XIII 

 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE 



THE other day a clergyman who described him- 

 self as a preacher of the gospel of Christ wrote, 

 asking me to come and talk to his people on the gos- 

 pel of Nature. The request set me to thinking 

 whether or not Nature has any gospel in the sense 

 the clergyman had in mind, any message that is 

 likely to be specially comforting to the average 

 orthodox religious person. I suppose the parson 

 wished me to tell his flock what I had found in Na- 

 ture that was a strength or a solace to myself. 



What had all my many years of journeyings to 

 Nature yielded me that would supplement or rein- 

 force the gospel he was preaching.^ Had the birds 

 taught me any valuable lessons.'* Had the four- 

 footed beasts? Had the insects? Had the flowers, 

 the trees, the soil, the coming and the going of the 

 seasons? Had I really found sermons in stones, 

 books in running brooks and good in everything? 

 Had the lilies of the field, that neither toil nor spin, 

 and yet are more royally clad than Solomon in all 

 his glory, helped me in any way to clothe myself 

 with humility, with justice, with truthfulness? 



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