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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          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s133" xml:space="preserve">2. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s134" xml:space="preserve">Groſs abſurdities have been entertain’d
              <lb/>
            by general Opinion.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s135" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s136" xml:space="preserve">I ſhall give an Inſtance of each, that ſo I
              <lb/>
            may the better prepare the Reader to conſider
              <lb/>
            things without a Prejudice, when he ſhall ſee
              <lb/>
            that the common Oppoſition againſt this which
              <lb/>
            I affirm, cannot any way derogate from its
              <lb/>
            Truth.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s137" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s138" xml:space="preserve">1. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s139" xml:space="preserve">Other Truths have been formerly accoun-
              <lb/>
            ted as ridiculous as this. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s140" xml:space="preserve">I ſhall ſpecifie that
              <lb/>
            of the Antipodes, which have been denyed,
              <lb/>
            and laught at by many wiſe Men and great
              <lb/>
            Scholars, ſuch as were Herodotus, Chryſoſtom,
              <lb/>
              <note position="left" xlink:label="note-0016-01" xlink:href="note-0016-01a" xml:space="preserve">Vid. Foſeph.
                <lb/>
              Acaſto de
                <lb/>
              nat. novi
                <lb/>
              Grbis lib. 1.
                <lb/>
              cap. 1.</note>
            Auſtin, Lactantius, the Venerable Bede, Lucre-
              <lb/>
            tius the Poet, Procopius, and the Voluminous
              <lb/>
            Abulenſis, together with all thoſe Fathers or
              <lb/>
            other Authors who denyed the roundneſs of
              <lb/>
            the Heavens. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s141" xml:space="preserve">Herodotus counted it ſo horri-
              <lb/>
            ble abſurdity, that he could not forbear laugh-
              <lb/>
            ing to think of it. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s142" xml:space="preserve">Γελῶ δρῶο γῆς {πρι}ύδ(ου}ς γ{ρἀ} ψαν-
              <lb/>
            τας, {πο}λλ{οὺ}ς ἤδη {καὶ} {οὐ} δένα νόον ἔ{χο}ντας {ὀξ}ηγ{οα} {μέν}ον ὂι
              <lb/>
            ’Ωκεαοόντε ρεόντα γ{ρά} Φ{ου}σι, πέ{ρι}ξ τ{ὴν} τε γ{ὴν} ἐ{οῦ}οαν
              <lb/>
            κυκλοτ ερέα ὤς \’δπὸ τόρν{ου}. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s143" xml:space="preserve">‘I cannot chooſe but laugh
              <lb/>
            ‘(ſaith he) to ſee ſo many Men venture to de-
              <lb/>
            ‘ſcribe the Earths Compaſs, relating thoſe
              <lb/>
            ‘things that are without Senſe, as that the Sea
              <lb/>
            ‘flows about the World, and that the Earth it
              <lb/>
            ‘ſelf is as round as an Orb. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s144" xml:space="preserve">But this great Ig-
              <lb/>
            norance is not ſo much to be admired in him,
              <lb/>
            as in thoſe Learneder Men of later times, when
              <lb/>
            all Sciences began to flouriſh in the World.
              <lb/>
            </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s145" xml:space="preserve">Such were St. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s146" xml:space="preserve">Chryſoſtome, who in his 14 Ho-
              <lb/>
            mily upon the Hebrews, doth make a challenge
              <lb/>
            to any Man that ſhall dare to defend, that the
              <lb/>
            Heavens are Round, and not rather as a Tent.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s147" xml:space="preserve"/>
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