Nature is the Word of God We Should Study

Could a man be placed in a situation, and endowed with power of vision to behold at one view, and to contemplate deliberately, the structure of the universe, to mark the movements of the several planets, the cause of their varying appearances, the unerring order in which they revolve, even to the remotest comet, their connection and dependence on each other, and to know the system of laws established by the Creator, that governs and regulates the whole; he would then conceive, far beyond what any church theology can teach him, the power, the wisdom, the vastness, the munificence of the Creator. He would then see that all the knowledge man has of science, and that all the mechanical arts by which he renders his situation comfortable here, are derived from that source: his mind, exalted by the scene, and convinced by the fact, would increase in gratitude as it increased in knowledge: his religion or his worship would become united with his improvement as a man: any employment he followed that had connection with the principles of the creation,

Notes:

Thomas Paine's beautiful exposition on the fascination and greatness of the natural world as a source of spiritual sustenance.

Folksonomies: spiritual naturalism

Taxonomies:
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Age of Reason

Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Paine, Thomas (1795), Age of Reason, Retrieved on -0001-11-30