VOL. L. BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN, SEPTEMBER 18, 1902. No. 37. All governed by the same great law of love — Now shall all other gods forgotten be, The Spirit of his life that bids them move For I in truth can worship only thee: Guides each to its appointed destiny, Like to the rapt, adoring seraphim Keeps all in everlasting harmony. Who see his glory, and must speak of him. EDITH E. ADAMS. HIS LOVE The love of mother for her offspring dear True Science Study Is but a spark of the celestial fire, NATURE is in truth the word of God; but the The Light of life that glows in every breast; He rocks each cradle, broods o'er every nest, one whose studies of nature have been- confined And, the fierce savage and wild beast among, to school-book work in zoology, botany, and the The Glory Revealed Yields milk of loving-kindness to their young. like, can not see much of its truth,— not because " Stiow me thy glory, I beseech, 0 God! what he studies is of itself false, but simply be- 0 let me see thy face, thou sovereign Lord ! HIS POWER Then shall all other gods forgotten be, cause he supposes that his study takes hold of And I in truth shall worship only thee; Girded with strength, he sets the mountains the real essentials of nature, and is therefore All alien lords that have usurped thy throne fast; likely to be satisfied with less than he might Shall bow in dust before thee, stricken, prone." Controls the raging seas; sends forth the blast Out of his treasuries; speaks in the peals have. The anatomical study of nature is only THE MIRROR Of mighty, rolling thunder; but reveals the road to certain things, not the things them- While thus, with longing gaze upturned, I Not less his power in the growing blade selves; and he who thinks that the facts taught prayed, by our common text-books are the A gentle voice was heard: " Be not great and only things of science to be afraid; learned, has stopped too soon on the No mortal can approach unto the light highway of knowledge. In which I dwell, and still survive I would not decry botanical study, if the sight, entered upon with the proper purpose And yet my image you may clearly and understanding. I would not dis- see — Earth is the mirror of divinity. courage it, if rightly gone into, any more than I would discourage a child BEHOLD HIM! from learning his letters. But if the And then I heard the burning sera- child should think that learning the phim, Who ceaseless sing the everlasting forms and names of the letters was hymn: the sum and substance, the whole end, " Thrice holy is the Lord of hosts, of his labors, I should do my best to and all show him that a great world of art, The spacious earth is of his glory full !" literature, and letters lay far out be- And from the sky, the mountains, yond the narrow threshold of the al- seas, and sod, phabet that he was about to learn. I The mighty chorus swelled: " Be- would seek to show him that the hold your God! " A B C was only a• door to knowledge; HIS GLORY that learning his letters was much like The glorious sun and radiant silver opening this door; and that out be- moon yond this portal of the alphabet lay Are servants at his gates, reflecting the real world to which he was to down Upon the waiting earth the faintest come. Last of all, I would be com- gleams pelled to say that this alphabetical Of the transcendent, uncreated door had no excuse for existence un- beams less it opened to lead him to this; and Of righteousness, that from his be- ing spring, that he had simply wasted his time And healing splendor shed on every- if, having opened it, he did not go thing. forth to the great world that lay be- HIS BEAUTY yond. When thus the light of his sweet So I would say that the great facts face is shed of nature should be learned, that we O'er all the earth, the things that should study them as much as we can. he has made, Beholding and adoring, each must " A primrose by the river's brim" But let us insist from the very begin- take ning, and all along up to the very last, Something of his fair likeness,— that these facts are but the doors earth to make through which we go to a higher and better Like unto paradise, where all things fair That silently through earth its way has made. knowledge. If these facts do not lead us to these The beauty of his holiness declare. HIS FULLNESS higher things, they fail of their great purpose; HIS LIFE The fullness dwelling in him he outpours In life's glad river, that o'erflows, and stores and if we are content to learn only the facts, it The thrill of life in each created thing The earth with plenty; clothes the fields with is certain, to say the least, that we fail rightly to Is the pulsation from his heart — the spring, corn; understand that purpose. The secret center, and the soul of all — Sends springs into the valleys, rushing on A man can become so wrapped up in the dry From insect mote, to mighty, flaming ball. To mighty rivers, that refresh the land, it facts of botany that— All are but parts of one stupendous whole And spread a common feast on every hand. Whose body nature is, and God the soul." " A primrose by the river's brim CONCLUSION HIS LAW A diacotyledon is to him, And so thy glory I have seen, 0 God! And it is nothing more." One law the boundless universe controls: Thy face shines forth from all, thou sovereign The lily grows, bird flies, and planet rolls, Lord 1 But in every flower that blooms there flashes 290 THE YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR 2 forth a message from the great heart of Eternal they steadily return for another contest. They But this is mind in nature. Yes; it is God in Truth. A bunch of grapes contains a whole are never driven out for long; and as we study nature, of which you have heard so much. Here revelation. Every spear of grass, every leaf — even a little into the secrets of their lives, we it is all clear and plain — God working in a in short, all that nature has and is — breathes see that God has made so great provision for common corn-stalk ! It makes me stand in awe forth the word of God, and re-echoes all that he their existence that it is impossible of it; not because the corn is so very has said in law and promise and prophecy. ever entirely to conquer them. We much, of itself, but because I see that Take, for instance, the lesson of some of our acknowledge that God's will is greater God is really working in it, though common weeds. They live through droughts and than our will, and in the life of the all these years I knew it not. Truly wet seasons, through cold weather and through weeds we see one means by which the this world is the House of God, and hot. How are they able to accomplish this? — divine will succeeds in the carrying all about us we find Gates to Heaven. Let us examine some of them. In almost every out of its all-wise and persistent pur- But that is what was said at the dooryard thrives that pest of lawn and garden, pose. Thus this sort of study, though first. The facts of nature are but the plantain. It adapts itself with ease to various it be but a study of weeds, is, after gates,— doors,— which we may open, and varied surroundings,— that is one secret of all, a' study of the will of God, and of and go forth to the great, true things its success, and one of the great lessons that it the means by which that will oper- of God. has to teach. If it grows in the uncut grass ates. This is true learning. This is true Take another example. Many a botany. This is true science. This is time I have seen a corn-stalk tumbled God in nature. And, acknowledged over by the wind and rain, and never " A BIRD JOSTLES IT and confessed and lived out to its full- thought for an instant that it could in ness, this is God in you, the everlast- its downfall teach me any special lesson worth ing gospel, the fullness of the word of God. mentioning. But it can. In the accompanying L. A. REED. picture, I have tried to show one of several stalks that are growing in my garden. When Rain and Its Lesson this stalk first fell down, it was straight READ Ps. 65: 9-13. throughout its course. But very shortly after On the second day, God " divided the waters it fell, the stalk began to bend, and push its tas- which were under the firmament from the waters selled top up into the air. You will notice that which were above the firmament." Gen. 1 : 7. the stalk bends almost entirely at that part where Later " there went up a mist from the earth, and the ear is situated; true, the stalk bends to some watered the whole face of the ground" (Gen.