Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own; The homely nurse doth all she can Behold the child among his new-born blisses, A mourning or a funeral! And this hath now his heart, And unto this he frames his song: To dialogues of business, love, or strife; Ere this be thrown aside, And with new joy and pride The little actor cons another part: Filling from time to time his humorous stage " Were endless imitation. Thou, whose exterior semblance doth belie Thou best philosopher, who yet dost keep On whom those truths do rest, Broods like the day, a master o'er a slave, O, joy! that in our embers The thought of our past years in me doth breed For that which is most worthy to be blest; Delight and liberty, the simple creed Of childhood, whether busy or at rest, With new-fledged hope still fluttering in his breast :- The song of thank and praise; Blank misgivings of a creature Moving about in worlds not realized; Those shadowy recollections, Are yet the fountain light of all our day, Uphold us, cherish, and have power to make Which neither listlessness, nor mad endeavor, Nor all that is at enmity with joy, Can utterly abolish or destroy! Hence, in a season of calm weather, Our souls have sight of that immortal sea, Can in a moment travel thither, Then sing, ye birds, sing, sing a joyous song! As to the tabor's sound! We in thought will join your throng, Ye that pipe and ye that play, Feel the gladness of the May! What though the radiance which was once so bright Though nothing can bring back the hour Strength in what remains behind, In the primal sympathy Which having been, must ever be, In the faith that looks through death, In years that bring the philosophic mind. And, O ye fountains, meadows, hills, and groves, 139 Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might; To live beneath your more habitual sway. I love the brooks which down their channels fret, The clouds that gather round the setting sun That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality; ONE BY ONE. One by one the sands are flowing, Let thy whole strength go to each; Let no future dreams elate thee, Learn thou first what these can teach. One by one, (bright gifts from Heaven) One by one thy griefs shall meet thee, Do not look at life's long sorrow; Do not linger with regretting, 1857.] Theology and Natural Science. 141 THEOLOGY AND NATURAL SCIENCE. FROM THE GERMAN, BY THE EDITOR. "WE have a more sure word of prophecy whereunto we do well to take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in our hearts." Truly it is a sure word, the word of God, which holy men of old, moved by the Holy Ghost have spoken unto us. It is firmer than heaven and earth, for if these shall pass away, not the smallest part of God's word shall ever pass away. It is a precious word full of the power of divine life-a lamp to our path, and a staff in our hand. But nature is also, to him who has learned to read rightly, an open book of divine wisdom, "for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things which are made." The heavens also declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. What the starry glory of the heavens teach in characters of flame; what the sea, the depths of the earth, and the mountains declare; what the clear friendly sun-shine, and the horror of a stormy night; the flowry glories of spring, the terrific hail, or the icy breath of frost; the lily of the field and the sparrow on the house-top, teach us-all these, yea the mote in the sunbeam and the grain of sand by the sea, all, all, if rightly read are also a word of God which utter testimonies concerning the former days. In them is written, and may be read his divine power and wisdom, but also his holiness; his creative love, but also his retributive righteousness. The earnest longing, and travailing, and hoping of the creature-Rom. 8: 19-21-is also a sermon which opens treasures of wisdom and knowledge, preaching of blessing and curse, death and resurrection, sin and redemption. Although" says Schubert, whose entire life has been devoted to the study of this book of God," Although the book of nature, in comparison with the book of revelation, is but an obelisk standing amid the ruins of a deserted city covered with hieroglyphic writings, the symbolic meaning of which for the most part can not be understood by the present generation, in part even obliterated and mutilated by wicked hands, still there is true and sufficient ground upon which to harmonise those symbolic teachings, which were originally also a revelation of God to man, with the contents of the holy scripture. Yes, nature also, with undeniable clearness, testifies of Him from whom and through whom are all things; and in our age the perverseness of which is more inclined toward the study and enjoyment of natural things, in which it thinks it has life, than toward the teaching of the scriptures, it is perhaps not unnecessary to call attention to this earnest testimouy of nature, and the harmony of its teachings with the contents of the holy Scriptures." True, the written word of God contains every thing that is necessary for us to know in order to salvation-true, the holy Scripture speaks plainer and surer, less deceptive and more easy of comprehension than the symbolical writing on this obelisk: it speaks for the unlettered and uncultivated, for the poor in spirit, just as intelligibly as for the learned and scientific, for it is like "a stream in which the elephant may swim and the lamb wade;" but if only one presumes that, having the book of nature, he may dispense with this, that man's eyes are blinded equally to both; and he will fail to learn from it either God's being or works. Yet still we are to listen also to that voice "whose line is gone out through all the earth, and its words to the end of the world." Ps. 19: 5. We are to learn also what God's creative word reveals to us through it. This we are to do the more diligently and earnestly since nature, which is first a word of God for us, may also afterwards be a word of God against us; for it is written that the teachings of nature are also given to the end that all may be "without excuse." Rom. 1: 20. Hence, let the Theologian, and not only he, but also the plain christian enter the school of the naturalist. Let him give honor to whom honor belongs; willingly and cheerfully let him permit the masters of science to open to him a new world filled with divine wonders; joyfully and gratefully let him acknowledge his obligations when, as the fruit of keen and laborious research they bring forth to the light new treasures of ore from the deep and hidden mine of knowledge and cast it into current coin. But in like manner let the man of natural science also give honor to whom honor belongs. Let the master also become a disciple, the teacher a scholar, and sit with the humble docile spirit of a Mary of Bethany at the feet of a greater master, and their learn words of eternal life and wisdom, which is not of to-day or yesterday-learn there what neither his telescope nor microscope can teach him, but which is necessary to give to all his wisdom its proper consecration. Let him not forget that if nature is a book full of divine doctrine and preaching, the Bible is the lexicon and grammar from which alone he can learn the etymology and syntax of this holy language, understand the formation and history, sense and meaning of every single word; that the Bible alone teaches the critic and hermeneutic, æsthetic and logic, according to which the disjecti membra pata-the disjointed members-are to be brought together and shown in their harmonious beauty. But how when the Bible and nature instead of explaining, unfolding, and completing one another stand in contradiction to each other? This cannot be. Bible and nature, in so far as they are God's word, must harmonize with each other. Where this is not the case either the exegesis of the theologian or of the naturalist is at fault; and not only the man of science but also the theologian has too often gone wrong and been the means of untold confusion on the subject of the harmony between scripture and nature. |