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

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,

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