71 



every tiling visible, and Jiliould he be debi<^iit'd tor U.is i»urposc 

 alone, considering how perfectly that purpose is answered, it must 

 be pronounced a contrivance worthy the almighty Architect ; but 

 he is made to answer other purposes, wonderful beyond concep- 

 tion and countless in number. By his influence all the phenome- 

 na of our globe and every thing around it are produced ; without 

 him our earth and all it supports would be as inanimate and inert 

 as an icicle, appended to the skirts of the creation. He puts into 

 a state of activity the latent heat contained in all earthly substan- 

 ces, by which ail the mutations in the animal, vegetable, mineral 



research interminable, and the increasing objects of our wonder. 



The sun raises the waters of the ocean, lakes, rivers, and every 

 other receptacle of them, to the firmament, along which the bur- 

 den is carried in clouds, and scattered over every region, for the 

 refreshment and invigoration of the vegetable creation. The sun 



breeze and the zephyr, which, in the sultry season, play so grate- 

 fully about the animal frame. The sun is the primura mobile in 

 the laboratory where diamonds, gold, silver, and all other metals 

 and minerals are manufactured. It is the sun that points rot 

 only the rainbow, but the flowers of the garden and of the field. 

 It is he who hatches, from their embryos, rears to maturity, and 

 sustains, during their existence, the myriads of animated beings 

 that swarm in the earth, the air and the waters of our globe. It is 

 he who arranges and gives those inimitable tints to the magnifi- 

 cent drapery of heaven, which overhangs him, as he retreats be- 

 hind our horizon in the west. 



The moon is a domestic attendant on our earth, and seems evi- 

 dently intended as her special handmaid. It is therefore to be pre- 

 sumed that her office is to render us numerous services. Those 

 which are universally recognized are her giving us light in the 

 absence of the sun, and causing the tides of the ocean. Hut can 

 this be all ? On the principle that every cause must produce as 

 many effects as its nature is qualified to produce, this is not to be 

 presumed. Let us now enquire what other good services she may 

 render us. The appeai-ances exhibited during the eclipse shewed 

 us that there is an emanation of something from the moon. This, 

 from the nature of things, could be seen by us only in a lateral di- 

 rection. It was not caused by the eclipse, but only rendered per- 



