CHRISTIANITY. 



305 



Christiani- are the mere speculations of the fancy. The discoveries 

 tv - of modern science have, in tact, imparted a new energy 



"""""""Y" ^ to the sentiment in question. They all serve to exalt 

 the Deity, but they do not contribute a single iota to 

 the explanation of his purposes. They make him great- 

 er, but they do not make him more comprehensible. He 

 is more shrouded in mystery than ever. It is not him- 

 self whom we see, it is his workmanship ; and every new 

 addition to its grandeur or to its variety which philoso- 

 phy opens to our contemplation, throws our understand- 

 ing at a greater distance than before, from the mind and 

 conception of the sublime Architect. Instead of the 

 God of a single world, we now see him presiding in all 

 the majesty of his high attributes, over a mighty range 

 of innumerable systems. To our little eye he is wrapt in 

 more awful mysteriousness, and every new glimpse which 

 astronomy gives us of the universe, justifies, to the appre- 

 hension of our mind, that impassable barrier which stands 

 between the counsels of its Sovereign, and those fugitive 

 beings who strut their evanescent hour in the humblest 

 of its mansions. If this invisible Being would only 

 break that mysterious silence in which he has wrapt him- 

 self, we feel that a single word from his mouth would be 

 worth a world of darkling speculations. Every new tri- 

 umph which the mind of man achieves in the field of 

 discovery, binds us more firmly to our Bible ; and by the 

 very proportion in which philosophy multiplies the won- 

 ders of God, do we prize that book, in which the evi- 

 dence of history has stamped the character of his authen- 

 tic communication. 



196. The course of the moon in the heavens has exer- 

 cised astronomers for a long series of ages, and now that 

 they are able to assign all the irregularities of its periods, 

 it may be counted one of the most signal triumphs 

 of modern science. The question lay within the limits 

 of the field of observation. It was accessible to measure- 

 ment, and, upon the sure principles of calculation, men 

 of science have brought forward the confident solution 

 of a problem, the most difficult and trying that ever was 

 lubmitted to the human intellect. But let it never be 

 forgotten, that those very maxims of philosophy which 



fuided them so surely and so triumphantly within the 

 eld of observation, also restrained them from stepping 

 beyond it, and though none were more confident than they 

 whenever they had evidence and experiment to enlighten 

 them, yet none were more scrupulous in abstaining to pro- 

 nounce upon any subject, where evidence and experiment 

 were wanting. Let us suppose that one of their num- 

 ber, flushed with the triumph of success, passed on from 

 the work of calculating the periods of the moon, to the- 

 orise upon its chemical constitution ; the former question 

 lies within the field of observation, the other is most tho 

 roughly beyond it ; and there is not a man, whose mind is 

 disciplined to the rigour and sobriety of modern science, 

 that would not look upon the theory with the same con- 

 tempt, as if it were the dream of a poet, or the amusement 

 of a schoolboy. We have heard much of the moon, and of 

 the volcanoes which blaze upon its surface. Let us have 

 incontestible evidence, that a falling stone proceeds from 

 the eruption of one of these volcanoes, and the chemistry 

 of the moon will receive more illustration from the ana- 

 lysis of that stone, than from all the speculations of all 

 the theorists. It brings the question in part within the 

 limits of observation. It soon becomes a fair subject for 

 the exercise of the true philosophy. The eye can now 

 see, and the hand can now handle it ; and the information 

 furnished by the laborious drudgery of experimental men, 

 will be received as a truer document, than the theory of 



any philosopher, however ingenious, or however splen- Christian* 



did. l y^ 



197. At the hazard of being counted whimsical, we " * 

 bring forward the above as a competent illustration of 



the principle which we are attempting to establish. We 

 do all homage to modern science, nor do we dispute the 

 loftiness of its pretensions. But we maintain, that how- 

 ever brilliant its career in those tracts of philosophy, 

 where it ha? the light of observation to conduct it, the 

 philosophy of all that lies without the field of observa- 

 tion is as obscure and inaccessible as ever. We main- 

 tain, that to pass from the motions of the moon to an 

 unauthorized speculation upon the chemistry of its ma- 

 terials, is a presumption disowned by philosophy. We 

 ought to feel, that it would be a still more glaring trans- 

 gression of all its maxims, to pass from the brightest dis- 

 covery in the catalogue, to the ways of that mysterious 

 Being, whom no eye hath seen, and whose mind is capa- 

 cious as infinity. T' le splendour and the magnitude of 

 what we do know, can never authorise us to pronounce 

 upon what we do not know ; nor can we conceive a tran- 

 sition more ardent or more insurmountable, than to pas* 

 from the truths of natural science to a speculation on the 

 details of God's administration, or the economy of his 

 moral government. We hear much of revelations from 

 heaven. Let any one of these bear the evidence of an 

 actual communication from God himself, and all the rea- 

 sonings of all the theologians must vanish, and give place 

 to the substance of this communication. Instead of the- 

 orising upon the nature and properties of that divine 

 light which irradiates the throne of God, and exists at so 

 immeasurable a distance from our faculties, let us point 

 our eyes to that emanation, which has actually come 

 down to us. Instead of theorising upon the councils of 

 the divine mind, let us go to that volume which lighted 

 upon our world nearly two thousand years ago, and which 

 bears the most authentic evidence, that it is the deposi- 

 tory of part of these councils. Let us apply the proper 

 instrument to this examination. Let us never conceive 

 it t > be a work of speculation or fancy. It is a pure 

 work of grammatical analysis. It is an unmixed ques. 

 tion of language. The commentator who opens this 

 book with the one hand, and carries his system in the 

 other, has nothing to do with it. We admit of no other 

 instrument than the vocabulary and the lexicon. The 

 man whom we look to is the scripture critic, who can 

 appeal to his authorities for the import and significancy 

 of phrases, and whatever be the strict result of his patient 

 and profound philology, we submit to it. We call upon 

 every enlightened disciple of Lord Bacon to approve the 

 steps of this process, and to acknowledge, that the same 

 habits of philosophising to which science is indebted for 

 all her elevation in those latter days, will lead us to cast 

 down all our lofty imaginations, and hring every thought 

 into the captivity of the obedience of Christ. 



198. But something more remains to be done. The 

 mind may have discernment enough to acquiesce in the 

 speculative justness of a principle ; but it may not have 

 vigour or consistency enough to put it into execution. 

 Lord Bacon pointed out the method of true philosophi- 

 sing ; yet, in practice, he abandoned it, and his own phy- 

 sical investigations may be ranked among the most ef- 

 fectual specimens of that rash and unfounded theorising, 

 which his own principles have banished from the school! 

 of philosophy. Sir Isaac Newton completed in his own 

 person the character of the true philosopher. He not 

 only saw the general principle, but he obeyed it. He 

 both betook himself to the drudgery of observation, and 



