PLANETS. 11 



when compared with that of some of the planets from 

 the same luminous centre ; and very trilling indeed 

 in respect of their distance one from another when on 

 the opposite sides of the sun. But when we consider 

 the incalculable distances of the fixed stars from our 

 earth and from one another, an extent bursts upon our 

 view which overwhelms the mind with admiration 

 and astonishment. We contemplate worlds beyond 

 worlds, and our conceptions are bewildered in the 

 vast immensity. Imagination itself can set no bound* 

 to the immeasurable extent of the Creation, nor can 

 all the efforts of the human mind, aided by the dis- 

 coveries of science, determine the central point, where 

 the great Creator fixed " the golden compasses/' or 

 how wide he swept the immense circumference. 



If you, my dear sir, should undertake to travel over 

 this globe, or as we commonly say, the world, in dif- 

 ferent directions from east to wesf, and from north to 

 south, and visit all the various countries into which its. 

 surface is divided, you would, how expeditiously so- 

 ever you might travel, employ a great number of 

 years in the journey. You would find your curiosity 

 continually excited and gratified with the sight of new 

 objects presenting themselves to your view. High, 

 mountains, vast forests, extensive countries, immense 

 oceans would successively fill your mind with surprise 

 and give you a grand idea of the prodigious extent 

 of this habitation, of men. You are, however, to' ob- 

 serve, that if you were placed in any one of the plan- 

 ets the globe would only seem a single point as they 

 appear to us. In the more distant planets, as Jupiter 

 and Saturn, it is very much to be doubted whether it 

 could be perceived without the aid of a telescope, and 

 it is extremely probable that a person placed in the 

 Sidus would not be able to discover the 



c.arth. with the best telescope that has yet been in- 

 vented. 



In considering the immensity, as well as the regular 



harmony of the universe, you will be convinced that 



110 one can lift up his eyes to the starry heavens with- 



out feeling himself irresistibly impelled to adore th 



B 6 



