own axis round the copper one. What it is that moves the planets cannot after this, I think, be disputed by any reasonable person. And if the sun, by the stream of matter which it sends forth, be the agent that gives the earth its motion, (as the copper globe does the glass one,) then, did not Joshua speak in a manner strictly philosophical, when he bid the one cease its action, which of course stopped the other ?"

The third and fourth little works which I shall recommend to your attention, are "Catcott's Philosophia Vera, and Pike's Philosophia Sacra : The former was written in Latin, but has very lately been translated into English; the other appeared originally in our own language. These are summary views of that scheme of Physics, for which it is the object of my letters to engage your attention, combining the evidence of Scripture and experiment in a compendious statement of the subject. They are both furnished with explanatory plates, by which the supposed operation of the heavens on the more solid parts of matter is exhibited to the student's eye.

I must also mention Vivian's "COSMOLOGY; An inquiry into the cause of what is called Gravitation or attraction; in which the motions of the heavenly bodies, and the preservation and operation of all nature, are deduced from an universal principle of Efflux and Reflux: with copper-plates.

By T. Vivian, Vicar of Cornwood, Devon." This little volume takes up the subject without any reference to the evidence of Scripture for the proof of its hypothesis. The author says (and herein he differs from the other writers whom I have named, and whom, with the exception of one, he seems not to have read) "I do not mean to prove the theory from Scripture; but to show that it is not contrary to Divine Revelation." It is not a little remarkable, that Mr. Vivian should have published a scheme of physics, exactly corresponding in its great outline with one which had been before published, supposing at the time he wrote it that it was entirely new, as he himself informed me in a conversation I had with him a few months after he had edited his book, but a year or two before his death.

Spearman's "Inquiry after Philosophy and Theology," is one of the most learned and able treatises which have been written on the subject.

And this volume, together with "The first Principles of Natural Philosophy," and the

66

Physiological Disquisitions," of Mr. Jones, of Nayland, I particularly recommend to your perusal.

I extract from the last mentioned author the account he gives of the system which he has espoused. In the first book of his "Principles of Natural Philosophy," wherein he is treating of the Mechanism of Nature, after describing the cos

mographical system of Sir Isaac Newton, he says, at p. 7., "other Philosophers there are, who believe the frame of nature to be a perfect and well ordered machine: in other words, that the visible system of the world, created, disposed, and set into motion by the finger of God, acts as a machine does; a connection and communication being preserved between all the distinct parts of it: for if you interrupt the contact of a machine, you destroy its motion in all those parts from which the communication is cut off. More particularly they assert, that the fluid etherial matter of the heavens acts by impulse on the solid matter of the earth; is instrumental in every one of its productions; and necessary to all the stated phenomena of nature. Hence they divide the elements into active and passive; not that they are such by any inherent or essential difference, but that, according to the order established by the Divine Architect, they are observed to subsist under these different relations.

"This sort of Philosophy cannot pretend to

be new.

Certain it is that all the descriptions and allusions in the sacred writings agree to such a scheme of nature rather than to any other. And that the most ancient heathens were in possession of this knowledge, I shall take occasion to show, before I finish what I have to say upon this subject. When it was in their hands, the active elements had a principle of intelligence

ascribed to them, and were taken for the Gods that governed the world. But with those who are taught that the true God is distinct from and above the world of matter, though virtually in it by a providential inspection and superintendence, it will only serve to enlarge their ideas, by setting before them the visible evidence of that Divine wisdom, which, with so exquisite a contrivance, and such a simplicity of design, hath adapted physical causes to the production of their respective effects: it will introduce them to a knowledge of things, instead of leaving them to founder in a set of hard words, which, as I shall hereafter show, have not yet been defined, nor ever can be so long as the world lasts."*

And is not the spiritual world also one vast and beautiful system, influenced in all its parts by the same agency, and so contrived that all its parts conduce to one great and glorious purpose? It has its celestial and terrestrial members, which though not passive because they are intellectual, are, nevertheless, all equally dependant on Divine influence, the influence of THE TRIUNE JEHOVAH. From that influence the unembodied and the disembodied spirits, which surround the SUN of the spiritual universe, derive all their vitality and happiness; and from the same influence, at a more

*This is fully acknowledged by all the patrons of GravitaSee THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA. Supplement. Art. ASTRONOMY.

tion.

remote distance, the church on earth receives all its life, comfort and tendency to God and salvation. And is there not union and communion, by means of that influence, between all the parts of the system? Not only are the several members of the church on earth hereby connected, one with another, and each with the whole; but "the communion of saints" is a blessing that extends from earth to heaven and from heaven to earth. What is the antitype of that mystic communication between heaven and earth which Jacob saw in vision, but the efflux and reflux of the Sun of Righteousness, opening a means of intercourse between the inhabitants of the church above, and those of the church below ?-And is there not also a subserviency, divinely instituted, between all the parts of the system? Saints on earth derive benefit from the ministry of angels; and angels an increase of knowledge and bliss from that ministry." "In the dispensation of the fulness of times," the source of spiritual influence was to "gather together in one complexure and involution of will, co-operation, and enjoyment, "all things whether things on earth or things in heaven." The seven candlesticks, Rev. 1. 20, have, unquestionably, a primary reference to the sevenfold lamp of the Temple; and both derive their interpretation from the planetary system, in which the solar efflux and reflux are "all in all."