254 SPRING. 



formed them at the first are the single and unre- 

 peated work of one Almighty Being which at once 

 saw all the situations in which they could be placed, 

 and adapted their developments and habits to those 

 situations, with that inimitable accuracy which we 

 every where observe, all embarrassment vanishes, and 

 we are left at a loss which most to admire, the 

 vastness of the power, or the perfect simplicity 

 of the laws according to which it works. Thus, 

 when we see how long, and with what uniformity, the 

 law implanted at the first has operated in the case of 

 these, which, even in their minutest states, are still 

 matter, and as such, subject to the general laws of 

 physics, we are irresistibly led to believe to be cer- 

 tain that a longer duration is the province of mind. 

 We have seen that matter becomes stable and durable 

 as we approach the atom ; but the atom is still ma- 

 terial ; and if, however minute it might be, it had not 

 all those properties that are common to all matter, no 

 mass, however large, could have them ; and therefore 

 when the material bourn is passed, and the being set 

 free from gravitation and all those affections by which 

 the changes of place and the arrangement of material 

 particles are brought about, we can imagine nothing 

 by which the existence of such a being can be affected, 

 but the very power that gave it origin. The globe 

 may change, and as we are not acquainted with any 

 power that can elevate earthy and metallic substances 

 from the sea to the mountains, or that can again bring 

 lakes and rivers to those regions that have become 

 dry, we may say that such a change is in progress; 

 and that the combination of matter that forms the 



