Ch^LVlir" A Defcripion 0/ C E Y L O N. 
815 
Tho we (hall treat ia particular hereaf- 
ter of the Errors of the Pagans, yet can 
I not pafs by here in filence, what I have 
obferv'd my felf concerning their Opini- 
on of the Creation of the World^ its Age^ 
and Tranfmigration of the Soul. In the 
Year 1555, after I had catechiz'd the 
People after Sermon in the Church of Pa- 
retiture^ happening to difcourfe concern- 
ing the Creation and Jge of the World j 
forae of the Indians affirm'd that the 
World had ftood 4864 Years fince theic 
Kaligam or fourth Period. For they 
The'ir Be- 
lief con- 
cerning the 
beginning have four Periods, the firft called Creita 
of th: ' 
World. 
Their Be- 
lief con- 
(erning the 
beginning 
of the 
Souls. 
krror 
rnong the 
Jews, con- 
cerning the 
TranCmi- 
gratim of 
(he Soul, 
gam^ the fecond Treitagam, the third 
Drvaparugam^ and the fourth Kaligam. 
And whereas the Indians in Coromandel 
did in the Year 1639, compute no more 
than 4739 Years fmce the Creation of the 
World, I told 'em that they foUow'd the 
Footfteps of the Chinefes^viho in theirCom- 
putations made no great account of 100 
Years lefs or more, which made 'em fmile. 
1 told *em further, that there was no cer- 
tain Computation from the beginning of 
the World,except what was founded upon 
the Holy Scripture j and that in the 
Year 1 665 (according to the Jewijh Com- 
putation) the World had ftood 5425 
Years, Concerning the Origin of the 
Soul, I found them of the fame Opinion 
with the Great Rabbi, viz. That all Souls 
were created in the beginning, and kept till 
they were to be communicated to certain Bo- 
dies. Unto which they have added the 
Pythagorean Tradition of the Tranf migra- 
tion of the Soul. 
I remember that at a certain time, as I 
was walking with fome of them, and en- 
deavouring to refute this Opinion ; they 
objedted that it was impofllble for a Child 
to be born Blind, Dumb or Lame, with- 
out having receivM a Soul that had been 
guilty of very grofs Sins. For, faid 
they, lince the Child has not committed 
any Sins, and God does not punifh any 
Body without finning, this muft be attri- 
buted to the Sins committed by the Soul 
whilft yet in another Body, and now en- 
trcd into the Child. Unto which I re- 
ply'd in our Saviour's Words, out of 
John 9.1. when his Difciples ask'd him 
concerning the blind Man from his Birth, 
Neither had this Man finned nor his Parents, 
but that the IVorks of God fhouldbe made 
manifejl in him. Whence it feems that 
ihtjews were fomewhat infedled with this 
Tradition, mention whereof is alfo made 
by Jofeph. Antiq. /. 18. c. 1 1. and de Bella 
Judaico, I. 2. c. 8, The Words of He- 
rod. Mat. 14. 2. when he fays concerning 
Chrift, Tfeisisjohn the Baptiji^ hei/svifen 
from the Dead^ intimate the fame ; as C^J"--^ 
likewife what the fms faid concerning Baldaus. 
Chrilt, Mat. \6, 13,14- forae that he ''^^^ 
vfas John the Baptifi, ibrae Elias, and o- 
thers Jeremias, Hence EHas (common- 
ly call'd Z,ez;;f^ij in his Book Tisbi, and 
the other Cabalifts of the Jewsy^cvQ of 
Opinion, that the Souls pafs thro three 
diftinft Bodies, which they pretend to 
evince from the Words of jfot 33.29. Lo! 
all thcfe things worhthGod twice or thrice 
thro one Man: Thus the yero; affirm that 
the Soul of Mam was tranflated into the 
Body of David.^and afterwards into that of 
the Mejfiah ; which Error having been in- 
troduced into Palefline by Antiochiis's Philo- 
fophers,the Jewijh Dodors did not ftick to 
maintain that the Souls of ftnful Men did 
tranfmigrate into the Bodies of Beafls, accord- 
ing to the degrees or b?inoufnefs of theirCrimes:, 
whereas it is manifeft, that a rational 
Soul can't fix its Habitation but in the 
Body intruded with proper Organs^ 
whereby it exerts its Operations ^ and 
the Scripture tells us exprefly, that the 
Soul and Spirit returns to God who gave it ^ 
befides many other Arguments I alledged 
to them upon this Head againft their O- 
pinion. 
The learned Foffn^ is of opinion, that ThU Opini- 
this Error took its beginning from the »" receiv'd 
true Tradition of the Refurredion of the '""'"^ 
Dead, which was fpread even among the ^^^^^^^ 
Druids in Gaul, according to Cafar, lib.6. 
with this difference however, that the 
Pythagoreans affirm the Souls to tranfmi- 
grate even into the Bodies of Beafts j 
whereas the firft reftrain it only to the 
Bodies of Men, which made them face 
Death with an undaunted Courage, ac- 
cording to Lucan. lib i . 
Felices error e fuo, quos tile timorum 
Maximus baud urgct lethi mctus, tndc 
ruendi 
In ferrum memprona viris, anim/eque ca- 
paces 
Mortis, & ignavum ejl reditiira parcere 
vita. 
Appian fays of the antient Germans a- 
mong other things, that they defpifed 
Death in hopes of another Life ; and Tho- 
mas Aviot an Englifhman afTures us, that 
the fame had been found in (Virginia. Jo- 
feph Acofla fays the fame of Peru and 
Mexico; and the fame is related q{ Guinea:^ 
of the Chinefes, the antient Egyptians and 
Getes. The Pythagoreans fay of Athalidcs^ 
that his Soul before it entred the Body 
of Pythagoras, tranfmigrated into three 
feveral other Bodies, firft into chat of 
