the cup of science; when the hand which prepares it is one which has long led the enquirer through the pleasing intricacies of philosophy, and lifted for him the veil which covers the face of nature; it then comes recommended with such authority, that its most noxious ingredients are eagerly imbibed.

b

Observation of a very cursory nature shews that this danger is not entirely imaginary. The comprehensive mind, which has successfully endeavoured to understand how all things are ordered "in measure and number and weight," and to explain the mechanical phenomena of the heavens, has not always exhibited that humility which becomes a finite being in contemplating the mightiest works of an omnipotent Creator. They who have followed in the steps of Newton, have not all imitated the modest and humble piety, by which, in this instance, he was distinguished. So far from raising their thoughts from the works of nature to the God who created them, they have regarded all the properties of matter, not as communicated, but as inherent and have discerned nothing more than a train of necessary consequences, even in the exquisite order of the material world. They have sometimes dared to question the utility of the most obvious contrivances for the use

b Wisdom xi. 20.

of the inhabitants of this world; and even to suggest the means by which more beneficial effects might have been produced.o

The legitimate study of the highest branches of natural philosophy ought, on the contrary, to counteract such errors as these. The more the mind becomes conversant with the wonders of the heavens, the more convincing are the proofs which it receives of a power greater than any created being can be supposed to possess, and, what is still more, guided by supreme wisdom and goodness. But, since the very research into these magnificent works of the Creator may thus lead the unguarded student into difficulty and doubt, every one who is mastering the scientific difficulties of astronomy, should, at the same time, direct his attention to the proofs of power and of manifest contrivance with which the heavens abound; that he may be able to give a reason of the hope that is

с

• Although La Place (in the preface to the third volume of his Mecanique Celeste, p. xii.) describes the moon as "Cet astre qui semble avoir ete donne a la terre pour l'eclairer pendant les nuits," yet in his Exposition du Systeme du Monde, a work intended for popular use, he ventures to express himself thus. "Quelques partisans des causes finales ont imagine que la lune avait ete donnee a la terre pour l'eclairer pendant les nuits. Dans ce cas la nature n'aurait point atteint le but qu'elle se serait propose." (Liv. IV. ch. v. p. 241. edit. 4.) He then makes a supposition by which the illumination of the earth during the night would have been more perfectly accomplished.

in him, if he meet with those objections, which have been drawn, even from astronomical principles, against revealed religion. Neither the unmeaning surprise of the ignorant, nor the profound research of the philosopher, discovers in the contemplation of the heavens the best instruction which it is intended to convey. From the word of that God who made the heavens we must learn the most important lesson of all. And that word addresses us thus. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work."

In the heavens, as in every other part of the creation, there exist proofs of power and design. And if we stop short in our researches, without extending our thoughts from the wonders of nature to the God of nature, we omit to do that which reason recommends and revelation enjoins.

The ideas, which the study of the heavens most immediately suggests, are those of astonishing power. And in order more clearly to conceive the extent of the Divine power as displayed by the heavens, it will be desirable to notice how clearly we ascend in the study of astronomy from one degree of magnitude to another. There are parts of the creation in which, if we wish to form in our minds any distinct notions of the power which is exerted,

we find ourselves at a loss, for want of some common medium, by which we can compare those works of God with any work of man. When the Almighty, after having formed man of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so that man became a living soul,d He exerted a power which, we are conscious, is incomparably superior to that which we possess. But then it is a power totally distinct from any which we can exert ; and therefore is entirely incomprehensible.

But the steps, by which our minds rise from the consideration of things on earth to the wonders of the heavens, afford a scale by which we can, in some degree, compare the extent of the works of God with the field to which the exertions of mankind are limited: and we thus perhaps acquire a more correct, although a very inadequate notion, in this one instance, how far the works of God transcend those of man.

We will first confine our view to the surface of the earth. We look around us, and behold it diversified with woods, and streams, and seas, and mountains; and we cannot fail to observe the absolute insignificance of the most elaborate productions of man compared with the great features of nature. What are the most splendid palaces which human labour can erect, compared

d Gen. ii. 8.

with the hills, whose foundations the Lord hath laid? What are the most stately vessels, which the ingenuity of man can build and his science direct, compared with the ocean in which they are so frequently swallowed up? But when our contemplations are raised from the earth to the heavens, the scale of comparison is progressively enlarged: we are enabled to rise step by step from the earth which we inhabit to the limits of the planetary system in which we live; and thence to the sensible bounds of the universe.

Let us refer to a few of these gradations; and take notice how they depend one upon the other.

I. Observations of a very obvious nature shew that the earth is nearly of a spherical form and an approximate value of its magnitude is obtained by measuring a definite portion of its surface. This affords the means of ascertaining, by a process which needs not now to be explained, the distance at which the moon performs her monthly course round the earth, and the much greater distance at which the earth revolves about the sun. A calculation, founded upon further observation of the heavenly bodies, discovers the distance at which the primary planets revolve in their respective orbits. It enables us to ascertain