26$ GEOGRAPHY AND ASTRONOMY. of' different thickness, placed in eccentric order and assisted by their little epicycles. What infinite embarrassments and difficulties attend this rude and ill-adjusted contrivance, and how impossible it is to solve all the appearances of natureby this hypothesis. Then the modern or copernican scheme should be represent- ed, which makes the heaven all void; or at least filled only with very fine ethereal matter which places the sun in the centre of our world with all the planets whirling round it ; which makes the earth a planet, turningdaily round its own axis (which is the axis of the equator) to form day and night ; and also carried yearly round the sun in the ecliptic between the orbits of Venus and Mars to form summer and winter. This scheme also makes the moona secondary planet rolling monthly round the earth, and carried with it in its yearly course round the sun, whereby all the variety of appearances of the sun and moon, and of all the planets ; as well as the differences of day and night, summer and winter, are resolved and explained with the greatest ease, and in the most natural and simple manner. Here also it should be shewn that as the moon is but a secondary planet, because it moves round the earth which is itself a planet : So Jupiter, because it moves round the sun has also four secondary planets or moons moving round it, which are sometimes called his satellites- or life - guards, Saturn also has five such moons, all which keep their certain periodical revolu- tions : And beside these, Saturn is encompassed with a large flat ring 21000 miles broad, whose edges stand inward toward the globe of Saturn, (like a wooden horizon round a globe) at about 21000 milesdistance from it, which is themost amazing appearance amongall the heavenly bodies : But these secondary planets which belong toJupiter and Saturn together with this admirable ring are visible only by the assistance of telescopes : And yet mathema- ticians are arrived at so great an exactness in adjusting the periods and distances of these secondary planets, that by the mo- tions and eclipses of the moons of Jupiter they find not only the true swiftness of the motion of light or sun-beams ; but they find also the difference of longitiade between two places on the earth. It may be manifested here also that several of the planets have their revolutions round their own axis in certain periods of time, as the earth has in 24 hours ; and that they are vast bulky dark bodies, some of them much bigger than our earth, and consequently fitted for the dwelling of some creatures "; so that it is probable they are all habitable worlds furnished with rich variety of inhabitants to the praise of their great Creator. Nor is there wanting some proofs of this from the scripture itself. For when the prophet Isaiah tells us, that God who formed the
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