size, that when projected on a common plane, they are not enclosed, the one within the other, but actually cross each other.

We shall return to an examination of these won

derful objects hereafter. At a mean distance of 485,000,000 of miles from the sun, we cross the orbit of Jupiter, the largest and most magnificent of all the planets. His diameter is nearly 90,000 miles. He is attended by four moons, and performs his revolution round the sun in a period of nearly twelve years.Leaving this vast world, and continuing our journey to a distance of 890,000,000 of miles from the sun, we cross the orbit of Saturn, the most wonderful of all the planets. His diameter is 76,068 miles, and he sweeps round the sun in a period of nearly twenty-nine and a half years. He is surrounded by several broad concentric rings, and is accompanied by no fewer than seven satellites or moons. The interplanetary spaces we perceive are rapidly increasing. The orbit of Uranus is crossed at a mean distance from the sun of 1,800,000,000 of miles. His diameter is 35,000 miles, and his period of revolution amounts to rather more than eighty-four of our years. He is attended by six moons, and pursues his journey at a slower rate than any of the interior planets. Leaving this planet, we reach the known boundary of the planetary system, at a distance of about 3,000,000,000 of miles from the sun. Here revolves the last discovered planet, Neptune, attended by one, probably by two mcons, and completing his vast circuit about the sun in a period of one hundred and sixty-four of our years.His diameter is eight times greater than the earth's, and he contains an amount of matter sufficient to

form one hundred and twenty-five worlds such as

ours.

Here we reach the known limit of the planetary worlds, and standing at this remote point and looking back towards the sun, the keenest vision of man could not descry more than one solitary planet along the line we have traversed. The distance is so great, that even Saturn and Jupiter are utterly invisible, and the sun himself has shrunk to be scarcely greater than a fixed star.

There are certain great characteristics which distinguish this entire scheme of worlds. They are all nearly globular-they all revolve on axes-their orbits are all nearly circular-they all revolve in the same direction around the sun-the planes of their orbits are but slightly inclined to each other, and their moons follow the same general laws. With a knowledge of these general facts, it is proposed to trace the reciprocal influences of all these revolving worlds, and to learn, if it be possible, whether this vast scheme has been so constructed as to endure while time shall last, or whether the elements of its final dissolution are not contained within itself, either causing the planets, one by one, to drop into the sun, or to recede from this great centre, released from its influence, to pursue their lawless orbits through unknown regions of space.

Before proceeding to the investigation of the great problem of the stability of the universe, let us examine how far the law of gravitation extends its influence over the bodies which are united in the solar system. A broad and distinct line must be drawn between those phenomena, for which gravitation must render

a satisfactory account, and those other pher.omena, for which it is in no wise responsible. In the solar system we find, for example, that all the planets re volve in the same direction around the sun, in orbits slightly elliptical, and in planes but little inclined to each other. Neither of these three peculiarities is in any way traceable to the law of gravitation.

Start a planet in its career, and, no matter what be the eccentricity of its orbit, the direction of its movement, or the inclination of the plane in which it pursues its journey, once projected, it falls under the empire of gravitation, and ever after, this law is accountable for all its movements. We are not, therefore, to regard the remarkable constitution of the solar system as a result of any of the known laws of

nature.

If the sun were created, and the planetary worlds formed and placed at the disposal of a being possessed of less than infinite wisdom, and he were required so to locate them in space, and to project them in orbits, such that their revolutions should be eternal, even with the assistance of the known laws of motion and gravitation, this finite being would fail to construct his required system.

Let it be remembered, that each and every one of these bodies exerts an influence upon all the others. There is no isolated object in the system. Planet sways planet, and satellite bends the orbit of satellite, until the primitive curves described, lose the simplicity of their character, and perturbations arise, which may end in absolute destruction. There is no chance work in the construction of our mighty system. Every planet has been weighed and poised, and placed pre

cisely where it should be. If it were possible to drag Jupiter from its orbit, and cause him to change places with the planet Venus, this interchange of orbits would be fatal to the stability of the entire system. In contemplating the delicacy and complexity of the adjustment of the planetary worlds, the mind cannot fail to recognize the fact that, in all this intricate. balancing, there is a higher object to be gained than the mere perpetuity of the system.

If stability had been the sole object, it might have been gained by a far simpler arrangement. If God had so constituted matter that the sun might have attracted the planets, while these should exert no influence over each other-that the planets might have attracted their satellites, while these were free from their reciprocal influences-then, indeed, a system would have been formed, whose movements would have been eternal, and whose stability would have been independent of the relative positions of the worlds, and the character of their orbits. Give to

them but space enough in which to perform their revolutions around the sun, so that no collisions might occur, freed from this only danger, every planet, and every satellite, will pursue the same undeviating track throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity.

If this statement be true, it may be demanded, why such a system was not adopted. It is impossible for us to assign all the reasons which led to the adoption of the present complicated system. Of one thing, however, we are certain-If God designed that in the heavens his glory and his wisdom should be de clared, and that in the study of his mighty works, his intelligent creatures should rise higher and higher to

wards his eternal throne, then, indeed, has the present system been admirably constituted for the accomplishment of this grand design. To have acquired a knowledge of a system constituted of independent planets, free from all mutual perturbations, would have required scarcely no effort to the mind, when compared with that put forth in the investigation of the present complex construction of the planetary system. The mind would have lost the opportunity of achieving its greatest triumphs, while the evidence of infinite wisdom displayed in the arrangement and counterpoising of the present system would have been lost forever. There is one other thought which here suggests itself with so much force that I cannot turn away from it. We speak of gravitation as some inherent quality or property of matter, as though matter could not exist in case it were deprived of this quality. This is, however, a false idea. Matter might have existed independent of any quality which should cause distant globes to influence each other.This force called gravitation, even admitting that it must have an existence, no special law of its action could have forced itself on matter to the exclusion of all other laws. Why does this force diminish as the square of the distance at which it operates, increases? There are almost an infinite number of laws, according to which an attraction might have exerted itself, but there is no one which would have rendered the planets fit abodes for sentient beings, such as now dwell on them, and which would at the same time have guaranteed the perpetuity of the system. Admitting, then, that matter cannot be matter, without exerting some influence on all other matter, (which P