The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Author:Theodore Parker Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 15 place in. the providence of God, who, from perfect motives, of perfect material, for a perfect purpose, as perfect means, created this human nature, put in... more »to it this reserve of power, put about it this reserve of material elements, wherewith to make a Jacob's ladder to clamber continually upwards toward God, our prayer being the hand which reaches up, while our practice is the foot which sustains the weight which the prayer steadies. There is no end to this power of progressive development in man, at least none that you and I can discover. THE ABUNDANCE OF BEAUTY IN THE WOELD. One of the most remarkable things in the world is the abundance of beauty; of what not only feeds, clothes, and outwardly serves the material needs of man, but also pleases the sense and soul, feeding and comforting the finer and nicer faculties of man. By the instinct of self- "l- preservation we cling, all of us, to the material side of nature, and are thereby fed and nestled and warmed in body; but while doing this we catch sight of Nature's beauty also, and are contented in a higher sort, nestled yet more ten-j derly. As the hungry Jews, in the Old Testament story, went to bed grumbling, and rose the next morning not knowing how or whence to break their fast, and behold, there lay the manna, clean as new frost on the ground, saying as plain as food could say, " Come now, ye unbelievers, eat and be fed ! " so this angels' bread of beauty, which, " like manna, hath the taste of all in it," lies on the ground under our feet; it lodges on the bushes in the country, clings to the city walls, and is always falling from the sky. God, after setting before us what we turn into bread, and garments, and houses, and musical instruments, and books, gives us the benediction of Beauty as an unexpected grace...« less