1 82 Outlook to Nature 



making ; and I should thank God if he allowed 

 me so close a view of his methods. 



We are not to search for God here and there, 

 as if we were afraid he would elude us, but we 

 are to see him everywhere ; and we must be 

 willing and ready to see nature as it is. Truth 

 is the standard, and no creed or dogma should 

 close our eyes to the facts and the beauty of 

 the external world. 



It is to be expected that our conception of 

 God will enlarge as our horizon enlarges. This 

 conception is of course anthropomorphic, 

 founded on human attributes. Evolution im- 

 plies that God is not outside nature, but in na- 

 ture. He is immanent, not absent. 



Nature must ever be our recourse ; its facts 

 and its voices must be heeded ; one may well 

 exclaim with Wordsworth : 



Great God ! I'd rather be 

 A pagan suckled in a creed outworn ; 

 So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, 

 Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn j 

 Have sight of Proteus coming from the sea, 

 Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn." 



