loss of a multitude I might say infinity of them which seems not agreeable to the Wisdom and Providence of Nature For supposing every Male hath in him all the Animalcules that he shall or may eject they may for ought I know amount to millions of millions and so the greatest part of them must needs be lost Nay if we take but one Coit there must in uniparous Creatures at least abundance be lost But if we suppose the Foetus to be originally in the Egg it is not so For the Eggs of all sorts of Creatures are so proportioned to the nature of the Animals the time that they live the time and number of their gestations and the number they bring forth at all times that they will much about suffice for the time the Creatures are fit to breed and nourish their young so that they may if need be be all brought forth and come to perfection The End of the first Discourse DISCOURSE II. Of the general Deluge in the Days of NOAH its Causes and Effects I Proceed now to say something concerning the General Deluge in the days of Noah which was also a matter of Ancient Tradition I shall not enlarge much upon it so as to take in all that might be said but confine my self to Three Heads 1. I shall confirm the Truth of the History of the Deluge recorded in the Scripture by the Testimonies of some ancient Heathen Writers 2. I shall consider the Natural Causes or Means whereby it was effected 3. I shall enquire concerning the Consequences of it what considerable effects it had upon the Earth CHAP. I. Testimonies of Ancient Heathen Writers concerning the Deluge FIrst then I shall produce some Testimonies of Ancient Heathen Writers concerning the Deluge The first shall be that of Berosus recorded by Iosephus in the fifth Chapter of his first Book of Iewish Antiquities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That is Berosus the Chaldaean relating the Story of the Deluge writes thus It is reported that there is some part of the Vessel the Ark still remaining at the Mountain of the Gordyaeans and that certain Persons scraping off the Bitumen or Pitch carry it away and that men make use of it for Amulets to drive away Diseases A second Testimony the same Iosephus affords us in the same place and that is of Nicolaus Damascenus who saith he gives us the History of the Ark and Deluge in these words About Minyas in Armenia there is a great Mountain called Baris to which it is reported that many flying in the time of the Deluge were saved and that a certain person was carried thither in an Ark which rested on the top of it the reliques of the Timber whereof were preserved there a long time Besides these Iosephus tells us in the same place that Hieronymus the Egyptian who wrote the Phoenician Antiquities and Mnaseas and many others whose words he alledges not make mention of the Flood Eusebius superadds two Testimonies more The one of Melon to this effect There departed from Armenia at the time of the Deluge a certain man who together with his Sons had been saved who being cast out of his House and Possessions was driven away by the Natives This man passing over the intermediate Region came into the mountainous part of Syria that was then desolate This Testimony makes the Deluge Topical and not to have reached Armenia The other is of Abydenus an ancient Writer set down by Eusebius Praepar Evangel lib. 9. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. After whom others reigned and then Siâ—ithrus so he calls Noah To whom Saturn foretold that there should be a great Flood of Waters upon the fifteenth Day of the Month Desius and commanded him to hide all Writings or whatever was committed to writing in Heliopolis of the Sypparians Which so soon as Sisithrus had performed he presently sailed away to Armenia where what God had predicted to him immediately came to pass or came upon him The third day after the Waters ceased he sent forth Birds that he might try whether they could espy any Land uncovered of Water But they finding nothing but Sea and not knowing whither to betake themselves returned back to Sisithrus In like manner after some days he sent out others with like success But being sent out the third time they returned with their feet fouled with Mud. Then the Gods caught up Sisithrus from among Men but the Ship remained in Armenia and its Wood afforded the Inhabitants Amâ—lets to chase away many Diseases These Histories accord with the Scripture as to the main of the being of a 〈…〉 Noah escaping out of it only 〈…〉 the Truth by the admixture 〈…〉 â—abulous stuff 〈…〉 first Book against Iulian to 〈◊〉 Deluge alledges a passage out of Alexander Polyhistor Plato himself saith he gives us an obscure intimation of the Deluge in his Timaeus bringing in a certain Egyptian Priest who related to Solon out of the Sacred Books of the Egyptians that before the particular Deluges known and celebrated by the Grecians there was of old an exceeding great Inundation of Waters and devastation of the Earth which seems to be no other than Noah's Flood Plutarch in his Book De Solertia Animalium â—tells us That those who have written of Deucalion's Flood report that there was a Dove sent out of the Ark by Deucalion which returning again into the Ark was a sign of the continuance of the Flood but flying quite away and not returning any more was a sign of Serenity and that the Earth was drained Indeed Ovid and other Mythologists make Deucalion's Flood to have been universal and it 's clear by the Description Ovid gives of it that he meant the general Deluge in the days of Noah And that by Deucalion the Ancients together with Ovid understood Noah Kircher in his Arca Noae doth well make out First For that the Poet Apollonius makes him the Son of Prometheus in his third Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where Prometheus the Son of Iapetus begat the Renowned Deucalion 2. Berosus affirms Noah to have been a Scythian And Lucian in his Book De Dea Syria tells us that many make Deucalion to have been so too 3. The Scripture testifies that Men were generally very corrupt and wicked in the days of Noah And Andro Teius a very ancient Writer testifies that in Deucalion's time there was a great abundance of wicked Men which made it necessary for God to destroy Mankind 4. The Scripture saith that Noah was a Just Man and Perfect in his Generation And Ovid saith of Deucalion that Non illo mâ—lior quisquam nec amantior aequi Vir fuit aut illâ Pyrrhâ uxore ejus reverentior ulla Deorum And a little after Innocuos ambos cultores numinis ambos 5. Apollonius saith of Deucalion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He first ruled over Men. Which may very well be attributed to Noah the Father and Restorer of
Three Physico-Theological DISCOURSES CONCERNING I The Primitive CHAOS and Creation of the World II. The General DELUGE its Causes and Effects III. The Dissolution of the WORLD and Future Conflagration WHEREIN Are largely Discussed the Production and Use of Mountains the Original of Fountains of Formed Stones and Sea-Fishes Bones and Shells found in the Earth the Effects of particular Floods and Inundations of the Sea the Eruptions of Vulcano's the Nature and Causes of Earthquakes With an Historical Account of those Two late Remarkable Ones in Iamaica and England With PRACTICAL INFERENCES By IOHN RAY Fellow of the Royal Society The Second Edition Corrected very much Enlarged and Illustrated with Copper-plates LONDON Printed for Sam. Smith at the Princes Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard 1693. TO THE Most Reverend FATHER in GOD JOHN L d Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan My LORD IT was no Interest or Expectation of mine that induced me to Dedicate this Discourse to your Grace I am not so well conceited of my own Performances as to think it merits to be inscribed to so Great a Name much less that I should Oblige your Lordship or indeed a far meaner Person by such Inscription My principal motive was that it would give me opportunity of Congratulating with the Sober Part of this Nation your Advancement to the Archiepiscopal Dignity and of acknowledging His Majesty's Wisdom in making choice of so fit a Person to fill that Chair endued with all Qualifications requisite for so high a Calling so able and skilful a Pilot to govern the Church and so prudent and faithful a Counsellor to serve Himself But I will not enlarge in your just Praises lest I should incur the unjust Censure or Suspicion of Flattery Give me leave only to add what I may without injury of Truth and I think without violation of Modesty that your Grace's Election hath the concurrent Approbation and Applause of all good Men that know you or have had a true Character of you which may serve to strengthen your Hands in the Management and Administration of so difficult a Province though you need no such Support as being sufficiently involved and armed by your Vertues and protected by the Almighty Power and Providence Those that are Good and Wise are pleased and satisfied when Great Men are preferred to Great Places and think it pity that Persons of large and publick Spirits should be confined to narrow Spheres of Action and want Field to exercise and employ those rich Talents and Abilities wherewith they are endowed in doing all the Good they are thereby qualified and inclined to do My LORD I am sensible that the Present I make you is neither for Bulk nor Worth suitable to your Person and Greatness yet I hope you will favourably accept it being the best I have to offer and my Boldness may pretend some Excuse from ancient Acquaintance and from my Forwardness to embrace this Opportunity of professing my Name among those that Honour you and of publishing my self My LORD Your Grace's most devoted Servant and humble Orator IOHN RAY THE PREFACE HAving altered the Method of this Treatise and made considerable Additions to it it may justly be expected that I should give some Account thereof to the Reader In the Preface to the former Edition I acquainted him that I had taken Notice of five Matters of Ancient Tradition 1. That the World was formed out of a Chaos by the Divine Wisdom and Power 2. That there was an universal Flood of Waters in which all Mankind perished excepting some few which were saved in an Ark or Ship 3. That the World shall one day be destroyed by Fire 4. That there is a Heaven and a Hell an Elysium and a Tartarus the one to reward good Men and other to punish wicked and both eternal 5. That bloody Sacrifices were to be offered for the Expiation of Sin And that of four of them I had occasion to treat in this Book of two that is to say of the Dissolution of the World by Fire and the Eternal State that was to succeed in reference to Man either in Heaven or Hell more directly of the other two viz. The Primitive Chaos and Creation and the General Deluge occasionally and by way of digression at the request of some Friends But now this Treatise coming to a second Impression I thought it more convenient to make these several Discourses upon these Particulars substantial Parts of my Work and to dispose them according to the priority and posteriority of their Subjects in order of time beginning with the Primitive Chaos Concerning these Traditions it may be enquired what the Original of them was Whether they were of Divine Revelation or Humane invention In answer whereto As to the Second That there was once a General Deluge whereby this whole sublunary World was drown'd and all Animals both Man and Beast destroyed excepting only such as were preserved in an Ark it being matter of Fact and seen and felt by Noah and his Sons there can be no doubt of the Original of that The First concerning the Chaos and Creation of the World if it were not ancienter 〈…〉 Scripâ—â—re it is likely it had its Origâ—nal frâ—m the first Chapter of Genesis and the Chaos from the second Verse And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep But if it were more ancient it must still in all likelihood be Divinely revealed because Man being created last and brought into a World already filled and furnished And God being an Omnipotent and also a Free Agent who could as well have created the World in a moment or altogether as successively it was impossible for Man by reason to determine which way he made choice of The Third Concerning the future Dissolution and Destruction of the World by a General Conflagration there being nothing in Nature that can demonstrate the necessity of it and a second Inundation and Submersion by Water being in the Course of Nature an hundred times more probable as I have shewn in the ensuing Discourses And therefore we see God Almighty to secure Man against the apprehension and dread of a second Deluge made a Covenant with him to give him a visible Sign in confirmation of it never to destroy the World so again And the Ancients who relate this Tradition deivering it as an Oracle or Decree of Fate Ovid Metamorph. 1. Esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur affore tempus c. was likewise probable of Divine Revelation The Fourth That there shall be a Future State wherein Men shall be punished or rewarded accordingly as they have done ill or well in this Life and that State Eternal thô the first part may be demonstrated from the Justice and Goodness of God because there being an unequal distribution of Good and Evil in this Life there must be a time to set things streight in another World yet it being so difficult to Human Reason
some stop be put proved From the continual streightning of the Sea and lâ—wering the Mountains and high Grounds by Rains Floods and Rivers washing away and carrying down the Earth and from the Seas encroaching upon the Shares 283 to 296. A large Quâ—tation out of Josephus Blancanus demonstâ—ating the same thing by many Arguments 296. Sect. 2. The second probable Means or Cause of the World's Destruction in a Natural way viz. the extinction of the Sun 314. Sect. 3. The third possible Cause of the World's Destruction The eruption of the Central Fire 316. That the being of such a Fire is no way repugnant either to Scripture or Reason 318 320. Sect. 4. The fourth possible Cause of the World's Dissolution The Earth's Dryness and Inflammability in the Torrid Zâ—ne and the concurrent eruptions of Vâ—lâ—aneâ—â— 323. That the inclination of the Ecliptick to the Aequator doth not diminish 323. That tho' there were such a drying and parching of the Earth in the Torrid Zone it would not probably infer a Conflagration 324 325. That there hath not yet been nor in the ordinary Course of Nature can be any such drying or parching of the Earth in the Torrid Zone 326. The possibility of the desicâ—ation of the Sea by natural means denied 328 329. The fixedness and intransmutability of Principles secures the Universe from Dissolution Destruction of any present Species or by Production of any new 330. Chap. VI. Containing an Answer to the second Question Whether shall this Dissolution be effected by natural or extraordinary means and what they shall be 331. Chap. VII The third Question answered Whether shall the Dissolution be gradual and successive or momentanouns and sudden 334. Chap. VIII The fourth Question resolved Whether shall there be any Signs or Fore-runners of the Dissolution of the World 337. Chap. IX The fifth Question debated At what Period of time shall the World be dissolved and particularly Whether at the end of Six thousand Years 342. Chap. X. How far shall this Dissolution or Conflagration extend Whether to the Aetherial Heavens and all the Host of them Sun Moon and Stars or to the Aerial only 349. Chap. XI The seventh and last Question Whether shall the whole World be consumed and destroyed or annihilated or only refined and purified 353. The Restitution and Continuance of the World proved by the Testimonies of Scripture and Antiquity and also by Reason 358. The Arguments for the Abolition and Annihilation answer'd 360 362. Chap. XII The Inference the Apostle makes from the precedent Doctrine Of future Rewards and Punishments The Eternity of future Punishments proved from the Authority of Scripture and Antiquity How the Eternity of Punishments can consist with the Iustice and Goodness of God from p. 364. to the end of the Book DISCOURSE I. Of the Primitive CHAOS and Creation of the World IN the former Edition of this Treatise this Discourse concerning the Primitive Chaos and Creation of the World and that other concerning the Destruction thereof by the Waters of the General Deluge in the days of Noah were brought in by way of Digression because I designed not at first to treat of them but only of the Conflagration or Dissolution of the World by Fire but was afterwards when I had made a considerable progress in the Dissolution at the instance of some Friends because of their Relation to my Subject prevailed upon to say something of them But now that I am at liberty so to do I shall not handle them any more by the by but make them substantial Parts of my Book and dispose them as is most natural accordding to their priority and posteriority in order of time beginning with the Chaos and Creation CHAP. I. Testimonies of the Ancient Heathen Writers concerning the Chaos and what they meant by it IT was an ancient Tradition among the Heathen that the World was created out of a Chaos First of all the ancient Greek Poet Hesiod who may contend for Antiquity with Homer himself makes mention of it in his Theogonia not far from the beginning in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First of all there was a Chaos And a few Verses after speaking of the immediate Production or Off-spring of the Chaos he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From Chaos proceeded Hell and Night or Darkness which seems to have its foundation or occasion from the second Verse of the first Chapter of Genesis And the Earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep Of this testimony of Hesiod Lactantius takes notice and censures it in the first Book of his Institutions 〈…〉 Hesiodus non à Deo conditore sumens exordium sed à Chao quod est rudis inordinat á que materiae confusae congeries Hesiod not taking his beginning from God the Creator of all things but from the Chaos which is a rude and inordinate heap of confused matter And so Ovid describes it in the beginning of his Metamorphosis Quem dixere Chaos rudis indigestáque moles Nec quicquam nisi pondus iners congestáque eôdem Non bene junctarum discordia semina rerum That is One face had Nature which they Chaos nam'd An undigested lump a barren load Where jarring Seeds of things ill joyn'd aboad Others of the Ancients have also made mention of the Chaos as Aristophanes in Avibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And Lucan in the beginning of his first Book Antiquum repetent iterum Chaos omnia c. Of the formation of all the Parts of the World out of this Chaos Ovid in the place fore-quoted gives us a full and particular description and Euripides before him a brief one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Heaven and Earth were at first of one form but after they were separated the Earth brought forth Trees Birds Beasts Fishes and Mankind The like account also the ancient Philosopher Anaxagoras gives of the Creation of the World beginning his Philosophy thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is All things at first were together or mingled and confused then Mind supervening disposed them in a beautiful order That which I chiefly dislike in this Opinion of theirs is that they make no mention of the Creation of this Chaos but seem to look upon it as self-existent and improduced CHAP. II. That the Creation of the World out of a Chaos is not repugnant to the Holy Scripture THis Opinion of a Chaos if soberly understood not as self-existent and improduced but in the first place created by God and preceding other Beings which were made out of it is not so far as I can discern any way repugnant to the Holy Scripture but on the contrary rather consonant and agreeable thereto For Moses in the History and Description of the Creation in the first Chapter of Genesis saith not that God created all things in an instant in their full state and perfection but that he proceeded gradually and in order
now appeareth above the Waters being taken as it were out of the place which the Waters now possess must be equal to the place out of which it was taken and consequently it seemeth that the height or elevation of the one should answer to the depth or descending of the other And therefore as I said in estimating the deepness of the Sea we are not to consider only the erection of the Hills above the ordinary Land but the advantage of all the dry Land above the Sea Which latter I mean the height of the ordinary Main Land is in my opinion more in large Continents above the Sea than that of the Hills is above the Land For that the plain and common face of the dry Land is not level or equally distant from the Center but hath great declivity and descent towards the Sea and acclivity or rising toward the Mid-land part although it appear not so to the common view of the Eye is to reason notwithstanding manifest Because as it is found in that part of the Earth which the Sea covereth that it descendeth lower and lower toward the midst of the Sea for the Sea which touching the upper face of it is known to be level by nature and evenly distant from the Center is withal observed to wax deeper and deeper the further one saileth from the Shore towards the Main Even so in that part which is uncovered the coursings and streamings of Rivers on all sides from the Mid-land parts towards the Sea whose property we know is to slide from the higher to the lower evidently declare so much This Author with Damascen supposes that the unevenness and irregularity which is now seen in the Superficies of the Earth was caused either by taking some parts out of the upper face of the Earth in sundry places to make it more hollow and laying them in other places to make it more convex or else which in effect is equivalent to that by raising up some and depressing others to make room and receipt for the Sea that Mutation being wrought by the Power of that Word Let the waters be gathered into one place that the dry land may appear This proportioning of the Cavities appointed to receive the Seas to the protuberancy of the dry Land above the common Superficies of the Ocean is to me a sufficient Argument to prove that the gathering together of the Waters into one place was a work of counsel and design and if not effected by the immediate Finger of God yet at least governed and directed by him So the Scripture affirms the place to receive the Sea to have been prepared by God Psalm 104. 8. Now in things of this nature to the giving an account whereof whatever Hypothesis we can possibly invent can be but meerly conjectural those are to be most approved that come nearest to the Letter of Scripture and those that 〈◊〉 with it to be rejected how trim or consistent soever with themselves they may seem to be this being as much as when God tells us how he did make the World for as to tell him how he should have made it But here it may be objected That the present Earth looks like a heap of Rubbish and Ruines And that there are no greater examples of confusion in Nature than Mountains singly or jointly considered and that there appear not the least footsteps of any Art or Counsel either in the Figure and Shape or Order and Disposition of Mountains and Rocks Wherefore it is not likely they came so out of God's hands who by the Ancient Philosophers is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to make all things in number weight and measure To which I answer That the present face of the Earth with all its Mountains and Hills its Promontories and Rocks as rude and deformed as they appear seems to me a very beautiful and pleasant object and with all that variety of Hills and Valleys and Inequalities far more grateful to behold than a perfectly level Country without any rising or protuberancy to terminate the sight As any one that hath on the one hand seen the Isle of Ely or any the like Countrey exactly level and extending on all sides further then one can ken or that hath been far out at Sea where nothing is to be seen but Sky and Water and on the other from the Downs of Sussex enjoyed that spatious and ravishing prospect of the Countrey on one hand and the Sea on the other comparing both objects must necessarily confess 2. They are useful to Mankind in affording them convenient places for habitation and situations of Houses and Villages serving as Skreens to keep off the cold and nipping blasts of the Northern and Easterly Winds and reflecting the benign and cherishing Sun-beams and so rendring their habitations both more comfortable and chearly in Winter and promoting the growth of Herbs and Fruit-trees and the maturation of their Fruits in Summer Bâ—sides casting off the Waters they lay the Gardens Yards and Avenues to the Houses dry and clean and so as well more salutary as more elegant Whereas Houses built in Plains unless shaded with Trees stand bleak and exposed to wind and weather and all Winter are apt to be grievously annoyed with mire and dirt 3. A Land so distinguished into Mountains Valleys and Plains is also most convenient for the entertainment of the various sorts of Animals which God hath created some whereof delight in cold some in hot some moist and watery some in dry and upland places and some of them could neither find nor gather their proper food in different Regions Some Beasts and Birds we find live upon the highest tops of the Alps and that all the Winter too while they are constantly covered with Snow as the Ibex and Rupicapra or Chamois among Quadrupeds and Lagopus among Birds 4. The Mountains are most proper for the putting forth of Plants yielding the greatest variety and the most luxuriant sorts of Vegetables for the maintenance of the Animals proper to those places and for Medicinal Uses partly also for the exercise and delight of such ingenious persons as are addicted to search out and collect those Rarities to contemplate and consider their Forms and Natures and to admire and celebrate the Wisdom of their Creator 5. All manner of Metals Minerals and Fossils if they could be generated in a level Earth of which there is some question yet should they be dug or mined for the Delfs must necessarily be so flown with Water which to derive and rid away no Adits or Soughs could be made and I much doubt whether Gins would suffice that it would be extremely difficult and chargeable if possible to work them at all 6. Neither are the very tops of the highest Mountains barren of Grass for the feeding and fattening of Beasts For on the Ridges of the high Mountains of Iura and Saleve near Geneva and thoâ—e of Rhoetia or the Grisons Countrey which are the highest of all
if not about the Center yet certainly in profound Caverns and even under the very bottoms of the Seas to which some and no mean Philosophers have attributed the Ebbing and flowing of its waters Let us then suppose that the Rivers do daily carry down to the Sea half an Ocean of water and that the Rain supplies all that as our Opinion is and see what we can infer from thence I think it will be granted that ordinarily communibus annis the Rain that falls in a whole year amounts not to above one quarters continual Rain Now if this suffices for a daily eâ—â—usion of half an Ocean 〈…〉 that if it should rain without any 〈◊〉 all the year round the Rivers would 〈◊〉 out two Oceans into the Sea 〈◊〉 And so in forty days continual Rain 〈◊〉 would distil down upon the Earth 〈…〉 of Water A prodigious quantity 〈◊〉 and â—â—arce credible which if the 〈…〉 as fast as it comes on 〈…〉 a quantity of water 〈…〉 twice in twenty four 〈…〉 then that so much water 〈…〉 upon the â—arth I argue thus 〈…〉 upon the Earth must have 〈…〉 down to the Sea and according â—o the small declivity of the 〈…〉 the Mountains pared off and 〈…〉 a considerable one too 〈…〉 it actually hath so that the Floods 〈…〉 some days after the 〈…〉 upon the higher grounds And 〈…〉 the general Deluge 〈…〉 down to the Sea as fast 〈…〉 the Earth would permit 〈…〉 the Fountains of the 〈…〉 Clouds 〈…〉 could than they run down 〈…〉 the Earth it deserves 〈…〉 whether by the end of 〈…〉 Mountains fifteen Cubits high And yet the Scripture doth not in plain terms say that ever the waters of the Flood arose fifteen Cubits above the tops of the highest Mountains as Mr. Warren well observes Besides we are further to consider that this forty days Rain at the time of the Deluge was no ordinary one such as those that usually distil down leisurely and gently in Winter time but like our Thunder-storms and violent Showers Catarracts and Spouts which pour forth more water in an hour then they do in four and twenty So that in forty natural days the Clouds would empty out upon the Earth not eighty Oceans of water but above twenty times that quantity If by the Windows of Heaven are meant Catarracts as the Septuagint interpret the word And so we need not be to seek for water for a Floud for the Rain alone falling at that rate we have mentioned would if the Opinion of those men who hold that the Rivers discharge into the Sea half an Ocean daily were true in the space of forty natural days afford water enough supposing it run off no faster than usually it doth to cover the Earth Mountains and all Neither yet did the Mountains help but rather hinder the descent of the waters down to the Sea straitning it into Channels obstructing its passage and forcing it to take Circuits till it got above the Ridges and Tops of them As to this Argumentation and Inference the case is the same if we hold that the Water circulates through the 〈◊〉 of the Earth For supposing the Rivers pour 〈◊〉 half an Ocean daily and granting that in times of Floods their streams are but double of their usual Currents though I verily believe they are more than quadruple and that the eâ—fusions of the Fountains be in like measure augmented it will follow that the daily discharge of the Rivers will amount to two Oceans Now at the time of the general Deluge both these Causes concurred For there being a constant Rain of forty days there must on that account be a continual Flood and the Fountains of the great Deep â—eing broken up they must in all likelyhood afford as much Water as the Rain which whether it would not suffice in forty natural days to produce a Flood as big as that of Noah notwitâ—standing the continual descent and going off of the Waters I propose to the consideration of the Ingenious Especially if we allow as is not unreasonable 〈◊〉 suppose that the Divine Providence 〈◊〉 at first cause a contrary Wind to stop 〈◊〉 â—nhibit the descent of the Waters as afterwards he raised an assisting one to carry them off I have but one thing more to add upon this Subject that is that I do not see how their Opinion can be true who hold that some Seas are lower than others as for Example the Red Sea than the Mediterranean For it being true that the Water keeps its level that is holds its Superficies every where equidistant from the Center of Gravity or if by accident one part be lower the rest by reason of their fluidity will speedily reduce the Superficies again to an equality The Waters of all Seas communicating either above or under ground or both ways one Sea cannot be higher or lower than another but supposing any accident should elevate or depress any by reason of this confluence or communication it would soon be reduced to a level again as might demonstratively be proved But I return to tell the Reader what I think the most probable of all the Causes I have heard assigned of the Deluge which is the Center of the Earth being at that time changed and set nearer to the Center or middle of our Continent whereupon the Atlantick and Pacifick Oceans must needs press upon the Subterraneous Abyss and so by mediation thereof force the Water upward and at last compel it to run out at those wide Mouths and Apertures made by the Divine Power breaking up the Fountains of the great Deep And we may suppose this to have been only a gentle and gradual Emotion no faster than that the Waters running out at the bottom of the Sea might accordingly lowre the Superficies thereof sufficiently so that none needed run over the Shores These Waters thus poured out from the Orifices of the Fountains upon the Earth the declivity being changed by the removal of the Center could not flow down to the Sea again but must needs stagnate upon the Earth and overflow it and afterwards the Earth returning to its old Center return also to their former Receptacles If any shall object against this Hypothesis because by it the Flood will be render'd Topical and restrained only to the Continent we live in though I might plead the Unnecessariness of drowning America it being in all probability unpeopled at that time yet because the Scripture useth general expressions concerning the extent of the Flood saying Gen. 1. 19. And all the high hills that were under the whole Heaven were covered and again verse 22. All in whose nostrils was the breath of lìfe of all that was in the dry land died And because the Americans also are said to have some ancient Memorial Tradition of a Deluge and the Ingenious Author of the Theory of the Earth hath by a moderate Computation demonstrated that there must be then more People upon the Earth than now I will propose another way of
Mutations are made in the upper or superficial Region of the Earth the parts thereof seeming to tend to a greater quiet and settlement Besides the Superficies of the Sea notwithstanding the overwhelming and submersion of Islands and the straitning of it about the Outlets of Rivers and the Earth it washes from the shores subsiding and elevating the bottom seems not to be raised higher nor spread further or bear any greater proportion to that of the Land then it did a thousand years ago So have I finished my second Discourse concerning the Deluge and its Effects and the Mutations that have been since made in the Earth and their Causes DISCOURSE III. OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE WORLD THE INTRODUCTION TO THE Third Discourse THERE is implanted in the Nature of Man a great desire and curiosity of fore-knowing future Events and what shall befal themselves their Relations and Dependents in time to come the Fates of Kingdoms and Commonwealths especially the Periodical Mutations and final Catastrophe of the World Hence in ancient times Divination was made a Science or Mystery and many Nations had their Colledges or Societies of Wise-men Magicians Astrologers and Sooth-sayers as for example the Egyptians Babylonians and Romans Hence the Vulgar are very prone to consult Diviners and Fortune-tellers To gratifie in some measure this Curiosity and that his People might not in any Priviledge be inferiour to the Nations about them it pleased God besides the standing Oracle of Vrim not only upon special occasions to raise up among the Iews extraordinary Prophets by immediate Mission but also to settle a constant Order and Succession of them for the maintenance and upholding whereof there were Colledges and Seminaries instituted for the educating and fitting young Men for the Prophetick Function These were the Sons of the Prophets of whom we find so frequent mention in Scripture Moreover it pleased God so far to condescend to the weakness of the Iews that in the Infancy of their State he permitted them to consult his Prophets concerning ordinary accidents of life and affairs of small moment As we see Saul did Samuel about the loss of his Fathers Asses which it 's not likely he would have done had it not been usual and customary so to do In the latter times of that State we read of no consulting of Prophets upon such occasions At last also by their own confession the Spirit of Prophecy was quite taken away and nothing left them but a Vocal Oracle which they called Bath col i. e. the Daughter of a Voice or the Daughter of Thunder a Voice out of a Voice This Dr. Light foot thinks to have been a meer Fancy or Imposture Quae de Bath Kol referunt Iudaei ignoscant illi mihi si ego partim pro fabulis habeam Iuduicis partim pro praestigis Diabolicis What the Iews report concerning Bath Kol I beg their pardon if I esteem them no other then either Jewish Fables or Diabolical Illusions It is a Tradition among them that after the death of the last Prophets Haggai Zachary and Malachy the Holy Spirit departed from Israel But why I beseech you was Prophecy withdrawn if Coelestial Oracles were to be continued Why was Vrim and Thummim taken away or rather not restored by their own confession after the Babylonish Captivity It were strange indeed that God taking away his ordinary Oracles from a People should bestow upon them one more or equally noble and that after they were extremely degenerated and fallen into all manner of Impiety Superstition and Heresy c. And a little after if I may freely speak what I think those innumerable Stories which every where occur in the Jewish Writings concerning Bath Kol are to be reduced to two Heads viz. 1. The most of them are meer Fables invented in honour of this or that Rabbin or to gain credit to some History 2. The rest meer Magical and Diabolical Illusions c. In the Primitive Churches of Christians planted by the Apostles there was also an Order of Prophets 1 Cor. 12. 28. God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets c. This Spirit of Prophecy was an extraordinary and temporary Gift as were the Gifts of Healing and Speaking with Tongues continuing not long after the Death of the Apostles and Consignation of the Canon of Scripture So that now we have no means left us of coming to the knowledge of future Events but the Prophecies contained in the Writings of the Holy Penmen of Scripture which we must search diligently consider attentively and compare together if we desire to understand any thing of what shall befal the Christian Church or State in time to come This Text which I have made choice of for my Subject is part of a Prophecy concerning the greatest of all Events the Dissolution of the World 2 PETER iii. 11. Seeing then all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness CHAP. 1. The Division of the Words and Doctrine contained in them with the Heads of the following Discourse THESE Words contain in them two Parts 1. An Antecedent or Doctrine All these things shall be dissolved 2. A Consequent or Inference thereupon What manner of persons ought we to be The Doctrine here only briefly hinted or summarily proposed is laid down more fully in the precedent Verse But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up These words are by the generality of Interpreters Ancient and Modern understood of the final destruction or dissolution of Heaven and Earth in which sense I shall choose rather to accept them at present than with the Reverend and Learned Dr. Hammond and some few others to stem the Tide of Expositors and apply them to the destruction of Ierusalem and the Jewish Polity I say then That this World and all things therein contained shall one day be dissolved and destroyed by Fire By World in this Proposition We and by Heaven and Earth in this place the most rational Interpreters of Scripture do understand only the whole Compages of this sublunary World and all the Creatures that are in it all that was destroyed by the Flood in the days of Noah and now secured from perishing so again that I may borrow Dr. Hammond's words in his Annotations on this place And again the word Heavens saith he being an Equivocal word is used either for the superiour Heavens whether Empyreal or Ethereal or for the sublunary Heavens the Air as the word World is either the whole Compages of the superiour and inferiour World as the Author of the Book De Mundo ascribed falsly to Aristotle defines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Systeme or Compages of Heaven and Earth and the Beings therein contained or
upon it as an Oracle and Decree of Fate Ovid speaks of it as such in the first of his Metamorphosis Esse quoque in fati reminiscitur affore tempus Quo mare quo tellus correptáque regia coeli Ardeat mundi moles operosa laboret Besides by Doom Of certain Fate he knew the time should come When Sea Earth ravisht Heaven the curious Frame Of this Worlds Mass should shrink in purging Flame And Lucan Hos Caesar populos si nunc non usserit ignis Vret cum terris uret cum gurgite ponti Communis mundo superest rogus ossibus Astra Misturus If now these Bodies want their Fire and Urn At last with the whole Globe they 'll surely burn The World expects one general Fire and Thou Must go where these poor Souls are wandring now Now though some are of Opinion that by Fata here are to be understood the Sibylline Oracles and to that purpose do alledge some Verses out of those extant under that Title as Lactantius in his Book De ir a Dei cap. 2. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it shall sometime be that God not any more mitigating his Anger but aggravating it shall destroy the whole Race of Mankind consuming it by a conflagration And in another place there is mention made of a River of Fire that shall descend from Heaven and burn up both Earth and Sea Tunc ardens fluvius coelo manabit ab alto Igneus at que locos consumet funditus omnes Terrámque Oceanúmque ingentem caerula ponti Stagnáque tum fluvios fontes Ditémque severum Coelestâ—mque polum coeli quoque lumina in unum Haxa ruent â—ormâ deletâ prorsus eorum Aâ—tra cadent etenim de coelo cunâ—a revulsa Then shall a burning Flood flow from the Heavens on high And with its fiery Streams all places utterly Destroy Earth Ocean Lakes Rivers Fountains Hell And heavenly Poles the Lights in Firmament that dwell Losing their beauteous Form shall be obscur'd and all Raught from their places down from Heaven to Earth shall fall Now because the Verses now extant under the Name of Sibylline Oracles are all suspected to be false and Pseudepigrapha and many of them may be demonstrated to be of no greater Antiquity than the Emperour Antoninus Pius his Reign and because it cannot be proved that there was any such thing in the Ancient genuine Sibylline Oracles I rather think as I said before that it was a Doctrine of ancient Tradition handed down from the first Fathers and Patriarchs of the World Iosephus in his Antiquities runs it up as high as Adam from whom Seth his Son received it his Father saith he soretelling him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there should be a destruction of the Universe once by the violence of Fire and again by the force and abundance of Water in consequence whereof he erected two Pillars one of Brick which might endure the Fire and another of Stone which would resist the Water and upon them engraved his Astronomical Observations that so they might remain to Posterity And one of these Pillars he saith continued in Syria until his days Whether this Relation be true or not it may be thence collected that this was an Universal Opinion received by Tradition both among Iews and Gentiles That the World should one day be consumed by Fire It may be proved by good Authority that the ancient Gaules Chaldaeans and Indians had this Tradition among them which they could not receive from the Greek Philosophers or Poets with whom they had no entercourse but it must in all probability be derived down to both from the same Fountain and Original that is from the first Restorers of Mankind Noah and his Sons I now proceed to the Third Particular proposed in the beginning that is to give answer to the several Questions concerning the Dissolution of the World CHAP. V. The first Question concerning the World's Dissolution Whether there be any thing in Nature that may probably cause or argue a future Dissolution Three probable Means propounded and discussed SECT I. The Waters again naturally overflowing and covering the Earth THE First Question is Whether there be any thing in Nature which may prove and demonstrate or probably argue and infer a future Dissolution To which I answer That I think there is nothing in Nature which doth necessarily demonstrate a future Dissolution but that Position of the Peripatetick Schools may for ought I know be true Philosophy Posito ordinario Dei concursu mundus posset durare in aeternum Supposing the ordinary concourse of God with second Causes the World might endure for ever But though a future Dissolution by Natural Causes be not demonstrable yet some possible if not probable Accidents there are which if they should happen might infer such a dissolution Those are Four The possibility of 1. The Waters again overflowing and covering the Earth 2. The Extinction of the Sun 3. The Eruption of the Central Fire enclosed in the Earth 4. The Driness and Inflammability of the Earth under the Torrid Zone and the Eruption of all the Vulcano's at once But before I treat of these it will not be amiss a little to consider the old Argument for the Worlds Dissolution and that is its daily Consenescence and Decay which if it can be proved will in process of time necessarily infer a Dissolution For as the Apostle saith in another case That which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away Hebr. 8. 13. That which continually wastes will at last be quite consumed that which daily grows weaker and weaker will in time lose all its force So the Age and Stature and Strength of Man and all other Animals every Generation decreasing they will in the end come to nothing And that all these and all other things do successively diminish and decay in all Natural Perfections and Qualities as well as Moral hath been the received Opinion not only of the Vulgar but even of Philosophers themselves from Antiquity down to our times Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 16. In plenum autem cuncto mortalium generi minorem indies mensuram staturae propemodum observatur rarosque patribus proceriores consumente ubertatem seminum exustione in cujus vices nunc vergat aevum In sum It is observed that the measure of the stature of all Mankind decreases and grows less daily and that there are few taller then their Parents the burning to which the Age inclines consuming the Luxury of the Seeds Terra malos homines nunc educ aâ— que pusillos Juvenal Sat. The Earth now breeds Men bad and small And Gellius Noct. Att. lib. 3. c. 10. Et nunc quasi jam mundo senescente rerum atque hominum decrementa sunt And now as if the World waxed old there is a decrement or decay both of Things and Men I might accumulate places out of the Ancients and Moderns to this
in his Book De Mundi Fabrica more briefly Pergratum Lectori fore existimavi si rem sâ—itu dignissimam exposuero c. I thought it might be very acceptable to the Reader if I should discover to him a thing most worthy to be known which I have long ago and for a long time observed and am daily more confirmed in especially seeing no former Writer that I know of hath published any thing concerning it It is this That the Superficies of the whole Earth which is now rough and uneven by reason of Mountains and Valleys and so only rudely Sphaerical is daily from the very beginning of the World reducing to a perâ—â—â—t roundness in so much that it will necessarily come to pass in a natural way that it be one day overflown by the Sea and rendred unhabitble First then that we may clearly apprehend the Causes of this thing we must lay down as a Foundation from Holy Writ That the Terraqueous Globe was in the beginning endued with a more perfect Spherical Figure that is without any inequalities of Mountains and Valleys and that it was wholly covered with the Sea and so altogether unfit for Terrestrial Animals to inhabit but it was then rendred habitable when by the beck or command of its Creator the greatest part of the Land was translated from one place to another whereupon here appeared the hollows of the Seas there the heights of the Mountains And all the Waters which before covered the face of the whole Earth receded and flowing down filled those depressed and hollow places and this Congregation of Waters was called the Sea Hence some grave Authors doubt not to assert That the Mountains were made up of that very Earth which before filled the Cavities of the Sea Whence it follows that the Earth as now it is mountainous and elevated above the Waters hath not its Natural Figure but is in a violent state but Nullum violentum est perpetuum Besides the Earth being heavier then the Water none of its parts ought to be extant and appear above its Superficies and yet we see that the Earth is really higher than the Sea especially the mountainous parts of it in which respect also both Land and Water are in a violent state Wherefore it is very convenient to the Nature of both that they should daily return towards their ancient and primigenial state and figure and accordingly we affirm that they do so Moreover we say that the Waters both of Rains and Rivers are the Cause of this Restitution as will appear by the following Observations First we see that Rivers do daily fret and undermine the Roots of the Mountains so that here and there from most Mountains they cause great Ruins and Precipices whence the Mountains appear broken and the Earth so fallen from the Mountains the Rivers carry down to the lower places From these Corrosions of the Rivers proceed these â—low but great Ruines called Labinae à labendo in which some Streets and whole Villages are precipitated into the Rivers 2. We daily see that the Rain-waters wash away the Superficies of the Mountains and carry them down to the lower places Hence it comes to pass that the higher Mountains are also harder and more stony than the rest by means whereof they better resist the Water Hence also it comes to pass that ancient Buildings in Mountains their Foundations being by degrees discovered prove not very durable For which reason the Foundations of the Roman Capitol are now wholly extant above ground which of old at its first erection were sunk very deep into it This same thing all the Inhabitants of the Mountains do confirm all saying that this lowering of Mountains was long since known to them for that formerly some intermediate Mountains intercepted the sight of a Castle or Tower situate in a more remote Mountain which after many Years the intervenient Mountain being depressed came clearly into view And George Agricola is of Opinion which I very much approve of that the Rivers produced the Mountains and Hills in this manner In the beginning of the World there were not so many particular divided Mountains but only perpetual eminent Ridges of Land not dissected into so many Valleys as we now see So for example our Appennine was at first one continued even eminent Ridge of Land not divided into any particular Mountains and Hills by intervening Valleys as now it is but that after the Rivers began to flow down from the top of it by little and little fretting and corroding the Ground they made Valleys and daily more and more and by this means the whole Apennine came to be divided into many Hills and Mountains 3. In Plains we see the directly contrary happens for the Plains are daily more and more elevated because the Waters do let fall in the plain and hollow places the Earth they brought down with them from the Mountains Hence we see that ancient Buildings in such places are almost wholly buried in the ground So in Rome at the foot of the Capitoline Mountain we see the Triumphal Arch of Septimius almost wholly overwhelmed in the Earth and every-where in ancient Cities many Gates and Doors of Houses almost landed up little thereof being extant above ground From which it appears that this sinking and demersion of Buildings into the Earth is a manifest sign of their Antiquity which is so much the greater by how much the deeper they are sunk So for example at Bononia in Italy many of the ancient Gates of the City which the Bolognese call Torresotti are very deeply sunk which is a certain argument of their Antiquity and thence it appears to be true that Histories relate that they were built in the time of S. Petronius about 1200 Years ago But here it is to be noted that other things agreeing those are deeper depressed that are built in lower places than those in higher for the reason above-said So at Bononia that old Port called Il Torresotto di S. Georgio is deeplier buried or landed up than that which is called Il Torresotto di Stra Castilione because that is situated in a lower place and therefore the Earth is more easily raised up about it 4. The same is affirmed by Architects who when they dig their Foundations do every-where in plain places first of all remove the Earth which they call Commota loose or shaken which is mixt with Fragments of Wood Iron Rubbish Coyns ancient Urns and other things which when it is thrown out they come to another sort of Earth that hath never been stirred but is solid compact and not mixt with any heterogeneous things especially artificial That moved Commota and impure Earth is it which the Waters have by little and little brought down from the higher to the more depressed places which is not every-where of equal depth But now because in the Mountains there is no where found such moved or new Earth as is plain from the Experience of
That not far from Ligorn he himself had observed a whole City under Water that had been in former times drown'd by the Inundation of the Sea And over against Puteoli in the Sinus of Baia he tells us That in the bottom of the Sea there are not only Houses but the Traces and Footsteps of the Streets of some City manifestly discernable And in the County of Suffolk almost the whole Town of Donewich with the adjacent Lands hath been undermined and devoured by the Sea This washing away of the Shores is I conceive in great measure to be attributed to the forementioned streightning and cutting short of the Sea by the Earth and Siâ—t that in the times of Floods are brought down into it by the Rivers For the Vulgar have a Proverbial Tradition That what the Sea loses in one place it gains in another And both tâ—gether do very handsomly make out and explâ—in how the Earth in a natural way may be reduced to its primitive state in the Creation when the Waters covered the Land But this according to the 〈◊〉 proceedings of Nature would not come to pass in many Ages I might say in Ages of Ages Nay some think that those vast Ridges and Chains of Mountains which run through the middle of the Continents are by reason of their great height weight and solidity too great a Morsel ever to be devoured by the Jaws of the Sea But whether they be or not I need not dispute though I incline to the Negative because this is not the dissolution the Apostle here speaks of which must be by Fire But I must not here dissemble an Objection I see may be made and that is That the Superficies of the Earth is so far from being depressed that it is continually elevated For in ancient Buildings we see the Earth raised high above the foot of them So the Pantheon at Rome which was at first ascended up to by many eight Steps is now descended down to by as many The Basis and whole Pedestal of Trajan's Pillar there was buried in the Earth Dr. Tancred Robinson in the year 1683. observ'd in some places the Walls of old Rome to lye Thirty and Forty Foot under Ground so that he thinks the greater part of the Remains of that famous Ancient City is still buried and undiscovered the prodigious heaps of Ruins and Rubbish inclosed within the Vineyards and Gardens being not half dig'd up or search't as they might be the tops of Pillars peeping up and down And in our own Country we find many Ancient Roman Pavements at some depth under Ground My Learned and Ingenious Friend Mr. Edward Loyd not long since inform'd of one that himself had seen buried deep in the Church-yard at Wychester in Glocestershire Nay the Earth in time will grow over and bury the Bodies of great Timber Trees that have been â—allen and lye long upon it which is made one great reasâ—n that such great numbers even whâ—â— Woods of Subterraneous Trees are frequently met with and dug up at vast depths in the Spanish and Dutch Netherlands as well as in many places of this Island of Great Britain To which I answer as to Buildings 1. The Ruins and Rubbish of the Cities wherein they stood might be conceived to bury them as deep as they now lye under ground And by this means it's likely the Roman Pavements we find might come to be covered to that height we mentioned For that the places where they occur were anciently Roman Towns subverted and ruined may easily be proved as particularly in this we mention'd from the Termination Chesâ—er whatever Town or Village hath that addition to its Name having been anciently a Roman Town or Camp Chester seeming to be nothing but Castra 2. It is to be consider'd That weighty Buildings do in time overcome the resistance of the Foundation unless it be a solid Rock and sink into the ground Nay the very soft Water lying long upon the bottoms of the Sea or Pools doth so compress and sadden them by its weight that the very Roads that are continually beaten with Horses and Carriages are not so firm and sad And in the Sea the nearer you dig to the Low Water-Mark still the sadder and firmer it is and it 's probable still the further the sadder which seems to be confirmed by the strong fixing of Anchors This firmness of the Sand by the weight of the incumbent Water the People inhabiting near the Sea are so sensible of that I have seen them boldly ride through the Water cross a Channel three Miles broad before the Tide was out when in some places it reacht to the Horses Belly A semblance whereof we have in Ponds which being newly digg'd the Water that runs into them sinks soon into the Earth and they become dry again till after some time by often filling the Earth becomes so solid through the weight of the Water that they leak no more but hold Water up to the brink Wittie Scarborough Spaw p. 86. What force a gentle if continual pressure hath we may understand also by the Roots of Trees which we see will sometimes pierce through the Chinks of Stone Walls and in time make great Cracks and Rifts in them nay will get under their very Foundations The tender Roots of Herbs overcome the resistance of the ground and make their way through Clay or Gravel By the by we may here take Notice that one reason why plowing harrowing siâ—ting or any comminution of the Earth renders it more fruitful is because the Roots of Grass Corn and other Herbs can with more facility creep abroad and multiply their Fibres in the light and loose Earth That the rotting of Grass and other Herbs upon the ground may in some places raise the Superficies of it I will not deny that 〈◊〉 â—n Gardens and Enclosures where the Ground is rank and no Cattel are admitted 〈◊〉 eat off the Fog or long Grass but elsewhere the raising of the Superficies of the Faith is very little and inconsiderable and none at all unless in level Grounds which have but little declivity For otherwise the Soyl would by this time have come to be of a very great depth which we find to be but shallow Nor do I think that so much as the Trunks of fall'n Trees are by this means covered but rather that they sink by their own weight in time overcoming the resistance of the Earth which without much difficulty yields being soaked and softned by the Rains insinuating into it and keeping it continually most in Winter-time But if these Buildings be situate in Valleys it is clear that the Earth brought down from the Mountains by Rain may serve to land them up Again the Superficies of the Earth may be raised near the Sea Coast by the continual blowing up of Sand by the Winds This happens often in Norfolk and in Cornwall where I observed a fair Church viz. that of the Parish called Lalant which is the Mother
the middle of the Earth which could not be meant saith he of the Sepulchre because that was hewen out of a Rock in its Superficies 3. It is a received Opinion among the Divines of the Church of Rome that Hell is about the Center of the Earth insomuch as some of them have been solicitous to demonstrate that there is room enough to receive all the Damned by giving us the Dimensions thereof Neither is it repugnant to the History of the Creation in Genesis For tho' indeed Moses doth mention only Water and Earth as the component parts of this Body yet doth he not assert that the Earth is a simple uniform homogeneous Body as neither do we when we say Vpon the face of the earth or the like For the Earth we see is a Mass made up of a multitude of different Species of Bodies Metals Minerals Stones and other Fossils Sand Clay Marle Chalk c. which do all agree in that they are consistent and solid more or less and are in that respect contradistinguished to Water and together compound one Mass which we call Earth Whether the interior parts of the Earth be made up of so great a variety of different Bodies is to us altogether unknown For tho' it be observed by Colliers that the Beds of Coals lie one way and do always dip towards the East let them go never so deep so that would it quit cost and were it not for the Water they say they might pursue the Bed of Coals to the very Center of the Earth the Coals never failing or coming to an end that way yet that is but a rash and ungrounded Conjecture For what is the depth of the profoundest Mines were they a Mile deep to the Semidiameter of the Earth not as one to four thousand Comparing this Observation of Dipping with my Notes about other Mines I find that the Veins or Beds of all generally run East and West and dip towards the East Of which what Account or Reason can we give but the motion of the Earth from West to East I know some say that the Veins for Example of Tin and Silver dip to the North tho' they confess they run East and West which is a thing I cannot understand the Veins of those Metals being narrow things Sir Tho. Willoughby in his fore-mentioned Letter writes thus I have talked with some of my Colliers about the lying of the Coal and find that generally the Basset end as they call it lies West and runs deeper toward the East allowing about twenty Yards in length to gain one in depth but sometimes they decline a little from this posture for mine lie almost South-West and North-East They always sink to the East more or less There may therefore for ought we know be Fire about the Center of the Earth as well as any other Body if it can find a Pabulum or Fuel there to maintain it And why may it not since the Fires in those subterraneous Caverns of Aetna Vesuvius Stromboli Hecla and other burning Mountains or Vulcano's have found wherewith to feed them for Thousands of Years And as there are at some tho' uncertain Periods of Time violent Eruptions of Fire from the Craters of those Mountains and mighty Streams of melted Materials poured forth from thence so why may not this Central Fire in the Earth if any such there be receiving accidentally extraordinary supplies of convenient Fuel either from some inflammable Matter within or from without rend the thick exterior Cortex which imprisons it or finding some Vents and Issues break forth and overflow the whole Superficies of the Earth and burn up all things This is not impossible and we have seen some Phaenomena in Nature which bid fair towards a Probability of it For what should be the reason of new Stars appearing and disappearing again as that noted one in Cassiopeia which at first shone with as great a lustre as Venus and then by degrees diminishing after some two Years vanish'd quite away but that by great supplies of combustible Matter the internal Fire suddenly increasing in quantity and force either found or made its way through the Cracks or Vents of the Maculae which inclosed it and in an instant as it were overflowed the whole surface of the Star whence proceeded that illustrious Light which afterwards again gradually decayed its supply failing Whereas other newly appearing Stars which either have a constant supply of Matter or where the Fire hath quite dissolved the Maculae and made them comply with its motion have endured for a long time as that which now shines in the Neck of Cygnus which appears and disappears at certain Intervals But because it is not demonstrable that there is any such Central Fire in the Earth I propose the eruption thereof rather as a possible than probable means of a Conflagration and proceed to the last means whereby it may naturally be effected and that is SECT IV. The Fourth Natural Cause of the World's Dissolution the Earth's Dryness and Inflammability IV. THE Dryness and Inflammability of the Earth under the Torrid Zone with the eruption of the Vulcano's to set it on fire Those that hold the Inclination of the Equator to the Ecliptick daily to diminish so that after the Revolutions of some Ages they will jump and consent tell us that the Sun-beams lying perpendicularly and constantly on the parts under the Equator the Ground thereabout must needs be extremely parch'd and rendred apt for Inflammation But for my part I own no such Decrement of Inclination And the best Mathematicians of our Age deny that there hath been any since the eldest Observations that are come down to us For tho' indeed Ptolomy and Hipparchus do make it more than we find it by above twenty Minutes yet that Difference is not so considerable but that it may well be imputed to the Difference of Instruments or Observations in point of Exactness So that not having decreased for Eighteen hundred Years past there is not the least ground for Conjecture that it will alter in Eighteen hundred Years to come should the World last so long And yet if there were such a Diminution it would not conduce much so far as I can see to the bringing on of a Conflagration For tho' the Earth would be extremely dried and perchance thereby rendred more inflammable yet the Air being by the same Heat as much rarified would contain but few nitrous Particles and so be inept to maintain the Fire which we see cannot live without them It being much deaded by the Sun shining upon it and burning very remisly in Summer time and hot Weather For this reason in Southern Countries in extraordinary hot Seasons the Air scarce sufficeth for Respiration To the clearing up of this let us a little consider what Fire is It seems to consist of three different sorts of parts 1. An extremely thin and subtil Body whose Particles are in a very vehement and rapid motion 2.
A supposed Nitrous Pabulum or Fewel which it receives from the Air. 3. A Sulphureous or unctuous Pabulum which it acts and preys upon passing generally by the Name of Fewel This ' fore-mentioned subtil Body agitating the supposed Nitrous Particles it receives from the Air doth by their help as by Wedges to use that rude similitude penetrate the unctuous Bodies upon which it acts and divide them into their immediate component Particles and at length perchance into their first Principles which Operation is called the Chymical Anatomy of mix'd Bodies So we see Wood for Example divided by Fire into Spirit Oyl Water Salt and Earth That Fire cannot live without those Particles it receives from the Air is manifest in that if you preclude the access of all Air it is extinguished immediately and in that where and when the Air is more charged with them as in cold Countries and cold Weather the Fire rages most That likewise it cannot be continued without an unctuous Pabulum or Fewel I appeal to the Experience of all Men. Now then in the rarified Air in the Torrid Zone the nitrous Particles being proportionably scattered and thin set the Fire that might be kindled there would burn but very languidly and remisly as we said just now And so the Eruptions of Vulcano's if any such happened would not be like to do half the Execution there that they would do in cold Countries And yet I never read of any spreading Conflagration caused by the Eruptions of any Vulcano's either in hot Countries or in cold They usually cast out abundance of thick Smoak like Clouds darkning the Air and likewise Ashes and Stones sometimes of a vast bigness and some of them as Vesuvius Floods of Water others as Aetna Rivers of melted Materials running down many Miles as for the Flames that issue out of their Mouths at such times they are but transient and mounting upwards seldom set any thing on fire But not to insist upon this I do affirm that there hath not as yet been nor for the future can be any such drying or parching of the Earth under the Torrid Zone as some may imagine That there hath not yet been I appeal to Experience the Countries lying under the Course of the Sun being at this day as fertile as ever they were and wanting no more Moisture now than of old they did having as constant and plentiful Rains in their Seasons as they then had That they shall for the future suffer any more Drought than they have heretofore done there is no reason to believe or imagine the Face of the Earth being not altered nor naturally alterable as to the main more at present than it was heretofore I shall now add the Reason why I think there can be no such Exâ—iccation of the Earth in those parts It 's true indeed were there nothing to hinder them the Vapours exhaled by the Sun-beams in those hot Regions would be cast off to the North and to the South a great way and not fall down in Rain there but toward the Poles But the long and continued Ridges or Chains of exceeding high Mountains are so disposed by the great and wise Creator of the World as at least in our Continent to run East and West as Gassendus in the Life of Peireskius well observes such are Atlas Taurus and the Alps to name no more They are I say thus disposed as if it were on purpose to obviate and stop the Evagation of the Vapours Northward and reflect them back again so that they must needs be condensed and fall upon the Countries out of which they were elevated And on the South-side being near the Sea it is likely that the Wind blowing for the most part from thence hinders their excursion that way This I speak by presumption because in our Country for at least three quarters of the Year the Wind blows from the great Atlantick Ocean which was taken notice of by Iulius Caesar in the Fifth of his Commentaries De Bello Gallico Corus ventus qui magnam partem omnis temporis in his locis flare consuevit As for any Desiccation of the Sea I hold that by mere natural Causes to be impossible unless we could suppose a Transmutation of Principles or simple Bodies which for Reasons alledged in a former Discourse I cannot allow I was then and am still of Opinion that God Almighty did at first create a certain and determinate number of Principles or variously figured Corpuscles intransmutable by the force of any natural Agent even Fire itself which can only separate the Parts of heterogeneous Bodies yet not an equal number of each kind of these Principles but of some abundantly more as of Water Earth Air Aether and of others fewer as of Oyl Salt Metals Minerals c. Now that there may be some Bodies indivisible by Fire is I think demonstrable For how doth or can Fire be conceived to divide one can hardly imagine any other way than by its small parts by reason of their violent Agitation insinuating themselves into compound Bodies and separating their parts which allowing yet still there is a term of Magnitude below which it cannot divide viz. it cannot divide a Body into smaller parts than those whereof itself is compounded For taking suppose one least Part of Fire 't is clear that it cannot insinuate itself into a Body as little or less than itself and what is true of one is true of all I say we can imagine no other way than this unless perchance by a violent stroke or shock the parts of the Body to be divided may be put into so impetuous a motion as to fall in sunder of themselves into lesser Particles than those of the impellent Body are which I will not suppose at present Now it is possible that the Principles of some other simple Bodies may be as small as the Particles of Fire But however that be it is enough if the Principles of simple Bodies be by reason of their perfect solidity naturally indivisible Such a simple Body I suppose Water separated from all Heterogeneous Mixtures to be and consequently the same quantity thereof that was at first created doth still remain and will continue always in despight of all natural Agents unless it pleases the Omnipotent Creator to dissolve it And therefore there can be no Desiccation of the Seas unless by turning all its Water into Vapour and suspending it in the Air which to do what an immense and long-continuing Fire would be requisite to the maintenance whereof all the inflammable Materials near the Superficies of the Earth would not afford Fuel enough The Sun we see is so far from doing it that it hath not made one step towards it these four thousand Years there being in all likelihood as great a quantity of Water in the Ocean now as was immediately after the Flood and consequently there would probably remain as much in it should the World last four thousand Years longer This
is at hand We see the Apostle labours to rectifie and for the future to prevent this Mistake so likewise the Apostle Peter in the 8th and 9th Verses of this Chapter And yet this Opinion had taken such deep root in them that it was not easie to be extirpated but continued for some Ages in the Church Indeed there are so many places in the New Testament which speak of the Coming of Christ as very near that if we should have lived in their time and understood them all as they did of his Coming to Judge the World we could hardly have avoided being of the same Opinion But if we apply them as Dr. Hammond doth to his Coming to take Vengeance on his Enemies then they do not hinder but that the Day of Judgment I mean the General Judgment may be far enough off So I leave this Question unresolved concluding that when that Day will come God only knows CHAP. X. How far this Conflagration shall extend 6. A Sixth Question is How far shall this Conflagration extend Whether to the Ethereal Heavens and all the Host of them Sun Moon and Stars or to the Aereal only I Answer If we follow Ancient Tradition not only the Earth but also the Heavens and heavenly Bodies will be involved in one common Fate as appears by those Verses quoted out of Lucretius Ovid Lucan c. Of Christians some exempt the Ethereal Region from this Destruction for the two following Reasons which I shall set down in Reuterus 's words 1. Because in this Chapter the Conflagration is compared to the Deluge in the time of Noah But the Deluge extended not to the upper Regions of the Air much less to the Heavens the Waters arising only fifteen Cubits above the tops of the Mountains if so much Therefore neither shall the Conflagration transcend that term So Beza upon 2 Pet. 3. 6. Tantum ascendet ille ignis quantum aqua altior supra omnes montes That fire shall ascend as high as the Waters stood above the Mountains This passage I do not find in the last Edition of his Notes The ordinary Gloss also upon these words 2 Thess. 1. 2. In flaming fire rendring vengeance saith Christum venturum praecedet ignis in mundo qui tantum ascendet quantum aqua in diluvio There shall a fire go before Christ when he comes which shall reach as high as did the Water in the Deluge And S. Augustine De Civit. Dei lib. 20. cap. 18. Petrus etiam commemorans factum ante diluvium videtur admonuisse quodammodo quatenus in fine hujus seculi istum mundum periturum esse credamus Peter also mentioning the Ancient Deluge seems in a manner to have advised us how far at the consummation of time we are to believe this World shall perish But this Argument is of no force because it is not the Apostle's design in that place to describe the limits of the Conflagration but only against Scoffers to shew that the World should one day perish by fire as it had of old been destroyed by Water 2. The second Reason is Because the Heavenly Bodies are not subject to Passion alteration or corruption They can contract no filth and so need no expurgation by fire To this we answer not in the words of Reuter but our own That it is an idle and ill grounded conceit of the Peripateticks That the Heavenly Bodies are of their own nature incorruptible and unalterable for on the contrary it is demonstrable that many of them are of the same nature with the Earth we live upon and the most pure as the Sun and probably too the fixt Stars suffer Alterations maculoe or opaque Concretions being commonly generated and dissolved in them And Comets frequently and sometimes New Stars appear in the Etherial Regions So that these Arguments are insufficient to exempt the Heavens from Dissolution and on the other side many places there are in Scripture which seem to subject them thereto As Psal. 102. 25 26. recited Hebr. 1. 10. which hath already often been quoted The Heavens are the Works of thy Hands They shall perish Matth. 24. 35. Heaven and Earth shall pass away Isa. 65. 17. 51. 6. The Heavens shall vanish away like smoke Yet am I not of opinion that the last Fire shall reach the Heavens They are too far distant from us to suffer by it nor indeed doth the Scripture affirm it but where it mentions the Dissolution of the Heavens it expresseth it by such Phrases as seem rather to intimate that it shall come to pass by a consenescency and decay than be effected by any sudden and violent means Psal. 102. 25 26. They all shall wax old as doth a Garment c. Though I confess nothing of Certainty can be gathered from such Expressions for we find the same used concerning the Earth Isa. 51. 6. The Heavens shall vanish away like smoke and the Earth shall wax old as doth a garment The heavenly Bodies are none of them uncorruptible and eternal but may in like manner as the Earth be consumed and destroyed at what times and by what means whether Fire or some other Element the Almighty hath decreed and ordered CHAP. XI Whether shall the Whole World be consumed and annihilated or only refined and purified THere remains now only the Seventh Question to be resolved Whether shall the World be wholly consumed burnt up and destroyed or annihilated or only refined purified or renewed To this I answer That the latter part seems to me more probable viz. That it shall not be destroyed and annihilated but only refined and purified I know what potent Adversaries I have in this case I need name no more than Gerard in his Common Places and Dr. Hakewil â—n his Apology and the Defence of it who contend earnestly for the Abolition or Annihâ—lation But yet upon the whole matter the Renovation or Restitution seems to me most probable as being most consonant to Scripture Reason and Antiquity The Scripture speaks of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Restitution Acts 3. 21. Whom the Heavens must contain until the time of the restitution of all things Speaking of our Saviour and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Regeneration of the World the very word the Stoicks and Pythagoreans use in this case Mat. 19. 28 29. Verily I say unto you That ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the Throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones c. Psal. 102. 26. As a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed Which words are again taken up and repeated Heb. 1. 12. Now it is one thing to be changed another to be annihilated and destroyed 1 Cor. 7. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fashion of this world passeth away As if he had said It shall be transfigured or its outward form changed not its matter or substance destroyed Isa. 65. 17. Behold I create new Heavens and