A defect in any of these particulars destroys the form;
and the matter of which it is composed is again set loose, and is
thrown into irregular motions and fermentations, till it unite
itself to some other regular form. If no such form be prepared to
receive it, and if there be a great quantity of this corrupted
matter in the universe, the universe itself is entirely
disordered; whether it be the feeble embryo of a world in its
first beginnings that is thus destroyed, or the rotten carcass of
one languishing in old age and infirmity. In either case, a chaos
ensues; till finite, though innumerable revolutions produce at
last some forms, whose parts and organs are so adjusted as to
support the forms amidst a continued succession of matter.
Suppose (for we shall endeavour to vary the expression),
that matter were thrown into any position, by a blind, unguided
force; it is evident that this first position must, in all
probability, be the most confused and most disorderly imaginable,
without any resemblance to those works of human contrivance,
which, along with a symmetry of parts, discover an adjustment of
means to ends, and a tendency to self-preservation. If the
actuating force cease after this operation, matter must remain
for ever in disorder, and continue an immense chaos, without any
proportion or activity. But suppose that the actuating force,
whatever it be, still continues in matter, this first position
will immediately give place to a second, which will likewise in
all probability be as disorderly as the first, and so on through
many successions of changes and revolutions.
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