of the ancient world into a watery grave-when he demolished Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, with fire from heaven-when he slew all the firstborn of Egypt, and turned their rivers into blood-when he divided the Red Sea, and the waters of Jordan before the tribes of Israel-when he made the earth open its jaws and swallow up Korah and all his company-and

when he caused mount Sinai to smoke and tremble at his presence. But, these and similar events, however awful, astonishing, and worthy of remembrance, were only transitory exertions of divine power, and are not calculated, and were never intended,. to impress the mind in so powerful a manner as those displays of Omnipotence which are exhibited in the ordinary movements of the material universe. We have no hesitation in asserting, that, with regard to this attribute of the Divinity, there is a more grand and impressive display in the Works of Nature, than in all the events recorded in the Sacred History. Nor ought this remark to be considered as throwing the least reflection on the fulness and sufficiency of the Scripture Revelation; for that revelation, as having a special reference to a moral economy, has for its object, to give a more particular display of the moral than of the natural perfections of God. The miracles to which we have now referred, and every other supernatural fact recorded in the Bible, were not intended so much to display the plenitude of the power of Deity, as to bear testimony to the Divine mission of particular messengers, and to confirm the truths they declared. It was not, for example, merely to display the energies of Almighty power, that the waters of the Red Sea were dried up before the thousands of Israel, but to give a solemn and striking attestation to all concerned, that the Most High God had taken this people under his peculiar protection-that he had appointed Moses as their leader and legislator-and that they were bound to receive and obey the statutes he delivered. The most appropriate and impressive illustrations of Omnipotence, are those which are taken from the permanent operations of Deity, which are visible every moment in the universe around us; or, in other words, those which are derived from a detail of the facts

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which have been observed in the material world, respecting magnitude and motion.

In the first place, the immense quantity of matter contained in the universe, presents a most striking display of Almighty power.

In endeavoring to form a definite notion on this subject, the mind is bewildered in its conceptions, and is at a loss where to begin or to end its excursions. In or der to form something approximating to a well-defined idea, we must pursue a train of thought commencing with those magnitudes which the mind can easily grasp, proceeding through all the intermediate gradations of magnitude, and fixing the attention on every portion of the chain till we arrive at the object or magnitude of which we wish to form a conception. We must endeavor, in the first place, to form a conception of the bulk of the world in which we dwell, which, though only a point in comparison of the whole material universe, is, in reality, a most astonishing magnitude, which the mind cannot grasp, without a laborious effort. We can form some definite idea of those protuberant masses we denominate hills, which rise above the surface of our plains; but were we transported to the mountainous scenery of Switzerland, to the stupendous range of the Andes in South America, or to the Himalayan mountains of India, where masses of earth and rocks, in every variety of shape, extend several hundreds of miles in different directions, and rear their projecting summits beyond the region of the clouds-we should find some difficulty in formning an adequate conception of the objects of our contemplation. For, (to use the words of one who had been a spectator of such scenes,) "Amidst the trackless regions of intense silence and solitude, we cannot contemplate, but with feelings of awe and admiration, the enormous masses of variegated matter which lie around, beneath, and above us. The mind labors, as it were, to form a definite idea of those objects of oppressive grandeur, and feels unable to grasp the august objects which compose the surrounding scene." But what are

all these mountainous masses, however variegated and sublime, when compared with the bulk of the whole earth? Were they hurled from their bases, and preci

pitated into the vast Pacific Ocean, they would all dis· appear in a moment, except perhaps a few projecting tops, which, like a number of small islands, might be seen rising a few fathoms above the surface of the waters.

The earth is a globe, whose diameter is nearly 8,000 miles, and its circumference about 25,000, and, consequently its surface contains nearly two hundred millions of square miles-a magnitude too great for the mind to take in at one conception. In order to form a tolerable conception of the whole, we must endeavor to take a leisurely survey of its different parts. Were we to take our station on the top of a mountain, of a moderate size, and survey the surrounding landscape, we should perceive an extent of view stretching 40 miles in every direction, forming a circle 80 miles in diameter, and 250 in circumference, and comprehending an area of 5,000 square miles. In such a situation, the terrestrial scene around and beneath us, consisting of hills and plains, towns and villages, rivers and lakes-would form. one of the largest objects which the eye, or even the imagination, can steadily grasp at one time. But such an object, grand and extensive as it is, forms no more than the forty thousandth part of the terraqueous globe; so that before we can acquire an adequate conception of the magnitude of our own world, we must conceive 40,000 landscapes of a similar extent, to pass in review before us: and, were a scene, of the magnitude now stated, to pass before us every hour, till all the diversified scenery of the earth were brought under our view, and were twelve hours a-day allotted for the observation, it would require nine years and forty-eight days before the whole surface of the globe could be contemplated, even in this general and rapid manner. But, such a variety of successive landscapes passing before the eye, even although it were possible to be realized, would convey only a very vague and imperfect conception of the scenery of our world; for objects at the distance of forty miles cannot be distinctly perceived; the only view which would be satisfactory would be, that which is comprehended within the range of three or four miles from the spectator. (To be continued.)

CIRCLE OF THE SCIENCES, WITH SUITABLE REFLECTIONS.

ASTRONOMICAL SKETCHES, NO. XI.-MARS, VENUS, &C. Mars is the fourth planet in our system: his orbit is above the orbit of the Earth, at the distance of a hundred and fifty millions of miles from the Sun. His nearat distance from the Earth is about fifty-five millions of miles, and he shines with different degrees of lustre, according to his proximity to or distance from the Earth. He performs his periodical revolution in one year, three hundred and twenty-one days, twenty-three hours, thirty minutes; at the rate of fifty-six thousand miles an hour. His diurnal motion is completed in twenty-four hours, thirty-nine minutes, twenty-one seconds, of our time. Mars is of a dusky red, by which he is easily distinguished from Jupiter or any other of the planets. This appearance is attributed to the density of his atmosphere.

Mars moves round the Sun from west to east; and his motion, like the motion of the other planets, is sometimes direct, occasionally retrograde, and at other times he appears stationary. His daily motion is through thirty-one minutes, twenty-six seconds, thirty-eight thirds; and his annual motion is through six signs, eleven degrees, seventeen minutes, and nine seconds. He rises sometimes before the Sun, and is a morning star; and sets sometimes after him, and is an evening

star.

Mars is the least planet of our system: his diameter does not exceed four thousand one hundred and eightynine miles, and apparent diameter, is only nine seconds, seven thirds, although, when in opposition to the Sun, it has sometimes exceeded twenty-nine seconds, two thirds, when he appears as large as Venus; yet he can always easily be distinguished from this planet by his inferior brightness. The axis of his orbit inclines to his equator twenty-eight degrees, forty-two minutes; which is five degrees, fourteen minutes more than that of our Earth; so that the inhabitants (if any) have greater variations in their days and nights than those which we have; their days being longer in summer, and their nights longer in winter.

There are four very small planets between Mars and Jupiter, their names are Vesta, Juno, Ceres, and Pallas, -supposed by some astronomers to be the parts of a large planet which has been rent or torn asunder by an extraordinary convulsion.

The next planet is Jupiter, whose diameter is nearly ninety thousand miles. This planet is one thousand two hundred and eighty-one times larger than our Earth. He is at the amazing distance of four hundred and ninety-six millions of miles from the Sun, and four hundred and one millions of miles from the Earth, at his least distance. The diameter of his orbit is near one thousand millions of miles, and the circumference above three thousand millions. This astonishing circuit he performs in eleven years, three hundred and fifteen days, fourteen hours, of our time, at the rate of twentynine thousand miles an hour. "The rotation of Jupiter on his axis is performed in nine hours, fifty-six se conds; so that his year contains ten thousand four hun dred and seventy days; and the diurnal velocity of his equatorial parts is greater than the swiftness with which he moves in his annual orbit; a singular circumstance, as far as we know. By this prodigiously quick rotation, his equatorial inhabitants are carried twenty-five thousand nine hundred and twenty-miles every hour, which is nine hundred and twenty miles an hour more than an inhabitant of our Earth's equator moves in twenty-four hours, besides the twenty-five thousand above-mentioned, which is common to all parts of his surface by his annual motion." Jupiter is surrounded by faint substances called belts, in which so many changes appear, that they are thought to be clouds; for some of them have been first interrupted and broken, and then have entirely disappeared. Large spots have been seen in these belts; and when a belt vanishes, the spots disappear with it.

To the naked eye, this planet appears nearly as large, though never quite so brilliant, as Venus. The light and heat it receives from the Sun are supposed to be about one twenty-seventh of those of the Earth. The orbit of Jupiter inclines one degree, eighteen minutes, forty-seven seconds to the plane of the ecliptic. The