The Stoic in Tully, saith: "What can be so plain and clear, when we behold the heavens, and view the heavenly bodies, as that there is some Deity of a most excellent mind, by whom these things are governed; a present and almighty God? which he that doubts of, I do not understand why he should not as well doubt whether there is a sun that shines."

History informs us of many strange and unnatural schemes, which, at different times had been projected to represent the system of the heavens; but it was not until the 15th century, that Copernicus, a native of Poland, brought forward that which is called the Solar System. By making our earth turn round on its own axis, considering it to be a planet, revolving as well as the other planets, round the sun; and by making their satellites or moons, move in like manner round the planets, he accounted for day and night, and the vicissitudes of seasons, by a few simple revolutions. But the Copernican system supposed the firmament of the fixed stars, to be the utmost bounds of the universe.

Indeed the wonders of the heavens beyond the powers of the naked eye, were concealed before the invention of the telescope, which was not until the 17th century, by Galileo, a Venetian. His extraordinary talents greatly improved the first

invention; but it has been reserved for the period in which we live, to look as into the infinity of space. Dr. Herschel, the astronomer royal, has advanced the power of vision to an extent truly astonishing, by his most powerful telescope, which magnifies six thousand and five hundred times. He has discovered that all the stars which appear to us to decorate the skies, with the whole milky way, that shining zone of light, is but one stratum of shining orbs; is but one of innumerable clusters, scattered in the unbounded expanse.

Surveying the Galaxy, he calculated that, in one quarter of an hour, no less than 116,000 stars passed through the field of view of his telescope. He thinks the stratum in which we are placed, may contain many millions of stars.

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That some of these vast globes have a motion, is obvious to our sight; and that all have, may be be concluded from the constant similitude the works of nature have one to another. That they are not dropped here and there at random, and left to wander in the great expanse in uncertain paths, is manifest from our earth; which is at such a distance from the heavenly bodies, and the heavenly bodies at such a distance from one another, as not in the least to clash with, or disorder each other. Without an Almighty guide and director, how is it possible such vast unwieldy

masses should continue their revolutions, without the least intermission or interruption that we know of! What mechanism, or piece of clock work, was there ever under the whole heavens, that had not some stops, or some deviation? And yet no one was ever so stupid as to conclude, such machine was made by any other than a rational being; some artist who had skill for such a work. Cicero, one of the greatest men of antiquity, as an Orator, Statesman, and Philosopher, who lived 107 years before the Christian era, says of his friend Possidonius's piece of watch work: "Had it been carried among the Scythians or Britons, no man in their state of barbarity, would have made any doubt whether it was the workmanship of reason or not." No one then, who considers the structure of the universe, can fail to have his mind filled with the supremest veneration for its Author.

d Who can contemplate without astonishment the motion of a comet, running far beyond the orb of Saturn; endeavouring to escape into the trackless regions of unbounded space, yet feeling, at its utmost distance, the attraction of the sun; hearing as it were the voice of Omnipotence arresting its progress, and compelling it, after a lapse of ages, to reiterate its course! Who can comprehend the distance of the stars from the

earth and from each other? It is so great, that it mocks our conception; our imagination is terrified and bewildered when we are told that one ray of light, which moves at the rate of more than ten millions of miles in a minute, if emitted at this instant from the brightest star, would not reach the earth in less than six years.

We think this earth a great globe, and we see the sad wickedness which individuals have been often guilty of, in the manner of scraping together a little of its dust. We view with still greater astonishment the mighty ruin, which, in all ages, has been brought upon human kind, by the low ambition of contending powers, to acquire a temporary possession of a little portion of its surface. But how does this globe sink as it were to nothing, when we consider that a million of earths will scarcely equal the bulk of the sun! that all the stars are suns; and that a million of suns constitute, probably, but a minute portion of that material world, which God has distributed through the immensity of space!

The sentiments of Seneca, the Philosopher, who lived in the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius, are very remarkable; when he exclaims, respecting our earth; "Is this that little point which is divided among nations, by fire and sword? ah! how ridiculous are the bounds

of mortals! It is a point, in which ye sail, in which ye war, in which ye dispose of kingdoms."

But above are vast spaces, into the possession of which, the mind is admitted, on condition that it hath brought little of the body along with it; that it hath cleansed itself from every filthy thing. "When such a mind" saith he, hath touched these celestial regions, it is then nourished, and grows; and, as if delivered from its bonds, returns to its original state. And this argument it hath of its divinity, that it delights in divine matters, and is conversant with them; not as strange things, but as its own. There it securely beholds the rising and setting stars, their different courses, &c. Thus this curious Spectator discusses every thing, and searches out every thing." What sentiments are these for a heathen, and before the powers of vision had been enlarged by the invention of the telescope. He himself may be compared to a star, to one of the first magnitude, emitting its lustre in the dark night of paganism.

But systems of insensible matter, however vast, prove only the wisdom and power of the Great Architect of nature: as precipient beings we look for something more from his goodness; and we cannot open our eyes without seeing it. Every portion of the earth, sea, and air, is full of sensible beings; capable, in their respective or