The _divisibility_ of the parts of matter is no where more apparent than in the minuteness of the particles of light. The unobstructed rays of light which proceed from a candle, will, almost instantaneously, fill a space of two miles; and it has been computed, says Dr. O. Gregory, that there fly out of the end of the flame of a burning candle, in a second of time, ten thousand millions of times more such particles than there are visible grains of sand in the whole earth. Dr. Nieuwentyt has computed, that an inch of candle, when converted to light, becomes divided into 269,617,040 parts, with 40 ciphers annexed; at which rate there must issue out of it, when burning, 418,660, with 39 ciphers more, particles in the second of a minute; vastly more than a thousand times a thousand million of times the number of sands the whole earth can contain; reckoning ten inches to one foot, and that 100 sands are equal to one inch.[42] As sound is propagated only at the rate of 1,142 feet in a second, a particle of light must be 786,000 times more subtile than a particle of air. If the particles of light were not extremely small, their velocity would be highly destructive. Indeed, were they equal in bulk to the two millionth part of a grain of sand, this impulse would not be less than sand shot from the mouth of a cannon. If the particles of light had more density, they would not only dazzle us by their splendor, but injure us by their heat. There is no creature of God that _diffuses_ itself, and whose influence reaches so far and wide, and fills so large a vacuum, as light. All that inconceivable space between this globe and the fixed stars, a distance which numbers cannot reach, is replete with light. Nay, the space in which it is diffused is not less than the universe itself; the immensity of which exceeds the conception of human understanding. It is from this almost unlimited diffusion of light that the very remotest of the heavenly bodies in the solar system become discernible, either by the naked eye or by telescopes. And had we instruments that could carry our sight as far as the light is extended, we should discover those bodies which are placed at the very extremity of the universe.[43] Light is the _medium_ through which objects become _visible_ to us. It is owing to it, that we are enabled to behold and contemplate the wonderful works of the great Creator; to discover unexplored systems in the trackless regions of unbounded space, to imbibe knowledge from things created, to hold intercourse with each other, to steer the hollow bark to distant climes, and to investigate the records of all science. Without its aid, the world would have been an inhospitable wilderness, involved in sable shades of perpetual night. “Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold it.” Light _beautifies_ every delightful object which comes within the reach of its rays.