THE RELIGION OP NATURE 



It only remains for me to outline briefly the 

 basis of the creed which is the offspring of this 

 union of religion and science. 



It is that all the forces of nature whose opera- 

 tions have so far been observed and chronicled by 

 man are manifestations of one primal force, the 

 spirit of God, working in the world from its dark 

 beginning towards its glorious end. 



The attractions and affinities of matter are 

 among the widest and oldest of these manifesta- 

 tions ; while the workings of the human mind are 

 the highest and newest the very highest of all 

 being those direct inspirations which from time 

 to time have given to mankind the revealed truths 

 of religion and those abstruse speculations which 

 have resulted in the ascertained truths of science. 



Between these extremes of our present knowl- 

 edge of the working of God in the world there is 

 no reason why Christians should not read with 

 reverent belief the Bible story of the Creation, 

 recognizing it as the direct revelation of the truth 

 by the spirit of God in man, expressed with as 

 much scientific accuracy as the ideas and language 

 of the age allowed. 



For in it we see how God first created the world 

 in a nebulous shape "without form and void" 

 and how the spirit of God, implanted therein and 

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