32 ORIGIN OF THE 



verse was arranged in spherical masses, and 

 subjected to the laws of attraction and force, 

 and rolled through space, at such distances from 

 each other as their several laws of motion or 

 gravitation required : it being understood, that 

 all the masses which had not arrived at the 

 exact point where the centrifugal and centripe- 

 tal forces were equal, had been united to other 

 masses, until these laws governed the whole 

 universe of matter. Then, what ineffable splen- 

 dor pervaded the universe ! What light inde- 

 scribable emanated from these immense masses 

 of ignited and molten matter ! Imagine, for a 

 moment, a universe, visible only to the eye of 

 the Great Creator, created by Him in a form so 

 subtle and spiritual, that, had man then existed, 

 the whole unformed masses of suns and worlds 

 would have been above, around, and in every 

 direction, as they now are, but in a state as in- 

 visible to finite eyes as the gases which now 

 pervade the atmosphere of our earth, suddenly 



