THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



ligld. &quot; Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant 

 thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.&quot; It 

 diffuses a thousand shades of colouring over the 

 hills, the vales, the rivers, and the boundless deep, 

 and opens to our view the glorious host of hea 

 ven. Yet this delightful visitant, by a slight 

 modification, from the hand of Omnipolence, is 

 capable of being transformed into the most de 

 structive element in nature. Light flies from the 

 sun at the rate of 200,000 miles in a second of 

 time ; and it is owing to its particles being al 

 most infinitely small, that we feel no inconveni 

 ence from their rapid velocity. But, were the 

 Creator to condense several millions of these 

 particles into one, or impel them with a still 

 greater velocity, the solid crust of our globe 

 would be perforated and shattered in every point 

 by this celestial artillery, and its inhabitants 

 would soon be battered to atoms. 



Again, the atmosphere which surrounds us, 

 and in which we live and breathe ; which con 

 tains the principles of Jife ; which fans u with 

 its gentle gales, and wafts to our ears the har 

 monies of music is capable of being converted 

 into an instrument of terror and destruction. It 

 is composed chiefly of two different ingredients ; 

 one of these is the principle of flame, and if 

 the other ingredient were extracted from the at 

 mosphere, and this principle left to exert its na 

 tive energy without control, instantly the forests 

 would be in a blaze 5 the hardest metals, and the 

 most solid rocks, would melt like wax; the wa 

 ters of the ocean would add fuel to the raging 

 element; and, in a few minutes, the whole ex 

 panse of our glebe would be enveloped in one 

 devouring flame. 



Again, the globe on which we reside is whirl 

 ing round its axis every twenty-four hours, and 

 is carried round the sun with a still greater ve 

 locity. Should that Almighty arm which first 

 impelled it, in its career, cause these motions 

 suddenly to cease, mountains would be tumbled 

 into the sea, forests torn up by their roots, cities 

 overthrown and demolished, all nature would be 

 thrown into confusion, and terror and destruction 

 would overwhelm the inhabitants of the world. 

 Not only the stopping of the earth s motions, 

 but even a new direction given to its axis of ro 

 tation, would be productive of the most fatal 

 effects. The earth s axis at present is directed 

 to certain points of the heavens, from which it 

 never deviates, but in a very small degree ; but 

 were the hand of Omnipotence to bend it so as 

 to make it point in a different direction, the ocean 

 would abandon its present bed, and overflow the 

 land ; and a second universal deluge would over 

 whelm all the monuments of human grandeur, 

 and sweep the earth s inhabitants into a watery 

 grave. 



Again, not only the. elements which immedi 

 ately surround us, but even celestial bodies which 

 arfl just now invisible to our sight, and removed 



to the distance of a thousand rniilions of miles 

 might be employed as ministers of vengeance. 

 There are at least a hundred comets connected 

 with the solar system, which are moving in all 

 directions, and crossing the orbits of the earth, 

 and the other planets. Were the orbit of one of 

 these bodies, in its approach to the sun, to be 

 bent in a direction to that of the earth, the mos*. 

 alarming phenomena wotun DC exhibited in the 

 heavens. A ruddy globe, larger in appearance 

 than the moon, would first announce terror to the 

 inhabitants of the earth every day this terrific 

 object would increase in size, till it appeared to 

 fill the celestial hemisphere with its tremendous 

 disk; the light of the sun would be eclipsed 

 the stars would disappear the ocean would be 

 thrown into violent agitation, and toss its billows 

 to the clouds the earth would &quot; reel to and fro, 

 like a drunkard&quot; and universal alarm and con 

 fusion would seize upon all the tribes of the liv 

 ing world. At length, this tremendous orb would 

 approach with accelerated velocity, and, striking 

 the earth with a crash, as if heaven and earth 

 had burst asunder, would shiver the globe into 

 fragments, and for ever exterminate the race of 

 man. 



It will at once be admitted, oy every one who 

 acknowledges the incessant agency of a Supreme 

 Being in the movements of the universe, that any 

 one, or all of these effects combined, are within 

 the compass of Omnipotence ; and not only so, 

 but they might all be accomplished with terrific 

 energy in the course of a few moments. If puny 

 man, by his mechanical dexterity, can suddenly 

 stop a stupendous machine which he has put in 

 motion if he can impel red-hot balls at the rate 

 of 500 miles an hour if he can extract the oxy 

 gen from a small portion of the atmosphere, and 

 cause it to set on fire the hardest metallic sub 

 stances we cannot doubt for a moment, that, 

 with infinitely greater ease, the Almighty could 

 stop the earth in its career, separate the compo 

 nent parts of the atmosphere, set on fire the 

 foundations of the mountains, or impel the blaz 

 ing comet towards the earth, to crush it to atoms. 

 That God has been a constant specifier of tho 

 wickedness of man for four thousand years ; that 

 he has, during all that period, wielded in his 

 hands so many terrific miniiteps of vengeance ; 

 and that he has hitherto refrained from executing 

 deserved punishment on the workers of iniquity 

 is, therefore, a striking evidence that his mercy 

 is infinite, and that he is &quot; long-suffering and 

 slow to anger, not willing that any should perish, 

 but that all should come to repentance.&quot; 



Il would, however, be a most unwarrantable 

 conclusion, from this circumstance, to imagine 

 that God beholds with indifference the scenes of 

 iniquity that are hourly presented before him. In 

 order to show that he is not an unconcerned spec 

 tator of the ways of men, and that, the instru 

 ments of punishment are always in his hand, he 



