By the help of this admirable, this first made, he- 

 cause most necessary creature, light, all the 'animal 

 world is enabled to go here and there, as their occasions 

 call. We can with pleasure behold the glorious works 

 of God : we can view the glories of the Heavens, the 

 beauties of the flowery fields, the gay attire and exqui- 

 site garniture of many creatures. We can with admira- 

 tion see the great Creator's wonderful art in the parts 

 of animals and vegetables. In a word, we can behold 

 the harmony of this lower world, and of the globes 

 above, and survey his exquisite workmanship in every 

 creature. 



It is a great instance of his providence, that so neces- 

 sary as light is, it is not long in passing from place to 

 place. How inconvenient would it be, were the mo- 

 tion of it no swifter, than that of the swiftest bodies on 

 earth, such as of a bullet out of a great gun, or even 

 of sound itself? Did it move at the rate of the first, it 

 would be above thirty-two years in coming from the sun 

 to us, (according to the common computation of the 

 sun's distance,) above seventeen years at tbe rate of the 

 second motion. The inconvenience of this would be, 

 its energy would be greatly abated ; its rays would be 

 less penetrant, and darkness would be dissipated, with 

 greater difficulty, especially by the fainter light of our 

 sublunary luminous bodies. But passing with that pro- 

 digious swiftness, (from the sun to us in seven or eight 

 minutes) we receive with security and speed the kindly 

 effects of that noble and useful creature. 



Another thing worthy of consideration is, the incon- 

 ceivable extension of light. It is as unlimited as the 

 universe itself, as is manifest from our seeing some of 

 the most distant objects, the heavenly bodies, partly 

 with the naked eye, partly with the help of instruments. 

 And had we instruments of power equal to the extent of 

 light, the luminous bodies in the utmost parts of the uni- 

 vti>e, would doubtless be visible too. Hereby we have 

 a ken of those many glorious works of the infinite Creu- 



