cause Time must commence to all created Beings at the Time of their Creation: "Tis fufficient to us that we find ourfelves launch'd into Being, which we may from hence look upon as an eternal one, it having been the Pleasure of our Creator to endue us with immortal Souls, which, during their Stay in thefe Bodies, are capable of fearching into and admiring the reft of his wonderful Works, and if truly prepar'd for their Exit from them, fhall then be made perfect in all Knowledge, and fully enjoy this fupreme Infinite, than which nothing lefs can fatisfy the unbounded Defires of the Soul, or yield her true Happiness: And as the Soul is more or lefs fpiritually refined here, fo much the more or lefs will the be capable to receive thofe unlimited Enjoyments. These Treafures we cannot too much covet and breathe after; for the more we hunger and thirst after Righteousness, the more nourishing will the Bread and Water of Life be; or the more we seek to be familiar with the Works of the Great Creator, and covet to have those things made plain to us, which now we only fee as thro' a glass darkly, and thereby have our converfation in heaven, and spiritually breathe and long after it, having lodg'd our Treafures and our Hearts there; I fay, the greater Attainments we make herejn, the greater Felicities will await our Reception there; and the more fpiritual Virtues

we

we carry thither, the brighter will our Souls fhine with them.

Now as to the univerfal Space being thoroughly interfpers'd or furnish'd with heavenly Bodies, I am, for my own Part, apt to judge on the negative; elfe there are no Bounds to the Creation, which I think has Bounds as well as Time, or we make the Works of the Creation infinite. 'Tis true, we cannot put Bounds to his Power, which is unlimited: God fills the universal Space; but to imagine that he has thoroughly interfpers'd it with heavenly Bodies, (which if fo must be infinite) is almost the fame as to imagine he has never been without Creatures; and that no Creature could be from Eternity, is manifest from its very Creation; and tho' God may have had Creatures ten Thousand times ten Thousand Millions of this World's Ages before its Creation, yet all things created muft neceffarily have a Beginning: From which I would infer, that it is still most probable that there are Bounds to the material Creation, and still an univerfal Space unfurnish'd or uninterfpers'd with heavenly and material Bodies, and may be to all Eternity, tho' God fhould ever continue to create new Suns and Planets at never fo great Distances, which ftill make the Room never the less for more; for univerfal Space, like Eternity, admits no Beginning nor End; and every Body therein created is ftill exact

ly

ly in the Middle of it*, juft as Time prefent is to Eternity: For fuppofing a Body to move in a strait Line with the greatest Velocity imaginable, even as swift as Lightning or Light from the Sun, when it has moved with this Swiftnefs Millions of Ages, 'tis no nearer the End of infinite Space, but the fame, as to it, as if it had ftood perfectly ftill all the while: Similar to which is God's Eternity, which admits of neither Measure nor Progreffion; for his Eternity past can never be lengthen'd, no more than his Eternity to come can be shorten'd; and therefore his Existence has been, is, and will be always the fame, and is therefore fully exprefs'd in his comprehenfive Name, I AM.

Now the late Discoveries from the Princi ples of Sir Ifaac Newton, concerning the fixed Stars being fo many Suns, with Planets revolving round them, and refpecting them as their Centres, and receiving Light and Heat from them, afford us very great Matter of Admiration of the wonderful Works of the Great Creator, as containing in them, I think, more than a bare Probability of Truth: For to what End must all these glorious Bodies be created, if not for further Uses than only to be ferviceable to us on this Globe?

Is

* Hence it is that every Part of the Surface of Globes does agreeably attract its proper Inhabitants, and that the Inhabitants on every Side do agreeably gravitate to its Centre, and in their Walking obferve a Pofture accordingly.

Is not the Moon more useful to us than them all? And of how much lefs Subftance is fhe than any other vifible Bodies? but by being placed nearer, and being an Attendant upon our Globe, is of more particular Ufe to us than all the other heavenly Bodies (the Sun only excepted) put together: Tho' I doubt not but that God has not made even it for our Ufe only, but has fuitable Inhabitants there, to whom our Globe, which is so much larger, is more ferviceable than it to us. And herein is Matter of Wonder, Praise, and Admiration of the great Creator and Contriver of the Universe, not to make any thing for its own particular Ufe only, but as far as it is confiftent with one Body's ferving another, so far, in all Probability, they are made ufeful to one another, as if they had each of them been defign'd for no other Use but to be ferviceable to the other.

Thus the Antients not dreaming but that all the Works of the Creation had been only made on purpofe for our Ufe and Benefit, and confidering the vaft Distances of the fixed Stars and Planets, and how much more it might have amounted to our Benefit, if only our Globe had been defign'd to have been enlighten'd thereby, had they been placed nearer to it; and from thence concluding that God defign'd fomething more useful to Mankind thereby (believing them to be made only for Man's Ufe) afcrib'd feveral

Influ

Influences to 'em, as to all human Affairs and Occurrences, from whence arose several Pretenders to understand their Natures and Influences; as Fortune-tellers, Anfwerers of Horary Questions, Calculators of Nativities, and the like; which to this Day is not quite extinguished, but practis'd by fome few idle People: Tho' the late Itch of fcribbling Nonsense, Yearly and Monthly Prognofticators, News-Foretellers, and Weather Predicters, begin now to lofe Ground amongst us, being fcandalous, and of very little Repute with Men of the best Understanding.

Others of the Ancients have upon the fame Principles ador'd the Heavenly Bodies as Deities, and paid Divine Honours to 'em; but as it has pleafed God to make known to us, in this latter Age, the nobler Ufes he defign'd them for, (which Knowledge feems to have been referv'd for thefe Sceptical Days) as this Knowledge furnishes us with Matter of Admiration and Wonder, fo it is fufficient to filence all Atheism and Infidelity; which indeed had never appear'd in the World, had not Immorality and Vice been the Nurseries of them; for those who involve themselves in Wickednefs often fly to Atheism as a Shelter for themselves from the Dread of Hell and the Thoughts of a future Reckoning. And this brings me to enquire into the Nature of the Punishment of

the