PERTURBATIONS.

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stable, and unthreatened by change or disaster;and even the first view of the Law of Gravitygave countenance to this notion : but, when theexistence of perturbations was revealed, Newtonhimself feared the instability of our scheme, andimagined that the Deity must directly interfereto preserve it. Groundless fancy ! The Deity isno limited or imperfect Architect . His thought,which comprehends the Universe and all itsdestinies, is stamped upon its minutest part!Tt was perhaps the grandest discovery of thelate generation, that these perturbations areperiodic or oscillatory— that a planet, afterleaving its regular or mean path for a certaintime, returns slowly to that path, deviates fromit on the other side, and again returns and passesto its former limit. Like a Pendulum thesebodies move, now to one side of their mean line,now to the other ; and although the oscillationsin some cases occupy countless centuries, theyare not less sure and fixed than those of the rodwhose regulated motion marks a second of time.How striking is this new proof of the beautyand perfection of our little home-system ! Howreverentially have we been cared for ! But our