this Earth or the Change of that Chaos into an habitable World was not a meer result from any necessary Laws of Mechanism independently on the Divine Power but was the proper effect of the Influence and Interposition and all along under the peculiar Care and Providence of God The Testimonies for this are so numerous and so express both in the Mosaick History it self in the other parts of Scripture relating thereto and in all Antiquity that I may refer the Reader to almost every place where this matter is spoken of without quoting here any particulars He who is at all acquainted with the Primitive Histories of this rising World whether Sacred or Prophane can have no reason to make any doubt of it III. The Days of the Creation and that of Rest had their beginning in the Evening The Evening and the Morning were the first Day And so of the rest afterward IV. At the time immediately preceding the six days Creation the face of the Abyss or superior Regions of the Chaos were involv'd in a thick Darkness Darkness was upon the face of the Deep To which Testimony the Prophane Traditions do fully agree as may be seen in the Authors before refer'd to V. The visible part of the first days Work was the Production of Light or its successive appearance to all the Parts of the Earth with the consequent distinction of Darkness and Light Night and Day upon the face of it God said Let there be Light and there was Light And God saw the Light that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness And God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night And the Evening and the Morning was the first day VI. The visible part of the Second Days Work was the elevation of the Air with all it s contained Vapours the spreading it for an Expansum above the Earth and the distinction thence arising of Superior and Inferior Waters The former consisting of those Vapours rais'd and sustain'd by the Air the latter of such as either were enclosed in the Pores Interstices and Bowels of the Earth or lay upon the Surface thereof God said Let there be a firmament or Expansum in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament And it was so and God called the firmament Heaven And the Evening and the Morning were the second day VII The visible parts of the Third Day 's Works were two the former the Collection of the inferior Waters or such as were now under the Heaven into the Seas with the consequent appearance of the dry Land the latter the production of Vegetables out of that Ground so lately become dry God said Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas And God saw that it was good And God said Let the Earth bring forth grass the herb yielding seed and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind whose seed is in it self upon the earth and it was so And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in it self after his kind and God saw that it was good And the Evening and the Morning were the third day VIII The Fourth Day 's Work was the Placing the Heavenly Bodies Sun Moon and Stars in the Expansum or Firmament i. e. The rendring them Visible and Conspicuous on the Face of the Earth Together with their several Assignations to their respective Offices there God said Let there be lights in the Expansum or firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth and it was so And God made two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night he made the stars also And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness and God saw that it was good And the Evening and the Morning were the fourth day IX The Fifth Day 's Work was the Production of the Fish and Fowl out of the Waters with the Benediction bestow'd on them in order to their Propagation God said Let the Waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven And God created great Whales and every living creature that moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind and every winged fowl after his kind and God saw that it was good And God blessed them saying Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the Seas and let fowl multiply in the earth And the Evening and the Morning were the fifth day X. The Sixth Day 's Work was the Production of all the Terrestrial or Dry-land Animals and that in a different manner For the Bruit Beasts were produc'd out of the Earth as the Fish and Fowl had been before out of the Waters But after that the Body of Adam was form'd of the Dust of the Ground who by the Breath of Life breath'd into him in a peculiar manner became a Living Soul Some time after which on the same day he was cast into a deep Sleep and Eve was form'd of a Rib taken from his side Together with several other things of which a more particular account has been already given on another occasion God said Let the Earth bring forth the living creature after his kind cattel and creeping thing and beast of the Earth after his kind and it was so And God made the beast of the earth after his kind and cattel after their kind and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind and God saw that it was good And God said Let us make man in Our Image after Our likeness and let them have dominion over the Fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattel and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth So God created Man in his own image in the image of God created he him Male and Female created he them c. Vid. ver 28 29 30 31. and Cap. 2. 7 15 c. XI God having thus finish'd the Works of Creation Rested on the Seventh day from the same and Sanctified or set that day apart for a Sabbath or day of Rest to be then and afterward observ'd as a Memorial of his Creation of the World in
days Works given an account of in the same chapter In the Beginning God Created the Heaven and the Earth says the Scripture which is as I take it a Preface or Introduction to the following account and may be thus paraphras'd Altho' that History of the Origin of the World which shall now be given you do not extend any farther as will appear presently than that Earth we live upon with those Bodies which peculiarly belong to it and so the rest of the Universe be not at all directly concern'd therein and altho ' the same History will not reach to the Creation of the matter but only Production of the form and disposition of the Earth it self Yet to prevent any misunderstanding and obviate any ill effects of a perfect silence touching these things I am oblig'd by the Divine Command to assure you That the Original of all Beings whatsoever was primarily owing to that same God of Israel whose Works I am going to relate and that not only this Earth and all its Bodies but the vast Frame of Universal Nature was by him at first Created out of Nothing and dispos'd into those several Systems which now are extant and make up what in the largest sense is stil'd Heaven and Earth or the whole Word This sense of the Words is allow'd by our late Excellent Commentatour the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Ely whose Sentiments cannot but be justly valued by all who are conversant in his Expositions of the Holy Scriptures and is I think clearly confirm'd by the following words And the Earth was without Form and Void and Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep and the Spirit of God moved on the Face of the Waters Where 't is clear that as soon as the Holy Writer descends to the Description of the Chaos and the commencing of the Six Days Creation he mentions not a word of any Production out of Nothing before suppos'd and asserted to have been past and done In the Beginning he omits and thereby evidently excludes that Heaven or those Superior Systems of the World already spoken of from any place therein and by the whole coherence plainly confines the Narration following to the Earth alone with its dependencies Moses does not say as the common Expositors do That just at the commencing of the Six Days Work the Earth and all the rest of the World was originally produc'd But that When God had formerly created all the World which is usually distinguish'd into the Heaven and the Earth the latter of these the consideration whereof was alone pertinent to the present design at the time preceding the Six Days Work was in a Wild Irregular and Dark condition or such a perfect Chaos as nothing but the Power of God and his Spirit 's moving on and influencing the same could ever have reduc'd into a habitable World This is a very easie and natural account of this matter and I think the most obvious and genuine signification of the words themselves And were not Mens Minds too much prejudic'd with other apprehensions this alone might be sufficient to limit their thoughts and prevent their Enquiries after any Creation of Bodies out of nothing in the Six Days Work and their stretching the same beyond the Earth either to the whole System of things as the most do or indeed to the Solar System with which others are more modestly contented in the case Which two things once granted me the Propoposition we are now upon would soon be establish'd and little farther labour become necessary But that I may give all possible satisfaction and lay this Foundation firm on which my Account of the Mosaick Creation is intirely superstructed I shall more at large prove the same Truths craving the Pardon of those Readers who are already satisfy'd in these matters if I shall seem to them to insist too long on a plain case as perhaps they may and that I think very justly esteem this to be And indeed The prejudices of Men are here so great their fears of a Philosophical Hypothesis so rooted the attempts hitherto made have been so unsuccessful and besides the Honour of God in his Holy Word is so much concern'd and the usual Expositions of this History of the Origin of Things is so poor so jejune so unbecoming the Penman much more the primary Author of the same that a large and full Discourse is but necessary and tho' it should prove somewhat prolix will be 't is hop'd not improper but as well serviceable to Religion as to Philosophy by rescuing this Ancient Venerable and Sacred Account of the Origin of things from such false and unwary Glosses as have been and still are put upon it as have rendred it in the opinion of too many an uncouth and incredible System nay somewhat below some of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the imperfect Traditions of the Heathen World enabled them to describe To proceed therefore in the arguments before us I affirm II. That the words here us'd of Creating Making or Framing of things on which the main stress is laid in the stile of Scripture are frequently of no larger importance than the Proposition we are upon does allow and signifie no more than the ordering disposing changing or new modelling those Creatures which existed already into a different and sometimes perhaps a better and more useful state than they were in before I do not say this is the utmost or only importance of these words I have already allow'd that Creating in the first words of Genesis includes Producing out of nothing and I add that in our common Creed wherein we profess our Faith in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth the words are agreeably to the extent of the Divine Power and the nature of that profession to be taken in the same large and comprehensive sense and the like is to be said of many other places of the Holy Scripture But then I observe withal that the other more narrow and limited sense is very common and familiar in the Holy Writings and therefore where the subject matter and coherence requires it as I think 't will be evident it does in the present case these words both may and ought to be taken in the same acceptation This signification of the two latter words Make and Frame will I suppose be granted me by all and that the same is as true of the other Create the following Texts will sufficiently evince and from the promiscuous use of them all and others of a like importance might however be very fairly suppos'd If says Moses the Lord make a new thing or Create a Creature and the Earth open her Mouth and swallow them up Where none can imagine any thing produc'd out of nothing but only such an unusual and miraculous disposal of things as would at once demonstrate God's Vengeance against the Wicked and his absolute Command over all Creatures Thus
God himself says I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things Where the objects of the Divine Creation being not real and substantial Beings could not be capable of a proper production out of nothing Which also is the case in the verse immediately following Let righteousness spring up together I the Lord have created it Thus also says God by the same Prophet I create new Heavens and a new Earth which tho' the very case before us yet would odly enough be expounded of an annihilation of the World and a reproduction of it again But what comes still more home to our purpose is that in the very History of the Creation it self the word Create as well as Make is us'd in the sense we contend for the very same things being ascrib'd to the Creating and Making Power of God which are also describ'd as the regular offspring of the Earth and Seas God created great Whales and every living Creature that moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind And God said Let the Earth bring forth the living Creature after his kind Cattel and creeping thing and Beast of the Earth after his kind and it was so And God made the Beast of the Earth after his kind and Cattel after their kind and every thing that creepeth upon the Earth after his kind and God saw that it was good So that when the words made use of in the History of the Creation are there and every where taken promiscuously when some of them are by the confession of all of no larger importance than the Proposition before us will admit and when lastly that word of which the greatest doubt can arise has been prov'd not only in other Texts of Scripture but in the very History of which we are treating to be of no more determinate signification than the rest and alike capable of the sense we here put upon it I think 't is a clear Case that if no Argument can be drawn from such words for yet neither can there justly be any against that Proposition we are now upon III. Those synonymous Phrases The World or the Heavens and the Earth under which the Object of the six days Creation is comprehended every where in Scripture do not always denote the whole System of Beings no nor any great and general Portion of them but are in the Sacred Stile frequently if not mostly to be restrained to the terraqueous Globe with its dependances and consequently both may and if the subject matter require it ought to be understood in such a restrained sense and no other That by these Phrases the Mosaick Creation or six days work is usually understood is evident every where in Scripture as the following Texts will easily evince God who made the World and all things therein The Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was in the World and the World was made by Him and the World knew Him not Hence those frequent expressions From the Foundation of the World from the Beginning of the World from the Creation of the World and before the World was which tho' capable of including more must yet be allow'd to have generally a peculiar nay sometimes a sole regard to the six days work particularly stil'd by St. Mark The Beginning of the Creation which God created In the same manner and with the like frequency the other Phrase Heaven and Earth denote the same six days work also Thus the Heavens and the Earth were finished and all the Host of them These are the Generations of the Heavens and of the Earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the Earth and the Heavens In six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day which being so express I shall not need to look out for any other parallel places And that both the World and Heaven and Earth signify the terraqueous Globe alone with its Air or Atmosphere and other Appurtenances without including the whole Universe nay or Solar System also which yet I do not deny sometimes to be comprehended therein the following Texts will sufficiently shew Our Lord says of the Woman who poured the Oyntment on him Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole World there shall also this which this Woman hath done be told for a memorial of her His Charge and Commission to his Apostles was Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature The Tempter came to Jesus and shew'd him all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them In all which places no other than the habitable Earth can be understood and 't is still so frequent and natural for Men to use this manner of Speech in the same restrained Sense to this very day that one may the less wonder at the Sacred Stile in this Case But this word the World having not so much difficulty in it nor being so much stood upon as those which follow the Heavens and the Earth I shall no longer insist upon it but proceed And here when the World as a totum integrale is divided into its two contradistinct Parts the Heavens and the Earth it will be said That by such a Phrase or Enumeration of the Parts of the Universe no less can be meant than the whole World in the largest acceptation or however more must be intended than the bare Earth which is but one Member or Branch and so certainly less than that whole of which it is a part In answer whereto I freely confess That the Heavens and the Earth do not seldom denote the intire Universe an instance of which the first words of Genesis have already afforded us but that they always do so I have reason to deny As the Signification of the Earth is known and capable of no Ambiguity so 't is quite otherwise in the word Heaven which in common use and the sacred Authors sometimes refers to the Seat of the Blessed or the third Heaven sometimes to the place of the Sun Moon and Stars and otherwhiles is no farther to be extended than the Clouds or the open Expansum about the Earth where the Air Atmosphere Meteors Clouds and Volatils have their abode Instances of the two former Significations were it pertinent to my present purpose might easily be produc'd but that not being so I shall wave the same and only prove the third and last Signification namely That by the Heavens is frequently understood nothing more than the Atmosphere of the Earth with its appendant or contained Bodies Thus God made the Firmament and divided the Waters which were under the Firmament from the Waters which were above the Firmament and it was so And God called the Firmament Heaven Which place is so express and in the very History it self which we
thy hand They shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them And I saw the Souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God and which had not worshipped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished This is the first resurrection Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power But they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years c. But so much has been said on this head to omit others by the Theorist that I shall refer the Reader thither for the other Testimonies of the Holy Scriptures and the unanimous consent of the most Primitive Fathers Both which he at large and to excellent purpose some particulars excepted has insisted on XCVI The state of Nature during the Millennium will be very different from that at present and more agreeable to the Antediluvian Primitive and Paradisiacal ones Whom the heavens must receive until the time of the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began See more in the Theory Book 4. Chap. 9. and in the proofs of the former Proposition XCVII The Earth in the Millennium will be without a Sea or any large receptacle fill'd with mighty collections and quantities of Waters 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 XCVIII The Earth in the Millennium will have no succession of Light and Darkness Day and Night but a perpetual Day The gates of the new Jerusalem shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there And there shall be no night there XCIX The state of the Millennium will not stand in need of and so probably will be without the light and presence of the Sun and Moon And the City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it And they need no candle neither light of the sun C. At the conclusion of the Millennium the Final Judgment and Consummation of all things The Earth will desert its present Seat and Station in the World and be no longer found among the Planetary Chrous I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away and there was found no place for them BOOK IV. SOLUTIONS OR An Account of the foregoing Phaenomena from the Principles of Philosophy already laid down CHAP. 1. A Solution of the Phaenomena relating to the Mosaick Creation and the original Constitution of the Earth I. All those particular small Bodies of which our habitable Earth is now compos'd were originally in a mixed confused fluid and uncertain Condition without any order or regularilty It was an Earth without form and void had darkness spread over the face of its Abyss and in reality was what it has been ever stil'd A perfect Chaos I. THIS has been already sufficiently accounted for and need not be here again insisted on II. The Formation of this Earth or the Change of that Chaos into an habitable World was not a meer result from any necessary Laws of Mechanism independently on the Divine Power but was the proper effect of the Influence and Interposition and all along under the peculiar Care and Providence of God II. 'T is not very easy I confess in such mighty Turns and Changes of the World exactly to determine how far and in what particulars a supernatural or miraculous Interposition of the Divine Power is concern'd and how far the Laws of Nature or Mechanical Powers ought to be extended Nay indeed 't is difficult enough in several instances to determine what is the effect of a natural and ordinary and what of a supernatural and extraordinary Providence 'T is now evident That Gravity the most mechanical Affection of Bodies and which seems most natural depends entirely on the constant and efficacious and if you will the supernatural and miraculous Influence of Almighty God And I do not know whether the falling of a Stone to the Earth ought not more truly to be esteem'd a supernatural Effect or a Miracle than what we with the greatest surprize should so stile its remaining pendulous in the open Air since the former requires an active Influence in the first Cause while the latter supposes Non-annihilation only But besides this Tho' we were able exactly to distinguish in general the ordinary Concurrence of God from his extraordinary yet would the task before us be still sufciently difficult For those Events or Actions are in Holy Scripture attributed immediately to the Power and Providence of God which yet were to all outward appearance according to the constant course of things and would abstractedly from such Affirmations of the Holy Books have been esteem'd no more miraculous than the other common Effects of Nature or usual Accidents of Humane Affairs as those who have carefully consider'd these matters especially the Historical and Prophetical Parts of the Old Testament must be oblig'd to confess Neither is it unreasonable that all things should in that manner be ascribed to the Supream Being on several accounts 'T is from him every thing is ultimately deriv'd He conserves the Natures and continues the Powers of every Creature He not only at first produc'd but perpetually disposes and makes use of the whole Creation and every part thereof as the Instruments of his Providence He foresaw and foreadapted the intire Frame He determin'd his Co-operation or Permission to every Action He so order'd and appointed the whole System with every individual Branch of it as to Time Place Proportion and all other Circumstances that nothing should happen unseasonably unfitly disproportionately or otherwise than the Junctures of Affairs the demerits of his reasonable Creatures and the wise Intentions of his Providence did require In fine he so previously adjusted and contemper'd the Moral and Natural World to one another that the Marks and Tokens of his Providence should be in all Ages legible and conspicuous whatsoever the visible secondary Causes or Occasions might be Seeing then this is the true state of the Case and that consequently Almighty God has so constituted the World that no Body can tell wherein it differs from one where all were solely brought to pass by a miraculous Power 't is by no means untrue or improper in the Holy Books to refer all those things which bare Humane Authors would derive from
outward Surface too small to be therein consider'd and suppose the Atmosphere somewhat clearer than before the former figure will still serve well enough and represent the progress and state of the Earth at the conclusion of this Third Day Corollary 1. When according to our present accounts of these matters this is the only day of the Creation to which a double work and that the one quite different from the other ought to be ascrib'd and is ascrib'd by Moses The Night being peculiarly fit for the former and the Day for the latter operation which could happen on none of the other Periods This exactness of correspondence ought to be esteem'd an Evidence of the literal sense of the Writer and of his accommodation to the nature of things and a very considerable confirmation of those Hypotheses on which it so naturally depends Coroll 2. Hence arises a Confirmation of what was before asserted that the Antediluvian Earth had only lesser Lakes and Seas not a vast Ocean For when the quantity of Waters belonging to the Earth and Air at first was no more than was elevated in one half year and at once sust ain'd by the Air no one will imagine it sufficient to fill the intire Ocean alone if there had been neither lesser Seas nor Rivers to be supply'd therewith And so vice versa It having been prov'd by other Arguments that there was no Ocean but only lesser Seas before the Flood This Account which affords sufficient quantity of Water for the latter but not for the former is thereby not a little confirm'd Coroll 3. Tho' the Heat and Influence of the Sun was on this Third Day very great yet was his Body not yet Visible For since at his Rising the Earth and lowest Regions of the Air were very full of moisture while the higher Regions were very clear and bright the force of his heat would be so great as to elevate considerable quantities of Vapours on a sudden and thereby e're the lowest Air had deposited its Vapours and rendred it self transparent the Sun would anew hide himself in a thick Mist and so prevent his own becoming conspicuous which otherwise 't is not improbable he might this Day have been VIII The Fourth Day 's Work was the Placing the Heavenly Bodies Sun Moon and Stars in the Expansam or Firmament i. e. The rendring them Visible and Conspicuous on the Face of the Earth Together with their several Assignations to their respective Offices there VIII Altho' the Light of the Sun penetrated the Atmosphere in some sort the first Day and in the succeeding ones had very considerable influence upon it yet is it by no means to be suppos'd that his Body was Visible all that while Tho' we every day enjoy much more Light and Heat from the Sun than the Primitive Earth could for a considerable space be suppos'd to have done yet 't is but sometimes that the Air is so clear as to render his Body discernible by us A very few Clouds or Vapours gather'd together in our Air are able we see to hinder such a prospect for Weeks if not Months together while yet at the same time we are sufficiently sensible of his Force and Influence in the constant productions of Nature Which things being duly consider'd and the vastness and density of the Upper Chaos allow'd for 't will be but reasonable to afford a great space even after the first penetration of Light for the intire clearing of the Atmosphere and the distinct view of the Sun's Body by a Spectator on the Surface of the Earth I suppose no one will think the two first Days or Years of the' Creation too long for such a work or if any one does the particular work and state of the Atmosphere on the second Day will prevent the most probable part of such a surmise and shew the impossibility of the Sun's Appearance at that time And the same reason will in a sufficient tho a less degree prevent any just Expectations on the third Day as was observ'd in the last Corollary But now upon the coming on of this fourth Day and the Sun's descent and abode below the Horizon for an intire half year those Vapours which were rais'd the day before must fall downwards and so before the approach of the Morning leave the Air in the greatest clearness and purity imaginable and permit the Moon first then the Stars and afterward upon the coming on of the Day the Sun himself most plainly to appear and be conspicuous on the Face of the Earth This fourth Day is therefore the very time when acording to this Account and the Sacred History both these Heavenly Bodies which were in being before but so as to be wholly Strangers to a Spectator on Earth were rendred visible and expos'd to the view of all who should be suppos'd to be there at the same time They now were in the Sacred Stile placed in the Firmament of Heaven gave Light upon the Earth began to rule plainly and visibly over the Day and over the Night and to divide the Light from the Darkness as ever since they have continued to do And now the inanimate World or the Earth Air Seas and all their Vegetable Productions are compleat and the Tradition of those Chineses who inhabit Formosa and other Islands appears well-grounded and exactly true who hold That the World when first created was without Form or Shape but by one of their Deities was brought to its full Perfection in four Years Which Progress of the Creation and State of Nature is exactly represented by the Theorist's fifth and last Figure which therefore here follows IX The fifth Day 's Work was the Production of the Fish and Fowl out of the Waters with the Benediction bestow'd on them in order to their Propagation IX The Terraqueous Globe being now become habitable both to the swimming and volatil Animals and the Air clear and so penetrable by that compleat Heat of the Sun which was requisite to the Generation of such Creatures 't is a very proper time for their Introduction Which was accordingly done upon this fifth Day or Year of the Creation Those Seeds or little Bodies of Fish and Fowl which were contain'd in the Water or moist fruitful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of kin to it were now expos'd to the kindly warmth of the Sun and the constant supply of a most gentle and equal Heat from beneath they were neither disturbed by the sudden alteration of the Temperature of the Air from the violence of Winds or by the Agitations of the Tide which was both very small in these small Seas and by reason of the absence of the Diurnal Rotation imperceptibly easy gentle and gradual these Seeds I say when invigorated with the Divine Benediction became now prolifick and in this fifth Day 's time a numerous Off-spring of the swimming and volatil Kinds arose whereby the two fluid Elements Water and Air became
was involv'd in Darkness or excluded all advantages from him and thereby enduring a continual Night so far as natural Causes are here to be consider'd And that this Retardation of the Earth's Diurnal Rotation even without a recurring to the miraculous Power of its first Author is accountable from that passing by of a Comet which we assign for the occasision of the Conflagration is very easie and obvious For in case its Ascent and Passage by be on the East side or before the Earth and in case it approach so near as to rub against it 't is evident such an Impulse is contrary to the course of the Diurnal Rotation and is therefore capable the Proportions of every thing being adjusted by-Divine Providence of putting such a stop to the same as is necessary to the present Phaenomenon and so may put a Period to that constant Succession of Light and Darkness Day and Night which has obtain'd ever since the Fall of Man and withal distinguish the Surface of the Earth into two quite different and contrary Hemispheres near the Vertex of one of which the Sun it self and near that of the other its opposite Point in the Heavens will be always situate Corollary Seeing such a rub of the Comet wou'd affect the Annual Motion of the Earth as well as the Diurnal 't is possible it might retard the former as well as the latter and reduce the Elliptical Course and Orbit of the Earth to its ancient Circular one again XCIX The State of the Millennium will not stand in need of and so probably will be without the Light and Presence of the Sun and Moon XCIX Seeing the Earth wou'd be on the foregoing Supposition distinguish'd into two quite different Hemispheres the one of which wou'd be wholly destitute of the Light and presence of the Sun and as far as appears by St. John supply'd by a Supernatural Light fixt and permanent above its Horizon 't is clear that the first Branch of this Proposition is accountable thereby as far as this Physical Theory is concern'd therein And as to the Moon seeing 't was only a signal and peculiar Providence that caus'd her equal acceleration and consequent accompanying the Earth at the former passing by of the Comet and that no such Providence is again to be expected 't is evident that that Rub or Stoppage of the Earth's Annual Motion which retards the same and does not retard the Moon 's also will separate these Planets and procure their Orbits Courses and Periods to be quite different from one another's ever after according to the greatest rigour of the present Proposition C. At the Conclusion of the Millennium the Final Judgment and the Consummation of all things the Earth will desert its present Seat and Station in the World and be no longer found among the Planetary Chorus C. If any Comet instead of passing by or gently rubbing the Earth hit directly against it in its Course either towards or from the Sun it must desert its ancient Station and move in a quite different Elliptick Orbit and so of a Planet become again a Comet for the future Ages of the World COROLLARIES FROM THE WHOLE I. SEing the new and solid Improvements of Philosophy do all along give so rational Accounts of those Ancient Theorems which have been propagated down from the eldest Ages without being then either understood or intelligible to their Propagators 't is reasonable to trust and rely on such Ancient Traditions not only Sacred but prophane also in these or any other paralled Cases they being in all probability the most valuable Remains and most venerable Truths which the primitive Parents of the World deliver'd down to their Posterity in succeeding Generations II. Seeing most of these Ancient Theorems are very much beyond the distinct Knowledge of those who deliver them contrary to the common Opinion of Mankind judging usually by sensible Appearances and in themselves considering the low State of Natural Knowledge at the same times were highly improbable if not utterly incredible to inquisitive Minds and indeed several of them relating to the Chaos the Creation the primary Constitution and State of the World and the Deluge it self impossible to be discover'd without Supernatural Revelation and yet seeing after all they do now appear as agreeable to Reason and the most solid Mechanical Philosophy as any new Discoveries built on the exactest Observations of present Nature whatsoever 'T is apparent that these Ancient Accounts especially those contain'd in the Holy Scriptures were not originally deriv'd from the Natural Skill and Observation of the first Authors or any other meerly Humane Means but from the immediate and Supernatural Revelation of God Almighty who was therefore much more conversant with Mankind in the first than he has been in these last Ages of the World as the Old Testament-History assures us III. The Measure of our present Knowledge ought not to be esteem'd the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Test of Truth or to be oppos'd to the Accounts receiv'd from Profane Antiquity much less to the inspir'd Writings For notwithstanding that several Particulars relating to the Eldest Condition of the World and its great Catastrophe's examin'd and compar'd with so much Philosophy as was till lately known were plainly unaccountable and naturally speaking impossible yet we see now Nature is more fully more certainly and more substantially understood that the same things approve themselves to be plain easie and rational IV. 'T is therefore Folly in the highest degree to reject the Truth or Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures because we cannot give our Minds particular Satisfaction as to the manner nay or even possibility of some things therein asserted Since we have seen so many of those things which seem'd the most incredible in the whole Bible and gave the greatest Scruple and Scandal to Philosophick Minds so fully and particularly attested and next to demonstrated from certain Principles of Astronomy and Natural Knowledge 't is but reasonable to expect in due time a like Solution of the other Difficulties 'T is but just sure to depend upon the Veracity of those Holy Writers in other Assertions whose Fidelity is so intirely establish'd in these hitherto equally unaccountable ones V. The Obvious Plain or Literal Sense of the Sacred Scriptures ought not without great Reason to be eluded or laid aside Several of those very Places which seem'd very much to require the same hitherto appearing now to the minutest Circumstances true and rational according to the strictest and most Literal Interpretations of them VI. We may be under an Obligation to believe such things on the Authority of the Holy Scriptures as are properly Mysteries that is though not really Contradictory yet plainly Unaccountable to our present degree of Knowledge and Reason Thus the Sacred Histories of the Original Constitution and great Catastrophe's of the World have been in the past Ages the Objects of the Faith of Jews and Christians though the Divine Providence
are now about also that it ought to be of peculiar force in the present case Thus also the Builders of Babel said Go to Let us build us a City and a Tower whose top may reach unto Heaven So mention is made of Cities great and fenced up to Heaven The Clouds pass by the name of the Clouds of Heaven nay they are by the Psalmist agreeably to the Interposition of the Expansum Firmament or Heaven on the second day of the Creation between the superior and inferior Waters made as it were its farthest Boundaries and Limits the Waters contain'd in them being call'd Waters which are above the Heavens The very Fowls which still reside nearer to the Earth are stil'd the Fowls of Heaven and were originally appointed to fly above the Earth in the open Firmament of Heaven By all which places 't is evident That the word Heaven is commonly so far from including the Sun or Planetary Chorus much less the fix'd Stars with all their immense Systems that the Moon our attending and neighbour Planet is not taken in The utmost bounds of our Atmosphere being so of this our Heaven also which was the only Point which remain'd to be clear'd But here before I proceed farther I must take notice of a considerable Objection which threatens to wrest this Argument out of my hands and indeed to subvert the intire Foundation of the Proposition before us and is I freely own the main difficulty in this whole matter and 't is this That such a Sense of the words World and Heaven and Earth as has been pleaded for whatever may be said in other cases will yet by no means fit here nor take in all the extent of the Mosaick Creation because 't is certain that neither the Light by whose Revolution Night and Day are distinguish'd nor the Sun Moon and Stars which are set in our Firmament belong to our Atmosphere or are contain'd within those Boundaries within which we confine the present History and 't is equally certain that both of them belong to the Mosaick Creation and are the first and fourth days works therein and by consequence it may be said the Subject of the six days Creation must be the whole System of the heavenly Bodies or at least that particular one in which the Earth is and is stil'd the Solar System Now this Objection is in part already taken off by the Sense in which the Production and Creation of things has been shewn to be frequently taken in the Holy Scriptures whereby there appears to be no necessity of believing these Bodies to have been then brought into being when they are first mention'd in the Mosaick Creation But because this is not meerly the chief but only considerable Objection against the Proposition we are upon because it seems to have been the principal occasion of men's Mistakes and Prejudices about this whole History and because 't is the single instance wherein this intire Theory as far as I know seems to recede from the obvious Letter of Scripture 't will be but proper to give it a particular review and clear withal not only this but several other like Expressions and Passages in the Holy Scripture Now in order to the giving what satisfaction I can in this Point let it be consider'd That the Light being not said to be created by Moses its Original were without difficulty to be accounted for if the other Point the making of the Heavenly Bodies were once setled which therefore is the sole remaining difficulty in the case before us And that would be no harder if the Translation of the Words of Moses were but amended and the Verses hereto relating read thus And God said Let there be lights in the firmament of the Heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years and let them be for lights in the firmament of the Heaven to give light upon the Earth and it was so And God having before made two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and having before made the stars also God set them in the firmament of Heaven to give light upon the Earth c. or which is all one And God had before made two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night he had before made the stars also and God set them in the firmament c. In which rendring 't is only changing the perfectum for the plusquam perfectum and every thing is clear and easy and the Objection vanishes of its own accord the Creation of the heavenly Bodies being hereby assigned to a former time and the Work of the fourth day no other than the placing them in our Firmament according as the account hereafter to be given does require Now to prove this a fair and just Interpretation to omit the Creation of the Heavens and Heavenly Bodies already related before the six days work 't is only necessary to observe that the Hebrew Tongue having no plusquam perfectum must and does express the Sense of it by the perfectum and that accordingly the particular circumstances of each place must alone determine when thereby the time present and when that already past and gone is to be understood How many knots in the Scripture the omission of this Observation has left unsolv'd and which being observ'd would be immediately untied I shall not go about to enumerate there being so many in the very History before us of the Origin of the World that I shall not go one jot farther for instances to confirm the before-mention'd Translation and which on the account of their agreement in place will more forcibly plead for a like agreement in Sense also On the seventh day God had ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made He had rested from all his work which God had created and made The Lord God had not caused it to rain on the Earth and there had not been a man to till the Ground but there had gone up a mist from the Earth and had water'd the whole face of the ground and the Lord God had formed man of the dust of the ground and had breathed into his nostrils the breath of life And the Lord God had planted a Garden eastward in Eden And out of the ground had the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food And out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air In all which places the whole Context is so clear'd by this rendring and so many strange Absurdities avoided that there is I think all imaginable reason to acquiesce in it And tho' the fourth days work is among those other
where no such alteration need be made in which therefore it may seem hard to allow of a single instance against the use in the precedent and subsequent Context in the first Chapter yet the circumstances of that day being peculiar the like mixture of the persectum and plusquam perfectum being in the second Chapter and in other places of Scripture to be observed and a distinct work being still hereby preserv'd to that day the placing the Sun Moon and Stars in our Firmament which otherwise is after a sort double do all in good measure take away the force of such Reasoning and conspire to allow us that Interpretation before given and thereby to secure the Proposition before us from that grand Objection which seemed capable of causing so great an obstruction in our course But if any should be dissatisfied with this Answer I shall for their sakes enter deeper into this matter and without any assistance from what has been already said endeavour to establish the Proposition before us and take away the foundation of the present difficulty And here I observe That the Scripture all along accommodates its self to the vulgar Apprehensions of Men with relation to such Points of Natural Philosophy as they were not able to comprehend and in particular with relation to the Site Distance Magnitude Use and Motions of the Heavenly Bodies Tho' these be really very distinct as well as distant from the Earth with all its dependances yet are they rarely if ever so consider'd in the Holy Scriptures They are all along there represented as fiery Luminaries plac'd in our Atmosphere and as much belonging to and depending on the Earth as the Clouds Meteors or other Aerial Phaenomena And so 't is no wonder that in the History before us they are included among the rest of their Fellows and come within the verge of the Mosaick Creation notwithstanding its limits be no larger than we here assign thereto In order to the accounting for which things I shall 1. Shew the truth of the Observation in several instances from the Holy Scriptures 2. Shew the rational Original and Occasion of such ways of speaking 3. Explain what according to my Notion must be meant by the Creation or Production of these Heavenly Bodies in the Mosaick History before us and demonstrate such a Construction to be agreeable to the Sacred Stile in other places 4. Assign some Reasons why in a History of the Origin of our Earth these remote and distant Bodies come to be taken notice of tho' their own proper Formation did not at all belong to it 1. I shall shew the truth of the Observation in several instances from the Holy Scriptures namely that the Heavenly Bodies are no otherwise there described than with relation to our Earth and as Members and Appurtenances of our Atmosphere And this Observation is confirm'd by the first mention that is made of them in this very History we are upon all the Circumstances whereof fully attest the truth of what is here affirm'd of them When the Light first display'd it self notwithstanding those numberless advantages accruing to the whole World therefrom none are taken notice of but such as respect our Sublunary World 'T was intirely with regard to our Light and Darkness our Day and Night that all was done as far as can be collected from the words of Moses Thus as soon as the Heavenly Bodies are made tho' they be universally useful they are plac'd in the Firmament of Heaven a Phrase us'd in this History for our Air only to divide our day from night to be to us for signs and seasons for days and years to be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth to rule over our day and night to divide our light from darkness And as to the order of their Introduction 't is not that of their proper Greatness or Dignity but that of their respective Appearance and Uses here below All which is far from a full account of the real Original universal Intentions and true Places of these Glorious Bodies but on the Supposition here made use of exactly easy and natural Agreeably whereto when our Air is clogg'd with gross Vapours so as to hide or disfigure their Faces to us The Sun is said to be turn'd into darkness the Moon into blood and when some Aerial Meteors call'd by their Names and for a moment resembling them shoot and drop down in the Air the Stars are said to fall from Heaven The Sun and Moon as if they were two Globes of Fire and Light pendulous in our Air and hanging over certain places are order'd to stand still the one upon Gibeon the other in the Valley of Aijalon The Sun is represented as set in a Tabernacle rejoycing as a Gyant to run his race His going forth is said to be from the end of Heaven or the Horizon and his circuit unto the ends of it All which Expressions with many others through the whole Bible plainly shew That the Scripture did not intend to teach men Philosophy or accommodate it self to the true and Pythagorick System of the World The Holy Writers did not consider the Heavenly Bodies absolutely as they are Great and Noble in themselves main and glorious Parts of the Universe very distinct from our Earth plac'd at various and immense Distances from it and from one another design'd for and subservient to many wise and comprehensive Ends and Methods of the Divine Providence dispos'd in a regular order in proportionate and harmonious Periods and Revolutions and finally endued with mighty Powers and Influences with respect to numerous and vast Systems of Beings Under such a consideration we might have expected another sort of Representation of the Heavenly Bodies their Original Designs Courses and Circumstances than the foregoing Texts or their parallels every where afford us But if we look on them under the Notion of Neighbour-Luminaries which are situate at the utmost bounds of our Atmosphere and belong as well as the Clouds to our Earth which are appointed to be our peculiar Attendants and a part of our Retinue serve our single Necessities and every day rise and set on purpose to provide for our Advantage and Convenience If I say we thus look upon them as all Men not otherwise taught by Philosophy do and must the Texts above-cited and the whole current of the Holy Books will easily accord and correspond to such a System And I dare appeal to any impartial and competent Judge to which of the foremention'd Schemes the most obvious and easy Sense of the Expressions of Scripture hereto relating are adapted and whether it does not usually speak as an honest and inquisitive Countryman who no more doubted of the Heavenly Bodies than of the Clouds appertaining to the Earth rather than as a new Astronomer who knew them to be vastly distant from and to have nothing in a peculiar manner to do with the
While I expect the same Person in the Glory of the Father coming to Judge the World in Righteousness and Mankind after that final doom to be partaker of everlasting Joy or Misery according to their behaviour here on Earth While I say I believe all this as I most sincerely do I can be under no temptation of looking with contempt upon or of entertaining a mean opinion of Mankind or of those Systems of Nature and Providence relating to it Yet all this notwithstanding I think that Opinion I am now exposing deserves no other Character than I have before given of it Tho' I look upon Mankind as one Species of very Noble and Glorious Creatures yet I suppose it but One and that there may be Millions of others at the least not inferior to him Tho' I believe Humane Nature when Innocent and Perfect at that height of Purity and Felicity which it once had and by the Christian Dispensation may be again advanc'd to as so considerable and exalted a Species of Beings yet withal I look upon it at present as under a very different Character We are all now in a deprav'd a sinful and so in a low a miserable state We have by our own wilful Rebellion and Disobedience made it necessary for God to place us in a short a vicious in an uneasie and vexatious World where at present we are under a sort of confinement in a place of Trial and Probation and through a doleful Wilderness must make our way to the Land of Canaan Quisque suos patimur manes We here feel the sad effects and punishments of former Sins We are left to struggle with great difficulties abide many assaults and undergo severe Agonies e're we must expect to recover our native dignity to retrieve our ancient felicity again Exinde per amplum Mittimur Elysium reduces laeta arva tenemus As flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God so that Kingdom is not of this World I see no reason to esteem the present condition of Mortality as at all considerable in it self tho' in its consequences it extremely be so in comparison of the past and future periods of our Beings and therefore without believing the Earth one of the greatest or noblest Globes in the World I can suppose it a very proper and suitable habitation for us at present Most wisely contriv'd as it certainly is and its Funiture peculiarly and wonderfully adapted to our needs capacities and operations I acknowledge that Providence has so constituted our Earth that we receive some advantages from all and very great ones from some other parts of the external and visible World All which were in the Original Creation of things both foreseen and foredesign'd by God and so may not improperly be so far said to have been made for our use and appointed to serve our necessities I do not think that those Systems of the Universe we here speak of are ever a whit the less useful to us or the benefits we reap from them ever the less in themselves or less worthy of our notice and observation our admiration and gratitude to God because they also are subservient to other noble purposes and are by Divine Providence made use of in several great designs over and above those advantages we are able to take notice of or can our selves enjoy from them I cannot imagine that God is peculiarly fond of any particular parts of the Material Creation or any more a Respecter of some inanimate Bodies than of Persons He no doubt equally makes use of them all according to their several kinds and capacities in the service of the various species of Intelligent Creatures and in the bringing about the great Periods of Nature and the Decrees of Heaven which as they are in great measure unknown to us so may they regard Rational Beings very different and remote from us and our concerns If we duly reflect on the Infinite Nature and unlimited Perfections of the Divine Being the Creator and Original of all things as well as on the number vastness and glory of those his works which are within our view we shall see reason to confess there may be millions of Nobler Intellectual Beings interposed between Man and God And the whole World might be more reasonably suppos'd made at the Creation and for the sole use of any one species of those than of Mankind If therefore we be unwilling to be our selves excluded from a share in the intentions and designs of Heaven let us not exclude any other rational Creatures from the same but be willing to suppose as this Earth was form'd in six days for the sake of Man so were the rest of the Heavenly Bodies form'd at other proper times for the sake of other of God's Creatures for whom Providence ought to be allow'd to have taken a proportionable Care and made a suitable provision as we our selves find has been done with regard to us and our affairs Let us learn humble and modest sentiments of our selves from the contemplation of the immensity of the Works of God in the World Which useful Lesson the Holy Psalmist would by his own example teach us With whose Natural and Pious Reflection in this very case I shall conclude this whole discourse When I consider thy Heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained Lord what is Man that thou art mindful of him And the Son of Man that thou visitest him O Lord our Lord How excellent is thy name in all the Earth POSTULATA 1. THE Obvious or Literal Sense of Scripture is the True and Real one where no evident Reason can be given to the contrary II. That which is clearly accountable in a natural way is not without reason to be ascrib'd to a Miraculous Power III. What Ancient Tradition asserts of the constitution of Nature or of the Origin and Primitive States of the World is to be allow'd for True where 't is fully agreeable to Scripture Reason and Philosophy A NEW THEORY OF THE EARTH BOOK I. LEMMATA I. ALL Bodies will persevere for ever in that state whether of Rest or Motion in which they once are if no other force or impediment act upon them or suffer by them II. All Motion is of it self rectilinear and with the same constant uniform Celerity if no other external Cause disturb it Corollary 1. 'T is evident from these two Propositions that Matter is intirely a passive Substance Coroll 2. No Spontaneous Motion or Action can be the effect of meer Matter Coroll 3. The Soul of Man whose least Power seems to be that of Spontaneous Motion is incorporeal which is also a necessary consequence of the first Corollary for if Matter be perfectly a passive Thing the Soul which is so active a Being cannot be material Coroll 4. The Bruit Creatures giving all possible Demonstrations of Spontaneous Motion and of a principle of Action cannot reasonably be suppos'd
of the Heavens was uniform which thing was the cause and original of the Golden Age and of all that happiness which therein Mankind enjoy'd or external Nature partook of which how well it suits the present Hpothesis I need not say All that exceeding happy State of Nature which innocent Man enjoy'd beyond what he does since the Fall being therein owing to such a Constitution of the World as this Author intimates and I am now proving Which in the last place shall be confirm'd from Baptista Mantuanus who says relating the Opinion of the old Astonomers All the Coelestial Spheres were in the beginning of the World concentrical and uniform in their Motion and the Zodiack of the Primum Mobile and that of the Planets the Equator and Ecliptick were united and coincident by which means all sublunary Bodies were more vivid and vigorous at that time than in the present Ages of the World as the Theorist sums up the force of his Testimony very agreeably to the Hypothesis before us of the Astronomy in the primitive State of the Heavens 5. To the first Inhabitants of the Earth dwelling at the Intersection of the ancient Ecliptick with the present Northern Tropick of which hereafter the Poles of the World were neither elevated nor depress'd but at the Horizon But sometime after the Formation of things they suddenly chang'd their Situation the Northern Pole appear'd to be elevated above and the Southern depress'd below the Horizon and the Course of the Heavens seem'd bent or inclin'd to the Southern Parts of the World or in plain words there was a new Diurnal Rotation began about the present Axis of the Earth which I take to be the true and easy Exposition of the same Phaenomena This Matter is much insisted on by the Ancients and being so will fully confirm our Assertion and give light and strength to some of the former Testimonies Plutarch has a Chapter entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the Inclination of the Earth in which he thus recites the Opinion of Leucippus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Earth fell or was enclin'd towards the Southern Regions by reason of the rareness of those Parts The Northern Regions being grown rigid and compact while the Southern were scorch'd or on fire Whose Opinion is also recited by Laertius in almost the same words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By reason of the failure in the Sun and Moon the Earth was bent or inclin'd towards the South But the Northern Regions grew rigid and inflexible by the snowy and cold Weather which ensued thereon To the same purpose is the Opinion of Democritus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That by reason of the Southern Ambient Air 's imbecillity or smaller Pressure the Earth in those Parts increas'd in bulk and so sunk and bent that way For the Northern Regions were ill temper'd but the Southern very well whereby the latter becoming fruitful waxed greater and by an over-weight preponderated and inclin'd the whole that way As express to the full is the Testimony of Empedocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The North by reason of the Air 's yielding to the Sun's force was bent from its former Position whereupon the Northern Regions were elevated and the Southern depress'd as together with them was the whole World To which agrees Anaxagoras in these words which immediately follow those just before quoted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But afterward the Pole receiv'd a turn or inclination These so many and so pregnant Testimonies of Antiquity as to the matters of fact foregoing for as to the several Reasons assign'd by them they being I suppose but the single Conjectures of the Authors must be uncertain and need not be farther consider'd or insisted on in the present case seem to me so weighty that I cannot but build and rely very much upon them How should such strange and surprizing Paradoxes run so universally through the eldest Antiquity if there were not some ground or foundation in earnest for them 'T would be hard wholly to reject what were so unanimously vouched by the old Sages of Learning and Philosophy even tho' there were no other evidence or reason for our belief But when all these Authors the only competent Witnesses in the Case do but confirm what on other Accounts as we have seen and shall farther see there is so good reason to believe and when so great light is thereby afforded to the primitive Constitution of Nature and the Sacred History of the State of Innocency their Attestations are the more credible and the more valuable and in the highest degree worthy of our serious Consideration What I can foresee of Objection deserving our notice against what has been advanc'd from the Testimonies of the old Philosophers is this That they seem to favour the perpetual Equinox before the Flood by the right Position of the present Axis of the Earth parallel to that of the Ecliptick as the Theorist imagines and its Inclination or oblique Position acquir'd at the Deluge as the same Author supposes rather than the original Absence and subsequent commencing of the Diurnal Rotation after the Fall of Man as I here apply them I answer I. The Parallelism of the Axis of a Diurnal to that of an Annual Revolution is as far as I find a perfect stranger to the System of the World there being I think not one of the Heavenly Bodies Sun or Planet but has its own Axis oblique to the Orbit in which it moves 2. It will be farther evinc'd hereafter That de facto before the Flood the Axis of the Earth was Oblique to its Annual Orbit the Plain of the Ecliptick and the Year distinguish'd into the present Seasons Spring Summer Autumn and Winter 3. That equable and healthful Temper of the Air which the Theorist chiefly relied upon as necessary to the Longevity of the Antediluvians and fully prov'd by Antiquity shall be accounted for without such an Hypothesis 4. The Testimonies before alledg'd do not if rightly consider'd suit this Hypothesis nay in truth they fully confute it Of the five Characters before-mention'd under which we have reduc'd the main Testimonies there are two which are common to this and to the Theorist's Hypothesis viz. 1. The perpetual and universal Equinox 2. The coincidence of the Equator and Ecliptick tho' in somewhat a different manner So that the Testimonies for these two can neither establish the one nor the other as equally suiting them both The other three are peculiar to that Hypothesis we have been proving and by consequence at the same time establish that and confute the Theorist's Hypothesis And these three are 1. The Equality of a Day and a Year 2. The Sun and Planet's rising in the West and setting in the East 3. The Position of the Poles at the Horizon with the after Elevation of the Northern the Depression of the Southern Pole and the inclination or bending of the Heavenly Bodies Courses towards the South
living as I have done While the Earth remaineth seed-time and harvest and cold and heat and Summer and winter and day and night shall not cease And this as to the time past is abundantly confirm'd by all the Ancient History and Geography compar'd with the Modern as is in several particulars well observ'd by Dr. Woodward against the groundless opinions of some others to the contrary CHAP. V. Phaenomena relating to the General Conflagration With Conjectures pertaining to the same and to the succeeding period till the Consummation of all things XC AS the World once perished by Water so it must by Fire at the Conclusion of its present State The heavens and the earth which are now by the word of God are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men The heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up In the day of God the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat But this is so fully attested by the unanimous consent of Sacred and Prophane Authority that I shall omit other particular Quotations and only refer the Reader where he may have more ample satisfaction SCHOLIUM Having proceeded thus far upon more certain grounds and generally allow'd Testimonies as to the most of the foregoing Phaenomena I might here break off and leave the following Conjectures to the same state of Uncertainty they have hitherto been in But being willing to comply with the Title and take in all the great and general Changes from first to last from the primigenial Chaos to the Consummation of all things Being also loth to desert my Postulatum and omit the account of those things which were most exactly agreeable to the Obvious and Literal sense of Scripture and fully consonant to Reason and Philosophy Being lastly willing however to demonstrate that tho' these most remote and difficult Texts be taken according to the greatest strictness of the Letter yet do they contain nothing but what is possible credible and rationally accountable from the most undoubted Principles of Philosophy On all these accounts I shall venture to enumerate and afterward to account for the following Conjectures In which I do not pretend to be Dogmatical and Positive nay nor to declare any firm belief of the same but shall only propose them as Conjectures and leave them to the free and impartial consideration of the Reader XCI The same Causes which will set the World on Fire will also cause great and dreadful Tides in the Seas and in the Ocean with no less Agitations Concussions and Earthquakes in the Air and Earth The Powers of Heaven shall be shaken The Lord shall roar out of Sion and utter his voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and the earth shall shake The sea and the waves roaring Mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken XCII The mtmosphere of the Earth before the Conflagration begin will be oppress'd with Meteors Exhalations and Steams and these in so dreadful a manner in such prodigious quantities and with such wild confused Motions and Agitations That the Sun and Moon will have the most frightful and hideous countenances and their antient splendour will be intirely obscur'd The Stars will seem to fall from Heaven and all manner of Horrid Representations will terrifie the Inhabitants of the Earth I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come The sun shall be darkened and the Moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be shaken There shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the Earth distress of Nations with perplexity Mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth XCIII The Deluge and Constagration are referr'd by ancient Tradition to great Conjunctions of the Heavenly Bodies as both depending on and happening at the same Thus Seneca expresly Berosus says he who was an Expositor of Belus affirms That these Revolutions depend on the Course of the Stars insomuch that he doubts not to assign the very times of a Conflagration and a Deluge That first mention'd when all the Stars which have now so different Courses shall be in Conjunction in Cancer All of them being so directly situate with respect to one another that the same right line will pass through them all together That last mention'd when the same company of Stars shall be in conjunction in the opposite sign Capricorn XCIV The space between the Deluge and the Conflagration or between the ancient state of the Earth and its Purgation by Fire Renovation and Restitution again is from ancient Tradition defin'd and terminated by a certain great and remarkable year or Annual Revolution of some of the Heavenly Bodies And is in probability what the Ancients so often refer'd to pretended particularly to determine and stil'd The Great or Platonick Year This year is exceeding famous in old Authors and not unreasonably apply'd to this matter by the Theorist Which it will better suit in this than it did in that Hypothesis XCV This general Conflagration is not to extend to the intire dissolution or destruction of the Earth but only to the Alteration Melioration and peculiar disposition thereof into a new state proper to receive those Saints and Martyrs for its Inhabitants who are at the first Resurrection to enter and to live and reign a thousand years upon it till the second Resurrection the general Judgment and the final consummation of all things The Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness Behold I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind Verily I say unto you That ye which followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of his glory ye also shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel And every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my names sake shall receive an hundred fold now in this time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with his present persecutions and in the world to come eternal life Of old thou hast laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of