il_.--Your history of the laws of the inevitable destruction of
material forms recalls to my memory our discussion at Adelsberg. The
changes of the material universe are in harmony with those which belong
to the human body, and which you suppose to be the frame or machinery of
the sentient principle. May we not venture to imagine that the visible
and tangible world, with which we are acquainted by our sensations, bears
the same relation to the Divine and Infinite Intelligence that our organs
bear to our mind, with this only difference, that in the changes of the
divine system there is no decay, there being in the order of things a
perfect unity, and all the powers springing from one will and being a
consequence of that will, are perfectly and unalterably balanced. Newton
seemed to apprehend, that in the laws of the planetary motions there was
a principle which would ultimately be the cause of the destruction of the
system. Laplace, by pursuing and refining the principles of our great
philosopher, has proved that what appeared sources of disorder are, in
fact, the perfecting machinery of the system, and that the principle of
conservation is as eternal as that of motion.

_The Unknown_.--I dare not offer any speculations on this grand and awful
subject. We can hardly comprehend the cause of a simple atmospheric
phenomenon, such as the fall of a heavy body from a meteor; we cannot
even embrace in one view the millionth part of the objects surrounding
us, and yet we have the presumption to reason upon the infinite universe
and the eternal mind by which it was created and is governed. On these
subjects I have no confidence in reason, I trust only to faith; and, as
far as we ought to inquire, we have no other guide but revelation.

_Phil_.--I agree with you that whenever we attempt metaphysical
speculations, we must begin with a foundation of faith. And being sure
from revelation that God is omnipotent and omnipresent, it appears to me
no improper use of our faculties to trace even in the natural universe
the acts of His power and the results of His wisdom, and to draw
parallels from the infinite to the finite mind. Remember, we are taught
that man was created in the image of God, and, I think, it cannot be
doubted that in the progress of society man has been made a great
instrument by his energies and labours for improving the moral universe.
Compare the Greeks and Romans with the Assyrians and Babylonians, and the
a