Essayist, when he speaks of Nature, or the God of Nature, having failed in producing a planet where He intended it to be, and of having recorded that failure by broken planets and showers of meteoric stones;1-we will not say what Professor Sedgwick has said of speculations about the nebular theory not more absurd, that they are "the raving madness of hypothetical extravagance;" but we sincerely, and without desiring to give offence, adopt the rest of his declaration, "that it is at open war with all the calm lessons of inductive truth, and, in any interpretation we can give it, bears upon its front the stamp of folly and irreverence towards the God of Nature." 66 Though this Earth," says Dr. Chalmers, "and these heavens were to disappear, there are other worlds which roll afar ;-the light of other suns shines upon them, and the sky which mantles them is garnished with other stars. Is it presumption to say that the moral 1 "The planets and the stars," says the Essayist," are the lumps which have flown from the Potter's wheel of the Great-worker, the shred coils of which, in His working, sprung from His mighty lathe;-the sparks which darted from His awful anvil, when the Solar system lay incandescent thereon; the curls of vapour which rose from the great cauldron of creation, when its elements were separated."—P. 243. world extends to these distant and unknown regions; that they are occupied with people; that the charities of home and of neighbourhood flourish there; that the praises of God are there lifted up, and His goodness rejoiced in ; that piety has there its temples and its offerings; and that the richness of the Divine attributes is there felt and admired by intelligent worshippers ?" 1 1 Astronomical Discourses, pp. 36, 37.-Without multiplying extracts from the writings of philosophers and divines, it may be sufficient to state, that Dr. Derham, in his Astrotheology, 3d edit., 1717, pp. xlvii., liii., liv., has stated his reasons for believing that the fixed stars and planets "are worlds, or places of habitation, which is concluded from their being habitable, and well provided for habitation." Dr. Paley also, though he does not discuss the subject, evinces his opinion when he states, "that even ignorance of the sensitive natures by which other planets are inhabited, necessarily keeps from us the knowledge of numberless utilities, relations, and subserviences, which we perceive upon our own globe."-Natural Theology, edited by Lord Brougham and Sir Charles Bell, London, 1836, CHAPTER XV. THE FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSE. HAD the doctrine of a Plurality of Worlds been one of those subjects which merely gratify our curiosity, we should not have occupied the reader's time, or spent our own, in illustrating and defending it. While the scientific truths on which it depends form one of the most interesting branches of natural theology, and yield the most striking proofs of wisdom and design, they are intimately associated with the future. destiny of Man. There are three departments of Natural Theology which demand our most earnest attention, -the living world around us, the world of the past, and the worlds of the future. In the wonderful mechanisms of animal and vegetable life with which we are so familiar, and in the inorganic structures amid which we dwell, we recognise imperfectly the innumerable proofs of matchless world extends to these distant and unknown regions; that they are occupied with people; that the charities of home and of neighbourhood flourish there; that the praises of God are there lifted up, and His goodness rejoiced in; that piety has there its temples and its offerings; and that the richness of the Divine attributes is there felt and admired by intelligent worshippers ?" 1 1 Astronomical Discourses, pp. 36, 37.-Without multiplying extracts from the writings of philosophers and divines, it may be sufficient to state, that Dr. Derham, in his Astrotheology, 3d edit., 1717, pp. xlvii., liii., liv., has stated his reasons for believing that the fixed stars and planets" are worlds, or places of habitation, which is concluded from their being habitable, and well provided for habitation." Dr. Paley also, though he does not discuss the subject, evinces his opinion when he states, that even ignorance of the sensitive natures by which other planets are inhabited, necessarily keeps from us the knowledge of numberless utilities, relations, and subserviences, which we perceive upon our own globe."—Natural Theology, edited by Lord Brougham and Sir Charles Bell, London, 1836, CHAPTER XV. THE FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSE. HAD the doctrine of a Plurality of Worlds been one of those subjects which merely gratify our curiosity, we should not have occupied the reader's time, or spent our own, in illustrating and defending it. While the scientific truths on which it depends form one of the most interesting branches of natural theology, and yield the most striking proofs of wisdom and design, they are intimately associated with the future destiny of Man. There are three departments of Natural Theology which demand our most earnest attention, -the living world around us, the world of the past, and the worlds of the future. In the wonderful mechanisms of animal and vegetable life with which we are so familiar, and in the inorganic structures amid which we dwell, we recognise imperfectly the innumerable proofs of matchless |