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156 as final and exclusive. He conceived it as merging in some higher law, or being modified by other forces.

When Newton failed to shew how his law could prevent the perturbations of the planets introducing confusion into the system, he suggested that the direct interference of the Almighty might be employed, occasionally, to rectify matters. He and the theologians of his day seemed to think, that there must be a defect in the celestial machine, unless it was proved to be capable of lasting for ever, and great was the rejoicing when the stability of the system was established. But suppose that there is a resisting medium, accounting for the destructive course of Encke's comet towards the sun, or that the law of gravitation requires to be modified by some new law, which may compromise the present order of things by introducing an element of decay, are we to conclude that there is a defect of wisdom in the constitution of the celestial machine? We might as reasonably deny the traces of wisdom in the structure of our bodies, because they have not the stamp of eternity. Theologians have been too much led away with the idea of the solar system being a rigid machine, with unvarying adjustments, instead of a single phase of the mighty evolutions of the material universe. There is nothing fixed and rigid in the material world except the laws by which the all-wise Ruler governs it. Every star in the heavens, and every molecule on the