VARIETY OF TOPICS IN RELIGION. 



135 



fength of its blazing tail, the rapidity of its mo 

 tion, and the figure of the curve it describes 

 around the sun. With regard to the fixed stars, 

 which are distributed, of every size, and in every 

 direction, through the immensity of space, our 

 senses, as well as the declaration of an inspired 

 writer, convince us, that, in point of brilliancy, 

 colour, and magnitude, &quot; one star differeth from 

 another star in glory.&quot; 



And as the system of nature in all its parts 

 presents a boundless variety of scenery, to arouse 

 the attention, and to gratify the desire for novel 

 ty, so the revelation of God contained in the 

 Sacred Records displays a diversified combina 

 tion of the most sublime and interesting subjects 

 and events. Were we to form an opinion of the 

 compass of divine revelation, from the range of 

 subjects to which the minds of some professing 

 Christians are confined, it might all be compre 

 hended within the limits of five or six chapters of 

 the New Testament ; and all the rest might be 

 thrown aside, as a dead- weight upon the Chris 

 tian system. But here, as in all the other dis 

 plays of the Almighty, divine perfection and 

 providence are exhibited in the most diversified 

 aspects. Here we have recorded a history of the 

 creation and arrangement of our globe, of thef 

 formation of the first human pair, of their pri 

 meval innocence, temptation, and fall. of the 

 arts which were cultivated in the first ages of the 

 world, of the increase of human wickedness, 

 of the building of the ark,- of the drowning of 

 the world by a universal deluge, of the burning 

 of Sodom by fire from the clouds, -of the ori 

 gin of languages, of the dividing of the Red 

 sea, of the journeying of the tribes of Israel 

 through the deserts of Arabia, of their conquest 

 of the promised land, and their wars with the 

 nations of Canaan, of the corporeal translation 

 of Elijah from earth to heaven, of the manifes 

 tation of the son of God in human flesh, the be 

 nevolent miracles he performed, and the tri 

 umphs he obtained over all the powers of hell and 

 earth. We are here presented with the most 

 interesting and affecting narratives, elegies, dra 

 matic poems, and triumphal songs, with views 

 of society in the earliest ages of the world, when 

 the lives of men were prolonged to nearly a thou 

 sand years, with splendid miracles performed 

 in the land of Egypt, in the wilderness of Horeb, 

 and in the &quot; field of Zoan,&quot; when &quot;the sun and 

 moon stood still in their habitation ;&quot; when the 

 waters of the great deep were divided, and 

 mountains shook and trembled &quot; at the presence 

 of Jehovah,&quot; with the glorious marching of a 

 whole nation through the Arabian deserts, under 

 the guidance of a miraculous pillar of cloud and 

 fire, with the visits of celestial messengers, 

 and the visible symbols of &quot; a present Deity,&quot; 

 with prophetical delineations of the present 

 and future condition of the race of Adam, with 

 description of the power, wisdom, love, and 



majesty of the Almighty, and of his operations in 

 heaven and earth, with the results and bear 

 ing of the economy of redemption, with divine 

 songs, odes, and hymns, composed by angels and 

 inspired men, with maxims of moral wisdom, 

 examples of sublime eloquence, of strength of 

 reasoning, and of manly boldness of reproof, 

 with proverbs, parables, allegories, exhortations, 

 promises, threatenings, and consolatory address 

 es. In short, we have here detailed, in the 

 greatest variety, history, antiquities, voyages, 

 travels, philosophy, geography, natural and mo 

 ral science, biography, arts, epic poetry, epistles, 

 memoirs, delineations of nature, sketches of hu 

 man character, moral precepts, prophecies, mira 

 cles, narrations, wonderful providences, marvel 

 lous deliverances, the phenomena of the air, the 

 waters, and the earth; the past, the present, and the 

 future scenes of the world all blended together in 

 one harmonious system, without artificial order, 

 but with a majesty and grandeur corresponding 

 to the style of the other works of God, and all 

 calculated to gratify the principle of curiosity 

 to convey &quot; reproof, correction, and instruction 

 in righteousness,&quot; and &quot; to make the man of 

 God perfect, and thoroughly furnished to every 

 good work.&quot; 



And, as the scenes of nature, and the scenes 

 of revelation, are thus wonderfully diversified, 

 in order to excite the attention of intelligent 

 beings, and to gratify the desire for variety, so 

 we have every reason to believe, that the scenes, 

 objects, and dispensations, which will be dis 

 played in the heavenly world, will be incompa 

 rably more grand and diversified. When we 

 consider the immensity of God s universal king 

 dom, and the numerous systems, and worlds, and 

 beings comprehended within its vast circumfe 

 rence, and that the energies of creating power 

 may be for ever exerted in raising new worlds 

 into existence -we may rest assured, that the 

 desire of variety and of novelty, in holy intelli 

 gences, will be completely gratified throughout 

 an endless succession of existence ; and that the 

 most luxuriant imagination, in its boldest ex 

 cursions, can never go beyond the reality of 

 those scenes of diversified grandeur which the 

 heaven of heavens will display. 



Now, since the book of nature, and the book 

 of revelation, since all the manifestations of 

 the Creator in heaven and earth, are character 

 ized by their sublime and diversified aspect ; we 

 would ask, why should we not be imitators of 

 God, in displaying the diversified grandeur of 

 his kingdom of providence and of grace, befora 

 the minds of those whom we profess to instruct? 

 Why should we confine our views to a few points 

 in the Christian system, to a few stones in tho 

 fabric of the divine operations, when &quot; a wide 

 and unbounded prospect lies before us ?&quot; Why 

 should we not rather attempt to rouse the moral 

 and intellectual energies of mankind, from the 



