power he observes all the bodies upon this earth tending towards its centre; and, comparing the laws by which this attracting power is found to operate with the well known motions of the heavenly bodies, he finds that this single principle is sufficient to account for these motions; and consequently infers from analogy that this power, uniformly exerted, forms the grand chain which unites the several parts of the universe in one system. Hence he derives an inexpressibly sublime conception of that great Being who is the seat of this principle and the source of its operation. The man who is thus enlightened by the study of nature sees this earth, as a globe of vast magnitude, moving perpetually round the sun with a degree of rapidity much greater than has ever been produced by human force or art: at the same time he sees other globes, some less and others much larger than the earth, revolving with inconceivable rapidity round the sun, as their common centre, at distances so great that, though they may be expressed in numbers, they far exceed the utmost stretch of the human imagination.

This set of planets which he knows to have, with our earth, a common relation to the sun, he very reasonably concludes to be a system of worlds, all peopled with suitable inhabitants, and all deriving supplies of light and heat from the same source. Extending his views beyond this system, and finding from observation that the fixed stars are in themselves luminous bodies, and that their distance from the earth is so much greater than that of the planets or sun as to be

absolutely immeasurable, he concludes, upon the most probable grounds, that those sparkling gems which deck the robe of night are not placed in the heavens merely for the convenience of this earth, but are, like our glorious luminary, suns to their respective systems of worlds. And, finally, when, by the assistance of art, he is enabled to discover innumerable stars hitherto unobserved, he judges that he has better ground than mere conjecture for thinking that suns and worlds are extending through the immense regions of space infinitely beyond all human calculation or conception. How sublime the idea! how much are we indebted to that kind of philosophy which has put us in possession of it! especially since it has instructed us, on the clearest principle of reason, that of assigning to every effect an adequate cause, that this immense, this glorious universe is the habitation of one great Being who framed, who pervades, who animates, who governs the world! How reasonable is it that this universe, which is the mansion of the Divinity, should be the temple in which all created beings should, in one triumphant chorus, unite to say "Great and marvellous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Hallelujah! for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!"

ENFIELD.

ON THE SUPERIOR EXCELLENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

THE religion of the Gospel is the only one which has ever yet appeared among mankind, which is adequate to all the instinctive desires and expectations of the human mind. I am not now to speak of the excellence of this religion, or of its accommodation to all the wants and all the wretchedness of a being like man. I am to speak of it only as compared with the conclusions of human wisdom, as they appear either in the ancient or in the modern world. Both of them are before us; and from both I am persuaded the thoughtful mind must draw the same conclusion.

If we look to the ancient world,-to that period when science and philosophy had attained, through progressive ages, to their highest point of improvement, we see them terminating uniformly in doubt and indecision; we see various schools with various principles,-some leading to piety, others to atheism; the great mass of the people left (and left willingly) to the dominion of superstition,-and the wise concluding all their inquiries, either in the belief that these subjects were beyond the reach of human thought, or in the ardent prayer that the Deity would at last reveal himself to the inquiries of his creatures. If we look to the world as it at present exhibits itself in every country unvisited by the Gospel, we see it covered with varieties of imposture and superstition; the great principles of religion buried under the mass of barbarous rites or unpro

ductive ceremonies; and the wise and the thoughtful retiring from the delusions of the vulgar into the dark shade of doubt and scepticism. If, from these melancholy prospects, you turn your eye to the religion of the Gospel, you see a system which even its enemies acknowledge to be a system of religious and of moral grandeur. You see a system, simple in its doctrines, but sublime in their nature, beyond all that the imagination of man had hitherto in any age conceived; adapted to the comprehension of the infant, and yet adequate to the exaltation of the sage; comprehending within its pale all the most cultivated nations of mankind,-numbering among its disciples all the greatest names which have ever adorned humanity, and accepted by them as the highest exaltation of their present nature, and the surest foundation of their future hopes.

While you thus see the difference which exists between the religion of the Gospel and every other which has ever appeared among men, you are then to remember-that the Author of this religion was a man of humble origin, and of obscure parentage; that his life was passed at a distance from the wise or the learned, among the poor and the lowly; that a few years terminated his history; and that a few humble inhabitants of Judea constituted all his society-and you are then to say, whether a religion of such a kind can have only a mortal origin; whether there is any thing in the history of human nature at that age which in any degree corresponds to such a fact; and whether there be any possible way by which the appearance of such a system

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of religion, in such circumstances, can be accounted for but by the immediate providence and inspiration of God?

Such is the conclusion which I think must be drawn from the view of the nature of the religion of the Gospel, as it relates to the mind of the individual. There is a second view of it which arises from its relation to the welfare of society, or the prosperity of the world. When you look over the history of religion,-when you examine the nature of the systems of religious belief that have existed before the era of the Gospel, or which have arisen since,-you will find them marked by one uniform feature of mortal origin, that of carrying within themselves all the weakness or all the ignorance of the age or country in which they arose. You will see them incorporating with themselves the forms of government -the institutions of society-the manners, the opinions, and the prejudices which were peculiar to the country or age which gave them birth; sanctifying thus the errors and even the vices of barbarous times, and checking, by the most powerful of all restraints, the natural progress of the human mind, and all the improvements of which society is susceptible.- From this uniform picture of the narrowness of the mind of man, even in its greatest exertions, turn your eyes to the religion of the Gospel, and mark the view which it takes of human nature. You will see, in the first place, that it belongs to no age,-to no government,and to no climate;-that it incorporates nothing with itself of the period of society when it arose; -that it embraces, on the contrary, the whole