Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing wonder and
awe--the starry heavens above me, and the moral law within me. I need
not search for them, and vaguely guess concerning them, as if they were
veiled in darkness or hidden in the infinite altitude. I see them before
me, and link them immediately with the consciousness of my existence.
The former begins from the spot I occupy in the outer world of sense,
and enlarges my connection with it to a boundless extent with worlds
upon worlds and systems of systems.
The second begins from my invisible self, my personality, and places me
in a truly infinite world traceable only by the understanding, with
which I perceive I am in a universal and necessary connection, as I am
also thereby with all those visible worlds.
This view infinitely elevates my value as an intelligence by my
personality, in which the moral law reveals to me a life independent of
the animal and even the whole material world, and reaching by destiny
into the infinite.
But though admiration may stimulate inquiry, it cannot compensate for
the want of it. The contemplation of the world, beginning with the most
magnificent spectacle possible, ended in astrology; and morality,
beginning with the noblest attribute of human nature, ended in
superstition. But after reason was applied to careful examination of the
phenomena of nature a clear and unchangeable insight was secured into
the system of the world. We may entertain the hope of a like good result
in treating of the moral capacities of our nature by the help of the
moral judgment of reason.