Wilkins, John, A discovery of a new world : or a discourse tending to prove, that 'tis probable there may be another Habitable World in the Moon ; with a discourse concerning the Probability of a Passage thither; unto which is added, a discourse concerning a New Planet, tending to prove, that 'tis probable our earth is one of the Planets

Page concordance

< >
Scan Original
201 21
202 22
203 23
204 24
205 25
206 26
207 27
208 28
209 29
210 30
211 31
212 32
213 33
214 34
215 35
216 36
217 37
218 38
219 39
220 40
221 41
222 42
223 43
224 44
225 45
226 46
227 47
228 48
229 49
230 50
< >
page |< < (158) of 370 > >|
338158That the Earth may be a Planet. Atlas and Hercules. Thus Cajetan concludes
from that place in Pſalm 136.
5. where ’tis
ſaid, God by wiſdom made the Heavens:
Or,
according to the Vulgar, Qui fecit Cælos in-
tellectu, That the Heavens are moved by an
intelligent Soul.
If we conſider the Original of this Opi-
nion, we ſhall find it to proceed from that
miſtake of Ariſtotle, who thought the Hea-
vens to be Eternal;
and therefore to re-
quire ſuch a moving cauſe, as being of
an immaterial Subſtance, might be ex-
empted from all that wearineſs and in-
conſtancy, vvhich other things are liable
unto.
But now this ground of his is evidently
ſalſe, ſince ’tis certain, That the Heavens
had a beginning, and ſhall have an end.
How-
ever, the imploying of Angels in theſe Mo-
tions of the World, is both ſuperfluous and
very improbable.
1. Becauſe a natural Power, intrinſical
to thoſe Bodies, will ſerve the turn as well.
And as for other Operations, which are to
be conſtant and regular, Nature does com-
monly make uſe of ſome inward princi-
ple.
2. The Intelligences being immaterial, can-
not immediatly vvork upon a Body.
Nor
does any one tell us vvhat Inſtruments they
ſhould make uſe of in this buſineſs.
They
have not any hands to take hold of the Hea-
vens, or turn them about.
And that Opi-
nion of Aquinas, Durand, Soncinas,

Text layer

  • Dictionary

Text normalization

  • Original
  • Regularized
  • Normalized

Search


  • Exact
  • All forms
  • Fulltext index
  • Morphological index