Man, the mirror of the universe; or, The agreement of science and religion, explained for the people

Front matter

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Preface

At creation^ God stamped his image and his likeness on every being which he made. Each thing created is^ therefore, like unto God. From that it follows, that the universe is a vast poem, a wonderfully written book, a sublime series of symbolic figures, tropes, and images of the Deity. Every existing being and reasoning creature, by its very nature, eloquently proclaims the glories of the Godhead, who made it like unto Himself. Nature, therefore, is an open volume wherein we study God. The Eeason, the Plan, the Model, the Original, according to which each creature was made, is the divine Word, the only-begotten Son of God.

God first made the four great kingdoms of minerals, vegetables, animals, angels, and then he united those in one creature, man. Man is, therefore, the sum total of creation, the resume of nature, the Mirror of the Universe. Therefore, in studying man we study both nature and God.

In treating of man we will study his nature, see what he has in common with creatures, both below and above him, and then trace each human perfection and quality till, at last, we find it infinite in God. This is the only way to get a complete knowledge of the world and of its Creator.

The learned, especially the scientists, accustomed to start from unsound principles relating to nature, to man, and to God, began to think that science and religion disagreed. That opened the flood-gates of infidelity, and for generations afflicted society, threatening the stability of

IV , PEEFACE.

law^ order^ authority, government, religion. The belief in the spirituality and immortality of the soul, the idea of the spirit world, the faith in the existence of God, became weakened, and dire calamities threatened the human race, for the wildest theories, in our day, have many followers.

A powerful voice tells us to come back to the writings of the Scholastics, wherein alone we find the true principles of science and of religion, and wherein we see how beautifully they harmonize.

A subject, so vast and comprehensive, required long years of study, meditation, and investigation. To make it better understood by common people, we have left out all technical terms or learned words, and we tried to write in the simplest English; so as not to too much tax the memory, we have sometimes repeated what we had written before.

The duties of a large parish have somewhat interfered with our work, but we hope our feeble efforts may, at some future time, rouse a gigantic genius, greater than S. Augustine, S. Thomas, or Aristotle, who, in a vast work, will make use of the wonderful scientific discoveries of modern times, and graft them all into a cyclopedic treatise on nature, man and God.

If there be anything in this work contrary to the teachings of Christianity, we will be the first to condemn it. But we trust that it will show all who read it that there can be no disagreement between science and religion.

Jas. L. Meagher.

Cazenovia, N. Y. Sept. 1, 1887.

Contents

Introduction — Science and Religion — Man, Beauty, Truth and Goodness — Mathematics — Scholastics — Metaphysics — Importance of Sound Principles for the Sciences, etc . 9-22

THE MINERA.L KINGDOM.

CHAPTER I. OmGIN OF THE WORLD

Creation — Reasons for and Against the Eternity of Matter — The Nebular Theory Described — Formation of the Sun, Moon, and Planets — Universal Gravitation— Oricrin of Liofht, Heat, Motion etc. — Wonders of Astronomy, Geology, Mineralogy, etc.. 23-32

Chapter II. Constitution Of Matter

The Dynamic, Atomic and Scholastic Theories Relating to Matter, Monads, Atoms, Molecules, Primeval Matter and Substantial Form — Physics — Chemistry — Movement — Force — Energy — Laws of Crystalization — Forces of Matter, etc. . . 33-43

Chapter III. Light, Heat, Attraction Etc

Extension — Sound — Music— All Nature Founded on Mathematics — Solids — Liquids— Gases — Laws of Light, Heat, Electricity—Chemical Changes — Geometry of Crystalization — Substances — Modes and Accidents of Matter, etc 44-55

2 CONTENTS.

THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.

Chapter IV. How Plants Differ From Minerals

Plants have a Different Origin, Composition, Constitution, Development, Duration, Reproduction than Minerals — The Plant Compared to the Mineral, etc - 56-63

Chapter V. The Different Species Of Plants

History of the Classification of Plants — Systems of Linnaeus, Bernard de Jussieu, De Candolle, John Lindley — The Exogenae and Endogenae — Botany, etc 64-66

CHAPTER YI.

WHAT IS LIFE?

Life is Movement from Within— Vegetable, Animal and Intellectual Life — Substantial Forms of Minerals — Vital Principle of Plants — Sensitive Souls of Animals — Immortal Soul of Man — Pure Spirits — Various Objects of These Living Principles — Life — Movement Remains Within the Living Being — Generation — Perfect Life Found only in God, etc. 67-75

Chapter VII. Nature Of Vegetable Life

Living Organisms differ from Minerals — Testimony of the Learned — Analysis — Synthesis — Plants and Animals Use and Control Mineral Forces — Operations of Vegetable Life — Growth, Nutrition, Reproduction, etc 76-82

CHAPTER VIIL

GROWTH OF PLANT, ANIMAL AND MAN.

Wonders of Living Organisms — The Soul Builds the Body — Development of the Young — Cold and Warm-Blooded Animals — No Feeling in Plants — Cells — Manner of Growth Determined by God— The Soul Builds the Body According to Fixed Laws— The Child before Birth, etc 83-91

Chapter IX. Nutrition Of Plant, Animal And Man

Food — Growth and Nutrition Identical in Plants — Growth stops at last in Animals and Man — Nutrition Continues — Living Organisms Require Nourishment — Spirits Remain

COKTEI^TS. 3

Unchanged — Reasonable Beings Grow with Truth and Happiness — Circulation of the Sap and Blood — Breathing of Plants and Animals, etc 92-100

Chapter X. The Generation Of Beings

All Living Beings Generate Another like Themselves — Animal and Vegetable Souls Generated — Human Soul Created by God — Generation in Creatures a Figure of the Trinity — Seeds — Sexual and Unsexual Generation — Pollen — The Egg — The Embryo — Generation of a Thought — Generation of the Persons of the Trinity, etc 101-110

THE ANIMAL. KINGDOM.

Chapter XI. How Animals Differ From Plants

Object of Vegetable Life — The Organism of Animals — All Surrounding Bodies — Plants have No Sensation — Plants Composed of Carbon, Oxygen and Hydrogen — To these in Animals add Nitrogen — Animal Species more Numerous than Those of Plants — Animals have Higher and More Perfect Organizations than Plants — One or More Senses in Every Animal — Animal Instincts, etc 111-119

CHAPTER Xn.

KINDS AND SPECIES OF ANIMALS.

Five Great Divisions of Animals — Animalcules — Radiates, Mollusks, Articulates, Vertebrates — Description of Each Class — Zoology, etc 120-125

CHAPTER Xm.

SKELETON, MUSCLES AND NERVES.

The Human Skeleton — Bones — Composition and Structure in Man and Animals — The Muscular System — Composition and Description of the Voluntary and Involuntary Muscles — The Heart — Tendons — The Nerves — Their Functions — Functions and Structure of Spinal Column — Brain, etc 126-134

4 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE FIVE SENSES.

Matenax Things, the Object of the Five Senses — Special Nerves of the Senses — Touch Kesides in all Parts of the External Skin, but especially in Tongue and Fingers — Taste in the Mouth especially in Tongue — Smell, Description of — Enormously Developed in some Animals — Hearing — External, Middle, and Internal Ear in Man — The Drum, Hammer, Stirrup, Anvil, Labyrinth, Cochlia — Investigations of Helmboldt, Corti and others — Wonders of the Inner Ear — Seeing — Laws of Optics — Description of the Eye, Cornea, Crystaline Lense — Retina — Optic Nerve, etc 135-149

CHAPTER XV.

INTERIOR SENSES, IMAGINATION, MEMORY, INSTINCT, ETC.

The Common Sense — Sensations — ^Fancy — Memory — Wonders of Instinct, etc 150-155

CHAPTER XVI.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN AND ANIMALS.

Man a Reasonable Animal — The Highest and Most Complicated Organism — Art, Commerce, Industry, Mind, Will, Liberty, Education, Sociability— Man a Mineral, a Plant and an Animal — Reason — Development of Man — Growth, Decay and Death, etc. .:,:...... 156-167

CHAPTER XYIL

THE MIND.

Universal Truth, the Direct Object of the Mind — Particular Truth, the Indirect Object of the Mind — Ideas — Thoughts — In God the Thought or Idea is the Son— Superiority of the Mind over Other Powers- -Origin of Ideas — Language — Wit and Humor — Concrete and Abstract Ideas — Plans and Reasons of All Things in God — Conduct of the Mind — Intellectual Memory — The Mind, the Image of God — The Active and Passive Mind, etc 168-180

CO:^TEKTS. 5

CHAPTER XVIII.

WHAT IS REASON?

The Mind in Action is Reason — Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs, Pronouns — The Foundations of Grammmar — The Verb to Be — Substance, Existence — The Eternal Idea of God's Mind, the Son, the Model of all Creatures — The True — The False — The Good — The Bad — Axioms, Principles, Reasoning, Syllogisms — The Universal — Genus- Species — Sentences, Subject and Predicate — Judgments — Deduction, Induction — The Natural Sciences, etc. . . . 181-194

CHAPTER XIX.

THE FREE-WILL.

Universal Good the Object of the Free-Will— The Will the Reasonable Appetite — The Mind Enlightens the Will — Happiness — Learning — Mind and Will in God — Power of the Will over the Other Faculties — Sin the Abuse of Reason — Sources of Laws — The Will the Foundation of Liberty — Conscience — The Good — Happiness— The Mind of Man — Motives— God the Final End of all Created Reasons— In God, the True is the Son, the Good, the Holy Spirit, etc. 195-206

CHAPTER XX.

WHAT IS LIBERTY?

The Free-Will in Action is Liberty — To Possess the Good is Joy and Happiness — Nature of Liberty — We are Free Regarding Particular Good Not Relating to Our Final Happiness — Liberty of Man, Angel and of God — Authority over Creatures —

* Why We Are Never Satisfied m This World — Physical, Metaphysical and Moral Liberty— Election — Human Liberty a Primary Truth — Predestination — Sin the Abuse of Liberty — God Free in Creating — Liberty and Grace, etc . . 207-223

CHAPTER XXL

UNION OP SOUL AND BODY.

The Soul the Substantial Form of the Body— Bodily Heat — Surprising Changes in the Body — Wonders of the Human Body — Child Resembles the Parents — Influence of Soul on Body Develops the Unperements — ^The Nervous, Phlegmatic, Bilious and Sanguine Temperaments — Substantial Union of Soul and Bodv — Chemical and Mechanical Unions — Union of God and Man in Christ — the Unity of the Organ ism — The Incarnation of Christ — Personality in Man, Christ and in God — Accidental, Substantial and Personal Unions — Mind and Will Superior to the Body— The Soul is Whole and Complete in Every Part of the Body, e.tc 224-250

6 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXIL

IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

Importance of theSubject — Repugnance to Death — Rewards and Punishments of this Life not Sufficient — The Soul is Immaterial, and Therefore Immortal — Force Indestructible — The Soul Indestructible in the Soul — Mind and Will are the Immortal Parts of Man — Animal Souls — The Human Soul a Complete Spiritual Substance — Truth Immortal is grasped by the soul which also must be Immortal — The Last Resurrection — The Soul has No Parts — Generation Proves Immortality, etc 251-270

CHAPTER XXIIL

THE FALL AND HOW KEPAIRED.

Superiority of Man — Science — Creation of Man — Man was made Perfect at First — The Temptation and Fall — Original Sin — Remains of the Fall — The Atonement — How Christ Repaired the Fall of Man — The Agent, Representative and Minister of Christ 271-290

THE SPIRIT KINGDOM.

CHAPTER XXIY.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SPIRITUAL AND THE MATERIAL.

Matters Visible and Invisible — Extension, Time, Space etc. Belong Only to Matter — Substances — Living and Non-living Bodies — Pure Spirits— The Visible World — Spiritual Things ' Difficult to See, etc 291-297

'y

CHAPTER XXV.

THE ANGELS.

The Angels are Intellectual Forces — Time, Place and State of Their Creation — Their Wonderful Power — Sin and Fall of the Angels — Their Manner of Life and Mode of Reasoning — Their Mind, Will, Liberty etc — Angelical Conversations — The Good See God Face to Face, the Bad are the Demons in Hell — The Nine Hierarchies of Heavenly Spirits — Each Choir has a Special Name and Object, etc 298-321

CONTENTS. 7

CHAPTER XXYI.

HEAVEN.

The True and the Good, that is the Son and Holy Spirit^ the Objects of Created Mind and Will — All Men Desire Happiness — True Happiness Cannot be Found in This Life — Reason Why — Heaven is for Created Reasonable Beings — Heaven is to Have the True, to Possess the Good, that is the Son and Spirit — Heaven is the Possession of God — Heaven not a Place but a State — Love — Why God Loves Us — Love Unites — The Light of Glory — The Vision of God — Different Degrees of Happiness in Heaven, etc 322-338

CHAPTER XXYH.

HELL.

Hell follows the Abuse of Reason — No Redemption in Hell — Hell God's Prison — Sinners send Themselves to Hell — Pains of Hell not Purgative — The Evils of Sin — Death of the Sinner — Hell the Absence of Truth and Goodness — iSTature's Laws Inflexible — Hell is the Loss of God — In Hell no Supernatural Truth or Ilappiiicss — Hell is Mental Suffering — How the Demons Fell — The Sin of Lucifer — He Led the Bad Angels to Perdition — State of the Damned — Demonic Possession, Ghosts, etc — Hell a State not a Place — Stubborness of the Damned — Thev adhere to EiTor and to Evil — !No change in Hell — The Sufferings of Hell will Last Forever — Pains ot Hell are According to the Greatness of the Sin — No Redemption in Hell — State of Those who Die Guilty of Little Sins — Sensitive Pain in Hell — Is there Fire in Hell? etc 339-358

CHAPTER XXVIII.

GOD.

God Known to Us by both Reason and Revelation — Nature and Grace — Utility of Religion — Atheism, or the Denial of God — Atheists Mtmstrosities of the Intellectual Order — All Nations Believe in Some God — Interior Conscience Tells of God — Proofs of the Existence of God — God Eternal Truth — Mathematics — Attributes of God — His Chief Attribute — More than One God Cannot be — God Everywhere Infinite and Unchangeable — Life, Reason and Knowledge of God — Predestination and Free-Will — Will of God — His Omnipotence, Justice^ Mercy, etc. ...... 359-375

Introduction

In modern times infidelity, like a many-headed monster, lifts its many, slimy, disgusting forms and attempts to deny not only religion, but also the very belief in the existence of God, the Creator of the uniyerse. Many think that science and religion do not and cannot agree. That is because they are not deeply learned, both in religion and in the sciences, for the one who understands both can see the remarkable agreement between science and religion. In fact, science is the handmaid of religion, and the truths revealed by God to the human race find many a startling proof in the modern sciences, showing that God speaks to the human mind both in revelation and in science, which tells of the wonders of God in nature.

There are, then, two great books for man to read : one, revelation — ^the Bible explained by tradition — the other, nature explained by the true principles of science. In one God speaks direct to the human mind and lifts the veil which hides his infinite perfections ; in the other the great Creator hides himself behind the numberless creatures with which he peoples the universe. For some time scientific men acted and Avrote as though these two great books, written by the finger of God, contradicted each other. But that came from their imperfect knowledge of nature, from their incomplete knowledge of revelation, or from both. After deeper studies in the rich mines of nature, and after deeper scientific investigation, the true scientist finds startling proofs of the truth of religion, and as science is more and more developed, and the more the human mind grasps the wonders of science, the more we are startled at the harmony of science and religion.

We read that in the beginning God created the angelic spirits of the kingdom of heaven, then the mineral kingdom, afterward the vegetable kingdom, and lastly, the various species of animals. All creatures, then, thus far created, belonged to either of these four great kingdoms — angels.

minerals, plants, animals. Then he seemed to stop and to consult with himself and said : ^^Let us make man to our own image and likeness.'^ And he made man as a mixture and a compound and as an abridgment of all these four kingdoms. In his bones, muscles, and in the materials of his body, man belongs to the mineral kingdom ; in growth, nourishment, and reproduction, he belongs to the vegetable kingdom ; in sensation, in the nervous system, and in the five senses, man belongs to the animal kingdom ; and in mind and free will he belongs to the angelic kingdom. Thus, these four great divisions of creation make, as it were, a great foursided pyramid, with man at the head, as the culminating point of the universe. Well, then, the wise men of Greece call man ^^a little universe, ^^ for he is the culminating and completing point of all creation. We contain within ourselves the perfection of all creatures. In a higher degree in us we find the beauties and the wonders of all other creatures. Man, then, is the end of all creation on this earth. Therefore, when Christ took our human nature, when he united himself with a body and soul of the human race, he in himself raised all creation to the throne of the Divinity. Every rock and stone, every sun and planet, every tree and vegetable, every beast and animal, every angel and pure spirit bowing before God^s throne, finds his own perfections in a more perfect manner^ or in the same degree, in the soul and body of Christ in his humanity united with the Second Person of the Trinity. The incarnation of the Son of God, then, is the acme and the completion of the universe. The minerals forming the non-living world, the plants which clothe the earth with beauty, the animals which sport in joy upon the surface of our planet, the angels who fold their bright wings before the Almighty, all unite in man, and all are deified in that body and soul of Christ now sitting at the right hand of the Eternal Father. God made all things as the images of his own infinite perfections and he raised all again to himself in the wonders of the union of God and man, in that espousal of the human and Divine natures in the Son of God. Then the Son of God is the Divine plan of the universe and he brings all back again to himself in the wonders of the Incarnation. Then Christ, whom the Christian adores, is not only Divine, containing within himself the perfections of the Divinity, but also human, possessing in his human nature the perfections of every creature. Thus in him centres the glories of the Godhead and the perfections and the beauties of all creation.

iktroductio:n". 11

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Christ as God is the Splendor of the Father, the Figure of His Divine substance, the Truth of the Divinity, the Plan of creation, the eternal Type of each created being, the Model of each creature and the everlasting Thought of the Father. Christ as man is the perfect man, the faithful Adam, the Father of believers, the Fruit of the earth, the Perfection of creatures, the Compendium of the universe.

Every creature, from the smallest grain of sand washed by waves of ocean, to the most mighty sun and planet swinging round the heavenly spaces, from the lowest microscopic plant and creature, to the brightest angel ministering before the throne of the Almighty, all are as so many types and figures of the perfections existing in the Eternal Mind. As the architect, before setting to work to build a noble palace, first conceives and brings forth the plan in his mind, and, according to that plan, he shapes his figures, lays down his foundation and raises his edifice, so during eternity in the mind of God dwelled the Figure of creatures, the Plan of creation, the Type of all which he has made. That was the Son, the Word of God. Then, creatures are so many external expressions of the Divine Son, who is the mental Word of God. These types or plans of creatures dwelled from eternity in the mind of God, and in creatures they are so many revelations of Him who '^'^in the beginning was the Word and the Word was God.^^ As in our minds every idea is a mental word, so these perfections we see in nature are but so many external, crude, created, and material expressions of the types and plans, eternal, infinite, and universal, in the mind of God. As the words in this book are but so many types and external figures of the ideas in my mind, so all creatures are so many expressions of the mind of God, the Great Architect and Builder of nature. Nature, therefore, is a great book of poems, wherein God has written, not in cold, dead letters, as man writes, but in living, moving creatures ; each being is a letter, each species a paragraph, each family a chapter, each genera a treatise. Nature, then, is the great book of God written by His Almighty hand, the crude external expressions of the perfections of his own eternal Son. But nature is not God. That is the error of the Pantheists, who say that nature is God. For God is unchangeable, eternal, almighty ; greater than anything we can conceive, while nature is changing, finite, weak, bounded.

In times long past the learned men of pagan Asia, struck with the varied beauties of nature, seeing dimly in the beauties, the perfections and the harmonies of nature, the reflections of the face of God^ taught that nature is God, that everything we see is a part of God, that from his own substance, God created the world, and therefore everything we see is a part of the Divine Nature. Whence nature being God, nature was to be worshipped. From that rose idolatry, the adoration and the worship of creatures. For the pagan idolater will tell you that he worships, not the creature, the image or the animal, but the perfection of God which these creatures represent. Such is the pantheism of olden times, and many scientific men of our age would bring us back to this idolatry and throw aside the Christian civilization of twenty centuries.

The world, then, is not God, but it was created by Him after the types eternally existing within the Divine Word, the Son of God,

Man also contains with himself the types and perfections of all beings below him. In his body he has in an eminent degree the minerals, the vegetables, the animals, and in his mind the angel. In his soul and body he combines the perfections of all these. For that reason we love the figures, types, tropes, symbols and images of poetry and of oratory. Poetry is the art of speaking to the mind in measures and in figures of speech. It is stronger and more beautiful when written in regular rhyme, rhythm, and in measures and figures true to nature. Oratory is the art of convincing others. It also is convincing and striking when composed of tropes, symbols, and figures. Why are the figures of oratory and the stately rhythm of poetry so beautiful ? Because the perfections of all creatures below us are contained in a higher way or degree in the human soul, and these figures of speech with gentle touch play on the hidden harp-strings of our souls to rouse them to accord and echo back the beauties of the God of nature. Thus, as God contains, in the most eminent and perfect manner, the perfections of the universe, so the soul of man contains in a degree, unites in itself, the perfections of all nature. Well, then, can we say that the human soul is made to the image and likeness of God. To know God thoroughly we must study science and revelation. Science, therefore, tells us of God and of man, the most perfect image of God, while revelation confirms and strengthens science. The following pages will unfold the beauties of the world, of the wonders of man, and will lead us back again to God, the Creator and the Maker of all things. We will begin with the lowest creatures, study their perfections, and then trace those perfections up, in

INTKODUCnOK. 13

creatures above tliem^ till we find all infinite and eternal in God, whose praises continually the perfections of the universe proclaim.

Behind and under, and as the foundation of creatures, we find the Beautiful, the True, and the Good. The True is that which is, and the false is that which is not. A thing is beautiful when it is perfect according to its nature. To be beautiful, therefore, it must be true. Whence Plato says that beauty is ^'the splendor of the true.^^ A thing also is good when its utility is perfect, and a thing to be perfect must be true. Therefore, the Beautiful and the Good are founded on the True, and the latter is the Perfect. Truth, therefore, is eternal and everlasting. What is this perfection on which the True is founded but God ? Therefore the Beautiful, the True, and the Good which we find stamped on every creature is the Trinity of nature, the image of the Triune God of nature.

Beauty, Truth, and Goodness shine forth throughout everything within the confines of creation, and in every part of the universe. They are the images of the face of God. Here are three revelations of the True, Beautiful, and Good, God in nature. In God everything must be perfect, for he is infinite in every degree. Then in him Beauty, Truth, and Goodness must be infinite and omnipotent like himself. As God is a reasonable being, so he also must have every perfection of a reasonable person. Therefore, Beauty, Truth, and Goodness must be in him so many Persons. In him Beauty is the Father, Truth is the Son, and Goodness is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, these three, which shine forth in all creatures, are so many revelations of the Trinity throughout nature.

The True, which is the foundation of the Beautiful and the Good, is found stamped on every creature. The sciences of the True, which we in thought abstract from nature, is called Mathematics, from the Greek word meaning learning or science. No series of Truths is purer or truer than the science of mathematics. They are the purest reasonings we have. They treat of the True in its most abstract forms. That part which treats of numbers is called Arithmetic, from the Greek meaning a number. The part which treats of the relation of numbers by signs and unknown quantities is called Algebra, from an Arabic word meaning to join together. Geometry, from the Greek meaning to measure the earth, treats of surfaces, angles, lines and solids. Trigonometry, as the two Greek words mean, treats of the meas-

14 iktroductio:n'.

urement of triangles. Conic Sections tells us of the qualities of a cone, while the highest forms of computing is called Calculus. This branch of mathematics was largely discovered by Leibnitz and Sir Isaac Newton. Each year adds new discoveries to the various branches of mathematics, showing that it is a series of truths exterior to man and founded in nature. In reality we may say that all nature and all sciences are founded on mathematics, and man is but searching and discovering the secrets God planted in nature, each time he makes a discovery in the sciences. All scientific investigators are reducing the discoveries of modern times to mathematical formulas. This shows that at creation God himself, as a wonderful Mathematician, presided over the formation of all things he made.

Thus in chemistry the atoms and molecules, in forming new substances, or developing into new materials, all act according to formulas which never change. They are expressed by unchanging signs and numbers. All bodies, as well as light, heat, and magnetism, attract and act according to the inverse ratio of their distance. The sun and planets move in circles ; the whole mineral kingdom acts according to the strictest mathematical laws. Thus they show that a great and wonderful Mathematician from the beginning presided over creation and still presides over the movements of creatures. All things act according to the most surprising harmony, and law and order shine everywhere throughout the universe. There can be no law without a law-giver. That is plain and evident to any one. Who upholds law, and order, and harmony, but God ? Therefore, God is the Architect of the universe. He is the Mathematician of nature. He directs all movements in the universe. He is the Author, the Creator, the Prime Mover, and the Upholder of all things. This we must admit. For the order and harmony of the universe everywhere shows such astonishing wisdom that it is nonsense to call it nature, as we so often hear. It is not nature but the God and Creator of nature who works those wonders throughout the universe. All breathe forth the beauties and the perfections of God. We are not, therefore, surprised to find the mind fascinated with the study of science, for there we learn the wonders of God revealed in nature. For nature, as in a mirror, reflects the face of the Divinity, and shows us dimly the wonders of the Creator God.