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The Origin of Force. 



subtle agencies is culled into being by a separate and distinct exer- 

 tion of the Divine Will. Precisely thus, we believe there is a vital 

 and conscious force in the universe called God; and we would believe 

 it none the more implicitly, if some one should re-affirm the notion 

 that He created the universe, or our solar system, or the earth, in 

 six successive natural days instead of shaping it in a longer period ; 

 nor would we doubt any the more readily if some scientific sage 

 should say that he had dissected the universe and been unable to 

 find Him. 



If we are right in our reasoning, the existence of G-od is as 

 thoroughly a scientific fact as any fact depending for its proofs upon 

 the processes of induction. It is far more conclusively demonstrable 

 than any fact which has only hypothesis at its base. 



Co-extensive with this fact is another which we may consider es- 

 tablished. This fact is, that the entire universe is revolving around 

 one common center. When this revolution began, as we have seen, 

 this universe was one monotonous sea of ether. As it proceeded, the 

 mevitable result was the gathering of condensed portions of nebulous 

 matter around new and subordinate centers, in sections laroer or 

 smaller, in which the forces of attraction counterbalanced the forces 

 of repulsion; then heat was thrown off into the surrounding space, 

 and became the force which held each revolving section in its place. 

 Thus there was carved out of the revolving ether, a series of nebulous 

 globes, of immense diameters, pursuing their course around the 

 common center of the universe. The center of the section out of 

 which our solar system was carved, was where our sun now is. This 

 section continued its revolutions (in common with other sections), 

 until the inner mass became separated from its exterior ; the latter 

 then forming a ring revolving around the former, or central nucleus. 

 This ring, still revolving, subsequently broke up into a number of 

 globes, which ultimately coalesced into one. This globe, still con- 

 tracting, and the nucleus also contracting, threw off each planet in 

 the form of a circle, each of which circles united finally as separate 

 globes, and continued their revolutions around the central nucleus. 



We accept this nebular hypothesis, because it explains all the 

 phenomena of the universe, reducing every manifestation of force to 

 a uniform plan, as simple in its unity as it is multiform in develop- 

 ment. We accept the hypothesis of the Divine existence, because it 

 explains the origin of this force. The one hypothesis is as clear as 

 the other ; and both must be true. We do not thus eliminate 



