Page:Gods Glory in the Heavens.djvu/233

Rh the most profound analysis have been thrown away in proving this stability. The permanency of the adjustments of the solar system has been appealed to as the most convincing proof of the Divine Intelligence, and are we, by admitting the element of decay, to surrender the stronghold of Astro-theology?

To this the answer is, that there may be the most exquisite provision for the stability of a system which is, notwithstanding, perishable. Take, for example, the human body. How marvellous is its structure, though it is destined to endure only for the period of human life! The marvel of the adjustments would not at all be enhanced, though the length of man's life was doubled. Threescore and ten years were allotted to man's spirit on earth, and a tenement is so adjusted as to last for that period. The Divine wisdom is not measured by the length of the period of permanence, but by the exquisite balancing of forces, so that the system will endure for the allotted period, whether it be long or short. The ephemeron that dances in the sunshine for its brief hour of life, displays as much wisdom in its structure as the eagle, that continues its gyrations for a long century. In human mechanism, the mere element of time is not one that usually enhances the skill of the contrivance. Time-keepers are sometimes made to go for a whole year; yet this is considered of so little consequence, that the finest astronomical clocks are not made to go longer than eight days. The whole skill of the