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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              <pb o="25" file="0037" n="37" rhead="That the Moon may be a World."/>
            hath been ſaid, I may conclude, that the ſilence
              <lb/>
            of Scripture, concerning any other World, is
              <lb/>
            not ſufficient Argument to prove that there is
              <lb/>
            none. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s410" xml:space="preserve">Thus for the two firſt Arguments.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s411" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s412" xml:space="preserve">Unto the third, I may anſwer, That this
              <lb/>
            very Example is quoted by others, to ſhew
              <lb/>
            the Ignorance of thoſe Primitive Times, who
              <lb/>
            did ſometimes condemn what they did not
              <lb/>
            underſtand, and have often cenſur'd the Law-
              <lb/>
            ful and undoubted Parts of Mathematicks for
              <lb/>
            Heretical, becauſe they themſelves could not
              <lb/>
            perceive a reaſon of it. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s413" xml:space="preserve">And therefore their
              <lb/>
            Practice, in this particular, is no fufficient Te-
              <lb/>
            ſtimony againſt us.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s414" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s415" xml:space="preserve">But laſtly, I anſwer to all the above nam'd
              <lb/>
            Objections, That the Term (World) may be
              <lb/>
            taken in a double Senſe, more Generally, for
              <lb/>
            the whole Univerſe, as it implies in it the
              <lb/>
            Elementary and Æthereal Bodies, the Stars
              <lb/>
            and the Earth. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s416" xml:space="preserve">Secondly, more particularly,
              <lb/>
            for an inferiour World conſiſting of Elements.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s417" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s418" xml:space="preserve">Now the main Drift of all theſe Arguments
              <lb/>
            is to confute a Plurality of Worlds in the firſt
              <lb/>
            Senſe; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s419" xml:space="preserve">and if there were any ſuch, it might,
              <lb/>
            perhaps, ſeem ſtrange, that Moſes, or St. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s420" xml:space="preserve">John
              <lb/>
            ſhould either not know, or not mention its
              <lb/>
            Creation. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s421" xml:space="preserve">And Virgilius was condemned for
              <lb/>
            this Opinion, becauſe he held, quòd ſit alius
              <lb/>
            mundus ſub terra, aliuſque Sol & </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s422" xml:space="preserve">Luna, (as Ba-
              <lb/>
            ronius) That within our Globe of Earth, there
              <lb/>
            was another World, another Sun and Moon,
              <lb/>
            and ſo he might ſeem to exclude this from the
              <lb/>
            Number of the other Creatures.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s423" xml:space="preserve"/>
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          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s424" xml:space="preserve">But now there is no ſuch danger in this Opi-
              <lb/>
            nion, which is here deliver'd, ſince this World
              <lb/>
            is ſaid to be in the Moon, whoſe Creation is
              <lb/>
            particularly expreſt.</s>
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