

JL 



lm 



Hieron. in c. j . Epbef. 



10 a M E%I C A. Chap. II. 



work cut out for them by thefc Diftra&ions and Alterations of Government, 

 then to go in Queft of uncertainties, to find they know not where,another. 



Here alfo is added by St. Jerom, what an antient Writer faith, Great care bath 

 been taken in Computing the Jge of this World , and if there be another which Commencd 

 not -^o'xth ours, (as Clemens mentions in his Epiftles) inhere are fcituate thofe Seas and 

 Lands that make that fecond World ? Or is it a part of that, in Tohicb Adam was Created ? 

 Or may it not rather Metapljric ally be taken for Worldly Jffairs, go\ernd by the frince of 

 the Air, ruling in the Hearts of the Children of DiJ obedience ? 

 The Amicnts opinion of But Tliny , Cicero^ and Virnl, the beft in their kind of Latin Writers concur 



an unknown world. , - 11111 3*~> 



lhat there may be a habitable World under our Horizon, in the temperate 



Southern Zone, beyond the extream heat, and on this fide of the Antartick 



colds. 



But what fignifies all this to the Difcovery of America, which lies not onely 



under the fcorching Heats of the Equinox , but under the Frofts and Snows of 

 y V*^?**"™** the Ankk and ^WttVfc-Wtf ? Yet lefs probable is that which Lodowick Leo, an 

 M$Jj«k^ &&P* Friei ' takes °« c of Obadiah ; as if that Prophet in the three laft Verfes of 

 *&Zf#j&%& his pro ^9 foo^ %eak of the Spaniards, which (hould not onely difcover and 

 : f^$SS!iSSt Con q uer America, but alfo Convert the Inhabitants to the Chriftian Faith, becaufe 

 ^\£LW*MW thofe that arc in Se P harad > ihould Inherit and PolTefs the Cities of the South, 

 ^a^S^'^** 1 ^ fiM «rife from the Mountains of Zion, to judge the mount and Wealth 



even umt Zarephath, and q£ EfilU, 



the cativhy of Jerufakm, J 



&**<£^jtt But certai nly , Obadiah meant no other than the Reftauration of the Jews from 



&!7tE^^ who after their return, fhould grow more powerful 



7Z7futi?wZ>T s ~ than ever > and thc 7> led b y thei * Mfi<*> obtain the height of all felicity, who 



s4fuT f * lskwwninthcwouldren declare Salvation to the utmoft Bor- 



ders of the Earth. It is true, that the Rabins Expound Sepharad to be Spain, and 



therefore he concludes , that Obadiah Prophefi'd of the Spaniard, and their Con- 



quefts in America ; fo they would prove , that America was long known before 



Chrift. 



And laftly, It fignifies as little what Tineda and LeYmus Umnius drive at, 

 ^^WsFketraiidnotThat Solomon firft finding the ufe of the Compafs, Rigg'd a Navy at E^ion-De- 

 ber, which from the <%ed*Sea had no indirect Courfe to the Straights of Magellan; 

 from whence he might Lade his Veifels with the Gold of Tern. In whofe De- 

 fcription it fiball be manifefted , that Tern is not Ophir, as fome without any 

 fliew of Reafon or Truth would make us believe. 



But as concerning King Solomons finding out the ufe of the Magnet, it is 

 foon laid, but not eafily prov'd * for though that Prince exceeded all Man-kind 

 in Wifdom and Learning, and was perfect in the Operations , and knew the 

 Occulteft Secrets of Nature, underftanding what e're belonged to Plants, from 

 the Cedar of Libanus, to Hyfop,and the meaneft Shrub that grows upon the Wall ; 

 yet it nothing makes out , that he knew the Myftery of the Navigable ufe of 

 the Load'Stone : But fuppofc he^lid know, there is no where any mention of it- 

 and if this excellent thing, the Compafs, had been found in Solomons time, how 

 came it afterwards fo utterly to be loft ? 



Albertus Magnus miftakes , when he afcribes the knowledge of the Compafs to 

 Arifiotle, of which he himfelf makes not the lead mention j neither Galen, Alex- 

 ander Aphrofcficnfis , Tliny, Lucretius, nor any of the %oman, Greek, Arabian, or 

 vhom other Countrey Writers whatfoever. Some give the honor thereof to an In- 

 dian, others to a Shepherd in Mount Ida, whofe Clouted Shooes being-full 

 of Hob-Nails, the Iron flicking faft to the Stones on which he flood, ftopc his 



motion. 



Solomon &i$ not Hnd the 



Compah. 



load-ftone 

 fomd. 



