GOD AT THE HEART 191 



forms one great event for ever happening. And 

 actuating the whole process, determining the whole 

 great event, is an inner core of Activity which 

 endures through all the changes. It is the " I " of 

 Nature, which informs, directs, controls the whole 

 from centre to utmost extremity through all space 

 and all time. It is the Soul and Spirit, the Genius 

 of Nature. It is what we should mean when we 

 speak of God. 



Actuated by this spirit, whose essential character 

 is Love, the process glides smoothly, unbrokenly, 

 and wellnigh imperceptibly forward. As we lift 

 our eyes and look out upon Nature in its present 

 actually existing state, what we see in that instant 

 is the whole achievement of the past, and it contains 

 within it here and now the promise of all the future. 

 All the past is in the present, and in it also is the 

 potency of the future. The achievement fills us 

 with admiration. The promise thrills us with hope. 

 To that Spirit which has achieved this result, which 

 actuates the process and ourselves with it, which 

 determines the great event, which ensures the uni- 

 formity and law and order which are the founda- 

 tions of our freedom, and the essential condition of 

 all progress, our hearts are drawn out and yearningly 

 stretch themselves out in a love boundless as the 

 process itself. 



The more we find ourselves drawn to Nature 

 and in harmony and love with her, the more Beauty 

 do we see. In closest reciprocity Love of Nature 

 inspires Natural Beauty and Natural Beauty pro- 

 motes Love of Nature. And it is from the Heart 

 of Nature that both Love and Beauty spring. Both 



