XIII 
THE GOSPEL OF NATURE 
I 
HE 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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