90 



NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



Stars : but, if this be only probable, another thing 

 is certain, viz. that the same element of light does. 

 The light from a fixed star affects our eyes in the 

 same manner, is refracted and reflected accord- 

 ing to the same laws, as the light of a candle. The 

 velocity of the light of the fixed stars is also the 

 same as the velocity of the light of the sun, re- 

 flected from the satellites of Jupiter. The heat 

 of the sun, in kind, differs nothing from the heat 

 of a coal fire.^ 



23 The law by which the distances of the planets are regulated 

 was referred to in a note br Bishop Brinkley to the 22d chapter, 

 and affords an evidence of unity of design not to be passed over. 

 It is this nearly, but not exactly. Form a series of numbers, each 

 consisting of the number 4 added to the number 3, but to the num- 

 ber 3 multiplied successively by 0, t, 2, 4, 8, 16, and the other 

 powers of 2 : the mean distances of Mercury being 4, this series 

 will represent the mean distance of the other planets successively. 

 Taking the four newly-discovered planets between Mars and Ju- 

 piter as one — the distances of Venus, the Earth, and Jupiter, 

 coincide with the series exactly ; the others slightly differ. Thus 

 Mercury by the supposition 4 4 



Venus by the theory . . 7 by observation 7 



Earth .... 10 .... 10 



Mars 16 15 



27 



52 



. . 95 



. 192 



" We cannot but remark," says Bishop Brinkley, " the near 

 agreement of the law with the exact mean distances, and cannot 

 hesitate to pronounce that those were assigned according to a law, 



