Nature
‹ 3 · Outline · 5 ›
4.Nature, God and miracle
4a.Nature as the work and sign of God
See also: God 5b
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 88–89Nature testifies to God's work.read · scan
- p. 137–138The creature's strength and habitat among lotus, reeds and rivers shown as part of God's creation.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 174–175God's voice shakes wilderness, forests and cedars, displaying power in natural phenomena.read · scan
- p. 219–221God's bounty in rain, harvest, pastures and the year's yield.read · scan
- p. 263–264Heavens, earth, sea, field and trees rejoice before their Lord.read · scan
- p. 265–266Sea, floods, hills and earth called to rejoice; mountains melt at God's presence.read · scan
- p. 315God causes vapors, lightning, rain and wind.read · scan
- p. 327–328God sends rain, grass, snow, frost, ice and wind, and feeds the beasts.read · scan
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2
- p. 142Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth and Sea are nobler sights than any city.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 61–62Creation, animate and inanimate, praises God, and men meditating on created things pass on to their Maker.read · scan
- p. 164Augustine questions earth, sea, air, heavens about God; created nature answers it is not God but made by Him, its beauty bearing witness.read · scan
- p. 164–165The world's frame testifies to its Maker; only reasoning minds understand nature's voice, which is the same to all; creatures are masses, not God.read · scan
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 895–897Tilled crops, rainwater and fire from wood are shown as signs of God's power.read · scan
- p. 899Sun, moon, herbs, trees, earth's fruits, seas and ships shown as ordered signs of the Creator.read · scan
- p. 937–938Earth, mountains, rivers, fruits, gardens, lightning and clouds are signs for people who reflect.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 236He recovers on an island of fruits and springs, contemplating God's creations.read · scan
- p. 331The King is to wonder at the strange forms God has created as the sea foams and yields the sea-folk.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 204–206Study of nature's secrets is a source of pleasure.read · scan
- p. 224–229Contemplating nature and praising it honours God.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, Preface to the History of the WorldVol. 39
- p. 104Argues the eternal unchanging God caused a temporal world; the material world is not eternal, though a new heaven and earth will follow.read · scan
- p. 104–106Discusses the world's natural appetite for God, its continuance through divine power, and whether the heavens show change or corruption over time.read · scan
Hymns of the Christian Church: Hymns Based on PsalmsVol. 45
- p. 540Earth, sea, rain, dew and streams shown as expressions of divine bounty.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 262–263In this mass of Nature are things bearing marks of Divinity; the visible world is a picture of the invisible.read · scan
- p. 263Nature's effects and creatures are to be studied by man as expressions of God; the world exists to be contemplated, not merely admired rustically.read · scan
- p. 266–268Nature and art are not at variance; both serve providence.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 180Winds, plants, fountains and birds called to join in praise.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 180–181By the light of nature, if a true religion exists, all things must tend to it as a centre.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, LettersVol. 48
- p. 325Created nature resembles and represents its Creator, yet reveals God only to those who love him; worshipping created things is idolatry.read · scan
- p. 325–326Created things fulfil their duty within the limited perfection of the world; their order is contrasted with the unlimited perfection owed by Christians.read · scan
- p. 326–327Family letter about gratitude and God as source of good; nature is not treated.read · scan
William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 322Studying creation would make its inhabitants and productions understood and guard against abusing it.read · scan
- p. 361Earth's groves, plains, rivers and creatures displayed as gifts.read · scan
George Berkeley, Three Dialogues Between Hylas and PhilonousVol. 37
- p. 252Berkeley on knowledge of spirit versus matter; nature itself barely addressed, only created things dependent on God's mind.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Profession of Faith of a Savoyard VicarVol. 34
- p. 300The book of nature lies open to all in a universal language, teaching men to know and adore its Author.read · scan
Christopher Smart, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 492–494Plants, fruits, beasts and birds and seasons all exist 'for Adoration'; nature as praise.read · scan
William Ellery Channing, On the Elevation of the Laboring ClassesVol. 28
- p. 328–329Nature should be studied for its own sake as God's work, radiant with beauty, wisdom and grandeur, not merely for use in work.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, An Address Delivered before the Senior Class in Divinity CollegeVol. 5
- p. 33Faith should blend with sunlight, clouds, birds and flowers, but the priest's Sabbath has lost nature's splendor.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Over-SoulVol. 5
- p. 146–147One blood circulates through all men and nature; the soul works the world as perennial miracle.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, The PoetVol. 5
- p. 167–168All men, even hunters and farmers, love nature as symbol certifying the supernatural, worshipping it in sincere if coarse rites.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, New England ReformersVol. 5
- p. 270We are embosomed in beauty and wonder.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 360–361Forest, lakes, sea and sunset are rendered as a vast holy church whose pillars are trees and clouds.read · scan
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1003–1005Sun, moon, stars, hills as vision of God; flower in crannied wall would reveal God and manread · scan
Oliver Wendell Holmes, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1365–1367The shell of a sea creature is read as a heavenly message.read · scan
John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28
- p. 155–156Mountains and waters God made as schoolroom and playground lie defiled; nature is an altar.read · scan
James Russell Lowell, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1374–1376God makes still white moonlit winter nights.read · scan
4b.Miracle as violation of the laws of nature
See also: Religion 3c
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 587–589Winds cease, rivers stop, trees fruit and blossom in response to the coming Buddha.read · scan
- p. 589–591Sun, stars, springs, beasts and winds are altered as nature responds to the future Buddha.read · scan
- p. 608The natural order is transformed: rivers stop, ocean water turns sweet, flowers bloom out of season, weather turns fair.read · scan
- p. 609–610The sal-tree branch bends down to the queen's hand as she gives birth.read · scan
- p. 613Milk flows unbidden from the cows and the cooking rice does not overflow, miracles in nature.read · scan
- p. 629Winds, clouds, ground and animals miraculously honor the Buddha as he walks for alms.read · scan
Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44
- p. 374–375Jesus commands wind and water and they obey, provoking awe.read · scan
Francis Bacon, The New AtlantisVol. 3
- p. 153–154Miracles are distinguished from works of nature and art; the laws of nature are God's own laws.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 279Miracles are effects against, above or before Nature; creating Nature is as great as transcending her.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 279–280What exceeds natural power of means is miracle; devil's works do not.read · scan
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human UnderstandingVol. 37
- p. 379A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature, which uniform experience has firmly established.read · scan
- p. 389Miracles violate established laws of nature; a universally attested eight-day darkness would be credible as consonant with nature's decay.read · scan
- p. 390–391Miracle would violate the laws of nature, which is less credible than human deception.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Profession of Faith of a Savoyard VicarVol. 34
- p. 252Asks why nature confined herself to settled laws to which she was not at first subject.read · scan
- p. 286–287The unalterable order of nature is the best witness of the Supreme Being; miracles are exceptions to it.read · scan
- p. 287–288Nature does not obey impostors; genuine miracles would be attributed to the author of nature.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 53–55Faust wonders whether nature's laws are suspended at the poodle's transformation.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Origin of SpeciesVol. 11
- p. 9Change in the organic and inorganic world is credited to law, not miraculous interposition.read · scan
- p. 16–17Powell and Herschel: introduction of new species is a natural rather than miraculous process.read · scan
Walt Whitman, Preface to Leaves of GrassVol. 39
- p. 398–399Universal laws enclose all; the supernatural and miracle depart, and every grass blade is a perfect miracle.read · scan
4c.Nature and the supernatural in magic, alchemy and transformation
See also: Race and Nationality 5c
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 121Alchemy is condemned as imitating creative nature.read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 319–320Metals born of quicksilver and sulphur; nature aims at gold but impeded by unequal mixture.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Proœmium, Epistle Dedicatory, Preface, and Plan of the Instauratio MagnaVol. 39
- p. 138–139Nature is studied free and also constrained by art; she betrays herself more readily under the vexations of art.read · scan
Ben Jonson, The AlchemistVol. 47
- p. 573Subtle argues nature begets the imperfect before the perfect, so metals would become gold if given time, which art furthers.read · scan
- p. 573–579Nature's process of engendering metals from male sulphur and female mercury.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 282Traditional magic proceeds on the principles of nature, actives joined to disposed passives producing effects under any master.read · scan
Ernest Renan, The Poetry of the Celtic RacesVol. 32
- p. 152Celtic mythology is a realistic naturalism: love of nature for herself, her magic, and communion about man's origin and destiny.read · scan
- p. 153–154Faith in nature and her magic recurs wherever the Celtic spirit appears; Joan hears her voices in woods and wind.read · scan
- p. 159Celtic marvels spring from nature's hidden forces and fecundity, a perfect naturalism, not from miracle or personified nature as in Greek myth.read · scan
- p. 160Nature acting and interesting herself in the story is the acceptable poetic marvellous.read · scan
Thomas Henry Huxley, Science and CultureVol. 28
- p. 215–216Nature was seen as cursed and the devil's playground, its order alterable by spirits; studying it risked sorcery.read · scan
4d.The doubt that nature alone reveals God
See also: God 1c · Reasoning 6c · Cause 2e · Hypothesis 6a
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 82Nature presents only matter of doubt, neither clearly revealing nor clearly denying a Divinity.read · scan
- p. 91Heavens and birds are denied as general proof of God.read · scan
- p. 183Resting in nature alone yields no satisfying light of God.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, LettersVol. 48
- p. 348Nature veils God; the impious attribute effects to nature aloneread · scan
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human UnderstandingVol. 37
- p. 396Order of nature as the sole argument for divine existence; inference from effect to cause limited to what the phenomena of nature justify.read · scan
- p. 397–398Gods must be suited to the actual appearances of nature, full of ill and disorder; no arbitrary alteration of nature by supposed attributes.read · scan
- p. 398–399Evil and disorder in nature cannot be explained away by attributing perfections to the cause; religious hypothesis only accounts for visible phenomena and course of nature.read · scan
- p. 399Course of events and experienced order of nature are the standard of conduct; nothing may be added to it by reasoning from divine attributes.read · scan
- p. 400Criticizes reversing the course of nature to make life a prelude; divinity may be inferred only from present phenomena of nature.read · scan
- p. 401Course of nature and experienced train of events as the sole standard; inferring an intelligent cause of order is uncertain and useless; reply argues from order of nature by analogy to building.read · scan
- p. 402Contrasts works of human art, known through laws nature established for man, with works of nature, bearing on inference from effects to causes.read · scan
- p. 403Works of nature show the Author of nature only by his productions; no attributes beyond what the universe displays can be inferred, unlike human artifice.read · scan
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