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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3725That the Moon may be a World. hath been ſaid, I may conclude, that the ſilence
of Scripture, concerning any other World, is
not ſufficient Argument to prove that there is
none.
Thus for the two firſt Arguments.
Unto the third, I may anſwer, That this
very Example is quoted by others, to ſhew
the Ignorance of thoſe Primitive Times, who
did ſometimes condemn what they did not
underſtand, and have often cenſur'd the Law-
ful and undoubted Parts of Mathematicks for
Heretical, becauſe they themſelves could not
perceive a reaſon of it.
And therefore their
Practice, in this particular, is no fufficient Te-
ſtimony againſt us.
But laſtly, I anſwer to all the above nam'd
Objections, That the Term (World) may be
taken in a double Senſe, more Generally, for
the whole Univerſe, as it implies in it the
Elementary and Æthereal Bodies, the Stars
and the Earth.
Secondly, more particularly,
for an inferiour World conſiſting of Elements.
Now the main Drift of all theſe Arguments
is to confute a Plurality of Worlds in the firſt
Senſe;
and if there were any ſuch, it might,
perhaps, ſeem ſtrange, that Moſes, or St.
John
ſhould either not know, or not mention its
Creation.
And Virgilius was condemned for
this Opinion, becauſe he held, quòd ſit alius
mundus ſub terra, aliuſque Sol &
Luna, (as Ba-
ronius) That within our Globe of Earth, there
was another World, another Sun and Moon,
and ſo he might ſeem to exclude this from the
Number of the other Creatures.
But now there is no ſuch danger in this Opi-
nion, which is here deliver'd, ſince this World
is ſaid to be in the Moon, whoſe Creation is
particularly expreſt.

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