18 



knowledge almost indefinitely increased in two 

 opposite directions ; and, while by the one we 

 are enabled to trace in the infinite expanse thou- 

 sands of new systems, crowded with unknown 

 worlds, and bright with the glories of Omnipo- 

 tence, by the other we acquire power to perceive 

 the Creator of a universe, minutely busy among 

 the worlds of living creatures, to which he has 

 given birth on a blade of grass, or in a drop of 

 water. 



Dr Chalmers, to whom I have already alluded, 

 has, with an eloquence peculiarly his own, drawn 

 from the discoveries of the microscope, an irre- 

 sistible argument to rebut the specious sophistries 

 of the infidel ; who, from the immensity of cre- 

 ated nature, would infer, that so insignificant a 

 being as man is below the compassionate notice 

 of the Creator. There is indeed something un- 

 speakably satisfactory in the view this highly gifted 

 divine lias taken ; and, if at any time our faith is 

 ready to give way, before the infinite majesty of 

 Him who speaks systems into existence or an- 

 nihilation, we have only to look at the millions 

 of microscopic nations, that we may behold His 

 infinite condescension, and be reassured. 



I do not say that among the perversities of our 

 fallen nature there are not to be found counter- 

 acting influences, capable of preventing the lesson 

 from being learnt, which the wonders of the ex- 

 ternal world are intended to teach, and even 

 capable of converting the naturally useful opera- 

 tions of such high instruction, into means of eviL 



