The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, Volume 2Browne, Thomas, Sir
Religion
The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, Volume 2
Browne, Thomas, Sir
Christianity; Ethics; Religion and medicine
And if we shall take it literally what _Moses_ described popularly, this
was also the constitution of the first day. For when it was evening unto
one longitude, it was morning unto another; when night unto one, day
unto another. And therefore that question, whether our Saviour shall
come again in the twilight (as is conceived he arose) or whether he
shall come upon us in the night, according to the comparison of a thief,
or the _Jewish_ tradition, that he will come about the time of their
departure out of _Ægypt_, when they eat the Passover, and the Angel
passed by the doors of their houses; this Quere I say needeth not
further dispute. For if the earth be almost every where inhabited, and
his coming (as Divinity affirmed) must needs be unto all; then must the
time of his appearance be both in the day and night. For if unto
_Jerusalem_, or what part of the world soever he shall appear in the
night, at the same time unto the _Antipodes_, it must be day; if
twilight unto them, broad day unto the _Indians_; if noon unto them, yet
night unto the _Americans_: and so with variety according unto various
habitations, or different positions of the Sphere, as will be easily
conceived by those who understand the affections of different
habitations, and the conditions of _Antæci_, _Periæci_, and _Antipodes_.
And so although he appear in the night, yet may the day of Judgement or
Dooms-day well retain that name; for that implieth one revolution of the
Sun, which maketh the day and night, and that one natural day. [SN:
Νυχθήμερον] And yet to speak strictly, if (as the Apostle affirmeth) we
shall be changed in the twinckling of an eye (and as the Schools
determine) the destruction of the world shall not be successive but in
an instant; we cannot properly apply thereto the usual distinctions of
time; called that twelve hours, which admits not the parts thereof, or
use at all the name of time, when the nature thereof shall perish.
But if the enquiry be made unto a particular place, and the question
determined unto some certain Meridian; as namely, unto _Mesopotamia_
wherein the seat of paradice is presumed, the Query becomes more
reasonable, and is indeed in nature also determinable. Yet positively to
define that season, there is no slender difficulty; for some contend
that it began in the Spring; as (beside _Eusebius_, _Ambrose_, _Bede_,
and _Theodoret_) some few years past _Henrico Philippi_ in his
Chronology of the Scripture. Others are altogether for Autumn; and from
hence do our Chronologers commence their compute; as may be observed in
_Helvicus_, _Jo. Scaliger_, _Calvisius_, and _Petavius_.
CHAPTER III
Of the Divisions of the seasons and four Quarters of the year,
according unto Astronomers and Physitians; that the common
compute of the Ancients, and which is still retained by some is
very questionable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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