New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-01-31

Sans rate Of motion. which Is SIX times stes'ef
than that Of the Earth IN It's motion roand me sun
If this then s az al characteristic OF the amount OF
activity pervsding the whole OF our StelH nj
verse. although the skies will remain liked so long
as the human race viii endure. THIS motion VIII DC
Sufficient within the endless cycles OF time com
pletey 70 change the aspect Of our heavens one
can go forward. in Imagination, 20 the tine when
the COnstel atoms that now shine 50 brightly o er
Us shall be rolled away to some remote conhne OF
space and their places be occupied BY other suns As
bright and beautiful rs they.
II we are going toward this star 81 Cygn at the
rate OF i0ur hundred thousand 400 600 miles per
hour, We will reach the extremity of our Stellar
Cluster in about two hundred millions OF years
200 600 ,OOOl These periods may seem incompre
hensible They indeed seem vast compared with
human snnsls, but they are brief when laid beside
the annals Of our Globe II Geology Is no, the
sheerest fsbe-if We are not - return 10 the Old
conceptions. that the rocks with their entombed
creatures have been land down there purposely as
the most moe sing OF engmss-enigmas that seem
10 have meaning and yet have none-then during
the yastest Of the periods OF which We have been
speaking. our chief existing mountains were IN De
inc rearing their peaks toward different constea-
tons aud surviving in their bitterness and irsgii'y
/ even these immense transitions. Extend now what
seems true Of the Sun TO his other associated orbs
and where 10 the repose-where the stability oto0r
l Heavens Because those very stars which shine
| on Us also shone over the Chaldesns; we spoke OF
their changcless rest. other arrangements as being
eternal. Alasl no. neither Space nor Time are the
aters OF repose and even our most saole exstenees
are the seats and subjects Of activities and ever
/ revolving change whose ultimate object is known
! to God alone.
Ii seems then, ladies' and gentlemen az Tar as
We can Judge from the aspects of the bodies around
u.s. that We may consider our great cluster as beiig
in cesseless activity and that. therefore those
other clusters whose character intend 20 bring be
fore YOU are subject to something of the same des
tiny lf this is the case how little wonderful Is II
/ that their shapes seem SO caprlcious There II
/ nothing relative 10 them that is entitled Ia the
name Of stability. and we can view them only as
exhibiting 70 the phases OF the successive steps
of an immense progression. The kind OF know
/ ledge that we can alone have with respect 10 them
even should thew be watched during the entire ex
istence OF the human race Ia something like whst
We would learn concerning the terrestrial arrange.
7 ment around us, if our knowledge were gained
from single glance OF the eye. which was then shnt
again forever Applause. No more, probably
than so passing glance will man ever G,tsin con
/ corning the destny of these nebule
| shall venture no farther amid these unmossi-
ties | shall not mock your imaglnstlons by pro
posing 10 conduct them to still higher regions away
from the contemplation OF the separate clusters ny
70 tine Universe as in aggregate, IN which each stu
peniOus group 10 only an individual. shali MOI
speak of these related even like the single stars
or Of the awful motions and careers which must
| spriux out of such relationship; but retiring al
once from grandeurs IL is not yet given to the hu
man eve 10 contemplate, and from nights too dizz.
for the trmest reason, let me conclude with one re
mark on a question that profoundly Interests US
| all. Looking at these mighty motions occupying
the iniinItudes Ot space and apparently earryin
on the great Universe through course OF pislest'
/ and ever varying developments. one cannot resls
the inquiry what are the forces that shape aud sus
tain theml do not mean the mere technical deu
milton of these forces but what is their relation q
| the Divine Mind What true notion indeed have
we of force in itself2 When wespeak OF the power
yr force of gravitation tor instance, what i
/ il that we really mean Mas the word dis
tinct idea attached to IL, or do We merely de
ceive and confuse ourselves by phrase
We use the word power to express some
thing that uphoids an order but on close analysis
! of the material Universe we do not lind aught ex
istiDg there beyond simple sequence; Events iol
low each other 10 a regular order, and beyond TIL
the Universe itself informs usoi nothing. We can
not however get rid OF the feeling that TINS orde
must be supported by something corresponding [
an notion of power or force, and therefore We lee
impelled TO inquire still more closely whence "
obtain our idea Of powerl Now It appears tina
this conception is obtained wholly from our exper
ence os our mental actions IL Is In Tact synony
nous with our conception OF espirltua act an
therefore it seems necessary IN order that the mi
, verse be COMPREHENSIVE that we recognize Deit,
not merely as the Creator but as the ever. presen
Preserver. Sustainer and efficient Cause OF all phe
nomena.
This then awful though 1t is, is the true, ultimate
scientific idea OF the Divine Omnpresence. Law
is not even the Almightys ministers the order O
the material world however close and firm is no
merely the Almightys ordinance The forces
so we name them, which express that order ar
not powers which he has evoked from the sllences
and to whose guardianship he has entrusted a.
things that so he himself might repose. No
above, below aud around them 10 God, there Oh
universal presence speaking to finite creation
through finite forms language which only the liyin
heart can understand. In the rain and sunshin'
n the soft zephyr in the cloud, the torrent and Tn
thunder, in tho bursting blossoms and the iadln
branch in the revolving season. and the rohin
star there is the Infinite Essence and the mysti
development of bis VIII. Great and continue
applause