God’s Order in the Universe

“Your works assure us that this is true. It is your power that takes away our guilt and makes us faithful. The sun and the moon keep their fixed courses. The stars move in no uncertain orbits around this globe of earth. The round of the seasons returns by unfailing laws. The solid frame of the earth was established by your word. The winds are set in motion at their appointed times, and the course of the waters flows on without ceasing. The ocean is held in by a barrier that cannot be moved, and everything contained within the circle of earth and sea is designed for wonderful and important ends. [a] “If it were not so — if everything were not governed by the decision of your will — so great a variety, so many divided powers, would without question have brought ruin on the whole race and all its affairs. For the powers that have kept up a strife among themselves would then have carried to a more deadly length the hostility against the human race that they practice even now, though unseen by mortal eyes. [b]