As to the Generality of Celestial Bodys, it seems not safe to propound Arguments of their Nature, from the supposition of particular Ends, at least of the Human ones, design’d by the Author of Nature in framing them.
I will not only Allow you, but Encourage you, to take a Rise from the Contemplation of the Celestial Part of the World, and the Shining Globes that Adorn it, and especially the Sun and Moon; To Admire the Stupendious Power and Wisdom of Him that was able to frame such Immense Bodys, and, notwithstanding their Vast Bulk, and (if the Earth stand still) scarce conceiveable Rapidity, keep them for so ma-Ages, so Constant, both to the Lines and Paces of their Motion, without justling or interfereing with one another. And I shall most willingly joyn with you, in returning Thanks and Praises to the Divine Providence and Goodness, for having so plac’d the Sun and Moon, and determin’d the former (or the Earth) to move in such Lines, under that Oblique Circle Astronomers call the Ecliptick, that there needs Skill in Cosmography to be able to Apprehend, how useful these Situations and Motions are, for the Good of Men and other Animals; and how disadvantageous it would have been to the Inhabitants of the Earth, if the Luminaries had been otherwise plac’d or moved than they are. But for all this, I dare not imitate Their Boldness, that not only affirm, that the Sun and Moon, and all the Stars, and other Celestial Bodys, were made solely for the use of Man; but Presume to ground Arguments, to evince such a System of the World to be True, and such another Erroneous, because the Former is, as they think, better fitted to the Conveniency of Mankind, or the other less suited to that End, or perhaps altogether Useless or unnecessary to it: As when they Argue, that the Sun and other vast Globes of Light, ought to be in perpetual Motion to Shine upon the Earth; because, as They fancy, ‘tis more convenient for Man, that those Distant Bodys, than that the Earth, which is His Habitation, should be kept in Motion. But, considering things as meer Naturalists, it seems not very likely, that a most Wise Agent should have Made such vast Bodys, as the Sun and the fixt Stars, especially if we suppose them to Move with that Inconceiveable Rapidity that Vulgar Astronomers Do and Must assign them; Only or Chiefly to Illuminate a little Globe, that without Hyperbole is but a Physical Point, in comparison of the Immense Spaces compris’d under the Name of Heaven; whose Lights might as well Illuminate the Earth, if They were a thousand times Lesser than they are, provided they were plac’d at a proportionably Less Distance from It. And ‘twill be very hard to Assign, what considerable Use the Terrestrial Globe or its Inhabitants Derive, from that Multitude of Celestial Globes that make the Milky Way; since each of those Stars is so far from being singly able to Inlighten the Earth, that Aristotle, and the generality of Philosophers for many Ages, (therein followd by divers of the Peripatetick Schools at this day) took the whole Aggregate of them for a Meteor. And what Light, or other known Advantage, can the Earth or its Inhabitants Derive from those many Fixt Stars that the Telescope only can discover, (and which for that reason I sometimes call Telescopical Stars) among the six or seven Conspicuous Ones of the Pleiades, or among those that the Naked Eye can see in the Belt or Girdle of Orion? which (Constellations) I scarce ever look upon, through a good Telescope, without Wonder.
I foresee, it may be said, that These and other the like Celestial Bodys may be at least Thus far Useful to Man, as to Discover to him, and give him a Rise to Admire and Praise, the Greatness and Power of the Divine Maker: And if this be said, I shall not quarrel with the Allegation, but readily grant, that, tho’ perhaps his Wisdom shines as bright to Us Men, in the Structure of a Gloworm, as in the Disposition of the unseen Stars that make up the Galaxy; yet the Immensity of his Power could not perhaps be so well declar’d by less Vast Productions of it. But still these Arguments are not purely Physical, but of that sort that I call Physico-Theological, whose Inferences Relate to the General Intendments of God in the Universe, which I therefore Style Cosmical Ends; but do not reach to Prove any thing about the determinate Nature of particular Bodys. And since the Utmost that Philosophy teaches us, is, that in general the Good of Man was One of the Ends design’d by God, in so framing the World as we see it is fram’d: There may be other Ends designd by the same Omniscient Author of Nature, of those Telescopical and other Small or Remote Stars, whose Uses to Us are doubtful or inconsiderable; towards the attainment of which Ends, those Celestial Bodies and Motions may be admirably contriv’d and directed. And, We not being able by meer Reason to Investigate what those Ends are, tho’ we have not near so much Reason to assure us that there may not be such Ends, as the Infiniteness of God’s Wisdom gives us to think there may be; ‘tis Presumptuous for Us to Judge of the System of the World, and of the Destinations of Fixt Stars so Remote, that, tho’ they be probably like so many Suns, We cannot so much as Discern them without good Telescopes. By That Systtems Greater or Lesser Advantageousness to Us: Especially, since tho’ it were certain that, among other Uses, God intended they should be in some sort Serviceable to Us, yet he has no way declared to us, in what Capacity, or to what Degree, they shall be Useful to Us. And therefore if they be so in any Measure (as for example Mentally,) they are So, for what we know, as much as He design’d they should be: and That it self being an unmerited Favor, deserves our humble Thanks. And it seems very likely, that God did not design to all the parts of the Earth it self, Equal, and consequently not the Greatest, Advantages by the present Systeme of the Universe; since the Countries Inhabited by the Samoids and Novazemblans, and other Nations that like very near the Arctick Pole, want many Conveniencies and Advantages enjoy’d by the Inhabitants of the Temperate Zones, that lye nearer the Way in which the Sun moves.