ASTRONOMY. 
From the exprefllon, that u he made theJiars alfo," it 
hath been contended, both by commentators and others, 
that not only the whole planetary fyflem, but the regions 
and fyftems of the fixe'd flars, were created at the fame 
time. Now, if the ftars uad no exigence previous to the 
Mofaic creation, then were there no other fyltems of 
worlds before our own ; then mull all the infinity of fpace 
have been one eternal abfolute inane, and God, who made 
all thefe glorious luminaries, mud be fuppofed to have 
Created them all at once ; which fuppofitions are both wild 
and extravagant, and by no means warranted from the 
Context. Mofes only mentions briefly, that 11 he made the 
Jiars alfo,” to (hew that they W'ere the workmanfhip of ihe 
fame divine Creator, but doth not farther enlarge upon 
them, as being foreign to his fubjedt, which was only that 
of the creation of the Earth. 
In the tenth chapter of Joflnia, ver. iz, it is w ritten, 
that God, at the prayer of Joflnia, caujcd the Sun and Moon 
to fandJlill, until the people had avenged themfelves upon their 
enemies. Now, as ihe Earth rolls round the Sun, and not 
the Sun round the Earth, it implies a contradiction, which 
leerns highly incompatible with the text of the facred wri¬ 
ter, and on which account the Copernican fyflem is flill re- 
jedfed by many people. We conceive, however, that this 
and all limilar paflages are ealily reconcilable to modern 
afironomy, by fliewing, that nothing is more common in 
Scripture than to exprefs things, not according to the fti idt 
rules of philofophy, but according to their appearances, 
and the vulgar apprehenfon concerning them. For inftance, 
Mofes calls the Sun and Moon two great lights ; but, how¬ 
ever this appellation may agree with, the Sun, it cannot in 
the fame fenfe fignify the Moon, which is now well known 
to be but a final! body, and the leaft of all the planets, 
and to have no light at all but what it borrows by a re¬ 
flection of the rays of the Sun; appearing to 11s larger 
than the other planets, merely becaufe it is placed nearer 
to us. From this appearance it was, that Mofes-gave it 
the title of a great light. In like manner, becaufe the 
Sun feems to us to move, and the Earth to be at reft, the 
Scripture reprefents the Earth as placed on pillars, bnfes, 
and foundations ; and compares the Sun to a bridegroom if- 
fuing from his chamber, and rejoicing as a giant to run his 
courfe, and fpeaks of his arifnig and going down, and hojhn- 
ing to the place from whence he arofe, &c. Now, the general 
defign of God, when he infpired the facred writers, hav¬ 
ing been to form mankind to virtue, not to make them af- 
tronomers, it no way derogates from the refpedt due to 
holy writ, or from the consideration which the writings of 
thofe holy men merit, whole pens he diredted, to fuppofe, 
that in order to accommodate themfelves to the capacity,- 
the notions, and language, of the vulgar, they have pur- 
pofely fpoken of the phenomena of nature, in terms molt 
conformable to the teflimony of the external fienfes-. In 
the prefent cafe, Joflnia feems even to have had in view the 
modern fyflem, w hen he commanded the Moon as well as 
the Sun to fiand flill; for, of what ufe could the prefence 
of the Moon be to him, while favoured with that of the 
Sun ? What he required, without doubt, was* that the 
Sun and Moon might lend him their light, till he had 
completed the overthrow of his enemies. Now he could 
not be ignorant, that, if the Earth flood flill, the Sun, the 
Moon, and the reft of the planets, nnift alfo feem to ftand 
flill: he chofe therefore to fpeak the common language of 
the people, in order to be generally underflood. The 
next thing which here prefents itfelf to our confideration 
is, the place, ox places, where Joflnia defired and obtained 
that the Sun and Moomnight appear to ftand. Sun, fays 
he, Jland Jlill upon Gibeon ; and thou, Moon, in the valley of 
Ajalon! “ Let thofe two great lights feem flopped and im¬ 
moveable in that part of the heavens where they at this 
inftant appear to be ; the one upon Gibeon, the other over 
Ajalon/’ Suppofing the fyflem of the Sun’s motion, Jo- 
fhua could not fpeak this in a proper and philofophical 
fenfe. The Sun, near a million times bigger than the 
Earth, is many millions of miles diftant from it. To juf- 
Vol. II. No. 82. 
tify, therefore, its being literally upon Gibeon, a line drawn 
perpendicularly from the centre of the Sun to that of the 
Earth, mull exactly take Gibeon in its way; now this is 
impoflible, inafmuch as the Holy Land does not lie be¬ 
tween the tropics. We muft therefore neceflarily con¬ 
clude, that Jofhua here fpeaks in the popular and figura¬ 
tive flyle; which is very intelligible, on a fuppoiition that 
the Earth moves round the Sun. Even at the prefent time 
we continue to lay, the Sun rifes, and the SunfetS; altho’, 
at the very moment we ufe thefe expreflions, we are confi¬ 
dent that the Sun neither rifes nor fets, but only appears to 
do fo, from the diurnal motion of the Earth, which, on 
turning its dark fide towards the Sun, makes him appear to 
rife; and, on turning away its enlightened fide, makes him 
appear to let; as already abundantly explained in this 
Treatife. 
Again, in the New Teftament, we are told, in one of 
the prophecies of our Saviour, Mat. xxiv. 19. that “ im¬ 
mediately after the tribulation of thofe days, the Sun ft'tall be 
darkened, the Moon fall not give her light, and the Jars fiall 
fall from heaven." Of this palfage, 1110ft of the ancient 
commentators on the Scriptures generally underftood, the- 
end of the world, or day of judgment. But, in the opi¬ 
nion of molt modern authors, this prophecy is found by- 
no means to relate to any very diftant event, but to fome- 
thing confequent upon the tribulation before fpoken of, 
and which is evidently the deftmCtion of Jerufalem. It 
is true, the figures are very ftrong; but no ftronger than 
are ufed by the ancient prophets on limilar occalions. 
See Ifai. xiii. Bp. Warburton obferves, that this pro¬ 
phecy concerning the approaching deftriuftion of Jerufa¬ 
lem by Titus, is conceived in fuch high and awful terms, 
that fome modern interpreters, as well as the ancient, 
have fuppofed, that our Saviour interweaves into it a di- 
reCt prediction of his coming to judgment: but,, if we 
well coniider the nature of the two difpenfations,and the 
neceffity of abolifliing the former before the introduction 
of the latter, it will then appear, that this prophecy doth 
not refpedt Chrift’s fccond coming, but-his firf , in the abo¬ 
lition of the Jewilh- polity, and the eftabhlhment of the 
Chriftian dilpenfation, which commenced on the total cea- 
fing of the theocracy. This was the true eftablifhment of 
Chriftianity, not that effected by the donations or conver— 
fions of Conftantine. Thus, till the Jewilh law was abo- 
liftied, over which the Father immediately prefided, the 
reign of the Son could not take place; becaufe the fove- 
reignty of Chrift over mankind was that very fovereignty 
of God over the Jews, which was now transferred, and 
more largely extended, by the coming of our Saviour, 
This therefore being one of the 1110ft important eras in the 
economy of our falvation, and the molt awful revolution 
in all religious difpenfations, we fee the elegance and pro¬ 
priety of thefe metaphorical expreflions, to denote fo great 
an event, together with the deftruCtion-of Jerufalem, by 
which it was etfeCted : for, in the old prophetic language, 
the change and fall of principalities and powers, whether 
fpiritual or civil, are fignified by the Jkaking of the heaven' 
and Earth, the darkening the Sun and Moon, and the falling 
of the fars ; as the rife and eflablilhment of new ones are 
by procejjions in the clouds of heaven, by the found of trumpets } 
and the afenabling together of hcfls and congregations. 
Upon the ancient conftruftion of the prophecy, namely, 
that it related to the day of judgment, moll readers, both 
laymen and divines, underhand this pallage in a literal 
fenfe ; fo that, from the darkening of the Sun and Moon, and 
falling of the fars from heaven, they conceived that in the 
laf day the whole univerfe was to be annihilated with the 
Earth; and thus millions of diftant worlds, with the be¬ 
ings allotted to them, were to be extirpated and deftroyed, 
in confequence of. the original fin of Adam! No fenti- 
nient of the human mind can furely be more derogatory 
to the divine attributes of the Creator, nor more repug¬ 
nant to the known economy of the celeltial bodies. For, 
in the firft place, who is to fay, among the infinity of 
worlds, whether Adam w r as the only creature who was 
6 A- tejnpted-i 
