there is hardly a bone that could vary in its surfaces, curvatures, or protuberances without corresponding variations in other bones. These arrangements are so uniform that the skilful naturalist, from the examination of a single bone, is able to describe pretty accurately the size, form, and habitudes of the animal, and the order to which it belonged. Yet there are impassable barriers which secure the identity of each species throughout every succeeding age. The breathing apparatus of a house-fly, when viewed through a microscope, strongly resembles that of the higher orders of the mammalia tribes. This relation of the several parts of creation, the adaptation of the organs of all sentient beings to their habits, and the entire absence of any trace of irregularity or eccentricity through the mighty amplitudes of nature, demonstrate that the many thousand varieties of conscious existence are the productions of the same God.

Unity of design, as well as the infinite wisdom of the Designer, is obvious in the employment of the same thing to accomplish several distinct and important purposes. The moon not only fills her "silver horn," as she walks forth amidst the sparkling gems that illuminate the azure vault of heaven, but rolls the tidal wave into our bays and harbours, multiplying and extending the commercial intercourse of nations. The atmosphere is not only the medium essential to animal and vegetable life, but with its breezes tempers the heat of summer and the rigour of winter. It is the vehicle which bears along the vapours in buoyant and fleecy magazines, the limbic that yields the gentle distillations of the dew and the refreshing showers. By its refractive properties it diffuses light over earth and sky; it supports combustion, its undulations waft to us the sentiments of human language and all the melodies of music and song. The sun is the fountain of light and heat to our globe, and to all the planetary worlds circulating in his princely train; he is the great physical agent in evolving the dynamical laws that bind them to their orbits. He produces winds and other disturbances in the electric equilibrium of the atmosphere. He emits his vivifying action on the chemical elements of nature, elaborating from dead inorganic matter the vegetable kingdom so essential to animal existence, and the source of those vast deposits known as coal strata. These marvellous exhibitions of infinite wisdom and omnipotence are evidential of design, and clearly attest the existence of ONE intelligent Almighty Being.

But this analogical proof of the unity of Deity accumulates its force, if we extend our researches beyond the surface of our earth. Sir Isaac Newton showed in direct contradiction to all the ancient systems of astronomy, propounded and adopted by the unrivalled sagacity of the great sages of antiquity, that the phenomena ex

hibited by all the celestial bodies are regulated by the same laws which influence the falling of an apple. The laws of motion which prevail upon our earth prevail equally wherever we are capable of discovering motion. The annual and diurnal revolutions of our globe are exemplified by every planet and satellite of the solar system. The primaries bear the same relation to their secondaries that the sun bears to the vast retinue of worlds that do homage to bis mighty behests. Jupiter and Saturn, with their concomitant moons, are miniature representations of that astral system of which they are members. There are several indications of orbitual motions to the utmost bounds of the material universe. Some stars undergo a regular periodical increase and diminution of brilliancy, involving in some instances a complete extinction and revival. One of the most remarkable is Omicron, in the constellation Cetus, first noticed by Fabricus in A.D. 1596. It appears about twelve times in eleven years. When at its greatest brightness, which it retains about a fortnight, it appears as equal to a star of the second magnitude. It then gradually decreases till it becomes completely invisible. After some months it emerges from its obscurity and attains its former splendour. Algol is another of these periodic stars, which at times is equal to one of the second magnitude. In about four hours it is reduced to the fourth magnitude, and in the same space of time regains its former brightness. There are several others whose variations of brilliancy and obscurity are known to the practical astronomer. This periodical increase and diminution of light is believed to be occasioned either by a greater number of dark spots on one side of the discs of the stars than on the other, similar to those detected upon the sun's disc, and hence a revolution upon their axes; or they move in very eccentric orbits, the major axes of which are pointed towards the earth; or, finally, the obscuration is occasioned by the revolution of an opaque body, which, when interposed between us and the stars, cuts off a portion of their light. To an observer, placed at the distance of one of the fixed stars, the revolution of one of our larger planets round our sun would produce a temporary obscuration of his light every fourteen hours. On whatever principle these curious phenomena may be explained, they are proofs of the permanent activity, in these illimitable regions, of the laws of motion existing in our world, which secure the equilibrium of our system amidst the various oscillations of its respective members, and demonstrate that they were originated and are presided over by the same God.

The orbitual motion of the binary stars is additional evidence of the unity of design. Sir William Herschel announced that two, three, and four suns revolve round each other, or rather round their common centre of gravity, just as our earth and moon revolve round theirs. The observations of this singularly acute

man have been confirmed by many eminent astronomers since his time. And what is still more astonishing, the visible glories of the firmament are all being borne along through boundless space, circulating round some remote but magnificent centre, analogous to the orbitual motions of the several members of our system round the sun. Maedlar, of Dorpat, says, in his work entitled "Central Sun," "That Alcyone, the principle star in the group Pleiades, now occupies the centre of gravity, and is the sun about which the universe, including our astral system, is all revolving." Indeed it has been computed by several highly distinguished mathematicians, such as M. Argelander (of Bonn), M. Otto Struve, M. Peters, and M. Maedlar, that the sun and his retinue of worlds pass over more than thirty-three millions of miles per annum of that mighty orbit, in which they revolve round this "Central Sun." The discovery of the clusters denominated nebulæ carries us upward through another ascending step in the magnificent scale of progression. The nebulæ, resolved by the telescope, are evidently composed of stars of the same kind as those seen by the unaided eye, and with the increasing powers of the telescope the subsequently resolved ones are seen to be but clusters of stars bound together by the mutual law of gravitation. The celebrated monster telescope of the late Earl of Rosse, which we had the privilege of once seeing, has resolved into distinct stars several nebulæ classed by Sir W. Herschel as the chaotic luminous matter, from which by gradual condensation originally came the suns and systems which now crowd the heavens. Those which no telescope has been as yet able to resolve bear the same relation to those that have been resolved, and will doubtless appear to the eye of posterity as distinct clusters of suns. The universe is thus demonstrated to be the emanation of the same omnipotent Creator, who has given birth to all its shining spheres that blaze and roll on the ethereal arch. To believe in a plurality of gods is treason against the Lord God of creation. But let it be remembered that the absolute unity of Deity is only known with certainty from the testimony of Scripture. It is the authoritative announcement of the deductions of natural religion in reference to the nature of God, the rule of moral duty, and a future state; free of the uncertainty, contradiction, and irrationality that characterized the false philosophies of the ancientlearned world; whilst we are solely indebted to it for our knowledge of the particular scheme of redemption of fallen man, and the glory to which he is to be hereafter elevated. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." "I am the first and the last, and beside me there is no God." Jehovah at this moment presides in high authority over all worlds, and his energies are felt in the remotest regions of space; yet is he mindful of sinful man, gave his Son to be our Almighty Saviour, and sent forth his

and

Holy Spirit to carry forward the dispensations of His grace to make us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.

THE OMNIPRESENCE OF DEITY may be proved from the works of nature. It is a received maxim of intellectual philosophy, that nothing can act where it is not. The mysterious influences of magnetism and gravitation can only act within certain limits according to fixed laws. But where shall we transport ourselves, even in thought, that the manifestations of the Divine presence may not be found? Strictly speaking, the laws of nature are nothing but the uniform mode of the Divine procedure-the immutable connection between antecedents and consequents, or cause and effect, established by the will of the Creator. Indeed, some philosophers propose to call the relations of co-existence and succession, usually denominated laws of nature, by the name of methods of nature, asserting that the term law, hitherto applied to natural phenomena, is “inaccurate and misleading." Motion is no property of matter; matter is quite passive, and is acted upon by mind. Motion is the inherent attribute of mind; hence all the motion and other energies exhibited by inanimate bodies are evidence of the presence of an all-pervading spirit having perfect control over every molecule of matter in the universe. The telescope adduces evidence that the Deity is now at work in regions more remote than geometry has ever measured, and amongst worlds more numerous than arithmetic has ever calculated. The microscope unfolds the operations of His hands, in crowding every spot of earth, every petal of odoriferous flowers, all the foliage of mighty forests, every drop of stagnant water, and of deep restless ocean, with teeming life as countless and as perfect as the glories of the firmament. There have been no limits discovered to the material universe. From the progressive discoveries of modern science, evidential of the omnipresence of the Almighty, the dream of the German poet, as cited by Mitchell in his "Orbs of Heaven," becomes a sort of sublime reality: "God called up from dreams a man in the vestibule of Heaven, saying, 'Come thou hither and see the glory of my house.' To the servants that stood around His throne He said, 'Take him and undress him from his robes of flesh, cleanse his vision, and put a new breath into his nostrils; only touch not with any change his human heart-a heart that weeps and trembles!' It was done; and, with a mighty angel for his guide, he wheeled away into endless space. They fled through zaarahs of darkness, through wildernesses of death that divided worlds of life. Then from a distance, counted only in Heaven, light dawned for a time through a sleepy film. In a moment the rush of planets was upon them, in a moment the blazing of suns was around them. Then came eternities of twilight, that revealed but were not revealed. On the right hand and on the left towered mighty con

stellations, that by self-repetitions and answers from afar, that by counter-positions, built-up triumphal gates, whose architraves, horizontal, upright, rested, rose in altitudes by spans that seemed ghostly by infinitude. Without measure were the architraves, past number were the archways, beyond memory were the gates. Within were stairs that scaled the eternities below; above was below, below was above to the man stripped of gravitating body; depth was swallowed up in height insurmountable; height was swallowed up in depth unfathomable. Suddenly as thus they rode from infinite to infinite; suddenly as thus they tilted over abysmal worlds, a mighty cry arose, that systems more mysterious, that worlds more billowy, other heights and other depths were coming, were nearing, were at hand. The man sighed and stopped, shuddered and wept. His overladen heart uttered itself in tears; and he said, Angel, I will go no further; for the spirit of man acheth with this infinity. Insufferable is the glory of God. Let me lie down in the grave and hide me from the persecution of the infinite; for end I see there is none.' And from all the listening stars that shone around issued a choral voice: 'The man speaks truly, end there is none that ever we heard of.' Then the angel threw up his glorious hands to the Heaven of Heavens, saying, 'End there is none to the universe of God! So also there is no beginning!'" Wherever creation extends there must God have been; wherever he upholds and moves matter by his Providence, there must he continually be. The Deity, therefore, fills boundless space with his presence, and in every portion of it exercises his illimitable attributes. The mode of the Divine existence is beyond our comprehension; but that he is self-existent and eternal is seen in the light of intuitive truth. He exists by the absolute necessity of his own nature independently of any extrinsic cause, and consequently must be omnipresent. For if there be a place where God is not, then in that place there is no God, and Atheism there would be no violation of moral obligation. If his presence is bounded, then he is an imperfect being, and is not so great as the human intellect could conceive him to be; for whatever admits of limit might be greater. Space is boundless, and if God fills not its vast immensity, space is greater than God, which is inconsistent with our idea of the Supreme Being. All other beings are circumscribed by space, and they cannot occupy two portions of it at the same instant of time. Omnipresence is an attribute peculiar to Deity. Revelation authoritatively attests this truth. "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord."

Jer. xxiii. 24.

In the 139th Psalm, verses 7-10, there is a most sublime description of this attribute: "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there: