18 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



wondrous scene. At this period, too, the earth 

 received such a powerful impulse from the hand 

 of its Creator, as has carried it along through the 

 voids of space, with all its furniture and inha 

 bitants, in the most rapid career, for six thousand 

 years ; having already moved through a space 

 of 3,480,000,000,000 miles, and will still conti 

 nue its unremitting course for thousands of years 

 to come, till the &quot; mystery of Providence be 

 finished.&quot; 



Would we be struck with admiration and as 

 tonishment, at beholding a superior created in 

 telligence tossing a mountain into the sea 1 

 What strong emotions of reverence and awe, 

 then, ought to pervade our minds, when we be 

 hold the Almighty every moment producing 

 effects infinitely more powerful and astonishing! 

 What would be our astonishment, were we to 

 behold, from a distance, a globe as large as the 

 earth tossed from the hand of Omnipotence, and 

 flying at the rate of a thousand miles every 

 minute ! Yet this is nothing more than what is 

 every day produced by the unceasing energies 

 of that Power which first called us into exist 

 ence. That impulse which was first given to 

 the earth at its creation is still continued, by 

 which it is carried round every day from west to 

 east, along with its vast population, and at the 

 same time impelled forward through the regions 

 of space at the rate of sixty-eight thousand miles 

 in an hour. Nor is this among the most wonder 

 ful effects of divine power : it is only one compa 

 ratively small specimen of that omnipotent energy 

 which resides in the Eternal Mind. When we 

 lift our eyes towards the sky, we behold bodies a 

 thousand times larger than this world of ours, 

 impelled with similar velocities through the 

 mighty expanse of the universe. We behold the 

 planetary globes wheeling their rapid courses 

 around the sun, with unremitting velocity the 

 comets returning from their long excursions in 

 the distant regions of space, and flying towards 

 the centre of our system with a velocity of hun 

 dreds of thousands of miles an hour the sun him 

 self impelled toward some distant region of space, 

 and carrying along with him all his attendant 

 planets and, in a word, we have the strongest 

 reason to conc ude, that all the vast systems of 

 the universe, rv hich are more numerous than 

 language can express, are in rapid and incessant 

 motion around the throne of the Eternal, carry 

 ing forward t l grand designs of infinite wisdom 

 which thev are destined to accomplish.* 



It must, however, be admitted, that the &quot;~uni- 

 festation of power, or great physic? Jiiergy, 

 abstractly considered, is not of i fr . calculated 

 to produce that emotion o e c-verence which 

 flows from love, unless ie being in whom it 

 resides exerts it for f h, purposes of benevolence. 

 A superior being, cnuowed with great physical 



Sfid a more comprehensive Illustration of this 

 subject in &quot; The Christian Philosopher,&quot; pp. 829. 



and intellectual energies, which were exerted 

 solely for the purpose of destruction, could in 

 spire no feelings but those of dread and alarm : 

 and were it possible to conceive an omnipotent 

 being divested of the attribute of benevolence, 

 or possessed of a capricious character, he would 

 form the most terrible object which the human 

 mind could contemplate. But the attribute of 

 infinite power, when conjoined with infinite wis 

 dom and goodness, conveys an idea the most glo 

 rious and transporting. Every display of divine 

 power to which I have now alluded, has the 

 communication of happiness for its object. The 

 motion of the earth around its axis every twenty- 

 four hours, is intended to distribute light and 

 darkness, in regular proportions, to all the inha 

 bitants of the earth, and to correspond to the 

 labour and rest appointed for man. It produces 

 a variety which is highly gratifying to the ra 

 tional mind ; for, while our fellow-men on the 

 opposite side of the globe are enjoying the 

 splendours of the noonday sun, the shades of 

 night, which at that time envelope our hemi 

 sphere, are the means of disclosing to our view 

 the magnificent glories of the starry frame. 

 Were this motion to cease, this world and all 

 its inhabitants would be thrown into a state of 

 confusion and misery. While the inhabitants 

 of one hemisphere enjoyed the splendours of 

 perpetual day, the glories of the nocturnal hea 

 vens would be for ever veiled from their view, 

 and the inhabitants of the other hemisphere 

 would be enveloped in the shades of eternal 

 night. While the one class was suffering under 

 the scorching effects of excessive heat, the other 

 would be frozen to death amidst the rigours of 

 insufferable cold vegetable nature, in both cases, 

 would languish, and the animal tribes would be 

 gradually extinguished. 



The same benevolent intention may be per 

 ceived in that exertion of power by which the 

 earth is carried forward in its annual course 

 around the sun. From this motion we derive all 

 the pleasures we enjoy from the vicissitude of 

 the seasons ; without which the variety cf nature 

 that appears in the beauties of spring, the luxuri 

 ance of summer, the fruits of autumn, and the 

 repose of winter, would be completely destroyed. 

 And, it is worthy of notice, that all this variety 

 is enjoyed every moment by some one tribe or 

 other of the human family ; for while it is sum 

 mer in one region, it is winter in another : and 

 while one class of our fellow-men is contemplat 

 ing the opening beauties of spring, another is 

 gathering in the fruits of harvest. The same 

 benevolent designs, we have every reason to be 

 lieve, are displayed in those more magnificent ex 

 ertions of divine power which appear among all 

 the rolling worlds on high ; for, in so far as our 

 observations extend, all the arrangements of the 

 planetary globes appear calculated to promote the 

 happiness of sentient and intellectual being*. 





