Richard Baxter drew on a significant theme in the Calvinist tradition when he urged believers to concentrate on “the delights of sense” as part of their daily meditation on holy things. “What a pleasure is it to dive into the secrets of nature,” he exulted. “What a deal of the majesty of the great Creator doth shine in the face of this fabric of the world!” He encouraged the devout to attend carefully to the budding of trees, the melodies of songbirds, even the minutiae of physics, astronomy, and geometry.
Diving into the secrets of nature as spiritual discipline
