useth the same Argument with Irenâ—cus Ergo quoniam sex diebus cuncta Dei opera perfecta sunt per secula sex id est sex annorum millia manere in hac statu mundum necesse est Dies enim magnus Dei mille annorum circulo terminatur sicut indicat Propheta qui dicit Ante oculos tuos Domine mille anni tanquam dies unus c. Therefore because all the works of God were perfected or 〈◊〉 in six days it is necessary or necessarily follows that the World shall continue in this state six Ages that is six thousand years For the great Day of God is terminated in a Circle of six thousand years as the Prophet intimates who saith A thousand years in thy sight O Lord are but as one day S. Augustine l. 20. de Civitate Dei S. Hieronymus Comment â—in Mich. cap. 4 Most clear and full to this purpose is Eustath in his Comment in Hexa meron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We reckon saith he that the Creation shall continue till the end of the sixth Chiliad because God also consummated the Vniverse in six days and I suppose that the Deity doth account days of a thousand years long for that it is said A thousand years are in the sight of the Lord as one day Hoâ—beit the most of them did not propose this Opinion as an undoubted Truth but only as a modest Conjâ—cture And S. Austine is very angry with them who would peremptordy conclude from so flight an Argumentation This Conceit is already confuted and the World hath long outlasted this 〈◊〉 according to their Computation who followed the Septuagint or Greek account and reckoned that Phaleg lived about the Three thousandth year of the World and had his Name from his living in the division of Time there being to come after him Three thousand years that is just so many as were past before him As concerning the future Condition of the World after the Conflagration I find it the general and received Opinion of the ancient Christians that this World shall not be annihilated or destroyed but only renewed and purified So Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The World shall not be wholly destroyed but renewed Divers other passages I 〈◊〉 produce out of him to the same purpose Cyril of Ierusalem Catech. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He folds up the 〈◊〉 not that he might destroy them but that he might rear them up again more beautiful Again Cyril upon this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He acutely or ingeniously calls 〈◊〉 death of the Elements their change into letter So that this Renovation in respect of the Creation shall be such a kind of thing as the Resurrection in reference to Man's Body Oecumenius upon this place He saith new Heavens and a new Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet not different in matter And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They shall not be destroyed or annihilated but only renewed and purified And upon Revel 21. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This he saith not denoting the Non-existence of the Creation but the Renewing In this manner he expounds Psalm 102. 5 6. and proceeding saith We may here take notice that the Apostle doth not use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the Heaven and Earth were annihilated and brought to nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they passed away or removed or changed state Saint Hierome upon the Psalms Psalm 102. saith Ex quo ostenditur perditionem coelorum non interitum sonare sed mutationem in melius From which words as a Vesture shalt thou change them may be shewn and made out that the Dissolution of the Heavens doth not signifie their utter destruction or annihilation but only their change into a better state I might add abundance more Testimonies but these I think may suffice CHAP. IV. The Opinions of the Ancient Heathen Philosophers and other Writers concerning the Dissolution 3. IT follows now that I give you an account what the ancient Philosophers and Sages among the Heathens thought and delivered concerning this Point Two of the four principal Sects of Philosophers held a future Dissolution of the World viz. The Epicureans and Stoicks As for the Epicureans They held that as the World was at first composed by the fortuitous concourse of Atomes so it should at last fall in pieces again by their fortuitous Separation as Lucretius hath it lib. 5. Principio maria ac terras coelúmque tuere Horum naturum triplicem tria corpora Memmi Tres species tam dissimiles tria talia texta Vna dies dabit exitio multósque per annos Sustentata ruet moles machina mundi But now to prove all this first cast an Eye And look on all below on all on high The solid Earth the Seas and arched Sky One fatal hour must ruine all This glorious Frame that stood so long must fall This Opinion of theirs is consonant enough to their wild Principles save only in that point of its suddenness Vna dies dabit exitio c. one day shall destroy or make an end of it The Stoicks were also of Opinion that the World must be dissolved as we may learn from the Seventh Book of Laertius in the Life of Zeno 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They hold that the World is corruptible for these Reasons 1. Because it was generated and had a beginning 2. Because That is corruptible in the whole whose parts are corruptible But the parts of the World are corruptible being daily transmuted one into another 3. That which is capable of Mutation from better to worse is corruptible But such is the World sometimes being afflicted with long Heats and Droughts sometimes with continued Showers and Inundations To those we may add 4. according to some of their Opinions Because the Sun and Stars being fed with Vapours exhaled from the Earth all the moisture will at length be drawn out and the World fly on fire They were afraid Nè humore omni consumpto totus mundus ignesceret The Poet Lucan who seems to be of the Stoick Sect in the beginning of his first Book describing the Dissolution of the World makes it to be a falling in pieces of the whole Frame of Heaven and Earth and a jumbling and confounding of all their parts together Sic cùm compage soluta Secula tot mundi suprema coegerit hora Antiquum repetent iterum Chaos omnia mistis Sydera syderibus concurrent ignea Pontum Astra petent tellus extendere litora nolet Excutietque fretum fratri contraria Phoebâ— Ibit obliquum bigas agitare per orbem Indignata diem poscet sibi tot áque discors Machina divulsi turbabit foedera mundi So when the last hour shall So many Ages end and this disjointed All To Chaos back return then all the Stars shall be Blended together then those burning Lights on high In Sea shall drench Earth then her shores shall not extend
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
a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into mind Isa. 66. 22. As the new Heavens and new Earth which I shall make shall remain before me To which places the Apostle Peter seems to refer in those words 2 Pet. 3. 13. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness This new Heaven and new Earth we have also mentioned Rev. 12. 1. And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away and there was no more Sea These places I confess may admit of an Answer or Solution by those who are of a contrary Opinion and are answered by Doctor Hakewil yet all together especially being back'd by ancient Tradition amount to a high degree of probability I omit that place Rom. 8. 21 22. The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God tho' it be accounted the strongest proof of our Opinion because of the obscurity and ambiguity thereof 2. For Antiquity I have already given many Testimonies of the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church and could if need were produce many more the whole stream of them running this way And tho' Dr. Hakewill saith That if we look back to higher times before S. Hierome we shall not easily find any one who maintained the World's Renovation yet hath he but two Testimonies to alledge for its Abolition the one out of Hilary upon the Psalms and the other out of Clemens his Recognitions To this Restitution of the World after the Conflagration many also of the Heathen Philosophers bear witness whose Testimonies Mr. Burnet hath exhibited in his Theory of the Earth lib. 4. cap. 5. Of the Stoicks Chrysippus de Providentia speaking of the Renovation of the World saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We after death certain Periods of time being come about shall be restored to the form we now have To Chrysippus Stobaeus adds Zeno and Cleanthes and comprehends together with Men all natural things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zeno and Cleanthes and Chrysippus were of Opinion That the Nature or Substance of Things changes into Fire as it were into a Seed and out of this again such a World or Frame of Things is effected as was before This Revolution of Nature â—ntoninus in his Meditations often calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Periodical Regeneration of all things And Origen against Celsus â—aith of the Stoicks in general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stoicks say That at certain Periods of time there is a Conflagration of the Vniverse and after that a Restitution thereof having exactly the same Disposition and Furniture the former World had More to the like purpose concerning the Stoicks we have in Eusebius out of Numenius Nature faith he returns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Resurrection which makes the Great Year wherein there is again a restitution made from it self alone to it self For returning according to the order wherein it began first to frame and dispose things as reason would it again observes the same Oeconomy or Administration the like Periods returning etâ—rnally without ceasing He that desires more Authorities of the Heathen Philosophers and Poets in consirmation of the World's Restitution after the Conflagration may consult the same Mr. Burnet in the place forequoted where he also shews that this Doctrine of the Mundane Periods was received by the Grecians from the Nations they call barbarous Pythagoras saith Porphyry brought it first into Greece and Origen witnesseth of the Egyptian Wise Men that it was delivered by them Laertius out of Theopompus relates That the Persian Magi had the same Tradition and Berosus saith that the Chaldeans also In fine among all the barbarous Nations who had among them any Person or Sect and Order of Men noted for Wisdom or Philosophy this Tradition was current The Reader may consult the Book we refer to where is a notable passage taken out of Plutarch's Tractate Di Iside Osiride concerning a War between Oromazes and Arimanius somewhat parallel to that mentioned in the Revelation between Michael and the Dragon 3. The Restitution of the World seems more consonant to Reason than its Abolition For if the World were to be annihilated what needed a Conflagration Fire doth not destroy or bring things to nothing but only separate their parts The World cannot be abolished by it and therefore had better been annihilated without it Wherefore the Scripture mentioning no other Dissolution than is to be effected by the Instrumentality of Fire its clear we are not to understand any utter Abolition or Annihilation of the World but only a Mutation and Renovation by those phrases of perishing passing away dissolving â—eing no more c. They are to be no more in that state and condition they are now in 2. There must be a material Heaven and a material Hell left A place for the glorified Bodies of the Blessed to inhabit and converse in and a place for the Bodies of the Damned a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Prison for them to be shut up in Now if the place of the Blessed be an Empyreal Heaven far above these visible Heavens as Divines generally hold and the place of the Damned be beneath about the middle of the Earth as is the Opinion of the School-men and the Church of Rome and as the name Inferi imports and as the ancient Heathen described their Tartarus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then when all the intermediate Bodies shall be annihilated what a strange Universe shall we have Consisting of an immense Ring of Matter having in the middle a vast vacuity or space void of all Body save only one small point for an infernal Dungeon Those that are of this Opinion have too narrow and mean thoughts of the Greatness I had almost said Immensity of the Universe the glorious and magnisick Products of the Creator's Almighty Power and are too partial to themselves to think the whole World was created for no other end but to be serviceable to Mankind But of this I have said somewhat in a former Discourse and therefore shall not at present enlarge upon it But let us hear what they have to say for the Abolition Their first and most weighty Argument is taken from the End of the World's Creation which was partly and chieâ—ly the Glory of the Creater and partly the use of Man the Lord Depâ—ty as it were or Viceroy thereof Now for the Glory of the Creator it being by the admirable Frame of the World manifested unto Man Man being removed out of the World and no Creature being capable of such a Manifestation besides him we cannot imagine to what purpose the Frame itself should be left and restored to a more perfect Estate The other End being for Man's Vse either to supply his
delight him But 2ly we find in the Earth not only Stones formed in imitation of Shells but real Shells Teeth and Bones of Fishes or Bodies so like them that they are not to be distinguished by Figure Texture Colour Weight or any other Accident Now what greater Argument can the Atheist desire to prove that the Shells of Fishes were never designed by any provident Efficient for their Defence or their Bones for the sustaining of their Bodies but that the Fish and Shell containing it and the Bones sustaining it did casually concur than that there should be real Shells produced without any Fish in them and that in dry places where no Fish ever did or could breed or indeed live and real Fish-bones where there never was nor could be any Fish Doth it not than concern a Divine to be acquainted with this Objection against the Bodies of Animals being the effects of Counsel and Design and provided with an answer to it For my part I must needs confess that this Argument weighs so with me whether from that innate Prolepsis my self and I think most other Men have of the Prudence of Nature in all its Operations or from mine own observing that in all other things it acts for ends that it is alone sufficient to preponderate all the Arguments against the contrary Opinions though I acknowledge them to be of great force and hard to be answered and to incline or rather constrain me to allow that these Bodies were either real Bones and Shells of Fishes or owe their Figure to them I cannot to use the Words of F. Columna prevail with my self to believe that Nature ever made Teeth without a Iaw or Shells without an Animal Inhabitant or single Bones no not in their own proper Element much less in a strange one Who even of the Vulgar beholding any considerable part of an Animal which he sees not the use of is not apt presently to ask what it serves for as by that innate Prolepsis I mentioned before presuming it was â—ot made in vain but for some end and use Suppose any of us should find in the Earth the compleat Skeleton of a Man he must be as credulous as the Atheist if he could believe that it grew there of it self and never had relation to any Man's Body Why then should we tbink that the entire Skeletons of Fishes found sometimes in the Earth had no other Original nor ever were any part of living Fishes 2ly If we chuse and embrace the contrary Opinion viz. That these Bodies were the real Shells and Bones of Fishes or owe their Figures to them we shall find that this also is urged with many and almost unsuperable Difficulties the principal of which I have already produced and shall here omit repeating only two that refer to Divinity 1. These Bodies being found dispersed all over the Earth they of the contrary Opinion demand how they come there If it be answered That they were brought in by the general Deluge in contradiction thereto they argue thus If these Stones were found scattered singly and indifferently all the Earth over there might be indeed some reason to imagine that they were brought in by the Floud but being found in some particular places only either lying thick in great Beds of Sand and Gravel or amassed together in huge Lumps by a stony Cement such Beds must in all likelihood have been the effect of those Animals breeding there for a considerable time whereas the Floud continued upon the Earth but ten Months during half which time it 's not likely that the Mountains were covered and yet there are found of these Bodies upon very high Mountains not excepting the Appenine and Alps themselves Whence they conclude that they were neither brought in by the Floud nor bred during the Floud bâ—t some other way produced For if they were the Shells of Fishes or their Bones the Water must needs have covered the whole Earth even the Mountains themselves for a â—uch longer time than is consistent with the Scripture-History of the Floud and therefore we must seek some other original of these Bodies If we stick to the Letter of the Scripture-History of the Creation that the Creation of Fishes succeeded the Separation of Land and Sea and that the six days wherein the World was created were six natural Days and no more it is very difficult to return a satisfactory Answer to this Objection I shall therefore only add a conjecture of my own and that is That possibly at the first Creation the whole Earth was not all at once uncovered but only those parts whereabout Adam and the other Animals were created and the rest gradually afterwards perchance not in many Years during which time these Shell-fish might breed abundantly all the Sea over the bottom whereof being elevated and made dry Land the Beds of Shell-fish must necessarily be raised together with it 2. It will hence follow that many Species of Animals have been lost out of the World which Philosophers and Divines are unwilling to admit esteeming the Destruction of any one Species a dismembring of the Vniverse and rendring the World imperfect Whereas they think the Divine Providence is especially concerned and solicitous to secure and preserve the Works of the Creation And truly so it is as appears in that it was so careful to lodge all Land-Animals in the Ark at the time of the general Deluge and in that of all Animals recorded in Natural Histories we cannot say that there hath been any one Species lost no not of the most infirm and most exposed to injury and ravine Moreover it is likely that as there neither is nor can be any new Species of Animal produced all proceeding from Seeds at first created so Providence without which one individual Sparrow falls not to the Ground doth in that manner watch over all that are created that an entire Species shall not be lost or destroyed by any Accident Now I say if these Bodies were sometimes the Shells and Bones of Fish it will thence follow that many Species have been lost out of the World as for example those Ophiomorphous ones whose Shells are now called Cornua Ammonis of which there are many Species none whereof at this day appear in our or other Seas so far as I have hitherto seen heard or read To which I have nothing to reply but that there may be some of them remaining some where or other in the Seas though as yet they have not come to my Knowledge For though they may have perished or by some Accident been destroyed out of our Seas yet the Race of them may be preserved and continued still in others So though Wolves and Bevers which we are well assured were sometimes native of England have been here utterly destroyed and extirpated out of this Island yet there remain plenty of them still in other Countrys By what hath been said concerning the nature and original of Stones I hope it may appear
that this is no idle and unnecessary Discourse but very momentous and important and this Subject as mean as it seems worthy the most serious consideration of Christian Philosophers and Divines concerning which though I have spent many thoughts yet can I not fully satisfie my self much less then am I likely to satisfie others But I promise my self and them more full satisfaction shortly from the Labours of those who are more conversant and better acquainted with these Bodies than I who have been more industrious in searching them out and happy in discovering them who have been more curious and diligent in considering and comparing them more critical and exact in observing and noting their nature texture figure parts places differences and other accidents than my self and particularly that learned and ingenious Person before remembred The following Tables containing some Species of the most different Genera of these Bodies viz. Shark's Teeth Wolf-fish's Teeth Cockles or Concha Periwinkles or Turbens Cornua Ammonis or Serpent stones Sea-urchins and their Prickles Vertebres and other Bones of Fishes entire Fishes Petrifi'd and of those some singly some represented as they lye in Beds and Quarries under Ground for the information of those who are less acquainted with such Bodie were thought fit to be added to this Edition TAB II. Pag. 162. FIG 1 2. Several Fragments and Lumps of petrify'd Shells as they lie in Quarries and Beds under ground on many of these Petrifactions there still remain some Laminae or Plates of the Original Shells which prove them not to be Stones primarily so figur'd Fig 3. The Cornu Ammonis lying in Rocks with other petrify'd Bodies TAB III. Pag. 162. FIG 1 2. Two petrify'd Fishes lying in Stone with their Seales and Bones Fig. 3. A Sea-Urchin petrify'd with its prickles broken off which are a sort of Lapis Iudaicus or Iew-Stones their Insertions on the Studs or Protuberances of the Shell are here shewn See their History and Manner of Lying in Stone and Beds in Agostino Scilla 4. Napoli TAB IV. Pag. 162. FIG 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14. Several petrify'd Teeth of Dog-Fishes Sharks and other Fishes Fig. 15 16. The same lying in a Tophaceous Bed and also in a Jaw-Bone Fig. 17. The petrify'd Teeth of a Wolf-Fish in a piece of the Jaw the Round Ones or Grinders are sold in Maltha for petrify'd Eyes of Serpents and by our Jewellers and Goldsmiths for Toad-stones commonly put in Rings Fig. 18 19 20. Other petrify'd Bones of Fishes especially Joynts or Vertebra's of Back-bones one with two stony Spines issuing out f. 20. See them more at large in the Draughts of that curious Sicilian Painter Agostino Scilla Place this before Tab. II. p. 162. The CONTENTS DISCOURSE I. Of the Primitive CHAOS and Creation of the WORLD CHAP. I. Testimonies of the Ancient Heathen Writers Hesiod Ovid Aristophanes Lucan Euripides concerning the Chaos and what they meant by it Chap. II. That the Creation of the World out of a Chaos is not repugnant to the Holy Scripture if soberly understood p 5 6 7 8. Chap. III. Of the separating the Land and Water and raising up the Mountains p. 9 c. By what means the Waters were gathered together into one place and the dry Land made to appear p. 10. That subterraneous Fires and Flatus's might be of power sufficient to produce such an effect proved from the force and effects of Gunpowder and the raising up of new Mountains p. 11 12 13. The shaking of the whole known World by an Earthquake p. 13 14. That the Mountains Islands and whole Continents were probably at first raised up by subterraneous Fires proved by the Authority of Lydiate and Strabo p. 15 16 17. Of subterraneous Caverns passing under the bottom of the Sea p. 19 20 21 c. A Discourse concerning the Equality of the Sea and Land both as to the extent of each and the height of one to the depth of the other taken from the Shores p. 25 26 27 31 32 33. That the motion of the Water levels the bottom of the Sea p. 28 29 30. A Discourse concerning the Use of the Mountains 35 36 37 c. The Sum of what hath been said of the Division and Disposition of the Water and Earth p. 44. Chap. IV. Of the Creation of Animals some Questions concerning them resolved p. 46. That God Almighty did at first create either the Seeds of all Animate Bodies and dispersed them all the Earth over or else the first Sett of Animals themselves in their full state and perfection giving each Species a power by Generation to propagate their like p. 46 47. Whether God at first created a great number of each Species or only two a Male and a Female p. 47 48. Whether all individual Animals which already have been and hereafter shall be were at first actually created by God or only the first Sett of each Species the rest proceeding from them by way of Generation and being a new produced p. 49 50 51 c. Objections against the first part answered 1. That it seems impossible that the Ovaries of the first Animals should actually include the innumerable Myriads of those that may proceed from them in so many Generations as have been and shall be to the end of the World This shewn not to be so incredible from the multitude of parts into which Matter may be and is divided in many Experiments p. 51 52 53 54. c. 2. If all the Members of Animals already formed do pre exist in the Egg how can the Imagination of the Mother change the shape and that so notoriously sometimes as to produce a Calve's-head or Dog's-face or the like monstrous Members Several Answers to thus Objection offered p. 57 58 59 DISCOURSE II. Of the General DELUGE in the Days of Noah its Causes and Effects p. 62. CHAP. I. Testimonies of Ancient Heathen Writers and some Ancient Coyns or Medals verifying the Scripture-History of the Deluge p. 63 64 65 66. That the Ancient Poets and Mythologists by Deucalion understood Noah and by Deucalion's Flood the General Deluge proved 66 67 68 69. Chap. II. Of the Causes of the General Deluge 70 1. A miraculous transmutation of Air into Water rejected 70 71 72. That Noah's Flood was not Topical 73. 2 3. The emotion of the Center of the Earth or a violent depression of the Surface of the Ocean the most probable partial Causes of the Deluge but the immediate Causes assigned by the Scripture are the breaking up of the Fountains of the Great Deep and the opening of the Windows of Heaven 73. That those Causes are sufficient to produce a Deluge granting a change of the Centre of the Earth to prevent the Waters running off 73 74 75. That all the Vapours suspended in the Air might contribute much towards a Flood ibid. Concerning the Expence of the Sea by Vapour 76 77 78 c. Of the Waters keeping its Level An
from more imperfect to more perfect Beings first beginning with the Earth that is the Terraqueous Globe which was made tohu vabohu without form and void the Waters covering the face of the Land which were afterwards separated from the Land and gathered together into one place Then he created out of the Land and Water first Plants and then Animals Fishes Birds Beasts in Order and last of all formed the Body of Man of the Dust of the Earth And whereas there is no particular mention made of the Creation of Metals Minerass and other Fossils they must be comprehended in the word Earth as the Water it self also is in the second Verse of this first Chapter It seems therefore to me consonant to the Scripture That God Almighty did at first create the Earth or Terraqueous Globe containing in its self the Principles of all simple inanimate Bodies or the minute and naturally indivisible Particles of which they were compounded of various but a determinate number of Figures and perchance of different magnitudes and these variously and confusedly commixed as though they had been carelesly shaken and shuffled together yet not so but that there was order observed by the most Wise Creator in the disposition of them And not only so but that the same Omnipotent Deity did create also the Seeds or Seminal Principles of all Animate Bodies both Vegetative and Sensitive and disperst them at least the Vegetative all over the superficial part of the Earth and Water And the Notion of such an Earth as this is the Primitive Patriarchs of the World delivered to their Posterity who by degrees annexing something of sabulous to it imposed upon it the name of Chaos The next work of the Divine Power and Wisdom was the separation of the Water from the dry Land and raising up of the Mountains of which I shall treat more particularly in the next Chapter To which follows the giving to both Elements a power of hatching as I may so say or quickening and bringing to perfection the Seeds they contained first the more imperfect as Herbs and Trees then the more perfect Fish Fowl Four-footed Beasts and creeping Things or Infects Which may be the meaning of those Commands of God which were operative and effectual communicating to the Earth and Water a power to produce what he commanded them Gen. 1. 11. Let the Earth bring forth Grass c. and v. 20. Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and fowl that may fly above the Earth c. And v. 24. Let the Earth bring forth the living creature after his kind cattel and creeping thing and beast of the Earth after his kind So the Earth was at first cloathed with all sorts of Herbs and Trees and both Earth and Water furnished with Inhabitants And this the Ancients understood by their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But whether out of prae-existing Seeds as I suppose or not certain it is that God at that time did give an extraordinary and miraculous power to the Land and Water of producing Vegetables and Animals and after there were as many of every kind brought forth as there were Seeds created at first or as many as it seemed good to the Divine Creator to produce without Seed there remained no further ability in those Elements to bring forth any more but all the succeeding owe their original to Seed God having given to every Species a power to generate or propagate its like CHAP. III. Of the separating the Land and Water and raising up the Mountains SUpposing that God Almighty did at first create the Terrestrial Globe partly of solid and more ponderous partly of fluid and lighter parts the solid and ponderous must needs naturally subside the fluid and lighter get above Now that there were such different parts created is clear and therefore it is reasonable to think that the Waters at first should stand above and cover the Earth and that they did so seems evident to me from the testimony of the Scripture For in the History of the Creation in the first Chapter of Genesis verse 2. it is said That the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters intimating that the Waters were uppermost And God said verse 9. let the waters under the Heaven be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear Whence I think it is manifest to any unprejudiced Reader That before that time the Land was covered with water Especially if we add the testimony of the holy Psalmist Psalm 104. vers 6. 9. which is as it were a comment upon this place of Genesis where speaking of the Earth at the Creation he saith Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment the waters stood above the Mountains ... and ver 9. That they turn not again to cover the Earth And that this gathering together of waters was not into any subterraneous Abyss seems likewise clear from the Text. For it is said That God called this Collection of waters Seas as if it been on purpose to prevent such a mistake Whether this separation of the Land and Water and gathering the waters together into one place were done by the immediate application and agency of God's Almighty Power or by the intervention and instrumentality of second Causes I cannot determine It might possibly be effected by the same Causes that Earthquakes are viz. subterraneous Fires and Flatuses We see what incredible effects the Accension of Gunpowder hath it rends Rocks and blows up the most ponderous and solid Walls Towers and Edifices so that its force is almost irresistible Why then might not such a proportionable quantity of such Materials set on fire together raise up the Mountains themselves how great and ponderous soever they be yea the whole Superficies of the dry Land for it must all be elevated above the Waters And truly to me the Psalmist seems to intimate this Cause Psalm 104. 7. For after he had said The waters stood above the mountains he adds At thy rebuke they fled at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away Now we know that an Earthquake is but a subterraneous Thunder and then immediately follows The mountains ascend the valleys descend c. If there might be a high Hill raised up near the City Troezen out of a plain Field by the force of a subterraneous Fire or Flatus as Ovid tells us Est prope Pitthaeam tumulus Troezena sine ullis Arduus arboribus quondam planissima campi Area nunc tumulus nam res horrenda relatu Vis fera ventorum caecis inclusa cavernis Expirare aliqua cupiens luctatáque frustra Liberiore frui coelo cum carcere rima Nulla fuit toto nec pervia flatibus esset Extentam tumefecit humum ceu spiritus oris Tendere vesicam solet aut derepta bicornis Terga capri tumor ille loci permansit alti Collis habet speciem longóque induruit aevo A Hill by Pitthaean Traezen
Courses and the swiftness of their Streams for a great part of the way is very considerable a constant declivity being necessary to their descent And therefore I can by no means assent to the Learned Doctor Plot if I understand him aright That the Valleys are as much below the Surface of the Sea as Mountains are above it For how then could Rivers descend down to the Sea through those Valleys the Sea would rather run into them and make Sinuses or else if they were enclosed the water would stagnate there and make Pools If this be done by way of Filtration which seems to be the most likely Means of raising the water I do not see but these Filters may suck up the whole Ocean and if Apertures and Outlets large enough were made pour it out upon the Earth in no long time But I cannot be fully reconciled to this Opinion though it hath great Advocates especially the fore-mentioned very Learned and Ingenious Person Dr. Robert Plot. I acknowledge Subterraneous waters I grant a Confluence and Communication of Seas by under-ground Channels and Passages I believe that wherever one shall dig as deep as the level of the Sea he shall seldom fail of water the water making its way through Sand and Gravel and Stones In like manner as it is observed of the River Seine that in Floud-times all the neighbouring Wells and Cellars are filled with water and when the River decreases and sinks again those waters also of the Wells and Cellars diminish and by degrees fall back into the River so that there are scarce any Wells or Fountains in the Plains near the River but their waters keep the level of the Rivers rising and falling with it But this inferiour constant Circulation and perpetual motion of water seems to me not yet sufficiently proved and made out I think that the Patrons and Abbettors of this Opinion have not satisfactorily demonstrated how it is or can be performed To what is offered concerning the Center of Gravity being nearer to our Continent by reason of the Preponderancy of the Earth and the Waters lying as it were on an heap in the other Hemisphere I answer 1. That in the present terraqueous Globe the New World which lyes between the two great Seas and almost opposite to our Continent doth in â—ome measure counterpoise the Old and take off a great part of the advantage which by reason of its Preponderancy it might otherwise have Moreover I am of Mr. Brierwood's Opinion that there may be and is a vast Continent toward the Southern Pole opposite to Europe and Asia to counterpoise them on that side nay I do verily believe that the Continents and Islands are so proportionably scattered and disposed all the World over as if not perfectly and exactly yet very nearly to counter-ballance one another so that the Globe cannot walter or reel towards any side and that the Center of the convex Superficies of the Sea is the true Center of the whole Terrestrial Sphere both of Motion and of Gravity I add also of Magnitude which is exceedingly convenient as well for the facility as the equability of the Earths diurnal Motion This Hypothesis of the Continents being disperst equally on all sides of the Globe makes these Centers concur in one point whatever cause we assign of the raising up the dry Land at first Whereas if we should suppose the dry Land to have been raised up by Earth-quakes only on one side of the Globe and to have cast off the water to the other and also that the water could find no way into the Caverns that were left within then the watery side must needs Preponderate the Land-side and bring the Center of Gravity nearer to its own Superficies and so raise the Land still a great deal higher and make a considerable distance between the Centers of Magnitude and of Gravity In our Hypothesis of the equal dispersion of the Continents and Islands no such thing would happen but each Continent taking it with all its internal Caverns whether lighter or heavier than its bulk in water that is whether the water did make its way into the Caverns thereof or did not for in the first case it would be heavier in the second lighter would have its counterpoise on the opposite side so that the Centers would still concur The case would be the same if the dry Land were discovered and the Mountains raised by the immediate application of the Divine Power 2. The Sea being no where above a German Mile deep for which we have good Authority in most places not half so much taking then as a middle term half a Mile Suppose it every where half a Mile deep the Earth below the Sea we have no reason to suppose of different Gravity what proportion hath this half Miles thickness of water to the whole Terraqueous Globe whose Semidiameter is by the account of Mathematicians Three thousand four hundred and forty Italian Miles What little advantage then can it have of the Earth opposite to it in point of Preponderancy 3. Granting the Center of Gravity should be nearer our Continent The Center being the lowest place and the Water a fluid Body unless stopped which it might indeed be if it were encompassed round with high Shores as high as the Mountains without any Breaks or Outlets in them where it found declivity it would descend as near as it could to it without any regard of the Earths Preponderancy And though we should grant that the driness of the Shores might stop it and cause it to lye on a heap yet would it run up the Channels of Rivers till it came as near as possible to the Center of Gravity Indeed the Rivers themselves could not descend but must run towards the middle of the Continent All this I think will follow from this Hypothesis by as good consequence as the waters being forced through the Subterraneous Channels out at the Springs Again I do not peremptorily affirm that all Fountains do proceed from Rain only I contend that Rain may suffice to feed them and that probably it doth feed ordinary Springs This the Ingenious French Author doth well demonstrate in the River Seine and I believe it is demonstrable in most other Rivers The little Brook that runs near my Dweling and hath its Head or Source not above four or five Miles off where there is no extraordinary eruption of water all along its Course receives small Rivulets on both sides which though they make a considerable Stream at five miles distance from the Fountain-head yet singly are so small that they may very well be conceived to drain down from the higher Grounds that lye about them And taking the whole together it is a very considerable length and breadth of Land that contributes to the maintenance of this little River So that it may easily be believed that all its water owes its original to Rain Especially if it be considered further that in Winter-time
now named At last he concludes And I doubt not but this Hypothesis is more reasonable than that of those who derive all Springs from the Rain waters which yet are perpetual and without diminution even when no Rain falls for a long space of time This may for ought I as yet see or know be a good account of the Original of Springs in those fervid Regions though even there I doubt but partial but in Europe and the more temperate Countries I believe the Vapours in this manner condensed have but little interest in the production of them though I will not wholly exclude them For First The Tops of the Alps above the Fountains of four of the greatest Rivers in Europe the Rhine the Rhosne the Danow and the Po are for about Six Months in the year constantly covered with Snow to a great thickness so that there are no Vapours all that while that can touch those Mountains and be by them condensed into water there falls nothing there but Snow and that continuing all that while on the ground without Dissolution hinders all access of Vapours to the Earth if any rose or were by Winds carried so high in that form as I am confident there are not And yet for all that do not those Springs fail but continue to run all Winter and it is likely too without diminution which is a longer time than Droughts usually last especially if we consider that this want of supply is constant and annual whereas Droughts are but rare and accidental So that we need not wonder any more that Springs should continue to run and without diminution too in times of Drought True it is that those Rivers run low all Winter so far as the Snow extends and to a good distance from their Heads but that is for want of their accidental supplies from showers Nay I believe that even in Summer the Vapours are but rarely raised so high in a liquid form in the free Air remote from the Mountains but are frozen into Snow before they arrive at that height For the Middle Region of the Air where the Walk of the Clouds is at least the superiour part of it is so cold as to freez the Vapours that ascend so high even in Summer time For we see that in the height and heat of Summer in great Thunder storms for the most part it hails nay in such Tempests I have seen mighty showers of great Hail-stones fall some as big as Nutmegs or Pigeons Eggs and in some places such heaps of them as would load Dung Carts and have not been dissolved in a day or two At the same Seasons I have observed in some showers Hail-stones fall of irregular Figures and throughout pellucid like great pieces of Ice with several snags or â—angs issuing out of them which how they could be supported in the Air till they amounted to that bulk and weight is a thing worthy to be more curiously considered For either they must fall from an incredible height the Vapours they encountred by the way condensing and as it were crystallizing upon them into Ice and in time augmenting them to that bulk or else there must be some strange and unknown faculty in the Air to sustain them That the superiour Air doth support heavy Bodies better then the inferiour the flight of Birds seems to be a clear demonstration For when they are mounted up on high they fly with less fatigue and move forward with greater facility and are able to continue longer upon the wing without delassation then in the lower Air they could possibly do And therefore when they are to make great flights they soar aloft in the Air at a great height above the Earth So have I often seen a a â—lock of Wild-gâ—â—se mounted so high that though their flight be swift they seemed to make but little way in a long time and to proceed on their journey with ease and very leisurely by reason of their distance And yet one would think this were contrary to â—â—ason that the lâ—ghter Air such as is the susperiour should better support a weighty Body than the heavier that is the inferiour Some imagine that this comes to pass by â—eason of the Wind which is constantly moving in the upper Air which supports any Body that moves contrary to it So we see that those Paper-kites which Boys make are 〈◊〉 in the Air by running with them contrary to the Wind and when they are advanced â—o a great height do but stick down 〈…〉 end of the Line to which they are 〈◊〉 into the ground they will be continued by 〈◊〉 Wind at the same height they â—ere so long as it lasts and abides in the 〈…〉 In like manner the Birds flyâ—â—â— contrary the Wind it supports and 〈◊〉 them up But if this were the only season methinks it should not be so easie 〈…〉 very laborious for Birds to fly 〈◊〉 the Wind so as to make any considerable progress in the superiour Air as we see they do And therefore possibly they may be nearer the right who suppose that the Gravity of Bodies decreases proportionably to their distance from the Earth and that a Body may be advanced so high as quite to lose its gravity and inclination or tendency to the Center of which I do not see how it is possible to make experiment for to what is said by some to have been tried that a bullet shot perpendicularly upward out of a great Gun never descended again I give no credit at all But to leave that it is certain that the Vapours after they are mounted up to a considerable height in the Air are congealed and turned into the immediate component Principles of Snow in which form I conceive they acquire a lightness and are apt to ascend higher than they could do should they retain the form of a humid Vapour as we see Ice is lighter than Water out of which it is frozen But whether this be the reason of their ascent or not I am sure of the matter of Fact that these Snow-Clouds do ascend far above the highest Tops of the Alps For passing over a Mountain in the Grisons Country on the very ridge of them in the beginning of the Spring it â—nowed very fast during my whole passage or six hours and yet the Clouds seemed to be as far above my head as they do here in England and a great height they must be for the Snow to gather into so great flakes and to continue so long falling nay it may be three times so long Moreover we see that the highest Pikes and Summits of those Mountains are covered with Snow And I am assured that all the Winter long at intervals it Snows upon the Tops of the Alps. 2. In the Spring time when the Snow dissolves some of these Rivers that flow down from the Alpine Mountains run with a full stream and overflow their Banks in clear Sun-shine weather though no Rain falls as I my self can witness
solving this Phaenomenon and that is by supposing that the Divine Power might at that time by the instrumentality of some natural Agent to us at present unknown so depress the Surface of the Ocean as to force the Waters of the Abyss through the forementioned Channels and Apertures and so make them a partial and concurrent Cause of the Deluge That there are at some times in the course of Nature extraordinary pressures upon the Surface of the Sea which force the Water outwards upon the Shores to a great height is evident We had upon our Coasts the last Year an extraordinary Tide wherein the Water rose so high as to overflow all the Sea-Banks drown multitudes of Cattel and fill the lower Rooms of the Houses of many Villages that stood near the Sea so that the Inhabitants to save themselves were â—orced to get up into the upper Rooms and Garrets of their Houses Now how this could be effected but by an unusual pressure upon the Superficies of the Ocean I cannot well conceive In like manner that the Divine Providence might at the time of the Deluge so order and dispose second Causes as to make so strong a pressure upon the face of the Waters as to force them up to a height sufficient to overflow the Earth is no way unreasonable to believe These Hypotheses I propose as seeming to me at present most facile and consonant to Scripture without any concern for either of them and therefore am not solicitous to gather together and heap up Arguments to confirm them or to answer Objections that may be made against them being as ready to relinquish them upon better information as I was to admit and entertain them CHAP. III. Of the Effects of the Deluge I Come now to the Third Particular proposed that is To Enquire concerning the Consequents of the Deluge What considerable Effects it had upon the Earth and and its Inhabitants It had doubtless very great in changing the Superficies of the dry Land In some places adding to the Sea in some taking from it making Islands of Peninsulae and joining others to the Continent altering the Beds of Rivers throwing up lesser Hills and washing away others c. The most remarkable Effects it 's likely were in the skirts of the Continents because the Motion of the Water was there most violent Athanasius Kircher gives us a Map and Description of the World after the Flood shewing what Changes were made therein by it or upon occasion of it afterward as he fansies or conjectures But because I do not love to trouble the Reader with uncertain Conjectures I shall content my self to have said in general that it may rationally be supposed there were then great Mutations and Alterations made in the superficial part of the Earth but what they were though we may guess yet can we have no certain knowledge of and for Particulars refer the Curious to him One malignant effect it had upon Mankind and probably upon other Animals too in shortning their Age or the duration of their lives which I have touched before and shewn that this diminution of Age is to be attributed either to the change of the Temperature of the Air as to Salubrity or Equality sudden and frequent changes of Weather having a very bad influence upon the Age of Man in abbreviating of it as I could easily prove or else to the deteriority of the Diet or to both these Causes But how the Flood should induce or occasion such a change in the Air and productions of the Earth I do not comprehend CHAP. IV. Of formed Stones Sea-shells and other Marine-like Bodies found at great distances from the Shores supposed to have been brought in by the Deluge ANother supposed Effect of the Flood was a bringing up out of the Sea and scattering all the Earth over an innumerable multitude of Shells and Shell-fish there being of these shell-like Bodies not only on lower Grounds and Hillocks but upon the highest Mountains the Appennine and Alps themselves A supposed Effect I say because it is not yet agreed among the Learned whether these Bodies formerly called petrified Shells but now a-days passing by the name of formed Stones be original Productions of Nature formed in imitation of the Shells of Fishes or the real Shells themselves either remaining still entire and uncorrupt or petrified and turned into Stone or at least Stones cast in some Animal Mold Both parts have strong Arguments and Patrons I shall not balance Authorities but only consider and weigh Arguments Those for the latter part wherewith I shall begin are First Because it seems contrary to that great Wisdom of Nature which is observable in all its Works and Productions to design every thing to a determinate end and for the attaining that end make use of such ways as are most aggreeable to Man's reason that these prettily shaped Bodies should have all those curious Figures and Contrivances which many of them are formed and adorned with generated or wrought by a Plastic Vertue for no higher end than only to exhibite such a form This is Mr. Hook's Argumentation To which Dr. Plot answers That the end of such Productions is to beautifie the World with those Varieties and that this is no more repugnant to the Prudence of Nature than is the production of most Flowers Tulips Anemones c. of which we know as little use of as of formed Stones But hereto we may reply That Flowers are for the Ornament of a Body that hath some degree of life in it a Vegetaâ—ive Soul whereby it performs the actions of Nutrition Auction and Generation which it is reasonable should be so beautified And Secondly Flowers serve to embrace and cherish the Fruit while it is yet tender and to desend it from the injuries of Sun and Weather especially for the protection and security of the Apices which are no idle or useless part but contain the Masculine Sperm and serve to give fecundity to the Seed Thirdly Though formed Stones may be useful to Man in Medicine yet Flowers afford us abundantly more uses both in Meat and Medicine Yet I must not dissemble that there is a Phaenomenon in Nature which doth somewhat puzzle me to reconcile with the prudence observable in all its works and seems strongly to prove that Nature doth sometimes ludere and delineate Figures for no other end but for the Ornament of some Stones and to entertain and gratifie our Curiosity or exercise our Wits That is those elegant Impressions of the Leaves of Plants upon Cole-state the knowledge whereof I must confess my self to owe to my Learned and Ingenious Friend Mr. Edward Lloyd of Oxford who observed of it in some Cole-pits in the way from Wychester in Glocestershire to Bristol and afterwards communicated to me a Sample of it That which he found was marked with the Leaves of two or three kinds of Ferns and of Harts-tongue He told me also that Mr. Woodward a Londoner shewed him
very good Draughts of the common female Fern naturally formed in Cole which himself found in Mendip Hills and added That he had found in the same Pits Draughts of the common Cinquefoil Clover-grass and Strawberries But these Figures are more diligently to be observed and considered Secondly There are found in the Earth at great distance from the Sea real Shells unpetrified and uncorrupted of the exact Figure and Consistency of the present natural Sea-shells and in all their parts like them and that not only in the lower Grounds and Hillocks near the Sea but in Mountains of a considerable height and distant from the Sea Christianus Mentzelius in his Discourse concerning the Bononian Phosphorus gives us a Relation of many Beds of them found mingled with Sand in the upper part of a high Mountain not far from Bologna in Italy His words are these Non procul monte Paterno dicto lapidis Bononiensis patria unico forte milliari Italico distanti loci nomen excidit memoriâ ingens mons imminet praeruptus à violentia torrentium aquarum quas imbres frequentes ex viciâ—is montibus confluentes efficiunt atque insignes terrarum moles ab isto monte prosternunt ac dejiciunt In hac montis raina superiore in parte visuntur multae strages seriésve ex testis conchyliorum omnis generis plurimâ arenâ interjectâ instar strati super stratum ut chymicorum vulgus loquitur Est enim inter hasce testarum conchyliorum strages seriésve arena ad crassitiem ulnae ultra interposita Erant autem testae variorum â—â—â—chyliorum omnes ab invicem distinctae nec 〈◊〉 lapidi impactae adeò ut separatim 〈◊〉 manibus tractari dignosci potuerint 〈◊〉 hoc arena pura nullo limo lutóve inter mixâ—a quae concâ—hyliâ—rum testas conservaverat 〈◊〉 multa secula integras Interea verò diuturnitate temporis omnâ—s istae testae erant in albissimâ—m calcem facilè resolubiles Not far from the Mountain called â—aterno where the Bononian Stoâ—e is gotten about an Italian Mile distant the name or the place is slipt out of my memory is a huge hanging Mountain broken by the violence of the Torrents caused by the confluence of Waters descending from the Neighbouring Mountains after frequent showers throwing down great heaps of Earth from it In the upper part of this broken Mountain are seen many Beds or Floors of all kind of Sea-shells much Sand interposing between Bed and Bed after the manner of stratum super stratum or Layer upon Layer as the Chymists phrase it The Beds of Sand interceding between these Rows of Shells were a yard thick or more These Shells were all distinct or separate one from another and not stuck in any one stone or cemented together so that they might be singly and separately viewed and handled with ones Hands The Cause whereof was their being lodged in a pure Sand not intermixt with any Mud or Clay which kept the Shells entire for many Ages Yet were all these Shells by reason of the length of time they had lain there easily resoluble into a purely white Calx or Ash. Fabius Columna also observes that in the tophaceous Hills and Cliffs about Andria in Apulia there are found various sorts of Sea-shells both broken and whole uncorrupt and that have undergone no change And Ovid in Metam lib. 15. Et procul à pelago Conchae jacuere marinae I am also informed by my learned and worthy Friend Dr. Tancred Robinson That Signior Settali shewed him in his Museum at Milan many Turbens Echini Pearl shells one with a Pearl in it Pectunculi and several other perfect shells which he himself found in the Mountains near Genoa and afterwards my said Friend took notice also of several Beds of them himself as he passed over Mount Cenis above fifty Leagues distant from the Sea he assures me that many of the great Stones about the Buildings of London are full of shells and pieces of them Moreover my fore-mentioned Friend Mr. Lloyd sent me perfect Escallop and Sea-Urchin shells exactly resembling the like Sea-shells both for figure colour weight and consistency which he himself gathered up near Oxford And hath lately sent me word That he found at a place called Rungewell-Hill in Surrey at a Village called Hedley three Miles South of Epsham at least Twenty Miles distant from the Sea some fossil Oysters which by the confession of Dr. Lyster himself were indeed true Oyster-shells not petrified nor much decayed Nay so like they were to Oysters newly taken out of the Sea that a certain Person seeing of them mistook them for such and opened one of them expecting to find a living fish therein Now that Nature should form real shells without any design of covering an Animal is indeed so contrary to that innate Prolepsis we have of the Prudence of Nature that is the Author of Nature that without doing some Violence to our Faculties we can hardly prevail with our selves to believe it and gives great countenance to the Atheists Assertion That things were made or did exist by chance without counsel or direction to any end Add hereto Thirdly That there are other Bodies besides shells found in the Earth resembling the Teeth and Bones of some Fishes which are so manifestly the very things they are thought only to resemble that it might be esteemed obstinacy in any Man that hath viewed and considered them to deny it Such are the Glossopetrae dag up in Malta in such abundance that you may buy them by measure and not by tale and also the Vertebres of Thornbacks and other Cartilagineous Fishes there found and sold for Stones among the Glossopetrae which have no greater dissimilitude to the Teeth of a living Shark and Vertebres of a Thoruback then lying so long in the Earth as they must needs have done will necessarily induce Mr. Doody has in his custody a petrify'd lump of Fishes on some of which the Scales themselves still remain And if the very inspection of these Bodies is not enough to convince any Man that they are no Stones but real Teeth and Bones Fabius Columna proves it by several strong Arguments â— Those things which have a woody bony or fleshy nature by burning are changed first into a Coal before they go into a Calx or Ashes but those which are of a tophaceous or stony substance go not first into a Coal but burn immediately into a Calx or Lime unless by some vitreous or metallick mixture they be melted Now these Teeth being burnt pass presently into a Coal but the tophous substance adhering to them doth not so whence it is clear that they are of an osseous and no stony nature Next he shews That they do not shoot into this form after the manner of Salts or Crystal which I shall have occasion further to treat of by and by Then he proves it from the Axiom Natura nihil facit frustra Nature makes nothing in vain But
these Teeth were they thus formed in the Earth would be in vain for they could not have any use of Teeth as neither the Bones of supporting any Animal Nature never made Teeth without a Jaw nor shells without an Animal Inhabitant nor single Bones no not in their own proper Element much less in a strange one Further he argues from the difficulty or impossibility of the Generation of Glossopetrae in such places because among Tophi and Stones in those dry places there could not be found matter sit for to make them of But granting that he queries whether they were generated at first all of a sudden or grew by little and little from small to great as Animals Teeth whose sorm they imitate do If the first be said he demands Whether the Tophus out of which they were extracted were generated before or after the Teeth were pâ—riected If it be said before he asks Whether there were a place in it of the figure and magnitude of the Tooth or did the Tooth make it â—ell a place If the Tophus were concrete before and without a cavity the vegetative power of the Stone now in bâ—â—th could not by â—orce make it self a place in the hard and solid Tophus or if it could and did the Tophus must needs be rent Against the production of these Bodies in a compact Earth or Stone Nic. Steno argues thus Things that grow expanding themselves lâ—isurely or slowly may indeed lift up great weights and dilate the â—hinks and veins of Stones as we see the Roots of Trees sometimes do but yet while they do thus make room for themselves they cannot but be often hindred by the resistance of some hard obstacle they meet with as it happens to the Roots of Plants which in hard Earth being a thousand ways writhen and compressed recede from the figure which otherwise in soft Land they are wont to retain whereas these Boâ—ies whereof we are new discoursing are â—ll like one mother whether they be dug out of soft Earth or cut out of Stones or pluckt off Animals Wherefore they seem not to be at this day produced in those places where they are found because as we have said those things which grow in compact places are found strangely mishapen and irregular which these are not nor was the Earth compacted when they were there produced for the same reason Columna proceeds If there were a place before ready made in the Tophus then was not that figure excavated in the Tophus by the vegetative nature of the Tooth it self but the Tophus by its own nature and precedent cavity gave the form to the Tooth If the latter part be chosen and it be said that the Stone by its vegetative power grew by degrees it may be answered as before that could not be because the hardness of the Tophus could not have yielded to the vegetative force of the Tooth but would rather have been rent or divided by it or rather the Tophus it self must have vegetated containing a cavity or uterus of the shape of the Tooth into which an osseous humour penetrating through the Pores and filling the cavity of the Vterus must there have coâ—gulated and taken the form thereof as is observed in Stones that have their original from a Fluor That both Tooth and Case might vegetate together he denies because in all the Teeth which he had seen the Basis or Root was found broken and that not with an uniform fracture but different in every one Which Argument is not to be slighted for that it shews or proves that there was no vegetation in the case because in all other figured Fossils it is observed that they are never found mutilous broken or imperfect Neither can it reasonably be said or believed that these Roots or Teeth were by some chance broken within the Tophi but rather that when they were casually overwhelmed and buried in that tophous Earth they were broken off from the Jaws of the Animal in those volutations and so in that manner mutilated Against the generation of these and the like Bodies in any hard Earth or Stone N. Steno argues thus That they are not at present produced in hard Earth one may thence conjecture that in all the parts of such Earth or Stone throughout they are all found of the same consistence and encompassed round on all sides with that hard matter For if there were some of them produced anew at this present day the containing or ambient Bodies ought to give way to them while they are growing which they cannot and the Bodies themselves that are now produced would without doubt discover something wherein they differed from those that were generated of old Another Argument to prove them to be true Teeth and no Stones he brings from their various parts and figures which must else have been so wrought and formed in vain The Tooth being not one homogeneous Body but compounded of parts of a different constitution there must in the formation of it be made a various election of humors one for the root one for the inner part one for the Superficies of it Then for the Figures Magnitude Situation or Posture and sitting of them some are great and broad and almost triangular others narrower and smaller others very small and narrow of a pyramidal figure some streight some crooked bending downwards or toward the neither side some inclining toward the left others toward the right side some serrate with small Teeth others with great Indentures which is observed in the lesser triangular ones some smooth without any Teeth as the narrow pyramidal ones All which things are observed in Shark's Teeth not only by the Learned Naturalists but also by Fisher-men and Mariners The first row of Teeth in these Animals hanging out of the Mouth bend forward and downward the second row are streight especially toward the sides of the Mouth where they are triangular and broad the other rows bend downward toward the inner part of the Mouth Thus far Columna Fourthly If these formed Stones be indeed original Productions of Nature in imitations of Shells and Bones how comes it to pass that there should be none found that resemble any other natural Body but the Shells and Bones of Fishes only Why should not Nature as well imitate the Horns Hoofs Teeth or Bones of Land Animals or the Fruits Nuts and Seed of Plants Now my learned Friend Mr. Edward Lloyd above mentioned who hath been most diligent in collecting and curious in observing these Bodies of any Man I know or ever heard of tells me That he never found himself or had seen in any Cabinet or Collection any one stone that he could compare to any part of a Land Animal As for such that do not resemble any part of a Fish they are either Rock Plants as the Astroites Asteriae trochites c. or do shoot into that form after the manner of Salts and Fluors as the Belemnites and Selenites Fifthly Those that
of these things one must view the Mountains where such Layers and Beds of Earth and Shells are â—ound for perchance they may not be elevated so high above the present Surface of the Sea as one would judge by the descriptions of them 'T is true says my worthy Friend Dr. Tancred Robinson that some Shells might have been scatter'd up and down the Earth by incampments of Armies by the inhabitants of Cities and Towns whereof there are now no remains Mounsteur Loubere the late French Envoy to Siam affirms that the Monkeys and Apes at the Cape of Good Hope are almost continually carrying Shells and other Marine Bodies from the Sea-side up to the Mountains yet this will not solve the matter nor give any satisfactory account why these perfect shells are disperst up and down the Earth in all Climates and Regions in the deep Bowels of vast Mountains where they lye as regularly in Beds as they do at the bottom of the Sea secondly It would hence follow That many â—pecies of Shell fisâ— are lost out of the World 〈…〉 Philosophers hitherto have been unwilling to admit esteeming the destruction of any one Species a dismembring of the Universe and rendring it imperfect whereas they think the Divine Providence is especially concerned to secure and preserve the Works of the Creation and that it is so appears in that it was so careful to lodge all Land-Animals in the Ark at the time of the general Deluge The Consequence is proved in that among these petrified Shells there are many sorts observed which are not at this day that we know of any where to be found Such are a whole gentis of Cornua Ammonis which some have supposed to be Nautili though to me they do not seem so to be but a different Genus by themselves of which there have not any been seen either cast ashore or raked out of the Sea at any time that ever I heard of Nay my very Learned and Honoured Friend Dr. Lister proceeds further and saith That when he particularly examined some of our English shores for Shells and also the fresh Waters and the Fields that he did never meet with any one of those Species of Shells found at Adderton in Yorkshire Wansford-Bridge in Northamptonshire and about Gunthorp and Beavoir Castle c. any where else but in their respective Quarries What can we say to this Why it is possible that many sorts of Shell-fish may be lodged so deep in the Seas or on Rocks so remote from the shores that they may never come to our sight Thirdly It follows also That there have been Shell-fish in these cold Northern Seas of greater bulk and dimensions than any now living I do not say in these but in the most Southernly and Indian viz. Cornua Ammonis of two foot diameter and of thickness answerable To this I answer That there are no petrified Shells that do in bigness much exceed those of the natural Shell-fish found in our Seas save the Cornua Ammonis only which I suspect to have never been nor had any relation to any shells of Fishes or to imitate or resemble them at least some of them Against this Assertion it may be objected That there are found in England may Pectinites bigger than any Shell-fish of that kind which our Seas now afford And that there are no Nautili or other testaccous Fishes with us comparable in bigness to that Nautilus-stoâ—e of twenty eight pound found by Mr. Waller at Keinsham To which I answer That there may be Shell-fish in our Seas that do not at all or very seldom appear greater than we are aware of I my self in company with Mr. Willughby in the Streight between the Isle and Calf of Man took up among the tall Fuci growing thick upon the Rocks there two or three of those large Echini Marini or Sea-Vrchins as big as a Man's two fists the shells whereof we never found cast up upon the shores of England nor ever heard that any Man else did So that I question not but there are lodged among the Rocks and in the deeper places of the Sea remote from the shores many different sorts of Shell-fish and excelling in magnitude those that are commonly found or known And like enough it is that after the Flood there were many places deserted and thrown up by the Sea and become dry Land which had been Sea before which must needs be replete with these Bodies As for the Nautili they are much different from these Cornua Ammonis For the Nautili at least all the Species of them known to us are as Dr. Plot well observes extravagantly broad at the mouth and have not more than two other small turns at the most whereas the turns of the Ophiomorphites are proportionable one to another and in number many times four or five and sometimes six if we may believe Aldrovand And there are Nautili lapidei which do as nearly resemble the Nautilus shells as any other Cochlites do their respective Prototypes as Mr. Lloyd assures me he had observed many in Museums And the Learned and Ingenious Mr. Richard Waller then Secretary to the Royal Society in a Letter to me dated Febr. 4. 87. wâ—â—es That he had been lately at Keinsham in Somerset shire and making a search after the Coruua Ammonis â—ound one of the true Nautilus shape covered in some places with a shelly Incrustation with the Diaphragms to be seen to the Center of the Volutae and in each Diaphragm the hole by which they communicate one with another by a string or gut in the Fish This was of a very hard Stone and large size weighing at least twenty eight pound though some part was broken off Another Argument that they have no relation to the common Nautili is that they break into pieces somewhat resembling Vertebres as I was first advised by the fore-remembred Mr. Lloyd and have since noted my self I also received from that very Ingenious and Inquisitive Gentleman happy in making natural Discoveries Mr. William Cole of Bristol such an account of a sort or two of these Ophiomorphous Bodies as is enough to stagger any Man's belief if not utterly to overthrow his Opinion of their owing their original to any Sea-shell which take in his words Among others of this kind of Bodies which I have observed I shall instance in one which can be reduced to none but the Ophiomorphites which I found growing between the thin Plates of a kind of brittle blew Slate in large Rocks some a furlong within the full Sea-mark and in some where the Water comes not at highest Tides only in great Storms when the Waves break it is dasht sometimes against them being forced up by the Winds which being broken with a convenient Tool will shiver all into very thin Plates between which I have found in abundance of those Stones but as brittle as the Slate in which they grew and of the same consistence but so thin that the broadest being
about four Inches are not so thick as a Half-Crown Piece some not half an Inch broad were as thin as a Groat and so proportionably up to the largest covered with a Superficies as thin and exactly of the colour of Silver foil and where the Sea-water washeth them and they are exposed to the Sun and Wind when the Tide is gone they are tarnished and appear of a Gold Purple Blew and Red as any thing on which Silver foil is laid being exposed a considerable time to the Sun Wind and Weather will do These have the same spiral Figures and as regular as the other Serpent-stones and being taken off with a Knife leave the same Impressions on both sides of the Slate In some such Rocks of Slate but much harder I found some of those Stones of another kind thick in proportion to their breadth from an Inch to twenty eight Inches broad the broadest one was at the great end on which some Authors have fabulously reported the Head to grow six Inches thick all of them covered over with a white scale which will be taken off one coat under another as Pearls or the shells of some Fishes I saw some impressions as big as the Fore-wheel of a Chariot c. What shall we say to this Were there ever any Shell-fish in ours or other Seas as broad as a Coach-wheel others as thin as a Groat What is become of all this kind of Ophiomorphite Shell-fish And yet which is strange both these kinds by Mr. Cole 's description seem to have been covered with shells By what I have said concerning these Ophiomorphous stones not to have been Nautili I would not be thought to reflect upon oâ— detract from the Veracity or Exactness of the Observations of Mr. Robert Hook whom for his Learning and deep Insight into the Mysteries of Nature I deservedly honour I question not but he found in the Keinsham Ophiomorphites perfect Diaphragms of a very distinct substance from that which filled the Cavities and exactly of that kind which covered the out-side being for the most part Whitish or Mother of Pearl coloured Mr. Waller fore-mentioned attests the same writing in his Letter to me of Febr. 4. 1687. that in the ordinary Snake stones there the shelly Diaphragms were very visible In this respect they do resemble Nautili though for their Figure they are much different and of a distinct Genus I never broke any of the Keinsham stones but of those found about Whitby in Yorkshire many but could not observe in them any shell-like Diaphragms only they broke into such pieces as I mentioned before And my dear and much honoured Friend Dr. Tancred Robinson writes me That he had broken several Cornua Ammonis but could never find any Diaphragms or Valves in them though he confesseth Mr. Woodward shew'd him one with such in his curious Collection of Petrifactions So that these Diaphragms are not to be found in all the sorts of them But if they be found in some it is a strong presumption that they were at first in all however they came to disappear In fine these Ophiomorphous Stones do more puzzle and confound me than any other of the formed Stones whatsoever because by Mr. Hook's Description of those of Keinsham they seem to have been or to owe their original to shells and yet there is nothing like them appears at this day in our or any other Seas as far as I have seen heard or read Thirdly A second Argument to prove these formed Stones never to have been Shells Dr. Plot affords us Because that even those Shells which so exactly represent some sorts of Shell-fish that there can be no exception upon the account of Figure but that they might formerly have been Shells indeed at some places are found only with one shell and not the other Thus in Cowley Common in Oxfordshire we meet only with the gibbous non the â—lat shell of the petrified Oyster and so of the Escallop-stones in the Quarries near Shotover which if they had once been the shells of Oysters and Escallops had scarce been thus parted To this I answer That this Argument is not necessarily conclusive because there may possibly be some reason of it though we know it not nor can easily imagine any The like Answer may be returned to his next Argument Thirdly Because saith the Doctor I can by no means satisfie my self how it should come to pass that in case these Bodies had once been moulded in Shells some of the same kind should be found in Beds as the Conchites at Langley Charlton Adderbury and others scattered as at Glympton and Teynton and so the Ostracites at Shotover and Cowley Nor how it should fall out that some of these Bivalves should always be â—ound with their shells separate as the Ostracites and Pectines and others always closed together as the Conchites in all places I have yet seen Fourthly Because many of these formed Stones seem now to be in fieri which is the Doctor 's next Argument as the Selenites at Shotover and Hampton-gay the Conchites of Glympton and Cornwell many of which were of a perfect Clay and others of Stone c. As for the Selenites I grant them to have been in fieri because they are formed after the manner of Salts by shooting or crystallization but concerning the Clay Cockles I say with the Civilians ampliandum Since the publishing of this Treatise happening to read Dr. Nicol Steno's Discourse concerning these Bodies in his Description of a Sharkshead I met with a very plausible Solution of this Argument or Objection First he gives us the History of these Bodies or his Observations concerning them of which these following are two 1. That in Argilla which some english Potters Earth and we may render a Fat Clay he had taken notice that there were plenty of them on the Superficies of the Earth but within the Earth but a few 2. That in the same Argilla the deeper you descend downward the more tender those Bodies are so that some of them at any the least touch fall into Powder and they also that were on the Superficies almost all of them were without much ado reduced into a white Powder Now saith he seeing in such kind of Earth by how much deeper those Bodies lye by so much the softer they are and do less bear the touch the Earth is so far from producing them that it doth rather destroy them Neither is there any reason to think that they are therefore softer because they are not yet arrived at their perfection or come to maturity for those things that are soft upon that account while they are in generating have their parts united to one another as it were by a kind of Glue as is seen in the tender shels of Pine-Nuts and Almonds but these Bodies being deprived and destitute of all Glue easily moulder to Dust. Nor is it any Objection against our Opinion that on the surface of the Earth their
Curious by publishing a general Catalogue of all the formed Stones found in England and his Remarks upon them And I have likewise proved by good Authority that beyond the Seas in high Mountains and many Leagues distant from the Sea too there have been Beds of real shells I might have added Sharks-teeth or Glossopetrae as both Goropius Becanus and Georgius Agricola testifie if not in Beds yet plentifully disperst in the Earth There are several Medical Histories extant as Dr. Tancred Robinson informs me of perfect shells found in Animal Bodies in whose Glands they were originally formed which is a considerable Objection not easily to be removed TAB II. pag 162 TAB III pag. 162 TAB IV Pag 162 CHAP. V. That there have been great Charges made in the Superficial Part of the Earth since the General Deluge and by what Means I Shall now Discourse a little concerning such Changes as have been made in the Superficial part of the Earth since the Universal Deluge and of their Causes That there have been such I think no sober and intelligent Person can deny there being so good Authority and Reason to prove it Plato in his Timaeus tells us That the Egyptian Priests related to Solon the Athenian Law-giver who lived about 600 years before our Saviour that there was of old time without the Straits of Gibraltar a vast Island bigger then Africa and Asia together called Atlantis which was afterward by a violent Earthquake and mighty Flood and Inundation of Water in one day and night wholly overwhelmed and drown'd in the Sea Whence it may be conjectured that the Old and New World were at first continuous or by the Intervention of that Island not very far remote from each other That the Island of Sicily was of old broken off from Italy by the irruption or insinuation of the Sea is generally believed and there is some memorial thereof retained in the very name of the City Rhegium standing upon the Fretum that separates Italy and Sicily which signifies breaking off Zancle quoque juncta fuisse Dicitur Italiae donec confinia pontus Abstulit mediâ tellurem reppulit undâ In like manner the Island called Euboea now Negroponte was of old joyned to Greece and broken off by the working of the Sea Moreover the Inhabitants of Ceylon report that their Island was anciently joyned to the Main-land of India and separated from it by the force of the Sea It is also thought and there is good ground for it that the Island of Sumatra was anciently continuous with Malacca and called the Golden Chersonese for being beheld from afar it seems to be united to Malacca And to come nearer home Verstegan affirms and not without good reason that our Island of Great Britain was anciently Continent to Gaule and so no Island but a Peninsula and to have been broken off from the Continent but by what means it is in his judgment altogether uncertain whether by some great Earthquake whereby the Sea first breaking through might afterward by little and little enlarge her passage or whether it were cut by the labour of Man in regard of commodity by that passage or whether the Inhabitants of one side or the other by occasion of War did cut it thereby to be sequestred and freed from their Enemies His Arguments to prove that it was formerly united to France are 1. The Cliffs on either side the Sea lying just opposite the one to the other that is those of Dover to those lying between Callice and Bouloin for from Dover to Callice is not the nearest Land being both of one Substance that is of Chalk and Flint 2. The sides of both towards the Sea plainly appearing to have been broken off from some more of the same stuff or matter that it hath sometime by Nature been fastned to 3. The length of the said Cliffs along the Sea-shore being on one side answerable in effect to the length of the very like on the other side that is about six Miles And 4. the nearness of Land between England and France in that place the distance between both as some skilful Sailers report not exceeding 24. English Miles Some of the Ancients as Strato quoted by Strabo in the first Book of his Geography say That the Fretum Gaditanum or Strait of Gibraltar was forcibly broken open by the Sea The same they affirm of the Thracian Bosphorus and Hellespont that the Rivers filling up the Euxine Sea forced a passage that way where there was none before And in confirmation hereof Diodorus Siculus in his Fifth Book gives us an Ancient Story current among the Samothracians viz. That before any other Floods recorded in Histories there was a very great Deluge that overflowed a good part of the Coast of Asia and the lower Grounds of their Island when the Euxine Sea first brake open the Thracian Bosphorus and Hellespont and drowned all the adjacent Countries This Traditional Story I look upon as very considerable for its Antiquity and Probability it seeming to contain something of truth For it 's not unlikely that the Euxine Sea being over-charged with Waters by extraordinary Floods or driven with violent storms of Wind might make its way through the Bosphorus and Hellespent But it will be objected That the Euxine Sea doth empty it self continually by the Bosphorus and Hellespont into the Mediterranean and that if it had not this way of discharge the Rivers bringing in more than is spent by vapour it would soon overflow all its shores and drown the circumjacent Countreys and so it must have done soon after the Flood and therefore it is not probable that Samothrace should have been inhabited before that irruption if any such there were To which I answer 1. That Monsieur Marsilly thinks he hath demonstrated an under-current in the Thracian Bosphorus by means of which the Euxine may receive as much Water from the Mediterranean as it pours forth into it But because I have already declared my self not to be satisfied of the being and possibility of these undercurrents I answer 2. The Annual receipts from the Rivers running into the Euxine not very much exceeding what is spent in vapour who knows but that from the time of the General Deluge till the Irruption whereof we are discoursing the Euxine might yearly enlarge its Bason and encroach upon the Neighbouring Countreys Natural Historians give us an account of new Islands raised up in the Sea Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. 2. cap. 87. enumerates Delos and Rhodes Islands of note and of less account and later emersion Anaphe beyond Melos and Nea between Lemnos and the Hellespont Alone between Lebedos and Teos and among the Cyclades Thera and Therasia Olymp. 135. An. 4. which last or one of the same name Seneca saith was raised himself beholding it nobis spectantibus enata Among the same after 130 years Hiera and two Furlongs distant in his own time when Iunius Syllanus and L. Balbus were Consuls Thia. But the most
Ecclesiae maxima Palatia ceciderunt plusquam triginta millia corpora oppressa ruinis traduntur populus omnis habitat in tentoriis i. e. You shall understand by the Bearer of these Presents what wonderful and incredible losses an Earthquake hath wrought in the Kingdom of Apulia for many Towns are utterly ruined others for the greatest part fall'n In Naples almost all their Churches and sair Palaces are overthrown more then 30000 Persons are said to have been slain all the Inhabitants dwell in Tents This Kingdom of Naples especially Apulia and Calabria hath I think been oftner shaken and suffered more by Earthquakes than any other part of Europe For Cluverius tells us That in the Year 1629. there were dreadful Earthquakes in Apulia by which 17000 Men are said to have perished And Athanasius Kircher the Jesuite in the Preface to his Mundus Subterraneus gives us a sad Narrative of a dismal Earthquake in Calabria in the Year 1638. wherein himself was and out of which he hardly escaped with his Life Nothing to be â—â—en in the whole Country he passed by for two hundred Miles in length but the Carcasses of Cities and the horrible ruins of Villages the Inhabitants wandring about in the open Fields being half dead with fear and expectation of what might follow But most remarkable was the subversion of the noted Town of S. Eufemia which was quite lost out of their sight and absorpt and instead thereof nothing left but a stinking Lake But for a full account thereof I refer the Reader to the said Preface Not many years ago the famous City of Ragusa was almost wholly subverted and destroyed by a terrible Earthquake and Smyrna has lately been demolished by one From the West-Indies we hear frequently of great Damages done in our Plantations by Earthquakes The printed Transactions and Journals are full of these great Concussions and Subversions This present Year 1692. on the Seventh day of Iune there happened a dreadful Earthquake in the Island of Iamaica which made great Ruins and Devastations throughout the whole Country but especially in the Capital Town of Port Royal which was almost swallow'd up and overflow'd by the sinking of the Earth and irruption of the Sea a full Account whereof contained in two Letters sent from the Minister of the Place the one dated Iune the 22d the other the 28th of the same Month 1692. from aboard the Granada in Port-Royal Harbour to a Friend of his England and published by Authority I shall give the Reader with some Remarks 1. He tells us in general That this Earthquake threw down almost all the Houses Churches Sugar-works Mills and Bridges throughout the whole Island That it tore the Rocks and Mountains others tell us that it levelled some Mountains and reduced them to Plains that it destroyed some whole Plantations and threw them into the Sea but that Port-Royal had much the greatest share in this terrible Judgment 2. Then he acquaints us what for to save the Reputation of the People and to avoid the laying a perpetual blot upon them I should rather suppress and conceal but for the vindication of the Divine Providence and Justice and to deter others from the like Enormities I think necessary to publish That the Inhabitants of that Place were a most ungodly and debauched People and so desperately wicked that he was even afraid to continue among them for that very day this terrible Earthquake was as soon as night came on a company of lewd Rogues whom they call Privateers fell to breaking open Warehouses and Houses deserted to rob and riâ—â—e their Neighbours whilst the Earth trembled under them and some of the Houses â—ell upon them in the Act. The like Robbers and Plunderers we were told wandered up and down the Country even in the very smoke during the last great â—urning and eruption of Aetna in Sicily And those audacious Whores that remained still upon the Place were as impudent and drunken as ever and that since the Earthquake when he was on shore to pray with the bruiâ—ed and dying People and to Christen Children he met with too many drunk and swearing And in his second Letter he saith positively That there was not a more â—â—godly People on the Face of the Earth â— The Account he gives of the Motions and 〈◊〉 of the Earthquake is as follow◠〈…〉 when this Calamity beâ—el the 〈…〉 very clear affording 〈…〉 evil This 〈…〉 Earthquakes and 〈…〉 in England the 〈…〉 being clear and calm But 〈…〉 about half in 〈…〉 Morning 〈…〉 Town in all the English 〈…〉 might he call it so 〈…〉 place of his Letter 〈…〉 the Wharf were 〈…〉 those in 〈…〉 and Mart or 〈…〉 in Riches and abounding in all good things was shaken and shattered to pieces and covered for the greatest part by the Sea The Wharf was entirely â—wallowed by the Sea and two whole Streets beyond it Himself with the President of the Council being in a House near where the Merchants meet hearing the Church and Tower fall ran to save themselves He having lost the President made toward Morgan's Fort because being a wide open place he thought to be there â—ecurest from the falling Houses but as he was going he saw the Earth open and swallow up a multitude of People and the Sea mounting in upon them over the Fortifications Moreover he tells us That their large and famous Burying place called the Pallisado's was destroyed by the Earthquake and that the Sea washed away the Carcasses of those that were buried out of their Graves their Tombs being dashed to pieces by the motion and concussion That the whole Harbour one of the fairest and goodliest that ever he saw was covered with the dead Bodies of People of all Conditions floating up and down without burial That in the opening of the Earth the Houses and Inhabitants sinking down together some of these were driven up again by the Sea which arose in those Breaches and wonderfully escaped Some were swallowed up to the neck and then the Earth shut upon them and squeezed them to death and in that manner several were left buried with their Heads above ground only some Heads the Dogs have eaten others are covered with Dust and Earth by the People which yet remain in the place to avoid the stench So that they conjecture that by the falling of the Houses the opening of the Earth and the inundation of the Waters there are lost Fifteen hundred persons and many of good note as Attorney General Musgrove Provost Marshal Reeves Lord Secretary Reeves c. Further he tells us That after he was escaped into a Ship he could not sleep all night for the returns of the Earthquake almost every hour which made all the Guns in the Ship to jar and rattle And he supposes that the whole Town of Port-Royal will in a short time be wholly swallowed by the Sea for few of those Houses that yet stand are left whole and that they heard them fall every day
Church to St. Ives and above two Miles distant from the Sea almost covered with the Sand little being extant above it but the Steeple and Ridge of the Roof Nay a great part of St. Ives itself lies buâ—ied in the Sand and I was told there that in one Night there had been a whole Street of Houses so covered with Sand that in the Morning they were fain to dig their way out of their Houses through it All along the Western Shoar of Wales there are great Hills of Sand thus blown up by the Wind. We observed also upon the Coast of Flanders and Holland the like sandy Hills or Downs from which Westerly Winds drive the Sand a great way into the Country But there are not many places liable to this Accident viz. where the bottom of the Sea is sandy and where the Wind most frequently blows from off the Sea where the Wind sets from the Land toward the Sea this happens not where it is indifferent it must in reason carry off as much as it brings on unless other Causes hinder SECT II. The Second possible Cause of the World's Destruction in a Natural Way the Extinction of the Sun II. THE possibility of the Sun's extinction Of which Accident I shall give an Account in Dr. More 's words in the last Chapter of his Treatise of the Immortality of the Soul This saith he though it may seem a Panick Fear at first sight yet if the matter be throughly examined there will appear no contemptible Reasons that may induce Men to suspect that it may at last fall out there having been at certain times such near Offers in Nature towards this sad Accident already Pliny speaks of it as a thing not unfrequent that there should be Prodigiosi longiores Solis defectus qualis occiso Dictatore Caesare Antoniano bello totius anni pollore continuo Hist. Nat. lib. 2. cap. 30. Prodigious and lasting defects of the Sun such as happened when Caesar the Dictator was slain and in the War with Anthony when it was continually pale and gloomy for a whole Year The like happened in Iustinian's time as Cedrenus writes when for a whole Year together the Sun was of a very dim and duskish Hue as if he had been in a perpetual Eclipse And in the time of Irene the Empress it was so dark for seventeen days together that the Ships lost their way in the Sea and were ready to run one against another as Theophanes reports But the late accurate Discovery of the Spots of the Sun by Scheiner and the appearing and disappearing of Fixt Stars and Comets and the excursions of these last do argue it more than possible that after some vast Periods of Time the Sun may be so inextricably inveloped by the Maculae that he may quite lose his Light and then you may easily guess what would become of the Inhabitants of the Earth For without his vivisick heat neither could the Earth put forth any Vegetables for their sustenance neither if it could would they be able to bear the extremity of the Cold which must needs be more rigorous and that perpetually than it is now under the Poles in Winter time But this accident tho' it would indeed extinguish all Life yet being quite contrary to a Dissolution by Fire of which the Apostle speaks I shall pass it over without further consideration and proceed to a Third SECT III. The Third possible Cause of the World's Destruction The Eruption of the Central Fire III. THE Possibility of the Eruption of the Central Fire if any such there be inclosed in the Earth It is the Hypothesis of Monsieur des Cartes that the Earth was originally a Star or great Globe of Fire like the Sun or one of the Fixt Stars situate in the Center of a Vortex continually whirling round with it That by degrees it was covered over or incrustated with Maculae arising on its Surface like the Scum on a boyling Pot which still increasing and growing thicker and thicker the Star losing its light and activity and consequently the motion of the Celestial Vortex about it growing more weak languid and unable to resist the vigorous incroaehments of the neighbouring Vortex of the Sun it was at last drawn in and wholly absorpt by it and forced to comply with its motion and make one in the Quire of the Sun's Satellites This whole Hypothesis I do utterly disallow and reject Neither did the Author himself if we may believe him think it ture that the Earth was thus generated For he saith Quinimo ad res naturales meliùs explicandas earum causas altiùs hic repetam quà m ipsas unquam extitisse existimem Non enim dubium est quin mundus ab initio fuerit creatus cum omni sua perfectione ità ut in eo Sol Terra Luna Stellae extiterint Hoc fides Christiana nos docet hócque etiam ratio naturalis planè persuadet Attendendo enim ad immensam Dei potentiam non possumus existimare illum unquam quidquam fecisse quod non omnibus suis numeris fuerit absolutum That is Moreover for the better explicating of Natural Things I shall bring them from higher or more remote Causes than I think they ever had For there is no doubt but the World was originally created in its full perfection so that in it were contained both Sun and Moon and Earth and Stars c. For this the Christian Faith teacheth us and this also Natural Reason doth plainly persuade for attending to the immense Power of God we cannot think that he ever made any thing that was not complete in all points But thô he did not believe that the Earth was generated or formed according to his Hypothesis yet surely he was of Opinion that it is at present such a Body as he represented it after its perfect Formation viz. with a Fire in the middle and so many several Crusts or Coats inclosing it else would he have given us a mere Figment or Romance instead of a Body of Philosophy But tho' I do reject the Hypothesis yet the being of a Central Fire in the Earth is not so far as I understand any way repugnant to Reason or Scripture For first of all the Scripture represents Hell as a Lake of Fire Mark 9. 43 44 c. Revel 20. 10 14 15. and likewise as a low place beneath the Earth So Pslam 86. 13. and Deut. 32. 22. it is called the nethermost hell Prov. 15. 24. The way of life is above to the wise that he may depart from hell beneath 2. Many of the Ancients understand that Article of the Creed He descended into Hell of our Saviour's Descent into that local Hell beneath the Earth where he trimphed over the Devil and all the Powers of Darkness And particularly Irenaeus interprets that saying of our Saviour That the Son of man should be three days in the heart of the earth of his being three days in
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
Fixedness and Intransmutability of Principles secures the Universe from Dissolution by the prevailing of one Element over another and turning it into its own Nature which otherwise it would be in continual danger of It secures likewise the perpetuity of all the Species in the World many of which if their Principles were transmutable might by such a change be quite lost And lastly bars the Production or Creation of any new Species as in the forementioned Treatise I have shewn CHAP. IV. Containing an Answer to the Second Question Whether shall this Dissolution be effected by natural or by extraordinary Means and what they shall be 2. AS to the Second Question Whether shall this Dissolution be brought about and effected by natural or by extraordinary Means and Instruments and what those Means and Instruments shall be I answer in brief that the Instrumental Efficient of this Dissolution shall be natural For it is clear both by Scripture and Tradition and agreed on all hands that it shall be that Catholick Dissolvent Fire Now to the being and maintenance of Fire there are four things requisite I. The active Principle or Aether 2. Air or a Nitrous Pabulum received from it These two being commixt together are every-where at hand 3. Fuel which considering the abundance of combustible Materials which are to be found in all places upon or under the Surface of the Earth can no where be wanting 4. The Accension and the sudden and equal Diffusion of this Fire all the World over And this must be the Work of God extraordinary and miraculous Such a Dissolution of the World might indeed be effected by that natural Accident mentioned in the Answer to the Precedent Question viz. The Eruption of the Central Fire But because it is doubtful whether there be any such Fire in the middle of the Earth or no and if there ever were it is hard to give an account how it could be maintained in that infernal Dungeon for want of Air and Fuel And because if it should break forth in the Consistency of a thin Flame it would in all likelihood speedily like Lightning mount up to Heaven and quite vanish away unless we could suppose Floods nay Seas of melted Materials or liquid Fire enough to overflow the whole Earth to be poured forth of those Caverns For these Reasons I reject that Opinion and do rather think that the Conflagration shall be effected by a superficial Fire Tho' I must confess we read in Tacitus Annal. 13. at the end of a sort of Fire that was not so apt to disperse and vanish The City of the Inhonians in Germany saith he confederate with us was afflicted with a sudden Disaster for Fires issuing out of the Earth burned Towns Fields Villages every-where and spread even to the Walls of a Colony newly built and could not be extinguished neither by Rain nor River-water nor any other Liquor that could be employed until for want of Remedy or Anger of such a Distraction certain Peasants cast Stones afar off into it then the Flame somewhat slacking drawing near they put it out with Blows of Clubs and other like as if it had been a wild Beast last of all they threw in Cloaths from their Backs which the more worn and fouler they were the better they quenched the Fire I use Dr. Hakewil's Translation CHAP. VII The Third Question answered Whether shall this Dissolution be Gradual and Successive or Momentaneous and Sudden 3. THE Third Question is Whether shall this Dissolution be gradual and successive or momentaneous and sudden I answer The Scripture resolves for the latter The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night a similitude we have often repeated in Scripture as in the tenth Verse of this Chapter in 1 Thess. 15. 2. Rev. 3. 3. and 16. 15. And the Resurrection and Change of Things it is said shall be in a moment in the twinkling of an eye 1 Cor. 15. 52. Consonant whereto both the Epicureans and Stoicks held their Dissolutions of the World should be sudden and brief as Lucretius and Seneca in the place ' fore-mentioned tell us And it is suitable to the nature of Fire to make a quick dispatch of things suddenly to consume and destroy And as it shall be sudden so also shall it be unexpected being compared to the coming of the Flood in the Days of Noah Mat. 24. 37 38 39. But as the days of Noah were so shall also the coming of the Son of man be For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entred into the ark And knew not until the flood came and took them all away so shall also the coming of the Son of man be And the raining of Fire and Brimstone upon Sodom Luke 17. Thessal 5. 3. For when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child Now if it shall be thus sudden and unexpected it is not likely there should be in Nature any manifest Tendency to it or remarkable Signs and Forerunners of it for such must needs startle and awaken the World into an expectation and dread of it That there is at present no such Tendency to Corruption but that the World continues still in as good state and condition as it was two thousand Years ago without the least impairment or decay hath been as we before noted without any possibility of contradiction clearly made out and demonstrated by Dr. Hakewill in his Apology and therefore arguing from the past to the vangelist had told us That there shall be Signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars the Sea and the Waves roaring he adds as a Consequent thereof Verse 26. Mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things that are coming on the Earth And indeed how could any Man possibly be buried in so profound a Lethargy of Senslessness and Security as by such stupendious Prodigies not to be rowsed and awakened to an expectation of some dismal and tremendous Event How could he sing a Requiem to his Soul and say Peace and Safety when the World so manifestly threatens Ruin about his Ears For the reconcilâ—ng of these Expressions to this sudden coming of our Saviour to Judgment it were most convenient to accept them in the Figurative and Metaphorical Sense For if we understand them of the Ruin and Devastations of Cities and Countries and Changes of Governments the Subversions of Kingdoms and Commonwealths the Falls and Deposings of Princes Nobles and Great Men these happening more or less in every Age though the serious and inquisitive Christian who searches and understands the Scriptures may discern them to be the Signs of the World's Catastrophe yet the careless and inconsiderate the vicious and voluptuous are not like to be at all startled or moved at them but may notwithstanding looking upon them as
ubique adjectae sunt emendationes petitae partim ex Libris MSS. partim ex animadversionibus virorum Doctorum Etiam Orationibus illustratis accessione Ascenii Pediani Doctissimi veteris Scholiastae nunquam antea editi apositis in margâ—â—e ad utentis commodum numeris non tantum Gruterianis sed etiam Apparatui Latinae Locutionis Nicoliano respondentibus cum Indicibus aliis Correctis aliis Novis Accuratissimis In 4. Tom. in Quarto Idem cum eisdem Notis additionibus nitidissimae Characteris in 11 Tomis in Duodecimo Lugd. Bat. 1692. Diogenis Laertii de Vitis Dogmatibus Apothegmatibus clarorum Philosophorum Libri X. Gr. Lat. Cum subjunctis integris Annotationibus F. Casaâ—boni Th. Aldrobandira Mer. Casauboni Latinam Ambrosii Versionem complevit emendavit Marcus Meibornius excusas Aeg. Menagii in Diogenâ—s Observationes Auctiores habet Volumen II. ut ejusdem 〈◊〉 de Muliebribus Philosophis Joachini Kughnii ad 〈◊〉 Notas Cum Junibus 2 Vol. 4 o 1692. Philippi Limborch Historia Inquiâ—itionis 〈…〉 Liber Sententiarum Inquisitionis Tholosanae ab An. 〈…〉 ad An. MCCCXXIII in Foliâ— 1692. Musarum Anglicanarum analectâ— Sive 〈◊〉 quaedam meliâ—ris Notae seu hactenus inedita seu sparium 〈◊〉 in enâ—m Volumen congesta Oxon. 1692. 8 o Boyle Experimenta Observationâ—s c. circa Mechâ—nicarum variarum particularium Qualitatum Originem five productionem Lond. 8â— 1692. A new History of Aethiopia Being a full and accurate Description of the Kingdom of Abessinâ— vulgaâ—ly thâ— erroneously called The Empire of Prester Iâ—hn 〈◊〉 with Coppeâ—plates the Second Edition To which is added a Preâ—ace shewing the Usefulness of this History and a Map of the Country By Iob Ludoâ—fus in Folio 1684. The Spiritual Year Or Devout Contemplations digested into distinct Arguments for every Month in the Year and for every Week in that Month Containing most of the Principal and Fundâ—mental Doctrines of Christianity being very plain and useful for the Instruction of Families in all Christian Duties and for the disposing of them to a Religious and Spiritual Conversation London in 8â— 1693. The Meditations of Marâ—us Aurelius Antonâ—â—â—â— the Roman Emperour concerning himself of a Natural Mâ—ns 〈◊〉 wherein a 〈◊〉 and of 〈◊〉 means to attain unto it 〈◊〉 out of the Original Greek with Notes by Mâ—rie 〈◊〉 D. D. The Fifth Edition To which is 〈◊〉 The Life of Antoninus with some select Remarks upon the whole by Montieur and Madam Dacier Never before in English in 8â— 16â—2 The Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of the Creation In two Parts viz. The Heavenly Bodies Elements Meteors Fossils Vegetables Animals Beasts Birds Fishes and Insects more particularly in the Body of the Earth its Figure Motion and Consistency and in the admirable Structure of the Bodies of Man and other Animals as also in their Generation c. By Iohn Ray Fellow of the Royal Society The Second Edition very much enlarged In 8â— 1692. A Treatise of Church-Government or a Vindication of Diocesan Episcopacy against the Objections of the Dissenters in Answer to some Letters lately Printed concerning the same Subject By R. Burscough M. A. in 8â— Lond. 1692. Medicinal Experiments or a Collection of Choice and Safe Remedies for the most part Simple and easily prepared useful in Families and being cheap may be made very serviceable to poor Country People By the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq Fellow of the Royal Society To which is added A Catalogue of all his Theological and Philosophical Books and Tracts The Second Edâ—tion in 12â— 1693. Price 〈◊〉 An Esâ—ay of the great Effects of even languid and unheeded local Motion Whereunto is annexed An Experimental Discourse of some little observed Causes of the Insalubrity and Salubrity of the Air and its Effects By the Honourable Robert Bayle Esq Lond. 8â— 16â—◠〈…〉 Or Hydrostaticks applied to the 〈…〉 shewing by the Weight that divers Bodies us'd in Physick have in Water one may discover whether they genuine or adulterate By the Honourable Robert Boylâ— Esropyui London 1690 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Short Memoirs for the Natural and Experim â—ntal History of Mineral Waters Lond. 1684. 〈◊〉 Ovid Metamorph lib. 15. * De fide Orthod l. 2. c. 10. * Observat. Physical c. * Wisdom of God in the Creation * L. 2. c. 6. * Arcae Noae l. 2. c. 4 * Dr. Burnet * Hist. Nat. Stafford p. 79. * Britannia Baconica * Swoln Throats †De Subtilit Exerc. 60. Sect. â— * 〈…〉 * De Arcâ— Noae p. 192 * Dissert De Glossopetra * Hist. Nat. Oxs p. 117. * Ovid. Metam lib. 15. * Philosoph Transact N. 15â— * Horae Hebr in Matth. cap. 3. v. 17. Doctr. * â— Pet 3. * Mlnut Fellx * Lib. 7. Du 〈◊〉 Aâ—ud â—aâ—lant l 7. c. 23. * Lib. 5. †Praep. Evang. l. 15. Hom. II. Hakewil's Apol. l. 4. c. 13. sect 5. * Bishop Wilkins's Vnivers Charact. De Sacris l. 1. c. 1. * Doctor Witchcot * Daniel 12. 2.