216 BOOK OP NATURE LAID OPEN. 



to cheer the gloom of the midnight sky, when nei- 

 ther sun nor moon appears. In the early ages, those 

 who went down to the sea in ships had scarce any 

 other sure guide for their wandering vessel. They 

 still serve to direct the benighted traveller in his so- 

 litary journey; and, by means of the revolutions of 

 the stars, the ploughman, even had he no other di- 

 rectory, would know" exactly when to plough his 

 fields and sow his seeds. But if, as we have seen, 

 the stars bear such a striking analogy to the sun in 

 their magnitude, their nature, and some of their pro- 

 perties, have we not reason to conclude that they 

 have far more important offices to fulfil than merely 

 to be useful, in a few 'respects, to man ? that they, 

 also, like the sun, are each the centre of its respec- 

 tive system ? But where does this reasoning lead us? 

 for, if the stars are suns, and centres of other sys- 

 tems than that to which our earth belongs, does it 

 not naturally follow that there must be other worlds 

 revolving around them? and if other worlds, must 

 they not also be inhabited? This is a humiliating 

 lesson to the sons of pride, who have indulged the 

 thought that every thing in the universe was intend- 

 ed chiefly for their use ; but it is not to be supposed 

 that the Omnipotent Creator, who has not a leaf or 

 drop of water unpeopled, should have left such im- 

 mense bodies destitute of inhabitants. " It is surely 

 much more rational to suppose them the abodes of 

 intelligent beings ; of beings endowed with capaci-' 

 ties of knowing, loving, and adoring their Creator; 

 provided and blessed with every object conducive 



