e tides,
in the movement of the heavenly bodies, in the instinct of animals, in
the duration of life assigned to each; from the elephant who lives more
than a century, to the ephemeral fly, whose whole existence is limited
to an hour.

"Inanimate nature is subject to the same unvarying laws. Metals, and
rocks, and earths, and all the mineral kingdom follow one law in their
crystallisation, never varying from the form assigned to them; each atom
depositing itself in the allotted place, until that form is complete: we
have order in production, order in decay; but all is simple to him by
whom the planets were thrown out into space, and were commanded to roll
in their eternal orbits."

"Yes; the stars in the heavens are beautiful," said William, "but they
are not placed there in order."

"The fixed stars do not appear to us to be in order--that is, they do
not stud the heavens at equal distances from each other as we view them;
but you must recollect that they are at very different distances from
this earth, spreading over all infinity of space; and we have reason to
suppose that this our earth is but a mere unit in the multitude of
created worlds, only one single portion of an infinite whole. As the
stars now appear to us, they are useful to the mariner, enabling him to
cross the trackless seas; and to the astronomer, who calculates the
times and seasons."

"What do you mean, papa, by saying that this world of ours is supposed
to be but one of a multitude of created worlds?"

"Our little knowledge is bounded to this our own earth, which we have
ascertained very satisfactorily to be but one of several planets
revolving round our own sun. I say our own sun, because we have every
reason to suppose that each of those fixed stars, and myriads now not
visible to the naked eye, are all suns, bright and glorious as our own,
and of course throwing light and heat upon unseen planets revolving
round them. Does not this give you some idea of the vastness, the
power, and the immensity of God?"

"One almost loses one's self in the imagination," said Mrs Seagrave.

"Yes," replied Mr Seagrave; "and it has been surmised by some, who have
felt in their hearts the magnificence of the Great Architect, that there
must be some point of view in space where all those glorious suns, which
seem to us confused in the heavens above us, will appear all
symmetrically arranged, will there be viewed in regular order, whirling
round in one st