56 ASTRONOMYANDTHEBIBLE
Buttheattractionofthesunis determined,outside
ofthesunitself,bytheamountofmatterintheearth.
Ifthereweresomewhatlessmatterintheearththan
there is—thatis, ifthe earthweighed slightly less
thanitdoesnow—its orbital velocitybeingas now,
the attractive power exerted by the sun would be
weakerthan it is now, and the earthwould notbe
sufficientlydeflectedtomoveinaclosedorbitaround
thesun.
Witheveryrevolution, theearthwouldbe farther
awayfromthesun,untilatlast,breakingawayfrom
thesun'scontrol, itwouldfly outona careerofits
ownintothewildsofspace.
If,on the other hand, theearth weighed slightly
more than itdoesatpresent,and itsorbitalvelocity
wereunchanged fromwhatitis now,the attractive
powerofthesunwouldbegreaterthanitisatpresent,
andtheearthwouldbedeflectedinsideofitspresent
orbit.
Ateach revolution, itwould approachnearer and
nearerthesun,untileventually,withafrightfulspeed,
itwouldcrashintothegreatcentralluminary.
But either of these supposed circumstances could
butworkruinwithallotherpartsofthesolarsystem.
Andwhathappensinthesolarsystemmustbefeltto
theoutermostboundsof theunfathomable universe.
Ifonemembersuffers,allothersmustsufferwithit.
Theuniverse, grandandinfinite asitis initsex-
panse,neverthelessis aunit. And itis madea unit
bythis power which actsbetweenall its component
parts. This forceis the handof God,so to speak,