same Island two years after, was swallowed up again of the Sea. _SECT. 40._ Hee that doth seriously weigh those things, may (I think) well gather, that the Sea of the Streight of _Anian_ was an inundation. By affirming which, this doubt may be answered, _sc._ That after the universall Flood, man-kinde encreased againe, and all beasts, which had been preserved in the Arke. But how could so many kinds of beasts, (which come by propagation, and are not bred out of the earth) be found in those Countries? Some did swim thither, some were brought thither by some huntsmen, some were bred out of the earth, as _Austin_ thinks it happened in the first Creation. But what Land-beast can swim over so great a Sea? And would Huntsmen carry Lyons thither, and other such kind of beasts, oftentimes to the great hazzard of their lives? And if God would have created those beasts out of the earth, he would not have commanded _Noah_ to have kept them in the Ark. I am fully perswaded, that the beasts which are found there passed that way into _America_; unlesse any thinks that this new world is joyned to the old, on some other side, as _Herrera_ beleeves _Dec._ 3. _lib._ 11. _c._ 10. _SECT. 41._ As for the other things in the relation of our _Montezinus_, they say nothing which savours of falshood. For their saying that the _Semah_, truly it is the custom of our people, in what part soever of the world they live; and it is the abridgement of the confession and religion of the Jewes. That revelation of the Magicians whom they call _Mohanes_, it agrees with those things which in 2 _Esdras_ you may see, concerning the Miracles which God wrought for the Israelites, as they passed over _Euphrates_, concerning those conditions of not revealing secrets to any, but such an one who hath seen three hundred Moons, (which make twenty five years) it appeares to be true, by what the famous _De Laet_ tells in many parts of _America_, that the _Indians_ do compute their years by Moones. That a secret must be told in the Field, doth not that argue a _Jewish_ custome, which the ancients have observed in _Jacob_? who being about to depart from _Laban_, he called his Wives into the field. I now conclude this discourse, in which this only was in my intention, that I might briefly, and compendiously declare mine, and the Rabbies opinion, concerning those things which I have handled. I hope that this my indeavor will not be unacceptable, being desired by many men famous both for Birth, and for Learning; not unprofitable, having therein explained the relation of _Montezinus_, with what brevity I could. The Name of God be blessed for ever. _Amen._ [Illustration] CONSIDERATIONS Upon the Point of the _CONVERSION_ OF THE JEWES: