150 COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



If, tlierefore, we trace indications of the Divine 

 care, either in the form of the laws which prevail 

 among the heavenly bodies, or in the arbitrary 

 quantities which such laws involve ; (according 

 to the distinction explained in the former part 

 of this work ;) we may expect that our examples 

 of such care, though they may be less numerous 

 and obvious, will be more precise than they can 

 be in other subjects, where the laws of facts are 

 imperfectly known, and their causes entirely hid. 

 We trust that this will be found to be the case 

 with regard to some of the examples which we 

 shall adduce. 



CHAPTER I. 

 The Structure of the Solar System. 



IN the cosmical considerations which we have to 

 offer, we shall suppose the general truths con- 

 cerning the structure of the solar system and of 

 the universe, which have been established by 

 astronomers and mathematicians, to be known to 

 the reader. It is not necessary to go into much 

 detail on this subject. The five planets known 

 to the ancients, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, 

 Saturn, revolve round the sun, at different dis- 

 tances, in orbits nearly circular, and nearly in 

 one plane. Between Venus and Mars, our Earth, 



