THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE. 



all his attendant planets form but a small speck 

 in ine map of the universe. How great soever 

 this earth, with its vast continents and mighty 

 oceans, may appear to our eye, how stupendous 

 soever the great globe of Jupiter, which would 

 contain within its bowels a thousand wor.-ss as 

 large as ours and overwhelming as the con 

 ception is, that the sun is more than a thousand 

 times larger than both, yet, were they this mo 

 ment detached from their spheres, and blotted out 

 of existence, there are worlds within the range of 

 the Almighty s empire where such an awful ca- 

 tasirophe would be altogether unknown. Nay, 

 were the whole cubical space occupied by the 

 solar system a space 3,600,000,000 miles in 

 diameter to be formed into a solid globe, con 

 taining 24,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 

 cubical miles, and overspread with a brilliancy 

 superior to that of the sun. to continue during 

 the space of a thousand years in this splendid 

 state, and then to be extinguished and annihi 

 lated there are beings, who reside in .spaces 

 within the range of our telescopes, to whom its 

 creation and destruction would be equally un 

 known : and to an eye which could take in the 

 whole compass of nature, it might be altogether 

 unheeded, or, at most, be regarded as the appear 

 ance and disappearance of a lucid point in an 

 obscure corner of the universe just as the de 

 tachment of a drop of water from the ocean, or 

 a grain of sand from the sea shore is unheeded 

 by a common observer. 



At immeasurable distances from our earth and 

 system immense assemblages of shining orbs dis 

 play their radiance. The amazing extent of that 

 space which intervenes between our habitation 

 and these resplendent globes, proves their im 

 mense magnitude, and that they shine not with 

 borrowed but with native splendour. From what 

 we know of the wisdom and intelligence of the 

 divine Being, we may safely conclude, that he 

 has created nothing in vain ; and consequently, 

 that these enormous globes of light were not dis 

 persed through the universe, merely as so many 

 splendid tapers to illuminate the voids of infinite 

 space. To admit, for a moment, such a suppo 

 sition, would be inconsistent with the marks of 

 intelligence and design which are displayed in 

 all the other scenes of nature which lie within 

 the sphere of our investigation. It would repre 

 sent the Almighty as amusing himself with 

 splendid toys, an idea altogether incompatible 

 with the adorable Majesty of heaven, and which 

 would tend to lessen our reverence of his cha 

 racter, as the only wise God. If every part of 

 nature in our sublunary system is destined to 

 some particular use in reference to sentient be 

 ings if even the muddy waters of a stagnant 

 pool are replenished with myriads of inhabitants, 

 should we for a moment doubt, that so many 

 thousands of magnificent globes have a relation 

 to the accommodation and happiness of intel 



ligent beings ; since in every part of the material 

 system which lies open to our minute inspection, 

 it appears, that matter exists solely for the pur 

 pose of sentient and intelligent creatures. As 

 the Creator is consistent in all his plans and ope 

 rations, it is beyond dispute, that those great globes 

 which are suspended throughout the vast spaces 

 of the universe are destined to some noble purposes 

 worthy of the infinite power, wisdom, and intelli 

 gence, which produced them. And what may 

 these purposes be ? Since most of these bodies 

 are of a size equal, if not superior, to our sun, and 

 shine by their own native light, we are led bv ana 

 logy to conclude, that they are destined to subserve 

 a similar purpose in the system of nature to pour 

 a flood of radiance on surrounding worlds, and 

 to regulate their motions by their attractive in 

 fluence. So that each of these luminaries may 

 be considered, not merely as a world, but as the 

 centre of thirty, sixty, or a hundred worlds, 

 among which they distribute light, and heat, and 

 comfort.* 



If, now, we attend to (he vast number of those 

 stupendous globes, we shall perceive what an ex 

 tensive field of sublime investigation lies open to 

 all the holy intelligences that exist in creation. 

 When we lift our eyes to the nocturnal sky, we 

 behold several hundreds of these majestic orbs, 

 arranged in a kind of magnificent confusion, 

 glimmering from afar on this obscure corner of 

 the universe. But the number of stars, visible 

 to the vulgar eye, is extremely small, compared 

 with the number which has been descried by 

 means of optical instruments. In a small por 

 tion of the sky, not larger than the apparent 

 breadth of the moon, a greater number of stars 

 has been discovered than the naked eye can dis 

 cern throughout the whole vault of heaven. In 

 proportion as the magnifying powers of the tele 

 scope are increased, in a similar proportion do 

 the stars increase upon our view. They seem 

 ranged behind one another in boundless perspec 

 tive, as far as the assisted eye can reach, leaving 

 us no room to doubt, that, were the powers of 

 our telescopes increased a thousand times more 

 than they now are, millions beyond millions, in 

 addition to what we now behold, would start up 

 before the astonished sight. Sir William Her- 

 schel informs us, that, when viewing a certain 

 portion of the Milky Way, in the course of seven 

 minutes, more than fifty thousand stars 



The Author will have an opportunity of illus 

 trating this subject, in minute detail, in a work en 

 titled, The scenery of the Jieavcns displayed, with 

 the view of proving and illustrating the doctrine of 

 a plurality r,f worlds ;&quot; in which the positions here 

 assumed will he shown to have the force of a moral 

 demonstration, on the same general principles by 

 which we prove .the being of a God, and the immor 

 tality of man. In this work, all the known facts in 

 relation to descriptive astronomy, and the structure 

 of the heavens, will be particularly detailed, and ac 

 companied with original remarks ar.d moral and 

 religious reflections, so as to form a comprehensive 

 compeml of popular astronomy 



