Canon Ste\A^ard's Address 261 



Without being Pantheists, we may be grateful for the 

 old idealization that deified Nature — yes, and made 

 her a goddess. It was man's expression of respect, 

 reverence, homage, obedience, love. It was his testi- 

 mony to the existence of a voluntary intelligent 

 Almighty Agency. He recognized that he was in 

 the presence of Life, Order, Harmony: perfection in 

 the infinitesimal as in the infinitely great. And this 

 conscious sense of the presence of the Infinite became 

 to many a religion. 



Therefore, I would urge that we learners have two 

 teachers — {a) the accumulated discoveries of our own 

 kith and kin, and {b) Nature herself; and that the 

 best, the truest, the more immediate and ever-present 

 teacher is Nature. Her lecture-room is all around us, 

 her laboratory is in every phenomenon; the enthu- 

 siasm she inspires is overmastering; in fact, for some 

 souls we know that she has been the genius of their 

 lives. 



Have we never felt that " Wisdom and Spirit of the 

 Universe" close by us in our own experience? Can 

 we not recall childhood's sensations at some new dis- 

 covery — those blue eggs in that delicate nest, that 

 sweep of the telescope through the heavens at night.? 

 It was a revelation. Intuitively we felt nearer a 

 knowledge of the Infinite. Something whispered 

 again to us as to the prophet of old: *'The place 

 where thou standest is holy ground ". There was 

 the nearness of Jehovah — Jah — I AM — Life and its 

 Almighty Giver. 



Thenceforward, perhaps, we grew to be more modest 

 towards God, more gentle to His creatures, more wise 

 in ourselves. 



