214 SUGGESTIVE TEACHING 



employed to depict it (See Ps. Ixxx. ; Isa. v. ; Ezek. 

 XV ; xix; Matt, xxi ; John xv ; and several other 

 passages). Many of the parables of the Lord Jesus 

 come under this head ; as also a large portion of the 

 Song of Songs. 



The examples which I have here selected might be 

 greatly extended; but these are more than sufficient 

 to illustrate the way in which the Word of God sanc- 

 tions the study of his works. Not only do these 

 passages require a considerable amount of acquaint- 

 ance with the qualities of external objects, in order to 

 be understood ; but they afford us a warrant for a 

 similar use of them. Not only is it legitimate to 

 deduce the existence, and somewhat of the character 

 of God from the creatures, but we may use them as 

 remembrancers to suggest many truths which they 

 could not teach us. Truths and doctrines which we 

 could only learn from the written Word may be vividly 

 brought to mind by the suggestive and emblematic 

 imagery of nature. And thus the world of created 

 things around us may become a mirror continually 

 reflecting heavenly things. 



This is one of the happiest and most profitable 

 employments of natural science. I would that it 

 were more familiar, more habitual, to me. It is a 

 good thing to see the Creator in his works ; but it is 

 far better to trace in them the God of revelation, the 

 God of Grace, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 

 Christ, and of all who believe in his name. If we 

 stop short at the former discovery, it will be of little 

 avail to us. We shall be like a prisoner under sen- 

 tence of death, who when the king sends him terms of 



