bodies rise before us,-light, heat, electricity, magnetism, the subtility of their nature, the almost infinite velocity of their motions, combined with the important parts which they perform among all-even the most massive of material things-we are still more bewildered amidst the wonders of that intellect and power which bend their agencies to its purposes. When we pass from material agencies, and glance at the instincts of animals, and observe how perfectly fitted these instincts are to the forms and powers of their bodies, for sustaining their lives, and prolonging the existence of their species, yet the measure of discretionary power which they enjoy, to accommodate themselves to their circumstances, we see design, indeed, in the creation of these instincts as distinct as in mere matter; but the mode of the execution of the design altogether beyond our comprehension. There is a wisdom and power here not only which we cannot fathom, but of which we can form no better conception than that it exists and is everywhere manifest. When we lift our eyes from this earth to the universe of matter around us, we see the same evidences of design and power, but on a scale of magnificence incomprehensible. We see the same principles of order there as on the surface of the earth,-motion and attraction balancing one another: motions of prodigious power bridled, controlled, and regulated by another power, that we call attraction. But whence these stupendous motions? Who launched forth these huge and massive bodies with such amazing velocity? and what is that attraction which controls them, and binds their headlong velocities to regular orbits ?--are questions that would strike us dumb if we did not discern in them a designing mind that urges them on their flight, while He holds the reins which command and direct them.

But may not these evidences of design and power and will employed in the structure and government of the universe, indicate the design and will and power, not of

one intelligent being only, but of many? Certainly not; and for two reasons.

1. That gradation of being which has been noticed by all who have thought or written on the subject, by which the various departments of nature gradually merge into one another, leaving no gap between them, renders it impossible to ascribe one department to one creator and governor, and another department to another creator. Solids, fluids, and gases are so connected together, the same substance being sometimes in one state and sometimes in another; fossils and organised substances, plants and animals, the various tribes of plants and of animals, trees, shrubs, herbs, fowls, fishes, insects, reptiles, quadrupeds so gradually melt into one another, as to render it scarcely possible to determine where the one class ends and the other commences. The moon, with its mountains and valleys and plains, and its extinct volcanoes, is obviously of the same structure with the earth. It bears a relation to the earth so similar to that of the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn to their primaries, that both primaries and satellites must have had the same Creator. The sun is a star, only much nearer us than the other stars; the smaller stars are manifestly so identical in kind with the stars discovered in nebulæ, and the nebula which have been resolved by telescopes, and found to consist of stars, are so manifestly of the same kind with those nebula which no telescope has yet resolved, that one mind and will must be the creator and governor of all. It is thus one of the beautiful marks of design in the universe, that the Creator of it has so made the various departments of nature from the sand under our feet to the most distant nebulæ melt so into one another, as to leave no opening even for the surmise that there might be more creators and governors than one.

2. But the great irrefragable proof that the whole. material universe, so far as we have the means of

knowing it, is the product of one designing intellect, directing one all-powerful will, is, that all the parts of it are mutually dependent on one another. The sea, the dry land, the air, the vegetation that clothes the land, the animals that people both sea and land, could not exist in their present state independently of one another. The sea is kept full by the rivers that run into it from the dry land. The rivers are supplied from the sea. The atmosphere is the medium of communication by means of which the vapour from the ocean is carried to the land and condensed there into the water that forms the rivers, that water the earth, and replace the waters abstracted from the ocean. The whole of these processes depend on the influence of the sun. The attraction of the sun keeps the earth in its regular revolution; the heat of the sun keeps the air, the sea, and the dry land in their relative positions. The light of the sun is necessary to vegetation, and without heat, light, and plants, there could be no animals. The portion of light which the sun sends to the earth is exactly accommodated to the myriads of living creatures in various habitats, so as to afford to all light enough, and not too much. Some sentimentalists, looking on the glory of the sun, and the beautiful tints with which it colours an eastern or western sky, have spoken as if that glory were in the sun itself, and have all but paid adoration to it, as the first idolaters really did. A little reflection would have taught them that all that glorious appearance depends as much on the nature of the atmosphere, nay, on the structure of their own eyes, as on the emanation of light from the sun. Were there no atmosphere, there could be no glorious sunrise or sunWere their eyes a little less sensitive, it would not appear more glorious than a glimmering taper; or if they were a little more sensitive, it would be a cause of agony and an object of horror, from the torment of

set.

which they would be fain to hide themselves. The glory is not in the sun, but in the exact adaptation of the light of the sun passing through the medium of the atmosphere to their eyes, and their eyes to it. And what is that adaptation but another name for the wisdom and power of the Deity? Inhabitants in Mercury might, in consequence of the structure of their eyes, not be more dazzled by the sun's brightness than we, nor more oppressed with its heat; while inhabitants in Saturn or Uranus might see as clearly by it, and feel its heat as oppressively as the inhabitants of our torrid zone. The whole planetary system depends for its order, its very existence, on the sun; and it is probable that the sun itself, with its planetary attendants, depends on some other body still more remote from us. Thus again we see that He who constructed the universe, has so designed and executed His design, as not to leave room for even the surmise that there could be more creators or governors.

It is this clear indication of the design and power of one pervading mind presented by the whole universe, and by every separate part of it, even the most minute, that binds it together as one magnificent temple, or rather, one magnificent and stupendous piece of machinery; and will not permit us to regard it as a mere aggregation of antecedents and consequents. Now, our conception of the universe as the product of design and power is formed upon precisely the same kind of evidence, but infinitely more satisfactory and more extensive than our conception of a watch or a steamengine as the product of the skill and power of another human mind than our own. And both of these conceptions are founded on our consciousness of design in ourselves, to arrange and modify material substances so as to render them subservient to our purposes.

But, further, we have in the material world around

us, not only evidences of design and power, but indications of many other mental attributes of the Great Designer of the glorious work.

If, for example, we should visit the repository of a mechanician, and see that his machines were not only perfectly adapted for their different purposes, but that their forms were the most compact, the most simple and elegant of which the nature of each machine would admit, all arranged in perfect order, the nicest contrivances for keeping them exactly clean as well as in perfect working condition, and that those of them that were capable of embellishment, were ornamented with the most chaste and delicate taste; were marked by the symmetry of their forms, their colours, nay, by their fragrant smells, and the sweet sounds emitted by them wherever these could be introduced with propriety; we should say, this mechanician must have great delight in what is orderly and beautiful, for he is not satisfied with accomplishing his object, but he must in the execution of it awaken in the soul feelings of exquisite beauty and refinement. Need we add that these are the characteristics of that mind which pervades the universe ?—infinite wisdom in adapting means to ends, forming high and glorious purposes, infinite and most exact power to effect his purposes, power that can launch a world on its course, or polish the eye of the minutest insect; and this infinite power and wisdom accompanied with the love of order and beauty, and with perfect knowledge of the means of communicating the pleasure arising from the appreciation of order and beauty to other minds that may contemplate his works.

Nor are we left without clear indication of what in men we would call their character or disposition, but what in the Great Creator we call moral attributes. If, on visiting the repository of a mechanist of high reputation, we should see that all his machines were contrivances for promoting human comfort, we should infer that he