The Illimitable Beauty of the World
Every sort of beauty has been lavished on our allotted home;
Beauties to enrapture every sense,
Beauties to satisfy every taste;
Forms the noblest and the loveliest,
Colors the most gorgeous and the most delicate,
Odours the sweetest and subtlest,
Harmonies the most soothing and the most stirring;
The sunny glories of the day;
The pale Elysian grace of moonlight;
The lake, the mountain, the primeval forest, and the boundless ocean;
The silent pinnacle of snow in one hemisphere,
The marvels of tropical luxuriance in another;
The serenity of sunsets;
The sublimity of storms;
Everything is bestowed in boundless profusion on the scene of our existence;
We can conceive or desire nothing more exquisite or perfect than what is round us every hour
and our perceptions are so framed as to be consciously alive to all.
The provision made for our sensuous enjoyment is in overflowing abundance;
So is that for the other elements of our complex nature.
Who that has reveled in the opening ecstasies of a young imagination, or the rich marvels of the world of thought, does not confess that the intelligence has been dowered at least with as profuse a beneficence as the senses?
Who that has truly tasted and fathomed human love in its dawning and crowning joys has not thanked God for a felicity which indeed passeth understanding?
If we had set our fancy to picture a Creator occupied solely in devising delight for children who He loved, we could not conceive one single element of bliss which is not here.
by W. R. Greg
(quoted in Arthur Mee’s book, One Thousand Beautiful Things, circa 1920)
Happily Writing 