perly take on such a question, it ought neither to be regarded (as it has been,) as an unwarrantable extension of philosophical analogy, nor dreaded (as in some instances,) as in the least degree hostile to the argument for design; so far from this, if verified, it would but enhance the value of that argument. He, in fact, simply suggests, " amid these uncertainties the wisest course would be to devote ourselves to determining, by repeated experiments, the laws of affinity, in order to arrive at what would appear the simplest means of comparing these forces with that of gravitation."

If any law of affinity should ever be developed to such an extent as in any degree to meet the object here in view, (and we can never say that discovery may not be carried so far,) the only result surely would be the most overpowering conviction of the extension of the same vast unity of design throughout the mechanism of the material system.

The Nebular Hypothesis.

CLOSELY connected with this last case is the "nebular hypothesis," as it has been called, which has in a more peculiar degree, called forth the censures and obloquy of those who were intent on allowing no secondary means as the instruments or channels of the influence of creative power.

The luminous band called the "milky way," is resolved, by powerful telescopes, into a vast multitude

of stars crowded together in infinitely lengthened perspective, and constituting an immense system of sidereal matter of an extended flat form, within which our planetary system is included, and of which our sun is merely one of the innumerable stars which make up the entire mass.

In various parts of the heavens the telescope discloses to us patches of diffused luminous matter called "nebula," bearing a general resemblance in appearance to the milky way as seen by the naked eye. Some of these are found by very powerful telescopes to consist of numerous stars, mostly appearing in the midst of a mass of diffused light. In some cases, the starry points are brilliant and defined; in others, more diffused, or merely points of greater luminous intensity than the surrounding region. Calculation assures us of the inconceivable distance from us beyond which they are situated, and measurement by consequence teaches us their enormous magnitude: so vast, that in many of them not only the solar system, but the whole mass of the milky way to which it belongs, would be lost. Thus we find, as far as observation can be carried into the vastness of the universe, besides distinct stars, an infinity of other systems of stellar matter, in the form of these "nebulæ," dispersed through space, and of which our entire system, included in the "nebula" to which it belongs, forms but one of the most insignificant.

We have also remarked the different states of

diffusion in which these various nebulæ, with their stellar points, appear to exist.

So far exact observation has led us to the admission of facts which, however overwhelming to our conceptions, are nevertheless beyond question. Now philosophical conjecture has been applied to these facts; and, upon very reasonable analogy, astronomers have indulged in the contemplation of these different forms in which sidereal matter is presented to us, as exhibiting so many different stages in the progress of the formation of sidereal systems.

In the first instance, such matter seems to assume the form of a faint diffused nebulosity. In the next, some of these masses appear as if, in obedience to attractive forces, they had assumed a spherical figure; others, as if further advanced, have a denser central nucleus, surrounded by the more diffuse and yet uncondensed portion; others again, (to use the words of an eminent writer,) "in which the apparently unformed and irregular mass of nebulous light is just curdling, as it were, into separate systems." And further, there are some in a more complete condition, presenting a congeries of distinct points of light, each, perhaps, the sun of a system more vast and glorious than our own, but invisible to us; whilst in the case of the actual systems of double and triple stars, whose motions have been actually observed and calculated, we find the exact counterparts of our own planetary world, which have arrived at a corresponding point in the history of their con

stitution, as also probably is the case with the other fixed stars.

Analogical conjecture, then, has been broached (under the name of the nebular hypothesis,) to illustrate the process of the formation of our own system by what we behold in its different, and probably successive stages in other cases. It has been imagined that our system has been gradually evolved and con densed out of the nebula to which it belongs, and each of its planetary masses gradually consolidated from a previous state of expanded nebulosity. And this idea is further strengthed from the consideration of the probable high temperature from which our globe is believed to have cooled down to its present condition, and consequently to have undergone progressive condensation. While we have again the analogy of comets; nebulous masses of extremely attenuated matter, yet existing as parts of our system; and still further, what recent observation has rendered very probable, vast quantities of unconsolidated particles and small masses of matter traversing space, and occasioning the phenomena of aërolites and meteoric stones.

Such elevated ideas as these views are calculated to suggest, it might be supposed would be among those which, above all others, religious minds would be prone to cherish and delight in, more especially as carrying us a step towards a conception of the Creator's operations; yet, from some perversion which it is difficult to comprehend, no hypothesis

has been more vehemently assailed and calumniated as at variance with all religious impressions.

Argument from Physical to Moral Causation.

FROM what has been advanced, the proper course of our reasoning on these elevated subjects will be evident.

In physical science let us direct our inquiries to the contemplation of the order, arrangement, and adjustment among natural facts and laws, which we infer by legitimate induction. Let us keep the terms of our reasoning distinct and explicit, and conduct our sublimest speculations solely by an extended, but wholly independent collection of the universal manifestation of design and prospective arrangement, from the mere naked investigation of physical laws and causes. When such inferences have been carefully made,—when such indications have been dispassionately collected, then, in the order of just reasoning, we can advance to the sublime contemplations suggested by such evidences. This distinction, so often unheeded, is in fact the chief ground of Bacon's* reply to the censures cast on his system as neglecting the study of final causes,

* Sce De Augm. Scient., lib. iii., cap. 4 and 5. For a full vindication of Bacon on other grounds as well as this, the reader will refer to Lord Brougham's Discourse on Natural Theology, part i., scct. vi. Also, Mr. Whewell's Bridgewater Treatise, chap. 7.