To Smart, each piece of matter is alive because it is connected to God, and matter cannot be described in a cold manner that disconnects it from this reality. However, Smart accomplished his new science by relying on Newtonian empiricism. As part of his desire to bring back the divine language to poetry and science, he creates an "Ark of Salvation" in order to describe a prophetic and apocalyptic future which emphasises the importance of Christ and England. Along with being prophetic, the poem itself is modelled after the canticles and follows the form of the Benedicite. The Benedicite is not the only model however, and there is a strong link between "Jubilate Agno" and the psalm tradition.