“Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air,
and they shall tell thee; or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and
the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these
that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?” --Job xii. 7-9.
O for an understanding heart and a spiritual mind to read God’s book of
nature as Job read it, deriving holy instruction from every page written on it
by its Creator’s hand! We have received not only such “handwriting on the
wall” of creation as Job saw, but the “interpretation thereof” in the “volume
of the Book;” how diligent, then ought we to be to grow in grace and
knowledge by all those means which God has so richly bestowed on us! All
the objects of nature may remind us of teachings in God’s Word, if we have
but the heart to receive them. The beasts of the field, the sheep and
lambs, may remind us how we “like sheep have gone astray,” or may speak
to us of Him who is “the Lamb of God.” The ravens tell of His care, who
provides for those who are “better than the fowls;” the sparrows tell us that
“not one of them is forgotten before God,” and we “are of more value than
many sparrows.” The lovely lilies say to us, “Why take ye thought for
raiment?” And the grass, so green to-day, so quickly cut down and
withered, tells us to remember “all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field.” Thus do Thou, O Lord, enable us to
read thy book of Nature by thy book of Revelation Norman Macleod
Hosea 4:6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge
In a short time there will (we have reason to fear) remain but two kinds of persons among us, either those who think not at all, or those whose imaginations are active indeed, but continually evil. Of these latter it may be said, "Their foolish heart was darkened." Of the principles, I do not say of the detail, of political science, a sound theology is the only sure and steady basis. Now we trace the operations by which a destruction so extended in its consequences has been effected. The master-spring of every principle which can permanently secure the stability of a people is the fear and knowledge of Almighty God. The first operation of a principle of atheism, and perhaps one of the most formidable in its consequences, is that which leads political men to conceive of Christianity as a mere auxiliary to the State. Religion was not instituted (in the Divine council I mean) for the purpose of society and government, but society and government for the purposes of religion. As a...
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