12 Psalmist's Religious Wonder 



would all disappear if God ceased to keep it in mind. 

 But the relation of God to His world is plainly 

 beyond man's understanding. 



We cannot look at a wonderful piece of mechanism, 

 such as a linotype machine or a steam-engine, with- 

 out an admiration for its author, and if we were told 

 that this triumph has not been directly made, but 

 was the outcome of a simpler mechanism that went 

 before it, and so on backwards, our admiration would 

 be increased, not decreased. 



A work of art expresses an idea or an emotion in 

 significant form, and when we study a great painting 

 we get some revelation of the artist's mind. So it 

 should be in regard to the physical universe; it 

 should tell our religious consciousness something of 

 its author, especially if we do not think of Him as an 

 Artificer, but as One who made things make them- 

 selves. Then we shall say: "The heavens are telling 

 the glory of God." 



§7. The Old-Time Religious Wonder. 



The question is whether we cannot regain something 

 of the old wonder and reverence, without in any way 

 losing our scientific foothold. 



"Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath 

 created these things, that bringeth out their host by 

 number; he calleth them all by names by the great- 

 ness of his might ; for that he is strong in power, not 

 one faileth." 



The grandeur of the picture was almost over- 

 whelming. 



