of nature, every department of our terrestrial system, forms an appropriate abode for living beings. The air, the waters, and the earth teem with animated existence of every size and form, and in such vast multitudes as to exceed all human calculation; and if the displays of Divine goodness be thus exuberant in our sublunary world, it would be absurd in the highest degree to suppose for a moment that the millions of vast globes, which roll in the distant regions of creation are devoid of inhabitants, since the communication of happiness appears to be one great end of all the operations of infinite wisdom and omnipotence. Thus it appears that the doctrine of a plurality of worlds is not only accordant with every rational view we ought to entertain of the eternity and immensity, the wisdom and goodness, of the Divine Being, but that the opposite opinion would be repugnant to every consistent and scriptural view we can take of the character of the Supreme, and would obscure the glory of every divine perfection. This view, therefore, of the universe, considered as replenished with innumerable intelligences, is calculated to exhibit a more glorious and magnificent idea of the character and operations of the Deity than to suppose his benevolent regards confined to the globe on which we dwell. Instead of having only one comparatively small world and race of beings under his sway, we here contemplate him as the supreme ruler of ten thousand times ten thousands of mighty worlds, and conduct ing them all, with unerring skill, in their vast career. We behold him exercising his moral administration over a vast universe of minds, more numerous than the faculties of men or of angelic beings are adequate to compute, supporting and directing all the amazing powers of thought, wisdom, intelligence, af fection, and moral action, throughout every part of his eternal empire, displaying the depths of his wisdom and intelligence, the rectitude of his character, and the grandeur of his omnipotence to countless orders of intellectual existence, presenting before them prospects of magnificence and grandeur boundless as immensity, distributing among them all the riches of his beneficence, and inspiring them with the hope that the grandeur of his kingdom and the glory of his perfections will continue to be displayed with increasing splendour throughout all the periods of an endless duration. Such a Being is calculated to draw forth the highest degree of love and admiration from all his intelligent offspring, to inspire them with glowing ardour in his service, and to excite them to incessant adoration; whereas, did the universe consist merely of a boundless mass of matter without animation, thought, or intelligence, a veil of dark

ness and mystery would be thrown over all the perfections and purposes of the Divinity, creation would appear a vast, mysterious, and inexplicable system; and no hope would ever be entertained of tracing the designs for which it was brought into existence.

II. Another general argument for the plurality of worlds, and for an extensive pupulation of the universe, may be founded on the following proposition,-that wherever any one perfection of Deity is exerted, there also ALL his attributes are in operation, and must be displayed, in a greater or less degree, to certain orders of intelligences. This is a most important consideration, which ought to be taken into account in all our views of the Divine character, and in all our investigations of the Divine administration-a consideration which is too frequently overlooked in the views and reasonings both of philosophers and theologians.

The Divine Being is ONE undivided essence; he is not compounded of separable parts or qualities, insulated from each other. We ought not, therefore, to conceive of his attributes as so many independent powers or properties, any one of which may be exerted without the concurrence or co-operation of the other. From the limited views we too frequently take of the Divinity, and from the imperfection of our present faculties, we are apt to fall into this mistake; but since all the perfections we attribute to the Eternal Mind are attributes of one indivisible and uncompounded Being, we ought never to imagine that power in any instance operates without goodness, or wisdom without rectitude, or that it can ever happen that any one of those perfections can be displayed without the har monious operation of the whole. In whatever regions of the universe, therefore, God is seen to operate by his power, we may rest assured that there also he displays himself in the plenitude of all his other perfections; that intelligence, wisdom, benevolence, veracity, and rectitude follow in the train of omnipotence, displaying in undivided lustre and harmony the glories of his character. It is Gon, invested with all his eternal and immutable, his natural and moral attributes, and not any single perfection, that acts, arranges, and governs throughout the whole amplitude of creation; and as such, his moral grandeur, as well as the physical effect of his power, must be displayed in every department of the material universe. From the influence of habit, and in consequence of the limited facul ties of our nature, we are accustomed to say, that in one object power is displayed, and in another that wisdom is manifested; because, that in the one the attribute of power appears to us most prominent, and in the other, wis

dom is more strikingly apparent. A lofty range of mountains, rearing their summits above the clouds, and stretching along for several hundreds of miles, strikes the mind with an idea of power in Him who formed them; but the fine mechanism, accomplishing certain useful purposes in the body of an emmet or a gnat, or the delicate construction of the eye of a dragon-fly, arrests our attention more particularly as an evidence of wisdom, although in each of these cases both power and wisdom are displayed. In no act or operation whatever of the Divine Being can it be said, that in that act he is only wise, or only powerful, or only benevolent; for in every operation, and in every part of his procedure, he acts in the plenitude of all his essential attributes, although the full display of all his perfections may not, in every instance, be open to our inspection.

If, then, the positions now stated be admitted, (and I see not how they can be called in question,) it necessarily follows that all the vast globes dispersed throughout the universe are either inhabited or contribute, as our sun does, to the comfort and enjoyment of percipient existence; for if wisdom and goodness uniformly and of necessity accompany the agency of power, and if these attributes can be exercised only in relation to sentient or intelligent beings, such beings must exist wherever such perfections are exercised. To suppose the contrary would involve a palpable absurdity, and present a distorted and inconsistent view of the adorable character of Jehovah.

In our survey of the sidereal heavens, and the remoter provinces of the Divine empire, we behold little more than an overwhelming display of almighty power. Our remoteness from those magnificent scenes prevents us from tracing the minute contrivances of Divine Wisdom in relation to any particular system, or the displays of Divine Beneficence towards its inhabitants. But our incapacity in perceiving the effects of wisdom and goodness forms no arguments against the actual exercise of these perfections. If it be admitted that infinite wisdom and benevolence are the necessary accompaniments of almighty power, we may rest assured that those perfections are in full and constant exercise wherever creating power has been exerted, although, from our present situation in the universe, their operation be concealed from our view. In every instance where Omnipotence has put forth its energies, it may be considered as a stage or theatre on which the Divine wisdom and benevolence may be displayed. And as wisdom and goodness can only have a reference to percipient and intelligent beings, wherever those perfections are

exercised, such beings must necessarily be conceived to exist; otherwise, we in effect destroy the simplicity of the Divine nature, we divide the Divine essence into so many independent attributes, and virtually declare that in the work of creation the Deity does not act in the full exercise of his indivisible and eternal perfections.

The above considerations, if duly weighed and understood, appear to me to embody an argument for the doctrine of an indefinite plurality of worlds which may be considered as amounting to a moral demonstration.

III. There is an absurdity involved in the contrary supposition—namely, that the distant regions of creation are devoid of inhabitants.

1. There are two modes of reasoning which have been employed to prove the truth of a proposition: the direct method, by bringing forward arguments, or following out a train of reasoning bearing expressly on the position to be supported; or the indirect method, by showing the absurdity of maintaining the opposite position. Mathematicians terin this latter species of reasoning the reductio ad absurdum, and sometimes employ it instead of the direct method, by showing that the contrary of the position laid down is impossible, or involves an absurdity; and this method of proof is considered as valid, and as strictly demonstrative as the other; for the opposite of truth must be falsehood. If, therefore, any proposition, whether mathematical or moral, can be shown to involve an absurdity, or to be inconsistent with a wellknown and acknowledged truth, or directly contrary to it, we may safely conclude that such a proposition must be false.

To feel the force of such an argument in the present case, let us suppose for a moment that the planetary and stellar orbs are destitute of inhabitants. What would be the consequences? All those vast bodies must then be considered as regions of eternal silence, solitude, and desolation. The sun illuminates the surfaces of such huge globes as Jupiter and Saturn, but there are no visual organs to perceive the lustre he throws around, no percipient beings to feel the influence of his heat and other benign agencies. Time is measured with exquisite precision by days, and months, and years, but all to no purpose; for no rational beings enjoy the advantage of such measures of the lapse of time, and the Deityto whom "one day is as and a thousand years as one day"-stands in no need of such movements to mark the periods of duration. Day and night, spring and summer, succeed each other, but they have no relation to the wants or enjoyments of sensitive or intellectual natures. The melody

thousand years,

of the groves, the bleating of flocks, the lowing of herds, the harmonious accents of human voices, or the music of angelic choirs, never for a moment disturb the profound and awful silence which for ever prevails; not a single murmur meets the ear, unless howling winds, amidst dreary desarts and rugged rocks, should render the scene still more hideous and doleful. Some of those mighty globes are encircled with splendid rings and a retinue of moons, which adorn the canopy of the sky, and present a scene of grandeur far more diversified and sublime than human eyes have yet beheld, but no intelligent agents exist in those regions to admire and enjoy the wondrous spectacle and to adore the great Creator. In short, all is one wide scene of dreariness, desolation, horror, and silence, which would fill a spectator from this world with terror and dismay.

Were an inhabitant of the earth to be transported to Jupiter or Saturn, he might behold resplendent scenes in the canopy of the firmament; but how great would be his disappointment to find nothing but boundless desarts and desolate wastes, without one sentient being to cheer the horrors of the scene, and not a rational intelligence to communicate a single sentiment or to join him in the con templation of the objects above and around him; and were he to range throughout an indefinite lapse of ages from one globe to another, and from one corner of the universe to another, and find the same gloomy solitudes and desolations, he could find no stimulus to excite him to admiration or rapture, or to elevate his soul in adoration of the Creator. Even the most resplendent scenes, adorned with all the riches and beauties which the most lively imagination can depict, mountains of diamonds and plains diversified with all the beauties of the vegetable creation, could impart no real pleasure while unenlivened with the principle of animation and the energies of mind. What a gloomy and horrible picture would such a scene present of the frame of universal nature, and what a veil of darkness and mystery would it throw over the perfections of the Eternal! for it is the scenes connected with life, animation, mental activity, and moral sentiment, glowing, affection, social intercourse, and the mutual sympathies of intellectual beings, that can alone inspire the soul with rapturous emotions, throw a charm over any part of creation, and exhibit the Almighty Creator as amiable and adorable. It is chiefly from the relation in which the material world stands to sensitive and intellectual existence that its beauty and order are recognized and admired by contemplative minds, and that the wisdom and beneficence of the Deity are traced in all

their minute and multifarious bearings. In our world, as it now stands, the arrangement of mountains and vales, the various properties of the watery element, and its transmutation into vapours, clouds, and dew, the admirable mechanism of the atmosphere, the fertility of the earth, and the beautiful colouring which is spread over the face of nature,-which are productive of so many beneficial effects, and sq evidently display the wisdom of Deity,would all appear as so many means without an, end, as contrivances without use, if the earth were destitute of inhabitants. And if all the other departments of creation were likewise devoid of animation and intelligence, scarcely a trace would be left throughout boundless space of the wisdom and benevolence of the Eternal Mind.

2. In the next place, such a position as that which I am now opposing would be inconsistent with that principle of variety which appears so conspicuous throughout the whole range of the Divine operations, and with that progressive expansion of intellectual views which appears necessary to the perpetual enjoyment of immortal beings.

In order to permanent enjoyment it is necessary, from the very constitution of the mind, that one scene of happiness should succeed another, that the soul should look forward to the future, to something new or more grand and expansive that it has yet beheld or enjoyed. It can never rest in present objects and attainments, but is always on the wing for something higher and more exquisite than it has yet grasped or enjoyed. What is the reason, in most cases, why imprisonment produces so doleful an effect upon the mind, but because its views and its actions are confined to a narrow circle? And if in such a situation newspapers, books, paper, pens and ink, be withheld, so as still further to circumscribe the mental view, its want of enjoyment and its misery are still more increased. Why would a literary man feel unhappiness had he no access to books, jour. nals, and the periodicals of the day, nor any other means of information respecting passing events, but because he would thus be confined to his present range of view, and prevented from enlarging it? And why should the man who devours the periodical journal to-day feel as craving desires to-morrow to peruse similar records of intelligence, to mark the progress of passing events, but from the same vehement desire to expand his present intellectual views? Were such desires to remain ungratified, and the prospect of further information entirely shut up, a certain degree of misery would necessarily be felt by every rational mind. In another world, something similar would happen in the case of all intellectual

belags, were no new scenes and prospects ever unfolded to view.

Divines have generally admitted that the eternal world, in the case of the righteous, will be a state of perpetual and uninterrupted enjoyment. Such enjoyment, however, could never be realized, unless new scenes and objects, worthy of the admiration of exalted intelligences, were progressively displayed. But the contemplation of rude masses of matter, however vast in point of size and extent, and however magnificent in point of splendour, were they entirely unconnected with mind and moral action, would produce no high degree of enjoyment to beings possessed of capacious powers of intellect; for in such objects they could trace no evidences of skill or design, nor would they perceive any overflowings of Divine goodness to inspire them with gratitude and praise. We are warranted from Revelation to expect that in the future world the knowledge of good men will be indefinitely increased, in respect to their more enlarged conceptions of the Divine Being, and of his works and ways; that, among other subjects, they shall become more acquainted with the distant regions of creation, the destination of those great globes which we now behold at an impassable distance, the history of their inhabitants, the various stages of improvement through which they have passed, the most remarkable events which have happened among them since their creation, the relations which the different worlds bear to each other, the various orders of intellectual beings and their distinctive' characteristics and endowments, with many other particulars which would afford an ample field of investigation and contemplation which could scarcely ever be exhausted, and a source of progressive and permanent delight. But all such prospects of knowledge and enjoyment would be for ever shut out, were the universe a collection of mere matter unconnected with mind or intelligence, and the distant view of an immortal existence would present little else than a scene of monotony or a boundless blank.

in the present state. Such desires after progressive improvement in knowledge and happiness are implanted by the Creator, and form an essential part of the constitution of the human soul, and therefore can never be eradicated so long as it is sustained in existence. But it is evident, from what has been already stated, that such desires could never be gratified, and that its expectations of higher de grees of intellectual expansion and enjoyment would be frustrated, were the scene of Oranipotence nothing more than an indefinite extension of matter without life or intelligence; for in such a case there would be little scope for the exercise and expansion of its powers throughout an immortal existence.

3. The supposition that matter throughout the universe is not connected with mind would present a distorted view of the character of the Almighty, and throw a veil over the most glorious perfections of his nature. It would virtually deprive the Creator of the attribute of wisdom; since no display of it would be perceived in the most magnificent works of his hands. It would, in effect, rob him of his goodness; since, throughout the mightiest and most extensive portion of his works, no enjoyment is communicated to beings endowed with either sensitive or rational natures, which are alone capable of being recipients of his bounty; consequently, no tribute of gratitude and thanksgiving would be offered, and no praises or adorations would ascend to the throne of the "King eternal, immortal, and invisible," from the greatest portion of his boundless dominions. It would prevent us from beholding any extensive display of the rectitude of his character and the equity of his government in the moral administration of the universe. Now, wisdom, goodness, and rectitude, can only be exercised in reference to intelligent natures, and cannot possibly be displayed where such beings have no existence.