1.   Having spoken of the particular species of bodies, it remains only to speak of bodies in general. And it may be observed of them all, that they are extended, solid, divisible, figured, and capable of motion. We cannot conceive any body that is not extended, or composed of several parts.

2.   It has long been thought that there is such a thing in nature as a vacuum, that is, space without substance ; but this is a circumstance of being, which is now satisfactorily ascertained to exist only in the imagination, being entirely without foundation, either in reason or experience. All matter is endued with the capacity to expand itself to an astonishing, and inconceivable degree, and when this capacity is exerted in a very great degree, on a body of matter occupying a certain space, as, in the receiver of an air pump, the space which it occupies, in this situation, is termed a vacuum, or void space; but, nothing is more incorrect; there is not a particle of space, which is not occupied by a particle of matter; it is only the matter within the space, which is reduced to an extreme degree of rarefication: in this case the space is just as extensively occupied, by substantial matter, as if the matter had been condensed, and impacted in it in an equal extreme. This astonishing elasticity of matter is a wonderful provision of Almighty power; it is this universal property and susceptibility of matter, which gives laws to the motion of its particles, and retains the solid globe itself in its orbit.

Every particle, and every body of matter in the universe, is endued with a certain capacity, in relation to other particles, and other bodies, by which they are rendered assimilant, or repellant towards those particles, •r bodies. This is not only the case between individual particles and particular bodies, but it is an universal law, and relation, which governs and subsists between, WORLDS; which are suspended at relative distances, proportionate to their mutual capacities of approximation and recession.

3.  One property of body is solidity, whereby it resists another body, moving it out of its place. Not much different from this, is impenetrability whereby a body excludes another from the place where it is. Solidity is not the same with hardness, the former belonging to all, the latter to some bodies only. Hardness consists in the firm cohesion of the parts, so as not easily to be separated. As the solidity of bodies flows from the intrinsic nature of matter, it is vain to assign as the cause of it, either the figure or rest of the parts, or the pressure of the air, or of some subtile matter. By these solutions we do not at all explain the thing, but only entangle ourselves in fresh difficulties.

4.  Divisibility likewise belongs to all bodies. For since no body can be conceived that is not extended, and extension supposes parts, it follows, that every body, however small, is divisible: perhaps not by the art of man, but in its own nature. Nor is it any objection, that our understanding cannot comprehend infinite divisibility; It cannot:nor can it comprehend infinite number: or indeed infinities of any kind.

It is true, there is no such thing, strictly speaking, as parts infinitely small. Yet the smallness of the particles of several bodies, is such as vastly surpasses our conception. And there are innumerable instances in nature of such parts actually separated from each other.

Mr. Boyle gives us several instances of this. He speaks of a silken thread, three hundred yards long, that weighed but two grains and a half. Fifty square inches of leaf gold weighed but one grain. Now if the length of an inch be divided into two hundred parts, the eye may distinguish them all. Therefore there are in one square inch forty thousand visible parts, and in one grain of leaf gold, two millions of such parts : which visible parts no ode will deny to be farther visible. In odoriferous bodies, we may discern a still greater subtlety of parts, yea, of parts actually separated from each other. Several bodies scarce loose any thing of their weight in a long time, and yet continually fill a large space with odoriferous, particles. Several animals are but just visible with the finest microscope. And yet these have all the parts necessary for life, as blood and other juices. How wonderful must the subtlety of the parts be, whereof those fluids are composed! And hence the following strange theorem is deduced and demonstrated by Dr. Keil. “ Any particle of matter, how small soever, and any finite space, how large soever, being given, it is possible for that particle to be diffused through all that space, and to fill it in such a manner, that there shall be no pore in it, whose diameter shall exceed any given line."

5.  The last general property of matter is motion and rest. For it. is plain, all matter is either at rest or in motion. God is the first and universal cause of motion, as well as of all things. The immediate cause of it, is either matter or spirit. It is beyond doubt, that a body moved, communicates its motion to another, though in its own nature it be purely passive. Nor can we reasonably deny that a spirit is able to move matter, although the manner of its doing this We cannot comprehend.

6.  All the laws of motion may be reduced to three. 1. Every moving body is moved by another. 2. Every moving body communicates its motion to any body it meets. 3. Every moving body continues in motion till it communicates that notion to another. While these laws remain in force, and concur in producing various effects, those effects are termed natural. When any of these laws are suspended, this is properly a miracle.

7.  As the elements or first stamina of bodies are too small to be discerned by any of our senses, we can only form conjectures concerning them. The chemists have now introduced, and adopted a. new nomenclature, comprising a new order and arrangement, of all the known simple bodies, which enter into and constitute compound bodies. They have also ascertained, as far as is practicable by human means, the ‘relative capacities of the several elementary ingredients to each other. Sir T. Bergman has gone far in calculating these relative capacities, and has reduced their ratios to a tubular form, showing their numerical proportions, and the constancy of their relations. Experiment has been abundantly ample, to afford the most satisfactory evidence of the universal existence amid operation of this principle. But it is remarkable that in alt these operations, caloric seems to be the principal agent, being, in the process of every combination of elementary matter, either given out, or absorbed.

8.  Caloric becomes fixed in all bodies constituting various degrees of temperature; it may be elicited from all bodies, by combustion, by friction, by compression, and by decomposition ; it penetrates all bodies in proportion to the quantity present, reducing them to an equal temperature with that quantity; by a degree of intensity, proportionate to the variable capacities of bodies, it reduces them to a state of fluidity, and finally to the airiform state. All substances at present known, have by its agency been converted into air. In short it would require a pretty elaborate essay, to give a mere outline ‘of the extent and operation of this single element; suffice it to say its presence is universal, and its agency gives motion to all bodies.

9.  But though caloric is thus formidable in its effects, and universal in its operation, yet, its operation is infinitely slow compared with that of LIGHT. Light is now ranked among the elements, and is considered a most formidable agent, in the operations of nature; it is especially characterized by its incomparable velocity, it travelling at the inconceivable rate of 11,875,000 miles in a minute. It would appear, that to the fixidity, and developement of this formidable element, electricity owes its astonishing powers; electricity appears to partake of the velocity of light, travelling at an inconceivable rate, and darting forth bright rays like the sun. Its violence, and power would appear to be in a ratio proportionate to the quantity of light, which enters into its composition, being always most destructive, when it is most vivid and bright.

Light seems to be one of the most subtile bodies in the universe. The grand reservoir thereof is the sun: but it is likewise emitted by many other bodies, and by almost all, when they are on lire. When it falls on any body which it cannot pass through and so is beat back, it is said to be reflected. But when it passes from one transparent body into another, which is either rarer or denser, it moves obliquely, its rays being bent, and is said to be refracted. When it passes through a body in straight lines, it is said to be transmitted. Those which emit the light are termed lucid bodies; those which reflect it, opaque.

The particles of light, minute as they are, are attracted by those of other bodies. Hence in their passage near the edges of bodies, whether opaque or transparent, they are diverted from the right lines, and reflected towards those bodies. This action of bodies on light exerts itself at some distance, but increases as the distance is diminished: and appears in the passage of a ray between the edges of two thin plates at different apertures to which it is peculiar that the attraction of one edge is increased, as the other is brought nearer it. The rays of light passing out of glass into a vacuum, are not only inflected toward the glass, but if they fall too obliquely, they will revert back to the glass, and be totally reflected. This reflection cannot be owing to any resistance of the vacuum, but merely to the attracting power of the glass. This appears farther from hence : if you wet the posterior surface of the glass, the rays, which would otherwise have been reflected, will pass into and through that liquor: which shows that the rays are not reflected, till they come to the posterior surf ace of the glass; nor even till they begin to go out of it. For if at their going out, they fall into any liquor, they are not reflected, but persist in their course, the attraction of the liquor counterbalancing that of the glass.

From this mutual attraction between the particles of light and other bodies, arises the reflection and the refraction of light. The determination of any moving body is changed, by the interposal of another body. Thus light meeting any solid body, is turned out of its way, and reflected: hut with this peculiar circumstance : it is not reflected from the body itself, but by something diffused over the surface of that body, before it touches it. It is the same thing in refraction, The rays refracted come very near the refracting body ; yet do not touch it. Those that actually touch solid bodies, adhere to them, and are as it were extinguished and lost.

This entirely agrees with the curious observation of an ingenious writer. “ It is common to admire the lustre of the drops of rain, that lie on the leaves of coieworts and some other vegetables. Upon inspecting them narrowly, I find the lustre rises from a copious reflection of the light, from the flattened parts of its surface, contiguous to the plant. When the drop rolls along a Part which has beep wetted, it immediately loses all its lustre. The green plant being then seen clearly through it, whereas in the other case it is hardly to be discerned,

“From these two observations laid together we may conclude, the drop, when it has the lustre, does not really touch the plant, but hangs in the air at some distance from it, by the force of a repulsive power. For there could not be so copious a reflection of light from its under surface, unless there were a real interval between it and the surface of the plant.

“Now if that surface were perfectly smooth, the under surface of the drop would be so likewise, and would therefore reflect the image of the illuminating body, like a piece of polished silver. But as it is rough, the under surface of the drop becomes rough likewise; and so reflecting the light copiously in different directions, assumes the colour of unpolished silver.”

Again. Rays passing from a more rare into a more dense medium, are turned out of their right line, because more strongly attracted by the denser medium.

Rays of light differ in respect of refraction, reflection and colour.— Those that agree in the first of these, agree in all, and may therefore be termed homogeneal. Colours exhibited by them we may call homogeneal colours. This being premised, we may observe, I. That the sun’s light consists of rays variously refrangible. 2. The rays variously refrangible, when separated from each other, exhibit different colours. 3. That there are as many simple, homogeneal colours, as there are degrees of refrangibility. 4. A composition of all the simple colours, is requisite to constitute whiteness. 5. The rays of light do not act upon one another, in passing through the same medium. 6. Neither do they thereby suffer any refraction. 7. The sun’s rays contain all homogeneous colours, which may therefore be called primitive.

As some rays of light are less than others, so they are more refrangible. Those which are most refrangible, constitute violet colour, that is, the smallest rays excite the most languid colour. Those which are largest, and so least refrangible, constitute red, the most vivid colour. The other rays excite intermediate sensations, according to their respective size and refrangibility.

Bodies reflect, instead of transmitting light, that is, are opaque, not transparent not for want of pores; but either because of the unequal density of their parts, or the magnitude of their pores. Either their pores are empty, or they are filled with matter of a different kind’, whereby the rays are variously refracted and reflected, till they are quite absorbed.

Hence paper and wood are opaque, while glass is transparent.— For in the confines of parts alike in density, such as those of glass and water, there arises no refraction or reflection, by reason of the equal attraction every way ; so that the rays which enter the first surface, pass straight through the body. But in the parts of wood and paper, which are unequal in density, and contain much air in their large pores, the refractions and reflections are very great; so that the rays cannot; pass through them, but are bandied about till they are extinguished

Hence opaque bodies become transparent, when their pores are filled with a substance of equal density : as paper dipped in water or oil. And on the contrary, transparent bodies, by emptying their pores, or separating their parts, become opaque. Thus, salts and wet paper become opaque by drying, glass by pulverizing. Yea, water itself, if beat into froths, loses its transparency.

That light is corporeal cannot now be doubted, having been proved by a thousand experiments. By reflection and refraction it may be turned more or less out of its way according to the different densities of the reflecting or refracting medium. Its rays in their progressive motion may be intercepted by the interposal of any opaque object. And when this is removed, they proceed again, in the same straight course as before. They may likewise be contracted into a less, or diffused through a larger space, while the quantity of light continues the same neither increased nor diminished. So in the focus of a burning glass, all the rays which would otherwise pass directly through the glass, are contracted into one bright spot, while the circumambient space, for the breadth of the glass, is deprived of its light, and left shaded. And the action of light thus condensed, is proportional to its quantity, and produces all the effects of the most intense fire, yea, such as no culinary fire will produce. Whence it is plain, that light and caloric are intimately connected and the condensation of light gives out the caloric.

The materiality of light, is farther confirmed by its motion. For vision is propagated through this medium successively, as sound is through air. This has been demonstrated from the eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites. For the satellites having been hid behind the planet, it requires a certain time, after it emerges, before its light can reach the eye, namely, seven minutes and a half: which is a motion, six hundred thousand times swifter than that of sound through the air,

The quantity of elementary light, is caeteris paribus, every where the same at the same distance from the sun. But its action is more or less intense, as the rays are more direct or oblique. These are in a continual vibrating motion, going and returning to and from the resisting medium, in exceeding short and imperceptible intervals, which make the element seem to be at perfect ‘rest. All the rays are refracted and reflected alternately ; so that the same incident ray, which is refracted at one interval, is reflected at the next. This is visible in transparent mediums, where the rays fall upon glass, water, and the like. But in opaque bodies, though the fact is the same, it is not so sensible. When the rays fall upon glass, they are reflected one moment, and transmitted the next. And this vibrating motion seems to be essential to light when its rays are put into motion.

In talking of light and sound, we are apt to confound the sensation with the motion of the medium that excites it. Thus in a deep calm we say, there is no air, because we feel none: though there is really the same quantity of air in equal space, as if it blew a storm. And so in deep darkness we say, there is no light in the room: although there is supposed to be as much light there, as there was at noonday. Only its rays are quiescent, and make no impression upon the visage organs.

Sound is said to move about fourteen miles in a minute, which is performed thus: the stroke given by the sounding body to the contiguous air, is communicated to the next, and so on till it reaches the ear.

The oscillations of the air are required to succeed each other with a certain velocity; and in order to render them audible, they must not be fewer than thirty in a second of time. But the more frequent these sonorous waves are in a given time, the sharper is the sound heard, and the more strongly does it affect us; till we come to the most acute of audible sounds. which have 7520 tremors in a second.

Acute sounds, are in general, yielded from bodies that are hard, brittle, and violently shook or struck ; grave sounds are from the contrary. Cords or other bodies, that yield the same number of vibrations in a given time, are said to be unison; as those which make double the number of oscillations in that time, yield a tone that is an octave, or eight notes higher; and other proportions betwixt the number of the vibrations, have different names assigned to them in musical scale. The shorter cords produce sharper tones, and the reverse in a proportion directly as their lengths; also those, which are more stretched, afford sharper sounds.

The sound, whether acute or grave, strong or weak, is carried through the air about 1038 Paris feet in a second, and that with an uniform velocity, without abating in the larger distances. But a contrary wind, causing the vibrations to extend more slowly, retards the progression of sound about one twelfth of its velocity. Density and dryness of the air increase the sound, as the rarefaction and moisture ‘of the air lessen it. Hence in summer time sound moves swifter; and in Guinea, it has been observed to pass at the rate of 1398 Parisian feet in one second.

Plutarch says, deers and horses are, of all irrational creatures, the most affected with music. Mr. Playford says the same thing, and adds, Myself, as I travelled some years since, near Royston, met about twenty stags upon the road, following a bagpipe and violin; which when the music played, went forward, when it ceased, they all stood still. And in this manner they were brought from Yorkshire to Hampton Court. Lions likewise, and elephants, are susceptible of the powers of music. So are many dogs, and most, if not all singing birds." A late author gives a stranger account still.

Monsieur de , captain of the regiment of Navarre, was cop-fined in prison six months. He begged leave of the governor that he might send for his lute. After four days he was astonished, to see at the time of his playing, the mice come out of their holes, and the spiders descend from their webs, which came and formed a circle round him, to hear him with attention. This at first so surprised him, that be left off, on which they all retired quietly to their lodgings. It was six days before he recovered from his astonishment. He then began to play again. They came again, and in still increasing numbers, till after a time he found a hundred of them about him.

I saw a very large and fierce lion which was then kept at the infirmary at Edinburgh, quite transported with the sound of a bagpipe, and rolling upon its back with the utmost satisfaction. I saw likewise the old lion in the tower of London, listen with the utmost attention to a German flute. Mean time a young tiger leaped up and down incessantly, till the music ceased. So it may be literally true!

Sound travels slowly compared with the amazing velocity of light, it depends, in a measure, on the degree of density of the medium through which it traverses, it is louder in a denser medium, and weakens in proportion as the medium becomes rarefied, hence when more rarefied bodies are exploded, the report is louder, as in the instance of the aurum futininans.

The atmosphere is the proper vehicle of sound, and there are certain attendant phenomena which are very remarkable. The report of any explosion will be in proportion to the capacity of rarefaction, in the article exploded, and the density of the medium in which the explosion takes place. A piece of ordnance fired off in a medium consisting of a degree of rarity, equal to the capacity of expansion of the charge, would make no report. And this degree of rarity is not far distant from the surface of the earth, where no resistance would be given to the explosion of gunpowder: In such a situation, no report could be heard. How inconceivably rare then must be;. that region of space, in which the orbit of our moon is situated, which is quite in our neighbourhood, it could not oppose the least possible resistance to a moving body. And yet this degree of rarity is incomparable with that which extends to the regions of the fixed stars: the utmost stretch of human imagination would be incompetent to form any idea of it. However, it must be such, as to do away all surprise at continued motion; for when once a moving body had acquired the impetus of its motion, in so perfect, a non-resisting medium, it must continue to move for ever, independent of accelerating power. And this relative position of central space, would be one of a continued series of uniform ratios Thus we may contemplate the firmament of the universe, as divided into centres of density, and rarity; and every globe suspended in, and adapted to its proper grade of density, in which grade it revolves to its own proper centre, within a well defined circular stratum.

10.  When we cast our eyes up to the firmament, let us seriously ask ourselves, what power built over our heads that vast and magnificent arch, and “spread out the heavens like a curtain “ Who garnished these heavens with such a variety of resplendent objects,’ all floating in the liquid ether, and regular in their motions Who painted the clouds with such variety of colours, and in such diversity’ of shades and figures, as it is not in the power of the finest pencil’ on earth to emulate Who formed the sun of such a determinate size, and placed it at such a convenient distance, as not to scorch or annoy, but to cherish all things with his genial heat For a succession of ages he never failed to rise at his appointed time,, or to send out the dawn as his forerunner, to proclaim his approach. By whose skilful hand is it directed, in its diurnal and annual course, to give us the grateful vicissitude of night and day, and the regular succession of the seasons That it should always proceed in the same path, and never once step aside: that it should go on, in a space where there is nothing to obstruct, but turn at a determinate point: that the moon should supply the absence of the sun, and re move the horror of the night: that it should regulate the flux and reflux of the sea, thereby preserving the waters from putrefaction, anti at the same time accommodating mankind with so manifold conveniences, that all the innumerable hosts of heaven, should perform their revolutions with such exactness, as never once to fail, in a course of six thousand years, but constantly to come about in the same round to the hundredth part of a minute: this is such an incontestible proof of a Divine Architect, arid of the care and wisdom wherewith he governs the universe, as made the Roman philosopher conclude whoever imagines, that the wonderful order anti incredible constancy of the heavenly bodies and their motions, whereon “the welfare and preservation of things depend, are not governed by an intelligent being, is himself destitute of understanding. For shall we when we see an artfully contrived engine, suppose a dial or s sphere immediately acknowledge that it is the result of reason and yet, when we behold the heavens, so admirably contrived, moved with such incredible velocity, and finishing their anniversary revolutions, with such unerring constancy, make any doubt of their being the work, not only of reason, but of an excellent, a divine reason

But if from that very imperfect knowledge of astronomy which his time afforded, even the heathen could be so confident, that the heavenly bodies were framed and moved by a wise and understanding mind what would he have said, had he been acquainted with our modern discoveries Had he known the immense greatness of that part of the world which falls under our observation The exquisite regulation of the motions of the planets, without any deviation or confusion: the inexpressible nicety of adjustment, in the velocity of the earth’s annual motion; the wonderful proportion of its diurnal motion about its own axis; the densities of the planets, exactly proportioned to their distances from the sun; the admirable order of the several satellites which move round their respective planets;

- the motion of the comets equally regular and periodical, with that of the other planetary bodies; and lastly, the preservation of the several planets and comets, from falling upon, or interfering with each other Certainly could argument avail, atheism would now be utterly ashamed to show its bead, and forced to acknowledge, that it was an eternal and almighty Being, it was God alone, who gave to each of the celestial bodies, its proper magnitude and measure of beats its dueness of distance, and regularity of motion: or in the language of the prophet, “who established the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.”

If from the firmament we descend to the orb on which we dwell. what a glorious proof have we of the Divine Wisdom, in this intermediate expansion of the air, which is so wonderfully contrived, to answer so many important ends at once It receives and supports clouds to water the earth It affords us winds, for health, for pleasure, for a thousand conveniences : by its spring, it ministers to the respiration of animals, by its motion to the conveyance of sounds, and by its transparency, to the transmission of light, from one end of heaven to the other. Whose power made so thin and fluid an element, a safe repository for thunder and lightning By whose command, and out of whose treasuries, are these dreadful, yet useful meteors sent forth to purify the air which would otherwise stagnate and consume the vapours that would otherwise breed various diseases By what skilful hand are those immense quantities of water, which are Continually drawn from the sea, by a natural distillation made fresh, sent forth upon the wings of the wind, into the most distant countries, and distributed in showers over the face of the earth

Whose power and wisdom was it that hanged the earth upon nothing and gave it a spherical figure, the most commodious which could be devised, both for the consistency of its parts, and the velocity of its motion Who was it that “weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance,” and disposed them in their most proper places, both for fruitfulness and health Who diversified the climates of the earth, into such an agreeable variety, that, remote as they are from each other, each has his proper seasons, day and night, winter and summer Who was it that clothed the face of it with plants and flowers, so exqusitely adorned with various and inimitable beauties ! That placed the plant in the seed, in such elegant complications, as afford at once both a pleasing and an astonishing spectacle That painted and perfumed the flowers, that gave them the sweet odours which they diffuse through the air for our delight, and with one and’ the same water dyed them into different colours, surpassing the imitation, nay, and the comprehension of mankind For can the wisest of men tell,

  "Why does one climate and one soil endue The blushing poppy with a crimson hue, Yet leave the lily pale, and tinge the violet blue.”

  Who replenished the earth, the water, the air with such an infinite variety of living creatures, and so formed, that of the innumerable particulars wherein each creature differs from all others, every one is found upon examination, to have its singular beauty and peculiar use Some walk, some creep, some fly, some swim. But every one has all its members and its various organs accurately fitted for its peculiar motions. In short, the stateliness of the horse, and the feathers of the swan, the largeness of the elephant, and the smallness of the mite, are to a considerate mind equal demonstration of an infinite wisdom and power. Nay, rather the smaller the creature is, the more amazing is the workmanship. When in the mite, for instance, we see a head, a body, legs and feet, all as well proportioned as those of an elephant, and consider withal that in every part of this living atom, there are muscles, nerves, veins, arteries, and blood, every particle of which blood is composed of various other particles: when we consider all this, can we help being lost in wonder and astonishment!.. Can we refrain from crying out, on this account also, “0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom, and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his works, and his ways” of creation and providence “ past finding out !“

Natural instinct another thing in animals, no less wonderful than their frame: and is indeed nothing else than the. direction of an All-Wise and All-Powerful mind. What else teaches birds to build their nests hard or soft, according to the constitution of their young

 What else makes them keep so constantly in their nest, during the time of incubation, as if they knew the efficacy of their own warmth, and its aptness for animation What else causes the salmon every year to come up a river, perhaps hundreds of miles, to cast its spawn, and secure it in banks of sand, till the young ones are excluded To go no farther, can we behold the spider’s net, the silk worm’s web, the bees’ cells, or the ants’ granaries, without being forced to acknowledge the Infinite Wisdom, which directs their unerring steps, and has made them fit to be an emblem of art, industry, and frugality to mankind

If from the earth and the creatures that live upon it, we cast our eyes upon the water, we soon perceive that had it been more or less rarefied, it had not been so proper for the use of man. And who gave it that just configuration of parts and exact degree of motion, which makes it so fluent, and yet so strong as to carry, and waft away the most enormous burdens Who has instructed the rivers to run in so many winding streams, through the vast tracts of land, in order to water them the more plentifully Then to disembogue themselves into the ocean, so making it the common centre of commerce: and thence to return through the earth and air, to their fountain heads, in one perpetual circulation Who replenished these rivers with fish of all kinds, which glide through the limpid streams, and run heedlessly into the fisher’s net, for the entertainment of men The great and wide sea is a very awful and stupendous work of God. Whose hands make it ebb and flow with such exactness A little more or less motion in the fluid mass, would disorder all nature, and a small increase of a tide, might ruin whole kingdoms. Who then was so wise as to take exact measures of those immense bodies, and who so strong as to rule at pleasure the rage of that furious element “He who bath placed the sand for the bound of these, by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass. So that though the waves thereof toss themselves, they cannot prevail, though they roar, they cannot pass over it.”

 If from the world itself we turn our eyes more particularly on man, whom it bath pleased the Lord of all to appoint for its principal inhabitant, no understanding surely can be so low, no heart so stupid and insensible, as not plainly to see, that nothing but Infinite Wisdom. could in so wonderful a manner have fashioned his body, and breathed into it a reasonable soul, “whereby he teacheth us more than the beasts of the field, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven.”

Should any of us see a lump of clay rise immediately from the ground, into the complete figure of a man full of beauty and Symmetry, and endowed with all the powers and faculties, which we perceive in ourselves, yea., and that in a more eminent degree of perfection, than any of the present children of men : should we presently after observe him perform all the offices of life, sense and reason : move as gracefully, talk as eloquently, reason as justly, and discharge every branch of duty, with as much accuracy as the most accomplished man breathing, how great must be our astonishment! Now this was the very case in that moment when God created man upon the earth.

But to impress this in a more lively manner upon the mind, let us suppose the figure, above mentioned, rises by degrees, and is finished part by part in some succession of time. When the whole is completed, the veins and arteries bored, the sinews and tendons laid, the joints fitted, the blood and juices lodged in the vessels prepared for them, God infuses into it a vital principle. The image moves, it walks, it speaks. Were we to see all this transacted before our eyes, we could not but be astonished ! A consideration of this made David break out into that rapturous acknowledgment, “I will give thee thanks for I am fearfully and wonderfully made! Marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect, and in thy book were all my members written.”

Thus which way soever we turn our eyes, whether we look upward or downward, without us, or within us, upon the animate or inanimate parts of the creation, we find abundant reason to say, “0 Lord, how manifold are thy works ! In wisdom hast thou made them all.”

Let us observe a little farther the terraqueous globe. How admirably are all things thereon chained together, that they may all aim at the ultimate end, which God proposed in all his works! And how vast. a number of intermediate ends are subservient to this! To perpetuate the established course of nature, in a continued series, the Divine Wisdom has thought fit, that all living creatures should constantly be employed in producing individuals ; that all natural things should lend

helping hand toward preserving every species ; and lastly, that the destruction of one thing should always conduce to the production of another.

This globe contains what are called the three kingdoms of nature the fossil, vegetable, and animal. The fossil constitutes the crust of the earth, lying beneath the visible surface. The vegetable adorns the face of the globe, and draws much of its nourishment from the fossil kingdom. The animal is almost wholly sustained by the vegetable kingdom. If we go deeper into the earth, the rule which generally obtains with regard to the strata thereof is this ; the upper part consists of ragstone, the next of slate, the third of marble, filled with petrefactions, the fourth of slate again, and lastly, the lowest which we are able to discover, of freestone.

That the sea once overspread a Jar greater part of the earth, than  it does at present, we learn not only from geographers, but from its yearly decrease, observable in many places: partly occasioned by  the vast quantities of shells and all kinds of rubbish, which the tides continually leave on the shores. Hence most shores are usually full of wreck, of dead, testaceous animals, of stones, dirt or sand of various kinds, and heaps of other things. Rivers likewise; especially those which have a rapid stream, wear away whatever they touch, particularly soft and friable earth, which they carry and deposit on distant, winding shores : whence it is certain the sea continually subsides, and the land gains no small increase.

Water retained in low grounds occasions marshes. But what a wonderful provision has nature made, that many of these, even without the help of man, shall again become firm ground More and more mossy tumps are seen therein. Some of these are brought dawn by the water, from the higher grounds adjoining, and others are produced by putrefying plants. Thus the marsh is dried up, and new meadows arise. And this is done in a shorter time, whenever the sphaguum, a kind of moss, has laid the foundation. For this, in process of time, changes into a porous kind of mould, till almost all the marsh is filled with it. After this the rush begins to strike root, and together with the cotton-grass, constitutes a turf, wherein the roots get continually higher, and thus lay a firm foundation for other plants, till the whole marsh is covered with herbs and grass, and becomes a pleasant and fruitful meadow,

I shall add only one reflection more, with regard to the scale of beings. As the microscope discovers almost every drop of water, every blade of grass, every leaf, flower, and grain of earth, to he swarming with inhabitants: a thinking mind is naturally led to consider that part of the scale of beings, which descends lower and lower from himself, to the lowest of all sensitive creatures. Among these some are so little above dead matter, that it is hard to determine whether they live or no. Others that are lifted one step higher. have no sense beside feeling and taste. Some again have the additional one of hearing: others of smell, and others of sight.

It is wonderful to observe, by what a gradual progression the world of life advances, through an immense variety of species, before a creature is found, that is complete in all its senses. And among these there are so many different degrees of perfection in the senses which one animal enjoys above another, that though each sense in different animals, comes under the same common denomination, yet it seems almost of a different nature. If, after this, we attentively consider, the inward endowments of animals, their cunning and sagacity, and what we usually comprehend under the general name of instinct, we find them rising one above another, in the same imperceptible manner, and receiving higher and higher improvements, according to the species in which they are implanted.

The whole progress of nature is so gradual, that the entire chasm from a plant to man, is filled up with divers kinds of creatures, rising one above another, by so gentle an ascent, that the transitions from one species to another, are almost insensible. And time intermediate space is so well husbanded, that there is scarce a degree of perfection which does not appear in some. Now since the scale of being advances by such regular steps as high as man, is it not probable, that it still proceeds gradually upwards, through beings of a superior nature As there is an infinitely greater space between the Supreme Being and man, than between man and the lowest insect.

This thought is thus enlarged upon by Mr. Locke. “That there should be more species of intelligent creatures above us, than there are of sensible and material below us, is probable from hence, that in all the visible and corporeal world, we see no chasm, no gaps. All quite down from man, the descent is by easy steps: there is a continued series of things that in each remove differ the least that can be conceived from each other. There are fishes that have wings, and are not strangers to the airy regions. And there are birds which are inhabitants of the waters, whose blood is as cold as that of fishes, There are animals so near akin both to birds and beasts, that they are in the middle between both. Amphibious animals link the terrestrial and aquatic together. Seals live either on land or in the sea. Porpoises have the warm blood and entrails of a hog. There are’ brutes that seem to have as much knowledge and reason, as some that are called men. Again: the animal and vegetable kingdoms are so closely joined, that between the lowest of the one, and the highest of the other, there is scarce any perceptible difference. And if we go on, till we come to the lowest and most inorganical parts of matter, we shall find every where, that the several species are linked together and differ in almost insensible degrees.

“Now when we consider on the other band, the infinite power and wisdom of the Creator, does it not appear highly suitable to the magnificent harmony of the universe, and the infinite goodness of the Architect, that the species of creatures should also by gentle degrees ascend upwards from us, as they gradually descend from us downwards, toward his infinite perfection, it is not necessary to creating power, that the receptacle of the soul should be a ponderous body, consisting of flesh and blood; if it consisted with Infinite Wisdom, the power which organized the human body, and ordained it a receptacle for an intelligent soul, could also prepare a body of rarer materials, which should be light as ether, and capable of traversing rarer regions, with the velocity of light. And it only betrays a feebleness of mind to suppose, that there are no more, and no other kind of intelligent beings in the universe, besides what inhabit this little globe of ours.”

This reflection upon the scale of beings, is pursued at large, by one of the finest writers of the age, Mr. Bonnet of Geneva, in that beautiful work, “ The Contemplation of Nature.” When I first read this, I designed to make only some extracts from it, to be inserted under their proper heads. But upon farther consideration, I judged it would be more agreeable, as well as profitable to the reader, to give an abridgement of the whole, that the admirable chain of reasoning may be preserved, and the adorable wisdom and goodness of the great Author of nature, placed in the strongest light.