Echoes of the Universe

few will rise from its perusal without feeling their mi and their sphere of Christian charity enlarged.

To return to the importance of the topics discussed ing chapters. It may not be of equal importance to a derstand the astronomy and the geology, the palæont natural history of the Scriptures; but there are some, wi duty it is to investigate these subjects. Infidels are eve ignorant and unfair objections; the "defenders of the fa on their part, be ever ready with sound and honest answ is no truth which will not bear examination, and the very of discussion affords a primâ facie evidence against any ti

But even for the private satisfaction of the Scriptural st ought to be acquainted with the philosophy and the history graphy and the antiquities of Holy Writ. It is utterly in to conceive the different feelings with which he who has studied the Bible regards it, from those which are experien the mere cursory reader; and as it is possible to obtain a amount of such critical information in the English langua there are few indeed who may not both appropriate and enjoy

"Search the Scriptures" is a Divine command; and like all commands emanating from the same source, it has a specific ble attached to it. In obeying it, we shall have revealed to our m view Him who is the truth and the light, and we shall perceive all truth, whether scientific, or historical, or theological, leads to who is its source and centre.

One word more before we close this introduction. To a Soci whose professed object is "to aid the cause of Missions at home a abroad," all that tends to throw a light upon the Divine record must be peculiarly interesting. They know how important it is t distinguish between those "secret things which belong to God," and those things which are revealed, and which therefore belong "to us and to our children." It is an error of no common magnitude to confound these two, and to class under the common title of mysteries those passages of the Sacred Volume which refer to the most abstruse points of the Divine intentions-the most hidden wonders of the Divine nature-and those which only require a little study, a little explanation, to be perfectly plain and clear.

It is peculiarly a subject of moment, that all those to whom the ministry of the Gospel is committed should make this distinction; there would in that case be fewer unprofitable discussions, and much more progress made in the knowledge of the truth.

The formation of the missionary character, wherever the field of missionary labor may be, is to be attempted only by the full cultivation of every faculty; for as the office is the highest and the noblest that earth can offer, so the qualifications for it should be the most profound and extensive.

He who teaches, or who professes to teach, truth in its loftiest and purest form, should certainly be conversant with it under its humbler phases; and while the chief value of all knowledge is that it raises the spiritual being to a higher grade, and prepares it for a more perfectly developed existence, yet has each step its own separate interests, and is well worthy to be studied for its own sake.

It will be evident, that so vast a subject can be but slightly treated in so small a book as this; but if the manner of treating it be considered, the book, small as it is, will be found complete in itself. The solar system-the starry heavens-the laws of imponderable fluids the discoveries of geology-the natural history of Scripture —will give us distinct Echoes from the world of Matter. To these we shall find (if the term be allowable) parallel Echoes from the world of Spirit.

The appearances of a Divine Person, recorded in Sacred History -the visitations of angels and spirits of an order now higher than man-the apparitions of the departed spirits of saints-the cases recorded of demoniacal possession-and the manner in which these narratives are supported and explained by reason and experiencegive us a similar succession of Echoes from the realms of the Invisible. The seen and the unseen, the Physical and the Immaterial, will be thus shown to coincide-and the unity of the Voice proved by the unity of the Echo.

SION COLLEGE.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PART I.

CHAPTER I.

COSMOGONY AND ASTRONOMY.

INTRODUCTION-THE YOUNG MEN'S ASSOCIATION, IMPORTANCE OF SCIENTIFIC

RESEARCH-THE COSMOGONY OF MOSES-ETERNITY OF MATTER-THE QUES-

TION SET AT REST-ONE ACT OF CREATION-LIGHT CREATED BEFORE THE

SUN-SOLAR SYSTEM-SCHEME OF PTOLEMY NOT SUPPORTED BY MOSES-THE

MOON AND HER OFFICES-HER INHABITATION-RECENT DISCOVERIES CONCERN-

ING THE LUNAR ATMOSPHERE-PROGRESSIVE CHARACTER OF CREATION-

ANALOGY BETWEEN THE VISIBLE AND SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE