

PERMANENCY OF THE UNIVERSE. 



67 



other in 1604, which shone with a brightness 

 superior to Venus, and afterwards disappeared, 

 we have no reason to believe, are blotted out of 

 creation. They may either have been changed, 

 from flaming suns, to opaque globes like the pla 

 nets, and may still be existing in the same region 

 of space ; or they may have been carried forward 

 with a rapid motion, to a region of the universe 

 altogether beyond the utmost limits of our vision, 

 or some other transformation, beyond the reach 

 of human conception, may have been effected. 

 For the annihilation of matter appears to form 

 no part of the plan of the Creator s arrange 

 ments ; at least, we have no proof of it, in any 

 one instance, and the very idea of it seems to 

 imply an inconsistency, which is repugnant to 

 what we already know of the divine character 

 and operations. 



Such changes, then, so far from diminishing 

 the visible glory of the universe, will present to 

 the view of the intelligent creation a greater va 

 riety of sublime scenery than if all things &quot; con 

 tinued as they were from the beginning of the 

 creation,&quot; and will exhibit the attributes of the 

 Almighty in all their varied aspects and diver 

 sified modes of operation. While they demon 

 strate the mutable nature of created beings, and 

 the immutability of the Creator, they will en 

 liven the scenes of the universe, and excite the 

 admiration and praises of countless multitudes of 

 enraptured intelligences. 



From the considerations now stated, it will 

 (allow, that the various relations which now sub 

 sist among the great bodies which compose the 

 universe, will not be materially altered by any 

 changes or revolutions which may take place 

 in our terrestrial sphere: nor will the general 

 aspect of creation be sensibly altered by any 

 changes that may occasionally happen among the 

 celestial luminaries. Whatever may be the na 

 ture of such changes, or however important they 

 may be to the inhabitants of the systems in 

 which they happen, they bear no sensible propor 

 tion to the whole fabric of the universe. Though 

 stars have, at different periods, disappeared from 

 the visible concave of the firmament, and have, 

 doubtless, undergone amazing revolutions, yet 

 the general appearance of the heavens in all 

 ages has been nearly the same, and will probably 

 continue so for an indefinite lapse of ages yet to 

 corne. Although our earth were just now trans 

 ported to a point of space a hundred thousand 

 millions of miles beyond the sphere we presently 

 occupy, the general aspect and the relative po 

 sitions of the starry orbs, and the figures of the 

 different constellations, would appear, on the 

 whole, the same as they now do when we lift our 

 eyes to the nocturnal sky. The constellations 

 of Orion and Charks s Wain, for example, would 

 present the same shape, the same number of 

 tars, and the same relations to neighbouring 

 constellations, when viewed from a region 



1,000,000,000,000,000* of miles distant from 

 the earth, as they now do from the sphere in 

 which we are p laced. f Extension, magnitude, 

 relative position, attraction, gravitation, central 

 forces, rectilineal and circular motions, and other 

 properties and relations of matter, will still sub 

 sist in the universe, after we are transported 



to another state and to a different region ; and, 



consequently the sciences founded on the various 

 combinations of these properties and of the laws 

 which govern them, will be cultivated by intel 

 ligent beings, and carried forward to that mea 

 sure of perfection which they cannot attain in 

 the present state ; unless we suppose, what is 

 evidently absurd and contrary to Scripture, that 

 our knowledge will be more limited in the future, 

 than in the present world. 



For example, the laws which direct the motions 

 of falling bodies, the appearances produced by 

 bodies in the heavens moving with different de 

 grees of velocity, the apparent motions of the 

 sun and of the starry heavens, and the general 

 principles of geography and astronomy, on the 

 planet Jupiter, or any other similar globe, with 

 the exception of a few local modifications, are 

 materially the same as on the surface of the 

 earth ; which is evident from the consideration 

 of his spheroidal figure, his diurnal and annual 

 motions, and from the consideration that gravita 

 tion is regulated by the same general laws on that 

 body, and on similar globes, as on the surface of 

 the earth or the moon. The laws of vision, and 

 the nature and properties oflight and colours, are 

 essentially the same throughout all that portion 

 of the universe which lies within the sphere of 

 our observation ; and we have no reason to be 

 lieve, that the general laws of the universe will 

 be unhinged for the sake of man, or on account 

 of any changes that happen in his present abode, 

 or in reference to his future destination. For, to 

 use the words of a late eminent Scottish philoso 

 pher, &quot; The light by which the fixed stars are 

 seen, is the same with that by which we behold 

 the sun and his attending planets. It moves 

 with the same velocity, as we observe by compa 

 ring the aberrations of the fixed stars with the 

 eclipses of Jupiter s satellites. It is refracted 

 and reflected by the same laws. It consists of 



That is, a thousand billions , a billion being equal 

 to ten hundred thousand millions. 



tThis will appear quite evident to any one who 

 considers the immense distance of the stars from 

 the earth and from one another. We know, by ex 

 perience, that a change of place equal to 190 millions 

 of miles, or the diameter of the earth s annual orbit, 

 produces no sensible difference in the appearance of 

 the starry heavens, and it is certain that if this dis 

 tance were multiplied by ten hundred thousand, the 

 case would be nearly the same. The nearest star 

 is, at least, 20 billions of miles distant, and remoter 

 stars several thousands of billions ; and therefore, 

 the relative positions of bodies so widely dispersed 

 from each other, would not be sensibly altered by a 

 change of place equal in extent to a thousand bil 

 lions of miles. 



