2 Astronomy and Geology compared. 



PT. I. 



appear in our own eyes ; what mere atoms we are, 

 no more permanent than the flies which buzz through 

 a summer and then die ; no larger than the motes 

 which dance in the sunbeam I But our second 

 thoughts are more inspiring and consolatory. Is not 

 the fact that we are thus enabled to measure and to 

 comprehend so large a part of this mighty scheme, a 

 proof that we are connected with it by ties more 

 lasting than are at present visible to us ? The acts 

 of the Almighty are never purposeless, and the cir- 

 cumstance that we are thus permitted a prospect of 

 what is beyond us here, is one evidence, among the 

 many others which are afforded to us, of the truth of 

 those hopes which associate us with a larger future. 

 Not only do these two sciences afford us these 

 prospects beyond the boundaries of this present world, 

 but I think it will be found that they are the only 

 ones which do so. The other sciences, which add so 

 largely to our knowledge of the laws of nature here, 

 and place in our hands such vastly augmented powers 

 over the material world, deal almost exclusively with 

 sublunary matters. Chemistry, Electricity, Anatomy, 

 Botany, and many others, have their relations here. 

 Other sciences borrow, indeed, from Astronomy or 

 Geology, but they are merely dependent on them ; 



