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-s4044" xml:space="preserve">
              <pb o="90" file="0270" n="270" rhead="That the Earth may be a Planet."/>
            ment (as it is according to Copernicus) is
              <lb/>
            ſaid to be too big; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s4045" xml:space="preserve">’tis likely, that this word
              <lb/>
            is to be underſtood in reference to ſome o-
              <lb/>
            ther thing of the ſame kind, the leaſt of
              <lb/>
            which is the Moons Orb: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s4046" xml:space="preserve">But now if its
              <lb/>
            being ſo much bigger than this may be a ſuf-
              <lb/>
            ficient reaſon, why it ſhould be thought too
              <lb/>
            great, then it ſeems that every thing which
              <lb/>
            exceeds another of the ſame kind, in ſuch
              <lb/>
            a proportion, may be concluded to be of
              <lb/>
            too big a quantity: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s4047" xml:space="preserve">and ſo conſequently,
              <lb/>
            we may aſſirm, that there is no ſuch thing
              <lb/>
            in the World. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s4048" xml:space="preserve">And hence it will follow,
              <lb/>
            that Whales and Elephants are meer Chimæ-
              <lb/>
            ra's, and poetical Fictions, becauſe they do
              <lb/>
            much exceed many other living Creatures.
              <lb/>
            </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s4049" xml:space="preserve">If all this eighth Sphere, (ſaith Gallilæus)
              <lb/>
            as great as it is, were a light Body, and pla-
              <lb/>
            ced ſo far from us, that it appeared but as
              <lb/>
            one of the leſſer Stars, we ſhould then eſteem
              <lb/>
            it but little; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s4050" xml:space="preserve">and therefore, we have no rea-
              <lb/>
            ſon now to thruſt it out from being amongſt
              <lb/>
            the Works of Nature, by reaſon of its
              <lb/>
            too great immenſity. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s4051" xml:space="preserve">’Tis a frequent ſpeech
              <lb/>
            of our Adverſaries, Tycho, Fromondus, and
              <lb/>
            others, in excuſe of that incredible ſwift-
              <lb/>
            neſs which they imagine in their Primum
              <lb/>
            Mobile, That ’twas requiſite the Motion of
              <lb/>
            the Heavens ſhould have a kind of inſinity
              <lb/>
            in it, the better to manifeſt the infiniteneſs
              <lb/>
            of the Creator. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s4052" xml:space="preserve">And why may not we as
              <lb/>
            well affirm this concerning the bigneſs of
              <lb/>
            the Heavens ? </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s4053" xml:space="preserve">Difficilius eſt accidens præter
              <lb/>
            modulum ſubjecti intendere, quàm </s>
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