AMPLITUDE OF THE DIVINE EMPIRE. 



137 



Ae inhabitants of the earth.&quot; He can wing his 

 way beyond the visible region of the sky, till he 

 find himself .surrounded on every hand with suns 

 and systems of worlds, rising to view in bound 

 less perspective, throughout the tracts of immen 

 sitydiversified with scenes of magnificence, 

 and with beings of every order all under the 

 government and the wise direction of Him who 

 &quot; rules amon&amp;lt;* the armies of heaven,&quot; and who 

 &quot; preserveth them all,&quot; and whom the &quot; host of 

 neaven worship&quot; and adore. He can soar be 

 yond them all to the throne of God, where angels 

 and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, celebrate 

 * the praises of their Sovereign Lord, and stand 

 ready to announce his will, by their rapid flight 

 o the most distant provinces of his empire. He 

 can descend from that lofty eminence to this ter 

 restrial world, allotted for his temporary abode, 

 and survey another unbounded province of the 

 empire of God, in those living worlds which lie 

 hid from the unassisted sight, and which the 

 * microscope alone can descry. He can here 

 perceive the same Hand and Intelligence which 

 direct the rolling worlds above, and marshal all 

 the angelic tribes organizing, arranging, and 

 governing the countless myriads of animated 

 existence which people the surface of a muddy 

 pool. He can speed his course from one of these 

 departments of Jehovah s kingdom to another, 

 till, astonished and overwhelmed with the order, 

 the grandeur, and extent of the wondrous scene, 

 he is constrained to exclaim, &quot; Great and mar 

 vellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty !&quot; 

 &quot; Thine understanding is infinite !&quot; The limits 

 of thy dominions are &quot; past finding out !&quot; 



By taking such extensive surveys of the em 

 pire of Jehovah, we are enabled to perceive the 

 spirit and references of those sublime passages in 

 the sacred writings which proclaim the majesty 

 of God, and the glory of his kingdom. Such 

 passages are diffusely scattered through the in 

 spired volume, and have evidently an extent of 

 reference far beyond what is generally conceived 

 by the great mass of the Christian world. The 

 following may suffice as a specimen : 



&quot; Thine, O Lord ! is the greatness, anu the 

 glory, and the majesty ; for all in heaven and 

 earth is thine ! Thine is the kingdom, O Lord ! 

 Thou art erfalted above all, thou reignest over all, 

 and in thine hand is power and might. Behold, 

 the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, is the 

 Lord s ; the earth also, with all that therein is. 

 Ascribe ye greatness to our God ; for there is 

 none like unto the God of Israel, who rideth upon 

 the heavens in his strength, and in his excellency 

 on the sky. Thou, even thou, art Lord alone ; thou 

 hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with 

 all their host; the earth, and all things that are 

 therein ; the sea, and all that is therein ; and 

 thou preservest them all, and the host of heaven 

 worshippeth thee. He divideth the sea by his 

 power ; by his Spirit he hath garnished the 

 18 



heavens : Lo ! these are only parts of his ways, 

 but how little a portion is heard of him, and the 

 thunder of his power who can understand ? 

 The Lord hath prepared his throne in the hea 

 vens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. O Lord 

 our God ! how excellent is thy name in all tho 

 earth ! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 

 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy 

 fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast 

 ordained ; what is man, that thou art mindful of 

 him ! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom 

 honour and majesty are before him ; all the in- 

 habitants of the earth are reputed as nothing in 

 his sight, and he doth according to his will in the 

 army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of 

 the earth. He measures the waters in the hol 

 low of his hand ; he meteth out heaven with a 

 span, and comprehendeth tho dust of the earth in 

 a measure. He sitteth upon the circle of the 

 earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grass 

 hoppers. I have made the earth, and created 

 man upon it ; I, even my hands, have stretched 

 out the heavens, and all their host have I com 

 manded. The Most High dwelleth not in tem 

 ples made with hands ; for the heaven is his 

 throne, and the earth is his footstool. With 

 God is awful majesty. Great things doth He, 

 which we cannot comprehend ; yea, the Lord 

 sitteth King for ever. Praise ye the Lord in the 

 heavens ; praise him in the heights ; praise him, 

 all his angels ; praise ye him, all his hosts. 

 Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all ye 

 stars of light ; praise him, ye heaven of heavens. 

 Praise him, ye kings of the earth, and all people, 

 princes and judges of the earth ; both young 

 men and maidens ; old men and children let 

 them praise the name of the Lord ; for his name 

 alone is excellent, his glory is above the earth 

 and heaven.&quot; 



These sublime descriptions of the supremacy 

 of God, and of the grandeur of his kingdom, 

 must convince every reflecting mind, of the in 

 conceivable magnificence and extent of that do 

 minion &quot; which ruleth over all.&quot; It is quite 

 evident, that we can never enter, with intelli 

 gence, into the full import and the grand refer 

 ences of such exalted language employed by in 

 spired writers, unless we take into view all the 

 discoveries which science has made, both in the 

 earth and in the heavens, respecting the variety 

 and extent of the dominions of the Creator. Il 

 the &quot; kingdom of the most High&quot; were as limited 

 in its range as most Christians seem to conceive, 

 such descriptions might be considered as mere 

 hyperboles, or bombast, or extravagant declama* 

 tion, which far exceeds the bounds of&quot; truth and 

 soberness.&quot; But we are certain, that the con 

 ceptions and the language of mortals can never 

 go beyond the reality of what actually exists 

 within the boundless precincts of Jehovah s em 

 pire. For &quot; who can utter the mighty acts ol 

 the Lord?&quot; or &quot; who can show forth all bis 



