o by repentance and a sincere return to God will break himself
out of the mold in which he has been held, and will go to the Bible
itself for his spiritual standards, will be delighted with what he finds
there.

Let us say it again: The Universal Presence is a fact. God is here. The
whole universe is alive with His life. And He is no strange or foreign
God, but the familiar Father of our Lord Jesus Christ whose love has for
these thousands of years enfolded the sinful race of men. And always He
is trying to get our attention, to reveal Himself to us, to communicate
with us. We have within us the ability to know Him if we will but
respond to His overtures. (And this we call pursuing God!) We will know
Him in increasing degree as our receptivity becomes more perfect by
faith and love and practice.

_O God and Father, I repent of my sinful preoccupation with visible
things. The world has been too much with me. Thou hast been here and I
knew it not. I have been blind to Thy Presence. Open my eyes that I may
behold Thee in and around me. For Christ's sake, Amen._

VI

_The Speaking Voice_

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.--John 1:1

An intelligent plain man, untaught in the truths of Christianity, coming
upon this text, would likely conclude that John meant to teach that it
is the nature of God to speak, to communicate His thoughts to others.
And he would be right. A word is a medium by which thoughts are
expressed, and the application of term to the Eternal Son leads us to
believe that self-expression is inherent in the Godhead, that God is
forever seeking to speak Himself out to His creation. The whole Bible
supports the idea. God is speaking. Not God spoke, but _God is
speaking_. He is by His nature continuously articulate. He fills the
world with His speaking Voice.

One of the great realities with which we have to deal is the Voice of
God in His world. The briefest and only satisfying cosmogony is this:
"He spake and it was done." The _why_ of natural law is the living Voice
of God immanent in His creation. And this word of God which brought all
worlds into being cannot be understood to mean the Bible, for it is not
a written or printed word at all, but the expression of the will of God
spoken into the structure of all things. This word of God is the breath
of God filling the world with living potentiality. The Voice of God is
the most powerful fo