in the economy of nature, with their living types of the present day. The air, the sea, the earth; plants, animals, and man, are under one scheme of providence. The seasons are uniformly successive. Year to year we see the same causes in operation. Time rolls on; changes, vast and progressive, have been effected in the moral as well as physical aspect of the world, while bodies remain essentially what they were before, the conditions of sentient existence unaltered, and man occupies the same high intellectual position in the great scale of being. The same government thus maintains over all; the parts shifting and changing, the whole stable and collectively advancing; bound together by one invisible chain, and moving in obedience to one great principle of destiny and superintending will. Hence, upon the presumption that the character of the works determines the character of their author, the intelligent power which presides over all this must necessarily be ONE. Since creation in its elements, arrangements, and means of general harmony, is constructed upon a plan, and since that plan manifests the most perfect order-deviations controlled within limits, and convulsions only contributive to its greater stability-the inference cannot be resisted, that the Creator is essentially one in his being, as he is undivided in his purposes and actings.

When we narrow the field of inquiry, and look to man alone, in his relation to the external world, and the character of his moral constitution, the conclusion becomes still more decided and apparent. Here we see that the last of created beings is not only the highest in the scale, but likewise in the most perfect and extensive unison with the general scheme of nature. He spreads

himself over the whole face of creation, is capable of enduring all climes, of deriving sustenance from the products of all countries, conveniences and the means of improvement from the rocks of all ages. If we cannot demonstrate that this earth was made exclusively for man's use, we can still clearly show that he participates more largely in its various products than any of its other inhabitants, while it furnishes, not only to the individual, but to the race, generation after generation, the amplest field of mental and moral cultivation of which their natures are capable. The God of the outward world is also, and pre-eminently, the God of

man's inner being. He who created the light, likewise formed the human body. The potter of the clay fashioned and quickened the immaterial spirit. The controller of universal nature reigns supreme in the dominion of the soul. The power that binds the planets in their orbits, gives law to the conscience, constraining it to acknowledge in its perception of truth and homage to virtue the reverence that is due to the One Righteous Governor over all.

Contemplated under this latter and most important aspect of our nature, we are brought, in fact, into immediate communication with the undivided Author of our being. The idea of many is excluded in the conviction that truth and duty are one and unalterable. The gravitating principle in matter is not more universal in its operation, nor more distinct in its constraining influence over all bodies, than is the principle of CONSCIENCE in referring the good and evil of all actions to the standard of rectitude and tribunal of a righteous judge. Tribes, the most remote from each other— the most debased in ignorance-the most polluted in guilt-agree in this common attribute of humanity. Mankind do not, indeed, acknowledge one and the same standard of morality, and in religious observances there is the utmost diversity of opinion and practice. But the sense of duty, the feeling of moral and religious obligation, is universally discriminative of the human family; the sentiment of right and wrong is engraven indelibly on all human hearts. And, amidst all the ignorance or misconceptions that may prevail as to the merit or demerit of particular actions, the moral principle points but to one foundation of truth—the One Supreme-the Lord of conscience as of creation.

The PERFECTIONS of the Supreme Being are, in like manner, as distinctly notified in the works of creation as the fact of the mere existence of a designing Creator. The immensity of the universe clearly demonstrates the power in which it originated, and by which all its movements are still sustained, guiding the infinite systems of celestial bodies and the geological revolutions of our own planet with the same ease that it watches over and upholds the minutest objects in existence. There is no exhausting nor wearing out of the energies of nature: the arm that reared, still directs the stupendous fabric; and as skill and contrivance are mani

fest in every part, the greatest simplicity combined with the most exquisite adjustments, the utmost regularity prevailing in every department, and no failure in the operations of a single law throughout the vastness of creation, the conviction of consummate wisdom and of infinite omniscience irresistibly strikes upon the mind. No less clear and convincing are the evidences of goodness in the system of creation which we have been contemplating. The works, formed by the Divine hand, and which now occupy the Divine care, are boundless in extent, and of infinite variety; and they appear, to the eye of the common observer, as well as to the searching intellect, all formed for use, all rich in beauty, all indicative of beneficence. There is not utility alone interwoven, but an inimitable loveliness painted on the face and stamped on every department of nature; while creatures innumerable, of various orders and of different structures, present themselves to our view, which, by their creation and preservation-by the powers they possess, and the enjoyments they attain-proclaim the liberality of their author to be boundless. Nay, the inanimate parts of nature bear testimony to the same truth; the sun warms and fertilizes the earth; the earth affords nourishment, and furnishes a convenient dwelling-place to the various living creatures that inhabit it; and thus dead matter, in all its arrangements and under all its past changes, by being framed in subserviency to the happiness of living and intelligent beings, clearly evinces the goodness of its Creator. But to Man, in addition, the inspiration of the Almighty has given understanding, and has constituted him supreme in this lower world. Whoever considers his nature and condition, the make of his body and the constitution of his mind, the provision that is furnished for the supply of his animal wants, the objects that are provided for the improvement of his intellectual faculties, and the scope that is afforded for the exercise of his moral affections, must acknowledge that, if the goodness of God be manifestly displayed in the other works of his hands, it shines with peculiar luster in the creation and preservation of

man.

Thus, step by step, we rise to the loftiest conception which the human mind can embrace-the conception of a God—the person

ality, unity, and perfection of his being. How the conception of a Creator is formed, we cannot otherwise describe than by saying, that it springs up in the mind immediately upon the perception of an external world. It is not so much an exercise of reason, or elaborate effort of the understanding; but is rather a direct impression, traced at once upon the soul, as the image of Deity reflected from his works. All men possess it, for all men are so constituted, that they cannot look upon creation without the idea of a Creator accompanying and flowing from the act. The conception will be obscure, vague, and indistinct, according to the capacity, improvement, and general knowledge of the individual. But the conception is there, as necessarily as the effect follows the cause, the shadow the substance, the image the object which occasioned it. The heavens DECLARE the glory of God, the firmament shows his handiwork, the earth bears the traces of his path. And just in the degree in which we study and examine his works their uses and adaptations-their infinite variety, proportions, regularity, and magnitude are our convictions of his existence deepened, our admiration of his being and attributes enhanced, our feeling of security under his rule strengthened, and our sense of obligation and responsibility increased and solemnized. Ignorance does not obliterate the sense of Deity; it confuses and multiplies the image of his existence: it leads to polytheism. Knowledge brightens the picture, and represents the Creator, as reflected in his works, EXCELLENT, GLORIOUS, AND

INFINITELY PERFECT.

FINIS.

GLOSSARY OF SCIENTIFIC TERMS.