134 



THE CHRT3TIAN PHILOSOPHER. 



the simultaneous progress of science and reli 

 gion, considered as an evidence of the con 

 nexion of the one with the other the moral 

 Affects of the study of science in connexion with 

 leligon replies to objections and insinuations 

 which have been thrown out against the idea 

 of combining the discoveries of science with 

 the discoveries of revelation, &c. But, as il- 



hundred pages, they must, in the mean time, 

 be postponed.* 



A work, embracing illustrations of some of tha 

 topics here stated, is preparing for the press, undei 

 the title of &quot; The Philosophy of Religion ; or, an 

 illustration of the Moral Laws of the Universe, on 

 the principles of Reason and Divine Revelation.&quot; In 

 this work, an original, and, at the same time, a popu 

 lar train of thought will be prosecuted, and the dif- 



liietratinne nf thp&amp;lt;?p and varinna nthpr tnnSnc ferent topics will be enlivened with illustrative facts, 

 lustrations oi these, and various other topics borrowed from the sce nery of nature and the moral 

 connected with them, would occupy two or three history of mankind. 



CHAPTER V. 



BENEFICIAL EFFECTS WHICH MIGHT RESULT TO CHRISTIAN SOCIETY FROM CONNECTING 

 THE DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE WITH THE OBJECTS OF RELIGION. 



I, THE VARIETY OF TOPICS which would be 

 introduced into Christian instructions, by con 

 necting them with the manifestations of Deity in 

 the system of nature, WOULD HAVE A TEN 

 DENCY TO ALLURE THE ATTENTION OF THE 

 YOUNG TO RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS, and to af- 



ford mental entertainment and moral instruc 

 tion to intelligent minds of every description. 



NOVEL TY and variety appear to be essentially 

 requisite in order to rouse the attention, not only 

 of the more ignorant, but even of the more intel 

 ligent class of mankind, and to excite them to 

 make progress in the path of intellectual and 

 moral improvement. The principle of curiosity, 

 which appears at a very early period of life, and 

 which variegated scenery and novel objects tend 

 to stimulate and to gratify so far from being 

 checked and decried, in a religious point of view, 

 as some have been disposed to do, ought to be 

 encouraged and cultivated in the minds both 

 of the old and of the young. As it is a prin 

 ciple which God himself has implanted in our 

 natures, for wise and important purposes, it 

 requires only to be chastened, and directed in 

 a proper channel, in order to become one of 

 the most powerful auxiliaries in the cause of 

 religion, and of intellectual improvement. To 

 gratify this principle, and to increase its ac 

 tivity, the Creator has adorned our globe with 

 a combination of beauties and sublimities, strew 

 ed in endless variety over all its different regions. 

 The hills and dales, the mountains and plains ; 

 the seas, the lakes, the rivers, the islands of 

 every form and size which diversify the surface 

 of the ocean ; the bays, the gulfs, and penin 

 sulas; the forests, the groves, the deep dells, 

 and towering cliffs ; the infinite variety of trees, 



plants, flowers, and vegetable productions of 

 every hue, so profusely scattered over the face of 

 nature ; the diversified productions of the minera 1 

 kingdom ; the variegated colouring spread ovei 

 the face of nature ; together with the many thou 

 sands of different species of animated beings 

 which traverse the air, the waters, and the earth 

 afford so many stimuli to rouse this principle 

 into exercise, and to direct the mind to the con 

 templation of the Creator. And as the earth 

 displays an endless diversity of objects, so the 

 heavens, in so far as they have been explored, ex 

 hibit a scenery both grand and variegated. There 

 is not a planet in the solar system but differs 

 from another, in its magnitude, in its distance 

 from the central luminary about which it re 

 volves, in the velocity of its motion, in the ex 

 tent of the circle it describes around the sun, in 

 the period of time in which its revolution is 

 completed, in its rotation round its axis, in the 

 number of moons with which it is attended, in 

 the inclination of its axis to the plane of its orbit, 

 and the diversity of seasons which results from 

 this circumstance ; in the density of its atmos 

 phere, and the various appearances which diver 

 sify its surface. And if we were favoured with 

 a nearer view of these majestic orbs, we should, 

 doubtless, behold a similar variety in every part 

 of their internal arrangements. The surface of 

 the moon presents a variegated prospect of 

 mountains and vales, but so very different i 

 their form, position, and arrangement, from what 

 obtains on the surface of our globe, that it would 

 exhibit a scenery altogether new and uncom 

 mon to an inhabitant of this world, were he 

 placed on the surface of that planet. Every 

 comet, too, is distinguished from another, by its 

 magnitude, the extent of its atmosphere, tn 



