CL 416, 421 - Looking At Nature

CL 416 [1, 3], 421

People who believe that the Divine
operates in every single thing of nature,
can, from the many things which they see in nature,
confirm themselves on the side of the Divine,
just as well as and even more than those
who confirm themselves on the side of nature.
For people who confirm themselves
on the side of the Divine
pay heed to the marvels which they see
in the propagations of both plants and animals.

Any person having an elevated rational faculty,
on seeing and considering these wonders,
cannot but think that they issue from one
who possesses infinite wisdom,
thus from God.

People who attribute all things to nature
see these wonders, indeed,
but they think only that they exist,
and say that nature produces them.
They say this because
they have turned their mind away
from thinking about the Divine;
and when people who have turned away
from thinking about the Divine
see wonders in nature,
they are unable to think rationally,
 still less spiritually,
but think instead in sensual and material terms.
They then think within the confines of nature
from the standpoint of nature and not above it,
in the way that those do who are in hell.
They differ from animals
only in their having the power of rationality, that is,
 in their being able to understand
and so think otherwise if they will.

Let everyone guard himself, therefore,
from confirmations on the side of nature.
Let him confirm himself on the side of the Divine.
There is no lack of material for it.