viding food for the ravens, and sustaining the sparrow in its flight, or even looking regardfully on man, and numbering the hairs of the hoary head, or counting the beatings of the infant's heart, seems to the mind thus exclusively prepossessed, as little better than a fond and idle dream. A general Providence, such a mind will readily admit; but, that the Creator and Sustainer of the universe should occupy Himself with the little affairs of such an insignificant and worthless creature as man, is a doctrine, to say the least, by no means so congenial to the habits of thinking which astronomy induces.

It is not, however, only in the large and magnificent scale of operations, to which the view of the starry heavens introduces us, that the perfections of the Creator are visible. We have seen, that the hand of the Almighty may be equally perceived to be at work in little things as in great. "The cattle on a thousand hills are His.". He not only created them, and endowed them with most wonderful instincts for self-preservation, and faculties for enjoyment; but adapts these instincts and faculties to the revolution of the seasons, and the revolution of the seasons to them. The deeper we examine this subject, the more powerfully are we struck with proofs of the minute and tender care of a Parent in making provision for the wants of His offspring. Descending from the larger to the smaller animals, we find no point in the scale where this parental character stops, or is even diminished. The same wise and most wonderful provision is made for the worm and the mite, as for the lion and the elephant,— their bodies are equally formed with consummate art, and equally contrived with amazing care, for the circumstances in which they are placed, and the means of subsistence and happiness within their reach.

Nor is this all Science applies its skill to aid Nature in investigating the little as well as the great. If, by means of a telescope, the astronomer has been enabled to lay open a thousand wonders of the starry heavens, hid from our unaided sight, and taught us to believe, that, after all, we are only on the threshold of discovery in this department; that we still see, "as through a glass darkly ;"

and that it is but a faint and feeble glimpse of creation which our most approved instruments can exhibit ;—the microscope has directed our attention to wonders no less worthy of admiration on our own earth, and within our own limited locality, and has informed us that there is a species of infinitude in the minuteness of organized existences, as well as in the magnitude of those which are unorganized; that, in the former, as well as in the latter,— in the myriads of inhabitants in a drop of water, or in the leaf of a plant, or in a grain of sand, the perfections of the Creator are no less certainly to be seen, than in those mighty suns which, at His command, shed light, and life, and joy, over their attendant worlds, and fill boundless space with His glory.

It is here that the Christian finds an antidote against those doubts which a contemplation of infinite magnitude might otherwise excite in his mind. If it be natural for him to ask, with some feeling of unbelief, "Can the Creator of innumerable worlds look down with pity on the sinful race of Adam? can He be conceived to deal with this race in the way which Scripture unfolds? is it possible that He, the Eternal God, should, in very truth, send His only-begotten Son to this little planet, to dwell with men,-taking upon Himself their nature; subjecting Himself to their infirmities; nay, for their sakes, suffering sorrow, torture, and death ?"-If, I say, it be natural for the mind, expanded by the philosophy of the heavens, to put these skeptical questions, it can scarcely fail to be brought back to a sounder state, when it takes in a more comprehensive view of the Divine character, and humbly contemplates the very same Hand which moves the universe, preserving the existence, and presiding over the enjoyment, of the microscopic world.

This view is most beautifully and convincingly unfolded by Dr. Chalmers, in what have been called his 'Astronomical Sermons.' By a comparison, in his own characteristic manner, of the discoveries of the microscope with those of the telescope, he shows that we have as much reason, from the works of creation, to conceive. of the Creator, as infinitely minute in His providential

care, as we have to conceive of Him as infinitely great and powerful; and having established this important truth, he leads us irresistibly to the conclusion, that the exhibition made of the Divine Being in His Revealed Word, is in perfect harmony with the character of Himself, which He has impressed on nature.

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They, therefore," says this admirable writer, "who think that God will not put forth such a power, and such a goodness, and such a condescension, in behalf of this world, as are ascribed to Him in the New Testament, because He has so many other worlds to attend to, think of Him as a man. They confine their view to the informations of the telescope, and forget altogether the informations of the other instrument. They only find room, in their minds, for His one attribute, of a large and general superintendence, and keep out of their remembrance the equally impressive proofs we have for His other attribute, of a minute and multiplied attention to all the diversity of operations, where it is He that worketh all in all.

And when I think, that, as one of the instruments of philosophy has heightened our every impression of the first of these attributes, so another instrument has no less heightened our impression of the second of them, then I can no longer resist the conclusion, that it would be a transgression of sound argument, as well as a daring impiety, to draw a limit around the doings of this unsearchable God; and, should a professed revelation from Heaven, tell me of an act of condescension, in behalf of some separate world, so wonderful that angels desired to look into it, and the Eternal Son had to move from His seat of glory to carry it into accomplishment, all I ask is the evidence of such a revelation; for, let it tell me as much as it may of God letting Himself down for the benefit of one single province of His dominions, this is no more than I see lying scattered in numberless examples before me, and running through the whole line of my recollections, and meeting me in every walk of observation to which I can betake myself; and, now that the microscope has unveiled the wonders of another region, I see strewed around me, with a profusion which baffles my every at

tempt to comprehend it, the evidence that there is no one portion of the universe of God too minute for His notice, nor too humble for the visitation of His care."

SIXTH WEEK-MONDAY.

WONDERS OF THE MICROSCOPE.-INFUSORY ANIMALCULES.

HAVING spoken of the wonders of the microscopic world, as a proof that there is nothing too little to be beneath the care of the universal Father, it seems desirable to follow out this statement by an induction of particulars; and I shall devote this paper to that department of animated nature which, on account of its extreme minuteness, escapes the human vision, unless assisted by the resources of art.

The microscope has revealed to human observation new races, and indeed new systems, of organized and living beings, whose existence, had it not been for the invention of that instrument, could have scarcely been suspected, and whose functions must have been entirely unknown. These are the most numerous of all terrestrial creatures, and exhibit properties which fill the mind. with a kind of wonder, different from, but scarcely inferior to, that which is excited by the view of Nature on the largest scale. Although they are so extremely minute, that a single drop of water may contain hundreds of them, and yet appear to the naked eye as pellucid as it were a pure and simple globule of newly distilled dew, they are discovered, by the magnifying power of the solar microscope, not only to be animated beings, but to possess members, some of them formed in the most delicate symmetry, and all of them framed with consummate art. Their species are incalculably numerous, each adapted to the element which it occupies, and the peculiar sphere in which it is destined to move.

They have obviously volitions, feelings and preferences, like the superior animals; and, like them, they display symptoms of hatred and affection, of rapacity and contentment, of enjoyment and suffering. Here, then, is a new world of living beings, sufficiently resembling that in which we are ourselves destined to exist, to prove that it is the work of the very same Creator; yet, as we shall presently see, so different in many respects, besides its extreme minuteness, as to show, still more distinctly, the inexhaustible resources of the Divine Mind, in the endless variety of created existences. The most minute of these animalcules which have been studied and delineated, are the infusory, that is, those which are found in liquids; and to these we shall at present confine ourselves. They have been divided into two classes, those with external organs, and those in which such organs are wanting. Of the former, seven genera have been enumerated, and 254 species; of the latter, ten genera, and 123 species. These, it is not to be doubted, form a very small part of the actual existences, many of which are so minute, that they elude the action of the most powerful magnifiers, as may be safely inferred from the fact, that new species, descending in minuteness, have constantly been discovered, in proportion as the power of the microscope has been increased.

The wonderful diversity of shape in these animalcules, has been thus described:- "Let one suppose himself transported to a region, where the appearance, figure, and motion, of every animal is unknown, and he will form some idea of the variety presented by a drop of an infusion, observed by means of the microscope. One animalcule is a long slender line; another is coiled up like an eel or a serpent; some are circular, elliptical, or globular; another a triangle or a cylinder; some resemble thin flat plates; and some may be compared to a number of articulated reeds; one is like a funnel, and another like a bell; and the structure of many cannot be compared to any object familiar to our senses. Certain animalcula, such as the Proteus diffluens, can change their figure at pleasure, being sometimes extended to immod