The next Thing remarkable in the Terraqueous Globe, is the prodigious Bulk thereof[a]. A Mass of above 260 Thousand Million of Miles solid Content. A Work too grand for any thing less than a God to make. To which in the next Place we may add,
FOOTNOTES:
[a] It is not difficult to make a pretty near Computation of the Bulk of the Terraqueous Globe, from those accurate Observations of a Degree made by Mr. Norwood in England, and Mr. Picart, and Mr. Cassini in France. Whose Measures do in a surprizing manner agree. But Mr. Cassini’s seeming to be the most accurate (as I have shewn in my Astro-Theology, B. 1. Ch. 2. Note (a).) I have there made use of his Determinations. According to which the Diameter of the Earth being 7967,72 English Miles, its Ambit will be 25031½ Miles; and (supposing it to be Spherical) its Surface will be 199444220 Miles; which being multiplied into ⅓ of its Semidiameter, gives the Solid Content, viz. 264856000000 Miles.
CHAP. III.
The Motions of the Terraqueous Globe.
The Motions the Terraqueous Globe hath, are round its own Axis, and round its Fountain of Light and Heat, the Sun[a]. That so vast a Body as the Earth and Waters should be moved at all[], that it should undergo two such different Motions, as the Diurnal and Annual are, and that these Motions should be so constantly and regularly[c] performed for near 6000 Years, without any the least Alteration ever heard of (except some Hours which we read of in Josh. x. 12, 13. and in Hezekiah’s Time, which, if they cannot be accounted for some other way, do greatly encrease the Wonder[d]; these Things, I say,) do manifestly argue some divine infinite Power to be concerned therein[e]: But especially, if to all this we add the wonderful Convenience, yea absolute Necessity 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 Business, the other for Repose;[f] the one for Man, and most other Animals to gather and provide Food, Habitation, and other Necessaries of Life; the other to rest, refresh, and recruit their Spirits[g], wasted with the Labours of the Day. To the other of those Motions we owe the Seasons of Summer and Winter, Spring and Autumn, together with the beneficial Instances 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.
FOOTNOTES:
[a] With the Copernicans, I take it here for granted, that the Diurnal and Annual Revolutions are the Motions of the Terraqueous Globe, not of the Sun, &c. but for the Proof thereof I shall refer the Reader to the Preface of my Astro-Theology, and B. 4. Chap. 3.
[] Every thing that is moved, must of Necessity be moved by something else; and that thing is moved by something 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 Necessity come to some prime Mover, that is not moved by another. For it is impossible, that what moveth, and is moved by another, should proceed in infinitum. Aristot. Phys. l. 8. c. 5.
Solum quod seipsum movet, quia nunquam deseritur à se, nunquam ne moveri quidem definit; quinetiam cæteris quæ moventur, hic fons: hoc principium est movendi. Principii autem nulla est origo: nam ex principio oriuntur omnia; ipsum autem nullâ ex re aliâ nasciepotest: nec enim esset id principium, quod gigneretur aliunde. Cicer. Tusc. Quest. l. 1. c. 23.