mountains in scales, and its hills in a balance ;" and who has supported it in its rapid movements, from age to age. But, how must our conceptions of Divine Power be enlarged when we consider, that this earth, which appears so great to the frail beings which inhabit it, is only like a small speck in creation, or like an atom in the immensity of space, when compared with the myriads of worlds of superior magnitude which exist within the boundaries of creation! When we direct our views to the planetary system, we behold three or four globes, which appear only like small studs on the vault of heaven, yet contain a quantity of matter more than two thousand four hundred times greater than that of the earth, besides more than twenty lesser globes, most of them larger than our world,* and several hundreds of comets, of various magnitudes, moving in every direction through the depths of space. The Sun is a body of such a magnitude as overpowers our feeble conceptions, and fills us with astonishment. Within the wide circumference of this luminary more than a million of worlds as large as ours could be contained. His body fills a cubical space equal to 681,472,000, 000,000,000 miles, and his surface more than 40,000,000,000, or forty thousand millions of square miles. At the rate of sixty miles a-day, it would require more than a hundred millions of years to pass over every square mile on his surface. His attractive energy extends to several thousands of millions of miles from his surface, retaining in their orbits the most distant planets and comets, and dispensing light and heat, and fructifying influence to more than *The satellites of Jupiter, Saturn and Herschel, are all reckoned to be larger than the earth. a hundred worlds.* does it give us of the Power of Omnipotence, when we consider, that the universe is replenished with innumerable globes of a similar size and splendour ! For every star which the naked eye perceives twinkling on the vault of heaven, and those more distant orbs which the telescope brings to view throughout the depths of immensity, are, doubtless, suns, no less in magnitude than that which “ enlightens our day," and surrounded by a retinue of revolving worlds. Some of them have been reckoned by astronomers to be even much larger than our sun. The star Lyra, for example, is supposed, by Sir W. Herschel, to be 33,275,000 miles in diameter, or thirty-eight times the diameter of the sun; and, if so, its cubical contents will be 36,842,932,671,875,000,000,000 miles, that is, more than fifty-four thousand times larger than the sun. The number of such bodies exceeds all calculation. Sir W. Herschel perceived in that portion of the milky way which lies near the constellation Orion, no less than 50,000 stars large enough to be distinctly numbered, pass before his telescope in an hour's time; besides twice as many more which could be seen only now and then by faint glimpses. It has been reckoned that nearly a hundred millions of stars lie within the range of our telescopes. And, if we suppose, as we justly may, that each of these suns has a hundred worlds connected with it, there will be found ten thousand millions of worlds in that portion of the universe which comes within the range of human observation, besides those which lie concealed from mortal eyes in the unexplored regions of What an astonishing idea, then, The planetary system, including the comets, contain more than a hundred bodies dependant on the sun. space, which may as far exceed all that are visible, as the waters in the caverns of the ocean exceed in magnitude a single particle of vapour! Of such numbers and magnitudes we can form no adequate conception. The mind is bewildered, confounded, and utterly overwhelmed when it attempts to grasp the magnitude of the universe, or to form an idea of the Omnipotent energy which brought it into existence. The amplitude of the scale on which the systems of the universe are constructed tends likewise to elevate our conceptions of the Grandeur of the Deity. Between every one of the planetary bodies there intervenes a space of many millions of miles in extent. Between the sun and the nearest star, there is an interval, extending in every direction, of more than twenty billions of miles; and, it is highly probable, that a similar space surrounds every other system. And, if we take into consideration the immense forces that are in operation throughout the universe-that one globe, a thousand times larger than the earth, is flying through the regions of immensity at the rate of thirty thousand miles an hour, another at the rate of seventy thousand, and another at a hundred thousand miles an hour, and that millions of mighty worlds are thus traversing the illimitable spaces of the firmanent-can we refrain from exclaiming in the language of inspiration, "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty! Who can by searching find out God? Who can find out the Almighty to perfection? utter the mighty operations of Jehovah? show forth all his praise ?" Who can Such a scene displays, beyond any other view we can take of creation, the magnificence and extent of the Divine empire. Those countless worlds to which we have now adverted, are not to be considered as scenes of sterility and desolation, or as merely diffusing an useless splendour over the wilds of immensity, nor are they to be viewed as so many splendid toys to amuse a few astronomers in our diminutive world. Such an idea would be altogether inconsistent with every notion we ought to form of the wisdom and intelligence of the Deity, and with every arrangement we perceive in the scenes of nature immediately around us, where we behold every portion of matter teeming with inhabitants. These luminous and opaque globes dispersed throughout the regions of infinite space, must, therefore, be considered as the abodes of sensitive and intellectual existence, where intelligences of various ranks and orders contemplate the glory, and enjoy the bounty of their Creator. And what scenes of diversified grandeur must we suppose those innumerable worlds to display! What numerous orders and gradations of intellectual natures must the universe contain, since so much variety is displayed in every department of our sublunary system! What boundless intelligence is implied in the superintendence of such vast dominions! On such subjects the human mind can form no definite conceptions. The most vigorous imagination, in its loftiest flights, drops its wing and sinks into inanity before the splendours of the "King eternal, immortal, and invisible, who dwells in the light unapproachable," when it attempts to form a picture of the magnificence of the universe which he has created. But of this we are certain, that over all this boundless scene of creation, and over all the ranks of beings with which it is replenished, his moral government extends. Every motion of the material system, every movement among the rational and sen tient beings it contains, and every thought and perception that passes through the minds of the unnum. bered intelligences which people all worlds, are intimately known, and for ever present to his omniscient eye, and all directed to accomplish the designs of his universal providence and the eternal purposes of his will. "He hath prepared his throne in the heavens, his kingdom ruleth over all," and "he doth according to his will among the armies of heaven," as well as among the inhabitants of the earth.” 66 The host of heaven worshippeth him,-all his works, in all places of his dominions, praise him. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and of his government there shall be no end." At the same moment he is displaying the glory of his power and intelligence to worlds far beyond the reach of mortal eyes,-presiding over the councils of nations on earth, and supporting the invisible animalcula in a drop of water. "In him" all beings, from the archangel to the worm, "live and move," and on him they depend for all that happiness they now possess, or ever will enjoy, while eternal ages are rolling on. Such views of the omnipotence of the Deity and of the grandeur of his empire, are calculated not only to expand our conceptions of his attributes, but to enliven our hopes in relation to the enjoyments of the future world. For we behold a prospect boundless as immensity, in which the human soul may for ever expatiate, and contemplate new scenes of glory and felicity continually bursting on the view, "world without end." Such are some of the views of the Deity which the works of nature, when contemplated through the medium of science, are calculated to unfold. They demonstrate the unity of God, his wisdom and intel |