156 ASTRONOMYANDTHEBIBLE
larities in the movements of the heavenly bodies.
There were perturbations and oscillations, accelera-
tions and retardations. A top oscillates to indicate
that itis abouttofall. Theearth wasfoundto os-
cillate. Thesun was foundto dothe same. Were
they stumblingintheirorbits? Werethey aboutto
fallandgotoruin? TheWordsaidthatnotoneof
themcanfall;butinfidelsandscoffersbegantopre-
dicta finalclashasthewind-upofthingsterrestrial
andcelestial,norweretheyslowininsistingthatthe
Bible was evidently but the work of man, since it
teaches somethingso different. Andthe churchmen
seizedupontheidea to show thefinal wreckatthe
endoftheworld.
Butitwaslefttoaninfideltoprovethetruthofthe
WordthroughIsaiah. Laplacewasamangiftedwith
extraordinary mathematical ability. He showed, by
mathematical calculations and demonstrations, that
everyaccelerationis compensated,afterthousandsor
millionsofyears, byacorrespondingretardation,and
vice versa. He announced, as the resultof his re-
searches, that,so far ashe could see, andsofar as
indications wereconcerned, theuniversemight exist
forever.
Wehave already spoken of theendurance of the
heavenlybodies, accordingto the declaration of the
Word. InspirationdeclaresthatbecauseGod's"abil-
ityandstrongpoweraresogreat,"notoneshallfail.
Webelieveit. Andwearegladthatsciencehasad-
vancedfarenoughtoconfirmthistruth. Butifithad
not, what would your position and mine be to-day?