The Summary of Physics Restored

126We may suppose the entire terrestrial globe to possess a nature no less constant than heaven, the moon, and the stars. If it is the world’s centre, as is believed, its constancy is no less necessary than that of the universe’s other bodies. Indeed, earth is now the same, without any essential transformation, as it was at the beginning and will be until the end of the ages. If it has suffered some universal damage through a flood, or particular accidental damage through a chasm or the onrush of sea or rivers, this has happened because the supreme ruler changed at will the laws of his whole empire or its provinces, or because of discord in the world’s harmony and disease in afflicted Nature, rather than through earth’s own inclination or fault. All bodies of the universe suffer their labours and diseases, although in different ways according to their diverse natures and degrees of perfection. Yet accidents do not alter their nature and constancy considered as a whole. Absolute constancy and freedom from suffering belong only to the eternal God; but heaven, water, earth, and the other bodies of the universe will persist in their essence until the appointed term of their age.