1848.] Character and Influence. 343 and cloudiness of spirit, which does naturally prevail. Thirdly, infirmities and weakness, as want of light, want of life, want of a spirit of power to deliver what I am affected with for Christ; and hence, I saw many souls not set forward nor God felt in my ministry. Fourthly, want of success in me, when I have done my best." - That he was a man of most fervent and childlike piety, penetrated with a deep and constant sense of his accountability to God, of great single-heartedness and devotion in his work, a meek, humble, conscientious Christian, -no one can doubt. Like the rest of the early Puritan clergy of this country, he was a Trinitarian and a Calvinist. He did not attempt to throw a veil over the peculiar features of his creed. He preached it in all its terrors, yet with an affectionate zeal for the salvation of those whom God might call to himself through his ministration of the word. "When Mr. Shepard comes to deal with hypocrites," said Ward of Ipswich, "he cuts so desperately, that men know not how to bear him; he makes them all afraid that they are all hypocrites. But when he comes to deal with a tender, humble soul, he gives comfort so largely, that we are afraid to take it." Whatever we may think of his theology, there can be but one opinion of the preacher and the man. We cannot better conclude this notice of one of the chief fathers of New England than in the language of his biographer: "When we consider the rich Christian experience which Mr. Shepard attained, the sacrifices which he cheerfully made for the sake of Christ and his Gospel, the great amount of ministerial and other labor which he performed with feeble health and manifold hindrances, the attainments which he made in sanctity and the knowledge of divine things, the able theological works which he produced, and the influence, felt even now, which he exerted in building up the churches of New England, — and all this ere he had passed the meridian of life, we must regard him as one of the brightest ornaments of the Church, and hold his memory in profound and grateful remembrance." W. N. ART. II. INDUCTION OF CHRIST'S NATURE FROM THE great eternal body of truth, binding in its embrace all worlds, and extending its sway unchangeably through all time, must be in every part consistent with itself; else were it no more truth. The universe were unworthy to be the creation of that God who changeth not, if unbroken harmony and selfconsistence prevailed not through its whole extent. Truth being but a name for that which is, distinguishing it from that which is not, its very conception is, to the believer in a just and omniscient Deity, blended with the assurance that it harmonizes throughout all its parts. Amid the perplexities and apparent contradictions which sometimes crowd upon the inquiring mind, tending to shake its confidence in the unity of truth, the thought of what we are, of the lowness of our point of vision, and the infinite exaltation of God, must reassure its wavering faith. He alone who made, and whose laws sustain, all things, sees them divested of every mystery, and, glancing through all that has been, is, or shall be, perceives the whole scope, meaning, and harmony of the universe. Inferior intelligences, seeing but in part, vainly strive to reconcile creation's many mysteries; and some, alas! in their weakness, have declared them irreconcilable. Let a figure show the relation in which we all stand to truth's eternal whole, and to each other. The earth on which we live is, in many points, its fitting image, complete, diversified, harmonious, beautiful, seen but in part. Climb to earth's highest mountain-top; the part thou seest is but a point of its vast expanse, yet is that part most lovely. So, man! when thou hast reached the pinnacle of human intelligence, the portion of all knowledge thou hast attained is but as nothing to what thou knowest not; yet pleasant and glorious is thy little. From a thousand hill-tops may earth's beauties be enjoyed, which, though differing widely, are all real and consistent. So from a thousand mounts of vision mayst thou survey truth's fair realm, and though the scene be ever changing, still is it truth. Men there are, whose steps have only scaled the little hillock behind their native home, who listen incredulously to the traveller's narrative of Alpine wonders, and, with malicious smiles, quote their dead fathers. to bolster up their ignorance, while some will even drive the 1848.] Harmony of Nature and Revelation. 345 harmless stranger from their doors. Those, too, there are, who, having excavated for themselves narrow wells in the body of truth, and walled them around with cold, hard creeds, strive to cast all men therein, claiming that they alone are right, and that heaven can be seen only from their own depths of dogmatism. Others there are, also, who, casting off the galling chains of authority, earth's slave king, and walking in the light of the divine fire within, and the bright radiance of Christ's teachings, have reached a lofty point of vision, where, as far as mental eye can reach, lies spread out the world of truth, spanned by the calm, clear heaven of enlightened hope. From all this flows the practical inference, that whoso loves truth and comprehends its vastness will look with no hollow charity on what he may esteem the errors of others; never assuming the thunders of denunciation, save against those who, with ruthless hand, would tear from man his rights of thought, and doom him to the dismal vaults of hypocritical profession. Whoso knoweth himself saith not to his neighbour, Thou art wrong"; but rather, "Friend, I think thou art wrong. He uses the language of a man, not the dictation of a God. Unroll the bloody scroll whereon man's history is written; thou wilt find stain after stain recurring ever, in melancholy witness that man trusteth not in the silent, resistless power by which truth vindicates itself. Persecution, with all its ghastly train, has been evoked to expel from the human heart the heresy which God himself there planted, that reason and evidence alone can claim the right to control belief. Nor even yet is the spirit whence sprang all these enormities banished; for day after day do self-elected saints still, by word and deed, declare, "I am holier than thou." The train of investigation on which we propose to enter may subject us to the censure of some sincerely pious minds. Yet an honest conviction of the correctness and importance of our conclusions urges us to speak decidedly, and should at least disarm criticism of all personal bitterness. Fain would we exercise and experience the charity we have inculcated. The proposed theme is, to deduce, as far as practicable, the nature of Christ from the acknowledged constitution of the universe. If truth be one, the volumes of nature and revelation must harmonize. Firm in this belief, our sympathies go not with those whose distrust of the self-vindicating power of reveal VOL. XLIV. 4TH S. VOL. IX. NO. III. 31 ed truth would close against the panting soul the portals of the universe, consigning philosophy and reason to endless night. Reason gives to revelation its only legitimate credentials, and shall it be banished from its interpretation? Shall it not rather be our ally in attempting to dissipate the darkness which arbitrary and dictatorial interpretation has spread over even cardinal truths of Christianity? Weak indeed must be that faith which fears that reason can derive from the works of God a contradiction to the true meaning of his word! That feature of the universe to which we would now draw attention is its demonstrated vast extent. All speak of creation as infinite, but most persons, we presume, attach no full idea to this expression. We call the stars suns, but most persons conceive of them merely as brilliant points. We speak of the planets as larger than the earth, but our conceptions dwarf the solar system to an insignificant orrery. The greatest of astronomers, after enlarging his ideas by years of constant effort, still fails to conceive of the universe as his intellect informs him that it is. Many truths there are thus claiming our assent in the enunciation, which we wholly fail to comprehend in all their extent and magnitude. Yet are we not less certain of their being truths, for we feel all confidence in the methods by which they are demonstrated. In entering the field we have chosen, it may be apposite to give an outline of the process by which the heavens are scaled. Commencing with a unit of length, a base line of a few thousand yards is most carefully measured on the ground. Starting from this base, the angles of a series of triangles are accurately measured, and the sides calculated. Distant points being thus connected and their difference of latitude being astronomically determined, the length of a degree becomes known, and hence the earth's diameter. A transit of Venus across the sun's disk, observed by two distant observers, then gives the elements of an accurate determination of the sun's distance. The earth in its revolution around the sun reaches, at intervals of about six months, opposite extremities of the diameter of its orbit, distant about 190,000,000 of miles. If the angle subtended by one half this line at the distance of a fixed star were greater than one second, or of a degree, a parallax would be observed, and the distance of the star become known. Until recently, observation has failed to discover any star having this annual parallax ; but now three are recognized as exhibiting it, that 1848.] Infinity of the Universe. 347 of 61 Cygni, of less than one third of a second, corresponding to a distance of 62,581,500,000,000 miles. No star is known to have a parallax corresponding to a distance less than 20,000,000,000,000 miles, though numerous observations have been made in search of such. Thus has our humble unit, by methods of unquestionable accuracy, enabled us to measure distances utterly inconceivable, but not the less real. Equally incomprehensible is the countless multitude of stars revealed by the telescope. In Herschel's reflector, about 50,000 were estimated to have been visible in a sweep of 20 by 15°; and every increase of telescopic power serves only to reveal them in vastly greater numbers. Even the number of nebulæ observed (over 3,000 having been recorded as seen) exceeds our distinct conception, and new ones are daily added; yet most of these, on the application of high powers, are resolved into an immense number of stars. Doubtless we may say, with literal truth, that the stars visible by our present telescopic means are more numerous than the grains of sand on the earth we tenant. And who shall say what unbounded numbers may yet be revealed by enlarging those means, and what still more inconceivable multitudes no human eye shall ever see? Assuming, according to Herschel's estimate, the first seven magnitudes to contain 20,000, and assuming Struve's law for the increase of number in the diminishing magnitudes, the sixteen now subject to telescopic observation would contain somewhat over 5,000,000,000. That each star is a sun, a magnificent, luminous body, is proved by the very fact of their being visible at such enormous distances. Dr. Wollaston, by satisfactory experimental methods, has shown, that, at 141,400 times its present distance, our sun would appear of the brightness of Sirius, while the parallactic limit beyond which this star is known to be is more than 200,000 times that distance; hence Sirius is a more powerful illuminating body than the sun. Taking this as an index of magnitude, every fixed star becomes a body of volume vastly superior to any our minds can conceive. Their sum, then, would make up a volume as perfectly baffling our comprehension as does their distance or their number. Equally legible are the traces furnished by the sidereal universe of the flow of immeasurable cycles of time; though as yet they are only traces, and not demonstrations. Since astronomy became a science, scarcely time enough has elapsed |