Page:Gods Glory in the Heavens.djvu/234

206 clockmaker is devoted to the object of giving stability to the going of the clock for the period, whether long or short, during which it is to go. To gain this object, he contrives a pendulum by which the disturbances of the temperature may be compensated. He cannot prevent the expansion of metals, but he can so balance, by the expansion of different metals, the disturbances produced, that the result is invariable motion. This is precisely what is done in the solar system. We see disturbance so nicely compensated, that for a required period, the system may be regarded as absolutely stable. But what is this period of stability in the case of the planets? If we regard the planets as destined for the abode of living beings, then this stability is to be viewed in reference to the period allotted for their existence. The stability of the organisation of the human body, is calculated for the life of the individual man. This globe is the abode of the human race, as the body is the abode of the individual man; and the conditions of stability are related, teleologically, to the terrestrial life of the race. From the analogy furnished by geological science, the probability is, that man has his allotted: period, like the inferior forms of life that have already passed away. The records of geology furnish indubitable proof, that the conditions of life have varied greatly on the face of the earth; so that when one form of animal life has become extinct, the creative act of God has called into existence new forms, suited to the