minds of the mass of the Christian world, when preachers, in their sermons, endeavour to undervalue scientific knowledge, by attempting to contrast it with the doctrines of revelation. It would be just as reasonable to attempt to contrast the several doctrines, duties, and facts recorded in the New Testament with each other, in order to deermine their relative importance, and to show which of them might be altogether overlooked and discarded. The series of facts and of divine revelations comprised in the bible; the moral and political events which diversify the history of nations; and the physical operations that are going on among the rolling worlds on high, and in the chymical changes of the invisible atoms of matter, are all parts of one comprehensive system, under the direction of the Eternal Mind; every portion of which must have a certain relation to the whole.

And, therefore, instead of attempting to degrade one part of the divine fabric in order to enhance another, our duty is to take an expansive view of the whole, and to consider the symmetry and proportion of its parts, and their mutual bearings and relations-in so far as our opportunities, and the limited faculties of our minds, will permit.

If the remarks which have been thrown out in this chapter, respecting the connexion of the sciences with religion, have any foundation, it will follow-that sermons, lectures, systems of divinity, and religious periodical works, should embrace occasional illustrations of such subjects, for the purpose of expanding the conceptions of professed Christians, and of enabling them to take large and comprehensive views of the per

fections of the providence of the Almighty. It is much to be regretted, that so many members of the Christian church are absolute strangers to such studies and contemplations; while the time and attention that might have been devoted to such exercises, have, in many cases, been usurped by the most grovelling affections, by foolish pursuits, by gossiping chit-chat, and slanderous conversation. Shall the most trifling and absurd opinions of ancient and modern heretics be judged worthy of attention, and occupy a place in religious journals, and even in discussions from the pulpit, and shall “the mighty acts of the Lord," and the visible wonders of his power and wisdom, be thrown completely into the shade? To survey, with an eye of intelligence, the wide-extended theatre of the divine operations to mark the agency of the Eternal Mind in every object we behold, and in every movement within us and around us, are some of the noblest attainments of the rational soul; and, in conjunction with every other Christian study and acquirement, are calculated to make “the man of God perfect, and thoroughly furnished unto every good work." By such studies, we are, in some measure, assimilated to the angelic tribes, whose powers of intellect are for ever employed in such investigations—and are gradually prepared for bearing a part in their immortal hymn-"Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Thou art worthy to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

In this chapter, I shall briefly notice a few philosophical and mechanical inventions which nave an obvious bearing on religion, and on the general propagation of Christianity among the

nations.

The first, and perhaps the most important, of the inventions to which I allude, is the Art of Printing. This art appears to have been in vented (at least in Europe) about the year 1430, by one Laurentius, or Lawrence Koster, a native of Haerlem, a town in Holland. As he was waiking in a wood near the city, he began to cut some letters upon the rind of a beach tree, which, for the sake of gratifying his fancy, being impressed on paper, he printed one or two lines as ■ specimen for his grandchildren to follow. This

having succeeded, he meditated greater things; and, first of all, invented a more glutinous writing ink; because he found the common ink sunk and spread; and thus formed whole pages of wood, with letters cut upon them.* By the gradual

has been claimed by other cities besides Haerlem, "I am aware, that the honour of this invention particularly by Strasburg, and Mentz, a city of Germany; and by other individuals besides Laurentius, chiefly by one Fust, commonly called Dr. Faustus; by Schoeffer, and by Gutenberg. It appears that the art, with many of its implements, was stolen from Laurentius by one of his servants, whom he had bound, by an oath, to secrecy, who fled to Mentz, and first commenced the process of printing in that city. Here the art was improved by Fust and Schoeffer, by their invention of metallic, instead of wooden types, which were first used. When Fust was in Paris, disposing of some bibles he had printed, at

improvement of this art, and its application to the diffusion of knowledge, a new era was formed in the annals of the human race, and in the progress of science, religion, and morals. To it we are chiefly indebted for our deliverance from ignorance and error, and for most of those scientific discoveries and improvements in the arts which distinguish the period in which we live. Without its aid, the Reformation from Popery could scarcely have been achieved; for, had the books of Luther, one of the first reformers, been multiplied by the slow process of handwriting and copying, they could never have been diffused to any extent; and the influence of bribery and of power might have been sufficient to have arrested their progress, or even to have erased their existence. But, being poured forth from the press in thousands at a time, they spread over the nations of Europe like an inundation, and with a rapidity which neither the authority of princes, nor the schemes of priests and cardinals, nor the bulls of popes, could counteract or suspend. To this noble invention it is owing that copies of the bible have been multiplied to the extent of many millions-that ten thousands of them are to be found in every Protestant country-and that the the low price (as was then thought) of sixty crowns, the number and the uniformity of the copies he pos sessed created universal agitation and astonishment. Informations were given to the police against him as a magician, his lodgings were searched, and a great number of copies being found, they were seized; the red ink with which they were embellished was said to be his blood; it was seriously adjudged, that he was in league with the devil; and if he had not fled from the city, most probably he would have shared the fate of those whom ignorant and superstitious judges, at that time, condemned for witchcraft. From this circumstance, let us learn to beware how we view the inventions of genius, and how we treat those whose ingenious · contrivances may afterwards be the means of enlightening and meliorating mankind. See Appendix, No. VII. Various improvements have been made, of late years, in the art of printing. That which has lately been announced by Dr. Church of Boston, is the most remarkable; and, if found successful, will carry this art to a high degree of perfection. A prin cipal object of this improvement is, to print con stantly from new types, which is effected by simplifying the process for casting and composing. The type is delivered perfect by machinery, and laid as it is cast, in separate compartments, with unerring order and exactness. The composition is then effected by other apparatus, directed by keys like those of a piano-forte, and the type may then be arranged in words and lines, as quickly as in the performance of notes in music. No error can arise except from touching the wrong key: and hence an expert hand will leave little labour for the reader. It is then found less expensive under Dr. Church's economical system of re-casting, to re-melt the types, and re-cast them, than to perform the tedious operation of distribution. The melting takes place without atmospheric exposure, by which oxydation and waste of metal are avoided. It s calculated that two men can produce 75,000 new types per hour, and In re-composing, one man will perform as much as three or four compositors. In the production of types, the saving is ninety-nine parts in a hundred; and in the composition, distribution, and reading, is three parts in four. In regard to press-work, Dr. C. has invented a machine to work with plattens, instead of cylinders, from which he will be enabled to take 30 fine impressions per minute.

poorest individual who expresses a desire for it, may be furnished with the word of life" which will guide him to a blessed immortality. That divine light which is destined to illuminate every region of the globe, and to sanctify and reform men of all nations, and kindreds, and tongues, is accelerated in its movements, and directed in its course through the nations, by the invention of the art of printing; and ere long it will dist:1bute among the inhabitants of every land, the "law and the testimony of the Most High," to guide their steps to the regions of eternal bliss. In short, there is not a more powerful engine in the hands of Providence, for diffusing the knowledge of the nature and the will of the Deity, and for accomplishing the grand objects of revelation, than the art of multiplying books, and of conveying intelligence through the medium of the press. Were no such art in existence, we cannot conceive how an extensive and universal propagation of the doctrines of revelation could be effected, unless after the lapse of an indefinite number of ages. But, with the assistance of this invention, in its present improved state, the island of Great Britain alone, within less than a hundred years, could furnish a copy of the Scriptures to every inhabitant of the world, and would defray the expense of such an undertaking, with much more ease, and with a smaller sum, than were necessary to furnish the political warfare in which we were lately engaged.

These considerations teach us, that the ingenious inventions of the human mind are under the direction and control of the Governor of the world—are intimately connected with the accomplishment of the plan of his providence, and have a tendency, either directly or indirectly, to promote, over every region of the earth, the progress and extension of the kingdom of the Redeemer. They also show us, from what small beginnings the most magnificent operations of the divine economy may derive their origin. Who could have imagined that the simple circumstance of a person amusing himself by cutting a few letters on the bark of a tree, and impressing them on paper, was intimately connected with the mental illumination of mankind ; and that the art which sprung from this casual process was destined to be the principal means of illuminating the nations, and of conveying to the ends of the earth, "the salvation of our God?" But, "He who rules in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth," and who sees "the end from the beginning," overrules the most minute movement of all his creatures, in subserviency to his ultimate designs, and shows himself, in this respect, to be "wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working."

The Mariner's Compass.-Another invention which has an intimate relation to religion, is, the art of Navigation, and the invention of the Mariner's Compass. Navigation is the art of

displayed to view without a guide to direct their course through the billows of the ocean, they could have afforded no light and no relief to cheer the distant nations "who sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death." Though the art of printing had been invented; though millions of bibles were now prepared, adequate to the supply of all the "kindreds of the heathen;" though ships in abundance were equipped for the enterprise, and thousands of missionaries ready to embark, and to devote their lives to the instruction of the pagan world-all would be of no avail, and the "salvation of God" could never be proclaimed to the ends of the world, unless they had a mariner's compass to guide their course through the trackless ocean.

In this invention, then, we behold a proof of the agency of Divine Providence, in directing the efforts of human genius to subserve the most important designs, and contemplate a striking specimen of the "manifold wisdom of God." When the pious and contemplative Israelite reflected on the declaration of the prophets, that "the glory of Jehovah would be revealed, and that all flesh would see it together;" from the state of the arts which then existed, he must have felt many difficulties in forming a conception of the manner in which such predictions could be realized. “The great and wide sea, now termed the Mediterranean, formed the boundof his view, beyond which he was unable to ary penetrate. Of the continents, and "the isles afar off," and of the far more spacious oceans that lay between, he had no knowledge; and how "the ends of the earth" were to be reached, he could form no conception; and, in the midst of his perplexing thoughts, he could find no satis faction but in the firm belief, that "with God all things are possible." But now we are enabled not only to contemplate the grand designs of the divine economy, but the principal means by which they shall all, in due time, be accomplished, in consequence of the progress of science and art, and of their consecration to the rearing and extension of the Christian church.

The two inventions to which I have now adverted, may perhaps be considered as among the most striking instances of the connexion of human art with the objects of religion. But there are many other inventions, which, at first view, do not appear to bear so near a relation to the progress of Christianity, and yet have an ultimate reference to some of its grand and interesting objects.

The Telescope.-We might be apt to think, on a slight view of the matter, that there can be no immediate relation between the grinding and polishing of an optic glass, and fitting two or more of them in a tube, and the enlargement of our views of the operation of the Eternal Mind. Yet the connexion between these two objects, and the dependence of the latter upon

the former, can be fairly demonstrated. The són of a spectacle-maker of Middleburg in Ho'land, happening to amuse himself in his father's shop, by holding two glasses between his finger and his thumb, and varying their distance, perceived the weathercock of the church spire opposite to him much larger than ordinary, and apparently much nearer, and turned upside down. This new wonder excited the amazement of the father; he adjusted two glasses on a board, rendering them moveable at pleasure; and thus formed the first rude imitation of a perspective glass, by which distant objects are brought near to view. Galileo, a philosopher of Tuscany, hearing of the invention, set his mind to work, in order to bring it to perfection. He fixed his glasses at the end of long organ-pipes, and constructed a telescope, which he soon directed to different parts of the surrounding heavens. He discovered four moons revolving around the planet Jupiter-spots on the surface of the sun, and the rotation of that globe around its axis—moun-tains and valleys in the moon-and numbers of fixed stars where scarcely one was visible to the naked eye. These discoveries were made about the year 1610, a short time after the first invention of the telescope. Since that period this instrument has passed through various degrees of improvement, and, by means of it, celestial wonders have been explored in the distant spaces of the universe, which, in former times, were altogether concealed from mortal view. By the help of telescopes, combined with the art of measuring the distances and magnitudes of the heavenly bodies, our views of the grandeur of the Almighty, of the plenitude of his power, and of the extent of his universal empire, are extended far beyond what could have been conceived in former ages. Our prospects of the range of the divine operaions are no longer confined within the limits of the world we inhabit; we can now plainly perceive, that the kingdom of God is not only everlasting dominion," but that it extends through the unlimited regions of space, comprehending within its vast circumference thousands of suns, and tens of thousands of worlds, all ranged in majestic order, at immense distances from one another, and all supported and governed “by Him who rides on the Heaven of heavens," whose greatness is unsearchable, and whose understanding is infinite.

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The telescope has also demonstrated to us the literal truth of those scriptural declarations which assert that the stars are "innumerable.” Before the invention of this instrument, not more than about two thousand stars could be perceived by the unassisted eye in the clearest night. But this invention has unfolded to view not only thousands, but hundreds of thousands, and millions, of those bright luminaries, which lie dispersed in every direction throughout the boundless dimensions of space. And the higher

the magnifying powers of the telescope are, the more numerous those celestial orbs appear; leaving us no room to doubt, that countless myriads more lie hid in the distant regions of creation, far beyond the reach of the finest glasses that can be constructed by human skill, and which are known only to Him "who counts the number of the stars, and calls them by their

names.

In short, the telescope may be considered as serving the purpose of a vehicle for conveying us to the distant regions of space. We would consider it as a wonderful achievement, could we transport ourselves two hundred thousand miles from the earth, in the direction of the moon, in order to take a nearer view of that celestial orb. But this instrument enables us to take a much nearer inspection of that planet, than if we had actually surmounted the force of gravitation, traversed the voids of space, and left the earth 230,000 miles behind us. For, supposing such a journey to be accomplished, we should still be ten thousand miles distant from that orb. But a telescope which magnifies objects 240 times, can carry our views within one thousand miles of the moon; and a telescope, such as Dr. Herschel's 40 feet reflector, which magnifies 6000 times, would enable us to view the mountains and vales of the moon, as if we were transported to a point about 40 miles from her surface. We can view the magnificent system of the planet Saturn, by means of this instrument, as distinctly, as if we had performed a journey eight hundred millions of miles in the direction of that globe, which at the rate of 50 miles an hour, would require a period of more than eighteen hundred years to accomplish. By the telescope, we can contemplate the region of the fixed stars, their arrangement into systems, and their immense numbers, with the same distinctness and amplitude of view, as if

Though the highest magnifying power of Dr. Herschel's large telescope was estimated at six thousand times, yet it does not appear that the doctor ever applied this power with success, when viewing the moon and the planets. The deficiency of light, when using so high a power, would render the view of these objects less satisfactory than when viewed with a power of one or two thousand times. Still, it is quite certain, that if any portions of the moon's surface were viewed through an instrument of such a power, they would appear as large (but not nearly so bright and distinct) as if we were placed about 40 miles distant from that body. The enlargement of the angle of vision, in this case, or, the apparent distance at which the moon would be contemplated, is found by dividing the moon's distance-240,000 miles by 6000, the magnifying power of the telescope, which produces a quotient of 40-the number of miles at which the moon would appear to be placed from the eye of the observer. Dr. Herschel appears to have used the highest power of his telescopes, only, or chiefly, when viewing some very minute objects in the region of the stars. The powers he generally used, and with which he made most of his discoveries

were, 227, 460, 754, 932, and occasionally 2010, 3168, and 6450, when inspecting double and triple stars, and the more distant nebulæ.

we had actually taken a flight of ten hundred thousand millions of miles into those unexplored and unexplorable regions, which could not be accomplished in several millions of years, though our motion were as rapid as a ball projected from: a loaded cannon. We would justly consider it as a noble endowment for enabling us to take an extensive survey of the works of God, if we had the faculty of transporting ourselves to such im mense distances from the sphere we now occupy but, by means of the telescopic tube, we may take nearly the same ample views of the dominions of the Creator, without stirring a foot from the limits of our terrestrial abode. This instru ment may, therefore, be considered as a providential gift, bestowed upon mankind, to serve, in the mean time, as a temporary substitute for those powers of rapid flight with which the seraphim are endowed, and for those superior faculties of motion with which man himself may be invested, when he arrives at the summit of moral perfection.*

The Microscope.-The microscope is another instrument constructed on similar principles, which has greatly expanded our views of the "manifold wisdom of God." This instrument, which discovers to us small objects, invisible to the naked eye, was invented soon after the invention and improvement of the telescope. By means of this optical contrivance, we peceive a variety of wonders in almost every object in the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral kingdoms. We perceive that every particle of matter, however minute, has a determinate form-that the very scales of the skin of a haddock are all beautifully interwoven and variegated, like pieces of net-work, which no art can imitate that the points of the prickles of vegetables, though magnified a thousand times, appear as sharp and well polished as to the naked eye-that every particle of the dust on the butterfly's wing is a beautiful and regularly organized feather—that every hair of our head is a hollow tube, with bulbs and roots, furnished with a variety of threads or filaments-and that the pores in our skin, through which the sweat and perspiration flow, are so numerous and minute, that a grain of sand would cover a hundred and twenty-five thousand of them. We perceive animated beings in certain liquids, so small, that fifty thousand of them would not equal the size of a mite; and yet each of these creatures is furnished with a mouth, eyes, stomach, blood-vessels, and other organs for the performance of animal functions. In a stagnant pool which is covered with a greenish scum during the summer months, every drop of the water is found to be a world teeming with thousands of inhabitants. The mouldy substance which usually adheres to damp bodies exhibits a forest of trees and plants, where the branches, leaves, and fruit, can be plainly dis* See Appendix, No VIIL