50 OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM, AND THE

dissipated before they could reach such remoteobjects, that they could never be transmittedback to our eyes, so as to render those objectsvisible by reflection. The stars, therefore, thinewith their own native and unborrowed lustre,and are totally different from the planets, whichare opaque or dark bodies, without any otherlight, than what they receive from the fun.

Modern discoveries, also, make it probable,that each of these fixed stars is a fun, havingworlds revolving round it, as our fun has theearth and other planets revolving round him.For it is not to be imagined that the Almighty,who always acts with infinite wisdom, and doesnothing in vain, should have created so manyglorious funs, fit for so many important pur-poses, and placed them at such distances fromone another, without proper objects near enoughto be benefited by their influence. Whoeversupposes that they were made only to give afaint glimmering light to the inhabitants of thisglobe, must have a very superficial knowledgeof Astronomy, and a mean opinion of the di-vine wisdom: since many of the stars are so farfrom benefiting us, that they cannot be seenwithout the use of a telescope ; and the Deity,by an infinitely less exertion of creating power,could have given our earth much more light,by means of one single additional moon.

Instead,