The Theology of Creation (III)
When I consider Thy heavens. — Psalm viii. 3.
The text is now to be used as the basis of the inquiry ‘’ What is the moral effect of studijing great subjects? ‘’ Minds are of course affected by the subjects upon which they dwell most frequently. Little subjects ‘will make little minds. Great subjects enlarge and refine the minds which entertain them. The Psalmist considered the heavens, and as he did so, he was overpowered by a sense of Divine power, majesty, and condescension. What other results attend human meditation upon that sublime theme? When we consider the heavens four results are secured: —
1. We aee impressed with Gods infinite independence OP HUMAN HELP. We cannot touch one of His stars; we cannot control their courses -, we cannot
m2 increase or diminish their light. Yonder they shine, away from our poor patronage, indifferent to our powerless opinion. When, then, God asks our help in anything, He does so for our good and never to fill up the circle of His own ability. How these star-lit heavens rebuke my officiousness! With what sublime contempt they look alike upon our atheistic fuss, and our pious patronage of the Almighty!
II. We see that ceeation is established upon a BASIS OF oedee. There is no controversy in all those heavenly spaces! The stars are quiet. There is no collision of orbits. Everywhere there is sovereign law. The moral significance of this is plain. See what God would have in the moral universe! In the individual heart; in families; in churches; in nations. God is the God of order, and order is peace.
III. We see the infinite sufficiency of God to
PEESERVE ALL THE INTERESTS WE COMMIT TO HiM. If He
can sustain that firmament of worlds, can He not sustain our little life? Can He who numbers the stars not also number the hairs of our head? Is our house greater than God’s heavens, that He cannot be trusted with it? Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.’’ Does His work in the starry creation ever fail? Does the starlight waste because of the insufficiency of God’s glory? 0 Thou who earnest the worlds in Thine hands,, carry too, my poor life!
IV. We see the essential dippeeence between
PHYSICAL SOVEEEIGNTY AND MOEAL CONTEOL. The
weakest man is greater than the most magnificent star! God has made man greater than the heavens though physically he dwindles into nothingness in presence of their vastness and glory. In what does his superiority consist? In all that is implied in the term will. Man can say ^’ No ‘’ to God. Physical government is an act of sovereignty, but moral control involves the consent of the life that is governed. The hoiLse cannot be shaken, but the tenant may spend his days in controversy and bitterness against the builder. Why cannot human life be as peaceful as the quiet heavens? Because human life has a will of its own. God seeks by all the tender persuasiveness of His love, as shown in Jesus Christ, to bring that will into harmony with His own; — when that is done, there will be a great calm.
AppHcation: — Consider great subjects. Get away from the paltry subjects which fret the mind and turn it downwards. Consider the heavens; not merely looh at them; but think about their greatness, their lustre, their order, their security; then draw moral inferences from their existence. Consider Godih Heavens: ^’ When I consider Tlmj heavens/^ — they are peculiarly God’s; man has written his own little name upon the earth, but never upon the heavens! Upon the earth man is a co-signatory with God in some small degree; but away amongst the stars God’s autograph shines alone filling up all the glittering space. A consideration so conducted will (1) enlarge and strengthen the mind; (2) show contrastively the jpower and the weakness of man; (3) excite the highest hopes regarding human destiny, — how much remains to be known — are the stars the ‘’ many mansions ‘^? (4) tranquillize the impatience and fretfulness incident to an incomplete life. The student of Nature should be on his guard against two possibilities: (1) against mistaking Creation for the Creator; (2) against mistaking the transient for the permanent — all these things shall be dissolved,, — the word of the Lord endureth for ever.
“God in the person of Plis Son,
Hath all his mightiest works outdone.”