IS THIS WORLD AN INSTITUTION?

By an Institution, I mean an object formed apparently according to a plan, and designed for a purpose. By the wreck of a better system is meant a state of things in which order and design may be inferred to have once existed, but no longer appear. In it dislocation of parts has destroyed consistency of plan, and abortive results indicate defeated design. To which category does this world, such as it now exists, belong?

In attempting to answer this question we may begin with the Planetary System. Apparently it is an Institution; for, so far as has yet been discovered, its parts are systematically arranged, and design is discernible in its objects. Our Earth is a member of this system; and the place it holds in it is therefore systematic and designed. One feature of its position, is the inclination of its axis at an angle of 23 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic; and among its phenomena is its annual revolution round the sun. These, therefore, are portions of the plan of the solar system, and the effects which they produce must be regarded as designed.

One of these effects is the production of Summer and Winter, with arctic, temperate, and torrid zones; and all the enjoyments and sufferings arising from them.