is linked to g'o'e, and system chained to system, while the whole amazing universe is fast bound to the invisible and eternal Throne of JEHOVAII.

We have now reached a point in our argument, where we are prepared to contemplate yet higher and more general evidences of the unity of the whole vast creation, both as to its origin and its government. There are found in the universe certain laws and forces, which are observed to prevail, and to be in uniform operation, throughout all worlds, and all systems of worlds, to the utmost limit of telescopic power; which laws and forces may be regarded as the common bonds of the whole material creation. Of these we notice,

First, Gravitation, or that property of matter by which particle is attracted by particle, and mass by mass. In all material things this force is ever present and ever active. It is by its all-pervading influence that the glittering dew-drop is held together a crystal sphere upon the bending blade-that the apple loosened from the tree descends to the ground-that the river flows and leaps to form the grandeur of the cataract-that the moon is retained in her orbit round the earth, and the earth in its course round the sun. And throughout nature it operates undeviatingly according to the same law, so that the astronomer by means of it can poise the mass of one planet against that of another, and tell with absolute exactness and certainty their comparative weights. Throughout the universe the balance of gravitating force is unerringly sustained. If the smallest asteroid in the system, or the minutest twinkling star in the vault of

heaven, were blotted out of existence, or even removed out of its proper place, the balance of gravitation would be disturbed, and the event felt through all the created systems of worlds. A slight trembling, produced by an unknown influence, in the motion of the planet Uranus, actually offered sufficient data to calculate both the position and the magnitude of the disturbing cause; and upon directing the telescope to that point in the heavens indicated by the Calculator in his study, behold the cause in the lonely Neptune, a planet lying more than a thousand millions of miles beyond, and never beheld by mortal eye before! So firmly, yet so evenly and delicately lies all nature in the embrace of this infinite power, that it is no exaggeration to say, that the blow that sounds forth the midnight hour upon the city Bell, is conveyed by successive impulses to every one of the myriad orbs of heaven. From the imperceptibly small to the immensely large-from the centre of creation to its utmost bounds-gravitation exerts its force. It pervades and embraces and holds together the whole material universe.

"The smallest dust which floats upon the wind
Bears this strong impress of the Eternal Mind.
In mystery round it, subtle forces roll;
And gravitation binds and guides the whole.
In every sand before the tempest hurl'd
Lie locked the powers which regulate a world,
And from each atom human thought may rise
With might to pierce the mysteries of the skies-
To try each force which rules the mighty plan,
Of moving planets, or of breathing man;
And from the secret wonders of each sod,

Evoke the truths, and learn the power of God."

A second general bond of the universe is found in the all-pervading Ether. The existence of such a medium was long suspected; and now has been established to the satisfaction of scientific men generally. This ether is supposed to be an elastic medium of extreme tenuity, pervading all space, not even excepting what is occupied by material bodies, and extending to the remotest limits of the universe. All substances, all planets, all systems, are enveloped in it, and suffused with it. Now, according to the prevailing theory of the day, light consists in a vibratory movement excited and propagated through this ether by the sun, the stars, or other luminous bodies. It therefore resembles sound, which is produced by undulations in the air. In neither case is there a transfer of substance, or travelling entity, but simply a propagated motion, analogous to the waves generated by the wind across a field of wheat, in which there is no actual movement of the growing stems from their places, but only the advancing forms of waves. The vibrations in the luminiferous ether, by which light is produced, are supposed to be somewhat similar to these; or, what is a better illustration still, to the vibrations propagated along a stretched chord. In this ether, therefore, we have, not simply a bond of connection, but a most marvellous medium of communication between all worlds, and all systems of worlds. On its swiftwinged vibrations, consignments of light and heat are perpetually despatched from the sun to all his encircling

* Herschel's Scien. Lects., No. VII.

planets and satellites, and from these again into surrounding space. Through its ethereal pulsations, every visible star in the heavens reveals its existence, and accurately announces its every change of position or of brightness, to every other visible star. By its mysterious agency messages of light perpetually come and go between the innumerable orbs of heaven, traversing the voids of immensity in all conceivable, in all possible directions. Thus all regions, all provinces, all parts of the universe are in perpetual and infallible communication.

These ether messages are not transmitted instantaneously, but occupy time according to distance. Light travels at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. Hence the light of the sun, or what is the same thing, the sun's picture, with all his dark spots and bright faculæ, comes to us in eight and a quarter minutes; the picture of Jupiter arrayed in his shifting belts, when at his mean distance, in three quarters of an hour; and that of Neptune, the remotest of the planets, in four hours. From the nearest fixed star, a Centauri, the passage of light occupies full three years; from 61 Cygni, ten years; from Sirius, the brightest of all the stars, twenty years; from the Pole Star, forty-six years; from the serene Capella, seventy-two years; from the Pleiades, seven hundred years; from others as many thousands, and from others still probably as many millions of years. Hence when we direct our telescope to these stars, we see them, not as they are at the present moment, but as they were so many years or so many centuries ago.

From the foregoing facts it appears, then, that from every star, every planet, every satellite, there flows out in all directions a distinct and perfect picture of whatever scene or aspect its surface presents at every passing hour, every passing moment; and this picture continues its outward flight forever into the depths of infinite space. The mariner takes observation of the star of the Pole, and his eye receives a picture of it that left its disc nearly fifty years since. The astronomer peers at Alcyone, and receives an image that took its flight from that orb full seven centuries ago. The same holds true, of course, of the planet upon which we dwell. To the inhabitants of those stars (supposing such inhabitants to exist, and to be endowed with the requisite power of vision), whose distance from the earth requires two hundred and fifty years for the flight of light, the scene of the Pilgrims' Landing is just now becoming visible. To the dwellers of worlds at seven and a half times that distance, the sad and tragic deed of the crucifixion on Calvary is a present scene transpiring in all its reality as under their eyes. The occupants of still remoter spheres, that are at the proper distance, are now gazing upon the fountains of the great deep breaking up, and the windows of heaven opening, to sweep away the incorrigible antediluvians. Thus at some point or other, in the boundless expanse, every visible event in the history of our globe, and of all other globes, may be seen at any particular moment. And as the Infinite God is present at all such points, every deed and every event that has ever transpired must be still present before his view. This luminiferous ether, therefore, may