all (6), that it fhould undergo two fuch different Motions, as the Diurnal and Annual are, and that thefe Motions should be fo conftantly and regularly (c) performed for near 6000 Years, without any the leaft Alteration ever heard of (except fome Hours which we read of in Job. x. 12, 13. and in Hezekiah's Time, which, if they cannot be accounted for fome other way, do greatly encrease (b) Every thing that is moved, muft of Neceffity be moved by fomething elfe; and that thing is moved by fomething that is moved either by another Thing, or not by another Thing. If it be moved by that which is moved by another, we must of Neceffiy come to fome prime Mover, that is not moved by another. For it is impoffible, that what moveth, and is moved by another, fhould proceed in infinitum. Ariftot. Phyf. 1. 8. c. 5. Solum quod feipfum movet, quia nunquam deferitur à fe, nunquam ne moveri quidem definit: quinetiam cateris que moventur, bie fons : hoc principium eft moyendi. Principii autem nulla eft origo: nam ex principio oriuntur omnia; ipfum autem nullâ ex re aliâ nafciopoteft: nec enim effet id principium, quod gigneretur aliunde. Cicer. Tufc. Quest. 1. 1. c. 23. Cogitemus qui fieri poffit, ut tanta magnitudo, ab aliquâ poffit naturâ, tanto tempore circumferri? Ego igitur affero Deum caufam effe, nec aliter poffe fieri. Plato in Epinom. (c) Among the Caufes which Cleanthes is faid in Tully to affign for Men's Belief of a Deity, one of the chief is, Equabilitatem motus, converfionem Cæli, Solis, Luna, Siderum-que omnium diftinétionem, varietatem, pulchritudinem, ordinem: quarum rerum afpectus ipfeifatis indicaret, non effe ea fortuita. Ut fiquis in domum aliquam, aut in gymnafium, aut in forum venerit; cùm videat omnium rerum rationem, modum, difciplinam, non poffit ea fine causâ fieri judicare, fed effe aliquem intelligat, qui prafit, & cui pareatur: multo magis in tantis matibus, tantifque viciffitudinibus, tam multarum rerum atque tantarum ordinibus, in quibus nihil unquam immenfa & infinita vetuftas mentita fit, ftatuat neceffe eft ab aliqua Mente tantos natura motus gubernari. Cic. de Nat. Deor. 1. 2. C. 5. Homines cœperunt Deum agnofcere, cùm viderent Stellas, tantam concinnitatem efficere; ac dies, noctefque, aftate, & hyeme, fuos fervare ftatos ortus, atque obitus. Plutarch de placit. 1. 1. c. 6. the the Wonder (d); thefe Things, I fay,) do manifeftly argue fome divine infinite Power to be concerned therein (e): But especially, if to all this we add the wonderful Convenience, yea abfolute Neceffity of these Circumvolutions to the Inhabitants, yea all the Products of the Earth and Waters. For to one of these we owe the comfortable Changes of Day and Night the one for Bufinefs, the other for Repofe; (f) the one for Man, and moft other Ani (d) We need not be follicitous to elude the Hiftory of these Miracles, as if they were only poetical Strains, as Maimonides, and fome others fancy Joshua's Day to have been, viz. only an ordinary Summer's Day; but fuch as had the Work of many Days done in it; and therefore by a poetical Stretch made, as if the Day had been lengthened by the Sun standing still. But in the History they are seriously related, as real Matters of Fact, and with fuch Circumftances as manifeft them to have been miraculous Works of the Almighty; And the Prophet Habakkuk, iii. 11. mentions that of Joshua as fuch. And therefore taking them to be miraculous Perverfions of the Course of Nature, inftead of being Objections, they are great Arguments of the Power of God: For in Hezekiah's Cafe, to wheel the Earth it felf backward, or by fome extraordinary Refractions, to bring the Sun's Shadow backward 10 Degrees: Or in Joshua's Cafe, to ftop the diurnal Course of the Globe for fome Hours, and then again give it the fame Motion; to do, I fay, thefe Things, required the fame infinite Power which at firft gave the Terraqueous Globe its Motions. (e) Nam cùm difpofiti quafiffem foedera Mundi, (f) Diei noctifque viciffitudo confervat animantes, tribuens aliud agendi tempus, aliud quiefcendi. Sic undique omni ratione concluditur, Mente, Confilioque divino omnia in hoc mundo ad falutem omnium, confervationemque admirabiliter adminiftrari. Cicer. de Nat. Deor. 1. 2. c. 53 mals Book 11. mals to gather and provide Food, Habitation, and other Neceffaries of Life; the other to reft, refresh, and recruit their Spirits (g), wafted with the La bours of the Day. To the other of those Motions we owe the Seasons of Summer and Winter, Spring and Autumn, together with the beneficial Inftances and Effects which these have on the Bodies and State of Animals, Vegetables, and all other Things, both in the Torrid, Temperate, and Frigid Zones. (g) The acute Dr. Cheyne, in his ingenious Philof. Princ. of Natural Religion, among other Ufes of Day and Night, faith, the Night is moft proper for Sleep; because when the Sun is above the Horizon, Sleep is prejudicial, by reafon the Perfpirations are then too great. Alfo that Nutrition is mostly, if not altogether, performed in Time of Reft; the Blood having too quick a Motion in the Day: For which Reason, weak Perfons, Children, &c. are nourished moft, and recruit best by Sleep. CHA P. IV. Of the Place and Situation of the Terraqueous Globe, in respect of the Heavenly Bodies. A Nother Thing very confiderable in our Globe, is its Place and Situation at a due Distance from the Sun (a), its Fountain of Light and Heat; (a) It is a manifeft Sign of the Creator's Management and Care, in placing the Terraqueous Globe at that very Distance it is from the Sun, and contempering our own Bodies and all other Things fo duly to that Diftance. For was the Earth farther from the Sun, the World would be starved and frozen with Cold: And was it nigher we should be burnt, at least the moft combuftible Things would be fo, and the World would be vexed with perpetual Conflagrations. For we fee that a few of the Rays of the Sun, even no more than what fall within the Compafs of half an Inch or an Inch in a Burning-Glafs, will fire combuftible Bodies, even in our own Climate. and and from its neighbouring Planets of the folar Syftem, and from the fixt Stars. But these Things I have spoken more largely of in my Survey of the Heavens (b), and therefore only barely mention them now; to infift more largely upon, (b) Aftro-Theology, Book vii. Chap. 7. CHAP. V. The Distribution of the Earth and Waters. T HE Distribution of the Waters and the dry Land, although it may feem rude and undefigned to a carelefs View, and is by fome taxed as fuch (a), yet is admirably well adjusted to the Ufes and Conveniences of our World.. - For (a) The most eminent Author I have met with, that finds fault with the Distribution of the Earth and Waters, and indeed with the whole prefent Structure of the Globe, is the learned and eloquent Theorift, Dr. Burnet, who frequently exclaims on this Point, Tellus noftra, fi totam fimul complectamur, non eft ordinata & venufta rerum compages-fed moles aggefta vario, incertoque fitu partium, nullá ordinis aut venuftatis habitâ ratione. Theor, Sacr. 1. 1. c. 7. Ecquis autem à Deo has ita facta? &c. ib. Quo autem Herculeo labore opus effet ad excavandam terram in tantum hiatum? Si immediatè à causâ prima effectus fuiffet hic alveus, aliquem faltem ordinem, menfuram, & proportionem notare voluiffet in ipfius formâ, & partium difpofitione; fed confufa omnia, &c. ib. c. 8. Tellus nofira cùm exigua fit, eft etiam rudis: Et in illâ exiguitate multa funt fuperflua, multa inelegantia. Dimidiam terra fuperficiem inundat Oceanus; magnâ ex parte, ut mihi videtur, inutilis. And then he goes on to fhew how this Part of the Creation might be mended, ib. c. 10. All this is to me furprizing from an Author of great Ingenuity, who feems in his Book to have a juft Opinion of, and due Veneration for God. But certainly fuch Notions are very inconfiftent with the Belief of God's creating, efpecially his governing and ordering the World. But fuppofe the Terraqueous Globe was fuch a rude, confufed, inconvenient Mafs, as he pretends, yet it is well enough for a finful World. But befides, what others have long ago abundantly For in the firft Place, the Diftribution is fo well made, the Earth and Waters fo handfomely, fo Workman-like laid, every where all the World over, that there is a juft æquipoife of the whole Globe. The Northern balanceth the Southern Ocean, the Atlantick the Pacifick Sea. The American dry Land, is a Counterpoife to the European, Afiatick and African. In the next Place, the Earth and the Waters are fo admirably well placed about in the Globe, as to be helpful to one another, to minifter to one another's Ufes. The great Oceans, and the leffer Seas and Lakes, are fo admirably well diftributed throughout the Globe (b), as to afford fufficient Vapours (c) for Clouds bundantly answered, the following Survey, will, I hope, fufficiently manifeft it to be the Work of a wife and beneficent, as well as omnipotent Creator. (b) Some have objected against the Distribution of the Earth and Waters, as if the Waters occupied too large a part of the Globe, which they think would be of greater Use, if it was dry Land. But then they do not confider that this would deprive the World of a due Quantity of Vapours and Rain. For if the Cavities which contain the Sea, and other Waters, were deepèr, although the Waters were no lefs in Quantity, only their Surfaces narrower and leffer, the Evaporations would be fo much the less, inafmuch as thofe Evaporations are made from the Surface, and are, confequently, in proportion to the Sur face, not the Depth or Quantity of Water. (c) I took notice before in Book I. Chap. 3. Note (a). That the Vapours conftituting Clouds and Rain, are Veficula of Water detached by Heat. The manner of which I conceive to be thus; Heat being of an agile Nature, or the lightest of all Bodies, eafily breaks loose from them; and if they are humid, in its Paffage, carries along with it Particles, or little Cafes of the Water; which being lighter than Air, are buoyed up thereby, and fwim in it; until by knocking against one another, or being thickened by the Cold, (as in the Note before-cited,) they are reduced into Clouds and Drops. Having mentioned the manner how Vapours are raised, and there being more room here than in the Note before-cited, I fhall, for the Illuftration of Nature's Process, take notice of three Things obfervable to our purpose, in Water over the Fire. I. That the Evaporations are proportional to the Heat afcending |