e reneweth the face of the earth."(447) We are
told also that God assigns to each being its functions, telling the earth
to bring forth fruit,(448) the sea not to trespass its boundary,(449) the
stars and the seas to maintain their order.(450) To each one He hath set a
measure, a law which they dare not transgress. God's wisdom works in them;
they all are subject to His rule.

3. This conclusion betokens an obvious improvement upon the earlier and
more childlike view. It recognizes that there is an order in the universe
and all under divine supervision. Thus Jeremiah speaks of a covenant of
God with heaven and earth, and of the laws which they must obey,(451) and
in Genesis the rainbow is represented as a sign of the covenant of peace
made by God with the whole earth.(452) As God "maketh peace in the heavens
above,"(453) He establishes order in the world. As the various powers of
nature are invested with a degree of independence, God's sovereignty
manifests itself in the regularity with which they interact and
cooeperate.(454) The lore of the mystics speaks even of an oath which God
administered upon His holy Name to the heavens and the stars, the sea and
the abyss, that they should never break their designated bounds or disturb
the whole order of creation.(455)

4. Further progress is noted in the liturgy, in such expressions as that
"God reneweth daily the work of creation," or "He openeth every morning
the gate of heaven to let the sun come out of its chambers in all its
splendor" and "at eventide He maketh it return through the portals of the
west." Again, "He reneweth His creative power in every phenomenon of
nature and in every turn of the season;" "He provideth every living being
with its sustenance."(456) Indeed, in the view of Judaism the maintenance
of the entire household of nature is one continuous act of God which can
neither be interrupted nor limited in time. God in His infinite wisdom
works forever through the same laws which were in force at the beginning,
and which shall continue through all the realms of time and space.

We feeble mortals, of course, see but "the hem of His garment" and hear
only "a whisper of His voice." Still from the deeper promptings of our
soul we learn that science does not touch the inmost essence of the world
when it finds a law of necessity in the realm of nature. The universe is
maintained and governed by a moral order. Moral objects are attained by
the forces of the elemen