222 ON THE INFLUENCE OP COMETS. 



erring servant, — " Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words 

 without knowledge ?"* Can we comprehend the principle of vita- 

 lity ? — can we explain the development of the tree from the seed ? 

 — the bird from the egg ? — can we trace the subtle and inscrutable 

 processes that take place, as in the most exquisite laboratory, in 

 every leaf and flower, and by such insignificant means supply all 

 the animal kingdom with vital air and sustenance ? — or have we 

 even the slightest conception of that profound mystery, the connec- 

 tion of mind and matter, and their mutual influence, — the secrets of 

 life and death, of dissolution and reproduction ? The proudest intel- 

 lect will be humbled in the dust in the attempt to grasp even one of 

 the least of the processes which are every moment going on around 

 us, and by which we live and move : and so long as these remain 

 unexplained, the language of dogmatical assertion is equally unsuit- 

 able and unavailing ; and it is more fitting to confess that what we 

 know is nothing, in comparison of what we know not. But since, 

 from those operations which we are able, in some measure, to com- 

 prehend, we have deduced with certainty the existence of their proxi- 

 mate causes ; since, from the revolution of the planets, we have 

 inferred the force of gravity, — from the polarity of the needle, that 

 of magnetism, — from the decomposition and re-combination of bo- 

 dies, that of chemical affinity, may we not also admit the possibility 

 that such unknown processes as have been alluded to may be the re- 

 sult of equally unknown, but most energetic, influences, and that 

 these influences may depend upon the arrangement and adaptation of 

 all the parts of the system to which we belong, or of the universe 

 itself? and is it not within the bounds of credibility that every in- 

 dividual body may be contributing, in its appointed station, to the 

 maintenance and welfare of the whole ? We have no reason to sus- 

 pect the immediate presence of the Deity among the inanimate works 

 of his hands, since the time when the laws of nature were suspended, 

 to bear testimony to the truth of revelation. He warms the globe 

 —but it is through his instrument the sun ; he visiteth the earth 

 and blesseth it — but not without the intervention of the chemical 

 processes of evaporation and precipitation : and even so we may, per- 



* Job, xxxviii., 2. 



