THEIR ARRANGEMENTS AND FORMATION. 15 



and more diffused state of the materials of these bodies ; also 

 a tolerably clear one as to gravitation having been the deter- 

 mining cause of both locality and movement. From these 

 ideas the general one naturally suggested to us is a former 

 stage in the frame of material things perhaps only a point 

 in progress from some other, or a return from one like the 

 present universal space occupied with gasiform matter ; this, 

 however, of irregular constitution, so that gravitation caused 

 it to break up and gather into patches, producing at once the 

 relative localities of astral and solar systems, and the move- 

 ments which they have since observed, in themselves and with 

 regard to each other, from the daily spinning of single bodies 

 on ideal axles, to the mazy dances of vast families of orbs, 

 which come to periods only in millions of years. How grand, 

 yet how simple the whole of this process for a God only to 

 conceive and do, and yet for man, after all, to trace out and 

 ponder upon. Truly must we be in some way immediate to 

 the august Father, who can think all this, and so come into his 

 presence and council, albeit only to fall prostrate and mutely 

 adore ! 



