come near my Eye to hinder my Obſervation) I found it appeared of much the ſame Clearneſs with Sirius. But caſting up my account, according to the Rules of Dioptricks, I found his Diameter now was but 1⁄152 part of that hundred and eighty ſecond part of his whole Diameter that I ſaw through the former Hole. Multiplying 1⁄152 and 1⁄182 into one another, the Product I found to be 1⁄27664​. The Sun therefore being contracted into ſuch a Compaſs, or being removed ſo far from us (for it’s the ſame thing) as to make his Diameter but the 27664 part of that we every Day ſee, will ſend us juſt the ſame Light as the Dog-ſtar now doth. And his diſtance then from us will be to his preſent diſtance undoubtedly as 27664 is to 1; and his Diameter little above four Thirds, 4‴. Seeing then Sirius is ſuppoſed equal to the Sun, it follows that his Diameter is likewiſe 4‴, and that his Diſtance to the Diſtance of the Sun from us is as 27664 to 1. And what an incredible Diſtance that is, will appear by the ſame way of reaſoning that we uſed in meaſuring that of the Sun. For if 25 Years are required for a Bullet out of a Cannon, with its utmoſt Swiftneſs, to travel from the Sun to us; then by multiplying the Number 27664 into 25, we ſhall find that ſuch a Bullet would ſpend almoſt ſeven hundred thouſand Years in its Journey between us and the neareſt of the fix’d Stars. And yet when in a clear Night we look upon them, we cannot think them above ſome few Miles over our Heads. What I have here enquir’d into, is concerning the neareſt of them. And what a prodigious Number muſt there be beſides of thoſe which are placed in the vaſt Spaces of Heaven, as to be as remote from theſe as theſe are from the Sun! For if with our bare Eyes we can obſerve above a Thouſand, and with a Teleſcope can diſcover ten or twenty times as many; what bounds of Number can we ſet to thoſe which are out of the Reach even of theſe Aſſiſtances! eſpecially if we conſider the infinite Power of God. Really, when I have been reflecting thus with my ſelf, me-thoughts all our Arithmetick was nothing, and we are vers’d but in the very Rudiments of Numbers, in compariſon of this great Sum. For this requires an immenſe Treaſury, not of twenty or thirty Figures only, in our decuple Progreſſion, but of as many as there are Grains of Sand upon the Shore. And yet who can ſay, that even this Number exceeds that of the Fix’d Stars? Some of the Ancients, and Jordanus Brunus carry’d it further, in declaring the Number infinite: he would perſwade us that he has prov’d it by many Arguments, tho’ in my opinion they are none of them concluſive. Not that I think the contrary can ever be made out. Indeed it ſeems to me certain, that the Univerſe is infinitely extended; but what God has been pleas’d to place beyond the Region of the Stars, is as much above our Knowledge, as it is beyond our Habitation.