Wilkins, John, A discovery of a new world : or a discourse tending to prove, that 'tis probable there may be another Habitable World in the Moon ; with a discourse concerning the Probability of a Passage thither; unto which is added, a discourse concerning a New Planet, tending to prove, that 'tis probable our earth is one of the Planets

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            <s xml:id="echoid-s1009" xml:space="preserve">
              <pb o="66" file="0078" n="78" rhead="That the Moon may be a World."/>
            dies which are ſo full of deformity, ’tis requiſite
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            that it ſhould in ſome meaſure agree with them,
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            and as in this inferiour World, the higher Bo-
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            dies are the moſt compleat, ſo alſo in the Hea-
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            vens, Perfection is aſcended unto by degrees,
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            and the Moon being the loweſt, muſt be the
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            leaſt pure, and therefore Philo the Jew, Interpre-
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              <note position="left" xlink:label="note-0078-01" xlink:href="note-0078-01a" xml:space="preserve">De ſomniis.</note>
            ting Jacobs Dream, concerning the Ladder, doth
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            in an Allegory ſhew, how that in the Fabrick
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            of the World, all things grow perfecter, as they
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            grow higher, and this is the reaſon (ſaith he)
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            why the Moon doth not conſiſt of any pure ſim-
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            ple matter, but is mixed with Air, which ſhews
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            ſo darkly within her Body.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1010" xml:space="preserve"/>
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          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1011" xml:space="preserve">But this cannot be a Sufficient reaſon; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1012" xml:space="preserve">for
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            though it were true, that Nature did frame
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            every thing perfecter, as it was higher, yet is it
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            as true, that Nature frames every thing fully
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            perfect for that Office to which ſhe intends it.
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            </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1013" xml:space="preserve">Now, had ſhe intended the Moon meerly to re-
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            flected the Sun-beams, and give light, the ſpots
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            then had not ſo much argued herProvidence, as
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            her unskilfulneſs and overſight, as if in the haſt
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            of her work, ſhe could not tell how to make
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              <note position="left" xlink:label="note-0078-02" xlink:href="note-0078-02a" xml:space="preserve">Scalig. ex-
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              ercit. 62.</note>
            that Body exactly fit, for that Office, to which
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            ſhe intended it.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1014" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1015" xml:space="preserve">’Tis likely then, that ſhe had ſome other end
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            which moved her to produce this variety, and
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            this in all probability was her intent to make
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            it a fit Body for Habitation, with the ſameCon-
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            veniences of Sea and Land, as this Inferiour
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            world doth partake of. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s1016" xml:space="preserve">For ſince the Moon is
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            ſuch a Vaſt, ſuch aSolid and Opacous Body, like
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            our Earth (as was above proved) why may
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            it not be probable, that thoſe thinner </s>
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