The other, and great, remarkable is, Ciconia in Calis, the stork in the heavens; the note is, of the difference between the two original words ' in the heaven, and □ of the heaven. Now, whenever in the scripture other birds are spoken of with relation to the heaven, it is in the latter word, 'Fowls of the heaven;' only this is said to be in the heavens,' when it knows its time of returning to us, which is not said of any other, that I know of: Nay, this I know, the former word is commonly ascribed to those things, that have the heaven for their proper place, and as contradistinct from the earth. A few of them I shall mention: Exod. xx. 4. Thou shalt not make any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above,' &c. that is, Thou shalt not pourtray any earthly thing, to make an idol of it, or make it a mean of worship, contrary to institution, nor of any heavenly body, as the sun, moon, or stars, to be either an object, or a mean, but thou shalt worship thy God spiritually, and immediately, and only as he hath appointed. So, 1 Chron. xxix. 11. All that is in the heaven and the earth is thine,' i. e. All the efficacy of terrestrial bodies, and all the influences of heavenly bodies are in thy disposal, therefore thine is the kingdom of kingdoms, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. So, Psal. cxiii. 6. Who dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in the heaven, and in the earth;' i. e. Such is his majesty, that it is condescension in him to look down, and take notice of any of his creatures. The lofty heavens, and all those luminous bodies, which we may well admire, yet are infinitely below him, and the glory of his throne. Now the scripture gives us notice of three heavens, the aerial, or heaven of the fowls; the aætherial, or heaven of the fixed stars and planets; and the Emsigreum, the seat of the blessed, or special presence-chamber of the Majesty on high; here the apostle was admitted to behold unutterable glories. This last falls not under our present consideration; the question is of the former two, that is, whether the stork, that is said to be in the heaven, be only in the air, or some one of the planets, most likely the moon, which is nearest to us; I say, it seems probable, that other fowls, that are said to be of the hea ven, are for a short time in the lowest ærial, the heaven, in which they freely, by flying, wander about; and, that being their excellency above other animals, that must only walk upon the earth, they are therefore called fowls of, or belonging to the heaven.' But in the heaven' seems to be something more; namely, a steady abode in something that is called 'heaven,' that cannot be the air, for six months together; therefore, it must be some solid heavenly body, such as the moon is found to be. It is true indeed, I find one place where the word, in the heaven, is spoken of the aerial heaven, the place of meteors, Psal. lxxviii. 26. He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven:' but then it is even here to be noted, that this heaven is the proper place of the wind; but this cannot be so to the stork, it cannot have there a resting place for so many months together; 'in the heaven' indeed, may signify to be in the air or al mosphere; but then it must be understood of such bodies as are by nature adapted to abide therein, but not of such as are there occasion ally, and for a short space of the air, for them is a phrase of sufficient dignity. The sum of all is, the stork, in its absence, is said to be in the heaven,' therefore it is not in any other parts of the earth; and since, 'in the heaven,' signifies to be in the air, or in some one of the heavenly bodies, and that it cannot abide six months in the air, no more than Noah's dove, which was as good a flier, yet wanted a resting place for the sole of her foot, it remains therefore, that the stork, and the like may be said of the rest of season-observing birds, till some other more fit place can be with reason assigned them, does go unto, and remain in some one of the celestial bodies; and that must be the moon, which is most likely, because nearest, and bearing most relation to this our earth, as appears in the Copernican scheme, yet is the distance great enough to denominate the passage thither an itineration or journey. Object. Great enough, indeed, for it is said to be fifty-two semidiameters of the earth, which being accounted twenty-one thousand, sevenhundred, and twenty-three miles, and three sevenths about, its diameter is six-thousand, nine-hundred, and twelve miles; then its semidiameter is three-thousand, four-hundred, and fifty-six; this, multiplied by fiftytwo, gives one-hundred and seventy-nine thousand, seven hundred, and twelve miles, for the distance of the moon from the earth; now at onethousand per day in one-hundred and eighty days, which is but two and a half short of half a year, he could go but one-hundred and eighty thousand, which is not so much more than the number of miles mentioned; so that the whole year must be spent in going and coming at one-thousand miles per day; in two-thousand of one half, the year; in four-thousand, a quarter; and this is as much as can be allowed them, namely, six weeks coming, and six weeks going, to tarry five months there, and five months here. Now, how can it be conceived, that any bird should move four-thousand miles a day, that is one hundred and sixty miles, and two thirds, per hour, Answ. This is, I confess, a difficult objection, and I know not how better to answer it, than by giving them a little more time for their journey, that is, by dividing the year into three parts; allow one third for staying here, another one-third there, and the remaining one third for their going and coming, that will be sixty days, or two months for each, then will their motion be about one-hundred and twenty-five miles in an hour; now, I have heard that race horses have moved at the rate of five miles in a minute; this comes to three-hundred miles in an hour, if they could continue it: but if this may seem too much to be believ ed, let us abate; say four miles is two-thousand four-hundred per hour, eight is one-hundred and eighty per hour, still this is more than our account one-hundred and twenty-five, but two is one-hundred and twenty, that is somewhat less; now, if any of these be possible by a horse, that hath two or three impediments, then it is much more easy for a bird, that hath none; the horse is hindered by its own weight, the bird hath none beyond the attraction; the horse hath resistance from the air, the bird in the air meets with no obstruction; and perhaps this may be added, that, if there were the resistance of the air, yet the bird could better make its way, not only by the sh ape of its body, fitted for the purpose, but, because of the smallness of its dimension, proportionable to its strength; for it is noted by an ingenious person, that generally smaller animals are stronger, proportionable to their bulk, than stronger, by the quadruple proportion. 2. Object. Oh, but as these have no resistance, so they have no furtherance; for the very fluid æther makes no resistance to the stork of the wing (as is before noted,) whereas the horse hath the solid earth to beat his heels against? Ans. We will suppose (according to our hypothesis) that, as the bird ascends out of the attraction, it accelerates its motion by the same force that, in the beginning, did serve to raise it but slowly; and, perhaps, this acceleration may be much as the descent of heavy bodies, by vertue of attraction, namely, by odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, 9,) for, though there be still some gravity remaining in the body, while it is ascending out of the attraction, yet the force continues either the same, or, if it be dimi nished any thing by weariness, this may be balanced by the thickness of the middle region, affording better stroke for the wing: now, if (I say) there be such acceleration even to the æther, where there is neither help nor resistance, yet there it shall continue in its full vigour and velocity, that was acquired in the ascent, and may, for any thing that appears, hold on to the moon's attraction; but this increasing swiftness may, at its height, be well supposed to transcend the swiftness of any horse; and, by consequence, may well accomplish this long journey in the time allowed: 3. Object. But shall not the animal eat or sleep, all this long time of two months? Ans. As for eating, it may possibly be without, in that temper of the æther, where it passeth, which may not be apt to prey upon the spirits, as our lower nitrous air; and yet, even here, bears are said to live upon their summer fat all the winter long, in Greenland, without any new supply of food. Now we noted before, that some of those birds (and perhaps it may be true of the rest) are very succulent and sanguine, and so may have their provisions laid up in their very bodies for the voyage. As to sleep, it is very probable, that they are in a sleep, or sweeven, if not all the way, between the attraction of the earth and that of the moon; to which sleep the swift acquired motions may very much contribute; for we see the like in a chicken, which if you swing in your hand, with its head under its wing, you will presently lay it asleep. Now it is likely, these birds, being there, where they have no objects to divert them, may shut their eyes, and so swing on fast asleep, till they come where some change of air (as a middle region about the moon or earth) may, by its cold, awake them. Add to this, that this sleep spares their provisions; for, if, as some would have it, cuckows, or swallows, can lie asleep half the year without eating, why cannot these, in as deep a sleep, as well for two months forbear it? 4. Object. But the moon goes near round the earth every day, or the earth round itself; and if, from any part of the earth, they should steer their course to the moon, they must make many great circles round the earth, to keep the moon in view; nay, it is impossible they should so do, if they should attempt it; for, near the earth, their course must be twenty-one thousand miles a day, which can no way be conceived. Besides, this spiral ascending would abundantly augment their way, which is long enough besides.' Ans. It cannot be supposed, that they at first direct their course to the moon, but rather, offended by the steams of the earth, do tend directly from it; and that straight line, it is probable, they pursue, till they come so near the moon, that she is the fairest object to draw their inclination. For, if the moon hath a motion in a month about the earth, then at the two months end they will find it in the same line of direction, where it was when they begun their journey; for, suppose it full moon at the place where they began, just at two months end it will be full moon again to the same place which they left; therefore, if they proceed in the same straight line, they will be sure to meet the moon in their way, it being the end of their second period, while they were in their journey. 5. Object. But all this discourse is grounded upon the Copernican scheme, and the new motions of philosophy, which are yet under debate; but, if all this be mistaken, then so are all your conjectures.' Ans. I take for granted my grounds, and so need not dispute them: If any doubt what I suppose, I must refer him to the authors that on purpose have handled these matters, whose works when he hath well considered, perhaps, he may allow my supposition: In the mean time, he may leave alone these papers, as what he is not yet prepared to examine. I know not what else may be objected, and this is all, at present, I can say of this matter: If, from what hath been said, may be an illustration of the wonderful works of God, any light afforded to the letter of any abstruse text, or if but any incitement to better abilities to make a further enquiry; it shall compensate the small pains of him, who professes himself not to affect novelties, but only desirous to understand the truth, and is Your friend, C. M. POSTSCRIPT. IF, notwithstanding what has been said in answer to the first objection, concerning the great distance between the moon and the earth, any one shall still remain unsatisfied, I have only this to offer to his consideration: Whether there may not be some concrete bodies, at a much less distance than the moon, which may be the recess of these creatures, and may serve for little else but their entertainment.' Thus we see many rocky islands in the sea, that are of no other manifest use, than for sea-fowls to rest and breed upon, and these are therefore commonly called Gurl-rocks. Now, if there be such globules (or æthereal islands) they must be supposed of such magnitude only, and set off at such distance, as their reflexive light may not reach home to our earth (though, perhaps, they may serve to illuminate our atmosphere) else they would before now have been discovered; and yet no farther off, than these birds may conveniently arrive unto them in such time, as may be most convenient to allow them. This I do suggest, because it is as hard for me to persuade myself, that they come from any other part of this earth, as it is to persuade another, that they come from the moon; and therefore, if the moon will not be allowed, some other place must be found out for them. ODLE A SPEECH OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF LOUDEN, LORD CHANCELLOR OF SCOTLAND, To a grand Committee of both Houses of Parliament, upon the Twelfth of September, 1645, Published by authority. Printed at London, by E. P. for Hugh Perry, and are to be sold at his shop in the Strand. 1645. Quarto, containing eight pages. My Lords and Gentlemen, 'HE occasion of this meeting is to represent, to the honourable fairs of Scotland, which at this time is very sad, in respect that the bloody rebels who came from Ireland, whom this kingdom by the large treaty are obliged to repress, and their treacherous confederates and malignants, who have conspired against the covenant and league betwixt the two kingdoms, have so much prevailed in mischief, especially in that unhappy late rencounter with our forces at Kilsyth; where the rebels being upon their march southward, and, according to our best intelligence, to join with the King, whom they did expect in Scotland, |