THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. 



It must add scene to scene, magnitude to 

 magnitude, and compare smaller objects with 

 greater a range of mountains with the whole 

 earth, the earth with the planet Jupiter, Jupiter 

 with the sun, the sun with a thousand stars, a 

 thousand stars with 80 millions, and 80 millions 

 with all the boundless extent which lies beyond 

 the limits of mortal vision ; and, at every step 

 of this mental process, sufficient time must be 

 allowed for the imagination to expatiate on the 

 objects before it, till the ideas approximate, as 

 near as possible, to the reality. In order to 

 form a comprehensive conception of the extent 

 of the terraqueous globe, the rnind must dwell on 

 an extensive landscape, and the objects with 

 which it is adorned ; it must endeavour to sur 

 vey the many thousands of diversified land 

 scapes which the earth exhibits the hills and 

 plains, the lakes and rivers and mountains, 

 which stretch in endless variety over its surface 

 it must dive into the vast caverns of the 

 ocean penetrate into the subterraneous regions 

 of the globe, and wing its way amidst clouds 

 and tempests, through the surrounding atmos 

 phere. It must next extend its flight through 

 the most expansive regions of the solar system, 

 realizing, in imagination, those magnificent 

 scenes which can be described neither by the 

 nakod eye nor by the telescope, and comparing 

 the extent of our sublunary world with the more 

 magnificent globes that roll around us. Leav 

 ing the sun and all his attendant planets behind, 

 till they have diminished to the size of a small 

 twinkling star, it must next wing its way to the 

 starry regions, and pass from one system of 

 worlds to another, from one Nebulae* to another, 

 from one region of Nebulae to another, till it ar 

 rive at the utmost boundaries of creation which 

 human genius has explored. It must also en 

 deavor to extend its flight beyond all that is 

 visible by the best telescopes, and expatiate at 

 large in that boundless expanse into which no 

 human eye has yet penetrated, and which is, 

 doubtless, replenished with other worlds, and 

 systems, and firmaments, where the operations 

 of infinite power and beneficence are displayed 

 in endless variety, throughout the illimitable 

 regions of space. 



Here, then, with reverence, let us pause, and 

 wonder ! Over all this vast assemblage of material 

 existence, God presides. Amidst the diversified 

 objects and intelligences it contains, he is eter 

 nally and essentially present. By his unerring 

 wisdom, all its complicated movements are di 

 rected. By his Almighty fiat, it emerged from 

 nothing into existence, and is continually sup 

 ported from age to age. &quot; HE SPAKE AND IT 



WAS DONE ; HE COMMANDED AND IT STOOD 



PAST. &quot; &quot; By the word of the Lord were the 



For an account of the Nebula, see Ch. II. Art. 

 tstronomy. 



heavens made, and all the host of them by the spirit 

 of his mouth.&quot; What an astonishing display of 

 Divine power is here exhibited to our view ! How 

 far transcending all finite comprehension must bo 

 the energies of Him who only ; ...pake and it 

 was done ;&quot; who only gave the command, and 

 this mighty system of the universe, with all its 

 magnificence, started into being ! The infinite 

 ease with which this vast fabric was reared, leads 

 us irresistibly to conclude, that there are powers 

 and energies in the Divine mind which have 

 never yet been exerted, and which may unfold 

 themselves to intelligent beings, in the production 

 of still more astonishing and magnificent effects, 

 during an endless succession ofexister.ee. That 

 man who is not impressed with a venerable and 

 overwhelming sense of the power and majesty 

 of Jehovah, by such contemplations, must have 

 a mind incapable of ardent religious emotions, 

 and unqualified for appreciating the grandeur of 

 that Being &quot; whose kingdom ruleth over all.&quot; 

 And shall such ennobling views be completely 

 withheld from a Christian audience ? Shall it 

 be considered as a matter of mere indifference, 

 whether their views of the Creator s works bo 

 limited to the sphere of a few miles around them, 

 or extended to ten thousand worlds . whether 

 they shall be left to view the operations of the 

 Almighty throughout eternity past and to come, 

 as confined to a small globe placed in the immen 

 sity of spac*:, with a number of brilliant studs fixed 

 in the arch of heaven, at a few miles distance ; or 

 as extending through the boundless dimensions &amp;lt;&amp;gt;i 

 space? whether they shall be left to entertain 

 no higher idea of the Divine majesty than what 

 may be due to one of the superior orders of 

 the seraphim or cherubim, or whether they 

 shall be directed to form the most august concep 

 tions of the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, 

 corresponding to the displays he has given of his 

 glory in his visible works ? If it be not, both 

 reason and piety require, that such illustrations 

 of the Divine perfections should occasionallv bo 

 exhibited to their view. 



In the next place, the rapid motions of the 

 great bodies of the universe, no less than t heir mag 

 nitudes, display the Infinite Power of the Creator. 



We can acquire accurate ideas of the relative 

 velocities of moving bodies, only by comparing 

 the motions with which we are familiar, with 

 one another, and with those which lie bevonn 

 the general range of our minute inspection. W 

 can acquire a pretty accurate conception of ihe 

 velocity of a ship impelled by the wind of a 

 steamboat of a race-hoi se of a bird darting 

 through the air of an arrow flying from a bow 

 and of the clouds when impelled by a stormy 

 wind. The velocity of a ship is from 8 to 12 

 miles an hour of a race-horse, from 20 to SO 

 miles of a bird, say from 50 to 60 miles, and of 

 the clouds, in a violent hurricane, from 80 to 10G 

 miles an hour. The motion of a ball from 



