ASTROLOGY, 
as the child in the womb is nourifhed by the food the 
mother eats; but, in the inanimate part of the creation, 
we are at a lofs which way to account for it. Now, ad¬ 
mitting that there really is fuch an univerfal foul exiting, 
yet it is queftionable whether this foul be intellectual, or 
merely vegetive. That there is an intellectual power in¬ 
forming the whole world,- as the foul does the body, is 
not to be doubted ; for ofherwife the whole frame of na¬ 
ture would be inert and'inotjonlefs ; but then, if we ad¬ 
mit the foul of the world to carry this intellect in its own 
brain, it vviil follow, that this foul is a God; for an in¬ 
tellectual being, filling heaven and earth with its prefence, 
is an attribute of God’s. (Jer. xxiii. 23, 24, 25, 26.) Hence 
I conclude there is an univerfal foul in the world, but 
that is only vegetive, and not intellectual ; and that in 
this foul dwells the fpirit of Almighty God, who filleth 
the heavens and the earth with his prefence, and from 
lienee garnilheth the heavens, and caufeth the precious 
influences of the fun, moon, and (tars, to be dillributed 
into all parts of the world. (Acts xvii. 28. Job xxvi. 13. 
Dent. iv. 19.) And thus God rules immediately in the 
heavens, but rules the world mediately by the heavens. 
It is true, indeed, that God is equally well able to govern 
and maintain the world without means, as he was at firft 
to conflitute and create the frame of nature; but fuch is 
his divine will and pleafure, that he has thought fit to 
bring all things to pafs by virtue of means, as ordained 
from the beginning of the world. 
“ Known unto God are all his works , from the beginning of 
the world; (Adds xv. 18.) and therefore it would be dero¬ 
gatory to the attributes of the Deity, not to believe that 
the minuted events of this world were forefeen and pro¬ 
vided for in that molt perfect frame or model of nature, 
which, as we have already feen, may be compared to the 
conltrublion of a watch, confiding of many (mall wheels, 
regulated by one niader-wheel, or firft mover, which being 
wound up at the creation, with the line of time,-of a feem- 
ingly infinite length, has ever fince been winding oft", unto 
the prefent hour; and yet is there dill more line upon the 
wheel; but how much remains, is only in the bread ot 
the Almighty. And, when this line fliall be entirely 
wound off, then will the frame of nature find its period, 
(2 Peter iii.) and all fubordinate wheels will ceafe their 
motion. But, until that time, there is allotted in this 
frame of nature, unto every one that comes into the world, 
a certain order or courfe of life, by which he runs thro’ 
ficknefs and health, honour and difhonour, and all the oc¬ 
currences of life, from his cradle to the grave. For man 
is, as it were, a little world within himfelf; and, though 
lie (land but as one wheel in the frame of the great world, 
yet within this one there feems many thoufands of wheels, 
efpeciaily in enterprifing people, which appear to move 
one within another almoll ad infinitum , till the thread turn¬ 
ed on the outer w heel break, or elfe be wound off, and 
there they make a (lop, and die. All thefe things God, 
who made man at the firft, perfectly knows, and foreknew 
from the beginning of the-world; and, by this order of 
man’s life, he perfectly knows all the palfages of our lives, 
and even the mod fecret thoughts of our hearts, both 
deeping and waking; (John ii. 24, 25.) and how one 
thought drives off'and brings on another, and continues fo 
doing till the la(t moment of dur lives, when our breath 
fails. Now every man being, as it were, a wheel of the 
great world, it will follow that all men move in a certain 
frame or w heel above themfclves, by virtue of which the 
mailer-wheel of every man’s life is put in motion : and 
this wheel is lubordinate unto others, and thefe alfo unto 
the mailer-wheel of the whole world, which is the high 
and mighty wheel of heaven, wherein the fun, moon, and 
(tars, are (et, to carry on the great works of nature, unto 
the end of time. And hence comes the original of every 
man’s nativity, and of all natural qualities, paffions, and 
incidents of our lives, except the motions of our free¬ 
will and reafon, which may be allured and inclined by 
the works of nature, but cannot be forced by them. Now 
Vol. II. No. 74. 
ab.ove and beyond this great wheel of nature, there, is yet 
another wheel, (2 Cor. xii. 2, 3, 4.) within which the hea¬ 
vens themfelves are turned ; and herein is that great and 
hidden line of time, whereby the whole world, with all 
its dependencies, is made to hold on, and continue its 
motion, unto the final end of all things ; and this flupend- 
ous w heel is God himfelf, who draws out the line of time, 
and, fitting upon the circles of the ea y lh, he Jlrrtchcs out the 
heavens as a curtain, and beholdeth all the inhabitants of the 
world as grajshoppers under his feet; (Ifaiall xl. 22, 23, &C.) 
and hence he difeerns as it were, with one view, all the 
world naked before him, both pall, prelent, and to come. 
“ From what has been advanced, it appears obvious 
that every occurrence of our lives, and ail the various 
productions of nature, however ffrange or incomprehenii. 
ble they may appear, are brought to pafs by a regular and 
ellablillied means, decreed by the wifdom of God, at the 
beginning of the world ; and canfequently, whatever hap¬ 
pens bv a contrary effect, muff of neceffity be produced 
by the immediate hand of God, and conffitutes a miracle. 
Such was the cafe w hen the Almighty made the fun and 
moon (hind (till ; and when, at the prayer of Ifaiah, he 
reverfed its courfe, and made it retrograde. Such alio 
were the works of our Saviour, when he railed the dead, 
and gave light to men born blind. And fuch was the 
work of God, when the fea made a lane for men to pafs 
through on dry ground ; and when the fire had no power 
to fcorch nor to burn t-hofe who walked in the midlt ot it. 
(Join. x. 12, 13. 2 Kings xx. 11. John ix. 6, 7. and xi. 44, 
53. Exod. xvi. 21, 22. .Dan. iii. 27.) Thefe miracles, it 
is true, had no immediate dependance upon the works of 
nature ; and yet, as God from the beginning favv the ne- 
cefiity of them, and the occafion upon which they would 
be required, it is reafonable to fuppofe lie fet down in his 
eternal mind the contrivance of thefe miracles, and fo or¬ 
dained them to keep pace with the works of nature, and 
to come to pafs at their appointed feafons, without dil- 
turbing or deranging that univerfal frame of the world, 
out of w hich all natural things proceed, and from whence 
all the lioff of heaven derive their faculty of influencing 
earthly fubflances. And that the heavenly bodies poffels 
theie influences, in an infinitely powerful degree, I believe 
will not be denied, fince both fcripture and reafon, as we 
have now feen, fubftantially prove them. The ancient 
philofophers were unanimous in fubferibing to this opi¬ 
nion, even without the teftimony of the facred writings ; 
and many very learned authors, in later ages, have (up- 
ported the fame dobtrine. Milton gives us a very link¬ 
ing proof of his belief of the Harry influence, in the fol¬ 
lowing palfage of his Paradife Loll: 
To the blank moon 
Her office they preferib’d ; to th’ other five, 
Their planetary motions and afpebls, 
In fextile, fquare, and trine, and oppofite, 
Of noxious efficacy, and when to join 
In fynod unbenign; and taught the fix’d 
Their influence malignant when to fhow’r; 
Which of them riling with the fun, or falling. 
Should prove tempeftuous, &c. 
“ The ingenious Mr. Fergufon alfo proves, in a variety 
of inltances, an efficiency and influence in the fun and 
moon, though he denies that any fuch faculty exills in the 
fixed liars. And yet lie has (hewn, by very (atisfaClory 
obfervations, that “ the fixed liars are fo many glorious 
funs, with fyfiems and worlds furrounding them limilar 
to our own;” and that “the Almighty would not have 
placed them at fuch dil.a ice from each other, unlefs pro¬ 
per objebls were near enough to be benefited by their in¬ 
fluences.” Hence it follows, from his own hypothecs, 
that the fixed liars do each of them poffels a natural in¬ 
fluence, homogeneal to the fun and moon. But to what 
dillance the fixed liars, or any 6f the heavenly bodies, are 
capable of extending thefe influences, is beyond the power 
of the moll enlightened mind to determine ; iince the cc • 
4 N * Mltial 
