MAGNITUDE OF THE UNIVERSE. 



101 



ale of sixty miles a-da.y, it would require more 

 (ban a hundred millions of years to pass over 

 every square mile on his surface. His attrac 

 tive energy extends to several thousands of mil 

 lions of miles from his surface, retaining in their 

 orbits the most distant planets and comets, and 

 dispensing light, and heat, and fructifying influ 

 ence to more than a hundred worlds.* What 

 an astonishing idea, then, does it give us of the 

 power of Omnipotence, when we consider, that 

 the universe is replenished with innumerable 

 globes of a similar size and splendour! For 

 every star which the naked eye perceives twink- 

 img on the vault of heaven, and those more dis 

 tant orbs which the telescope brings to view 

 throughout the depths of immensity, are, doubt 

 less, suns, no less in magnitude than that which 

 &quot; enlightens our day,&quot; and surroanded by a reti 

 nue, of revolving worlds. Some of them have 

 been reckoned by astronomers to be even much 

 larger than our sun. The star Lyra, for exam 

 ple, is supposed, by Sir W. Herschel, to be 

 33,275,000 miles in diameter, or thirty-eight 

 times the diameter of the sun ; and, if so, its 

 cubical contents will be 36,842,932,671,875, 

 000,000,000 miles, that is, more than fifty-four 

 thousand times larger than the sun. The num- 

 6erofsuch bodies exceeds all calculation. Sir 

 W. Herschel perceived in that portion of the 

 milky way which lies near the constellation 

 Orion, no less than 50,000 stars large enough 

 to be distinctly numbered, pass before his tele 

 scope in an hour s time ; besides twice as many 

 more which could be seen only now and then 

 by faint glimpses. It has been reckoned that 

 nearly a hundred millions of stars lie within the 

 range of our telescopes. And, if we suppose 

 as we justly may, that each of these suns has a 

 hundred worlds connected with it, there will be 

 found ten thousand millions of worlds in that 

 portion of the universe which comes within the 

 range of human observation, besides those which 

 lie concealed from mortal eyes in the unexplored 

 regions of space, which may * far exceed all 

 that are visible, as the waters in the caverns of 

 the ocean exceed in magnitude a single particle 

 of vapour! 



Of such numbers and magnitudes we can form 

 no adequate conception. The mind is bewil 

 dered, confounded, and utterly overwhelmed 

 when it attempts to grasp the magnitude of the 

 universe, or to form an idea of the omnipotent 

 nergy which brought it into existence. The 

 amplitude of the scale on which the systems of the 

 universe are constructed tends likewise to ele 

 vate our conceptions of the grandeur of the 

 Deity. Between every one of the planetary 

 bodies there intervenes a space of many mil 

 lions of miles in extent. Between the sun and 



The planetary system, including the comets 

 wn.am more than & hundre.1 bodies dependant on 



the nearest star, there is an interval, extending 

 in every direction, of more than twenty billions 

 of miles ; and, it is highly probable, that a similar 

 space surrounds every other system. And, if 

 we take into consideration the immense forces 

 that are in operation throughout the universe 

 that one globe, a thousand times larger than the 

 earth, is flying through the regions of immensity 

 at the rate of thirty thousand miles an hour, 

 another at the rate of seventy thousand, and 

 another at a hundred thousand miles an hour, 

 and that millions of mighty worlds are thus tra 

 versing the illimitable spaces of the firmament 

 can we refrain from exclaiming in the language 

 of inspiration, &quot; Great and marvellous are thy 

 works, Lord God Almighty! Who can by 

 searching find out God ? Who can find out the 

 Almighty to perfection ? Who can utter the 

 mighty operations of Jehovah ? Who can show 

 forth all his praise ?&quot; 



Such a scene displays, beyond any other view 

 we can take of creation, the magnificence and 

 extent of the divine empire. Those countless 

 worlds to which we have now adverted, are not 

 to be considered as scenes of sterility and deso 

 lation, or as merely diffusing an useless splen 

 dour over the wilds of immensity, nor are tney 

 to be viewed as so many splendid toys to amuse 

 a few astronomers in our diminutive world. 

 Such an idea would be altogether inconsistent 

 with every notion we ought to form of the wis 

 dom and intelligence of the Deity, and with 

 every arrangement we perceive in the scenes 

 of nature immediately around us, where we be 

 hold every portion of matter teeming with in 

 habitants. These luminous and opaque globes 

 dispersed throughout the regions of infinite 

 space, must, therefore, be considered as the 

 abodes of sensitive and intellectual existence, 

 where intelligences of various ranks and orders 

 contemplate the glory, and enjoy the bounty of 

 their Creator. And what scenes of diversified 

 grandeur must we suppose those innumerable 

 worlds to display ! What numerous orders and 

 gradations of intellectual natures must the uni 

 verse contain, since so much variety is dis 

 played in every department of our sublunary 

 system ! What boundless intelligence is implied 

 in the superintendence of such vast dominions ! 

 On such subjects the human mind can form no 

 definite conceptions. The most vigorous ima 

 gination, in its loftiest flights, drops its wing 

 and sinks into inanity before the splendours of 

 the &quot; King eternal, immortal, and invisible, who 

 dwells in the light unapproachable,&quot; when it 

 attempts to form a picture of the magnificence 

 of the universe which he has created. But of 

 this we are certain, that over all this boundless 

 scene of creation, and over all the ranks of be 

 ings with which it is replenished, his moral go 

 vernment extends. Every motion of the material 

 system, everv movement among the rational 



