Let us now, however, follow Dr Whewell in the development of his idea, bearing in mind his own impressive statement, in his preface, that, “while some of his philosophical conclusions appear to him to fall in very remarkably with certain points of religious doctrine, he is well aware that philosophy alone can do little in providing man with the consolations, hopes, supports, and convictions which religion offers; and he acknowledges it as a ground of deep gratitude to the Author of All Good, that man is not left to philosophy for those blessings, but has a fuller assurance of them by a more direct communication from Him.” “The two doctrines which we have here to weigh against each other,” says Dr Whewell, “are the _plurality_ of worlds, and the _unity_ of the world;” and he “includes, as a necessary part of the conception of a ‘WORLD,’ a collection of intelligent creatures, where reside intelligence, perception of truth, recognition of moral law, and reverence for a Divine Creator and Governor.”[28] His _Essay_ branches into three great divisions, in disposing of the conjectural plurality of worlds, and suggesting the reality of the unity of the world. First, he considers the constitution of man: secondly, that of the earth which he inhabits, its adaptation, structure, and position: lastly, its neighbours in the heavens—the solar system to which it belongs, the fixed stars, and the nebulæ; and as to these, he declares that “a closer inquiry, _with increased means of observation_, gives no confirmation to the conjecture which certain aspects of the universe at first sight suggested to man, that there may be other bodies, like the earth, tenanted by other creatures like man,—some characters of whose nature seem to remove or lessen the difficulties we may at first feel in regarding the earth as, in a _unique and special manner_, the field of God’s providence and government.”[29] This is not the order in which Dr Whewell proceeds, but it is that which we shall observe, in giving our readers such a brief and intelligible account as we can of this singularly bold _Essay_. He himself commences with a beautiful sketch of the state of “Astronomical Discoveries,” with which Dr Chalmers dealt in his celebrated Discourses; by no means understating the amount of them, with reference principally to the number of the heavenly bodies—“a countless host of worlds, arranged in planetary systems, having years and seasons, days and nights, as we have;” as to which, “it is at least a likely suggestion that they have also inhabitants—intelligent beings, who can reckon those days and years—who subsist on the fruits which the seasons bring forth, and have their daily and yearly occupations, according to their faculties.”[30] “IF this world be merely one of innumerable other worlds, all, like it, the workmanship of God,—all the seats of life—like it, occupied by intelligent creatures, capable of will, law, obedience, disobedience, as man is,—to hold that it alone