74 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE. 



arsd, consequently, the science of astronomy will 

 never arrive at absolute perfection, but will be 

 in a progressive course of improvement through 

 all the revol itions of eternity. In the prosecu 

 tion of such investigations, and in the contem 

 plation of such objects as this science presents, 

 the grand aim of celestial intelligences will be, 

 to increase in the knowledge and the love of God ; 

 and, in proportion as their views of the glories of 

 his empire are enlarged, in a similar proportion 

 will their conceptions of his boundless attributes 

 be expanded, and their praises and adorations 

 ascend in sublimer strains to Him who sits upon 

 the throne of the universe, who alone is &quot; worthy 

 to receive glory, honour, and power,&quot; from every 

 order of his creatures. 



Since then, it appears, that astronomy is con 

 versant about objects the most wonderful and 

 sublime since these objects tend to amplify our 

 conceptions of the divine attributes since a 

 clear and distinct knowledge of these objects 

 cannot be attained without the acquisition of a 

 certain portion of astronomical science since 

 the heavens constitute the principal part of God s 

 universal empire since our present views of the 

 magnificence of this empire are so obscure and 

 circumscribed since even the information that 

 may be communicated on this subject, by other in 

 telligences, could not be fully understood without 

 some acqnaintance with the principles of this 

 science and since the boundless scenes it un 

 folds present an inexhaustible subject of contem 

 plation, and afford motives to stimulate all holy 

 beings to incessant adoration it would be ab 

 surd to suppose that renovated men, in a supe 

 rior state of existence, will remain in ignorance 

 of this subject, or that the study of it will ever 

 be discontinued while eternity endures. 



NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 



Natural Philosophy is another subject which 

 will doubtless engage the attention of regenera 

 ted men in a future state. 



The objects of this science is to describe the 

 phenomena of the material world, to explain 

 their causes, to investigate the laws by which 

 the Almighty directs the operations of nature, 

 and to trace the exquisite skill and benevolent 

 design which are displayed in the economy of 

 the universe. It embraces investigations into 

 the several powers and properties, qualities and 

 attributes, motions and appearances, causes and 

 effects, of all the bodies with which we are sur 

 rounded, and which are obvious to our senses, 

 such as light, heat, colours, air, water, sounds, 

 echoes ; the electrical and magnetical fluids ; 

 hail, rain, snow, dew, thifnder, lightning, the 

 rainbow, parhelia, winds, luminous and fiery 

 meteors, the Aurora Borealis, and similar ob 

 jects in the system of nature. 



From the discoveries of uxperimental philoso 



phers, we have been made acquainted with 8 

 variety of striking facts and agencies in the sys 

 tem of the universe, which display the amazing 

 energies of the Creator, and which tend to ex 

 cite our admiration of the depths of his wisdom 

 and intelligence. We learn that the light emit 

 ted from the sun and other luminous bodies 

 moves with a velocity equal to 200,000 miles in 

 a second of time that every ray of white light 

 is composed of all the colours in nature, blend 

 ed in certain proportions that the immense 

 variety of shades of colours which adorns the 

 different landscapes of the earth, is not in the 

 objects themselves, but in the light that falls 

 upon them and that thousands of millions of 

 rays are incessantly flying off from all visible 

 objects, crossing and recrossing each other in an 

 infinity of directions, and yet conveying to every 

 eye that is open to receive them, a distinct pic 

 ture of the objects whence they proceed. We 

 learn that the atmosphere which surrounds us 

 presses our bodies with a weight equal to thirty 

 thousand pounds, that it contains the principles 

 of fire and flame that, in one combination, it 

 would raise our animal spirits to the highest 

 pitch of ecstacy, and in another, cause our im 

 mediate destruction that is capable of being 

 compressed into 40,000 times less space than it 

 naturally occupies and that the production of 

 sound, the lives of animals, and the growth of 

 vegetables, depend upon its various and unceas 

 ing agencies. We learn that a certain fluid 

 pervades all nature, which is capable of giving a 

 shock to the animal frame, which shock may be 

 communicated in an instant to a thousand indi 

 viduals that this fluid moves with inconceiva 

 ble rapidity that it can be drawn from the 

 clouds in the form of a stream of fire that it 

 melts iron wire, increases the evaporation of 

 fluids, destroys the polarity of the magnetic needle 

 and occasionally displays its energies among the 

 clouds in the form of fire-balls, lambent flames, 

 and forked lightnings. We learn that the bodies 

 of birds, fishes, quadrupeds, and insects, in rela 

 tion to their eyes, feet, wings, fins, and other 

 members, are formed with admirable skill, so as 

 to be exactly adapted to their various necessities 

 and modes of existence, and that they consist of 

 an infinite number of contrivances and adapta 

 tions in order to accomplish the purpose intend 

 ed and that the beaver, the bee, the ant, and 

 other insects, construct their habitations, and 

 perform their operations with all the skill and 

 precision of the nicest mathematical science. 

 The bee, in particular, works, as if it knew the 

 highest branches of mathematics, which required 

 the genius of Newton to discover. In short, the 

 whole of nature presents a scene of wonders 

 which, when seriously contemplated, is calcu 

 lated to expand the intellectual powers, to refine 

 the affections, and to excite admiration of &e 

 attributes of God, and the plan of his providence. 



