30 



THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. 



ihe diversified apparatus by which light and dark 

 ness are alternately distributed. The sun, an 

 immense luminous world, by far the largest body 

 in the system, is placed in the centre. No other 

 position would have suited for an equable distri 

 bution of illumination and heat through the dif 

 ferent parts of the system. Around him, at dif 

 ferent distances, eleven primary planets revolve, 

 accompanied with eighteen secondaries, or moons, 

 all in majestic order and harmony, no one inter 

 rupting the movements of another, but invariably 

 keeping the paths prescribed them, and perform 

 ing their revolutions in their appointed times. 

 To all these revolving globes, the sun dispenses 

 motion, light, heat, fertility, and other unceasing 

 energies, for the comfort and happiness of their 

 respective inhabitants without which, perpe 

 tual sterility, eternal winter, and eternal night, 

 would reign over every region of our globe, and 

 throughout surrounding worlds. 



The distance at which the heavenly bodies, 

 particularly the sun, are placed from the earth, is 

 a manifest evidence of Divine Wisdom. If the 

 sun were much nearer us than he is at present, 

 the earth, as now constituted, would be wasted 

 and parched with excessive heat ; the waters 

 would be turned into vapour, and the rivers, seas, 

 and oceans, would soon disappear, leaving no 

 thing behind them but frightful barren dells and 

 gloomy caverns ; vegetation would completely 

 cease, and the tribes of animated nature languish 

 and die. On the other hand, were the sun much 

 farther distant than he now is, or were his bulk, 

 or the influence of his rays, diminished one. half 

 of what they now are, the land and the ocean 

 would soon become one frozen mass, and univer 

 sal desolation and sterility would overspread the 

 fair face of nature, and, instead of a pleasant and 

 comfortable abode, our globe would become a 

 frightful desert, a state of misery and perpetual 

 punishment.* But herein is the wisdom of God 

 displayed, that he hasformed the sun of such a de 

 terminate size, and placed it at such a convenient 

 distance, as not to annoy, but to refresh and 

 cheer us, and to enliven the soil with its genial 

 influence ; so that we plainly perceive, to use the 

 language of the prophet, that &quot; He hath esta 

 blished the world by his wisdom, and stretched 

 out the heavens by his understanding.&quot; 



It farms no objection to these remarks, that calo- 

 ic, or the matter of heat, does not altogether depend 

 upon the direct influence of the solar rays. The 

 substance of caloric may be chiefly connected with 

 the constitution of the globe we inhabit. But still, 

 it is quite certain that the earth, as presently consti 

 tuted, would suffer effects most disastrous to sentient 

 beings, were it removed much nearer to, or much 

 farther from the central luminary. Those planets 

 wnich are removed several hundreds of millions of 

 miles farther from the sun than our globe, may pos 

 sibly experience a degree of heat much greater then 

 ours ; but, in this case, the constitution of the solid 

 parts of these globes, and of their surrounding at 

 mospheres, must be very different from what ob 

 tains in the physical arrangements of our globe. 



The rotation of the several planetary glebes 

 around their axis, to produce the alternate . uc~ 

 cession of day and night, strikingly demonstr aee 

 the wisdom and benevolence of their great Au 

 thor. Were the earth and the other planetary 

 worlds destitute of a diurnal motion, only one 

 half of their surfaces could be inhabited, and the 

 other half would remain a dark and cheerless 

 desert. The sun woud be the only heavenly orb 

 which would be recognized by the inhabitants of 

 each respective world,as existing in the universe; 

 and that scene of grandeur which night unfolds 

 in the boundless expanse of the sky, would be 

 for ever veiled from their view. For, it appears 

 to be one grand design of the Creator, in giving 

 these bodies a diurnal motion, not only to cheer 

 their inhabitants with light and warmth, and the 

 gay colouring produced by the solar rays, but also 

 to open to them a prospect of other portions of 

 his vast dominions, which are dispersed in end 

 less variety throughout the illimitable regions of 

 space ; in order that they may acquire a more 

 sublime impression of the glory of his kingdom, 

 and of his eternal Power and Godhead. But, 

 were perpetual day to irradiate the planets, it 

 would throw an eternal and impenetrable veil 

 over the glories of the sky, behind which, the 

 magnificent operations of Jehovah s power would 

 be, in a great measure, concealed. It is this 

 circumstance which we should consider as the 

 principal reason why a rotatory motion has been 

 impressed on the planetary globes ; and not 

 merely that a curtain of darkness might be 

 thrown around their inhabitants, during the re 

 pose of sleep, as in the world in which we dwell. 

 For in some of the other planetary worlds be 

 longing to our system, the intelligent beings with 

 which they are peopled may stand in no need of 

 that nocturnal repose which is necessary for man ,* 

 their physical powers may be incapable of being 

 impaired, and their mental energies may be in 

 perpetual exercise. And in some of those bodies 

 which are surrounded with an assemblage of 

 rings and moons, as the planet Saturn, the di 

 versified grandeur of their celestial phenomena, 

 in the absence of the sun, may present a scene 

 of contempation and enjoyment, far more interest 

 ing than all the splendours of their noon-day. 

 Besides, had the planets no motion round their 

 axis, and were both their hemispheres supposed 

 to be peopled with inhabitants, their physical state 

 and enjoyments would be as opposite to each 

 other, as if they lived under the government of 

 two distinct independent beings. While the one 

 class was basking under the splendours of perpe 

 tual day, the other would be involved in all the 

 horrors of an everlasting night. While the one 

 hemisphere would be parched with excessive heat 

 the other would be bound in the fetters of etrrnaJ 

 ice ; and, in such a globe as ours, the motion of 

 the tides, the ascent of the vapours, the current* 

 of the atmosphere, the course of the winds, tir 



