Entertainments." In his hours of leisure from his daily avocations, his
thoughts either run wild among the most groveling objects, or sink into
sensuality and inanity; and solitude and retirement present no charms to
his vacant mind.

While human beings are thus immersed in ignorance, destitute of rational
ideas and of a solid substratum of thought, they can never experience
those pleasures and enjoyments which flow from the exercise of the
understanding, and which correspond to the dignity of a rational and
immortal nature.

AN ENLIGHTENED MIND.--On the other hand, the man whose mind is
irradiated with the light of substantial science has views, and
feelings, and exquisite enjoyments to which the former is an entire
stranger. In consequence of the numerous and multifarious ideas he has
acquired, he is introduced, as it were, into a new world, where he is
entertained with scenes, objects, and movements, of which the mind
enveloped in ignorance can form no conception. He can trace back the
stream of time to its commencement, and, gliding along its downward
course, can survey the most memorable events which have happened in
every part of its progress, from the primeval ages to the present day;
the rise of empires, the fall of kings, the revolutions of nations, the
battles of warriors, and the important events which have followed in
their train; the progress of civilization, and of the arts and sciences;
the judgments which have been inflicted on wicked nations, the dawnings
of Divine mercy toward our fallen race, the manifestation of the Son of
God in our nature, the physical changes and revolutions which have taken
place in the constitution of our globe; in short, the whole of the
leading events in the chain of divine dispensation, from the beginning
of the world to the period in which we live.

With his mental eye the enlightened man can survey the terraqueous globe
in all its variety of aspects; he can contemplate the continents,
islands, and oceans which surround its exterior; the numerous rivers by
which it is indented; the lofty ranges of mountains which diversify its
surface; its winding caverns; its forests, lakes, and sandy deserts; its
whirlpools, boiling springs, and glaciers; its sulphurous mountains,
bituminous lakes, and the states and empires into which it is
distributed; the tides and currents of the ocean; the icebergs of the
polar regions, and the verdant scenes of the torrid zone.

Sitting at his