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though it is one, of all others, which fills the mind 

 with feelings of the immensity of the universe, of the 

 tremendous power of its Creator, and of the insig- 

 nificance of self. A breathing atom, a speck, even, 

 upon the surface of a world which is itself a speck in 

 the universal world, we send our imaginations forth 

 amongst the innumerable orbs, all stupendous in mag- 

 nitude, all swarming with existence, vainly striving to 

 reach the boundaries of space, till, astonished and 

 confounded, it recoils from the hopeless task, aching, 

 dazzled, and humbled to the dust. What a weary 

 sense attends the attempt of a finite being to grasp 

 infinity ! Space beyond space ! space beyond space 

 still! There is nothing for the mind to rest its 

 wearied wing upon, and it shrinks back into its ma- 

 terial cell, in adoration and humility. Such are 

 the feelings and speculations which have attended 

 the human spirit in all ages, in contemplating this 

 magnificent spectacle. David has beautifully ex- 

 pressed their effect upon him ; and there is a paper 

 in the Spectator, Vol. viii. No. 565, which forms an 

 admirable commentary upon his eloquent exclama- 

 tion. The awful vastness of the power of the 

 Deity, evinced in the scenes which night reveals, 

 is sure to abase the pride of our intellect, and to 

 shake the overgrowth of our self-love; but these 

 influences are not without their benefit; and the 

 beauty and beneficence equally conspicuous in every 

 object of creation, whether a world or an atom, 

 come to our aid, to reassure our confidence, and to 



