to the Sun and Stars circular Motions but Kepler who liv'd after the latest of these appropriated to the Earth an Elipsical Revolution whence he Imply'd that the Earth is of the Shape of an Elipsis Which if true of the Earths Figure the same might be allow'd to be describ'd by her Motion because no Corporeal Substance can move but it must necessarily assimulate its outward Form and Proportion So if a Roler be turn'd on the Ground it will Impress if there discernable its figurative Representation besides abundance of Examples that might be given to the same purpose But as for the Incommensurable boundary of the Universe 't is doubtless circular because the most perfect of Figures In which there is no point of its Beginning or End if consider'd in its self and therefore by its admirable Propriety more suitably circumscrib'd the World with all the Wonders comprehended in it How the Earth if supposs'd to move can in its total Complex be properly term'd either Globolousy round as Copernicus Systematically allow'd or a Conical solid in the Form of an Elipsis as most of the late Copernicans Imagine Is far from being Corobarated by any sensible Demonstration But rather on the contrary occularly confuted by viewing of the different Scituations in the Earth of Hills Mountains Valleys Rocks Woods Seas Rivers and the like Which cannot apparently be circumscrib'd by any Figure that can be nam'd Geometrically Regular And if granted that the Earth does move in any method they delineate they produce no proof that it visibly does so Instead of which they undertake to suppose that it may have the Motion they assign to it instead of the Sun and not be seen to move according to the noted Verfe in Virgil. Provehimur portu terasque urbesque Recedunt Yet this is their firmed Argument whereby they would perswade opinon that the Eye is not so certain in beholding the rising and setting of the Orbs above as their Doctrine The main Allegation by which they seem not only to warrant the Earths Motion in all Capacities Instead of the Sun but also to deny diurnal Revolution both to the fix'd Stars and Planets as they only appropriate to the Motion of the Earth the twenty four Hours that terminate the natural Day is that if diurnal Circulation he granted to the supream Sphere of Stars they must expedite according to Astronomical computation 643000 German Miles in a Moment or two Seconds of an Hour As also that the Planet Saturn next to them in the vastness of his Orb and Height must Revolve 909 of those Miles by the same Measure and Compass of Time All which may be granted tho confessedly wonderful if allowed to the Stars as before describ'd Motion and Essence equivalently spiritual that like the transition of a momentary Thought spirited by the Soul may surpass any distance or measure of Miles that can be computed as has been precedently Instanc'd and would tend to unnecessary Repetition if again mention'd Wherefore should any Inspecter of this Treatise shock at the Epithite of spiritual Equivalency attributed to the admirable Expedition of the Celestial Luminaries he ought to consider that Words devis'd where the Subject treated on is not in it self exactly Intelligible may have the requisits of a Definition if thereby probably open'd to the understanding of whatsoever had been more obscure without it Nor can the Importancy of the Authors supposition on this sublime Account be farther taxable then Astronomical Phenomenas Antient or Modern if with die likeness of proof Invented by them they compute in order to reduce within the Compass of Imaginary Rules what had else been too boundless for humane Science 'T is not to be doubted that the Copernicans will be opposers of the manner of the System deliver'd here relating to the Essence and Motions of the Stars of every Denomination by reason that the grosly conceive that they are of a Corporeal Nature as well as the Earth which they have Elevated into the room of a Planet betwixt the Sphere of Mars and Venus according to the Tenents of Pythagoras as before observ'd For which they give no better account then that the Body of the Earth reputed by Astronomers at least a Hundred and sixty six times lesser then the appearing dimensions of the Sun may sooner Revolve a eleven Thousand one Hundred and eleven of our Miles in a Minute then the Greater Body as they call it of the Sun The hard to apprehend how either of them in a Corporeal Sense can expedite that Celerity in the same Portion of Time For the Earth however diminutive if compar'd with the Sun yet as to common Understanding and the Measure that is allow'd its Compass it seems too big in any Figure to Answer the Tenents of the Copernicans by the swiftness of its Progression in a temporary Period so very small And as they cannot but acknowledge the Movement wonderful whether allotted to the Sun or Earth so it may be undeniably a-like in either of them if proceeding from a miraculous Cause Nor does it appear if granted the Theorem of the Earths Motion that either Copernicus or the most diligent of his Astronomical Successors have by any exactness in their Computations exceeded such as have been perform'd by the Ptolomaick or or Tyconique Method the latter of which persons stands at this Day more renown'd for his accurate Observations than any that can be for any other pretended if compar'd with his But because Demonstration is a surer proof then tan be deduc'd from the greatest Probability of Argument Let it be granted that the Sun as well as the Earth has bodily Parts according to the Copernican Sense and Hypothesis as also that the Sun is the Center of of the Earth Or that the Earth as others affirm is the Center of the Sun And let both of them in Figure be acknowledg'd Circular By the Diagram here annex'd ' will be manifest that if both of them be supposs'd at once to move suitable to the Systems here mention'd of both Parties 't will be evident that in any Period of Time they will equally finish one Revolution Wherefore in this Diagram let A B M C D Represent the diurnal Orb of the Sun And let E F G H be the supposs'd diurnal Orb of the Earth and S be the common Center of both their Orbs 'T will be found by certain Proportion that in the same Compass of Time however vast the space that the Earth can be Imagin'd to move from F to N in the same Time the much greater Orb of the Sun may Revolve from B to M. The Demonstration in Words are thus In Parallel Circles as the Semidiameter of one is to the Semidiameter of the other so is sine vers'd sine subtense of one Circle to the right sine vers'd sine subtense of the other According to the 11 Prop. of the 7 Book of Euclid and confirm'd by the 4 of the 6 for as S F F P ⸬ S B
and Preservation with some Opinions of the Learned The Third Including the Religion of the Theist and the manner of Holy Adoration redounding from thence As to the First Particular THE Theist does not concern his Imagination with the trite contests that both amuse and weary Mens understandings by their Impossible determinations as they are Debated in Schools where some undertake to determine that by the Efficacy of the Divine Will the World had an original Creation from nothing Or as others Assert from matter that had a precedent Existency and afterwards dispos'd by Omnipotency into the Figure we now behold Neither of which opinions the Theist allows to be his It being more perspicuous in his Judgment to believe that the Universe with all it contains is admirable then to define by what Method or Means its wonderful Structure was produc'd But however it came to pass 't was certainly accomplish'd without pains by whatsoever was the manner of the operation because in every thing it comprehends there is an easiness of Order and Being otherwise there could be no one Individual of any kind but might be destructive to another and the Cause perish with the Effect which would tend to a period of Providence Fox tho it be apparent that Bodies of Life whether Animals or Vegetables are subject to alteration and Death as any of them corupt in order to the Generation of others yet nothing is absolutely destroy'd but rather varied as a continual supplement to more productions so that the Cause remains entire however it effects Alteration Examples are obvious in many Particulars of which these are ocularly Illustrious the Sun Moon and Stars are influential Causes of innumerable Alterations of Bodies beneath 'em yet have no change in themselves as they Operate on other things And thus it is very manifest that the vast Bulk of the Universe subsists by open providential Causes and their Effects which by a Series of humane Thought ascend untill the Imagination to wonder leaves 'em as being not within its Capacity to proceed higher And therefore according to the poetical Allusion of Homer's Chain of Divine Providence stupendiously Comits the Scals of its Causes as fixt at the foot of Jupiters Chair If the total complexe of the Universe does admirably convict us that it has an unconceivable Structure and Being the Author of its Existency must impose on the Soul a more sublime Admiration which by the Theist is readily devoted to Divine Omnipotency There is no ordinary Understanding that may not Signally perceive the providential Results in Causes and Effects of a deified Power but not with the same possibility discern the Station or Essence of the wonderful Author Notwithstanding it is obviously apparent that there are diversities of Elementary Operations and Subsistencies appertaining to the Earth on which we tread that as to the Causes from whence they proceed are as far remote from our Conceptions as any Influenc'd from the supreamest Orb of Heaven Which experience fully assures it being not more obscure to our Intellects why some parts of Earth should enclose divers Materials Mines of Diamonds Gold Silver Minerals Streams and watry Depths when in others are found Quarries of Stone and Impenetrable Rocks Nor less clouded will be our Imagination should we search on Mountains tops and then discover the Head of a Spring that by secret descending supplies perpetually the Current of a mighty River Would not a Man think that it were as Impossible to think the Cause of this wondrous Scource as by Reason to conceive why the Bosome of the Earth should nourish the different Materials already mention'd Yet duely consider'd the Uses for which they are ordain'd the course Stone or Peeble differs not in Value from the purest Diamond as being more frequent for usage tho not in opinion of the same price So variously has Providence provided for our Ornaments and conveniencies of Life Could the Universe be compair'd with any Conception of the Humane Mind it were possible to Imagine a World as prodigiously wonderful in Whole and in Parts as this we visibly behold but that were to extend thought beyond what is actually Miraculous and therefore no less Absur'd then Impossible because we could think of nothing but would have some material Resemblance to what was observ'd before within the Compass of the World we Inhabit On which Ground it may be concluded that there can be no Miracle to Sense either great or small other then what is locally Encompass'd by the Circumference of Heaven and Earth Should a Man endeavour by any Extasie of Thought to contemplate the Being of Deity his Imagination could extend no farther then the usual Course of providential Operations And should he attempt to explain the Divine Essence he could not separate his thought from Apprehending the Corporeal Shape and Likeness of some Object he had before observ'd Wherefore 't is a presumption in words if deliver'd by them that God can be otherwise understood then by his admir'd Providence and Works Nor is it possible to Attribute other Definition to Omnipotency for tho God may be understood to have the utmost Perfection of spiritual Existency and what is more demonstratively such by operations of a spiritual Nature or equivalent to it as shall be evidently prov'd in the next Particular of this Treatise Notwithstanding it seems Impossible to word the Definition of a Spirit because nothing can be deliver'd by Speech but must be the Object of one or more of the Senses and no Man will averr that he can either see or feel a Spirit It being unconceivable that a Corporeal Eye or Sense whatsoever should perceive any thing that has not bodily parts otherwise then it may be exerted in some equivalent Capacity as already express'd But before the first Grand Particular of this Treatise receives a period The Theist would be understood that where he mentions the miraculous Sructure and Continuance of the total Universe he does not Annex a more Ineffable Wonder to the Whole then he does to every individual Part whether of Annimal or Vegetable Subsistency A Miracle is as absolute in Epitomy as in the utmost extent of Bredth Depth and Height Insomuch that every particular thing appertaining to Earth above and below its Surface are no less stupendious then the vastness of its Circumference and Bulk If ask'd why the Earth is adorn'd with Flowers of a various Coulour and Beauty and but the Grass and Leaves of Trees greenly flourishing The most intellegent Man can give no perfect reason no more then if requir'd to prove why any one Stone appears of a comlier Figure and Complexion than another If farther demanded how Rivers and Seas are supply'd with numberless Streams that are maintain'd and encreas'd He must profess his Ignorance because unknown to him both the manner of the Operation and Materials by which they were originally produc'd If interogated why Air is thiner then Earth or Water or why Stars are brighter then Trees or not
bodily Composition to move with that Celirity because whatsoever has Corporeal Parts must take up space and therefore move by slower Degrees and Computations then in the Example given of the Suns acceleration Nor is there any Individual Motion within the Circle of the Universe below the Orbs above that has any competent Similitude to their admirable Movements The hasty Currents of the Ocean or wings of the loudest Winds are slow in their utmost Expiditions and so are the most sudden flashes of Lightning if compar'd with one moments Journey of the Celestial Spheres And what is of higher Admiration were it so decreed by Providence 't is as possible for the Sun to finish his diurnal Revolution in the same Minute of Time that the Astronomers allot to the Miles above mention'd as for a Thought that is spirited by the Soul to Imagine in a moment a Methematical Line extended from the East point to the West of the Horrizon And thus may the wondrous Acceleration of the Sun be no less prespicuously contemplated then in a Instant may be perceiv'd any Ray of his arrive to the Eye But should any solid Body whether little or great be suppos'd to move with the swiftest Imagination from any one Point of the Compass to another its dimensions of Length Breadth and Height both in a Phisophical and Mathematical Sense would have local removes or transition from place to place by such parts of Time as can have no comparative Proportion to the Instance already given of the Suns momentary Celerity then 't is possible to parallel the start of a Thought to the measures of bodily Motion From whence it follows that if the diurnal Revolution of the Sun is in every particle of Time miraculous a more then ordinary definition ought to be allow'd to his Revolution and Essence No one visible Radiation of the Sun but resembles as the learned in Opticks deliver a Geometrical Line But because no such Line can be the Object of Sight but as it seems to have Corporal Breadth It has thesefore pleas'd Divine Providence so comfortably to Illuminate the World that every Beam transmitted by the Sun is visible with his Figure tho his Essence be not more understood by any definitive Term then the Miracle of his Light and Motion On which ground the Theist conceives it very significant to attribute instead of other denomination the Equivalency of spiritual appearances to the Sun and Stars as suitable to undeniable Proprieties in them whereby is apprehended that spiritual Existencies may be seen tho not understood yet by their Visibility directed as the shining guides of Providence to Imagine more excellent Beings in the Supream Palace of the Almighty Next to the Immense progressions of the Stars and planitary Orbs that compleat the Twenty-four hourly Periods of the Day The Theist fully admites the sudain diversity of their Longitudes Latitudes Excentricities Oppositions Conjunctions direct or Retrograde together with their various Heights and Distances from the Centre of the Earths superficies To demonstrate all which would require a large Astronomical System Wherefore the Theist annexeth to the diurnal his additional Wonder to what may be usually inferr'd from observation of the Suns Annual Motion by which the vast Orb of Light and the Worlds miraculous Eye beholds its Brightness forward and backward remov'd swifter then can be Instanc'd by Thought yet with no contradiction to Time tho without the Suns contradictory Motion neithcr the hours of the Day or Year could be number'd If by his glorious diurnal progress he summs Millions of Degrees forward he moves in the same Compass of Time somewhat less then one Degree backward towards the gradual finishing of thc Ecliptick Year In which as so many periodical Blessings of Providence the Elementary Round of the Universe has preservation as also the Life Growth and Subsistence of its Innumerable Individuals From whence the Theist has reiterated assurance that the Sun and Stars as to their undefinable Essence and Motion may be term'd as before Inserted spiritual Equivalents since no Corporeal Movement can possibly perform in all its Parts too contrary Motions in the same Instant of Time But whatsoever may be said to have a spiritual Operation cannot be circumscrib'd by place or in the Phrase of the Schools have the Epithite of prius and posterius in Motion wherefore the Miracle not otherwise to be worded may be in some kind compar'd to the expansion this way and that way of a Thought or as one may conceive as precedently mention'd a Geometrical Line extended to any distance forward and backward by the swiftness of Imagination And whosoever would oppose the definition here given as it relates to motional Beings above the Theist leaves him to the Inquisition of his Brain to find a better In the mean while 't is very manifest that by no Speculation of theirs they can give any nominal Definition whereby they might significantly extricate the difficulties they are under by endeavouring to compute the wonderful Motions above otherwise then as they allow Corporeal Substances to the Sun and Stars Which tho miraculously appearing Effectually such because otherwise Men and Creatures could not have the benefit of their Illuminations Heat and Influence Yet for the Reasons already given the Theist affirms that as in their Motions and Operations they are virtually spiritual or which is all one with the Denomination before â—sserted of spiritual Equivalents Notwithstanding that for the advantage of humane perception and Commodities of Life they seem to be corporeally discernable And no Man can affirm that the Omnipotent disposer of the Universe with all its appurtenances could not by miraculous Benevolence conferr bodily appearance on Existencies that consider'd in themselves were distitute of Visible Beings But since the Motions of the Celestial Orbs must evidently relate to their Manner of Existence and Essence the Theist undertakes to demonstrate the Assertion from the most Erudite and accurate Astronomical Systems Let the Copernican Hypothesis because in this Age of greatest Repute be made the Example by which 't is alledg'd as the most facile proof that the Sun stands as the looker on in his Sphere whilst the Earth performs the diurnal and annual Revolution which Ptolomy and Tycho with other learned Observators Attributed to the Sun Tho it be well known that Copernicus deriv'd his Hypothesis from Antient Pythagoras who Imagin'd the Earth to be a Planet betwixt Mars and Venus and some of his Successors Notwithstanding it must be granted that the Ingenuity of Copernicus added some Refinement to the Tenent of the Earths Motion Yet rather taken up by him as he apprehended it more aptly Coherent with Astronomical computations then really his belief As appears by the Dedication of his Works to an Eminent Cardinal The Figure describ'd by the Earth in her diurnal and annual Revolution was circular according to Copernicus And herein except in his Hypothesis he differ'd neither from Ptolomy or Tycho as they determin'd