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    investigation of the principles and facts of philosophical and astronomical science , which bava as near a relation to Christian doctrine as the former ?

    Further : the researches of science have enabled u& to demonstrate the literal truth of certain scriptural propositions , which / would , otherwise , have appeared highly metaphorical , or even false . We know that all the stars

    of heaven , visible to the vulgar eye , have been numbered * a » d the relative position of each accurately ascertained } and , that no unassisted eye can discern more than seven or eight hundred stars , at one time , in the firmament . Yet the Scriptures declare , that u the host or the stars " of heaven carniot

    be numbered , " and they are classed with the sands on the sea shore which are •* innumerable . " The telescope , however , has enabled us to descry thousands , and even millions of those luminous orbs which are invisible to

    the naked eye ; and myriads beyond the former myriads , appear in succession , as the powers of the instrument are augmented ; leaving it more than probable that , were the magnifying powers of our glasses increased ten

    thousand fold more than they now are , more distant myriads still from remoter skies , would . foe brought to view ; thus affording" us a sensible proof , that the divine declaration is true , in its most unlimited s@ « se , and must have had for its author the

    Creator of the universe , who alone hath " numbered the stars , and called them by their names . " Again , the sacred oracles assert , that " the heavea above cannot be measured , ' that " the heaven for height is unsearchable ;' and , that " the heaven is as high

    above the earth as the mercy of God is great toward them that fear him . ' These assertions , at first view , might not have appeared literally true , especially since the grand discoveries of modern astronomy were made . The distances and magnitudes of the planetary orbs have been measured with

    a precision and accuracy which do honour to the powers of the human intellect . " The height of heaven , " or the distance of bodies eighteen hundred millions of miles from the earth , has been demonstrated with geometrical precision—a distance so great that , a cannon ball flying at the

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    rale of four hundred and eighty iral e * ( in hour , would not reach it m the space of four hundred and thirty ye $ r& Yet this immense space Hes within- the sphere of that system of which we form a part . How far the nearest fixed stars lie beyond this limit , we are unable to determine . We can

    determine with the highest degree of probability , if not with certainty , that they are not within 20 , 000 , 000 , 000 , 00 © miles of our globe ; a distance which a ball , at the velocity now stated , could not reach in- four millions , seven hundred and fifty four thousand

    years . But how far they may be placed beyond this distance no astro * noaier will pretend to determine . But , though the distance of the nearest stars could be determined , as it is probable , in the progress of observation , may be done , yet , the distance of the

    remotest stars visible through telescopes , and much more those which lie beyond the sphere of assisted vision , never can be measured by mortals , nor , probably , by any

    intelligence , but by Him whose eye takes in the amplitude of universal nature - y so that the assertion of the inspired writers appears in its full force , that " the heaven for height is immeasurable and unsearchable /'

    Again , it is a striking and important fact recorded in sacred history , that at a certain remote period , the surface of our globe was covered with water beyond the tops of the loftiest mountains . The researches of geologists

    have fully confirmed the truth of thus recorded fact ; and have thus lent their aid in support of the evidence of scripture history . For , however different , and even opposite the theories and conclusions of geologists have been , their observations on the

    exterior and interior constitution of the globe have led them all to this one conclusion , " that every part of the dry land has once been covered with the ocean . " And as the discoveries of scientific men have enabled us to

    demonstrate the truth of those propositions which might otherwise have appeared hyperbolical or doubtful , so they enable us to distinguish those expressions and phrases which allude to the vulgar or obvious appearances of things , from those which describe objects as they actually exist . Thus , those expressions which represent the

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    On the Connexion of Science with Religion and a future State . 487

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1818, page 487, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2479/page/15/