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="41" file="0221" n="221" rhead="That the Earth may be a Planet."/>
            we ſnall find that Abraham's Poſterity, in
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            ſome few Generations, were far more than
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            there are viſible Stars in the Firmament; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3102" xml:space="preserve">and
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            of ſuch only does God ſpeak, becauſe he bids
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            Abraham look up to the Heavens.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3103" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3104" xml:space="preserve">Now all theſe, even unto ſix differences of
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            Magnitude, are reckoned to be but 1022.
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            </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3105" xml:space="preserve">True indeed, at the firſt viewing of the
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            Heavens. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3106" xml:space="preserve">it may ſeem an incredible thing,
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            that they ſhould be of no greater a num-
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            ber; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3107" xml:space="preserve">but the reaſon of this is, becauſe they
              <lb/>
            appear ſcattered and confuſed; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3108" xml:space="preserve">ſo that the
              <lb/>
            eye cannot place them in any ſuch order, as
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            to reckon them up, or take any diftinct ſur-
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            vey of them. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3109" xml:space="preserve">Now 'tis a known truth,
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            Quod fortius operatur pluralitas partium, ubi
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              <note position="right" xlink:label="note-0221-01" xlink:href="note-0221-01a" xml:space="preserve">Sir F Bac.
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              Table of
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              Colours,
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              numb. 5.</note>
            ordo abeſt; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3110" xml:space="preserve">nam inducit ſimilitudinem infiniti,
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            & </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3111" xml:space="preserve">impedit comprehenſionem: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3112" xml:space="preserve">That a plurality
              <lb/>
            of parts, without order, has a more ſtrong
              <lb/>
            operation, becauſe it has a kind of ſeeming
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            inſinity, and ſo hinders comprehenſion. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3113" xml:space="preserve">And
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            then beſides, there are more appearances of
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            Stars many times, than there are bodies of
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            them; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3114" xml:space="preserve">for the Eye, by reaſon of its weak-
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            neſs and diſability, to diſcern any thing at
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            ſo great a diſtance; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3115" xml:space="preserve">as alſo, becauſe of thoſe
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            Beams which proceed from ſuch remote Bo-
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            dies, in a twinkling and wavering manner,
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            and ſo mix and confound themſelves at their
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            entrance into that Organ: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3116" xml:space="preserve">it muſt needs re-
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            ceive more repreſentations than there are
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            true bodies. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s3117" xml:space="preserve">But now, if a Man do but
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            leiſurely and diſtinctly compare the Stars of
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            the Heaven with thoſe of this number, </s>
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