is allied to the suns burning in the depths of space. There is the universal law of mutual influence, and the universe is one grand unit, one organic whole.
But is this union, this mutual influence, confined to the mere matter of worlds? Have we not reason to believe that a closer bond than gravity will unite all holy intelligences? At present, indeed, we feel that there is no bond of sympathy between us and the inhabitants of other worlds. We are only groping our way to the conviction that there may be other worlds teeming with inhabitants. But why is man doomed to this isolation in space? Why do we dwell apart, and feel that our world is wrenched from the community of worlds that circle in space? We have reason to believe that sin has doomed us to this isolation,—that it has made this world our prisonhouse instead of an abode of liberty, where we might hold intercourse with other pure spirits.
But are we for ever doomed to this isolation? Are we never mare to be linked to the sympathies of the universe around us? No! the yearnings of our hearts tell us, the teachings of our holy faith warrant the belief, that one grand aim of the scheme of redemption is to remedy and perfect the bond of sympathy that was broken by the fall, and to bring us into closer alliance with all the various grades of moral intelligences throughout the universe.
It was a beautiful instinct that made man in other days endow the celestial spheres with music: —
