48 



THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. 



completely destroyed. If any of the humours of 

 the eye were wanting if they were less transpa 

 rent if they were of a different refractive power 

 or if they were of a greater or less convexity 

 than they now are, however minute the altera 

 tion might be, vision would inevitably be ob- 

 stucted, and every object would appear confused 

 and indistinct. If the retina, on which the im 

 ages of objects are painted, were flat, instead of 

 being concave, while objects in the middle of the 

 view appeared distinct, every object towards the 

 sides would appear dim and confused. If the cor 

 nea were as opaque as the sclerotica, to which it is 

 joined, or if the retina were not connected with 

 the optic nerve, no visible object could possibly 

 be perceived. If one of the six muscles of the 

 eye were wanting, or impeded in its functions, 

 we could not turn it to the right ; if a second 

 were deficient, we could not turn it to the left ; 

 if a third, we could not lift it upwards ; ifa fourth, 

 we could not move it downwards ; and if it were 

 deprived of the other two muscles, it would be 

 apt to roll about in frightful contortions. If the 

 eyes were placed in any other part of the body 

 than the head if they were much more promi 

 nent than they now are if they were not sur 

 rounded by the bony socket in which they are 

 lodged and if they were not frequently covered 

 by the eyelid they would be exposed to a thou 

 sand accidents from which they are now protected. 

 If they wanted moisture, and if they were not fre 

 quently wiped by the eyelids, they would be 

 come less transparent, and more liable to be in 

 flamed ; and if they were not sheltered by the 

 eyebrows, the sweat and moisture of the fore 

 head would frequently annoy them. Were the 

 tight which acts upon them devoid of colour were 

 it not reilected from objects in every direction 

 were its motion less swift, or its particles much 

 larger than they now are in short, were any 

 one circumstance connected with the structure 

 of this organ, and with the modification of the 

 rays of light, materially different from its present 

 arrangement, we should either be subjected to the 

 hourly recurrence of a thousand painful sensa 

 tions, orbe altogether deprived of the entertain 

 ments of vision. 



How admirable an organ, then, is the eye, and 

 how nicely adapted to unveil to our view the 

 glories of the universe ! Without the application 

 of any skill or laborious efforts, on our part, it 

 turns in every direction, transports us to every 

 surrounding object, depicts the nicest shades and 

 colours on its delicate membranes, and 



&quot; Takes in, at once, the landscape of the world, 

 At a small inlet, which a gram might dose, 

 And half creates the wond rous world we see.&quot; 

 Young. 



How strikingly does it display, in every part 

 of its structure and adaptations, the marks of 

 benevolent design, and of Infinite Intelligence ! 

 However common it is to open our eyes, and to 



behold, in an instant, the beauties of an extensive 

 landscape, and however little we may be ac 

 customed to admire this wonderful effect. there 

 is not a doctrine in Religion, nor a fact recorded 

 in Bevelation, more mysterious and incompre 

 hensible. An excellent French writer has wel 

 observed &quot; The sight of a tree and of the sun, 

 which God shows me, is as real and as imme 

 diate a revelation as that which led Moses to 

 wards the burning bush. The only difference 

 between both these actions of God on Moses and 

 me, is, that the first is out of the common order 

 and economy ; whereas the other is occasioned 

 by the sequel and connexion of those laws which 

 God has established for the regulation both ol 

 man and nature.&quot; 



If, then, the eye of man (who is a depraved 

 inhabitant of a world lying partly in ruins) is an 

 organ so admirably fitted for extending our pros 

 pects of the visible creation we may reason 

 ably conclude, that organized beings, of superior 

 intelligence and moral purity, possess the sense 

 of vision in a much greater degree of perfection 

 than man, in his present state of degradation 

 and that they may be enabled, by their natural 

 organs, to penetrate into regions of the universe 

 far beyond what man, by the aid of artificial 

 helps, will ever be able to descry. It may not 

 be altogether extravagant, nor even beyond the 

 reality of existing facts, to suppose, that there 

 are intelligences in the regions of Jupiter or Sa 

 turn, whose visual organs are in so perfect a 

 state, that they can descry the mountains of our 

 moon, and the continents, islands, and oceans 

 which diversify our globe, and are able to de 

 lineate a map of its surface, to mark the period 

 of its diurnal rotation, and even to distinguish 

 its cities, rivers, and volcanoes. It is quite 

 evident, that it must be equally easy to Divine 

 Wisdom and Omnipotence, to form organs with 

 powers of vision far surpassing what I have now 

 supposed, as to form an organ in which the mag 

 nificent scene of heaven and earth is depicted, 

 in a moment,within the compass of half an inch. 

 There are animals whose range of vision is cir 

 cumscribed within the limits of a few feet or 

 inches ; and, had we never perceived objects 

 through an organ in the same state of perfec 

 tion as that with which we are furnished, we 

 could have formed as little conception of the 

 sublimity and extent of our present range of 

 sight, as we can now do of those powers of 

 vision, which would enable us to descry the in 

 habitants of distant worlds. The invention of 

 the telescope shows, that the penetrating power 

 of the eye may be indefinitely increased ; and 

 since the art of man can extend the limits of natu 

 ral vision, it is easy to conceive, that, in the hand 

 of Omnipotence, a slight modification of the 

 human eye might enable it, with the utmost dis* 

 tinctness, to penetrate into regions to which the 

 imagination can set no bounds. And, therefore, 



