were diffused as also that the brightest and most resplendent Stars were composed of this chaotic Matter neither that there were any before the Birth and Creation of this our Earth Which is what the very Letter of the Hexaemeron seems to import and absolutely contradictory to the Nature of Things as well as to all Philosophical Reasons 'T is most certain that the fixed Stars are fiery Bodies that they do not all rest upon the same Superficies being some more remote from the Earth and more profoundly immers'd in the Heavens than others and that upon this score there can be no common Center assigned to all of them at least to believe our modern Earth a blind and sordid particle of the Universe inferiour to each of the fixed Stars as well in bulk as in dignity to be the Heart the most noble and most vital Part of so vast a Body is altogether irrational and repugnant to the Nature of Things I speak it again with Indignation that to say or almost to think that this Earth the Dregs the meer Scum of Nature is the Supream Head of all Things and as it were the first born Product of the whole Creation cannot be without an Abuse and Scandal as well to the Operator as to the Work Besides if that earthyly Chaos had been extended throughout the vast Face of the Universe and that this Earth were the only Center in which all the grosser parts convened the same Earth or middle Body being the common Recepticle of all the grosser Parts would have grown up to a bulk infinitely bigger than this little Earth of ours For that the sublunary Chaos or which reaches to the Moon is of it self sufficient to make up this Earth and if to this you add the whole visible Heaven and those spaces above the Heavens which are not obvious to our Senses but surpass all our imagination Neither the Sun nor any visible Body is of so great a magnitude as would be that Body composed in the midst of the Chaos Moreover that as well the corporeal as the incorporeal World is more ancient than this inhabitable Earth may in some measure be proved out of Ecclesiastical Authors if we strictly examin the thing Many Fathers of the Christian Church were of Opinion that before the Earth or Mosaic World there had been Angels for many Ages unknown to us and some also mention the same of the highest Heaven or Firmament But this Opinion of the Angels is a thing more positively asserted and by a greater number Not to speak of Origen St. Basilius says this in his Hexaemeron Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Gregorius Nazianzenus Orat. 38. and in other Places Iohannes Damascenus l. 2. Orth. Fid. cap. 3. Ioh. Philoponus de Creatione mundi lib. 1. cap. 10. ult Olympiodorus upon Iob. 38. and others of the Greeks have taught the same not a few also of the Latins have been of this Opinion Hilarius l. 12. de Trin. St. Ierom Ambrosius in Hexam l. 1. c. 5. Isidorus Hispalensis Beda and others Accordingly these are St. Ierom's own words upon the subject Our World has not yet seen Six Thousand Years and what Eternities what vast Tracts of Time what inexhaustible Fountains of Ages ought we to suppose have been before it in which the Angels Thrones Powers and other Vertues have served God In the Book de Trinitate whether it was written by Novatian or Tertullian as well the Angelical World as the spaces above the Firmament are said to have been made before the Mosaical World in these words Although in the higher Regions viz. those above the Firmament it self he did before institute Angels spiritual Vertues Thrones and Powers as also create many other vast Tracts of the Heavens c. Insomuch that this World appears rather to be the last Work of God than his sole and only one To which Passage adds Damelius Novatian was not only of this Opinion but also St. Jerom together with all the Greeks that the Angels were sooner instituted viz. before any part of the Creation of our present World Lastly Cassian tells us That this was the common Opinion of the Catholics in his time which was at the beginning of the fifth Age Whereof says he none of the Faithful doubt And having more fully explained this generally received Opinion he afterwards adds 'T is most certain and undoubted that God created all those Celestial Powers before that Temporal beginning of the Creation But to remove all doubt concerning the preexistence of Angels we have the very words which the Lord himself spake to Iob chap. 38.4 c. Where were thou when I said the Foundations of the Earth when the morning Stars sang my praises and all the Sons of God shouted for joy Whereupon says Olympiodorus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is plain from this Passage that in the Creation of the World the Angels were first made Forasmuch as these words certainly imploy that before the Foundations of the Earth were laid there were Angels and that they sang praises to God at the first Building of our World Likewise if you take the Morning Stars according to the very Letter it is most certain that the Stars and Heavens also preceded the Foundation of our Earth Besides St. Ierom makes intellectual Beings pre-existent to the World by those Passages of Scripture where something is said to have been done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 1.2 2 Tim. 1.9 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 2.7 before the World began Nor is there less included in this Expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 1.20 Ephes. 1.4 Iohn 17.5 and 24. Before the Foundations of the World were laid Which does not denote a bare Eternity but the Periods and Foundation of this World Before both which did exist the Soul of the Mâ—ssias and the Mystery of the Christian Oeconomy But to return again to the Angels Lastly We can evince the same by the Sacred Oracles and Authority of the Fathers as well as by Reason and Arguments The Fall of the Angels was before the Creation of the World therefore they were before creatâ—d and that for some Ages For really 't is not at all probable that the most excellent Creatures were made of so frail a nature as that on the very day of their birth they should fall into evil and misery neither is it consistent with the Deus Opt. Max. the kind Father of all Intelligent Beings to place the most noble part of his work in so slippery a station that no sooner had their Maker taken his hand from off them but they immediately fell head-long into destruction damned to the utmost of torments and a most dismal Hell Which being thus stated let us pass on from the Angels to the Corporeal World wherein we are first to observe That if the Angels had not any ways been united with matter nor had from it received any pleasure or any sort of
perception it could scarce have been possible that they should have been wrested from their habitations and first state For pray where were the places that these pre-existent Angels did inhabit Basilius says they dwelt in the Heavens and Lightâ— Many of the Ancients did as is well known attribute to the Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thin Bodies and not gross Terrestrial ones like ours And the second Nicene Council would have this Doctrin proposed out of the Book of Iohn Bishop of Thessalonica to be confirmed these are the words Concerning the Angels Archangels and their Powers to which I also joyn our own souls This is the opinion of the Catholic Church that they are 't is true intelligible yet not wholly Incorporeal and Invisible as you Gentiles say but endowed with a thin and Aerial or Fiery Body as it is written Who makes his Angels Spirits and those that minister unto him a flaming fire This we know to have been the opinion of many Holy-Fathers amongst whom are Basilius Sirnamed the Great St. Athanasius Methodius and those that follow them not that they suppose Angels to be Bodies but like human Souls to be invested with Bodies yet not such as are moulded up of the same Clay with our Modern ones but thin and pure like Air or Fire Of the same nature as those we shall one day have when we come to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equall to the Angels Lastly those who interpret that passage Gen. 6.2 c. of the Angels joyning themselves with the Daughters of Men which not a few of the Fathers and others do must necessarily assert that the Angels have Bodies proper and agreeable to their own nature from all which we may conclude that together with the Angels some Coelestial Matter did exist before the Earth But of whatever kind this thin subtle and lucid Matter was it could not exist by it self and before the remaining part of the Mass of Matter For all Matter was together and at once produced out of Nothing Neither â—ay we conceive the action of the Creation as divided into parts and distant ages whilst the rest of the Regions and Tracts of the World remained empty For my part if an Atom or the smallest Particle of Matter existed before the Mosaical Epocha I am of opinion that the whole Mass of the Universe did the same and by the same Rule if that Angelical Matter or Vehicle of the Angels preceded the beginning of the Earth all Matter in general did as the Greek Fathers argue in some measure precede it but its disposition and order according to its different parts scituations and forms have by the Decree of Providence been from time to time varied sometimes after one manner and sometimes after another Thus by the Authority of the Fathers we have hitherto treated of the pre-existence of Angels and of Matter it self as it hath a connection with the Angels let us now therefore return to the nature of things and to the visible World for in the Corporeal we have as many Arguments to confirm the same antiquity of Matter and to sufficiently demonstrate that the Mosaical Epocha of about six thousand years does not comprehend the Original of the whole Universe but the Age of our present Earth and the time since it was formed out of its Chaos If we again consider the Phaenomenaes of the Heavens and the Companies of both erring and fixed Stars we shall easily believe that so numerous a progeny and which was worthy of a better Parent could not be the offâ—spring of one Earthly Chaos nor admit of their Ages and Histories being included within the limits of so small a time wherefore let us if you please call to mind a thing which is now no longer doubted of viz. that the Earth is a Planet and that besides the Earth there are many Planets of the same nature as well as of a like matter and form All which 't is probable have had the same manner and principle of birth that is every one out of its own Chaos Moreover since the Creation of the Earth we have not seen the birth of any one new Planet for which reason certainly they are all either older than the Earth or as old now If you grant the former 't is all we desire and if you make them of the same age with the Earth you must suppose as many Chaos's as there are Primary Planets since for example 't is certain that Iupiter who wheels about his own Satellites or Tendours is a Center to himself and does not any ways depend on our Earth as do none of the rest except it be the Moon Again the fixed Stars seem ancienter than the Planets and to be each of them the Center of its own Orb or Vortex as many Systems therefore must be constituted in the Heavens as there are fixed Stars which being very great both as to number and bulk would swallow up this little point of Earth as if it were less than nothing wherefore whoever has any favour for the Heavens and is an unbiassed observer of God's Works will not easily consent to have their Originals deduced from the Earth or dependent on it Lastly 't is probable that the Planets were formerly fixed and that the Earth it self ought to be numbred in the same rank 't will be no easie matter for you to solve the Originals of the Planets by any other Hypothesis at least not if they have fire in their Center which 't is very probable they have Besides we sometimes see the face of the Sun overgrown with thick spots and perceive him for some days pale obscure and as it were in the pangs of death but he that is sick may die and what happens to one may happen to others of the same kind now all the fixed Stars are homogeneous therefore the fixed Stars are perishable Now a fixed Star perishes and is extinguished when being crusted over with a thick shell of scurf which it cannot break through it degenerates into an obscure and opake body such as is a Planet Finally the new Stars that have of late years appeared in the Heavens have not 't is probable I mean in respect to their Originals had any connection or communication with the Earth neither have the Comets which although in some things they are dubious and hard to be explained do to me seem nothing else but as one may say the dead bodies of the fixed Stars unburied and not as yet composed to rest they like shadows wander up and down through the various Regions of the Heavens till they have found out fit places for their residence which having pitcked upon they stop their irregular course and being turned into Planets move Circularly about some Star Whereas if according to another Hypothesis Comets are held to have been just the same from the beginning they take such vast Tours make such immense Circles and Periods that no man can prove we ever saw the same Comet
we conceive a divine Concourse or an influence from the little Finger of the Almighty Im sâ—lf says he could shew a Catalogue of Doubts never yet imagined nor questioned as I know of which are not resolved in Scripâ—ure at first hearing not fantastic Quaeries or Objections of Air For I cannot hear of Atoms in Divinity I can read the History of the Pigeon that was sent out of the Ark and returned no more yet not question how she found out her Mate that was left behind That Lazarus was raised from the Dead yet not demand where in the Interim his Soul waited or raise a Law Case whether his Heir might lawfully detain his Inheritance bequeath'd to him by his Death and he though restored to Life have no Plea or Title to his former Possessions Whether Eve was framed out of the left side of Adam I dispute not because I stand not yet assured which is the right side of a Man or whether there be any such distinction in Nature That Eve was Edified of the Rib of Adam I believe yet raise no question who shall arise with that Rib at the Resurrection Whether Adam was an Hermophrodite as the Rabbins contend upon the Letter of the Text Genes 1.27 because it is contrary to Reason there should be an Hermophrodite before there was a Woman or a Composition of two Natures before there was a second composed Likewise whether the World was creaâ—ed in Autumn Winter Summer or the Spring because it was created in them all 〈◊〉 whatsoever Sign the Sun possesseth those four Seasons are actually existent It being the nature of this Luminary to distinguish the several Seasons of the Year all which it makes at one time in the whole Earth and successive in any part thereof That there was a Deluge once whether in the time of Deucalion or Noah seems not to me so great a Miracle as that there is not one always How all kinds of Creatures not only in their own Bulks but with a Competency of Food and Sustenance might be preserved in one Ark and within the Extent of Three hundred Cubits will not appear very feasible There is also another Secret not contain'd in Scripture which is more hard to comprehend and put the honest Father St. Austin to the Refuge of a Miracle and that is not only how the distinct pieces of the World and divided Islands should be first Planted by Men but Inhabited by Tygers Panthers and Bears How America abounded with Beasts of prâ—y and noxious Animals yet contained not in it that necessary Creature a Horse is very strange By what Passage those not only Birds but dangerous and unwelcom Beasts came over How there be Creatures there which are not found in this tripple Continent All which must needs be strange to us that hold but one Ark and that the Creatures began their Progress from the Mountain Ararat 'T is a Paradox to me that Methusalem was the longest liv'd of all the Children oâ— Adam and no Man will be able to prove it when from the Process of the Text I can manifest it may be otherwise Also that Iudas perished by hanging himself there is no certainty in Scripture the two Texts Matth. 25. and Acts 1.18 seeming to contradict one another That our Fathers after the Flood erected the Tower of Babel to preserve themselves against a second Deluge is generally believed yet is there another Intention of theirs express'd in Scripture Besides it is improbable from the Circumstance of the Place which was a Plain in the Land of Shinar I believe there was a Tree whose Fruit our unhappy Parents tasted though in the same Chapter where God forbids it 't is possitively said the Plants of the Field were not yet grown for God had not then caused it to rain upon the Earth I believe that the Serpent if we shall literally understand it from his proper Form and Figure made his Motion his Belly before the Curse I find the tryal of the Pucillage and Virginity of Women which God ordained the Iews is very fallible Experience and History inform me that not only many particular Women but likewise whole Nations have escaped the Curse of Childbirth which God seems to pronounce upon the whole Sex Having perused the Archidoxes and read the secret Sympathies of things the Devil would disswade my Belief from the Miracle of the Brazen Serpent and make me conceit that Image workt by Sympathy and was but an Aegyptian Trick to cure their Diseases with a Miracle Again having seen some Experiments of Bitumen and read many more of Naphtha he whisper'd to my Curiosity the Fire of the Altar might be natural and bid me mistrust a Miracle of Elias when he entrenched the Altar round with Water since that inflammable Substance yields not easily to Water but flames in the Arms of its Antagonist And thus would he inveagle my Belief to think the Combustion of Sodom might be natural and that there was an Asphaltic and Bituminous Nature in that Lake before the Fire of Gomorrah I know that Manna is now plentifully gathered in Calabria and Iosephus tells me in his Days it was as plentiful in Arabia the Devil therefore made me Quaere where was then the Miracle in the Days of Moses since the Israelites saw but that in his time which the Natives of those Countries behold in ours Brown's Religio Medici Also in his Vulgar Errors our same Author writes thus It hath puzzled the Enquiries of others to apprehend and forced them to strange Conceptions to make out how Eve should be deluded by a Serpent or subject her Reason to a Beast which God had subjected to hers and how without Fear and Doubt she could Discourse with such a Creature or hear a Serpent speak without suspicion of Imposture Others wonder at her simplicity that when the Serpent told her the eating that Fruit would make them like Gods she did not question the Beast why he himself did not eat of it then Brown Vul. Err. Now as one observes very well in relation to Divine Miracles there is oftentimes great Errors committed in the manner of reading Scripture as when that is taken in a general Sence which ought to be particularly understood As that of Adam whom Moses made only to be the first Father of the Iews whilst others Hyperbolically make him to be the first Father of all Men. So likewise the Darkness at the Death of our Saviour which some say was spread over the Face of the whole Earth Others and some able Interpreters have only translated it Vpon all the Land of the Iews viz. Palestine which the Hebrews always meant when they said the Earth So likewise the Star which Conducted the Wisemen upon the Nativity of Christ some place in Heaven among the rest of the Stars but others say that could not be for then other People had seen it as well as those few Wisemen and Herod among the rest who being troubled at this Report and
good and in the Evening of the same Day all things are accursed Alas how fleeting and unconstant is the Glory of Things created A work that was six days e'er it could be elaborate and brought to perfection and that by an Omnipotent Architect to be thus in as few Hours ruined by so vile a Beast Now this is a faithful Account of Matter of Fact contain'd in the History of Paradice and Creation of Mankind as also of the time wherein each Part of the said History was produced All which things when I revolve in my Mind which is wholly unbyass'd and ready to comply on every side where right Reason and the Love of Truth conduct me I cannot be angry with those of the Fathers and ancient Writers who have endeavoured to convert these things into Symbols Parables or ways of discoursing adapted to the Vulgar But am angry with Celsus who calls this account an old Wive's Tale upon which Origen tells him very well by way of answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that these things were spoken in a figurative Sence However Celsus himself does in what follows acknowledge that the fairest Interpreters both among the Iews and Christians were ashamed of the literal Sence and therefore accommodated them to Allegories Hence you may see that in the first Ages of the Christian Church at which time Celsus lived as also among the Iews before Christ's Birth the more candid Interpreters deviated from the literal Reading of Moses's History And really it seems a very cruel and very hard thing in this Respect that God should be said to have tormented nay and ruined Mankind for so small a Fault and that too committed through the Levity of a Womans Mind Wherefore some are of an Opinion which I am not much averse to That Moses laid so vast a Punishment on so small a Crime only to the end he might procure the greater Difference and Authority to his own Laws which often Decree with the strictest Severity things Frivolous and in their own Nature Indifferent For who would not fear to violate the most petty inconsiderable Precept that comes in the Name of God if the eating of one Forbidden Apple could bring perdition to all Mankind But upon these and the other Articles in Moses's Narration let every one enjoy his own Sentiments provided he do not destroy the Foundation Now by Foundation I here mean the Doctrine of the Temporal Rise of Mankind as well as of this Earth the Degeneration of both and that Mankind will be redeemed by the Seed of a Woman In this blind State of Mortality we are all prone to Error and among the Duties of Charity 't is not the least for us to indulge and succour one another when we are Erroneous For my own part I call God to Witness who knows our most secret Thoughts that in this or any other Writing I never proposed more to my self than the promotion of Piety founded upon Truth Neither do I in this Discourse about Paradice and the Origination of Mankind affirm any thing possitively but with Modesty and Submissiou that I may the better Fathom the Judgmâ—nts 〈◊〉 discrâ—et well-minded Persons Wh◠〈◊〉 they 〈◊〉 but with me consider the Uâ—age and Genius of the Primitive Ages more especially among the Oriental Nations whose Custom it was to deliver their Decrees and Doctrines by Symbols Similitudes and Parables if they do not concur with will yet at least not be prejudiced against those who explain ancient Things after this manner CHAP. VIII Concerning the Original of Things as they are Expounded in the First Chapter of Genesis together with the Manner of Interpreting Moses's Hexaemeron that is to say his Account of the Creation performed in Six Days WHAT Reflections we have made in the foregoing Chapter about the Originals of Things chiefly respect Mankind as also their Causes and primary State But the Original of Things inanimate and the Universe as Moses describes it in the First Chapter of Genesis seems no less contrary to the Theory of the Earth This Account therefore which Moses gives us of the World being much ancienter than all those others before mentioned we ought to examin it the more diligently and so to compose or dilute these Controversies by a friendly Interpretation that Truth which is alike necessary to each of them may at the same time inviolably preserved The Hexaemeron and Theory 't is true agree in their first Foundation of Things For as they both suppose the Chaos to have been the matter out of which the World was Built So they likewise agree in their general Order making the World to have been first inanimate and then afterwards animated But as to the rest for Example the Form an Limits of the created World as also the manner time and other Things they do not a little differ all which we must now at large examin 'T is First therefore to be observed what Form and what Limits of the World the Hexaemeron has proposed to its self Now 't is well known that betwixt the Learned and the Vulgar there are two different Systems of the World whereof one supposes the Sun to be the Center and t'other the Earth Quaere then upon which of these two Systems is Moses's Hexaemeron grounded 'T is most certain that Moses has begun his Work from the Earth as the Basis or Foundation of the whole Machine and that he did not produce the Sun according to what he says till the 4th Day at which time the Structure of the Earth and Sea was already finish'd The Sun was not therefore the Center of the whole Work since it had no Being till the work was half brought to Perfection Besides as well the Sun as the rest of the heavenly Bodies are by Moses represented to have been created meerly for the use of the Earth and in a manner but as so many servile Bodies whose only business was to measure out to us the Days Years and the rest of the several Season But according to the other Hypothesis the Sun and fixed Stars are not only very great but also very noble Bodies bearing the first Rank amongst the various Parts of the Universe and being as it were the Foundations of that prodigious Mass. 'T is evident therefore from both these Reasons that Moses has followed the popular System that which most pleases the People which most flatters our Senses is believed and comprehended or at least seems to be comprehended by the greater number And in so doing he rightly consulted the public Safety when neglecting Philosophy he adhered to more serious Counsels and Reasons of greater weight Secondly Since it is evident that the Earth was the Center of this Mosaic Chaos 't is next to be enquired after how far upwards thiâ— blind and confused Mass did reach The Hexaemeron truly seems to suppose that this Chaos filled and possessed the whole Universe how great soever together with all the Heavens and Regions of the Air which way soever they
not being able to see it himself calling the Wisemen to him privately says the Evangelist he enquired of them what time the Star did appear And besides it marched before them like a Torch and conducted them so that it cannot be said to have been a fixed Star in the Heavens Again some will tell you that the Fiery Army sent to the help of Elisha from Heaven was such whom the Prophet himself saw and yet his Servant that stood by him could not see Likewise in the miraculous Sign which was given of Ezekiah's Recovery from his Sickness when 't is said That God brought back the shadow of those Lines that it had gone down in the Dial of Achaz back ten Degrees Here some affirm That the Sun went not back in the Heaven as 't is generally believed but only in the Dial of Achaz for say they if the Sun went back in the Zodiac or that Degree of the Ecliptic standing still which he was running that Day the Primum Mobiâ—e came also backwards and with it all the rest of the Spheres if we say that he went back only in the Zodiac and a tenth part of the Zodiac then say they the Sun must needs return through a great many Signs of the Zodiac and bring back with him past Months yea and Seasons of the Year Besides that this Sign was seen only in the Land of Iudah and not elsewhere they pretend to prove from Ambassadors which were sent from Babylon to enquire after the Sign which say they might have been seen in Babylon as well as in Iudah had the Sun gone back in the Firmament Much to the same purpose they argue against the Miracle of the Suns standing still one whole Day in Gabaon at the command of Ioshua alledging That that long day extended not it self beyond the Country of Gabaon or otherwise it must have been apparent elsewhere And therefore they urge That the Light of the setting Sun after he was himself gone down was only the Reflection of his Beams remaining as yet in the Atmosphere which reverberated longer than ordinary upon the Mountain and City of Gabaon by a favourable Scituation of the Hills In the North of Scotland they have at sometimes in Summer hardly any Night at all and some Mathematicians write that according to the Obliquity of the Sphere there were some Days of six Months continuance with them who live under the Parallel Likewise concerning the Miracle of the Iews not wearing out their Garments or their Shooes in Forty Years time that they continued in the Wilderness some pretend that they feeding a Thousand Flocks in the Desart made Cloath and Rayment of their Wool as well as Shooes of their Skin and Leather wanting neither Weavers Taylors nor Shooemakers among 〈◊〉 numerous a Mob Now lastly others will not allow that the Flood of Noah was upon the whole Earth but only upon the Land of the Ieâ—s nor to destroy all Men but only the Iews Forâ— say they God being offended at their Wickednessâ— said I will cut off Man whom I have created from the Face of the Earth from the Mâ—n to the Peast from the creeping thing to the Fowl of the Heaven Where they will have it that the Hebrews by Earth ever meant their own viz. Palestine by the Man whom he had created the Iews the Posterity of Adam and by living Creatures the Gentiles match'd among the Iews Besides Cattle Birds and all creeping Things within the Land of Palestine except only Noah and his Family Now that this Flood was only in the Land of the Iews they argue First From the Causes of the Deluge which were only the Sins of the Iews Secondly From the words of Berosus who hath written of the Ark says Iosephus in which the chief of our Family was preserved not the chief of Mankind but the chief of our Lineage that is the Iews Thirdly From the Dove that was sent out and returned at Night with an Olive-branch free from Dirt or Slime and cover'd with green Leaves whereas say they in all places where the Flood had been the Trees were depress'd and cover'd with Slime and Mud. They further tell you That the World was said to be divided by Phâ—leg who was the Fifth in Descent from Sem wherefore they question how they could People China America the Southland Greenland and the rest with Inhabitants These and many more Scruples are raised by some nice and curious Enquirers so that we see our Learned Dr. Burnet stands not alone by himself in his more refined and speculative Doubts All which might easily be salved were it not for that untoward Axiom in Philosophy à Posse ad esse non valet consequentia However as that Argument shews it may not be so yet neither does it demonstrate it is not so For God seldom alters or perverts the Course of Nature however Miracles may be necessary sometimes to acquaint the World with his Prerogative least the Arrogance of our Reason should question his Power a Crime no wise Man can ever be guilty of Who climbling up from Cause to Cause shall ever find the highest Link of Nature's Chain to be tyed at the Foot of Iupiter's Chairâ— The next Charge against our Author is for his disowning Original Sin which I must ingeguously confess was ever a difficult Pill with me to swallow my Reason stopping it in my Throat and not having Faith enough to wash it down There are some Persons I know who believe that Wars Plagues Feavers and all the Troop of natural Corruptions invaded the Earth by that imputation of the Sin of Adam without discriminating between Natural and Legal Sin For Wars Plagues and Feavers with whatever else of this sort troubles and afflicts Mankind are the consequences of Natural Sin which is the Wickedness and Imperfection of Nature This will easily appear to such who can suffer that ancient Cloud of Prepossession to be taken off which dulls their sight for who knows not that Wars had their Original from such whom eitheâ— greedy Desire of Prey or cruel Thirst after Revenge or sacred Ambition of Rule stirr'd up to take Arms Then who hath not had experience of the Breeding and Inflammation of Plagues and Feavers either by the natural Corruption of the Air or by the Corruption of our natural Bodies We have as many Witnesses of this Observation and Truth as we have States-men and Physicians therefore not from Adam's Sin proceed our Diseases but from our own Corrupt and Rotten Natures the innate Infirmity of Men being the chief and natural Calamity of Men. Nay it is not known that Adam who was the Criminal and Fountain as they say of so great Evils was ever so much as troubled with the least Disease all those 930. Years which he lived unless you will believe him who relates out of I know not what Author that Adam died of the Gout wherewith he was troubled from his Ancestors Did Cain fall sick when he slew his Brother No
created from Eternity but to prescribe the divine Creation so short an Epocha as the limits of Six Thousand Years 't is what I never durst I had rather leave that together with several other Things amongst the hidden secrets of God Now these short Annotations upon the Account Moses gives us of the first Creation of Things seems to imply that it was not this Sacred Author's design to represent the beginning of the World exactly according to the Physical Truth which would have been of no use to the common People who were uncapable of being made Philosophers but to expound the first Originals of Things after such a method as might breed in the Minds of Men Piety and a worshipping of the true God And forasmuch as all the ancient Nations viz. the Chaldaeans Phaenicians Aegyptians c. had each of them their several Accounts of the Creation of the World placed as an introduction before their Histories or Systems of Divinity so Moses in like manner being to write Laws and Institutions for the Israelites thought it convenient also to prefix as an introductory Preface an Account not only of the Original of his own Nation but even of the whole World However whereas the Heathens Accounts of the Creation were frequently stuffed with Fables and I know not how many Gods and Goddesses to the very great Corruption of Religion he laying aside all those Fooleries has handled this Subject with a great deal of Purity and Innocence When that he might tear up the very Roots of Idolatry he represented the Heavens Sun Moon and Stars which were the chief Deities of other Nations not as eternal or created on their own account but as subservient to this sublunary World as well as to the use of Mankind This to me seems the Scope of our Holy Writer but if we seek only after pure naked Truth and a physical Theory we must go quite upon another Foundation that is we must if I am not mistaken suppose the World which began near upon six Thousand Years ago to have been no other than the sublunary Orb or our Earth together with its Sky and that Chaos from whence it arose not to have been universal or diffused over the vast spaces of the Heavens but contained within the aforesaid bounds which are whatever is below the Moon Likewise the Primitive Earth did not arise out of that Chaos in the same Form as Mâ—ses had represented it For his Description of it was just according to what the People had before their Eyes which was the Post diluvian and modern one nor could he without a great many far fetched obscure terms and a long Chain of Arguments have ascended to its first Form and have brought the Thread of both down to his own Times In short neither the Sun nor Stars were composed out of this terrestrial Chaos but Moses having made Man to be the Head and under God the supream Lord of all things he represented the whole Universe as it were created and compiled purely for his sake This to me seems the Reason of both the physical and ethical Account of the Creation for so I call the Mosaical Relation since it seems not to have been Instituted so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the mean time if to other Peoples Optics this appears in a different view I do not desire to trouble or disturb any one in their Opinion Let every one please and hug himself in his own But we are all bound to make use of that Portion of Reason God Almighty has distributed to each of us till we have some more clear Light to illuminate us from Above AN APPENDIX Concerning the Modern BRACHMINS IN THE INDIES Together with their generally received Opinions HAving already spoken of the Modern Brachmins in the Indies whom besides the near resemblance of their Studies and Customs we have several other Arguments to show they are descended from the ancient Race I think it may be neither impertinent nor unpleasant to add some few Words here by way of Appendix about their Opinions concerning the Originals and Revolutions of Things which Opinions are 't is true neglected by most People because they are delivered in a mythological way and that Truth is very much clouded with Fables Under the name of Indies we here comprehend besides the Chineze Empire and Kingdom of Indostan or Dominion of the Great Mogul the Kingdoms of Siam of the Malabars of Cochinchina of Coromandel and whatever others are known to us in the East that have in some measure shaken off their Barbarity Now in each of these are a certain sort of Philosophers or Divines and in the Kingdoms of Indostan Siam and the other adjacent Parts there are some who seem to be the Progeny of the ancient Brachmins being different and distinguished from the rest of the People by their Manner and Way of Living as well as by a Doctrin and Language wholly peculiar to themselves They have a certain Cabala or Body of Learning which they receive by Tradition from one to the other Now this Body of Learning does not treat of each little Point or Nicety in Philosophy as our modern Philosophers used to do but like the natural Theology of the Ancients it treats of God of the World of the Beginning and Ending of Things of the Periods of the World of the Primitive State of Nature together with its repeated Renovations All which Opinions are by some more plainly by others more obscurely and fabulously delivered but that they were of old spread amongst these Nations is plain from several Footsteps of them at this day remaining For a Specimen whereof we will give you some short Remarks out of our late Voyages upon several Heads of this now barbarous Theology or Philosophy Nor is it of Moment with what Kingdom or Country we begin The Mogul's Kingdom call'd Indâ—stan is extreamly large and has been visited by several Europeans whose Credit and Authority are sufficient to make them be believed There are in this Kingdom besides Mahometans those they call Gentiles or Pagans among which Gentiles is a certain Tribe or Order of Men who bear the Title and perform the Offices of Sâ—ges Priests or Philosophers They have a Language peculiar to themselves which they call Hanscrit or the pure Tongue in this Language they have some very ancient Books which they call Sacred and say were given by God to the Great Prophet Brahma as formerly the Law of the Israelites was to Moses Athan Kircher gives you an Alphabet of this Brachmin's Language written by the Hand of Father Henry Roth who for several Years in the Indies apply'd himself to the Learning of Brachmins And in this they not only write and conceal their Divinity but also their Opinions in Philosophy of all Kinds besides the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are Opinions of a very ancient Date They likewise Philosophize after the manner of
and most honourable parts in a certain Proportion lessning it by degrees and applying it to all mortal things as also admitting a Progress of its own Constitution for the first Bodies being mov'd do in a uniform manner perform their Periods I say a Progress not continued and local but consisting in Alteration viz. Condensation and Rarefaction Thus Fire being press'd together produceth Air Air Water and Water Earth Also from Earth there is the same Period of Alteration till you come to Fire again whence the Alteration at first began according to what Hippocrates saith Lumen Iovi Tenebrae Plutoni Lumen Plutoni Tenebrae Iovi Likewise Fruits and Plants receiv'd their Beginning from Seeds which being come to maturity and perfection are again resolv'd into Seeds Nature making her progress from the same unto the same But Men and other Animals do in a more inferior Manner finish the progress of their Nature since they do not return to their first Age Neither have they a reciprocal change into one another as 't is in Fire Air Water and Earth but after they have run thro' all the four aforesaid parts of their Race and passed their several Ages they are dissolv'd and dye becoming in the same state as they were Quo non Nati Iacent as Seneca and Pliny both speak These therefore are Arguments sufficient to prove That the Universe remaineth perfect and uncorrupted as also that the Excrescences and Results thereof suffer only a Mutation and not an Annihilation there being no such thing as Quies in Natura all things being in a perpetual circular Motion Nay that the Figure Motion Time and Substance thereof are without Beginning and End thereby it plainly appears that the World admitteth neither Production nor Dissolution for the Figure is spherical and consequently on every side equal and therefore without Beginning or Ending Also the Motion is circular and consequently stable never shifting its former place The Time likewise is infinite wherein the Motion is perform'd as that which is mov'd had neither Beginning nor shall have End from all which it is evident that the Universe admitteth neither Production nor Corruption Ocellus Lucanus chap. 1. Now it is very much that this Author Ocellus Lucanus who for his Antiquity is held to be almost a Contemporary with Moses if not before him should have so different a Sentiment of the World's Beginning from that which Moses had methinks if Mosesâ—s â—s History of the Creation and of Adam's being the first Man had been a general receiv'd Opinion at that time Ocellus Lucanus who was so ancient and so eminent a Philosopher should not have been altogether ignorant thereof Again saith he as the Frame of the World hath been always so it is necessary that its Parts should likewise always have existed by Parts I mean the Heaven Earth and that which lieth betwixt viz. the Sky for not without these but with these and of these the World consists Also if the Parts exist it is necessary that the Things which are within them should also coexist as with the Heaven the Sun Moon fixed Stars and Planets with the Earth Animals Plants Minerals Gold and Silver with the Air Exhalations Winds and Alterations of Weather sometimes Heat and sometimes Cold forwith the World all those things do and ever have existed as Parts thereof Nor hath Man had any original Production from the Earth or elsewhere as some believe but hath always been as now he is coexistent with the World whereof he is a part Now Corruptions and violent Alterations are made according to the Parts of the Earth sometimes by the overflowing of the Sea sometimes with the dilating and parting of the Earth by Winds and Waters imprison'd in the Bowels thereof but an universal Corruption of the Earth never hath been nor ever shall be Yet these Alterations have given occasion for the invention of many Lyes and Fables And thus are we to understand them that derive the Original of the Greek History from Inachus the Argive Not that he was really the Original thereof as some make him but because a most memorable Alteration did then happen some were so unskilful as to make that Construction thereof and if any way we may believe Adam to be the first Man we must expound it after this manner viz. That he was the first of the whole Race But for the Universe and all the parts whereof it subsists as it is at present so it ever was and ever shall be one Nature perpetually moving and another perpetually suffering one always governing and the other always being govern'd The course which Nature takes in governing the World is by one Contrary prevailing over another as thus The Moisture in the Air prevaileth over the Driness of the Fire and the Coldness of the Water over the Heat of the Air the Driness of the Earth over the Moisture of the Water and so the Moisture of the Water over the Driness of the Earth and the Heat in the Air over the Coldness of the Water and the Driness in the Fire over the Moisture of the Air. And thus the Alterations are made and produced out of one into another It plainly appears out of the Bible that there were two Creations both of Man and Woman and that Adam was not the first Man nor Eve the first Woman only the first of the Holy Race and this divers of the Iews believe for in the first Chapter of Genesis ver 27. It is said So God created man in his own Image in the Image of God created he him male and female created he them Bidding them increase and multiply and have dominion over all things Which plainly shews that Man was then created and that the other Creation of Adam and Eve spoken of in the second Chapter Ver. 7. and 22. were of the first Man and Woman of the Holy Race and not the first Man and Woman that ever was in the World for it was a great space of time and divers great Actions were accomplish'd betwixt those two Creations Therefore when it is said Gen. 6.2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were â—air and took them for their Wives The meaning is that the Sons of Adam of the second Creation saw the Daughters of the Men of the first Creation that they were fair and married them What Iosephus speaks of the Greeks and other Nations may with the same Reason be apply'd to Moses and the Iews viz. That all Founders and Establishers of new Estates have each of them suppos'd in their own behalf that whosoever was of theirs he was the first of the World Contra Apionem lib. 1. Now however Iosephus boasts so much of the Antiquity of his Countrymen the Iews yet he himself confesses That he nevertheless durst not presume to compare the Nation of the Iews with the Antiquity of the most ancient and infallible Writings of the Egyptians Chaldees and Phaenicians who dwell in such Countries as