Page:Gods Glory in the Heavens.djvu/255

Rh It seems almost incredible, that the mere tracing of special adaptations to general laws, should ever be regarded by the human mind as in the least degree weakening the evidence for a wise Creator and Governor. Granting that the solar system was developed from a nebulous mist, according to the rigid laws of mechanics, the question at once arises: Who endowed the atoms of this mist with such properties and capabilities, as to form worlds, with their wondrous adaptations? The primordial atoms, with their original susceptibilities, just as urgently demand a wise Intelligence, as the worlds evolved from them. In judging of human skill, our estimate is only enhanced, by finding some contrivance of exceeding ingenuity accomplished by the simplest means. The highest achievements of art are those in which the simplicity of the means strongly contrasts with the effects produced.

Our conclusion, then, in regard to the nebular hypothesis is, that it must be dealt with purely as a question of science, and that it would be exceedingly unwise to regard it as hostile to religion. Natural theology can only gain by the discovery of another wisely-adapted wheel in the celestial mechanism. The hypothesis does not clash with revealed religion; for the interpretation of the first chapter of Genesis, which admits of the long periods of the geologists, also allows a like extension to the speculations of the astronomer. It is now almost universally admitted by divines, that the Scriptures indicate no limit,