MAN'S PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE. 201 



universal perception of right and wrong, the 

 unconquerable belief of the merit of certain feel- 

 ings and actions, the craving alike after moral 

 advancement and after the means of attaining it, 

 should exist only to delude, perplex, and dis- 

 appoint man. No one, with his contemplations 

 calmed and filled and harmonized by the view of 

 the known constitution of the universe, its ma- 

 chinery " wheeling unshaken " in the farthest 

 skies and in the darkest cavern, its vital spirit 

 breathing alike effectively in the veins of the 

 philosopher and the worm ; no one, under the 

 influence of such a train of contemplations, can 

 possibly admit into his mind a persuasion which 

 makes the moral part of our nature a collection 

 of inconsistent and futile impressions, of idle 

 dreams and warring opinions, each having the 

 same claims to our acceptance. Wide as is the 

 distance between the material and the moral 

 world ; imperfect as all reasonings necessarily are 

 which attempt to carry the inferences of one into 

 the other ; elevated above the region of matter as 

 all the principles and grounds of truth must be, 

 which belong to our responsibilities and hopes ; 

 still the astronomical and natural philosopher 

 can hardly fail to draw from their studies an 

 imperturbable conviction that our moral nature 

 cannot correspond to those representations ac- 

 cording to which it has no law, coherency, or 

 object. The mere natural reasoner may, or 



