perceptible to finite minds; for he is "the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, dwelling in that light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, or can see." From his nature, as a spiritual uncompounded substance, and from his immensity, as filling infinite space with his presence, it appears impossible, in the very nature of things, that the glory of his perfections can be displayed in any other way than through the medium of the visible operations of his hands, or in the dispensations of his providence towards particular worlds or classes of intelligences. And if, in the future world, the souls of good men will enjoy a more glorious display than at present, of the attributes of Deity, it will be owing chiefly to their being placed in more favourable circumstances than they now are, for contemplating this display; to their faculties being more invigorated; and every physical and moral impediment to their exercise being completely removed; so as to enable them to perceive more clearly than they now do, the unbounded displays he has given of his power, wisdom, and benevolence. And, if we expect to be introduced to this state of enlarged vision, when we pass from the scenes of mortality, it cannot be a matter of mere indifference, even now, whether or not our minds are prepared for such exalted employments, by endeavouring to form the most ample conceptions of the attributes of God which can be obtained through the medium of his word, and by a contemplation of the variety and magnificence of his works. In the prospect of that world where we hope to spend an interminable existence, it must also be interesting to ascertain, whether or not the dominions of the universal Sovereign present such an extent of empire, and such a variety of objects, that new scenes of wonder and glory may be expected to be displayed in continual succession, for the contemplation and entertainment of holy beings, while eternal ages are rolling on. And, on this point, the discoveries of science confirm and illustrate the notices of heavenly glory and felicity recorded in the inspired volume, and lead us to rest with full assurance on the prophetic declaration, that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

III. By connecting the discoveries of science with religion, the minds of Christians would be enabled to take a more minute and comprehensive survey of the OPERATIONS OF PRO

VIDENCE.

Providence is that superintendence and care which God exercises over all creatures and events, in order to accomplish the eternal purposes of his will. In creation, God brought the universe out of nothing, and arranged all its provinces and inhabitants in due order. By his providence he supports and governs all the

movements of the mat rial system, and the se sitive and rational beings with which it is peopled. It is evident, that, in proportion as our views of the Creator's dominions are extended, our views of his providence will, to a certain extent, be pro portionably enlarged. For wherever worlds and beings exist, there will God be found, preserving, superintending, and governing the movements of all creatures and events. It is chiefly, however, in the world in which we reside, that the diver sified dispensations of Providence can be distinctly traced. Now an acquaintance with the prominent parts of the different branches of knowledge to which I have already adverted, would enable us to take a particular and comprehensive view, not only of the ways of God to man, but also of his arrangements in reference to all subordinate creatures and events.

From the inspired history of the Old Testament, we can trace the prominent lines of the dispensations of God towards man, particularly in regard to the Israelites and the surrounding nations-from the creation to a period about 400 years before the coming of Christ. But in order to perceive the farther progress and bearings of these lines till the commencement of the New Testament economy, we must have recourse to the most authentic records of profane history. From the era of the birth of Christ to near the close of the first century, we can acquire, from the evangelists and the history of the apostes, a particular account of the life of Christ, of the events which preceded and accompanied the finishing of the work of redemption, and of the progress of the gospel through Judea and the adjacent countries. But after this period we have no inspired guide to direct us in tracing the divine dispensations towards the various nations of the earth; and, therefore, we must have recourse to the annals, memoirs, chronicles, and other records of the history of nations, down to the period in which we live; otherwise we could never contemplate the continued series of events in the divine economy towards the inhabitants of our world. Unless men of learning and of ob servation had recorded the prominent facts which have occurred in the history of nations, for 1700 years past, we must have remained almost as ig norant of the dispensations of God towards our race, during that period, as the inhabitants of the planet Saturn and unless we study the events thus recorded in the writings of the historian, and contemplate their varied aspects and bearings in the light of divine revelation, we must still remain ignorant of the grand movements and tendencies of divine providence. This single circumstance shows, in the clearest light, that it is the intention of God, that we should learn the operations of his providence from the researches of science and history, as well as from the records of revelation; and that the scriptures, though they contain every supernatural discovery requisite te

filled with good.”—“O Lord, thou preservest man and beast! How excellent is thy loving kindness! Therefore the children of men shall put their trust under the shadow of thy wings They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house," (of the table thou hast spread in thy world for all thine offspring,)" and thou shall make them drink of the river of thy pleasures." One excellent practical effect which might flow from such contemplations would be, to inspire us with feelings of humanity towards the inferior order of animals, and to prevent us from wantonly and unnecessarily torturing, or depriving them of existence. For since the Creator and Preserver of all has so curiously organized their bodies, and fitted them for the different regions in which they reside, and so carefully provided for all their wants, it must be His will that they should enjoy happiness according to the extent of their capacities; and, therefore, they ought to be considered as necessary parts of our sublunary system. Another practical lesson we may derive from such surveys, is, to place an unshaken dependence upon God for our temporal subsistence, while we, at the same time, exert all our faculties in the line of active duty. "Blessed is the man who trusteth in him; for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions may suffer hunger, but they that fear the Lord shall not want any good thing." He who decks the lily of the vale, and spreads out a plentiful table to the fowls of heaven, to the beasts of the forests, to the creeping insects, and even to the microscopic animalculæ, will never fail to supply the necessary wants of those who "do His will, and hearken to the voice of his commandments." And if, at any time, we be found destitute of daily food, and pining away in penury and squalid disease, we have too much reason to conclude, that in one way or another, either our deviation from the path of rectitude, or our distrust of divine providence, or our want of prudence and economy, has procured for us these things.

I have said, that it is chiefly in the world in which we dwell, that the dispensations of Providence can be distinctly traced. But we must nevertheless admit that the care and superintendence of God are as minutely exercised in the distant regions of the universe as in our terres trial sphere; though we are not permitted, at present, to inspect the particular details of His

This, and several other similar passages, may be considered as more especially applicable to the bounty of providence which God has provided for all his creatures. The practice of spiritualizing such passages, as it is termed, has a tendency to caricature Scripture, and to twist it from its precise and sublime references, to accord with the vague fancies of injudicious minds. The literal meaning of Scripture is always the most appropriate, em phatic, and sublime; but it may, in some cases, be used by way of accommodation, in illustrating divine Bubjects, when it is applied with judgment and disCrimination.

procedure in reference to other orders of intelli. gences. We are not, however, altogether igno rant of some prominent features of the physical and moral economy of other worlds, in consequence of the discoveries of modern astronomical science.

ator.

With respect to their physical economy, we behold a striking variety in the divine arrangements. We perceive one planetary world sur rounded by two splendid and magnificent rings, one of them 204,000, and the other 184,000 miles in diameter, stretching across its celestial canopy from one end of the heavens to another-noving with majestic grandeur around its inhabitants every ten hours, and diffusing a light equal to several thousands of moons like ours-which may be considered as a visible and permanent emblem of the majesty and glory of their CreWe perceive connected with the same globe, seven moons, all larger than ours, of different magnitudes, and placed at different distances, and revolving in different periods of time around that spacious world. The diversified aspects of these rings, as viewed from the different regions of the planet at different times, and the variety of appearances produced by the alternate rising and setting, culmination, and frequent eclipses, and other aspects of the moons, must present to the inhabitants a very grand and varied and magnificent scene of divine operation.* On the other hand, we behold another planetary globe, destitute both of rings and moons, but which has the starry heavens presented to view nearly in the same aspect in which we bebold them. We perceive a third globe much larger than them both, capable of containing 200 umes the number of the inhabitants of our world-accompanied in its course with four moons to dif fuse light in the absence of the sun, and to di versify the aspect of its sky. In some of these worlds, the succession of day and night is ac complished within the space of ten hours; in others, this revolution is not completed till after the lapse of twenty-four hours, or of as many days. In some, the days and nights are nearly equal on every part of their surface, and they have little variety of seasons; in others, the variety in the length of the days, and the vicissi tudes of the seasons, are nearly the same as those we experience in our terrestrial world. Around some there appears a dense atmosphere, while others are environed with atmospheres more rare and transparent. Some move in the vicinity of the sun, and enjoy an abundant efflux of light and heat, while others are removed to the distance of eighteen hundred millions of miles from that central luminary. Some finish the revolu tion of their year in a few months; while others require twelve, thirty, or even eighty of our years to complete their annual round. Some appear

adorned with majestic mountain scenery, and others seem to have great changes occasionally taking place in their atmosphere, or on their surfaces. There are four planetary bodies lately discovered, which, there is every reason to be lieve, once formed the component parts of a large globe; but by some mighty catastrophe in the dispensations of heaven, it appears to have been burst asunder into the fragments we now behold. If the general proposition illustrated in section 2. of the preceding chapter be admitted, such a fact would seem to indicate that a moral revolution has taken place among the intelligent beings who had originally been placed in those regions; and that their fate was involved in the dreadful shock which burst asunder the globe they inhabited; just as the fate of the antediluvians was involved in the shock by which the solid crust of our globe was disrupted, at the period of the universal deluge.

These are some outlines in the economy of Providence which we can trace with regard to the arrangements of other worlds; but beyond such general aspects we are not permitted to penetrate, so long as we sojourn in tabernacles of clay. But even such general views afford some scope to the contemplative mind, for forming en larged conceptions of the grandeur and diversity of the dispensations of God, in the worlds which roll in the distant regions of space.

With regard to their moral economy-we may rest assured that the prominent outlines of it are materially the same as of that economy which relates to the inhabitants of our world. The fundamental principles of the moral laws given to men, and which it is the great object of revela tion to support and illustrate, are, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and understanding," and, "Thou shalt love thy neigh bour as thyself." On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Now, we must admit, from the nature of the Divine Being, and from the relations in which rational beings stand to Him and to one another, that the Creator has enacted these laws, as the great govern ing principles by which the actions of all intelligences in heaven, as well as upon earth, are to be directed. For the Governor of the world can never be supposed to issue a law to any order of rational creatures, which would permit them to hate their Creator, or to hate those whom he has formed after his own image. Such a supposition would be inconsistent with the eternal rules of rectitude, and with the perfections of Deity-and the fact supposed, (if it could exist,) would introduce confusion and misery throughout the whole intelligent universe. And, therefore, we must necessarily admit, that the laws to which I now advert, are binding upon all the rational inhabitants which exist throughout Jehovah's dominions; and that it is by these that the moral order of all the principalities and powers of hea

ven is preserved and directed. In those worlds where there is no change in the succession of their inhabitants—or, in other words, where there is no death, or where they are not produced by any process analogous to generation, but have a fixed and permanent residence, there will be no need for moral precepts corresponding to the fifth and the seventh commandments of our moral law; and in those worlds where property is common, and the bounties of the Creator are equally enjoyed by all, there will be no necessity for a law corresponding to the eighth commandment; but the general principles on which these laws are founded, will be applicable to all the other circumstances and relations which actually exist; so that the principle, and spirit, and essence of our religion must be common to all the holy inhabitants of the universe. And, therefore, it will follow, that every intelligent being that is animated and directed by such principles and affections, will be qualified for holding delightful intercourse with all holy beings throughout the universe of God, in whatever province of the Creator's empire he may hereafter be placed; and, to qualify us for such harmonious and af fectionate intercourse, is one great end of the salvation exhibited in the gospel. So that, although we cannot, in our present state, acquire a minute and comprehensive knowledge of the moral history of other worlds, of the special interpositions or manifestations of Deity in rela tion to them, or of the means by which they are carried forward in moral and intellectual improve ment—yet we can trace the general principles or laws which form the basis of their moral and religious economy. For as the laws of optics, and the principle of gravitation, pervade the whole material system, as far as the universe is visible to our assisted vision, so the principle of supreme love to God, and sincere affection to fel low-intelligences, must pervade the intellectual universe, wherever it extends; and, if any intelligent agents besides men, have violated these laws, they must experience pain, and misery, and disorder, analogous to those which are felt by the inhabitants of our apostate world.

Thus I have endeavoured to show, that the combination of science with religion would tend to expand our views of divine providence→→ in the various arrangements of God, in relation to the human race, and to the subordinate tribes of sensitive beings and in reference to some of the prominent features of his administration in distant worlds. And, therefore, though the Christian ought never to overlook the ways of Providence in relation to himself, and to his spiritual and domestic concerns, yet it would argue a selfishness and a sottishness altogether inconsistent with the noble and expansive spirit of Christianity, to overlook all the other parts of the theatre of divine dispensations, when a very slight degree of labour and research

IV.-The connexion of science with religion would have a tendency to induce upon Christians A SPIRIT OF LIBERALITY, OF CANDOUR, and of ACCURACY IN JUDGING OF THE OPINIONS AND ACTIONS OF MEN, and of THE

DIVINE PROCEDURE AND OPERATIONS.

Who is the most candid and liberal Being in the Universe? God.-And why is God to be considered as the most liberal intelligence that exists? Because he embraces a minute, a full, and comprehensive view of all the circumstances, connexions, relations, habits, motives, temptations, modes of thinking, educational biases, physical affections, and other causes, that may influence the sentiments or the conduct of any of his creatures.-Who among created intelligences may be viewed as endowed with these qualities in the next degree? The loftiest seraph that God has created, who has winged his way to numerous worlds, and taken the most extensive survey of the dispensations of the Almighty, and of all creatures and events. Who, among the sons of men, is the most illiberal and inaccurate in judging of opinions, of persons, and of things? The man who has lived all his days within the smoke of his father's chimney, or within the confines of his native village who has never looked beyond the range of his own religious party-whose thoughts have always run in one narrow track-whose reading has been confined to two or three musty volumes, which have lain for ages on the same smoky shelf who cares for nothing either in the heavens or the earth, but in so far as it ministers to his convenience, his avarice, or his sensual enjoyment-who will admit no sentiment to be true, but what he may have heard broached by his parson-and whose conversation seldom rises beyond mere gossipping chit-chat, and the slanderous remarks which are circulated among his neighbours. Such characters are entirely unqualified for forming a correct judgment, either of the sentiments and the actions of men, or of the works and the ways of God; for they are completely destitute of the requisite data whereon to form a rational decision in relation to either of these subjects.

It may be admitted as a kind of axiom, in our estimate of human character, that in proportion to the ignorance and the narrow range of view which characterize any individual, in a similar proportion will be his want of candour and his unfitness for passing a sound judgment on any subject that is laid before him, and that the man who has taken excursions through the widest range of thought, accompanied with a corresponding improvement of his moral powers, will always be the most liberal and candid in his de

others. To these maxims few exceptions wil generally be found.-In forming an enlightened judgment in regard to any action or object, it is essentially requisite, that we contemplate it in all its different features and aspects, and in all its minute circumstances, bearings, and relations. We would not hesitate for a moment to determine who is best qualified to give an accurate description of a city, he who has only viewed its spires from a distance, while in rapid motion in his chariot-or he who has minutely surveyed all its streets, lanes, squares, public edifices, and surrounding scenery, in every variety of aspect; or, who appears most likely to form the most accurate and enlightened judgment in relation to any particular kingdom-he who has just skirted along a few miles on one of its coasts, or he who has traversed its length and breadth in all directions, and mingled with every class of its inhabitants. On the same principle, it must be admitted, that he who has viewed religion in all its aspects and bearings, who has taken the most extensive survey of the manifestations of God, and of the habits and relations of men, is the best qualified to pronounce a candid and accurate decision on all the intellectual and moral cases that may come before him.

If the spirit of the above stated sentiments be founded on reason and on fact, it will follow, that the more we resemble God in the amplitude of our intellectual views and benevolent affections, the more candid, and liberal, and accurate will our judgments be in reference to all the actions, objects, and relations we contemplate.-On the other hand, the man who is confined to a narrow range of thought and prospect is continually blundering in the estimates he forms, both in respect to physical facts, to general principles, and to moral actions. He forms a premature and uncharitable opinion on every slander and report against his neighbour. He condemns, without hesitation, and throws an unmerited odium on whole bodies of men, because one or two of their number may have displayed weakness or folly. He hates and despises men and their opinions, because they belong not to his political or religious party. He pronounces his decisions on the motives of men, with as much confidence as if he had surveyed their hearts with the eye of omniscience. He cannot hear an objection against his favourite opinions with patience, nor an apology for any set of opinions but his own. He is arrogant and dogmatical in his assertions, and will make no concessions to the superior wisdom of others. He sets himself, with violence, against every proposal for reformation in the church, because his forefathers never thought of it, and because such “innovations" do not suit his humour and preconceived opinions. He decides, in the most confident tone, on what God can and cannot do, as if he