Thee, Lord, the wide world glorifies;
The bird upon its nest replies;
And for one little drop of rain
Beings Thine eye doth not disdain
Ten thousand more repeat the strain.[168]


And such thoughts are not vain freaks of the imagination. Man, the
conscious representative of nature, the high-priest of the universe,
feels himself urged by an impulse of his heart to translate the
confused murmur of the creation into a hymn of praise to the Infinite
Being, the absolute Source of life,--to Him who _is_, One, Eternal,--the
first and absolute Cause of all existence.

The Creator is the God of spirits. He is not only the God of humankind;
"the immense city of God contains, no doubt, nobler citizens than man,
in reasoning power so weak, and in affections so poor."[169] But let us
speak of what is known to us: He is the God of humankind. All nations
shall one day render glory to Him. Mighty words have resounded through
the world: "Henceforth there is no longer either Greek or barbarian or
Jew; but one and the same God for all." The idols have begun to fall;
the gods of the nations have been hurled from their pedestals; they have
fallen, they are falling, they will fall, until the knowledge of the
only and sovereign Creator shall cover the earth as the waters cover the
sea.

The Creator shall one day be known of all His creatures; and in each of
His creatures He will be the centre and the object of the whole soul;
all the functions of the spiritual life lead on to Him. What is truth,
beauty, good? We have already replied to the question, but we will