Our own hearts are our best prayer-rooms, and the chaplains who can most help us are ourselves. Nature is a product of providential design; by studying nature, one will find confirmation there for the revealed doctrines of Christianity. That light is the ray of rays, the Sun of Suns, the Moon of Moons, the Star of Stars. It is the light of Terewth. If, next to mistrusting Providence, there be aught that humans should pray against, it is against mistrusting their fellow humans. There is nothing miraculous or mysterious about the things we can explain. We control what we are able to explain; consequently, it is only natural to seek an explanation for everything. If one rules another by saying, “You must do this,” and “You will do that,” he or she breaks the human spirit, making it unfit for God. A person is simply a slave for obeying, unless behind his obedience is the recognition of a holy God. Our Lord never insists on having authority over us. No, God leaves us perfectly free to choose—so free, in fact, that we can spit in His face or we can put Him to death, as others have done; and yet He will never say a word. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6

Truth, the most powerful of all things, is the strongest friend of innocence. Once God’s life has been created in me through His redemption, I instantly recognize His right to absolute authority over me. It is a complete and effective domination. Having the reality of God’s presence is not dependent on our being in a particular circumstance or place, but is only dependent on our determination to keep the Lord before us continually. Our problems arise when we refuse to place our trust in the reality of His presence. If our everyday decisions are not according to His will, God will press through them, bringing restraint to our spirit. Then we must be quiet and wait for the direction of God’s presence. The known constitution and course of things is what is said to be the moral system of nature. A very sublime and grand thing is Truth, in its way, through like other sublime and grand things, such as thunderstorms and that, we are not always over and above glad to see it. The acknowledged dispensations of Providence is the (natural) government which we find ourselves under. Religion teaches us to believe and expect. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6

If we begin by assuming that the existence of nature implies an operating agent, then the good and bad consequences of our actions occur by His appointment. Any foresight we have of the consequences of our actions is a warning given by him on how we are to act. The satisfaction we feel at certain consequences, and the pain we suffer at others, are ordained by God and are signs that we are already under his government. Thus, a consideration of nature alone shows that we must acknowledge the place of God in our lives. Hence, if Christian doctrines really are revealed truths, our discoveries in nature have already prepared us to accept the main claims of revelation about God as a creator and judge. We must treat the detail with patience and respect. From the assumption that nature implies an operating agent, it seems clear that these arguments are not intended to appeal to religious skeptics. At best, we hope to convince deists, who already acknowledged the existence of a god, that their convictions might reasonably lead them to accept Christianity. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6

At the very least, the goal we expect to make is for deists acknowledge Christianity’s right to be treated as a subject worthy of serious discussion.  In the Bible, clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet, it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow, bereavement, and suffering are actually the clouds that come along with God! If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish—His purpose is the process itself. It is the process, not the outcome, that is glorifying to God. There is a clear distinction between demonstrative reasoning and probable reasoning by pointing out the probability admits of degrees, while demonstration does not. A slight presumption in favor of a thing does not make it probably true. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6

However, the slightest possible presumption is, nonetheless, of the nature of probability, for such low presumption, often repeated, will amount even to moral certainty. Thus, a human having observed the ebb and flow of the tide today, affords some sort of presumption, though the lowest imaginable, that it may happen again tomorrow: but the observation of this even for so many days, and months and ages together, as it has been observed by human kind, gives us a full assurance that it will. While an infinite intelligence must see everything as certainly true or certainly false, for us, with our limited capacities, probability is the very guide of life. In the consideration of the acquisition and practice of moral virtues, knowledge and habit are of the greatest interest. Perceptions come into our minds readily and of course, by means of there having been there before; and this reappearance of perceptions seems a thing of the same sort as readiness in any particular kind of action, proceeding from being accustomed to it. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6

One of our habits of perception is our constant and even involuntary readiness in correcting the impressions of our sight concerning magnitude and distances, so as to substitute judgment in the room of sensation imperceptibly to ourselves. It seems as if all other associations of ideas not naturally connected might be called passive habits. (A natural connection of ideas would be, for example, flame and fire.) In this discussion of a future life, there is probability that the mind may be separable from the body. Hence, death may have no effect on the mind because the soul comes enriched with knowledge. What is worship? —to do the will of God—that is worship. And what is the will of God?—to do to my fellow humans what I would have my fellow humans do to me—that is the will of God. Do not overlook what we are really interested in: not an identity of acts of consciousness, but an identity of the object of which we are conscious—ourselves. Of this identity, we can be as certain as we are of the identity of any other thing. Anyone who asks for a greater certainty of personal identity than this wishes for something which the subject will not admit. Nothing in the newspapers is ever true and that is why they are so popular; the taste of the age being so decidedly for fiction. The way of all flesh. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6

 CRESLEIGH HAVENWOOD

Lincoln, CA | from the low $700s

Now Selling!

No appointment needed! Cresleigh Havenwood features four distinct floor plans ranging from 2,293 – 3,377 square feet and offering up to five bedrooms.  Each plan has been thoughtfully designed and includes great features such as single story homes, guest suites, optional offices, garage workshops, and more! Get the most out of your new home with Cresleigh’s All Ready smart home featuring all the connectivity needed to keep your house running. Best of all, each Cresleigh home comes with owned solar included! 

Located off of Virginiatown Road and McCourtney Road, residents of the 83 homesites of Cresleigh Havenwood will benefit from a brand new neighborhood in the charming City of Lincoln. Palo Verde Park, is  just down the street and there’s plenty of recreation to take part in all around town. https://cresleigh.com/havenwood/