THE UNIVERSAL BENEFICENCE 



equally in all directions, they penetrate all space. 

 The sun, with reference to its light and heat, is at 

 the center of an infinite hollow sphere, and not one 

 millionth part of its rays falls upon the worlds that 

 circle around it. This is typical of Nature's bounty. 

 The thought and solicitude of the creative energy 

 is directed to me and you personally in the same 

 wholesale way. The planets of our system are 

 lighted and warmed as effectually as if the sun shone 

 for them alone, and man is the beneficiary of the 

 heavens as completely as if indeed the whole crea- 

 tion were directed especially to him. Here is another 

 point : the night and darkness in nature are local and 

 limited; the universe is flooded with light; the black 

 shadows themselves are born of the light. Though 

 astronomers tell us that sidereal space is strewn with 

 dead worlds and extinct suns, give time enough and 

 they will all be quickened and rekindled. Light and 

 life are the positive facts in nature, darkness and 

 death the negative. 



When we single out man and fix our attention 

 upon him as the sole end of creation, and judge the 

 whole by his partial standards, man — 



"Who trusted God was love indeed 

 And love Creation's final law — 

 Though Nature, red in tooth and claw 

 With ravine, shrieked against his creed" — 



when we do this, all is confusion and contradiction. 

 Love is "creation's final law," but not the love of 



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