PER XATURAM AD DEUM 



339 



in art regarded as the concrete embodi- 

 ment of human thoug'ht and action : 

 fourth, in the manifestations of the 

 human mind and heart that reach the 

 incHvidual through the arbitrary symbols 

 of speech. 



"The relations of these sources to each 

 other and the unity which underlies them 

 may be illustrated by the following dia- 

 gram : 



God- 



Xature 

 Revelation 



Man 



Art 

 Lang-uage 



"God is here represented as the single 

 source of the four mental food elements. 

 He is at once the author of man's being 

 and the ultimate source of all that minis- 

 ters to his life and to his development. 

 He reveals Himself to man directly 

 through nature and through revelation, 

 and indirectly He also reveals Himself to 

 every child born into the world through 

 man's works and through man's thoughts 

 as expressed in human speech. 



"Xature precedes revelation even as the 

 concrete embodiment of human thought 

 precedes human language." 



With denominational matters this 

 magazine has nothing to do, but with the 

 motto of The AA — Per Naturam ad 

 Deum — it has a great deal to do. It is 

 therefore glad to mention, as an inspiring 

 example to others, the prominence that 

 this old church is giving to nature, as a 

 means of divine revelation, and as a 

 revelation that leads ad Deum. 



Earth's crammed with heaven. 



And every common bush afire with 



God. — Mrs. Browning:. 



"But this I do say, and would wish all 

 men to know and lay to heart, that he 

 who discerns nothing but Mechanism in 

 the Universe has in the fatalest way miss- 

 ed the secret of the Universe altogether. 

 That all Godhood should vanish out of 

 men's conception of this Universe seems 

 to me precisely the most brutal error, — I 

 will not disparage Heathenism by calling 

 it a Heathen error, — that men could fall 

 into. It is not true ; it is false at the very 

 heart of it."— Carlvle. 



Nature First in Religious Education. 



The National Education Association 

 has recently published a pamphlet con- 

 taining a prize essay entitled, "The Essen- 

 tial Place of Religion in Education," the 

 outcome of an offer of one thousand dol- 

 lars by a resident of California for the 

 best essay on the subject. The prize was 

 awarded to Charles E. Rugh, Professor 

 of Education, University of California, 

 Berkeley, California. Professor Rugh 

 says : 



"The specific means for developing the 

 child's consciousness of kinship with all 

 things, all persons, and ultimately making 

 him conscious that he is a child of the 'All 

 Father,' may be classified under three 

 heads: (a) The world of things or na- 

 ture, sometimes called the 'works of God,' 

 (b) the world of persons, the part of 

 God's work described as distinctly made 

 in His image, and (c) His express and 

 distinctive revelations worked out by 

 seers and prophets who express their, ex- 

 periences with God for the benefit of 

 humanity. The first group is the basis 

 of the natural sciences and of man's con- 

 quest of nature." 



It will be observed that his classifica- 

 tion, accepted by the judges, places nature 

 first ; person, second, and revelation, 

 third. One of the essays that received 

 honorable mention likewise places nature 

 first as introductory to religious instruc- 

 tion, and amplifies the point as follows : 



"For the young child, as for the young 

 races, nature study is a source of thought 

 concerning God. Let the teacher connect 

 every new wonder, as it draws uoon the 

 child's consciousness, with the idea of 

 God. At the end of a lesson on flowers, it 

 will not blunt but it will heighten interest 

 for the teacher to repeat, and lead the chil- 

 dren to memorize the biblical passage be- 

 ginning,'Considerthe lilies how they grow.' 

 In connection with the study of trees the 

 teacher may call attention to the kind of 

 man who, according to the First Psalm, 

 is like a healthy tree — 'Blessed is the man 

 that walketh not in the counsel of the un- 

 godly — and he shall be like a tree planted 

 bv the rivers of water.' After a summary 

 of the many phases of nature, the One 

 Hundred and Fourth Psalm may be read. 

 This psalm is a great song praising the 

 God who shows Himself in so many 

 ways ; the central thought is expressed 

 in. 'O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! 

 Praise ve the Lord.' The Psalms are 



