THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. 



press, in the school-room, and in the family cir 

 cle, by exhibiting the boundless variety of aspect 

 which the revelations of heaven present, and 

 the holy tendencies of devout contemplation 

 on the works and the ways of God ? that they 

 may learn, with intelligence, to &quot;meditate on 

 all the works of the Lord, and to talk of all his 

 doings.&quot; By enlarging and diversifying the to 

 pics of religious discussion, according to the 

 views now stated, we have it in our power to 

 spread out an intellectual feast to allure and to 

 gratify every variety of taste, the young and 

 the old, the learned and the unlearned ; yea, even 

 the careless and the ignorant, the skeptical and 

 the dissipated, might frequently be allured by 

 the selection of a judicious variety of striking 

 and impressive objects and descriptions, to par 

 take of those mental enjoyments which might 

 ultimately issue in the happiest results. The 

 man of an inquisitive turn of mind, who now 

 throws aside every thing that has the appearance 

 of religion, on account of its dulness, might 

 nave his curiosity gratified amidst such a va 

 riety as that to which I allude ; and, from per 

 ceiving the bearing of every discussion on the 

 great realities of religion and a future state, 

 might be led to more serious inquiries after the 

 path that leads to immortality. In a word, to 

 associate and to amalgamate, as it were, the 

 arts and sciences, and every department of use 

 ful knowledge, with divine subjects, is to conse 

 crate them to their original and legitimate ends, 

 and to present religion to the eyes of men, in 

 its most sublime, and comprehensive, and at 

 tractive form, corresponding to what appears to 

 oe the design of the Creator, in all the mani 

 festations he has given of himself, in the system 

 of nature, in the operations of Providence, and 

 in the economy of redemption. 



II. By connecting science with religion, Chris 

 tians would be enabled to take AN EXTENSIVE 



SURVEY OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 



How very narrow and limited are the views 

 of most professors of religion respecting the 

 universal kingdom of Jehovah, and the range 

 of his operations! The views of some indivi 

 duals are confined chiefly within the limits of 

 their own parish, or at farthest, extend only to 

 the blue mountains that skirt their horizon, and 

 form the boundary of their sight. Within this 

 narrow circle, all their ideas of God, of religion, 

 and of the relations of intelligent beings to each 

 other, are chiefly confined. There are others, 

 who form an extensive class of our population, 

 whose ideas are confined nearly to the county in 

 which they reside, and to the adjacent districts; 

 and there are few, comparatively, whose views 

 extend beyond the confines of the kingdom to 

 which they belong though the whole island in 

 which we reside is less than the two-thousandth 



part of the globe we inhabit. Of the vast extttft 

 of this earthly ball, of its figure and motion* 

 of its continents, seas, islands, and oceans, of 

 its volcanoes and ranges of mountains, of itj 

 numerous and diversified climates and land 

 scapes ; of the various nations and tribes of 

 mankind that people its surface, and of the mo 

 ral government of God respecting them, they 

 are almost as completely ignorant as the untu 

 tored Greenlander, or the roving savage. With 

 regard to the objects which lie beyond the boun 

 dary of our world, they have no precise and 

 definite conceptions. When the moon is walk 

 ing in brightness through the heavens, they 

 take the advantage of her light to prosecute their 

 journeys ; and, when the sky is overcast with 

 clouds, and they are anxious to travel a few 

 miles to their destined homes, they will lift up 

 their eyes to the heavens to see if any of the 

 stars are twinkling through the gloom, that their 

 footsteps may be directed by their glimmering 

 rays. Beyond this they seldom soar. What 

 may be the nature of the vast assemblage of 

 shining points which adorn the canopy of their 

 habitation, and the ends they are destined to 

 accomplish in the plan of the Creator s opera 

 tions, they consider as no part of their province 

 to inquire. 



&quot;Their minds, fair science never taught to stray 

 Far as the solar worlds, or milky way.&quot; 



How very different, in point of variety, of 

 grandeur, and of extent, are the views of the 

 man who connects all the different departments 

 of knowledge, and the discoveries of science, 

 with his prospects of God s universal dominion 

 and government? With his mental eye he can 

 traverse the different regions of the earth, and 

 penetrate into the most distant and retired re 

 cesses where human beings have their residence. 

 He can contemplate and adore the conduct of 

 divine sovereignty, in leaving so many nations 

 to grope amidst the darkness of heathen ido 

 latry, he can trace the beams of the Sun of 

 righteousness, as they gradually rise to illumine 

 the benighted tribes of men, he can direct his 

 prayers, with intelligence and fervour, in behalf 

 of particular kindreds and people, he can de 

 vise, with judgment and discrimination, schemes 

 for carrying the &quot; Salvation of God&quot; into effect, 

 he can realize, in some measure, to his menta 

 sight, the glorious and happy scenes which wil 

 be displayed in the future ages of time, when 

 &quot;the kingdoms of this world shall become the 

 kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ,&quot; and 

 when the &quot;everlasting gospel&quot; shall be pub 

 lished, and its blessings distributed among all 

 who dwell upon the face of the earth. He can 

 bound from this earth to the planetary worlds 

 and survey far more spacious globes, peopled 

 with a higher order of intelligences, arranged 

 and superintended by the same Almighty Sove 

 reign, who &quot; doth according to his will among 



