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    hour , when we further know that every improvement in glasses enables us to discover stars not seen before , when it is found that the tract in the firmament , which bears the name of the Milky JVay 9 is . in truth , a most extensive bed

    of many millions of stars , of various sizes , among which our sun , it would seem , ought to be ranked , and when it appears that there are other milky ways scattered through the expanse of the heavens , together with collections of stars , beyond the capacity of any man to count , variously disposed and formed , and separated from

    each other by considerable intervals ? we must , assuredly , deem it improbable that these globes are uninhabited , and must entenain nobler and juster sentiments of the extent and magnificence of the universe .

    We perceive numerous classes of creatures , in regular descent , below us : Nature , so abounds with life as to render it difficult

    of belief that a single particle of matter , wherever it is found , con . tains not sentient beings ; and though it be fair to conclude that the like gradation takes place

    upward , and from the human race . even to the Supreme Intelligence , yet mankind evidently stand at the head of the globe that we inhabit . Now , since the distance must ever be infinite between the

    Creator and the creature , we may infer that , for the display of this in * finitely rising superiority , an immense number and variety of worlds were to be produced . Nor

    is the difficulty greater of conceiving that the works of God are unlimited , than of conceiving thus of his perfections : nor is it less * asy for such a Being to Torm in-

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    numerable worlds , than to form numberless varieties or plants and flowers . \ I may add that the idea of an universe infinitely extended indeed but all the parts of which have a

    mutual connection , are subservient to one sublime end and are governed with perfect facility and rectitude , by one ruling mind , is far sublimer and more rational

    than that of a vast yet limited universe , of which the parts arc few and unrelated . In Mr . Addison ' s opinion upon this subject , there is an apparent , if not a real inconsistency : " There is n& question" says he , " but \ tht universe has certain bounds set to

    it 5 but when we consider that it is the work of infinite power , prompted by infinite goodness , with an infinite space to exert iU self in , how can our imagination set any bounds to it ? " * He seem * to have felt the strength of the evidence , and yet to have been afraid of the conclusion .

    A deservedly admired writer of our own times , has represented the vast extent of creation in some of the most majestic strains and harmonious numbers of poetry . My readers will rind the following lines in Mrs . Barbauld ' s Summer Evening ^ s Meditation • What hand unseen

    Impels me onward thro' the glowing orbs Of habitable nature , far remote , To the dread confines of eternal night , Xo solitudes of vast unpeopled space ^ The desarts of creation , wide and toild ; Where embryo systems and unkindled

    suns Sleep in the womb of chaos P This is true bublunity : our conceptions an-elevated , our imagination is afft'Ctt *< f , our lancy and

    * Spectator * No * 5 b 5 .

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    Essay on the Infinity of Creation . 13

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1813, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2424/page/13/