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THE

High Veneration

MAN'S INTELLECT Owes to

GOD.

"T

IS with indignation and wonder that I hear many men, and fome of them divines too, who, little confidering what God is, and what themselves are, talk of him and his attributes as freely, and as unpremeditately, as they would of a geometrical figure, or a mechanical engine. And even the lefs prefumptuous frequently difcourfe, as if the nature and perfections of that unparallel'd Being were objects their intellects could grafp; and fcruple not to dogmatize about those abftrufe fubjects as freely as about other things, that are confeffedly within the reach of human reafon.

Yet God may have several attributes and perfections utterly unknown to us; and of thofe attributes whereof we have fome knowledge, there are. effects and properties, whofe fublimity or abftrufenefs furpaffing our comprehenfion, makes the divine cause, or author of them, deserve our higheft wonder and veneration.

As there are two chief ways to arrive at the knowledge of God's attributes, the contemplation of his works, and the study of his word; it may be doubted whether either, or both of thefe, will fuffice to acquaint us with all his perfections.

For tho' philofophers have rationally deduced the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, from those marks of them which he hath ftampt upon many of his visible works; yet, fince the divine attributes which the creatures point at, are those whereof themselves have fome participation, or resemblance; and fince the fertility of the divine nature is fuch, that its

excellencies may be participated, or reprefented many ways; how can we PHYSICS. be fare, but fo perfect, and exuberant a Being, has excellencies not expreffed in the vifible world, or any of its known parts?

Some of those divine attributes we know, being relative to the crea- God may have tures, could fcarce be discover'd by fuch imperfect intellects as ours, but several attri butes and perfrom confidering fome things actually done by God. Thus, fuppofing, fections unbefore the foundations of the visible world were laid, the angels had no known to us. more knowledge than men ; they could fcarce imagine in God a power of creating matter, and of producing local motion in it: much lefs could they have known how the rational foul, and human body act upon one another. Whence it seems probable, that if God hath made other fyftems than that wherein we live (and who can affure us, he hath not?) he may have displayed in fome of the creatures that compofe them, feveral attributes that we have not discover'd by the help of thofe works of his wherewith we are acquainted.

I readily grant, that the revelations God hath vouchfafed us, have clearly taught us feveral things concerning their adorable author, which the mere light of nature either would not have fhewn, or but very dimly discover'd. Yet the fcripture itself informs us, that in this life "we know but in part, and fee things but darkly ;" and that we are fo far from being able to find out God to perfection," that even the ways of his providence are to us unfearchable. Hence God may have attributes unknown

to us.

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But it may be alledged, that, befides the two ways mentioned of attaining the knowledge of God's attributes; there may be a third preferable to both the others, by confidering the idea of a Being fupremely, or infinitely perfect; in which idea, all poffible perfections may be faid to be contained; fo that no new one can be added to it. And, indeed, I readily grant, that this idea is the most genuine I am able to frame of the Deity; yet there may be feveral attributes, which, tho' in a general way contain'd in this idea, are not, in particular, difcovered to us thereby. 'Tis true, that when, by whatever means, any divine perfection comes to our knowledge, we may well conclude, 'tis, in a fenfe, comprized in the comprehenfive notion we have of a Being abfolutely perfect; tho', 'tis poffible, that perfection would never have come to our knowledge by the bare contemplation of that general idea, but was fuggefted by particulars; whence fuch difcoveries are not fo much derived from, as refer'd to the notion we are fpeaking of.

Thefe confiderations perfuade me, that God may have, not only various attributes, but various excellencies and perfections, unknown to us. And, farther, many of the attributes we know he hath, we have but an imperfect knowledge of, especially if compared with his; for he poffeffes them in a manner peculiar to himself, and far tranfcending that wherein men poffefs fome faint refemblances of them.

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The power and wifdom of God are difplay'd both in his corporeal, and his incorporeal creatures.

VOL. II.

Mm

Among

PHYSICS.

Effects of the

Among the manifold effects of the divine power, I fhall mention only two; which, tho' often very manifeft, are not very attentively reflected on; the immenfe quantity of corporeal fubftance that the divine power divine power. provided for the framing of the univerfe; and the great force of the local motion imparted to it, and regulated in it.

The vast magnitude of the

whole material world.

The vaftnefs of that huge mafs of matter, whereof the corporeal world confifts, cannot but appear ftupendous to those who skilfully confider it. That part of the universe, which has been already discover'd by human eyes, affifted with dioptrical glaffes, is almoft inconceivably vaft. The fix'd ftars of the firft magnitude, that to vulgar eyes look but like fhining fpangles, are by aftronomers affirm'd to exceed, each of them, above a hundred times the whole globe of the earth in magnitude: and as little as these stars seem to our naked eyes, they appear much lefs thro' our telefcopes; which taking off the falfe glittering that makes them look as they are painted, fhew them little other than phyfical points of light. And the fun, which is granted to be fome millions of miles nearer to us than the other fix'd ftars; tho' it feem at this lefs diftance not to be half a foot broad; is by the generality of mathematicians allow'd to be eight or ten thousand times as big as the terraqueous globe. And it plainly appears by. the parallaxes and other proofs, that the globe of earth and water we inhabit, tho' it be divided into fo many great empires, and kingdoms, and feas; and tho', according to the received opinion, it be 5400 German leagues in circumference, and confequently its folid content 10,882,080,000 cubic miles; yet this globe is fo far from being, for its bulk, a confiderable part of the universe, that 'tis in comparison thereof but a physical point. Nay, thofe far greater globes, the fun and fix'd stars, and all the folid maffes of the world, if reduced into one, would, perhaps, bear a lefs proportion to the fluid part of the universe, than a nut to the ocean. And as an excellent modern astronomer obferves, all the stars, crowded into one body, would,, at a fit diftance, appear no bigger than a ftar of the first magnitude. After all, I have hitherto spoke but of that part of the corporeal universe already feen by us: I muft therefore add, that as vaft as this is, yet all that the eye, even when powerfully affifted by telescopes, hath difcovered, is far from reprefenting the world of fo great an extent, as more perfect glaffes. will do hereafter. And even then the vifible part of the world will be far from reaching to the bounds of the univerfe*.

The fyftem of the world is now" fays Dr. Halley" understood to occu

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py the whole abyfs of space, and con"fequently to be actually infinite; and "fmaller fix'd ftars being ftill discover"able, as more perfect telescopes are "employ'd, feems to confirm this do "ctrine. Were the whole fyftem finite, "it would, tho' ever fo extended, still

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Occupy no part of the Infinitum of "fpace, which neceffarily and evident"ly exifts; whence the whole would "be furrounded with an infinite Inane; "and the fuperficial ftars would gravi"tate towards thofe near the centre, "and with an accelerated motion run "into them, and in process of time u“nite into one. But if the whole be

From the vast extent of the univerfe, I proceed to confider the ftupen- PHYSICS. dous quantity of motion that the divine power has given the parts of it, and continually maintains in it. Of this we may make an ellimate, by The prodigious confidering with what velocity fome of the greater bodies are moved, and quantity of motion given how large a part of the remaining bodies of the univerfe is alfo endow'd thereto, and with motion.

maintain'd

The leaft velocity I fhall mention, is that afforded by the Copernican hy-therein. pothefis, according to which, the earth revolves from weft to eaft, about its own axis, in four and twenty hours; yet this terraqueous globe, which we think fo great that we commonly call it the world, moves at such a rate, that, as the learned Gaffendus computes, a point fituated in the equator of it moves about twelve hundred feet in a second minute: so that a bullet fhot out of a canon fcarce flies fo fwift.

But this velocity is fcarce comparable to that of the fix'd ftars, if we fuppofe them to move in four and twenty hours about the earth. For fuppofing the distance affign'd by Tycho between us and the firmament to be feven thousand diameters of the earth; a fix'd ftar in the equator moves, as Mullerius calculates, 3,153,333 miles in an hour, and confequently 52,555 in a minute, and 875 in a fecond; that is, three thoufand times fafter than a canon-bullet fhot into the air. 'Tis true, that according to the Ptolemaic hypothefis, a fix'd ftar in the equator moves, at moft, but three femidiameters of the earth in a fecond; but, according to Ricciolus, this velocity is fifty times greater than in the Ptolemaic hypothefis, and threescore and ten times greater than in the Tychonian: for, according to him, such a fix'd star as we speak of moves 629,128 English miles in a fecond.

But farther, that portion of the univerfe, which, tho' put into motion, is commonly supposed to be at reft, is so great, that perhaps the quantity of motion diftributed among feemingly quiefcent bodies, may exceed the quantity of motion which the firft mover has communicated to the fix'd stars,tho' we fuppofe them whirl'd about the earth with that ftupendous fwiftnefs, the

"infinite, all the parts of it would be near"ly in aquilibrio; whence each fix'd star, "being attracted by contrary powers,would

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keep its place, or move till from such an

equilibrium it comes to reft. 'Tis no "more abfurd, that the fix'd stars should "exceed any given number, than that du"ration fhould be eternal, because no num"ber of days or years can complete it. "Tis faid, I know, that if the number "of the fix'd ftars were more than finite, "the whole furface of their apparent sphere "would be luminous. But if we fuppofe "all the fix'd stars to be as far from one a"nother, as the nearest of them is from "the fun; that is, if we may suppose the "fun to be one of them; at a greater di

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"ftance, their disks and light will be di-
"minish'd, and the space to contain them
"increased,in the proportion of the squares:
"fo that in each spherical furface the num-
"ber of stars it might contain, will be as
"the biquadrate of their distances. If then,
as it needs muft, the distances be im-
menfely great, it will follow, that as the
light of the fix'd ftars diminishes, the in-
"tervals between them decrease in a less
proportion; the one being as the distan-
ces, the other as the fquares thereof, re-
ciprocally. And the more remote stars
are fo fmall, that they muft vanish, even
"in the most exquifite telescopes; as a
"fmall telescopic ftar is invifible to the na-
"ked eye." Philof. Tranf. N° 364. p. 22.

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PHYSICS. fyftems of Ptolemy and Tycho fuppofe. For the fix'd ftars, planets, or all the mundane globes, whether lucid or opake, together bear but a fsmall proportion to the interftellar part of the univerfe. And tho' I fhould allow all these globes to be folid, yet it must be confefs'd that each of them fwims in a fluid of much greater extent than itself. So that the fluid portion of the univerfe will, in bulk, almoft incomparably exceed the folid. And if we confider the nature of a fluid body, we fhall find it confift in having its minute parts perpetually and varioufly moved; fo that tho' the whole body of a liquor feems to be at reft, yet its component parts are in a perpetual motion, continually fhifting places amongst themselves.

And because the quantity of motion fhared by the corpufcles that compofe fluids, is not ufually reflected on by philofophers; I fhall add, that we may guess how great and vehement a motion there may be in the parts of fluid bodies, perhaps, when the aggregates of thofe particles appear to be at reft, by obferving them when their ordinary motions happen to be disturb'd, or to be extraordinarily excited by fit conjunctures of circumftances. Thus we see the strange force and effects of boisterous winds and whirl-winds, which are but streams and whirl-pools of the invisible air, whofe fingly infenfible parts are by accidental caufes determined to have their motion made either in a ftrait line, or as it were about a common Thus when a mine of gun-powder is fprung, the flame, or fome fubtile ethereal fubftance, that is always at hand in the air, tho' both are fluids, and the powder perhaps be kindled but by one fpark of fire, instantly exerts a moft rapid and furious motion.

The velocity of these discharged flames may appear from that which gun-powder impreffes on a bullet, fhot out of a well-charg'd gun; and this Merfennus, after feveral trials made to measure it, defines to be about 450 feet in a fecond. If then we admit the probable opinion of the Cartefians, that the earth and planets are turn'd about their own axes by the motion of the refpective ethereal vortices in which they fwim; we fhall eafily grant, that the motion of the celeftial matter, which moves, for inftance, upon the remote confines of the earth's vortex, is by a vaft excefs more rapid than that of the furface of the earth. But if we chufe the Tychonic hypothefis, which makes the firmament, with all the vaft globes of light that adorn it, to move about their common centre in four and twenty hours, the motions of the celeftial matter must be allow'd a far greater, and indeed a fcarce imaginable rapidity.

Hence we may have more enlarg'd conceptions of the power and wisdom of the great Creator, who has both put fo wonderful a quantity of motion into the univerfal matter, maintains it therein, and is able not only to fet bounds to the raging fea, but fo to curb and moderate thofe ftupendously rapid motions of the mundane globes and intercurrent fluids, that neither the unweildinefs of their bulk, nor the celerity of their motions, have made them fly out, for many ages. And if the firmament itself, whofe motion, in the vulgar hypothefis, is by much the most rapid in the world, fail of exactly completing its revolution in four and twenty hours, that retardation is

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