mals there, that must have Water and Rivers, as things neceffary for their fuftenance ?

Tho the Defender is very Eloquent and Witty on this Subject, quotes Virgil and Cicero, and complains much of the narrowness of fome Mens Souls, yet I think I can make it appear, that this affertion, as I deliver'd it, was no limitation of either the Divine Omnifcience or Omnipotence. None ever doubted but that God Almighty could make Men fubfift without Mountains, Rivers, Water, Meat, or any other fuftenance; but yet, one may boldly fay without confining the Divine Power, that it is naturally impoffible for fuch Creatures as we are, to live without those things; for our Natures and Constitutions require them; and he must be without doubt in a præternatural state that can live without them. The fubject I was then handling was in Natural Philofophy, where we are not fo much to confider what is abfolutely poffible or impoffible for God Almighty to perform, as what is agreeable or contrary to the eftablifh'd Laws and Rules of Nature. Thus it is naturally impoffible that Men or other Animals of fuch Conftitutions as we have, can live without fresh Water, Rivers and Springs; it is contrary to the natural order of things, that these fhould be without Mountains and Rocks, Upper and Lower grounds, for Water cannot naturally run upon an Horizontal Plain; and therefore we may rightly conclude,

clude, that where there are Men, there muft be Mountains and Rivers, Upper and Lower grounds, and all other things neceffary for life.

It is abfolutely indifferent to me, what fort of mould the reft of the Planets are caft in, or what Inhabitants there are in Jupiter, Saturn, or Mercury, or if there are any in either of them, (which I am fure is more than he can prove) yet I would think it no hard matter to fhew, that it is impoffible for us Men, or other Animals of the fame Nature and Conftitution that we have, to fubfift in either of these places. For Saturn being very near ten times further from the Sun than we, must have a hundred times, lefs of his influence; and the distance of Mercury from the Sun, being but one third part of our diftance, the heat of the Sun upon that Planet must be nine times greater than it is upon ours, (the action of the Sun upon any fubject being always reciprocal to the fquare of its distance) both which extreams are by far too great to be endur'd by Creatures of our texture and frame of parts; and therefore we may rightly conclude, that whether they be mountainous and rocky, or have their furfaces finooth and even, yet it is impoffible that they fhould be Habitable by us, or Creatures of our Conftitution; tho' yet we know not but there may be fome fort of Inhabitants in thefe Planets, whofe frame and temper will fuit with the

nature

nature and pofition of their respective dwellings. Thus we generally account the places that are near either of the Poles uninhabitable, because no Men can dwell there; tho' it is certain, that Bears, and feveral other Animals, whofe natures agree best with such a Climate, live in thefe places; and perhaps, if ever the Theorists Earth had exifted out of his own imagination, it might have been fur-. nished with fome fort of Inhabitants, tho' it had been naturally impoffible for men to have fubfifted there.

"Tis fomewhat hard that a Man cannot diffent from the Theorift and his opinions, without being taxed for narrowness of Spirit. But whatever the Defender may imagine, I am fure, there are fome who efteem it as a fign of a weak and narrow Spirit, to believe easily any Hypothefis, without fufficient evidence of its being true; which cannot be produced by the Theorist in this point. For my part, I think Virgils Shepherd, whom the Defender laughs at for not letting his imagination rove, to fancy things he had never either heard or feen, much wiser than fome Theorifts, Philofophers, and Freethinkers, who take the liberty to imagine and believe any thing, but that ta which in all reason they ought to give a firm affent.

After a long declamation against confining the varieties of Providence to a narrow compafs, (which I know none that do) the Defender

fender afferts, that my arguments run upon impoffibilities; which he fays is a nice Topick, that lies much out of our reach; and he thinks, that there may be Rivers without Mountains, notwithstanding my reasons. All that I can fay to this is, that if he will not be convinced by reafons, which he cannot or does not pretend to anfwer, he may think as he pleases; but I hope he will allow me the freedom to diffent from him, till thofe arguments be anfwer'd.

The defign of the 4th Chapter, was to fhew the inconveniences that would fall upon the Earth, in cafe it had fuch a posture as the Theorift affign'd the Antediluvian World, namely an Axis perpendicular to the plane of its Orbit. To this Chapter the Defender makes fome general anfwers; but first, according to his ufual cuftom puts a queftion, viz. If I will vouch that there are no habitable Planets in the Universe that have fuch a posture? Jupiter he fays, is known to have a perpetual Equinox, and his Axis parallel to the Axis of the Ecliptick; here he is mistaken, for it is not parallel to the Axis of the Ecliptick, but that of its own Orbit; Mars fays he, has little or no obliquity, and must we fuppofe that thefe Planets have no Inhabitants, or that their habitations are very bad and incommodious? Jupiter is the nobleft Planet in the Heavens, whether we confider its magnitude, or the number of its attendants; and if a Planet of that order

and

and dignity have fuch a pofition to the Sun, why might not our Earth have had the fame? What is all this to the purpofe? Are the Inhabitants of Jupiter the fame with the Inhabitants of our Earth? Or how does he know that there are any at all there? It feems this Gentleman is mightily in love with Jupiter and its Inhabitants; what degree of nobility and dignity it has obtain'd I know not, yet if he was in the most pleasant country houfe in all Jupiter, fo far I dare vouch, that he would not be pleas'd with his habitation, but would defire to change and come down again to his old Rocky Mountainous Planet the Earth, and rather than stay there, he would be contented to live in Lapland.

I make no queftion, but that the prefent polition of Jupiter is very fit and well fuited to the nature and temper of its Inhabitants, Plants, and Vegetables, (if there be any there) but what is fitting and commodious for them, may be very inconvenient for us; if we were in Jupiter, our blood perhaps would ftagnate and freeze, and a Jovian if he were brought hither, would melt with heat. The inconveniences I fhew'd, would arite from a perpendicular pofition of the Earths Axis to its Orbit, were only in refpect of the Inhabitants of the Earth, and did not in the least concern those of Jupiter or Mars, to whom fuch a pofture might be more convenient than other. Conveniencies and inconveniencies are

any

relative