OMNIPOTENCE OF THE DEITY. 



tuaded cannon is incomparably swifter then any 

 of tho motions now stated ; but of the velocity of 

 such a body we have a less accurate idea ; be 

 cause, its rapidity being so great, we cannot 

 trace it distinctly by the eye thiough its whole 

 range, from the mouth of the cannon to the object 

 against which it is impelled. By experiments, 

 it has been found, that its rate of motion is from 

 480 to 800 miles in an hour, but it is retarded 

 every moment, by the resistance of the air and 

 the attraction of the earth. This velocity, 

 however, great as it. is, bears no sensible propor 

 tion to the rate of motion which is found among 

 the celestial orbs. That such enormous masses 

 of matter should move at all, is wonderful ; but 

 when we consider the amazing velocity with 

 which they are impelled, we are lost in astonish 

 ment. The planet Jupiter, in describing his 

 circuit round the sun, moves at the rate of 29,000 

 miles an hour. The planet Venus, one of the 

 nearest and most brilliant of the celestial bodies, 

 and about the same size as the earth, is found to 

 move through the spaces of the firmament at 

 the rate of 76,000 miles an hour, and the planet 

 Mercury with a velocity of no less than 150,000 

 miles an hour, or 1750 miles in a minute a 

 motion two hundred times swifter than that of a 

 cannon ball. 



These velocities will appear still more asto 

 nishing, if we consider the magnitude of the 

 bodies which are thus impelled, and the immense 

 forces which are requisite to carry them along 

 in their courses. However rapidly a ball flies 

 from the mouth of a cannon, it is the flight of a 

 body only a few inches in diameter ; but one of 

 the bodies, whose motion has been just now 

 stated, is eighty-nine thousand miles in dia 

 meter, and would comprehend, within its vast 

 circumference, more than a thousand globes as 

 large as the earth. Could we contemplate such 

 motions, from a fixed point, at the distance of 

 only a few hundreds of miles from the bodies 

 thus impelled it would raise our admiration to 

 its highest pitch, it would overwhelm all our 

 faculties, and, in our present state, would pro 

 duce an impression of awe, and even of terror, 

 beyond the power of language to express. The 

 earth contains a mass of matter equal in weight 

 to at least 2,200,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons, 

 supposing its mean density to be only about 2 

 times greater than water. To move this pon 

 derous mass a single inch beyond its position, 

 were it fixed in a quiescent state, would require 

 a mechanical force almost beyond the power of 

 numbers to express. The physical force of all 

 the myriads of intelligences within the bounds 

 of tha planetary system, though their powers 

 were far superior to those of men, would be 

 altogether inadequate to the production of such 

 a motion. How much more must be the force 

 requisite to impel it with a velocity one hundred 

 and forty times swifter than a cannon ball, or 



68,000 miles an hour, the actual rate of ita 

 motion, in its course Bound the sun ! But what 

 ever degree of mechanical power would be re 

 quisite to produce such a stupendous effect, it 

 would require a force one hundred and fifty times 

 greater to impel the planet Jupiter, in his actual 

 course through the heavens ! Even the planet 

 Saturn, one of the slowest, moving bodies of our 

 system, a globe 900 times larger than the earth, 

 is impelled through the regions of space at the 

 rate of 22,000 miles an hour, carrying along 

 with him two stupendous rings, and seven moons 

 larger than ours, through his whole course round 

 the central luminary. Were we placed within 

 a thousand miles of this stupendous globe, (a 

 station which superior beings may occasionally 

 occupy,) where its hemisphere, encompassed by 

 its magnificent rings, would fill the whole extent 

 of our vision the view of such a ponderous 

 and glorious object, flying with such amazing 

 velocity before us, would infinitely exceed every 

 idea of grandeur we can derive from terrestrial 

 scenes, and overwhelm our powers with asto 

 nishment and awe. Under such an emotion, we 

 could only exclaim, &quot;GREAT AND MARVELLOUS 



ARE THY WORKS, LORD GoD ALMIGHTY 1&quot; 



The ideas of strength and power implied in 

 the impulsion of such enormous aiasses of 

 matter through the illimitable tracts of space, 

 are forced upon the mind with irresistible energy, 

 far surpassing what any abstract propositions 

 or reasonings can convey ; and constrain us to 

 exclaim, &quot; Who is a strong Lord like unto 

 thee ! Thy right hand is become glorious in 

 power ! .the Lord God omnipotent reigneth !&quot; 



If we consider the immense number of bodies 

 thus impelled through the vast spaces of the uni 

 verse the rapidity with which the comets, when 

 near the sun, are carried through the regions they 

 traverse, if we consider the high probability, if 

 not absolute certainty, that the sun, with all his 

 attendant planets and comets, is impelled with a 

 still greater degree of velocity towards some dis 

 tant region of space, or around some wide cir 

 cumference that all the thousands of systems of 

 that nebulae to which the sun belongs, are mov 

 ing in a similar manner that all the nebulae in 

 the heavens are moving around some magnificent 

 central body in short, that all the suns and 

 worlds in the universe are in rapid and perpetual 

 motion, as constituent portions of one grand and 

 boundless empire, of which Jehovah is the So 

 vereign and, if we consider still further, that all 

 these mighty movements have been going on, 

 without intermission, during the course of many 

 centuries, and some of them, perhaps, for my 

 riads of ages before the foundations of our world 

 were laid it is impossible for the human mind to 

 form any adequate idea of the stupendous forces 

 which are in incessant operation thoughout the 

 unlimited empire of the Almighty. To estimate 

 such mechanical force eren in a single instance, 



