26 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



of the earth to have originated from the revolu- 

 tion of a sphere covered by a surface of a com- 

 pound mixture ; the fluid and solid parts separat- 

 ing, as the surface becomes quiescent. Here then 

 comes in the moderating hand of the Creator. If 

 the water had exceeded its present proportion, 

 even but by a trifling quantity, compared with the 

 whole globe, all the land would have been cover- 

 ed : had there been much less than there is there 

 would not have been enough to fertilize the con- 

 tinent. Had the exsiccation been progressive, 

 such as we may suppose to have been produced 

 by an evaporating heat, how came it to stop at the 

 point at which we see it ? Why did it not stop 

 sooner? why at all ? The mandate of the Deity 

 will account for this ; nothing else will. 



IV. Of centripetal forces. By virtue of the 

 simplest law that can be imagined, viz. that a body 

 continues in the state in which it is, whether of 

 motion or rest ; and, if in motion, goes on in the 

 line in which it was proceeding, and w ith the same 

 velocity, unless there be some cause for change : 

 by virtue, I say, of this law, it comes to pass (what 

 may appear to be a strange consequence,) that 

 cases arise, in which attraction, incessantly draw- 

 ing a body towards a centre, never brings, nor 

 ever will bring, the body to that centre, but keep 

 it in eternal circulation round it. If it were pos- 

 sible to fire oft' a cannon-ball with a velocity of 

 five miles in a second, and the resistance of tlie 

 air c<juld be taken away, the cannon-ball would 



