PREFACE. 25 



but in all frankness, who it was who said, " Consider 

 the lilies of the field, how they grow." " Consider the 

 birds of the air and how your Heavenly Father f eedeth 

 them." 



Consider them. If He has bid you do so, can you 

 do so too much ? 



I know, of course, the special application which our 

 Lord made of these words. But I know, too, from 

 experience, that the more you study nature, in all her 

 forms the more you will find that the special 

 application itself is deeper, wider, more literally true, 

 more wonderful, more tender, and if I dare use such 

 a word, more poetic, than the unscientific man can 



But let me ask you further do you think that our 

 Lord in that instance, and in those many instances in 

 which He drew his parables and lessons from natural 

 objects, was leading men's minds on to dangerous 

 ground, and pointing out to them a subject of contem- 

 plation in the laws and processes of the natural world, 

 and their analogy with those of the spiritual world, 

 the kingdom of God a subject of contemplation, I 

 say, which it was not safe to contemplate too much ? 



I appeal to your common sense. If He who spoke 

 these words were (as I believe) none other than the 

 Creator of the universe, by whom all things were 

 made, and without whom nothing was made that is 

 made, do you suppose that He would have bid you to 

 consider His universe, had it been dangerous for you 

 to do so ? 



Do you suppose, moreover, that the universe, 

 which He, the Truth, the Light, the Love, has made, 

 can be otherwise than infinitely worthy to be con- 



