Yet not to Earth are those bright Luminaries
Officious, but to thee Earths habitant.
And for the Heavns wide Circuit, let it speak [ 100 ]
The Makers high magnificence, who built
So spacious, and his Line stretcht out so farr;
That Man may know he dwells not in his own;
An Edifice too large for him to fill,
Lodgd in a small partition, and the rest [ 105 ]
Ordaind for uses to his Lord best known.
The swiftness of those Circles attribute,
Though numberless, to his Omnipotence,
That to corporeal substances could adde
Speed almost Spiritual; mee thou thinkst not slow, [ 110 ]
Who since the Morning hour set out from Heavn
Where God resides, and ere mid-day arrivd
In Eden, distance inexpressible
By Numbers that have name. But this I urge,
Admitting Motion in the Heavns, to shew [ 115 ]
Invalid that which thee to doubt it movd;
Not that I so affirm, though so it seem
To thee who hast thy dwelling here on Earth.
God to remove his wayes from human sense,
Placd Heavn from Earth so farr, that earthly sight, [ 120 ]
If it presume, might erre in things too high,
And no advantage gaine. What if the Sun
Be Centre to the World, and other Starrs
By his attractive vertue and their own
Incited, dance about him various rounds? [ 125 ]
Thir wandring course now high, now low, then hid,
Progressive, retrograde, or standing still,
In six thou seest, and what if sevnth to these
The Planet Earth, so stedfast though she seem,
Insensibly three different Motions move? [ 130 ]
Which else to several Spheres thou must ascribe,
Movd contrarie with thwart obliquities,
Or save the Sun his labour, and that swift
Nocturnal and Diurnal rhomb supposd,
Invisible else above all Starrs, the Wheele [ 135 ]
Of Day and Night; which needs not thy beleefe,
If Earth industrious of her self fetch Day
Travelling East, and with her part averse
From the Suns beam meet Night, her other part
Still luminous by his ray. What if that light [ 140 ]
Sent from her through the wide transpicuous aire,
To the terrestrial Moon be as a Starr
Enlightning her by Day, as she by Night
This Earth? reciprocal, if Land be there,
Fields and Inhabitants: Her spots thou seest [ 145 ]
As Clouds, and Clouds may rain, and Rain produce
Fruits in her softnd Soile, for some to eate
Allotted there; and other Suns perhaps
With thir attendant Moons thou wilt descrie
Communicating Male and Femal Light, [ 150 ]
Which two great Sexes animate the World,
Stord in each Orb perhaps with some that live.
For such vast room in Nature unpossest
By living Soule, desert and desolate,
Onely to shine, yet scarce to contribute [ 155 ]
Each Orb a glimps of Light, conveyd so farr
Down to this habitable, which returnes
Light back to them, is obvious to dispute.