PROOFS FROM THE LIGHT OF NATURE. 



raent of God, as parts of one vast moral sys 

 tem? Are their inhabitants pure moral intel 

 ligences, or are they exposed to the inroads of 

 physical and moral evil? What are the gra 

 dations of rank or of intellect which exist among 

 them? What correspondence do they carry on 

 with other provinces of the Divine empire ? 

 What discoveries have they made of the per 

 fections of Deity, of the plan of his government, 

 and of the extent of his dominions? With what 

 species of corporeal vehicles do they hold a 

 correspondence with the material world ? With 

 what organs of perception, and with what pow 

 ers of intellect are they furnished? What fa 

 culties and organs different from those of man 

 do they possess, and by what laws are their 

 social intercourses regulated? Do benignity 

 and love for ever beam from their countenances, 

 and does ecstatic joy perpetually enrapture their 

 hearts? What capacities for rapid movement 

 do they possess ? Are they confined within the 

 limits of a single globe like ours, or can they 

 fly from one world to another, on the wings of 

 a seraph? What magnificent landscapes adorn 

 the places of their residence ? What celestial 

 glories are hung out for their contemplation in 

 the canopy of heaven ? What visible displays 

 of the presence and agency of their Creator are 

 presented to their view ? By what means are 

 they carried Toward in their progress towards in 

 tellectual and moral perfection? What sciences 

 do they cultivate, what objects engage their 

 chief attention in what solemn and sublime 

 forms of worship and adoration do they join ? 

 What changes or revolutions have taken place 

 among them ? What transactions does their 

 history record ? What scenes of glory or of ter 

 ror have been displayed towards any particular 

 system or province of this immense empire? Are 

 sin, disease, and death altogether unknown, and 

 do their inhabitants bask for ever in the regions 

 of immortality ? What knowledge do they pos 

 sess of the character and condition of the inha 

 bitants of our globe, and of the system of which 

 it forms a part? What variety of sensitive and 

 intellectual beings is to be found in the different 

 systems of the universe ? What diversity of ex 

 ternal scenery, superior to all that the eye of man 

 has seen or his imagination can conceive, is dis 

 played throughout the numerous worlds which 

 compose this vast empire ? What systems ex 

 ist, and what scenes of creating power are dis 

 played in that boundless region which lies beyond 

 the limits of human vision ? At what period in 

 duration did this mighty fabric of the universe 

 first arise into existence? What successive 

 creations have taken place since the first material 

 world was launched into existence by the Omnipo 

 tent Creator ? What new worlds and beings are 

 still emerging into existence from the voids of 

 pace ? Is this mighty expanse of creation to 

 endure for ever and to receive new accessions 



to its population and grandeur, while eternity 

 rolls on ? What are the grand and ultimate do 

 signs to be accomplished by this immense assem 

 blage of material and intellectual beings, and is 

 man never to behold this wondrous scene a littie 

 more unfolded ? 



Inquiries o. his description, to which no satis 

 factory answers can be expected in the present 

 state, might be multiplied to an indefinite extent. 

 The soul of man is astonished, overwhelmed, 

 and bewildered at the immensity of the scene 

 which is opened before it, and at once per 

 ceives, that, in order to acquire a comprehensive 

 knowledge of the character and attributes of the 

 Divinity to penetrate into the depths of his 

 plans and operations and to contemplate the fulV 

 glory of his empire, ages numerous as the stars 

 of heaven are requisite, and that, if no future ex 

 istence awaits it beyond the grave, its ardent 

 desires after progressive improvement and feli 

 city, and its hopes of becoming more fully ac 

 quainted with the universe and its Author, must 

 end in eternal disappointment. 



Again, the mind of man is not only animated 

 with ardent desires after a more full disclosure 

 of the wonders of this boundless scene, but is 

 endowed with capacities for acquiring an indefi 

 nite extent of knowledge respecting the distant re 

 gions of the universe and the perfections of its 

 Author. Those who have taken the most exten 

 sive excursions through the field of science, still 

 find, that they are capable of receiving an addi 

 tion to all the knowledge they have hitherto ac 

 quired on every subject, and of prosecuting in 

 quiries beyond the range of the visible system, 

 provided the means of investigation were placed 

 within their reach. Were a human soul trans 

 ported to a distant world, for example, to die 

 regions of the planet Saturn, were it permitted 

 to contemplate at leisure the sublime movements 

 of its rings, and the various phenomena of its 

 moons ; the variety of landscapes which diversify 

 its surface, and the celestial scenery which its 

 firmament displays, were it to mingle with its 

 inhabitants, to learn the laws by which their so 

 cial intercourse is directed, the sciences which 

 they cultivate, the worship in which they engage, 

 and the leading transactions and events which 

 their history records it would find no more dif 

 ficulty in acquiring and treasuring up such infor 

 mation, than it now does in acquiring, from die 

 narrative of a traveller, a knowledge of the cus 

 toms and manners of an unknown tribe of man 

 kind, and of the nature of the geographical terri 

 tory it possesses. Were angelic messengers 

 from a thousand worlds, to be despatched, at 

 successive intervals, to our globe, to describe the 

 natural and moral scenery, and to narrate the 

 train of Divine dispensations peculiar to each 

 world- 1 there would be ample room in the human 

 mind for treasuring up such intelligence, not 

 withstanding all the stores of science which it 



