248 COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



nor active in the heavens. It operates where it is 

 wanted, it is absent where it would be prejudicial. 

 And both these circumstances occasion, in a re- 

 markable manner, the steadiness of the course of 

 nature. The stable condition of the objects in 

 man's immediate neighbourhood, and the un- 

 varying motions of the luminaries of heaven, are 

 alike conducive to his well-being. This requires 

 that he should be able to depend upon a fixed 

 order of place, a fixed course of time. It re- 

 quires, therefore, that terrestrial objects should 

 be affected by friction, and that celestial should 

 not ; as is the case, in fact. What further evi- 

 dence of benevolent design could this part of the 

 constitution of the universe supply ? 



4. There is another view which may be taken 

 of the forces which operate on the earth to pro- 

 duce permanency or change. Some parts of 

 the terrestrial system are under the dominion of 

 powers which act energetically to prevent all 

 motion, as the crystalline forces by which the 

 parts of rocks are bound together ; other parts 

 are influenced by powers which produce a per- 

 petual movement and change in the matter of 

 which they consist ; thus plants and animals 

 are in a constant state of internal motion, by 

 the agency of the vital forces. In the former 

 case rigid immutability, in the latter perpetual 

 developement, are the tendencies of the agencies 

 employed. Now in the case of objects affected 

 by friction, we have a kind of intermediate con- 



