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Congruity

of general laws in

both scales.

ther by analogy, for the very reverse is evident.

I say then, (with reverential faith,) that the laws by which the SUN governs the planets, or members of the body of his system, appear to be strict types, geometrically, of the universal law of God, as promulgated by our Lord in his Gospel, viz. "Thou shalt love the LORD thy GOD with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." For the universal true law, or power of attraction, between the SUN and the planets, is, directly, a total or CUBIC law, or a triplicate ratio of the homologous lines, or the diameters; and it has therefore inversely a proportionate, or SQUARE See Note, decrement, viz. as the squares of the dis

No. I. of

the Appendix.

tances.

But, the complicated relations of the planets between themselves, as expressed in their respective comparative" periodic times,"* are a square law or ratio; viz. as the squares of their distances from the Sun. Thus Mr. Ferguson, in his Practical Astronomy, says: The power of gravity † decreases as the square of the dis* But not the squares of their periodic times, which are as the cubes of their distances from the Sun.

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+ By the bye, the expression of "power of gravity” is a contradiction in terms; for attraction or pulling, or dragging, is power; but the gravitation of the body dragged perforce, is weakness, i. e. inability to resist effectually.

tance increases; and hence it follows with mathematical certainty, that when two or more bodies move round another as their center of motion, the squares of their periodic times will be to each other in the same proportion, as the cubes of their distances from the central body. This holds precisely, with regard to the planets round the Sun, and the satellites round the planets.'

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Now, we find that the law of our duty to GOD (or solar gravitation) is laid down in the law, and in the Gospel, as total, or CUBIC, viz. "Thou shalt love the LORD thy GOD with ALL thy heart, and with ALL thy soul, and with ALL thy mind, and with ALL thy strength."

This is a complete CUBIC ratio, for it contains the sum total of power, knowledge, love, &c. &c. &c. Again: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour As thyself." This is a perfect square ratio of attraction, or an equal balance, half to our neighbour, half to ourself; that is to say, in proportion to respective magnitudes, and equal between equals.

Fig. 1.

B

E

CD See
See page 16.

The foregoing brief laws, or straight lines, are evidently the mere undeveloped CUBE and SQUARE ROOTS of our religious and moral duties; and they are clearly illustrated by the consideration of the square (or cube) inscribed in the circle (or sphere;) because we learn from the data in Holy Scripture, that the square and the cube are types of the absolute perfection of the above laws; that is to say,

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Holy Jerusalem, the heavenly city, the city of GOD," (Rev. xxi.) is represented as being a cube of 12,000 furlongs. This must be figurative. Thus, let ABCDE be a great circle of the supposed human sphere (or cube,) of which E is the centre, or the heart of the man. The circumference is the way of the world, and the man of the world, or it represents them; and the square (or cube) typifies the Christian, and the law of GOD, which is formed in the man, from the heart, by the true "CIRCUMCISION of the sins of the flesh and spirit." That is to say, geometricé, by cutting off the four segments AB, BC, CD, AD, which are the way of the world, as Milton truly observes in "Paradise Lost," Book x, line 381; viz. "His quadrature from thy orbicular world," where "His" applies to the Creator, and "thy" to Satan.

Now, in the triangle of A B D (considered as a part for the whole square) the sides A B, A D, are the equal measures of our love to our

neighbour and ourself respectively, containing the whole of morality; and they are built up on the basis B D of our whole duty to God, the first and great commandment, and divided by the perpendicular or plummet line of religious conscience A C, passing through the centre of sincerity E, of the heart. Hence B E represents AB, the latter being external and practical duty, and the former internal and speculative truth of the same; and the like things exist on the other side of the perpendicular, so that the whole B D represents the sum or square of the two sides, and is the above square root of moral duty, the square of which is equal to the squares of the two sides together. But all this is only square or moral duty, and in order to typify truly the first and great commandment, these measures must be squared again to become cubic, or truly religious. Hence BD is the square root of moral duty, and the cube root of religious duty.

The comparative periodic times of the planets inter se, are therefore as the squares of the diameters of different circles, (if we suppose them to be circular in orbit,) and plainly symbolize the sum total of moral or square duty to our neighbour and ourselves: for these periodic times are not merely time, or motion, or space in orbit, or attraction, or projectile force, or distance from the SUN, but are compounded of the

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whole. They depend in part on the velocity of motion, which depends on the projectile force, which is regulated by the power of attraction, which depends on the distance from the Sun. Now, to try to interpret the above parables of nature (that is to say, of the Author of nature) by permission, and in faith, I believe that

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Now, to simplify the subject, let us suppose the orbits of the planets to be circles; then they are to each other as the squares of their

* Viz. A double force of projection, is balanced by a quadruple power of attraction, according to Mr. Fergusonafter Sir Isaac Newton.

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