Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A39865
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A discovery of new worlds from the French, made English by A. Behn.
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Fontenelle, M. de (Bernard Le Bovier), 1657-1757.; Behn, Aphra, 1640-1689.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing F1412; ESTC R27986
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79,769
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206
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began to reign see 1 King. 14.21 How was it possible then that Solomon could beget a Son when he was but a Child himself or of eleven Years of Age according to the Septuagint This Difficulty did strangely surprise a Primitive Bishop by Name Vitalis who proposed this Doubt to St. Jerome who was strangely put to it to return an Answer and the Learned Holy Father is forc'd at last to say that the Letter of the Scripture does often kill but the Spirit enlivens The Difficulty is still greater than what Vitalis proposed to St. Jerome in his Epistle Rehoboam was the Son of Naamah an Ammonitish stranger Woman as you may see in 1 King. 14.31 Now it is clear that Solomon did not abandon the Law of God nor give himself to strange Women till the end of his Reign see 1 King. 9. where he had so many strange Wives and Concubines besides his lawful Queen the King of Aegypt's Daughter and I hope this will convince any rational Man that the Scripture names only the first forty Years of the Reign of King Solomon which was the time wherein he did what was Right in the Sight of the Lord which I think is Demonstration that the Holy Scripture was not designed to teach Mankind Geometry or instruct them in Chronology The Learned Anthony Godean Lord and Bishop of Venice seems to have been sensible of this great Difficulty for in his Learned Church-History his Epitome from Adam to Iesus Christ writing the Life of Solomon he says he was twenty three Years old when he began his Reign Vpon what Grounds or from what Authority I know not but this agrees better with the Age of Solomon's Son Rehoboam but it doth not remove the Difficulty so well as what I have said I come now in the last place to perform what I undertook which is to prove that the Scripture was not designed to teach us Astronomy no more than Geometry or Chronology And to make it appear that the two Texts cited by Father Tacquet viz. that of Psal. 19.4 5 6. and Iosh. 10.12 c. are at least as much for Copernicus his System as they are for Ptolemy's The Words of the 19th Psalm are In them hath he set a Tabernacle for the Sun which is as a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber and rejoices as a strong Man to run his Race c. That these words are Allegorical is most plain Does not the Word Set import Stability Fix'dness and Rest as much as the Words run his Race and come forth of his Chamber do signifie motion or turning round Do not the Words Tabernacle and Chamber express Places of Rest and Stability And why may not I safely believe that this makes for the Opinion of Copernicus as well as for that of Ptolemy For the Words of the Scriptures favour one Opinion as much as the other The Texts of the Suns standing still at the Command of Joshua are yet plainer for Copernicus in Josh. 10. and the latter part of v. 12. the Words are these Sun stand thou still on Gibeon and thou Moon on the Valley of Ajalon c. The best Edition of the English Bible which is printed in a small Folio by Buck in Cambridge has an Asterism at the Word stand and renders it in the Margent from the Hebrew Be thou silent If it be so in the Hebrew be thou silent makes as much for the Motion of the Earth according to Copernicus as for the Motion of the Sun according to Ptolemy but not to criticize upon Words consider this miraculous Passage not only the Sun is commāded to stand still but the Moon also And thou Moon on the Valley of Ajalon The Reason the Sun was commanded to stand still was to the end the Children of Israel might have Light to guide them to destroy their Enemies Now when by this Miracle they had the Light of the Sun of what Advantage could the Moon be to them Why was she commanded to stand still upon the Valley of Ajalon Besides be pleased to consider the Holy Land is but a very little Country or Province The Valley of Ajalon is very near Gibeon where Joshua spoke to both Sun and Moon together to stand still above in Places so near each other it is Demonstration that the Moon was at that time very near the Sun and by Consequence was at that time either a day or two before her change or a day or two at most after new Moon and then she is nearer to the Body of the Sun as to appearance so could not assist the Children of Israel with Light having so little of her own It was then for some other Reason that the Moon stood still and for some other Reason that it is taken notice of in Holy Scripture Both Systems agree that the Moon is the nearest Planets to the Earth and subservient to it to enlighten it during the Night in Absence of the Sun. Besides this the Moon has other strange Effects not only on the Earth it self but upon all the living Creatures that inhabit it many of them are invisible and as yet unknown to Mankind some of them are most apparent and above all her wonderful Influence over the ebbing and flowing of the Sea at such regular Times and Seasons if not interrupted by the Accident of some Storm or great Wind. We know of no Relation or Corresponding between the Sun and the Moon unless it be what is common with all the rest of the Planets that the Moon receives her Light from the Sun which she restores again by Reflection If the Sun did move according to the System of Ptolemy where was the necessity of the Moon 's standing still For if the Moon had gone on her Course where was the Loss or Disorder in Nature She having as I demonstrated before so little Light being so very near her Change would have recovered her Loss at the next Appearance of the Sun and the Earth could have suffered nothing by the Accident whereas the Earth moving at the same time in an Annual and Diurnal Course according to the System of Copernicus would have occasioned such a Disorder and Confusion in Nature that nothing less than two or three new Miracles all as great as the first could have set the World in Order again The regular Ebbings and Flowings of the Sea must have been interrupted as also the Appearing of the Sun in the Horizon besides many other Inconveniences in Nature as the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon which are now so regular that an Astronomer could tell you to a Minute what Eclipses will be for thousands of Years to come both of Sun and Moon when and in what Climates they will be visible and how long they will last how many Degrees and Digits of those two great Luminaries will be obscured So that I doubt not but when this stupendious Miracle was performed by the Almighty and Infinite Power of God his omnipotent Arm did in
an Instant stop the Course of Nature and the whole Frame of the Vniverse was at a stand though the Sun and Moon be only named being to vulgar Appearance the two great Luminaries that govern the Vniverse This was the space of a Day in Time yet can be called no part of Time since Time and Nature are always in motion and this Day was a stop of that Course What is there in all this wonderful stop of Time that is not as strong for the System of Copernicus as for that of Ptolemy And why does my Belief of the Motion of the Earth and the Rest of the Sun contradict the holy Scriptures Am not I as much obliged to believe that the Sun lodges in a Tabernacle as in Psal. 19. Are not all these Allegorical Sayings In the above-named Edition of the English Bible of Buck's at Cambridge see Isa. 8.38 where the Shadow returned ten Degrees backwards as a Sign of King Hezekiah's Recovery and there follow these Words And the Sun returned ten Degrees but on the Margin you will find it from the Hebrew The Shadow returned ten Degrees by the Sun and this is yet as much for Copernicus as Ptolemy Whether God Almighty added ten Degrees or Hours to that Day or by another kind of Miracle made the Shadow to return upon the Dial of Ahaz I will not presume to determine but still you see the Hebrew is most agreeable to the new System of Copernicus Thus I hope I have performed my Vndertaking in making it appear that the holy Scriptures in things that are not material to the Salvation of Mankind do altogether condescend to the vulgar Capacity and that these two Texts of Psal. 19. and Josh. 10. are as much for Copernicus as against him I hope none will think my Vndertaking too bold in making so much use of the Scripture on such an Occasion I have a Precedent much esteemed by all ingenious Men that is Mr. Burnet's Book of Paradise and Antedeluvian World which incroaches as much if not more on the holy Scriptures But I have another Reason for saying so much of the Scriptures at this time We live in an Age wherein many believe nothing contained in that holy Book others turn it into Ridicule Some use it only for Mischief and as a Foundation and Ground for Rebellion Some keep close to the Literal Sense and others give the Word of God only that Meaning and Sense that pleases their own Humours or suits best their present Purpose and Interest As I quoted an Epistle of St. Jerome to Vitalis before where that great Father says that the Letter kills but the Spirit enlivens I think it is the Duty of all good Christians to acquiesce in the Opinion and Decrees of the Church of Christ in whom dwells the Spirit of God which enlightens us to Matters of Religion and Faith and as to other things contained in the Holy Scriptures relating to Astronomy Geometry Chronology or other liberal Sciences we leave those Points to the Opinion of the Learned who by comparing the several Copies Translations Versions and Editions of the Bible are best able to reconcile any apparent Differences and this with all Submission to the Canons of General Councils and Decrees of the Church For the School-men agitate and delate many things of a higher Nature than the standing still or the Motion of the Sun or the Earth And therefore I hope my Readers will be so just as to think I intend no Reflection on Religion by this Essay which being no Matter of Faith is free for every one to believe or not believe as they please I have adventur'd to say nothing but from good Authority And as this is approved of by the World I may hereafter venture to publish somewhat may be more useful to the Publick I shall conclude therefore with some few Lines as to my present Translation I have laid the Scene at Paris where the Original was writ and have translated the Book near the Words of the Author I have made bold to correct a Fault of the French Copy as to the heighth of our Air or Sphere of Activity of the Earth which the French Copy makes twenty or thirty Leagues I call it two or three because sure this was a Fault of the Printer and not a mistake of the Author For Monsieur Des Cartes and Monsieur Rohalt both assert it to be but two or three Leagues I thought Paris and St. Denis fitter to be made use of as Examples to compare the Earth and the Moon to than London and Greenwich because St. Denis having several Steeples and Walls is more like Paris than Greenwich is to London Greenwich has no Walls and but one very low Steeple not to be seen from the Monument without a Prospective Glass And I resolv'd either to give you the French Book into English or to give you the subject quite changed and made my own but having neither health nor leisure for the last I offer you the first such as it is The Author's PREFACE I Find my self reduced almost to the same Condition in which Cicero was when he undertook to put Matters of Philosophy into Latin which till that time had never been treated of but in Greek He tells us it would be said his Works would be unprofitable since those who loved Philosophy having already taken the pains to find it in the Greek would neglect after that to read it again in Latin that not being the Original and that those who did not care for Philosophy would not seek it either in the Latin or the Greek But to this Cicero himself answers and says That those who were not Philosophers would be tempted to the Reading of it by the Facility they Would find in its being in the Latin Tongue and that those who were Philosophers would be curious enough to see how well it had been turned from the Greek to the Latin. Cicero had reason to answer in this manner the Excellency of his Genius and the great Reputation he had already acquired sufficiently defend this new Undertaking of his which he had dedicated to the benefit of the Publick For my part I am far from offering at any Defence for this of mine though the Enterprize be the same for I would treat of Philosophy in a manner altogether unphilosophical and have endeavoured to bring it to a Point not too rough and harsh for the Capacity of the Numbers nor too light and trivial for the Learned But if they should say to me as they did to Cicero that this Work is not at all proper for the Learned nor would it instruct the rest of the World who are careless of Knowledge far be it from me to answer as Cicero did who perhaps in searching for a middle way to Philosophy such as would improve every Understanding I have taken that which possibly will be advantageous to none It is very hard to keep to a Medium and I believe I shall