LEAF AND TENDRIL 



of art, of ornament, is older than his sense of justice 

 or mercy. Indeed, he was a religious being before 

 he was a moral being. He worshiped and offered 

 sacrifices before he dealt justly and humanely with 

 his fellow. 



Unless what we mean by good prevailed over the 

 bad, we should not be here. If some sort of order 

 and peace had not come out of the primal warring 

 of the elements, man could not have appeared. 

 The waters have been gathered together, the conti- 

 nents have been lifted up, the vapors have learned 

 to form clouds, the soil has been formed, and the 

 benediction of the flowers and of the grass is upon 

 the hills. The destructive elemental forces have 

 subsided. In nearly all parts of the earth man can 

 subsist. The benevolence of Providence is seen in 

 this general, inevitable course of nature. Right 

 actions meet with their reward ; health and whole- 

 ness are possible; deal fairly and squarely with 

 Nature, and you always get the worth of your 

 money. We know the conditions of disease; we 

 know the conditions of health. The ways of the 

 Eternal are appointed, and we may find them out. 



Truly to obey the will of God is our salvation, 

 but we must look for this will, not in some book 

 or creed, but in the order of the universe, in the 

 sequence of cause and effect. 



