7. In short, in this universal temple, hung with innumerable lights, we behold with the eye of imagination, unnumbered legions of bright intelligences, unseen by mortal eyes, celebrating, in ecstatic strains, the perfections of HIM who is the Creator and Governor of all worlds, we are carried forward to an eternity to come, amidst whose scenes and revolutions alone the magnificent objects it contains, can be contemplated in all their extent and grandeur.

8. O! who can lift above a careless look,

While such bright scenes as these his thoughts engage, And doubt, while reading from so fair a book,

That God's own finger traced the glowing page?

Or deem the radiance of yon blue expanse,
With all its starry hosts, the careless work of chance?
MRS. WELBY.

LESSON XLII.

CONTEMPLATION OF THE STARRY HEAVENS.

CONTINUED.

THOMAS DICK.

1. THESE innumerable globes of light were created for use, -to subserve important purposes in the plan of the Divine administration. They were not launched through the spaces of infinity at random, merely to display the energies of Omnipotence, and to light up the wilds of immensity with a useless splendor. Such a supposition would be derogatory to the attributes and character of the All-wise Creator, and would distort all the views we ought to entertain of a Being possessed of infinite perfection.

2. Those immense bodies must, therefore, be conceived as intended chiefly to diffuse their light and splendor over worlds, with which they are more immediately connected, and for the ultimate design of communicating happiness, in various forms, to the different orders of beings, with which they may be replenished. What other subordinate ends they may accomplish in the grand scheme of the universe, besides the advan

tages we derive from them, is beyond our province to determine.

3. It is not improbable that every star or system, may have a subordinate end to serve to every other system, as forming parts of one whole under the government of Infinite Wisdom. As we derive advantages from these orbs, distant as they are, and as they diversify the ceiling of our earthly habitation with a splendid decoration, so they will likewise adorn the firmament of other systems, and display to the view of their inhabitants, both the energies of Omnipotent Power, and the manifold wisdom of God.

4. We have no reason to entertain the least doubt that the stars are in reality SUNS, and the distributors of light to other worlds, any more than we ought to doubt of the motion of the earth, because we have never, from a fixed point in the firmament, beheld it wheeling its rapid course through ethereal space around the sun.

5. Since the stars can not with the least show of reason be supposed to have been created chiefly for the use of our globe, it is as certain as moral demonstration can make it, that they were principally intended to fulfill a higher and a nobler purpose, and that this purpose has a respect to the accommodation and happiness of intelligent existence, either in the stars themselves, or in worlds which revolve around them; for the Creator and Governor of the universe must be considered, in all His arrangements, as acting in perfect consistency with those perfections of His nature, with which He is eternally and essentially invested.

6. But to suppose the innumerable host of stars to be only so many vast insulated globes, hung up to irradiate the void spaces of infinitude, would be repugnant to all the conceptions which reason and revelation lead us to form of a Being of infinite perfection. If, then, the fixed stars are the centers of light and influence to surrounding worlds, how immense must that empire be, over which the moral government of the Almighty extends! How expansive the range, and how diversified the order of planetary systems! How nu

merous beyond calculation the worlds which incessantly roll throughout the immensity of space!

7. What countless legions of intellectual beings, of every rank and capacity, must crowd the boundless dominions of the King eternal, immortal, and invisible! And how glorious and incomprehensible must He be, whose word caused this vast fabric to start into existence, and who superintends every moment, the immensity of beings, with which it is replenished! In attempting to grasp such scenes, the human mind is bewildered and overwhelmed, and can only exclaim, “Great and MARVELOUS ARE THY WORKS, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY!"

8. "SEEST thou those orbs that numerous roll above? Those lamps that nightly greet thy visual powers, Are each a bright capacious sun like ours.

The telescopic tube will still descry

Myriads behind, that 'scape the naked eye,
And further on, a new discovery trace
Through the deep regions of encompassed space.

9. "If each bright star so many suns are found,
With planetary systems circled round,

What vast infinitude of worlds may grace,-
What beings people the stupendous space?
Whatever race possess the ethereal plain,
What orbs they people, or what ranks maintain ?

10. "Though the deep secret Heaven conceal below,
One truth of universal scope we know ;-
Our nobler part, the same ethereal mind,
Relates our earth to all their reasoning kind;
One Deity, one sole creating cause,

Our active cares and joint devotion draws.

11. "Child of the earth! O, lift thy glance
To yon bright firmament's expanse,—
The glories of its realms explore,
And gaze, and wonder, and adore !”

LESSON XLIII.

NOTE. The following sublime Ode to the SUPREME BEING, is said to have been translated into the Chinese and Tartar languages, written on silk, and suspended in the Imperial Palace at Pekin. The Emperor of Japan had it translated into Japanese, embroidered in gold, and hung up in the Temple of Jeddo.

DIRECTION.-The following poety, though it is Rhyme, resembles, in style and punctuation, Blank Verse. Care is, therefore, requisite in the reading to denote the final pause, in order that the similarity of final sounds may be clearly expressed. The monotone should prevail in the utterance, and the movement should be slow, expressive of sublimity.

GOD.

From the Russian of DERZHAVEN.
1. O THOU ETERNAL ONE! whose presence bright
All space doth occupy-all motions guide;
Unchanged through Time's all-devastating flight-
THOU ONLY GOD! There is no God beside,—
Being above all beings! Mighty One!

Whom none can comprehend, and none explore;
Who fill'st existence with Thyself alone,
Embracing all-supporting-ruling o'er ;-
Being whom we call GOD,--and know no more!

2. In its sublime research, Philosophy

May measure out the ocean deep-may count
The sands, or rays of sun,-but God! for Thee

There is no weight or measure; none can mount
Up to Thy mysteries. Reason's brightest spark,
Though kindled by Thy light, in vain would try
To trace Thy counsels, infinite and dark;

And thought is lost ere thought can soar so high,
Even like past moments in eternity.

3. Thou from primeval nothingness didst call

First chaos, then existence-Lord, on Thee,
Eternity had its foundation;—all

Sprung forth from Thee—of light, joy, harmony,
Sole origin, all, all of beauty, Thine,

Thy word created all, and doth create ;—

Thy splendor fills all space with rays divine.
Thou art, and wast, and shalt be glorious! great!
Life-giving and life-sustaining Potentate!

4. Thy chains the unmeasured Universe surround;
Upheld by Thee, by Thee inspired with breath!
Thou the beginning with the end hast bound,

And beautifully mingled life and death!

As sparks mount upward from the fiery blaze,

So suns are born, so worlds spring forth from Thee; And as the spangles, in the sunny rays,

Shine round the silvery snow, the pageantry
Of Heaven's bright army glitters in Thy praise.

5. A million torches, lighted by Thy hand,

Wander unwearied through the blue abyss;
They own Thy power, accomplish Thy command,
All gay with life, all eloquent with bliss.
What shall we call them? Piles of crystal light?
A glorious company of golden streams?

Lamps of celestial ether burning bright?

Suns lighting systems with their joyous béams? But Thou to these art as the day to night.

6. Yes! as a drop of water in the sea,

All this magnificence to Thee is lost :

What are ten thousand worlds compared to Thee?

And what am I, then? Heaven's unnumbered host, Though multiplied by myriads, and arrayed

In all the glory of sublimest thought,

Is but an atom in the balance weighed

Against Thy greatness,-is a cipher brought Against infinity! What am I, then ?—NAUGHT! 7. Náught! but the effluence of Thy light divine, Pervading worlds, hath reached my bosom too; Yes! in my spirit doth Thy Spirit shine,

As shines the sun-beam in a drop of dew. Náught! but I live, and on hope's pinions fly, Eager toward Thy presence; for in Thee