Newton on Why There is a God
As to your first query, it seems to me that if the matter of our sun and planets and all the matter of the universe were evenly scattered throughout all the heavens, and every particle had an innate gravity toward all the rest, and the whole space throughout which this matter was scattered was but finite, the matter on the outside of this space would, by its gravity, tend toward all the matter on the inside and, by consequence, fall down into the middle of the whole space and there compose one great spherical mass. But if the matter was evenly disposed throughout an infinite space, it could never convene into one mass; but some of it would convene into one mass and some into another, so as to make an infinite number of great masses, scattered at great distances from one to another throughout all that infinite space. And thus might the sun and fixed stars be formed, supposing the matter were of a lucid nature.
But how the matter should divide itself into two sorts, and that part of it which is to compose a shining body should fall down into one mass and make a sun and the rest which is t to compose an opaque body should coalesce, not into one great body, like the shining matter, but into many little ones; or if the sun at first were an opaque body like the planets or the planets lucid bodies like the sun, how he alone should be changed into a shining body whilst all they continue opaque, or all they be changed into opaque ones whilst he remains unchanged, I do not think explicable by mere natural causes, but am forced to ascribe it to the counsel and contrivance of a voluntary Agent.
Notes:
Interesting for how it portrays his understanding of the cosmos and matter.
Folksonomies: cosmology early understanding misunderstanding
Taxonomies:
/science/physics/electromagnetism (0.902087)
/science/physics/space and astronomy (0.797477)
/style and fashion/body art (0.742960)
Concepts:
Universe (0.970949): dbpedia_resource
Physics (0.635180): dbpedia_resource
Mass (0.615016): dbpedia_resource
Solar System (0.614285): dbpedia_resource
General relativity (0.518035): dbpedia_resource
Mars (0.506637): dbpedia_resource
Energy (0.498052): dbpedia_resource
Earth (0.462395): dbpedia_resource