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getables. How could the vapours be raised to supply 

 the earth with cooling clouds and fruitful showers ? 

 How could the winds be excited to fan the atmosphere 

 with their pleasant and healthful gales ? How could ve- 

 getables be raised up by the kindly heat of the day, and 

 tempered by the dews and cool of the night] How could 

 men and other animals gather their food, and perform 

 the various labours of the day, and then under the sa- 

 lutary influences of the night, recruit themselves with 

 rest and sleep 



And as the diurnal, so the annual motion of the hea- 

 venly bodies, is a clear manifestation of the Creator's 

 \visdom : especially when \ve consider the different paths 

 of their diurnal and annual motions. These lie not in a 

 very different plane, nor in the same, but a little crossing 

 one another : the diurnal lying in or parrallel, to the 

 equator, the annual, at an inclination of twenty-three 

 degrees and a half. A glorious contrivance thi> for the 

 good of our globe, and tor all the rest that have the 

 same annual motion. For were the earth's annual mo- 

 tion to be always in the same plane with the diurnal, 

 we might indeed be sometimes nearer to the sun than 

 we now -are. But we should miss of those kindly in- 

 creases of day and night, which the approach f earth to 

 one or the other pole occasions. This is likewise the 

 great cause of summer and winter. Indeed one cause of 

 them is, the longer or shorter continuance of the sun 

 above the horizon. As it continues longer in summer, 

 it increases the heat, as much as-it lengthens the day : 

 and just the contrary in winter. But the chief cause is, 

 the oblique or perpendicular direction of the sun's rays. 

 For 1. Perpendicular rays strike on any plane, with 

 greater force than oblique. And 2. A greater number 

 of rays fall within the same compass, in a perpendicular 

 than in an oblique direction. 



A, farther manifestation of the Creator's wisdom we 

 have in the perpetuity, constancy, and regularity of those 

 motions, flow, without an Almighty Guide, should 



