"Maker of Heaven and Earth" “O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: The earth is full of thy riches." PSALM 104: 24. CHAPTER IV THE AFFIRMATION OF THE CREATOR It would be possible for us to engage in a philosophical discussion of the Primal Cause of all things, and to show, on the common ground of metaphysics and philosophy, that creation requires a Creator. It would be possible to open the Word of God, and learn there in how many forms this truth of God as the Creator is confirmed. What we need most of all is a constant impression, wherever we are, by night or by day, and whatever we are doing, in which all nature shall speak to us of God, and the voice of the morning stars, that sang together at the beginning, and has been heard as the harmony of creation ever since, shall sound in our souls, and be to us a constant summons to know him who made us for himself.1 Therefore let us take our stand on the seashore of a summer night. We are looking out upon the darkening expanse of the ocean, when suddenly the darkness is broken by the rising of the summer moon, and we hear its challenge-the old challenge of the sailing moon, summoning men to gaze into the starry 1 See Notes 1, 2 and 3. heaven above our heads, to fathom its mystery, to interpret its message, if we can. As our gaze follows the moon, we know that we see but one side of her; as if to show us at once, like a dancing coquette, how easily she will baffle our attempt to grasp her secret. We see the dark shadows upon her face, and the astronomer tells us of vast abysses and lofty mountains, as marking an old and worn-out world-a mystery, a secret of God, assailing us incessantly. We turn from the moon to the stars. One's eye is caught by the ruddy glow of Mars, with its fascinating tale. We know how near it is to the sun, and we think of the burning heat, that would render all life, as life is known to us, an impossibility, and the planet a glowing cinder. And again the astronomer announces that Mars has an atmosphere and changing seasons, and ground covered with snow which forms in winter and melts away in the summer's sun, and great, perennial bodies of water, seas and lakes and streams that rise and fall, and what seems nothing less than a system of artificial canals. Man is so far unable to solve the riddle that there has been a standing prize, left as a legacy in France, to any one who should fathom its secret and establish communication with the planet. How completely we are baffled! It is a paradox in the heavens.' 2 See Note 4. |