OF THE BRUTE CREATION. 
775 
would wish to do, a distinct idea of the boundlessness of the mate- 
rial universe. If you cast your eye downwards it loses itself in a 
wilderness of ages — if you analyse a drop of water, you find it 
peopled with the forms of life so infinitissimal that all power of 
calculation droops the wing, and flags in the august attempt to con- 
vey the idea of number ; and again, if you look upwards, and view 
the mighty orbs wheeling their ponderous forms through space, 
you are astonished at your own insignificance. The number of 
systems of the heavens which lie within the range of our telescopes 
is reckoned to be, at least, a hundred millions. In the regions of 
infinite space, beyond the boundaries of all these, it is not impro- 
bable that ten thousand times ten thousand millions of other suns 
or systems are running their ample rounds. With each of these 
systems it is probable that, at least, a hundred worlds are con- 
nected. With the solar system to which we belong, there are con- 
nected more than a hundred globes of different sizes — if we take 
into account the planets, both primary and secondary, and likewise 
the comets. 
It is now considered by astronomers as highly probable, if not 
certain, from late observation, from the notions of gravitation, and 
other circumstances, that all these systems of the universe revolve 
round one common centre , and that this centre may be as great in 
proportion, in point of magnitude, to the universal assemblage of 
systems, as our sun is to his surrounding planets. And here may 
be a vast universe of itself — an example of material creation, ex- 
ceeding all the rest in magnitude and splendour, and in which are 
blended the glories of every other system. If this is really the case, 
it may, with the most emphatic propriety, be termed the THRONE 
of God. 
This is the most sublime and magnificent idea that can possibly 
enter the mind of man. We feel oppressed and overwhelmed in 
endeavouring to form even a faint representation of it. 
Intelligences of the noblest order, who have attained the most 
sublime heights of knowledge and virtue, may form the principal 
part of the population of this magnificent region, and may constitute 
that august mansion referred to in the Scriptures under the desig- 
nation of “ the Third Heavens,” — the “ Throne of the Eternal,” — 
“ the Heaven of Heavens,” — the “ High and Holy Place, and the 
Light that is inaccessible and full of glory.” 
It would be absurd to lengthen this subject, in order to prove 
by argument what every schoolboy believes, that, as the material 
universe is boundless, so likewise are we surrounded by intel- 
lectual beings. There are no parts of space unpeopled with the 
creatures of intelligence ; to imagine the contrary, would be to sup- 
pose a vacuum in the universe. It would be at once to say, that 
