“The question of the day that Ray is addressing is whether all parts of creation were made for man or whether some parts were made solely for the Glory of God irrespective of man’s position in creation.”
“Here we see that John Ray seems to take the view that not all creation finds its purpose solely in relationship to man but has purpose on its own without reference to man. Notice that he makes a strong argument that at the moment of his writing he believes that there must be stars beyond view and organisms not ever taken notice of by man and therefore of no use to him.”
“But even the best telescope possible will still leave some things out of the reach of human exploration. Why then do those things exist? That is an important question, one for which philosophers and theologians have discussed to great length for centuries.”
“For Ray his desire was that these future discoveries would also bring greater glory to God as the creator. He did not fear greater knowledge of the creation but rather embraced the exploration. I wonder sometimes if Ray would be disappointed by some Christians have lost their awe and wonder of God’s creation and that most of his language is not part of modern conversation.”