And disasters and sufferings are
made glorious by revelations of the
dlvinest manhood and by plain mani
testations of the presence of God.
The agnostlc blinds his eyes and
closes his wits to the intelligence and
love and unity that control and per-
Yade all the work of nature and CLEAN
In the Word OF God. His hypocritical
confession is an assertion that he is
wfsest. The realistic philosopher sees
nothing but what is common and gross
and rough, and what he calls practical
and useful, what ministers to the ply
scial man and supplies his appetites
and cravings and wants. He believes
only in what he sees and hears and
touches ana tastes and smells and to
him life is confined to his experiences
with them. The heart, the mind, the
life of the soul Is all notlon-all mere
sentiment and idealism. And the out.
and-cut businessman, whether profes-
sional or trading, submits himself alb
solutely to the unholy trinity of ava.
rice. ambition, and lust-the world
the flesh, and the devil. Practical and
real means material and sensual. And
under this regime, as under the Grand
Monarque, all beauty and grace are
sensualized, and all physical and IN
tellectual power are imbruted. The
business o! the god OF this world
Mammon or Beelzebuo--ls to dlshonoI
and degrade, as was said OF the Harpies
"Contactu que omna foedant immundo."
The mark OF the beast has thou
sand forms and thousand repulsions
to the pure In heart. Ugllness and
disgrace are the trail of the evil one.
His best enticements are ugly imita-
tions and carticatures of nature, de-
grading what they seem to commend.
All that comes from the divine hand
is beautiful and graceful, and com.
mends beauty and grace, while it
praises its Author. The rocks that are
broken into soil, the many colored
soils, the merchantmen, the clouds
that transport fertilizers from one end
to another, the rivers that irrigate, the
crops, the trees, the vines, the com
monest herbs and shrubs, all are bust.
ness, have purposes to accomplish but
In the accomplishment of their daily
rounds and common tasks they are full
OF grace and beauty and grandeur and
sublimity. They are all pleasant, and
inspiring, as remarkable for their love
illness as tor their usefulness. The
ways of nature are ways of pleasantness
and peace.
1t Is not necessary to take high
school and college courses of natural
history and botany and physics to
learn the lessons of creation. The
great God who wrote the Ten Com
mandments on tables of stone with His
own finger has, with His own hand,
written all over the face of nature les
sons for the heart and mind of man.
All His lessons are object lessons,
pictures and illustrations of His won
deriul wisdom and power, cleaning