June 3The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech, there are no words, their voice is not heard; but their melody extendeth through all the earth, and to the end of the world their words — Psa. 19:1-4, Leeser.
The magnificent pageantry of the heavens daily and nightly should elicit our praise and adoration, and should inspire in our hearts holy and reverent devotion. Let the noiseless activity, the perfect obedience to Divine law, and the blessed shining of the heavenly hosts, impress their wholesome lessons upon us—of zealous activity without commotion or ostentation; of perfect obedience to the will of Him who doeth all things well, who is too wise to err and too good to be unkind; and of letting the glory of the Lord which has illuminated us shine from us in turn upon every beholder—Z '95, 121 (R 1811). Not only do all the various objects and arrangements of nature manifest the Lord's attributes to our attentive minds, but we find that these objects and arrangements are used to symbolize things that manifest His attributes and Plan. Thus the new heavens will make known His character in the coming Age. The nights with their evils symbolize various times with the evils suffered therein by various evil classes, especially in the Epiphany. The days symbolize the times of dispensational blessings, the preceding ones shadowing forth the following ones, e.g., as in the harvests and parallel dispensations—P '26, 76. Parallel passages: Gen. 1:1—2:7; Isa. 40:26; Job 9:8, 9; 12:7-9; 28:23-26; 37:16, 18; 38:4, 7-10; Psa. 8:3-9; 104:2-6, 24; 136:5-9; Jer. 51:15, 16; Rom. 1:19, 20; Heb. 11:3, 10. Hymns: 283, 11, 45, 55, 89, 227, 292. Poems of Dawn, 229: God in Nature. Tower Reading: Z ' 13, 101 (R 5209). Questions: What have been my week's meditations regarding the present literal and symbolic world and the future literal and symbolic world? What effect did they have upon my veneration for God? |
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GOD IN NATURE
THE spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue, ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim:
The unwearied sun, from day to day,
Does his Creator's power display;
And publishes to every land
The work of an Almighty hand.
Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale;
And nightly, to the listening earth,
Repeats the story of her birth;
While all the stars that 'round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.
What though, in solemn silence, all
Move 'round this dark terrestrial ball,—
What though no real voice nor sound
Amid their radiant orbs be found,—
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
Forever singing as they shine,
"The hand that made us is Divine."
THE spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue, ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim:
The unwearied sun, from day to day,
Does his Creator's power display;
And publishes to every land
The work of an Almighty hand.
Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale;
And nightly, to the listening earth,
Repeats the story of her birth;
While all the stars that 'round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.
What though, in solemn silence, all
Move 'round this dark terrestrial ball,—
What though no real voice nor sound
Amid their radiant orbs be found,—
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
Forever singing as they shine,
"The hand that made us is Divine."
