AND THEORY OF THE HEAVENS. 155 



whose Intelligence and Greatness is the source of that 

 light which is diffused over the whole of nature, as it 

 were, from one centre. With what reverence must not 

 the soul regard even its own being, when it considers 

 that it is destined to survive all these transformations I 

 It may well say to itself what the philosophic poet says 

 of Eternity : 



"And when the World shall sink, and Nothing be once more, 

 When but its place remains, and all else is consumed ; 

 And many another heaven, by other stars illumed, 

 Shall vanish when its course is o'er : 



Yet thou shalt be as far as ever from thy death, 



And as to-day thou then shalt breathe eternal breath." 



VON HALLER. 



Oh ! happy will be the soul if, amid the tumult of the 

 elements and the crash of nature, she is always elevated 

 to a height from whence she can see the devastations 

 which their own perishableness brings upon the things of 

 the world as they thunder past beneath her feet. This 

 happiness, which Reason of herself could not be bold 

 enough even to aspire to, Revelation teaches us to hope 

 for with full conviction. When the fetters which keep us 

 bound to the vanity of the creatures, have fallen away at 

 the moment which has been destined for the transforma- 

 tion of our being, then will the immortal spirit be liberated 

 from dependence on finite things, and find in fellowship 

 with the Infinite Being the enjoyment of its true felicity. 

 All nature, which involves a universal harmonious rela- 

 tion to the self-satisfaction of the Deity, cannot but fill 

 the rational creature with an everlasting satisfaction, when 

 it finds itself united with this Primary Source of all per- 

 fection. Nature, seen from this centre, will show on all 



