PT. i. Astronomy and Geology compared. 45 



the prospects revealed to our wondering eyes by 

 Astronomy, there is a solitude in the spectacle offered 

 to us : one great Living Spirit indeed breathes 

 through the whole the divine intelligence of the Great 

 Creator of the Universe ; His infinite power, wisdom 

 and goodness are displayed upon their largest scale. 

 But Astronomy reveals to us no secondary or sub- 

 ordinate intelligences, animating with the breath of 

 Life those vast material organisations. It is indeed 

 highly probable that such exist, and that Life in 

 some shape or other pervades those vast habitations 

 so well calculated for its reception. We see that 

 light and heat are everywhere diffused ; the planets 

 have their atmosphere of air around them ; the 

 alternations of day and night, and of spring, summer, 

 autumn and winter, are found in them. All these 

 analogies lead us to believe that Life, which is evi- 

 dently so important a feature here, and which is so 

 bound up in the existence of our own planet, cannot 

 be absent from the other members of the system. 

 Nor is it probable that the great Sun itself, the centre 

 of all, the source of life here, and so far exceeding 

 all the planets in magnitude, should be destitute of 

 that vitality which he diffuses around. Certainly it 

 would be as easy for Omnipotence to create living 



