resplendent, and of a hundred times this number of spacious worlds which doubtless revolve around them? Yet this scene, stupendous as it is, is not the universe. It is perhaps only a comparatively small corner of creation, which beings at an immensely greater distance will behold as an obscure and scarcely discernible speck on the outskirts of their firmament; so that amidst this vast assemblage of material existence we may say, in the language of the inspired prophet when speaking of the Almighty, that even here is but "the hiding of his power." What, then, must the whole of creation be? and what must be the ineffable splendor and majesty of Him who laid the plan of the mighty fabric, whose breath kindled so many millions of suns, whose hands set in motion so many myriads of rolling worlds, who supports them in their ample and diversified courses, and whose moral government extends over all? And what is man and the globe on which he dwells amid this scene of immensity and magnificence? An atom in the infinity of space; a particle of vapor compared to the ocean; a being who, in respect to the magnificence of creation and the grandeur of his Creator, is "as nothing, and is counted to him as less than nothing and vanity."

Yet, amid all the magnificence of this vast system of universal nature, man is not forgotten by his Maker: his hand supports him, his wisdom guides him and his overflowing goodness provides in a thousand different modes for his happiness and enjoy

the Almighty had no other world under his superintendence. Within the moral government of the Creator of the universe he may rest secure and confident that he is not overlooked amid the immensity of being, for his presence pervades the infinity of space, and his knowledge extends to the minutest movements of all his creatures. Under his paternal care not only man, but the crawling worm, the fluttering insect, the little ant, and even the microscopic animalculum, find a home and provisions, as well as the highest order of his creatures; for "he openeth his hand and supplieth the wants of every living being."

IMMENSITY OF CREATION.

Ascending from the Milky Way to the still remoter regions of space, we perceive several thousands of dim specks of light which powerful telescopes resolve into immense clusters of stars. These nebulæ, as they are called, may be considered as so many milky ways, and some of them are supposed even "to outvie our Milky Way in grandeur." grandeur." Above three thousand of these nebulæ have been discovered; and if only two thousand be supposed to be resolvable into starry groups and to be as rich in stars at an average as our Milky Way, then we are presented with a scene which comprises more than forty thousand million of stars. And if we suppose, as formerly, fifty planetary globes to be connected with each, we have exhibited before us a prospect which includes two billion nineteen thousand one hundred million of worlds. Of such a number of bodies we can form no distinct conception, and much less can we form even a rude or approximate idea of the grandeur

scene must display. Were we to suppose each of these bodies to pass in review before us every minute, it would require more than three million eight hundred and forty thousand years of unremitting observation before the whole could be contemplated even in this rapid manner. Were an hour's contemplation allotted to each, it would require two hundred and thirty million four hundred thousand years till all the series passed under review; and were we to suppose an intelligent being to remain fifty years in each world for the purpose of taking a more minute survey of its peculiar scenery and decorations, one hundred billion nine hundred and fifty thousand million of years would elapse before such a survey could be completed-a number of years which to limited minds seems which to limited minds seems to approximate to something like eternity itself. Still, all this countless assemblage of suns and worlds is not the universe. Although we could range on the wings of a seraph through all this confluence of sidereal systems, it is more than probable that we should find ourselves standing only on the verge of creation, and that a boundless prospect stretching toward infinity on every side would still be presented to view; for we cannot suppose for a moment that the empire of Omnipotence terminates at the boundaries of human vision even when assisted by the most powerful instruments. Other intelligences may have powers of vision capable of penetrating into space a hundred times farther than ours when assisted with all the improvements of art, but even such beings cannot be supposed to have penetrated to the uttermost boundaries of creation. Man in future ages, by the improvements of

much farther into the remote regions of space than he has hitherto done, and may descry myriads of objects which have hitherto remained invisible in the unexplored regions of immensity. Ever since the invention of the telescope one discovery has followed another in almost regular succession. In proportion to the increase and activity of astronomical observers and the improvement of the instruments of observation, the more remote spaces of creation have been explored and new scenes of the universe laid open to human contemplation. And who shall set boundaries to the improvement and discoveries of future and more enlightened generations? tions? Before the invention of the telescope it would have been foolish to have asserted that no more stars existed than those which were visible to the naked eye, and after Galileo had discovered with his first telescopes hundreds of stars which were previously unknown, it would have been equally absurd to have maintained that the telescope would never be further improved and that no additional stars would afterward be discovered. It would be a position equally untenable to maintain that we shall never be able to descry objects in the heavens beyond the boundaries which we have hitherto explored, since science has only lately commenced its rapid progress, and since man is little more than just beginning to employ his powers in such investigations.

But, however extensive may be the discoveries of future ages, we may lay it down as an axiom that neither man nor any other rank of finite beings will ever be able to penetrate to the farthest boundaries of the creation. It would be presumptuous to sup

pose that a being like man-whose stature is comprehended within the extent of two yards, who vanishes from sight at the distance of a German mile, whose whole habitation sinks into an invisible point at the distance of Jupiter, who resides on one of the smallest class of bodies in the universe, and whose powers of vision and of intellect are so limited-should be able to extend his views to the extreme limits of the empire of the Eternal and to descry all the systems which are dispersed throughout the range of infinitude. It is more reasonable to believe that all that has yet been discovered of the operations of Omnipotence that lie within the boundaries of human vision is but a very small portion of what actually exists within the limits of creation; that the two billion nineteen thousand million of worlds which we have assumed as the scene of the visible universe are only as a single star to the whole visible firmament, or even as a single grain of sand to all the myriads of particles which cover the seashores and the bed of the ocean, when compared with what lies beyond the utmost range of mortal vision; for who can set bounds to infinitude or to the operations of Him whose power is omnipotent, "whose ways are unsearchable" and "whose understanding is infinite"? All that we have yet discovered of creative existence, vast and magnificent as it appears, may be only a small corner of some mightier scheme which stretches throughout the length and breadth of immensity, of which the highest created intellect may have only a few faint glimpses, which will be gradually opening to view throughout the revolutions of eternity, and which will never be fully explored during all the periods of an interminable exist

ence. What is seen and known of creation may be as nothing compared with what is unseen and unknown; and, as the ages of eternity roll on, the empire of the Almighty may be gradually expanding in its extent and receiving new additions to its glory and magnificence.

Hence we may conclude that there is no created being, even of the highest order of intelligences, that will ever be able to survey the whole scene of the universe. Of course, man, though destined to immortality, will never acquire a complete knowledge of the whole range of the Creator's operations even during the endless existence which lies before him; for his faculties, however much expanded in that state, will be utterly inadequate to grasp a scene so boundless and august. It will be a part of his happiness that he will never be able to comprehend the universe; for at every period of his future existence he will still behold a boundless prospect stretched out before him, with new objects continually rising to view, in the contemplation of which innumerable ages may roll away without the least apprehension of ever arriving at the termination of the scene. Were a superior intelligence ever to arrive at such a point, from that moment his happiness would be diminished, his love and adoration. of the Supreme would wax faint and languid and he would feel as if nothing new and transporting were to be added to his enjoyments throughout all the periods of his future existence. But the immensity of the universe and the boundless nature of the dominions of "the King Eternal" will for ever prevent any such effects from being produced in the case of all virtuous and holy intelligences.

All the vast systems to which we have alluded are the workmanship of an infinite and eternal being and display the grandeur of his perfections. It is impossible that such an amazing universe, arranged with such exquisite order and all the bodies it contains moving with such regular and rapid motions, could have formed itself or been produced by the fortuitous concourse of atoms. The very surmise that such a thing was possible is one of the wildest hallucinations that ever entered the human mind. It is a first principle connected with the constitution of every intellectual nature, and without the admission of which there can be no reasoning, that there is a "connection between cause and effect," and that every effect must have a corresponding cause adequate to its production." The universe is an effect the most sublime and glorious which the human mind can contemplate, and the natural and necessary conclusion which it almost instinctively draws

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is that it is the production of an eternal, intelligent and almighty Being. This is a conclusion which has been deduced by men of all nations and in every period of the world. "There is no nation or people," says Cicero, "so barbarous and ignorant as not to acknowledge a powerful and supreme divinity."

It is as natural for the human understanding, in its original and unbiased state, when contemplating the frame of the universe, to infer the existence of a deity as it is the property of the eye to distinguish light and colors, and of the ear to distinguish sounds. The principle from which this conclusion is deduced is exactly the same as that by which, from the contemplation of a building, we infer a builder, and from the elegance and utility

of every part of the structure we conclude that he was a wise and skilful architect, or that by which, from an inspection of a clock or watch, or any other piece of useful machinery, we infer not only the existence, but the qualities and attributes, of the contriver and artificer. If we thus necessarily infer the cause from the effect in the case of human art, can we for a moment hesitate to ascribe the production of this amazing universe which surrounds us to a Being of infinite knowledge, wisdom and power adequate to bring into existence such an immense and wonderful machine, and to preserve it in harmony from age to age amid all its diversified and complicated movements?

THOMAS DICK, LL.D.

THOMAS DICK, LL.D.

HIS author was born near Dundee,

Scotland, November 24, 1774. He was educated for a clergyman, and afterward taught school for several years at Perth. He is styled "the Christian Philosopher"a well-merited appellation which had its origin from the title of one of his works. Among his most popular writings are The Celestial Scenery and The Sidereal Heavens, which were published A. D. 1837 and a. D. 1841. His works are written in a popular and fascinating style, and manifest great aptitude for simplifying scientific subjects and rendering them interesting to non-scientific scholars." To the general reader they give glowing descriptions of the immensity and the grandeur of the universe. He died July 29, 1857.

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