them otherwise than as very different Figures and Refemblances; and to make their Opinions pafs with greater Appearance of Truth, they use those fhallow Maxims of fome Philofophers, That the moft fimple Hypothefis or Notions that People form of things, are always the trueft, which being eafily agreed to by the Ignorant, and thofe who endeavour to evade the Labour of a juft Inquiry, fatisfies them the better, and procures them the more Disciples.

But in cafe things happen'd after fuch a manner, yet from the Motion of this Matter that runs round, (if there be any fuch Matter) an over-ruling Power of the great Director may be clearly enough demonstrated; fince Experience teaches (as fhall be more fully proved by and by) that all fimple Motions are perform'd in Right Lines, and that Bodies can by no means defcribe Circular ones without some particular Direction.

SECT. LXVIII. Thofe Evafions anfwer'd; First, By the Orbs in which the Planets move.

BUT now when we turn away from this fictitious Heaven, which has no other Foundation but in the Fancy of those who only make use of it, that they may more conveniently (or according to them, more fimply) form an Hypothefis for the Appearances that are most obvious to them; and if we further apply our Contemplations, without any Prejudices, to thofe things which the true Inquirers have difcover'd by their Obfervations, about the Motions of the Planets, it may be concluded, and not obfcurely, by every one, that the former Evafions are groundlefs: For, Firft, All thefe great Globes are far from being moved in one and the fame Plane, as they are truly reprefented in Tab. XXII. Fig. 1,

and

and 2. tho' it be according to the common Manner, even of the greatest Aftronomers; and we find that all of them cut thro' their Planes, the one the others, like two Hoops placed obliquely in each other. For inftance, let the Plane of the Paper upon which is drawn the third Figure in Tab. XXII. be the Plane in which the Sun revolves about the Earth (or the Earth about the Sun, for we do not difpute that Matter here) and let the Oval Figure E AF B, be in this fame Plane; then let us farther fuppofe, that the fecond Oval A CBD to be fo placed, that the Part ACB be above, and the other part A DC under the Plane of the first Circle; fo that these two Planes, like the two abovefaid Hoops, have nothing common to each other, but one only Right Line AS B. If then we take this laft AC BD, for the Way of any Planet, we fhall perceive how it differs from the Plane of the Ecliptick, that is, from the Sun's or Earth's Way, and makes an Obliquity upon the fame, fo that there remains, between both the Planes, a Width, or Breadth, on the one Side as CF, and on the other of D E.

SECT. LXIX. The Properties thereof.

Now to form a fuller and truer Notion of the Planets Orbits, we must lay down fome Conclafions which are known and agreed to by all Aftronomers, namely, That,

First, The Way or Orbit of each Planet is in a particular Plane, and peculiar to itself, so that at one Time it is at C above, and another Time at D, under the Plane AEFB of the Ecliptick.

Secondly, That even the Moons of Saturn and Jupiter don't move in the fame Plane in the which the Orbit of their Planet, or likewife the Ecliptick lies; but that they decline from both, and according to the moft accurate Obfervation, compleat their Courfe in a particular Plane. See Whifton's Pralect. Aftron. p. 201. where he reckons up their Appearances.

Thirdly, That each of these particular Planes, in which the Planets move, do never interfe& the Plane of the Sun's Way in the fame, but all in different Lines: So that, for inftance, if Mars does it in the Line A B, Jupiter will do it in the Line RT, &c. See Whifton's Pralect. Aftron. p. 191.

Fourthly, That even the Obliquities or Angles which the Planes of the Planets Orbits make with the Ecliptick, do not agree in any two fo as to be the fame, but are different in all of them: They who defire to know the Occafion and Measure of these several Interfections and Obliquities of the Planes, (called by the Aftronomers Linea Nodorum & Inclinationes) fuch as A B, TR, and CF, E D, may meet with 'em, in the Automaton. of Mr. Huygens, P. 447. and elsewhere.

Fifthly and Lafty, We are to know, That all thefe interfecting Lines A B, TR, &c. tho' they all of 'em differ, yet each of 'em pafs through the Sun S; fo that that Luminary fhines upon the Interfections of all the Planes of the Planets Ways.

SECT.

SECT. LXX. The Atheifts Evafions Anfwer'd; Secondly, By the Planets continual Approach to

the Sun.

Now if what has been already faid, concerning the wife and wonderful Direction of the Planets Motion, be not fufficient to convince the most obdurate Atheist, a gracious God has been further pleased to reprefent and manifeft to the Sight of every one, fomething in the Courfe of thefe heavenly Bodies that feems to put beyond all Dispute the Greatnefs of that Power which rules and directs them, and to reduce the Matter to an entire Degree of Certainty. In order to prove this, we affirm, and no body can deny it, that it is experimentally true, That all Bodies, when put into Motion, do proceed in a Right Line, unless fome other Caufe or Power obliges them to recede from it; and it is known, that a Stone A moved circularly in a Sling about a Point S (Tab. XXII. Fig. 4.) in the Circle A H DE, with fuch a Swiftness, that it cannot be brought down by the Force of its Gravity when it is at A, will not continue to move in the fame Circle towards H, as foon as the faid Sling is loose, and the Stone left to it felf, but purfue its Way according to the Right Line A F, which touches the Circle at A; and this happens not only in a Circle, but in all other Curve Lines, as Experience teaches us.

Now let the best Philofopher tell us, how it comes to pass, that fuch great Bodies as these Planets are, moving about the Sun with a Swiftness so much greater than that of a Cannon-Bulet, and with fo prodigious a Force as has been fhewn above, do not likewise obey this Law and run always in a strait Line, but defcribe inceffantly Eee 3 a Curve

a Curve Line, and always return to the Point from whence they began; and how these moved Bodies are compelled every Minute to depart from their Right Line, and describe by their Courfe the Orbit which they do.

For that the Planet A (Tab. XXII. Fig. 5.) being moved about the Sun in the Curve Line A E D Z, when it is at A endeavours to go to F, according to the Tangent AP, and when at G tends to I, along another Tangent GQ, as is difputed by no body. Tell us then the Reason why fuch a great and fwift Globe, certainly tending from A to F and from G to I, is continually protruded or attracted to the Sun, or at leaft is brought nearer to it; fo that A F and G I, being the Lengths which the said Planet is to run at each Place, in the following Minute, in the Tangent Lines AP and GQ, it is forced to forfake them, and, in the very fame Inftant, to approach fo much nearer to the Sun, as the Lines F G and IH are in Length; without which it would not be poffible that this Planet could continue in its Curve Way AED C about the Sun ?

This is not to be anfwer'd by the Hypothesis which fome Philofophers have hitherto maintaind, That the Sun has a Vortex of a fubtile Matter about it, which running round, drags the Bodies of thefe Planets along its Stream ; forafmuch as the Gravity thereof remains the fame; therefore they are bound to fhew why that Matter it felf defcribes a Curve Line, and does not, like other things, move directly according to Tangents; fo that here likewife we must have recourfe to a Power that governs the Motion of this Matter; but the famous Mathematician Sir Ifaac Newton, and others, have fhewn, that we seek in vain the Properties of this Circular Motion in the Matter of the Vortices.

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