PART II.

ON THE CONNEXION OF SCIENCE WITH A FUTURE STATE.

A GREAT outcry has frequently been made, by many of those who wish to be considered as pious persons, about the vanity of human science. Certain divines in their writings, and various descriptions of preachers, in their pulpit declamations, not unfrequently attempt to embellish their discourses, and to magnify the truths of Scripture, by contrasting them with what they are pleased to call "the perishing treasures of scientific knowledge." "The knowledge we derive from the Scriptures," say they, "is able to make us wise unto salvation; all other knowledge is but comparative folly. The knowledge of Christ and him crucified will endure for ever; but all human knowledge is transitory, and will perish for ever when this world comes to an end. Men weary themselves with diving into human science, while all that results to them is vanity and vexation of spirit. Men may become the greatest philosophers, and have their understandings replenished with every kind of human knowledge, and yet perish for ever. What have we to do with the planets and the stars, and whether they be peopled with inhabitants? Our business is to attend to the salvation of our souls."

Now, although some of the above and similar assertions, when properly modified and explained, may be admitted as true, the greater part of them, along with hundreds of similar expressions, are either ambiguous or false. But, although they were all admitted as strictly true, what effect can the frequent reiteration of such comparisons and contrasts have on the mass of the people to whom they are addressed, who are already too much disinclined to the pursuit of general knowledge-but to make them imagine, that it is useless, and in some cases dangerous, to prosecute any other kind of knowledge than what is derived directly from the Scriptures? And what is the knowledge which the great majority of those who attend the public services of religion have acquir ed of the contents of the sacred oracles? It is too often, I

fear, exceedingly vague, confused, and superficial; owing, in a great measure, to the want of those habits of mental exertion, which a moderate prosccution of useful science would have induced.

Such declamations as those to which I have now adverted, obviously proceed from a very limited sphere of information, and a contracted range of thought. It is rather a melancholy reflection, that any persons, particularly preachers of the gospel, should endeavour to apologize for their own ignorance, by endeavouring to undervalue what they acknowledge they have never acquired, and therefore, cannot be supposed to understand and appreciate. For, although several well-informed and judicious ministers of religion, have been led, from the influence of custom, and from copying the expressions of others, to use a phraseology which has a tendency to detract from the utility of scientific knowledge, yet it is generally the most ignorant, those whose reading and observation have been confined within the narrowest range, who are most forward in their bold and vague declamations on this topic. We never find, in any part of the Sacred Records, such comparisons and contrasts as those to which I allude. The inspired writers never attempt to set the word of God in opposition to his works, nor attempt to deter men from the study of the wonders of his creation, on the ground that it is of less importance than the study of his word. On the contrary, they take every proper opportunity of directing the attention to the mechanism and order, the magnificence and grandeur of the visible world; and their devotional feelings are kindled into rapture by /such contemplations. When the Psalmist had finished his survey of the different departments of nature, as described in the civ. Psalm, he broke out into the following devotional strains: "How manifold are thy works, O Lord! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches, so is the great and wide sea. The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever, the Lord shall rejoice in all his works. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being." For the visible works of God display the same essential attributes of Deity, and of his superintending providence, as the revelations of his word; and it is one great design of that word to direct men

*That is, the display of the divine perfections in the material world, as the connexion of the passage plainly intimates.

to a rational and devout contemplation of these works in which his glory is so magnificently displayed. And, therefore, to attempt to magnify the word of God by degrading his works, or to set the one in opposition to the other, is to attempt to set the Deity in opposition to himself, and to prevent mankind from offering a certain portion of that tribute of adoration and thanksgiving which is due to his name.

It is true, indeed, that the mere philosopher has frequently been disposed to contemplate the universe as if it were a self-acting and independent machine. He has sometimes. walked through the magnificent scenes of creation, and investigated the laws which govern the motions of the celestial orbs, and the agencies which produce the various phenomena of our sublunary system, without offering up that tribute of thanksgiving and praise which is due to the great First Cause, or feeling those emotions of adoration and reverence which such studies have a tendency to inspire. But it is no less true, that the mere theologian has, likewise, not unfrequently, walked through the field of revelation, studied its doctrines, and facts, and moral requisitions, written volumes in support of its heavenly origin, and defended s truths against the cavils of adversaries, without feeling that supreme love to God and affection towards his neighbour which it is the great object of the Scriptures to produce, and displaying a disposition and conduct directly repugnant to its holy precepts. An argument founded on the impiety of certain pretended philosophers, to dissuade us from the study of the material world, would, therefore, be equally powerful to deter us from the study of divine revelation, when we consider that many who profess to receive its doctrines, live in open defiance of its most sacred requisitions. In both cases, such examples merely show, that man is a frail inconsistent being, and too frequently disposed to overlook his Creator, and to wander from the source of happiness.

In a work entitled, "The Christian Philospher," I have endeavoured to illustrate this subject at considerable length, and to show, that the investigation of the works of creation, under the guidance of true science, has a tendency to expand our conceptions of the power, wisdom, benevolence, and superintending providence of God,-and that the various sciences and the inventions of art may be rendered subservient in promoting the objects of true religion, and diffusing its influence among the nations,-At present, I shall

confine my views, in the few following remarks, to the illustration of the following position--"That science has a relation to a future state."

It is a very vague, and, in many points of view, a false assertion, which has so frequently been reiterated—that, what is generally termed human knowledge, or the sciences, have no connexion with an immortal existence, and that they will be of no utility whatever when this world comes to an end.-Truth of every description, is from its very nature, eternal and unchangeable; and, consequently, it connot be supposed a preposterous opinion, that the established principles of several of our sciences will be the basis of reasoning and of action in a future state as well as in the present. That a whole is greater than any of its parts; that the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles; that the sides of a plain triangle are to one another, as the sides of the angles opposite to them: these and many similar propositions are equally true in heaven as on earth, and may probably be as useful truths there as in our present abode.

OBJECT OF SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION.

In order to avoid misconception, and a confusion of thought on this subject, it may not be improper in the first place, to define and illustrate what is meant by the term Science.

Science, in its most general acceptation denotes knowledge of every description; in a more restricted sense, it denotes that species of knowledge which is acquired chiefly by the exercise of the human faculties; and in a still more restricted sense, it denotes that systematic species of knowledge which consists of rule and order,--such as geometry, arithemetic, algebra, natural philosophy, geography, astronomy, chemistry, mineralogy, and botany.--In the observations which follow, the term may be taken in any one of these senses; but particularly in the last, which is its most common and appropriate meaning.

By means of scientific investigation, the powers of the human mind have been wonderfully strengthened and expanded, and our knowledge of the operations of the Creator extensively enlarged. Science has enabled us to transport ourselves from one continent to another, to steer our course through the pathless ocean, and to survey all the variety of scenery which the terraqueous globe displays;

it has taught us to mount upwards to the region of the clouds, and to penetrate into the bowels of the earth, to explore the changes which the earth has undergone since the period of its creation. It has laid open to our view the nature and constitution of the atmosphere, the principles of which it is composed, and its agency in supporting fire and flame, and vegetable and animal life. On the principles which science has established, we have been enabled to ascertain the distances of many of the heavenly bodies, to compute their magnitudes, and to determine the periods of their revolutions; and by means of the instruments it has invented, we have been enabled to take a nearer survey of distant worlds-to contemplate new wonders of creating power in regions of the sky which lie far beyond the ut most stretch of the unassisted eye,-and to explore those invisible regions, where myriads of living beings are concentrated within the compass of a visible point.-In conse quence of such discoveries, we have been enabled to acquire more clear and ample conceptions of the amazing energies of omnipotence, of the inscrutable depths of infinite wisdom, of the overruling providence of the Almighty, of the benevolent care he exercises over all his creatures, and of the unlimited extent of those dominions over which he eternally presides.

The faculties by which man has been enabled to make the discoveries to which I have alluded, were implanted in his constitution by the hand of his Creator; and the objects on which these faculties are exercised, are the works of the Creator, which, the more minutely they are investigated, the more strikingly do they display the glory of his character and perfections. Consequently, it must have been the intention of the Creator that man should employ the powers he has given him in scientific researches; otherwise, he would neither have endowed him with such noble faculties, nor have opened to his view so large a portion of his empire. Scientific investigations, therefore, are to be considered as nothing less than inquiries into the plans and operations of the Eternal, in order to unfold the attributes of his nature, his providential procedure in the government of his creatures, and the laws by which he directs the movements of universal nature. It is true, indeed, that every one who calls himself a philosopher may not keep this end in view in the prosecution of scientific acquirements. He may perhaps be actuated merely by a principle of curiosity, by a