.... Pour etre approuves
De semblables projets veulent etre acheves.

[167] Ps. cxlviii.

[168]

Le monde entier te glorifie,
L'oiseau te chante sur son nid;
Et pour une goutte de pluie
Des milliers d'etres t'ont beni.

[169] Albert de Haller. _Lettres sur les verites les plus importantes de
la revelation_. Lettre 2.

[170] Et toute la _science_ est un hymne a sa gloire.

[171]

Dieu ne mesure pas nos sorts a l'etendue.
La goutte de rosee a l'herbe suspendue
Y reflechit un ciel aussi vaste, aussi pur
Que l'immense Ocean dans ses plaines d'azur.
LAMARTINE.

LECTURE VII.

_THE FATHER._

(At Geneva, 8th Dec. 1863.--At Lausanne, 1st Feb. 1864.)

GENTLEMEN,

We have proposed for solution the problem which includes all others
whatsoever--the problem of the universe. What are the laws which govern
the universe? They are those which are the objects of science, taking
that word in its largest and most general meaning. What is the cause of
the universe? The eternal power of the Infinite Mind. These are the two
answers which we have hitherto obtained, but, as we have explained, a
study is not complete if it confine itself to these two answers. When we
know the law and the cause of an object submitted to our study, we
further look for the end designed. This is no freak of our fancy, but
the direct result of the constitution of our understanding. The universe
is the creation of God. What is the design of the creation? I answer:
the design of the creation is the happiness of spirits. Nature is made
for the spiritual beings to which it offers the condition of their life
and development; spiritual beings are made for felicity. The moving
spring of infinite power is goodness: this is my thesis. If I succeed in
establishing it, it will follow that we shall in imagination see issuing
from the supreme unity of the Infinite Being three rays: the power which
creates the being of things; the intelligence which orders them; and the
love which conducts them to their destination. It will also follow that
I shall have justified the title under which these Lectures were
announced: Power and wisdom are attributes of the Creator; the Father
reveals Himself in goodness.

What shall be our method? Can we enter into the counsels of God? By what
means? To place our understanding in the midst of the Divine
consciousness, there to beh