NATURAL THEOLOGY. 43 



same violent blow which shattered the sun's 

 surface, and separated large fragments from it, 

 pushed the sun himself out of his place ; for, the 

 consequence of this would be that the sun and 

 system of shattered fragments would have a pro- 

 gressive motion, which, indeed, may possibly be 

 the case with our system ; but then each fragment 

 would, in every revolution, return to the surface 

 of the sun again. The hypothesis is also contra- 

 dicted by the vast difference which subsists be- 

 tween the diameters of the planetary orbits. The 

 distance of Saturn from the sun (to say nothing of 

 the Georgium Sidus,) is nearly five-and-twenty 

 times that of Mercury ; a disparity, which it seems 

 impossible to reconcile with BufFon's scheme. 

 Bodies starting from the same place, with what- 

 ever difference of direction or velocity they set 

 off, could not have been found at these different 

 distances from the centre, still retaining their nearly 

 circular orbits. They must have been carried to 

 their proper distances, before they were project- 

 ed.* 



* "If we suppose the matter of the system to be accumulated 

 in the centre by its gravity, no mechanical principles, with the 

 assistance of this power of gravity, could separate the vast mass 

 into such parts as the sun and planets ; and, after carrying them 

 to their different distances, projected them in their several direc- 

 tions, preserving still the quality of action and re-action, or the 

 state of the centre of gravity of the system. Such an exquisite 

 structure of things could only arise from the contrivance and pow- 

 erful influences of an intelligent, free, and most potent agent. 

 The same powers, therefore, which, at present, govern the mate- 



