Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/52

46 This may serve to illustrate in some measure the importance and use of the Divine Incarnation. For in respect to Jehovah God, all mankind are as little children—very little, very weak, very ignorant, and of very feeble understanding.

Then in what capacity or relation do we, in our selfish and sinful state, most need to know God? Not as Creator, Preserver and Governor of the material universe, but as our spiritual Illuminator, Regenerator and Saviour. True, the devout mind sees God in the external world. The visible universe proclaims his wisdom, his majesty and his power. We see Him in the grandeur of rivers and mountains, of oceans and cataracts; in the glory of the night and the splendors of the morning; In the flowers of spring, the luxuriance of summer and the golden fruits of autumn; in the beautiful procession of the seasons and the wild magnificence of the storm. But here we see Him only in his vastness, his majesty and his might. We are overwhelmed and lost amid such manifestations of his greatness. Yet we behold not here the God that is suited to our spiritual needs. It is a God far off, not graciously near to our souls. Not here do we see Him in any tender or vital relation to humanity. In all the beauty and magnificence of the material cosmos—in the