227 



From the motion of the earth, for instance, round its 

 axis, and round the sun, the succession of days, nights, 

 and years, originates. Now, the days necessarily precede 

 the years: therefore, the years must have had a begin- 

 ning, and could not, therefore, have been eternal. In like 

 manner, the days must have preceded the nights, or the 

 nights the days: one or other of them must, therefore, 

 have had a beginning. Moreover, no portion of time can 

 be said to be past, that was not once present, and ante- 

 cedently future: therefore, the whole infinite collection 

 must be supposed to have contained an infinite number 

 of days and years past, and the same infinite number of 

 days and years future; which is a contradiction so palpa- 

 ble, that Doctor Gregory Siiarpe* found no other Avay of 

 avoiding it, than by asserting, that there is a time, now 

 actually past, that never was present; which is equiva- 

 lent to saying, that a time has existed, which never was in 

 existence. 



The opinion of some scholastics, that eternity is a pimc- 

 tuni stans, or a permanent moment, being utterly unintel- 

 ligible, is, I believe, at present, generally abandoned. 



* See his Defence of Dr. Clarke's Discourse on the Attributes, &c. p. 27. 



