NOT to mention the _Ninth Hour_, in which our Blessed SAVIOUR breathed out his Holy Spirit; the _Ninth Day_ the _Antients_ buried their DEAD, and many such remarkable Instances. Yet however, in most _Natural_ and _Philosophical Cases_, this NUMBER implies still some _Imperfection_; because it comes short of the _Complement_ of the Great _Number_ TEN (being deficient by ONE) as St. _Austin_ interprets it of the TEN LEPERS. Wherefore not to go too far in these MYSTICAL _Matters_, I proceed to [Illustration] CHAP. XXXVI. _Of a Ten-Months BIRTH._ AS to this Point, it is not only True in _Part_; to wit, _during the First Ten Days_ of the _10th Month_, as SOME would have it, but rather (in my Opinion) _Altogether_, and at any time of it, as LEGITIMATE as the _9th Month_; according to _Plautus_ the Comick _Poet_; _Tunc illa quam compresserat, decimo post exacto Mense hanc peperit Filiam_. FOR altho’ _Women_ commonly reckon their BIRTHS more frequent in the _Ninth Month_; yet many _Learned Men_ have left it (as a doubtful Controversy) undecided whether THAT or THIS be the most proper natural Time: Whereas _Some_ of the _first_ RANK[126] have more positively determined a _Legitimate BIRTH_ to happen in the _Tenth Month_ ONLY, according also to _Virgil_’s excellent Poetical Computation— “_Matri longa decem tulerunt fastidia Menses._” MOREOVER, for a farther Proof of this Argument, I need only refer to _Solomon_, the wisest of _Kings_; who being the greatest _Master of all ARTS_, cannot be supposed to have been ignorant of This _Truth_: And whose express Decision of this Doubt, we have set down in the Beginning of the 7th _Chapter_ of his _Book_ of _WISDOM_; saying, “_I myself also am a mortal Man, and the Offspring of him that was first made of the Earth_, _and in my Mother’s Womb was fashioned to be Flesh in the time of TEN MONTHS_, &c.” BUT farther yet, as to the _Nature_ of this _Month_, _MARS_ is presumed to succeed in it, who indulges the INFANT by his _amicable Qualities_, or _benign Influences_: For _He_ is deemed a Friend to _LIFE_, as he affords _Vitality_ to the _BIRTHS_ happening in it. AND again, this _Number_ TEN is reckoned a _Compleat_ and _Universal_ NUMBER in all _Sciences_; because we cannot account beyond it, but by _Replication_, a _Re-assumption_ of the UNIT, or _Repetition_ of the _Nine Figures_, to perfect the Progression. But farther still, to denote the Excellency and Perfection of this MONTH, there are TEN _Singers_ of _Psalms_ mentioned in Holy Scripture; namely, _ADAM_, _ABRAHAM_, _MELCHISEDECH_, _MOSES_, _ASAPH_, _DAVID_, _SOLOMON_, and the _three Sons of CHORAH_: TEN _Musical Instruments_: TEN _Strings_ in the _Psaltery_: TEN _Curtains_ in the _Temple_: TEN _Commandments_ instituted and given directly by GOD himself: AND, in fine, the TENTH Day after _Ascension_ the _HOLY GHOST_ came down, _&c._