PROOFS FROM THE LIGHT OF NATURE. 



tnent of time. Unfold to him some of the dis 

 coveries which have been made in relation to 

 the constitution of the atmosphere, the electric, 

 magnetic, and galvanic fluids, and the chymi- 

 cal changes and operations that are constantly 

 going on in the animal, vegetable, and mineral 

 kingdoms, and his curiosity will be strongly 

 excited to penetrate still farther into the mys 

 teries of nature. Direct his views to the con 

 cave of the firmament, and tell him of the vast 

 magnitude of the sun, and the planetary globes, 

 the amazing velocity with which they run their 

 destined rounds, and of the immense number and 

 distances of the stars and he will eagerly pant 

 after more minute information respecting the 

 great bodies of the universe, and feel delighted 

 at hearing of new discoveries being made in the 

 unexplored regions of creation. 



I never knew an instance in which knowledge 

 of this description was communicated in a ra 

 tional, distinct, and alluring manner, where it was 

 not received with a certain degree of pleasure, 

 and with an ardent desire to make further inves 

 tigations into the wonders of creating wisdom 

 and power. Such appears to be the original con 

 stitution of the human rnind, that it is necessa 

 rily gratified with every thing that gives scope 

 to the exercise of its faculties, and which has a 

 tendency to extend the range of their action. It 

 is true, indeed, that, in some men, the desire of 

 knowledge appears to be blunted and almost an 

 nihilated, so that they appear to be little superior 

 in their views to the lower orders of sensitive ex 

 istence. But this happens only in those cases 

 where the intellectual faculties are benumbed 

 and stupified bv indolence and sensuality. Such 

 persons do all they can to counteract the original 

 propensities of their nature ; and yet even in the 

 worst cases of this kind that can occur, the ori 

 ginal desire is never altogether extirpated, so 

 long as the senses are qualified to perform their 

 functions. For the most brutish man is never 

 found entirely divested of the principle of curi 

 osity, when any striking or extraordinary object 

 is presented to his view. On such an occasion, 

 the original principles of his constitution will be 

 roused into action, and he will feel a certain de 

 gree of wonder and delight in common with other 

 rational minds. 



And, as man has a natural desire after know 

 ledge, and a delight in it so, he is furnished 

 with noble faculties and vast capacities of intellect 

 for enabling him to acquire, and to treasure it 

 up. He is furnished with senses calculated to 

 convey ideas of the forms, qualities, and relations 

 of the various objects which surround him. His 

 sense of vision, in particular, appears to take in 

 a wider range of objects, than that of any other 

 sensitive being. While some of the low er ani 

 mals have their vision circumscribed within a 

 circio of a few yards or inches in diameter, the 

 eye of man can survey, at one glance, an exten 



sive landscape, and penetrate even to the regions 

 of distant worlds. To this sense we are indebted 

 for our knowledge of the sublimest objects which 

 can occupy the mind, and for the ideas we have 

 acquired of the boundless range of creation. 

 And, while it is fitted to trace the motions of 

 mighty worlds, which roll at the distance of a 

 thousand millions of miles, it is also so con 

 structed, as to enable him, with the assistance 

 of art, to survey the myriads of living beings 

 which people a drop of water. All his other 

 senses are likewise calculated to extend the range 

 of his knowledge, to enable him to communicate 

 his ideas to others, and to facilitate the mutual 

 interchanges of thought and sentiment between 

 rational minds of a similar construction with his 

 own. 



His understanding is capable of taking in a 

 vast variety of sentiments and ideas in relation 

 to the immense multiplicity of objects which are 

 perceived by his external senses. Hence the 

 various sciences he has cultivated, the sublime 

 discoveries he has made, and the noble inven 

 tions he has brought to light. By the powers of 

 his understanding, he has surveyed the terraque 

 ous globe, in all its varieties of land and water, 

 continents, islands and oceans ; determined its 

 magnitude, its weight, its figure and motions ; 

 explored its interior recesses, descended into the 

 bottom of its seas, arranged and classified the 

 infinite variety of vegetables, minerals, and ani 

 mals which it contains, analysed the invisible 

 atmosphere with which it is surrounded, and de 

 termined the elementary principles of which it is 

 composed, discovered the nature of thunder, and 

 arrested the rapid lightnings in their course, as 

 certained the laws by which the planets are di 

 rected in their courses, weighed the masses of 

 distant worlds, determined their size and dis 

 tances, and explored regions of the universe invi 

 sible to the unassisted eye, whose distance exceeds 

 all human calculation and comprehension. The 

 sublime sciences of Geometry, Trigonometry, 

 Conic Sections, Fluxions, Algebra, and other 

 branches of Mathematics, evince the acuteness 

 and perspicacity of his intellect ; and their ap 

 plication to the purposes of Navigation and 

 Geography, and to the determination of the laws 

 of the celestial motions, the periods of their re 

 volutions, their eclipses, and the distances at 

 which they are placed from our sublunary man 

 sion, demonstrate the vigour and comprehension 

 of those reasoning faculties with which he is en 

 dowed. 



By means of the instruments and contrivances 

 which his inventive faculty has enabled him to 

 form and construct, he can transport ponderous 

 masses across the ocean, determine the exact 

 position in which he is at any time placed upon 

 its surface, direct his course along pathless de 

 serts and through the billows of the mighty deep ; 

 transform a portion of steam into a mechanical 



