this great mundane meridian. & that this is the occasion of the appearance, which we call the milky way.
xbeing a very distant view of that luminous plain, like the ring of Saturn, extending all around & beyond us.
for this notion we have a considerable confirmation, from considering our own world, that the plane of all the circles of the primary, & of the secondary planets, is nearly in one line,
+the plane of Saturns ring the same.
G. observes a great analogy in all his works. so that our system in that respect is but a sort of picture of the universe. & that meridional plane of our solar system may be called our milky way. & hence the milky way in the heavens is the aggregate of what we can discern of the meridional plane of the macrocosm.
+& thus we may be said to have before our eyes an actual view of God's infinite wisdom, power, & goodness: not a mental idea only, but real prospect; and that of the largest scope. & tis to be consider'd withal that God's infinite wisdom shines forth in highest lustre, in this particular construction of the universe. what would have been the consequence had infinite space quaquaversum been disseminated with worlds? we see every night, the inconvenience of it. The whole hemisphere would have had the appearance of that luminous gloom of the milky way. we should have lost the present sight of the beauty & the glory of the starry firmament. & therefore we may well conclude the great architect has herein truly united infinite wisdom, power, & goodness; in thus planning out the worlds; without robbing us of that most magnificent view we enjoy, and no less
+useful on many accounts, the starry canopy.
and this perhaps may give us some
+obscure notion of the reason of the odd formation of the planet Saturn. that it is as a miniature picture, or model of the το παν. for we must conceive that the plane of suns and systems of planets concomitant, which make the lacteal circle, have a vast space left between it & the several stars which we behold in a clear night. Therefore these stars which we behold in a clear night we may liken taken altogether to the globe of Saturn: the plane of those stars beyond, which appear to us like the lacteal circle, may be assimilated, taken all together, to the ring of Saturn."
Sr. Isaac seem'd to listen to this kind of discourse, with some approbation. & we discus'd an objection or two. as 1. whether tis not better to suppose the worlds infinitely extended quaquaversum than in a sort of plane. this would provide better for thir stability; that mutual attraction acting on all sides, hinder'd the systems from falling together. this objection is overruled, by supposing the several systems set respectively, at such distances, as that attraction from any side, shd. be infnitely small, which therefore wd. operate nothing in the case.
