APPENDIX. 105 



savage beholds thcsplendoar of thesun, and perceives 

 that from the warmth of its rays proceeds the growth 

 of the innumerable vegetables which give beauty and 

 comfort to the world. Ignorant of its nature^ he con- 

 siders it as an intelligent being, and worships it as a 

 God. What would be his sensations, could the dark- 

 ness of his mind be instantaneously illumined by phi- 

 losophy; how great his surprise at perceiving that this 

 resplendent orb, the object of his adoration, was no 

 more sensible than the brute earth on which he trod ? 

 With what astonishment, and gratitude, and awe, 

 would he contemplate that great Being who fixed the 

 sun in his orbit, and clothed it with light ? If we pass 

 from the savage to civilized man, the effects of in- 

 creased knowledge will be of the same nature. The 

 most ignorant among us understand that the sun was 

 created by God. To every one, therefore, it is a 

 mighty witness of the existence and power of its 

 Maker. But thousands and thousands see nothing 

 in the sun, but the source of light and heat. Suppose 

 now, their minds to be endowed with the knowledge 

 of all its wonderful power — Suppose them to view it 

 as the centre round which revolve, in rapid and cease- 

 less motion, the immense bodies which form the 

 planetary system, all bound, by its attractive force, 

 to one immutable path through the trackless void—: 



14 



