connected with the plan of the Gospel salvation, and that they entertain so many vague and untenable notions respecting the character and the obrects of a superintending Providence. How often, for example, have we witnessed expressions of the foolish and limited notions which are frequently entertained respecting the operations of Omnipotence? When it has been asserted that the earth with all its load of continents and oceans, is in rapid motion through the voids of spacethat the sun is ten hundred thousand times larger than the terraqueous globe-and that millions of such globes are dispersed throughout the immensity of nature-some who have viewed themselves as enlightened Christians, have exclaimed at the impossibility of such facts, as if they were beyond the limits of Divine Power, and as if such representations were intended to turn away the mind from God and religion; while, at the same time, they have yielded a firm assent to all the vulgar notions respecting omens, apparitions, and hobgoblins, and to the supposed extraordinary powers of the professors of divination and witchcraft. How can such persons assent, with intelligence and rational conviction, to the dictates of Revelation respecting the energies of Omnipotence which will be exerted at "the consummation of all things," and in those arrangements which are to succeed the dissolution of our sublunary system? A firm belief in the Almighty Power and unsearchable wisdom of God, as displayed in the constitution and movements of the material world, is of the utmost importance, to confirm our faith, and enliven our hopes, of such grand and interesting events. Notwithstanding the considerations now stated, which plainly evince the connection of the natural perfections of God with the objects of the Christian Revelation, it appears somewhat strange, that, when certain religious instructers happen to come in contact with this topic, they seem as if they were beginning to tread upon forbidden ground; and, as if it were unsuitable to their office as Christian teachers, to bring forward the stupendous works of the Almighty to illustrate his nature and attributes. Instead of expatiating on the numerous sources of illustration, of which the subject admits, till the minds of their hearers are thoroughly affected with a view of the essential glory of Jehovah they despatch the subject with two or three vague propositions, which, though logically true, make no impression upon the heart; as if they believed that such contemplations were suited only to carnal men, and mere philosophers; and mere philosophers; and as if they were afraid, lest the sanctity of the pulpit should be polluted by particular descriptions of those operations of the Deity which are perceived through the medium of the corporeal senses. We do not mean to insinuate, that the essential attributes of God, and the illustrations of them derived from the material world, should form the sole, or the chief topics of discussion, in the business of religious instruction-but, if the Scriptures frequently direct our attention to these subjects-if they lie at the foundation of all accurate and extensive views of the Christian Revelation-if they be the chief subjects of contemplation to angels, and all other pure intelligences, in every region of the universe-and if they have a tendency to expand the minds of professed Christians, to correct their vague and erroneous conceptions, and to promote their conformity to the moral character of God-we cannot find out the shadow of a reason, why such topics should be almost, if not altogether, overlooked, in the writings and the discourses of those who profess to instruct mankind in the knowledge of God, and the duties of his worship. We are informed by our Saviour himself, that "this is life eternal, to know thee the living and true God," as well as "Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. The knowledge of God, in the sense here intended, must include in it the knowledge of the natural and essential attributes of the Deity, or those properties of his nature by which he is distinguished from all "the idols of the nations." Such are, his Self-existence, his All-perfect knowledge, his Omnipresence, his Infinite Wisdom, his Boundless Goodness, and Almighty Power-attributes, which, as we have just now seen, lie at the foundation of all the other characters and relations of Deity revealed in the Scriptures. The acquisition of just and comprehensive conceptions of these perfections, must, therefore, lie at the foundation of all profound veneration of the Divine Being, and of all that is valuable in religion. Destitute of such conceptions, we can neither feel that habitual humility, and that reverence of the majesty of Jehovah, which his essential glory is calculated to inspire, nor pay him that tribute of adoration and gratitude which is due to his name. Devoid of such views, we cannot exercise that cordial acquiescence in the plan of his redemption, in the arrangements of his providence, and in the requirements of his law, which the Scriptures. enjoin. Yet, how often do we find persons who pretend to speculate about the mysteries of the Gospel, displaying-by their flippancy of speech respecting the eternal counsels of the Majesty of Heaven-by their dogmatical assertions respecting the Divine character, and the dispensations of providence-and by their pertinacious opinions respecting the laws by which God must regulate his own actions-that they have never felt impressive emotions of the grandeur of tha Being, whose" operations are unsearchable, ano his ways past finding out?" Though they do not call in question his immensity and power, his wisdom and goodness, as so many abstract properties of his nature, yet the unbecoming familiarity with which they approach this august Being, and talk about him, shows that they have never associated in their minds, the stupendous displays which have been given of these perfections, in the works of his hands; and that their religion (if it may be so called) consists merely in a farrago of abstract opinions, or in an empty name. titude of technical terms and subtle reasonings but lead us directly to the source whence our most ample conceptions of Deity are to be derived, that, from a steady and enlightened contemplation of the effects, we may learn the greatness of the Cause; and their example in this respect, ought, doubtless, to be a pattern for evey religious instructer. SECTION II. In order to elucidate more distinctly what has been now stated, I shall select a few illustrations of some of the natural attributes of the Deity. And, in the first place, I shall offer a few considerations which have a tendency to direct and to amplify our conceptions of Divine Power. Omnipotence is that attribute of the Divine Being, by which he can accomplish every thing that does not imply a contradiction-however far it may transcend the comprehension of finite minds. By his power the vast system of universal nature was called from nothing into existence, and is continually supported, in all its movements, from age to age. If, then, it be admitted, that it is essentially requisite, as the foundation of religion, to have the mind deeply impressed with a clear and comprehensive view of the natural perfections of the Deity, it will follow, that the ministers of religion, and all others whose province it is to communicate religious instruction, ought frequently to dwell, with particularity, on those proofs and Illustrations of the Omnipotence of the DEITY. illustrations with tend to convey the most definite and impressive conceptions of the glory of that Being whom we profess to adore. But from what sources are such illustrations to be derived? Is it from abstract reasonings and metaphysical distinctions and definitions, or from a survey of those objects and movements which lie open to the inspection of every observer? There can be no difficulty in coming to a decision on this point. We might affirm, with the schoolmen, that "God is a Being whose centre is every where, and his circumference no where ;" that "he comprehends infinite duration in every möinent ;" and that "infinite space may be considered as the sensorium of the Godhead;" but such In elucidating this perfection of fanciful illustrations, when strictly analyzed, will God, we might derive some striking illustrations be found to consist merely of words without from the records of his dispensations towards ideas. We might also affirm with truth, that man, in the early ages of the world-when he God is a Being of infinite perfection, glory, and overwhelmed the earth with the deluge, which blessedness-that he is without all bounds or covered the tops of the highest mountains, and limits either actual or possible-that he is possess- swept the crowded population of the ancient ed of power sufficient to perform all things which world into a watery grave-when he demolished do not imply a contradiction--that he is independ- Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around ent and self-sufficient that his wisdom is un- them, with fire from heaven-when he slew all erring, and that he infinitely exceeds all other the first-born of Egypt, and turned their rivers beings. But these, and other expressions of a into blood-when he divided the Red Sea and similar kind, are mere technical terms, which the waters of Jordan before the tribes of Israel convey no adequate, nor even tolerable, notion -when he made the earth to open its jaws and of what they import. Beings, constituted like swallow up Korah and all his company-and man, whose rational spirits are connected with when he caused Mount Sinai to smoke and treman organical structure, and who derive all their ble at his presence. But these and similar events, knowledge through the medium of corporeal however awful, astonishing, and worthy of reorgans, can derive their clearest and most affect- membrance, were only transitory exertions of ing notions of the Divinity, chiefly through the Divine Power, and are not calculated, and were same medium, namely, by contemplating the never intended, to impress the mind in so powereffects of his perfections, as displayed through ful a manner as those displays of Omnipotence the ample range of the visible creation. And which are exhibited in the ordinary movements to this source of illustration, the inspired writers of the material universe. We have no hesitauniformly direct our views-"Lift up your eyes tion in asserting, that, with regard to this attrion high, and behold! who hath created these bute of the Divinity, there is a more grand and orbs? who bringeth forth their host by number, impressive display in the works of Nature, than and calleth them all by their names? The ever- in all the events recorded in the Sacred History. lasting God, the Lord, by the greatness of his Nor ought this remark to be considered as throwmight, for that he is strong in power."" e ing the least reflection on the fulness and sufhath made the earth by his power; he hath ficiency of the Scripture revelation; for that reestablished the world by his wisdom; he hath velation, as having a special reference to a moral stretched out the heavens by his understandin." economy, has for its object to give a more partiThese writers do not perplex our minds by a mul- cular display of the moral than of the natural 1 ན་ . per fections of God. The miracles to which we have now referred, and every other supernatural fact recorded in the Bible, were not intended so much to display the plenitude of the power of Deity, as to bear testimony to the Divine mission of particular messengers, and to confirm the truths they declared. It was not, for example, merely to display the energies of Almighty power, that the waters of the Red Sea were dried up before the thousands of Israel, but to give a solemn and striking attestation to all concerned, that the Most High God had taken this people under his peculiar protection-that he had appointed Moses as their leader and legislator-and that they were bound to receive and obey the statutes he delivered. The most appropriate and impressive illustrations of Omnipotence, are those which are taken from the permanent operations of Deity, which are visible every moment in the universe around us; or, in other words, those which are derived from a detail of the facts which have been observed in the material world, respecting magnitude and motion. In the first place the immense quantity of matter contained in the universe, presents a most striking display of Almighty power. : In endeavouring to form a definite notion on this subject, the mind is bewildered in its conceptions. and is at a loss where to begin or to end its excursions. In order to form something approximating to a well-defined idea, we must pursue a train of thought commencing with those magnitudes which the mind can easily grasp, proceeding through all the intermediate gradations of magnitude, and fixing the attention on every portion of the chain, till we arrive at the object or magnitude of which we wish to form a conception. We must endeavour, in the first place, to form a conception of the bulk of the world in which we dwell, which, though only a point in comparison of the whole material universe, is in reality a most astonishing magnitude, which the mind cannot grasp, without a laborious effort. We can form some definite idea of those protuberate masses we denominate hills, which arise above the surface of our plains; but were we transported to the mountainous scenery of Switzerland, to the stupendous range of the Andes in South America, or to the Himmalayan mountains in India, where masses of earth and rocks, in every variety of shape, extend several hundreds of miles in different directions, and rear their projecting summits beyond the region of the clouds-we should find some difficulty in forming an adequate conception of the objects of our contemplation. For, (to use the words of one who had been a spectator of such scenes,) "Amidst those trackless regions of intense siience and solitude, we cannot contemplate, but with feelings of awe and admiration, the eno mous masses of variegated matter which lie around, beneath, and above us, The mind la bours, as it were, to form a definite idea of those objects of oppressive grandeur, and feels unable to grasp the august objects which compose the surrounding scene." But what are all these mountainous masses, however variegated and sublime. when compared with the bulk of the whole earth? Were they hurled from their bases, and precipitated into the vast Pacific Ocean, they would all disappear in a moment, except perhaps a few projecting tops, which, like a number of small islands, might be seen rising a few fathoms above the surface of the waters. The earth is a globe whose diameter is nearly 8,000 miles, and its circumference about 25,000, and, consequently, its surface contains nearly two hundred millions of square miles-a magnitude too great for the mind to take in at one conception. In order to form a tolerable conception of the whole, we must endeavour to take a leisurely survey of its different parts. Were we to take our station on the top of a mountain, of a moderate size, and survey the surrounding landscape. we, should perceive an extent of view stretching 40 miles in every direction, forming a circle 80 miles in diameter, and 250 in circumference and comprehending an area of 5,000 square miles. In such a situation the terrestrial scene around and beneath us-consisting of hills and plains, towns and villages, rivers and lakeswould form one of the largest objects which the eye, and even the imagination, can steadily grasp at one time. But such an object, grand and extensive as it is, forms no more than the fortythousandth part of the terraqueous globe; so that before we can acquire an adequate conception of the magnitude of our own world, we must conceive 40,000 landscapes of a similar extent, to pass in review before us and were a scene, of the magnitude now stated, the magnitude now stated, to pass before us every hour, till all the diversified scenery of the earth were brought under our view, and were 12 hours a day allotted for the observation, it would require 9 years and 48 days before the whole surface of the globe could be contemplated, even in this general and rapid manner. But, such a variety of successive landscapes passing before the eye, even although it were possible to be realized, would convey only a very vague and imperfect conception of the scenery of our world; for objects at the distance of 40 miles cannot be distinctly perceived; the only view which would be satisfactory would be, that which is comprehended within the range of 3 or 4 miles from the spectator. Again, I have already stated, that the surface of the earth contains nearly 200,000,000 of square miles. Now, were a person to set out on a minute survey of the terraqueous globe, and to travel til he passed along every square mile on its surface, and to continue his route without intermission, at the rate of 30 miles every day, it would require 18,264 years before he could finish his tour, and complete the survey of "this huge rotundity on of "this huge rotundity on which we tread:" so that, had he commenced his excursion on the day in which Adam was creat ed, and continued it to the present hour, he would not have accomplished one third part of this vast tour. In estimating the size and extent of the earth, we ought also to take into consideration the vast variety of objects with which it is diversified, and the numerous animated beings with which it is stored; the great divisions of land and water, the continents, seas, and islands into which it is distributed; the lofty ranges of mountains which rear their heads to the clouds; the unfathomed abysses of the ocean; its vast subterraneous caverns and burning mountains; and the lakes, rivers, and stately forests with which it is so magnificently adorned ;-the many millions of animals, of every size and form, from the elephant to the mite, which traverse its surface; the numerous tribes of fishes, from the enormous whale to the diminutive shrimp, which "play" in the mighty ocean; the aerial tribes which sport in the regions above us, and the vast mass of the surrounding atmosphere, which encloses the earth and all its inhabitants as "with a swaddling band." The immense variety of beings with which our terrestrial habitation is furnished, conspires with every other consideration, to exalt our conceptions to that power by which our globe, and all that it contains, were brought into existence. The preceding illustrations, however, exhibit the vast extent of the earth, considered only as a mere superficies. But we know that the earth is a solid globe, whose specific gravity is nearly five times denser than water, or about twice as dense as the mass of earth and rocks which compose its surface. Though we cannot dig into its bowels beyond a mile in perpendicular depth, to explore its hidden wonders, yet we may easily conceive what a vast and indescribable mass of matter must be contained between the two opposite portions of its external circumference, reaching 8000 miles in every direction. The solid contents of this ponderous ball is no less than 263,858,149,120 cubical miles-a mass of material substance of which we can form but a very faint and imperfect conception-in proportion to which all the lofty mountains which rise above its surface are less than a few grains of sand, when compared with the largest artificial globe. Were the earth a hollow sphere surrounded merely with an external shell of earth and water, 10 miles thick, its internal cavity would be sufficient to contain a quantity of materials one hundred and thirty-three times greater than the whole mass of continents, islands and oceans, on its surface, and the foundations on which they are supported. We have the strongest reasons, however, to conclude, that the earth, in its general structure, is one solid mass, from the surface to the centre, excepting, perhaps, a few caverns scattered here and there amidst its subterraneous recesses ; and that its density gradually increases from its surface to its central regions. What an enormous mass of materials, then, is comprehended within the limits of the globe on which we tread! The mind labours, as it were, to comprehend the mighty idea, and after all its exertion, feels itself unable to take in such an astonishing magnitude at one comprehensive grasp. How great must be the power of that Being who commanded it to spring from nothing into existence, who "measureth the ocean in the hollow of his hand, who weigheth the mountains in scales, and hangeth the earth upon nothing!" use It is essentially requisite, before proceeding to the survey of objects and magnitudes of a superior order, that we should endeavour, by such a train of thought as the preceding, to form some tolerable and clear conception of the bulk of the globe we inhabit; for it is the only body we can as a standard of comparison to guide the mind in its conceptions, when it roams abroad to other regions of material existence. And, from what has been now stated, it appears, that we have no adequate conception of a magnitude of so vast an extent; or, at least, that the mind cannot, in any one instant, form to itself a distinct and comprehensive idea of it, in any measure corresponding to the reality. Hitherto, then, we have fixed only on a determinate magnitude-on a scale of a few inches, as it were, in order to assist us in our measurement and conception of magnitudes still more august and astonishing. When we contemplate, by the light of science, those magnificent globes which float around us, in the concave of the sky, the earth with all its sublime scenery, stupendous as it is, dwindles into an inconsiderable ball. If we pass from our globe to some of the other bodies of the planetary system, we shall find that one of these stupendous orbs is more than 900 times the size of our world, and encircled with a ring 200,000 miles in diameter, which would nearly reach from the earth to the moon, and would enclose within its vast circumference several hundreds of worlds as large as ours. Another of these planetary bodies, which appears to the vulgar eye only as a brilliant speck on the vault of heaven, is found to be of such a size, that it would require 1,400 globes of the bulk of the earth to form one equal to it in dimensions. The whole of the bodies which compose the solar system, (without tak ing the sun and the comets into account,) contain a mass of matter 2,500 times greater than that of the earth. The sun himself is 520 times larger than all the planetary globes taken together; and one million three hundred thousand times larger than the terraqueous globe. This is one of the most glorious and magnificent visible objects, which either the eye or the imagination can contemplate; especially when we onsider, what perpetual and incomprehensible and powerful influence he exerts, what warmth and beauty and activity he diffuses, not only on the globe we inhabit, but over the more extensive regions of surrounding worlds. His energy extends to the utmost limits of the planetary system-to the planet Herschel, which revolves at the distance of 1,800 millions of miles from his surface, and there he dispenses light, and colour, and comfort, to all the beings connected with that far-distant orb, and to all the moons which roll around it. Here the imagination begins to be overpowered and bewildered in its conceptions of magnitude, when it has advanced scarcely a single step in its excursions through the material world: For it is highly probable that all the matter contained within the limits of the solar system, incomprehensible as its magnitude appears, bears a smaller proportion to the whole mass of the material universe, than a single grain of sand to all the particles of matter contained in the body of the sun and his attending planets. If we extend our views from the solar system to the starry heavens, we have to penetrate, in our imagination, a space which the swiftest ball that was ever projected, though in perpetual motion, would not traverse in ten hundred thousand years. In those trackless regions of immensity, we behold an assemblage of resplendent globes, similar to the sun in size and in glory, and, doubtless, accompanied with a retinue of worlds, revolving, like our own, around their attractive influence. The immense distance at which the nearest stars are known to be placed, proves that they are bodies of a prodigious size, not inferior to our sun, and that they shine, not by reflected rays, but by their own native light. But bodies encircled with such refulgent splendour would be of little use in the economy of Jehovah's empire, unless surrounding worlds were cheered by their benign_influence, and enlight ened by their beams. Every star is, therefore, with good reason, concluded to be a sun, no less spacious than ours, surrounded by a host of planetary globes, which revolve around it as a centre, and derive from it light, and heat, and comfort. Nearly a thousand of these 'uminaries may be seen in a clear winter nigh, b the naked eye; so that a mass of matter equal to a thousand solar systems, or to thirteen hundred and twenty millions of globes of the size of the earth, av he perceived, by every common observer, in the canopy of heaven. But all the celestial orbs which are perceived by the unassisted sight, do not form the eightythousandth part of those which may be descried by the help of optical instruments. The telescope has enabled us to descry, in certain spaces of the heavens, thousands of stars where the naked ve could scarcely discern twenty. The late celebrated astronomer, Dr. Herschel, has in34 formed us, that, in the most crowded parts of the Milky-way, when exploring that region with his best glasses, he has had fields of view which contained no less than 588 stars, and these were continued for many minutes: so that “in one quarter of an hour's time there passed no less than one hundred and sixteen thousand stora through the field of view of his telescope." are, It has been computed, that nearly one hundred millions of stars might be perceived by the most perfect instruments, were all the regions of the sky thoroughly explored. And yet, all this vast assemblage of suns and worlds, when compared with what lies beyond the utmost boundaries of human vision, in the immeasurable spaces of creation, may be no more than as the smallest particle of vapour to the immense ocean. Immeasurable regions of space lie beyond the utmost limits of mortal view, into which even imagination itself can scarcely penetrate, and which doubtless, replenished with the operations of Divine Wisdom and Omnipotence. For, it cannot be supposed, that a being so diminutive as man, whose stature scarcely exceeds six feet-who vanishes from the sight at the distance of a league-whose whole habitation is invisible from the nearest star-whose powers of vision are so imperfect, and whose mental faculties are so limitted-it cannot be supposed that man, who" dwells in tabernacles of clay, who is crushed before the moth," and chained down, by the force of gravitation, to the surface of a small planet,-should be able to descry the utmost boundaries of the empire of Him who fills immensity, and dwells in light unapproachable." That portion of his dominions, however which lies within the range of our view, presents such a scene of magnificence and grandeur, as must fill the mind of every reflecting person with astonishment and reverence, and constrain him to exclaim, “Great is our Lord, and of great power, his understanding is infinite."-"When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained-what is man that thou art mindful of him!"-" I have heard of thee by hearing of the ear I have listened to subtle disquisitions on thy character and perfections and have been. but little affected, "but now ine eye seeth thee; wherefore I humble myseh, and repent in dust and ashes." "I In order to feel the full force of the impression made by such contemplations, the mind must pause at every step, in its excursions through the boundless regions of material exis'ence: for it is not by a mere attention to the figures and numbers by which the magnitudes of the great bodies of the universe are expressed, that we arrive at the most distinct and ample conceptions of objects so grand and overwhelming. The mind, in its intellectual range, must dwell on every individual scene it contemplates, and on the various objects of which it is composed. |