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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[21.] The Firſt Book. That the MOON May be a WORLD. The Firſt Propoſition, by way of Preface.
[22.] Sed vanus ſtolidis hæc omnia finxerit Error.
[23.] Solis lunæq; labores.
[24.] Cum fruſtra reſonant æra auxiliaria Lunæ.
[25.] Una laboranti poterit ſuccerrere Lunæ.
[26.] Gantus & è cælo poſſunt deducere Lunam.
[27.] Cantus & ſi curru lunam deducere tentant, Et facerent, ſi non æra repulſa ſonant.
[28.] PROP. II. That a Plurality of Worlds doth not contradict any Principle of Reaſon or Faith.
[29.] Æſtuas infelix auguſto limite mundi.
[30.] PROP. III. That the Heavens do not conſiſt of any ſuch pure Matter, which can priviledge them from the like Change and Corruption, as theſe Inferiour, Bodies are liable unto.
[31.] Necnon Oceano paſci phæbumque polumq; Gredimus.
[32.] PROP. IV. That the Moon is a Solid, Compacted, Opacous Body.
[33.] PROP. V. That the Moon hath not any Light of her own.
[34.] PROP. VI. That there is a World in the Moon, bath been the direct Opinion of many Ancient, with ſome Modern Mathematicians, and may probably de deduc’d from the Tenents of others.
[35.] PROP. VII. That thoſe Spots and brighter parts, which by our ſight may be diſtinguiſhed in the Moon, do ſhew the difference betwixt the Sea and Land, in that other World.
[36.] PROP. VIII. The Spots repeſent the Sea, and the brighter parts the Land.
[37.] PROP. IX. That there are high Mountains, deep Vallies, and ſpacious Plains in the Body of the Moon.
[38.] PROP. X. That there is an Atmo-ſphæra, or an Orb of groſs, Vaporous Air, immediately encompaſſing the body of the Moon.
[39.] PROP. XI. That as their World is our Moon, ſo our World is their Moon.
[40.] Provehimur portu, terræque urbeſque recedunt.
[41.] PROP. XII.
[42.] PROP. XIII.
[43.] PROP. XIV.
[44.] FINIS.
[45.] A DISCOURSE Concerning a Rem Planet. Tending to prove That ’tis probable our EARTH is one of the PLANETS. The Second Book. By John Wilkins, late L. Biſhop of Cheſter.
[46.] LONDON: Printed by J. D. for John Gellibrand, at the Golden Ball in St. Paul’s Church-Yard. M.DC.LXXXIV.
[47.] To the Reader.
[48.] PROP. I.
[49.] PROP. II.
[50.] PROP. III.
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141129That the Moon may be a World.
The Prieſt of Saturn relating to Plutarch
(as he feigns it) the nature of theſe Selenites,
told him, they were of divers diſpoſitions,
ſome deſiring to live in the lower parts of the
Moon, where they might look downwards
upon us, while others were more ſurely moun-
ted aloft, all of them ſhining like the Rays of
the Sun, and as being Victorious, are Crow-
ned with Garlands made with the Wings of
Euſtathia or Gonſtancie.
It hath been the Opinion amongſt ſome of
the Ancients, that their Heavens and Elyſian
Fields were in the Moon where the Air is moſt
quiet and pure.
Thus Socrates, thus Plato, with
11Nat. Com.
l. 3. c. 19
his Followers, did eſteem this to be the place
where thoſe purer Souls inhabit, who are
freed from the Sepulcher, and Contagion of
the Body:
And by the Fable of Geres, con-
tinually wandring in ſearch of her Daughter
Proſerpina, is meant nothing elſe but the long-
ing deſire of Men, who live upon Geres Earth,
to attain a place in Proſerpina, the Moon Hea-
ven.
Plutarch alſo ſeems to aſſent unto this; but
he thinks moreover, that there are two places
of happineſs anſwerable to thoſe two parts
which he fancies to remain of a Man when he
is Dead, the Soul and the Underſtanding;
the
Soul he thinks is made of the Moon;
and as
our Bodies do ſo proceed from the Duſt of this
Earth, that they ſhall return to it hereafter;
ſo our Souls were generated out of that Pla-
net, and ſhall be reſolved into it again;
where-
as the underſtanding ſhall aſcend unto the Sun,
out of which it was made, where it ſhall

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