Canon Steward's Address 261 



Without being Pantheists, we may be grateful for the 

 old idealization that deified Nature yes, and made 

 her a goddess. It was man's expression of respect, 

 reverence, homage, obedience, love. It was his testi- 

 mony to the existence of a voluntary intelligent 

 Almighty Agency. He recognized that he was in 

 the presence of Life, Order, Harmony: perfection in 

 the infinitesimal as in the infinitely great. And this 

 conscious sense of the presence of the Infinite became 

 to many a religion. 



Therefore, I would urge that we learners have two 

 teachers (a) the accumulated discoveries of our own 

 kith and kin, and (b) Nature herself; and that the 

 best, the truest, the more immediate and ever-present 

 teacher is Nature. Her lecture-room is all around us, 

 her laboratory is in every phenomenon; the enthu- 

 siasm she inspires is overmastering; in fact, for some 

 souls we know that she has been the genius of their 

 lives. 



Have we never felt that "Wisdom and Spirit of the 

 Universe" close by us in our own experience? Can 

 we not recall childhood's sensations at some new dis- 

 covery those blue eggs in that delicate nest, that 

 sweep of the telescope through the heavens at night? 

 It was a revelation. Intuitively we felt nearer a 

 knowledge of the Infinite. Something whispered 

 again to us as to the prophet of old: "The place 

 where thou standest is holy ground ". There was 

 the nearness of Jehovah Jah I AM Life and its 

 Almighty Giver. 



Thenceforward, perhaps, we grew to be more modest 

 towards God, more gentle to His creatures, more wise 

 in ourselves. 



