GOD'S PURPOSE IN NATURE.
By Floyd Bralliar
(Concluded from last week.) BEFORE the fall, man did not need to know God as a saviour, but only as the maker and ruler of the universe. All nature revealed Him as such. After the fall, man's greatest need was a redeemer. As before, nature was to be used as an illustration; so all nature must be changed to meet his new needs. Adam must die, so death was written on the face of the whole earth. But man was not to be left alone to die eternally. Lest he should despair, the lessons of the resurrection and the new life were written on every hand. As Adam saw the first leaf die, his heart was wrung with anguish; but lo, hidden beneath its withering stem, he discovered a bud, and as he contemplated its purpose, a flood of light and hope beamed upon his mind. He wept to see the first withering flowers, but as he saw the seeds taking their place, a new meaning dawned in the promise of the “Seed of the woman.” Every seed in the world is but a type of the Seed who brings life and immortality to light through the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Every branch suggests the Branch, who, being of divine nature, yet being grafted into humanity, makes it possible for the whole tree to bear divine fruit. Every returning year should renew our hope and courage, assuring us that our Life is soon to appear. Can He who every spring brings new life out of the death of winter, fail to bring again His own people into their own land, and cause the desert to “blossom as the rose”? From the covering on every bulb and the hull on every seed, which keeps out the germs of decay and the inclement weather, can we not take courage, knowing that “the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them”? “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” God has written His love, His tender care, and His matchless goodness on every leaf of the forest and every grain of sand by the sea shore. Then why is man so slow to recognize in them the merciful care of the All-wise for the works of His hands? In the constant improvement of plants and animals under good care and cultivation, and their sure deterioration under neglect, we should learn the lesson that we must “strive to enter in.” Yet, looking at all with unregenerated hearts, men have devised evolution, and have forgotten God entirely. In the “survival of the fittest” we have ever before our eyes the lesson that “the fire shall try every man's work,” and we must be of value if we are to have a part in the kingdom of heaven. These lessons we need, and99they are everywhere written before our eyes, yet how slow we are to read them! We are told that through nature, revelation, and God's dealings with man and nations, God has revealed himself to man. Then should we not study to see Him in them all? We do not read history simply for the facts and dates, we do not study the Bible simply for the words and the language. Neither must we study nature simply for the names and the forms. By the help of the Holy Spirit we can see God in them all.