A Morning's Walk from London to Ketv. [Oct. 1, 



discuss questions in regard to the eter- 

 nity, and other attributes, ot the prodi- 

 gious globe, whicli they liave inherited, 

 i'nim their remote anccstr)', and o£ 

 whicli tlie early history is lost in Ihc ob- 

 scure traditions ol' their countless genera- 

 tions ! 



Without presuming, however, to 

 argue on premises which a finite 

 creature cannot justly estimate, we 

 may safely infer, in regard to the 

 world in which we are placed, that all 

 things which do exist, owe their ex- 

 istence to their compatibility with 

 other existences, to the necessary fit- 

 ness of all existing things, and to the 

 HARMONY which is essential to the ex- 

 istence of any thing in the torni and 

 mode in whicli It does exist: for, with- 

 out reciprocal compatibility, without 

 individual fitness, and without univer- 



SalHAIlMONYjUOthingCOUldCONTINUETO 



exist which does exist ; and, there- 

 fore, what does exist, is for the time 



NECESSARILY COMPATIBLE with OtllCr 



existences, fit or not incompatiislu, 

 and in harmony with the whole of co- 

 existent BEING. Every organized ex- 

 istence afibrdis, tlierel'ore, indubitable 

 evidence of final causes or purposes, 

 eom|)etent to produce and sustain it, 

 of certain relations of fitness to other 

 bt'ings ; of compatibility with other 

 existences; and of harmony in regard 

 to the whole. And every case of de- 

 struction aflbrds evidence, that certain 

 FINAL causes liavc bccoiue uuefpial to 

 their usual oQicc ; that the being is un- 

 fit (o exist simultaneously with some 

 other beings; that its existence is in- 

 compatible with certain circums(aiK;Cs, 

 or tliat it is contrary to the general har- 

 mony of coexistent being. ]\lay not 

 the five thousand species of beings now 

 discoverable, be all the species whose 

 existences have continued to be fit, eom- 

 patibie, and harmonious? May not the 

 known extinction of many species be 

 received as evidence, therefore, of the 

 gradual decay of the powers which sus- 

 tain organized being on our planet? 

 May not the extinction of one species 

 render the existence of others more i>n- 

 fit, by diminishing the number of final 

 causes? And, may not the successive 

 breaking or wearing out of these links 

 of filial causes ultimately lead to the 

 cjul of all organized being, or to what is 

 commonly called, the end of olii 



WORLD? 



As I approached a sequestered man- 

 sion-house, and some other buildings, 

 which toscther bear the name of Urick- 



$16 



and leads each individual to preserve 

 and sustain its own existence — of that 

 principle which gives peculiar jjowcrsof 

 growth, and maturity, to germs of vege- 

 tables and animals — and of that princi- 

 ple which, being slopped, suspended, or 

 destroyeii, in tlie meanest or greatest 

 of them, produces the awful diHerence 

 between the living and the dead — we 

 ha\e no knowledge, and we seem inca- 

 pable of accpiiring any, by the limited 

 powers of our senses. 



'I'lie creature of yesterday, whose chief 

 care it is to live and indulge his self- 

 love, who cannot see without light, nor 

 distinctly above a few inclies from the 

 eye, is wliolly incompetent to determine 

 tliose questions which have so lung agi- 

 tatedphilnsophers; as,AV licthcr the i)heiio- 

 mena of the creation could be made to 

 exist without action and re-action, and 

 witliout space ,' — Wliethcr, consequent- 

 ly, there are three eternals, or one 

 eternal?— Whether the supreme intel- 

 ligence, matter void of form, and 

 SPACE containing it, were all eternal — or 

 whether the supreme intelligence alone 

 Mas eternal, and matter and space cre- 

 ated ? — Whether the sui)reme intelli- 

 gence has only been exerted proximate- 

 ly or remotely on inorganic matter, sjiacc 

 being the necessary medium of crea- 

 tion, and organization being l!ie result ? 

 — Whether the globe of the earth, in 

 form, is eternal, or, according to IJer- 

 schel, the elVect of "a clustering power" 

 in the matter of space, beginning aiid 

 ending, according to the general ana- 

 logy of organi/.ed beings! — W lielher tlic 

 earth was a comet, the elliplicity of 

 ■whose orbit has been reduced; and, if 

 so, what was the origin of the comet? 

 — How the secondary mounlaiii.s were 

 liquefied — whether by fire or by water 

 — and what were the tlien relations of 

 theeaith to (he sun? — How and when 

 that li(piefaclion ceased ; and how, and 

 when, and in what order of time, the 

 several orgaiiizatioiis arose iijjou them? — 

 JJow tJKjse organizations, at least those 

 now existing, received the powers of 

 secondary causes for continuing their 

 jjiiij ; — How every species now lives, 

 and grows, and maintains an eternal 

 sricccssion of personal identities? — How 

 these tilings weie before we were, and how 

 they now are on every side of us, are 

 topics whieli have made so much learn- 

 ing r'idiculous, that, if I were to discuss 

 them, in the best forms prcscribe<l by the 

 schools, I might but imitate in folly the 

 crawling myriads who luxuriate for an 

 Lour on a ripening peach; and who, like 

 ourselvcS; may be led by thek vanity to 



STABLES, I crossed a comer of the mea- 

 dow 



