258 RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



reason concerning the world in which we are 

 placed ; and which aid us in lifting our thoughts 

 to the source of our being himself. 



2. Light, or the means by which light is 

 propagated, is another of the inorganic elements 

 which forms a portion of the mere material world. 

 The luminiferous ether, if we adopt that theory, 

 or the fluid light of the theory of emission, must 

 indubitably pervade the remotest regions of the 

 universe, and must be supposed to exist, as soon 

 as we suppose the material parts of the universe 

 to be in existence. The origin of light then must 

 be at least as far removed from us as the origin 

 of the solar system. Yet how closely connected 

 are the properties of light with the structure of 

 our own bodies ! The mechanism of the organs 

 of vision and the mechanism of light are, as 

 we have seen, most curiously adapted to each 

 other. We must suppose, then, that the same 

 power and skill produced one and the other of 

 these two sets of contrivances, which so remark- 

 ably jit into each other. The creator of light 

 is the author of our visual powers. But how 

 small a portion does mere visual perception con- 

 stitute of the advantages which we derive from 

 vision ! We possess ulterior faculties and capa- 

 cities by which sight becomes a source of hap- 

 piness and good to man. The sense of beauty, 

 the love of art, the pleasure arising from the 

 contemplation of nature, are all dependent on 



