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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142131That the Moon may be a World. ſeſs an Eternity of well-being, and far greater
happineſs than that which is enjoyed in the
Moon.
So that when a Man dies, if his Soul
be much polluted, then muſt it wander up and
down in the middle region of the air, whereHell
is, &
there ſuffer unſpeakable torments for thoſe
Sins whereof he is guilty.
Whereas the Souls of
better Men, when they have in ſome ſpace of
time been purged from that Impurity which
they did derive from the Body, then do they
return into the Moon, where they are poſſeſt
with ſuch a Joy, as thoſe Men feel who pro-
feſs holy Myſteries, from which place, ſaith
he, ſome are ſent down to have the Superin-
tendence of Oracles, being diligent either in
the preſervation of the good, either from, or
in, all perils, and the prevention of puniſhment
of all wicked Actions;
but if in theſe Em-
ployments they miſ-behave themſelves, then
are they again to be impriſoned in a Body, o-
therwiſe they remain in the Moon, till their
Souls be reſolv’d into it, and the underſtan-
ding being clear’d from all impediments, aſ-
cends to the Sun which is its proper place.
But
this requires a diverſe ſpace of time, according
to the divers afſections of the Soul.
As for
thoſe who have been retir’d and honeſt, addi-
cting themſelves to a ſtudious and quiet Life,
theſe are quickly preferred to a higher Happi-
neſs.
But as for ſuch who have buſied them-
ſelves in many Broils, or have been vehement
in the proſecution of any Luſt, as the Ambiti-
ous, the Amorous, the wrathful Man, theſe ſtill
retain the glimpſes and Dreams of ſuch things
as they have perform’d in their Bodies,

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