For him,
practically, this little globe had been the principal object of the
Creator's attention. Ferguson told him also, to his amazement, that
the earth moved in a resisting medium, and that one day it would
surely fall into the sun. That day would be the end of the world,
and of everything in it. He learned something about the magnitude of
the planets and the distances of the fixed stars, and noted that his
author, pious as he is, cannot admit that planets or stars were
created for the sake of man. He dwelt upon these facts, more
especially upon the first till the ground seemed to disappear under
his feet, and he fell into that strange condition in which people in
earthquake countries are said to be when their houses begin to
tremble. We may laugh, and call him a fool to be disturbed by a
forecast of what is not going to happen for millions of years; but he
was not a fool. He was one of those unhappy creatures whom an idea
has power to shake, and almost to overmaster. Ferguson was a
Christian, and the thought of the destruction of our present
dwelling-place, with every particle of life on it, did not trouble
him. He had his refuge in Revelation.
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