REVELATION

"And I went into the Vale of Beavor, and as I went I preached repentance to the people. And one morning, sitting by the fire, a great cloud came over me, and a temptation beset me. And it was said: All things come by Nature; and the Elements and the Stars came over me. And as I sat still and let it alone, a living hope arose in me, and a true Voice which said: There is a living God who made all things. And immediately the cloud and the temptation vanished, and Life rose over all, and my heart was glad and I praised the Living God."

-- Journal of George Fox, 1690.

Still, as of old, in Beavor's Vale,

O man of God! our hope and faith

The Elements and Stars assail,

And the awed spirit holds its breath,

Blown over by a wind of death.

Takes Nature thought for such as we,

What place her human atom fills,

The weed-drift of her careless sea,

The mist on her unheeding hills?

What recks she of our helpless wills?

Strange god of Force, with fear, not love,

Its trembling worshipper! Can prayer

Reach the shut ear of Fate, or move

Unpitying Energy to spare?

What doth the cosmic Vastness care?

In vain to this dread Unconcern

For the All-Father's love we look;

In vain, in quest for it, we turn,

The storied leaves of Nature's book

The prints her rocky tablets took.

"A light to sky and earth unknown

pales all their lights: a mightier force

than theirs the powers of Nature own,

And, to its goal as at its source,

His Spirit moves the Universe.

No picture to my aid I call,

I shape no image in my prayer;

I only know in Him is all

Of life, light, beauty, everywhere,

Eternal Goodness here and there!

I know He is, and what He is,

Whose one great purpose is the good

Of all. I rest my soul on his

Immortal Love and Fatherhood;

And trust Him, as his children should.

I fear no more. The clouded face

Of Nature smiles; through all her things

Of time and space and sense I trace

The moving of the Spirit's wings,

And hear the song of hope she sings.

 

~John Greenleaf Whittier~

 

 

Acts 17:22-31

 

Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.