in all the events that daily passed in review before them, they would uniformly recognize the agency and the purposes of that Almighty Being "who doth according to his will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth," and who is carrying forward all the plans of his government to a glorious consummation.

Every useful invention, every new instrument for investigating the operations of nature, every new discovery in the earth, or in the heavens, every exploration of an unknown region of the globe, every branch of commerce and manufacture, every new mode of facilitating labour and improving the productions of the soil; every improvement in the ease and rapidity of travelling, and of conveying intelligence from one region to another, and every art and science, would be consecrated, in some form or other, to the service of God, and to the accomplishment of the objects of general benevolence. One grand diffusive principle, manifesting itself in numberless ramifications, would pervade the whole mass of society; and one grand aim, the honour and glory of the Creator, and the universal diffusion of happiness in every direction, and among every rank of sentient and intelligent beings, would be the unceasing endeavour of men of all nations, and kindreds, and languages. The whole mass of this world's inhabitants would appear like one vast celestial army marching forward in harmony to the regions of bliss, every one, in his appointed order, passing in peace and tranquillity through the gates of death, to join the general assembly above, and to augment and enliven the congregation of the heavens.

On such a world the God of heaven would look down with complacency, and his providential care would be exercised in averting those physical evils which now increase the moral wretchedness of mankind. His eye would be continually upon them for good, and his ear would be ever open to their requests. Then that glorious scene presented to the view of the apostle John, would be fully realized," Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them; and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more curse, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things have passed away." To such a world celestial messengers would rejoice to wing their down ward flight, on messages of love. Their visits, which have been "few, and far between," and which have been long interrupted by the malevolence of men, would be again resumed; and those "morning stars" that shouted for joy when this fair creation arose into existence, would be filled with unutterable delight when they belicid moral order restored, and the smiles

of universal love irradiating the inhabitants of our globe, and would shout even with mors ecstatic joy than they did before," Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good will among men!"

Alas! such a picture as that which we have now faintly sketched, has never yet been realized in the moral aspect of the inhabitants of this world. To the eye of an angelic intelligence, while he hovers over our globe in his flight through the planetary regions, nothing appears but a vast cloud of moral darkness and depravity, with here and there only a few faint radiations of truth and love emerging from the general gloom. He beholds throughout the whole extent of Africa, from the shores of Barbary and Egypt to the Cape of Good Hope-throughout the vast regions of Asia and its numerous islands, and throughout four-fifths of the continent of America, little else than one wide scene of moral desolation, where idolatry and superstition, tyranny and ambition, treachery and cruelty, war and dissension, reign triumphant among almost every tribe: and where scarcely a ray of divine light and divine love gilds the horizon, from the one end of these extensive regions to the other. Even in Europe, where the light of science and of revelation is converged to a focus, what an immense cloud of moral darkness still appears enveloping its population? The fields of Waterloo, of Leipsic, of Borodina, and of Smolensko, where so many thousands of human beings were sacrificed to the demon of war-the vales of Switzerland and Hungary, the plains of France and Italy, the anarchy and commotions of Spain and Portugal, and the ensanguined shores of Turkey and Greece, where massacres have been perpetrated with the rage and fury of infernal demons, bear witness to the melancholy fact, that hatred and malignity still hold the ascendency over the nations of Europe, and over all the efforts of benevolence and love.

But, we trust, that the period is fast approaching, when the breath of a new spirit shall pervade the inhabitants of every clime, and when holy love shall unite all the tribes of mankind in one harmonious society. When the messengers of the Prince of Peace" shall run to and fro" from the north to the south, and from the rising to the setting sun: when the sound of the gospel-trumpet shall re-echo throughout every land; when the light of divine revelation shall diffuse its radiance on the benighted nations; when its sublime doctrines and moral requisitions shall be fully understood and recognized in all their practical bearings, and when the energy of that Almighty spirit which reduced to light and order the dark and shapeless chaos, shal! be exerted on the depraved and benighted minds of the mass of this world's population-then the death-like slumber which has seized upon the race of Adam shall be broken; the dead in

carried on by any process analogous to human generation, where death is unknown, and where rational agents have a fixed and permanent abode. The fifth precept of our law cannot be recognized in a world where the relations of parents and children, princes and subjects, superiors and inferiors, have no existence. And in those worlds where the bounties of Divine Providence are equally enjoyed by all, or where external comforts are not necessary for the happiness of the individual, as in our world, or where the slightest temptation to interfere with the property of another does not exist, there will be no necessity for a distinct moral regulation corresponding to the eighth commandment of our moral code.But in every world where happiness exists, and where the inhabitants have retained their original integrity, love to God, and love to all subordinate intelligences with which they are connected, will animate every heart, regulate every desire, and run through every action. And in those worlds (if any such exist besides our own) where these principles are counteracted, or not recognized as the foundation of moral action, misery and disorder, in a greater or less degree, must be the inevitable consequence.

The greater part, however, of the precepts comprised in the moral law given to man, must be considered as obligatory upon all the rational inhabitants of the universe. The first commandment, which forbids the recognition of any object of adoration, or of supreme affection, besides the eternal Jehovah-the second, which forbids the representation of this incomprehensible Being by any visible or material objects-the third, which enjoins reverence of the name or attributes of God-and the spirit of the fourth, which enjoins a certain portion of duration to be set apart for solemn acts of worship and adoration, are applicable to all the moral agents that Jehovah has created. The sixth commandment, which forbids malice, revenge, and injurious actions of every description-the ninth, which forbids falsehood, and inculcates truth, which is the basis of the moral universe-and the tenth, which forbids envy, and every unhallowed desire to deprive our neighbour of any portion of his happiness-are also binding upon every class of moral intelligences, wherever existing, throughout the unlimited empire of God. For, if we suppose any one of these precepts to be reversed, and moral agents to act on the principle of this subversion, their moral order and harmony would be interrupted, and consequently, their happiness destroyed. For example, let the law, which inculcates truth, be supposed to be universally violated among any class of rational beings, and instantly all improvement in wisdom and knowledge would cease; nothing could be depended upon as fact but what was obvious to the senses of every individual; social compacts would be dissolved; a mutual repulsion would ensue, and every social

affection and enjoyment would be unhinged and destroyed.

By overlooking considerations of this kind, the celebrated Dr. Chalmers, in his "Discourses on the Christian Revelation viewed in connexion with Modern Astronomy," deprived himself of an important argument to prove that Christianity is not confined to this sublunary region. For, as it is the great object of the Christian Revelation to bring into full effect, in all their practical bearings, the principles I have been endeavouring to illustrate, and as these principles must be interwoven with the moral code of all worlds-it follows, that the spirit and essence of our religion must be common to all the holy inhabitants of the universe.

From what has been now stated respecting the universality of the principle of love, the fol lowing conclusions may be deduced:

1. That the man in whose heart this principle is predominant, and whose actions are directed by its influence, is qualified for associating with

Love

the pure intelligences of all worlds. Were we transported to the surface of the planet Jupiter, and had we access to mingle with its vast population; or were we conveyed to one of the planets which revolve around the star Sirius-if the inhabitants of these globes have retained the primeval purity of their natures, and if the principle of love reigned supreme in our hearts, we should be assured of a welcome reception from those distant intelligences, and be qualified to mingle with them in their adorations of our common Creator, and in all their affectionate and harmonious intercourses. We should only have to learn the mode by which they communicate to each other their ideas and emotions. would form the basis of every union, and amalgamate us with every department of their society. With pleasure, and with the most endearing affection, would they point out to us the peculiar glories of the world they inhabit, and rehearse the history of the Creator's dispensations in that portion of his empire; and with equal pleasure should we listen to the instructions which flow from the lips of Benevolence, and survey those transporting objects and arrangements which decorate a world where love pervades the breasts of all its inhabitants. To visit a distant world, although it were in our power, where the inhabitants were of an opposite description, could afford no gratification to an intelligent and benevolent mind, but would overwhelm it with anguish and dismay. What enjoyment would the capacious mind of a pure intelligence from the regions of the constellation Orion, derive from visiting a world inhabited by such beings as the inhabitants of Nootka Sound, New Guinea, or New Zealand, where the moral and intellectual principle is completely debased, and where the beauties of Nature are defaced with interminable forests and marshes, and the haunts of beasts of prey? He

would be filled with disappointment and horror ne might drop a tear of pity over the wretched innabitants; but he would soon wing his flight back to a more delectable region. A similar disappointment would be felt, were an inhabitant of our world, in whose mind hatred and cruelty, avarice and ambition, reigned without control to be conveyed to a world of happiness and love. The novel scenes of beauty and grandeur, which would burst upon his sight, might captivate his senses for a little: but he would feel no enjoy ment in the exercise of virtuous affections and rapturous adorations, to which he was never accustomed; he would find no objects on which to gratify his cruel and ambitious desires, and he would be glad to escape from the abodes of affection and bliss, to the depraved society from whence he came. Hence we may learn, that, however expansive views we may have acquired of the range of the Creator's operations, and of the immensity of worlds which are diffused through boundless space, and however ardent desires we may indulge of visiting the distant regions of creation, we never can indulge a rational hope of enjoying such a privilege, were it possible, unless love to God and to man become the predominant disposition of our minds. For, although we were invested by the Almighty with corporeal vehicles, capable of transporting us from one region of creation to another, with the most rapid motion, we could enjoy no solid satisfaction, while we remained unqualified for relishing the exercises, and mingling in the associations of holy intelligences. In every happy world on which we alighted, we should feel ourselves in a situation similar to that of a rude and ignorant boor, were he conveyed to a palace, and introduced into an assembly of courtiers and princes.

2. Another conclusion deducible from this subject is, that by virtue of this grand and governing principle, man is connected with the highest order of intelligences, and with the inhabitants of the most distant worlds; and his

happiness perpetually secured. When we take a view of the universe by the light of nodern science, our minds are overpowered and confounded at the idea of its vast and unlimited ange. When we consider that it would require several millions of years for a cannon ball, flying at the rate of five hundred miles an hour, to reach the nearest stars-when we consider that there are stars visible to the naked eye, at least fifty times farther distant than these when we consider that there are stars visible by the telescope a thousand times farther distant than any of the former-and when we consider that all the suns and worlds which lie within this unfathomable range are, in all probability, only as a grain of sand to the whole earth, when compared with the immensity of systems which lie beyond them in the unexplored abyss of infinite

space, we are lost in the immensity of creation, and can set no bounds to the empire of the Almighty Sovereign. When we look forward to that eternal state to which we are destinedwhen we consider that after thousands of millions of centuries have run their rounds, eternity will be no nearer to a termination, and that ages, numerous as the drops of the ocean, will still roll on in interminable succession,-we behold a lapse of duration, and a succession of events stretching out before us, which correspond with the immeasurable spaces of the universe, and the number and magnitude of the worlds with which it is stored. When we view ourselves as thus connected with the immensity of creation on the one hand, and with infinite duration on the other; and when we reflect on the numerous changes that have happened, both in the physical and moral aspect of our globe, within the period of six thousand years, we cannot but conclude that we are destined to pass through new scenes and changes in that eternity which lies before us, of which at present we can form no conception. After remaining for thousands of millions of years in that world which will be prepared for the righteous at the general resurrection, we may be transported to another system as far distant from that abode as we now are from the most distant stars visible to our sight, in order to contemplate new displays of the attributes of God, in another province of his empire. We may afterwards be conveyed to an unoccupied region of immensity, where new creations, displaying new objects of glory and magnificence, are starting into existence. We may afterwards be invested with the wings of a seraph, and be enabled to wing our way, in company with angels, from world to world, and to visit the most distant regions of that immense universe over which Omnipotence presides. In short, the imagination can set no limits to its excursions, when it attempts to survey the revolutions and changes that may take place, and the new scenes of glory which may burst upon the view, throughout the lapse of duration which will have

no end.

Now, in whatever relation man may stand to any portion of the universal system, throughout every future period of his existence, and during all the revolutions of eternity, love will unite him to all other holy beings with whom he may associate, however distant their abode from the spot he now occupies, however different its scenery and arrangements, and however superior they may be in point of corporeal organization and intellectual capacity. For no intelligence, in any region of the universe, in whom the principle of love predominates, can ever be supposed to disdain to associate with another, of whatever rank or order, who is actuated by a similar affection; otherwise his love would degenerate into malevolence. This principle will unite him to

angels and archangels, to cherubim and seraphim, to thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, from whose discourses he will learn the history of the divine dispensations, the wonders of Almighty power, and the "manifold wisdom of God." So long as it reigns uncontrolled in his heart, it will secure his happiness in all places, and in every period of his existence, by a law established by the Almighty, and founded on his perfections; a law which binds together the whole intelligent system, and forms the basis of the felicity of the moral universe. So that his future blessedness is for ever secure, beyond the reach of danger, and rests upon a foundation stable and permanent as the throne of the Eternal.

3. From what has been now stated, we may learn that there is but one religion throughout the universe, however vast its magnitude and boundless its extension. In this world, numerous systems of religion prevail, and thousands of different opinions in relation to its ceremonies and objects; but experience has demonstrated, that all of them, except one, are insufficient to guide rational beings to substantial felicity. And of this one system, how many foolish and inaccurate, and even contradictory opinions, have been formed, through the ignorance and perversity of the human mind! Though all its parts have a direct reference to the actions of intelligent agents, and to the cultivation of benevolent affections, yet it has been represented, even by its professed abetters, as a congeries of metaphysical dogmas and speculative opinions; and in this point of view it has been the source of perpetual wrangling and contentions. Though it is calculated to expand the understanding, to warm the heart, and to elevate the soul to God, yet it has been reduced, by the cunning artifice of man, to a mass of mere quibbles and unmeaning ceremonies. And though it breathes nothing but peace and good-will to man, it has been employed as an engine of persecution and of human destruction. It is only in proportion as our religion approximates to the character of the religion which is common to all holy beings, that it is worthy of our veneration and our ardent pursuit. And therefore, in order to determine the truth and importance of any particular system of religious opinions, the best test we can apply to it is, to ascertain what bearings it has upon the grand principles to which we have been adverting. "Do all the sentiments and tenets which it strenuously supports, like the lines from the circumference to the centre of a circle, converge towards the promotion of love in all its practical ramifications? Are the opinions we now so fiercely maintain of such a nature, that we shall probably recognize them as important practical principles a million of years hence, in the regions of distant worlds?" If such a test were applied to hundreds of opinions which have

agitated the religious world, and obstructed the operations of the benevolent affections, they would be driven away from the Christian system as chaff before the whirlwind; and Christians would feel ashamed of the importance they attached to their "mint, and anise, and cum. min," while they neglected the weightier matters of the law, "judgment, mercy, and the love of God." How many false and foolish opinions shall we leave behind us in this region of darkness and contention, when we enter within the confines of the eternal state? How sublime, how lovely, and how beautifying will religion appear in that world, where it will be contemplated in its native simplicity, and stripped of all the foreign and adventitious circumstances which now obscure its brightness and glory! I need scarcely say, that the one religion to which I allude is Christianity, considered, not so much in the scheme of mediation which it unfolds, which may have a relation solely to man viewed in his character as a sinner, but in the leading dispositions and virtues it inculcates, and in the great objects which all its doctrines, facts, and supernatural communications have a tendency to accomplish. In these points of view, it must be considered as imbodying principles and laws which pervade the religious systems of all worlds.

in one

Finally, Love is a principle in the moral and intelligent system which bears a striking analogy to the principle of attraction in the material world. Each of them unites, in its respective sphere, all the beings which compose grand and harmonious system; and both of them combined give birth to all the moral and physical phenomena which diversify the intellectual and the material universe. By the principle of attraction, the inhabitants of the earth, along with their habitations, are retained to its surface, and prevented from flying off in wild confusion through the voids of space. By the same power the mountains rest on a solid basis, the rivers flow from the mountains to the plains, and the ocean is confined within its appointed channels. It produces the various phenomena which arise from the meandering rill, the majestic river, and the roaring cataract. It produces the descent of rain and dew, and the alternate flux and reflux of the tides. It prevents the waters of the great deep from covering the mountain-tops, and mingling in confusion with the clouds of heaven. It binds together the infinity of atoms which constitute the globe on which we tread; it regulates the various movements of men and other animated beings; it forms mechanical powers, and gives impulsion to numerous machines and ongines. It rolls the moon in regular succession. around the earth, and prevents her from running lawlessly through the sky. It extends its influence from the sun to the remotest planets, conducting revolving worlds, with all their satellites in their ample circuits, and preserving them a