(From “Ripples in the Twilight” 1885)
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge!” Psalm 19:1-2
GOD IN NATURE! I love to trace there the footsteps of my Father!
His watchful stars look down kindly and lovingly from their heights.
There is a touch of beauty even in Alpine solitudes — the piles of driven snow like white mantles woven by angels; the translucent light of fairy grottoes, their roofs pendent with icicle, and distant or overhanging peaks gleaming with the gold of the morning, or with evening ruby.
That great and wide sea, with its dancing waves and troughs of chameleon hue.
The whisper of the forest and the sympathetic music of its million leaves.
The pastures clothed with flocks, the valleys also covered over with grain.
The sparkling rivulet winding its thread of silver, singing with gentle ripple, and taking its part in the blessing of Creation.
The Almighty has thus put His loving and creative thoughts into His world. We can devoutly say, “How precious also are Your thoughts unto me, O God; how great is the sum of them!”
Yes, with all this apparent to his vision — who can see and recognize the Great Ruler of all — only in mists and storms, the boom of the thunder, the flash of the lightning, the tremors of the earthquake, and the havoc of the avalanche? These are the abnormal occurrences in His mighty sway — a few exceptional notes in the great hymn and harmonies of eternal love.