intire Bodies of all Plants and Animals 't is by no means hard to conceive that he might Create them in what degree of Maturity and Perfection he pleas'd without any manner of infringement of the Order of Nature then to be establish'd And if we have reason to believe that the Bodies of bruit Creatures were created in parvo in a small State such as we now call Seeds and so requir'd a proper Generation i. e. Nutrition and Augmentation of parts as the Mosaick History plainly describes them and had it not done so we could not with any certainty have asserted it We have sure equal reason to believe from the description of the same Author in this other case that the Bodies of our First Parents were Originally created in their Mature Bulk and State of Manhood so as immediately to be capable of the same Operations which at any time afterward they might be thought to be This Miraculous Origination of the Bodies of our First Parents is therefore very rationally ascribed to the Finger of God by Moses And we may justly believe that the Blessed Trinity as 't is represented in the Sacred History was peculiarly concern'd in the Production of that Being which was to bear the Image of God and be made capable of some degree of his Immortality And then as to the Soul of Man 't is certainly a very distinct Being from and one very much advanced above the Body and therefore if we were forc'd to introduce a Divine Power in the Formation of the latter we can do no less than that in the Creation and Infusion of the former And indeed the Dignity and Faculties of the Human Soul are so vastly exalted above all the Material or merely Animal Creation that its Original must be deriv'd from the immediate Finger of God in a manner still more peculiar and Divine than all the rest That nearer resemblance of the Spiritual Nature Immortal Condition Active Powers and Free Rational and Moral Operations of the Divine Being it self which the Souls of men were to bear about them did but require some peculiar and extraordinary Conduct in their first Existence after-Union with Matter and Introduction into the Corporeal World Agreeably whereto we may easily observe a signal distinction in the Sacred History between the formation of all other Animals and the Creation of Man In the former case 't is only said Let the waters bring forth the moving creature that hath life Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind But of the latter the entire Trinity consult And God said Let Us make man in our image after our likeness And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. As therefore the several parts of the Mosaick Creation before-mention'd are not to be mechanically attempted but look'd upon as the effects of the Extraordinary and Miraculous Power and Providence of God so more especially the Formation of the Body of Man in its mature state and most of all the primary Creation and after-Infusion of the Rational Human Soul is to be wholly ascrib'd to the same wonderful Interposition and Efficiency of the Supreme Being the Creator of all things God blessed for evermore All which taken together and duly considered is I think a sufficient and satisfactory Account of the Proposition before us and attributes as much to the Miraculous and Immediate Hand of God as either Tradition Reason or Scripture require in the present Case III. The Days of Creation and that of Rest had their beginning in the Evening III. This has been already accounted for and need not here be repeated Corollary 1. This Phaenomenon in some measure confirms our Hypothesis that the Primitive Days of the World were Years also For otherwise the space of one single short Night seems too inconsiderable to have been taken such notice of in this History and then and ever after made the first half of the Natural Day But if it were equal to half a Year it was too considerable to be omitted and its memory was very justly preserv'd in succeeding Ages Corollary 2. We may here begin to take notice of the Regularity and Methodicalness of this History of the Creation Which tho' it principally intends the giving an account of the Visible Parts of the World and how the state of Nature in each Period appeared in the Day time yet Omits not the foregoing Night which is very Mechanical and Natural For in the preceding Night all things were so prepar'd and dispos'd that the Work of each Day might upon its appearance display it self might be exhibited not in its unseen beginnings or secret Workings not in its praevious Causes and gradual Procedure which was not the Design of this History but in that more distinct and perfect condition in which things would in the Day time appear to the view of a Spectator and under which chiefly they were to be discribed and recorded in this History 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 IV. If we consider what has been already said of the Nature of a Comet or peculiarly of that Atmosphere which has been before shewn to have been the ancient Chaos we ought to represent it to our selves as containing a Central Solid Hot Body of about 7000 or 8000 Miles in Diameter and besides that a vastly large fluid heterogeneous Mass or congeries of Bodies in a very rare seperate and expanded condition whose Diameter were twelve or perhaps fifteen times as long as that of the central Solid or about 100000 Miles which is the Atmosphere or Chaos now to be consider'd In which we must remember was contain'd both a smaller quantity of dry solid or earthy Parts with a still much smaller of Aery and Watery and a much larger quantity of dense and heavy Fluids of which the main bulk of the Atmosphere was compos'd all confusedly mix'd blended and jumbled together In which state the Theorist's First Figure excepting the omission of the Central Solid will well enough represent it and in which state we accordingly delineate it in the following Figure But upon the change of the Comet 's Orbit from Elliptical to Circular the Commencing of the Mosaick Creation and the Influence of the Divine Spirit all things would begin to take their own places and each species of Bodies rank themselves into that order which according to the law of specifick gravity were due to them By which method the Mass of dense Fluids which compos'd the main bulk of the intire Chaos being heavier than the Masses of Earth Water and Air would sink downwards with the greatest force and velocity and elevate those Masses inclosed among them upwards Which procedure must therefore distinguish the Chaos or Atmosphere into two very different and
replenish'd with those first Pairs which by the Benediction they straightway receiv'd were enabled to become the original of all of the same Kinds which ever were to be the Inhabitants of those Regions afterwards Which time and procedure is no less agreeable to the State of the World in our Hypothesis than 't is to the express Affirmations of Moses who makes Fish and Fowl the sole Product of the fifth Day or Year of the Creation 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 Brute 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 out 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 X. The Earth being now grown more Solid Compact and Dry its Surface distinguish'd into Sea and Dry-land each of which were stor'd in some sort with Inhabitants and Vegetables the Air being fully clear and fit for Respiration and the other Dispositions of External Nature being equally subservient to this as well as it had been before to the last day's Productions 't was a proper Season for the Generation of the Dry-land Animals and the Introduction of the noblest of them Man which accordingly were the first Works on this sixth Day or Year of the Creation Any more particular account of which or of the following Works is not so directly the design of this Theory and so shall not be here farther insisted on We may only take notice of two things the one is the peculiar Manner the other the peculiar Time for the Creation of Man As to the former Tho' 't is granted that all the other Day 's Works mention'd by Moses were brought to pass in a natural way by proper and suitable Instruments and a mechanical Process as we have seen through the whole Series of the foregoing Creation yet 't is evident as has been already observ'd That an immediate and miraculous Power was exercis'd in the formation of the Body and Infusion of the Soul of Man as well as in some other particular Cases belonging to this Origin of Things In plain terms I take it to be evident That that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Blessed Mediator who was afterward very frequently conversant on Earth appear'd in a humane Form to the Patriarchs gave the Law in a visible Glory and with an audible Voice on Mount Sinai guided the Israelites personally in a Pillar of Fire and of a Cloud through the Wilderness inhabited between the Cherubins in the Holy of Holies and took the peculiar Stile Titles Attributes Adoration and incommunicable Name of the God of Israel and at last was Incarnate liv'd a true Man amongst us died for us and ascended into Heaven makes still Intercession for us with the Father and will come to Judge the World in Righteousness at the last Day That this very same Divine Person was actually and visibly in a humane Shape conversant on Earth and was truly and really employ'd in this Creation of the World and particularly in this peculiar Formation of Man so frequently ascribed to him in the Holy Scriptures It being both unfit and impossible for the Divine Nature it self or at least that of the Father to be so much and in such a manner concern'd with the Corporeal World and the sinful Race of Mankind as we find here and every where this Divine Person our Blessed Mediator to have been as the Texts quoted a little above compar'd together do I think fully prove Seeing therefore our Saviour Christ God-man was personally present and actually employ'd in this Primitive Creation of the World Seeing Man was to be a Creature intirely different from all the rest a Being compounded of a Spiritual and Immortal Soul and of a Material and Corruptible Body Seeing in both these he was to be made in the likeness of that Divine Person who created him and be constituted his Deputy and Vicegerent among the Creatures here below 't was but reasonable there should be as great a distinction in his Original as was to be in his Nature and Faculties his Office and Dignity his Capacities and Happiness from the other parts of the visible Creation and by consequence that peculiar Interposition of God himself in the Formation of the Body and Infusion of the Soul of our first Parents so particularly observable in the Mosaick History is both very agreeable to the Nature of things very suitable to the Wisdom of God and very reconcilable to the most Philosophick Accounts of this Origin of the World and withal a remarkable token of the Dignity of Human Nature of the distinction between his Soul and Body and of the great Condescension and Love of God towards us and so the most highly worthy of our consideration Neither is the other circumstance the peculiar Time of the Creation of Man to be pass'd over without a proper Reflection on it 'T were easy to shew That none of the preceding Days were in any degree so fit for nay most of them not capable of this Creation and Introduction of Man But upon this sixth Period when every thing which could be subservient to him and advance his felicity was compleated he who was to be the Lord of All and for whose sake the whole was fram'd was brought into the World When the Light had been penetrating into and clarifying this dark and thick Atmosphere for more than five compleat Years together when the Air was freed from its numberless Vapours and become pure clear and fit for his Respiration when the Waters as well superior as interior were so dispos'd as to minister to his necessities by Mists and Dews from the Heavens and by Springs and Rivers from the Earth when the Surface of the Earth was become dry and solid for his support and was cover'd over with Trees Shrubs Plants Herbs Grass and Flowers for his Sustenance and Delight when the glorious Firmament of Heaven and the beautiful System of the Sun Moon and Stars were visible and conspicuous to him the Objects of his Contemplation the Distinguishers of his Seasons by whose powerful Influences the Earth was invigorated and the World rendred a fruitful and useful a lightsome and pleasant Habitation to him when lastly all sorts of Animals in the Seas in the Air or on the Earth were so dispos'd as to attend benefit and please him one way or other when I say all these things were by the Care Beneficence and Providence of God prepar'd for the entertainment of this principal Guest then
said of the other Days works by recurring to the Divine miraculous Power which yet is here not only unnecessarily and without warrant from the Sacred History it self but sometimes very indecently done yet the numerous Works ascrib'd to the sixth Day plainly shew That a space much longer than we now call a Day must have been referr'd to in the Sacred History The business of the sixth Day includes evidently these following particulars 1. The Production of all the bruit dry-land Animals 2. The Consultation about and the actual Creation of the Body and Infusion of the Soul of Adam 3. The Charter or Donation of Dominion over all Creatures bestow'd on Adam 4. The Exercise of Part of that Dominion or the giving Names to all the dry-land Animals which sure suppos'd some acquir'd knowledge in Adam some Consideration of the Nature of each Species some skill in Language and the use of Words andwithal some proportionable Time for the gathering so great a number of Creatures together and for the distinct naming of every one 5. When on this review it appear'd that among all these Creatures there was not a Meet-help or suitable Companion for him God then cast him into a deep Sleep which 't is probable lasted more than a few minutes to deserve that Appellation took out one of his Ribs closed up the Flesh instead thereof and out of that Rib made the Woman 6. After this God brings this Woman to Adam he owns her Original gives her an agreeable Name takes her to Wife and they together receive that Benediction Increase and Multiply 7. God appoints them and their Fellow-Animals the Vegetables for Food and Sustenance All which to omit the Jews Tradition of the Fall of Man this sixth Day and such things presuppos'd thereto which must belong to it even by the Mosaick History it self put together is vastly more than is conceivable in the short space of one single Day in the vulgar Sense of it 'T is true God Almighty can do all things in what portions of Time he pleases But 't is also true as Bishop Patrick well observes in a like case that Man cannot He must have time allotted him in proportion to the business to be done or else 't is not to be expected of him And 't is plain That Adam and Eve were mainly concern'd in the latter Actions of this Day so that by a just and necessary consequence That Day in which they went through so many and different Scenes and perform'd so many Actions requiring at least no small part of a Year and that after themselves and all the dry-land Animals had been on the same Day produc'd was certainly such a Day as might be proportionate to such Operations and not shorter than a Year which the present Hypothesis allows in the case 7. If the History of the Fall of Man be either included in the sixth Day according to the Ancient Tradition of the Jews which I confess to be very improbable or belong to the seventh as might by coming as near as possible to such old Tradition more probably be allow'd On either of these Suppositions there is the greatest necessity imaginable of supposing such a Day much longer than is commonly done Which I think is of it self so plain that I need not aggravate the matter but leave it to the free Consideration of the Reader All which Arguments to me appear very satisfactory and evince that the first distinguishing and peculiar Character of such a primitive State of Nature as was before-mention'd did really belong to our Earth before the Fall and that then a Day and a Year were exactly one and the same space of Time 2. In the primitive State of the World the Sun and Planets rose in the West and set in the East contrary to what they have done ever since This may seem to have been the foundation of that Story in Herodotus who tells us That the Sun in the space of 10340 Years four times inverted his Course and rose in the West But what I mainly depend on is that Discourse in Plato who relating some very ancient Traditions about the primitive State of things and what a mighty and remarkable Change was effected by a certain mighty and remarkable Alteration in the Heavenly Motions which Alteration in general deserves also to be taken notice of as agreeing so well with the present Hypothesis the most surprizing and of the greatest consequence of all others and the cause of suitably surprizing and considerable Effects in the present State of Nature makes it to be this change of the Way or Course of the Heavenly Bodies which is the consequence of the present Assertion For this grand thing of which he had spoken so highly is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Motion of the Universe sometimes revolves the same way that it does now and sometimes the contrary way Which Testimony is very plain and full to our present purpose 3. In the primitive State of Nature there was a perpetual Equinox or Equality of Day and Night through the World This Phaenomenon or such Effects as in part suppose it is usually by the Christian Fathers applied to the Paradisiacal State and by the Ancient Heathens to the Golden Age or the Reign of Saturn coincident 't is probable at least in part thereto For they all with one consent deny that the Sun's Course was oblique from one Tropick to another or that the difference and inequality of Seasons which must have followed therefrom did belong to that first and most happy State of the World as may at large be seen the places quoted in the Margin too long here to Transcribe to which therefore I refer the Reader and proceed 4. In the primitive State of the World there was no Equator distinct from the Ecliptick all Motions were perform'd about one invariable Axis that of the latter for the Plains of the Planet's Orbits I consider as nearly coincident with that of the Ecliptick without the Obliquity of one Circle or Motion to another Tho' this be somewhat related to the former particular yet I shall distinctly quote a Testimony or two directly belonging hereto and not so properly reducible to the other The first is that of Anaxagoras who says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Stars in their primitive State revolv'd in a Tholiform manner insomuch that the Pole appear'd perpetually at the Vertex of the Earth Whose meaning tho' somewhat obscure seems to be That the Motion of the Heavens was originally about one Center or Axis that of the Ecliptick whose Pole was continually over against the same Point of the Earth which on the Hypothesis before us is true but in the present Frame of Nature impossible The next Author whom I shall produce is Plato who in the foremention'd Discourse about the Ancient and Modern States of the World says That in the former of them the Motion
on this occasion I cannot but observe That 't is not the genuine Contents of the Holy Books themselves but such unwary Interpretations of them as these which have mainly contributed to their contempt and been but too Instrumental to make 'em appear Absurd and Irrational to the Free Reason of Mankind For when Men found that the Scriptures according to the Universal Sense of Expositors ascribed such things to God as their plainest reason could not think compatible to a Wise Man much less to the All-wise God they were under a shrewd Temptation of thinking very meanly of the Bible it self and by degrees of rejecting it and therewith all Divine Revelation to the Sons of Men. How fatally this Malady hath spread of late especially I need not say and tho' I fully believe the main stroke or step as to the generality be Vicious Dispositions and a Debauched Temper yet how far such Ill-contriv'd Unskilful and Unphilosophical Interpretations or rather Misrepresentations of Scripture particularly relating to the Material World of which we are now speaking may have contributed to so fatal and pernicious an effect deserves the most serious and sober consideration This Mischief is not to be remedied nor the Veneration due to the Sacred Volumes retriev'd by an obstinate maintaining such strange opinions as those here refer'd to by patronizing the same with Divine Authority and then making vehement Invectives against such as many unskilful yet good men are ready to do whose only fault is this that they can no more be induc'd to believe what is plainly unworthy of and unsuitable to the Divine Perfections than what is evidently contradictory to Divine Revelation Wise Men would rather set themselves carefully to compare Nature with Scripture and make a free Enquiry into the certain Phaenomena of the one and the genuin Sense of the other which if Expositors would do 't were not hard to demonstrate in several such cases that the latter is so far from opposing the truths deducible from the former or the common notions of Mankind that 't is in the greatest harmony therewith and in those cases where the thing mention'd is within the sphere of human Knowledge no less accountable to the reason than enforc'd on the belief of Mankind And I persuade my self if there were a careful collection made of the Ancient knots and difficulties in the several parts of the Bible with relation to such points as we are upon or any others of a different nature and how very many of them as preludes and pledges of the rest are now intirely clear'd or might easily be so it would more contribute to the recovery of the Ancient Honour and due Esteem of the Sacred Scriptures than all the most Zealous and general Harangues from some popular Topicks either for them or against their Contemners the loose Deists and pretended Socinians of this Age. For my own part I cannot but profess that tho' I be very nice and tender in the reasonableness of my Faith and desirous to admit nothing but what agrees to the Divine Attributes the common notions of our Souls and the Phaenomena of Nature yet upon an Impartial Enquiry into some of the most perplexing difficulties occurring there I have obtain'd so great a Measure of satisfaction about them that my scruples now intirely cease and I cannot doubt either of the Truth or Divine Authority of the Scriptures I do not mean that all the difficulties are in particular vanish'd and perfectly clear'd to me That is what is scarce to be hop'd for in this World But I have so frequently met with fewer difficulties in the consideration of the Books themselves than in the common Interpretations and those very Comments which ought to assoil 'em And in so many and those most remarkable Points of all have met with such clear and plenary tho' unexpected satisfaction that I have all imaginable reason to believe the rest equally capable of the same and to remain constant in this assurance That 't is the ignorant or foolish Expositions of Men not the natural and genuine Sense of the Words themselves that makes us imagine Scripture Reason and the Nature of Things irreconcileable or contradictory to one another And I hope the instances he will meet with in the following Theory will go a great way to persuade the unbyass'd Reader of the same Truth and to convince him that greater satisfaction is to be look'd for from the view of God's own Books of Nature and Scripture than those of any Men whatsoever Whatever incompetent Judges may say nothing will so much tend to the vindication and honour of reveal'd Religion as free enquiries into and a solid acquaintance with not ingenious and precarious Hypotheses but true and demonstrable principles of Philosophy with the History of Nature and with such ancient Traditions as in all probability were deriv'd from Noab and by him from the more Ancient Fathers of the World From which mediums what surprizing and unhop'd for light may be given to some famous portions of the Holy Scriptures the following Pages will 't is hop'd afford some convincing Instances and prove sufficient to take away mens ungrounded Fears and Apprehensions in such matters And by the Divine Blessing appear a seasonable Attestation to the Certainty and Authority of those Lively Oracles on which our Happiness in this and the next World does so vastly depend But I must leave this digression and proceed VI. The Vulgar Scheme of the Mosaick Creation besides the disproportion as to time represents all things from first to last so disorderly confusedly and unphilosophically that 't is intirely disagreeable to the Wisdom and Perfection of God And here I might justly Appeal to the Conscience of every careful Reader even tho' his Knowledge of the true System of the World were not great whether the vulgar account has not ever seem'd strange and surprizing to him But if he were one Philosophically dispos'd and allow'd himself a free consideration of it whether it has not ever been the most perplexing thing to his thoughts that could be imagin'd 'T is well known how far this matter has been carried by Wise and Good Men even to the taking away the literal and the resolving the whole into a Popular Moral or Parabolick sense And under what notion this History on the same account has appear'd to others of no less free but less Religious Dispositions and Thoughts I need not say What is indeed matter of doubt and perplexity to pious men being unquestionably to the Loose and Profane the Subject of Mirth and Drollery and the sure encouragement to Atheism and Impiety But I shall not content my self with this general reflection but instead of prosecuting such a Discourse any father shall assign such particular instances of the irregular and unbecoming procedure in the vulgar Scheme of the Creation as are plainly disagreeable to the Divine Wisdom and unsuitable to the nature of things 1. Bodies Alike in Nature have here an unlike
of what has been said on these three last Arguments we cannot but observe into what Erroneous Extremes Good Men have been betray'd with relation to several main difficulties occurring in the Sacred Writings While from a profound respect to the revealed Word of God the most were willing to lay aside the use of their own Reason and others from a no less veneration for the Divine Attributes and regard to those common notions which God had implanted in their Souls were willing to indulge too great a liberty in the Interpretation of Scripture The former being generally Pious and Devout Souls but little vers'd in contemplation or the improvements of natural knowledge were dispos'd to receive all that a Vulgar and Religious tho' less Wary and Prudent Exposition should recommend to their Assent The latter having added to their Piety and Vertue a careful enquiry into Nature and a freer exercise of their Humane Faculties and observing how heavy imputations some common Interpretations laid on the Divine Majesty how disagreeable they were to External Nature as well as the Reason of Mankind were carried too far on the other hand and when the latter were secur'd were not proportionably solicitous about the former I mean so that nothing but what Reason the Attributes of God and the System of the World allow'd were admitted these did not take a proportionable care that the natural sense of Scripture were equally provided for What I would here further observe is the equal Condition and Deserts but the unequal Reputation and Fate these two sorts of Men have generally met with in the Christian World Their Characters to me seem so correspondent and their contrary Mistakes so equally wide from Truth equally derogatory to the Honour of God and yet equally proceeding from a Religious Principle a desire to secure the Interest of Divine Revelation that to me they seem to deserve the same Respect and Commendation for their sincere Endeavours and pious Intentions the same Pity and Pardon for their Errors and Mistakes But it has happen'd much otherwise for by reason of the little Leisure and Abilities of the generality of Teachers to cultivate their own Reason or make any successful enquiries into the Natural World the former sort being in themselves most numerous and as must needs happen having the most part of Christian People on their side did with Zeal and Earnestness decry the latter and tho' themselves on one side did as highly Dishonour the Sacred Oracles as the other on the opposite yet they vehemently laid that Imputation on the latter and decry'd them as secret Underminers of that Word of God they pretended more rationally to explain 'T were easy to give Examples in this case but I shall content my self with one concerning those very Histories of the Creation and Deluge which I am to explain in the following Theory 'T is well known what great and hitherto insuperable Difficulties these Histories have involv'd in them to the general view of Mankind and how much still greater and still more insuperable those Difficulties appear'd to Philosophick Enquirer's who came more nicely to consider them and compare what was asserted in the Holy Scriptures with the true Frame and System of External Nature The consideration of these things so affected a great and good Man that he resolv'd on a noble Attempt and undertook to clear those Points and shew that the temporary Origin of the World from a Chaos and a Universal Deluge were rational and accountable Theorems and thereby take away that Blot and Obstacle which the seeming impossibility of these things laid in the way of ill-disposed Persons In which matters he employ'd his utmost skill in the best System of Philosophy then known in the World his most diligent researches into the sacred and prophane Accounts relating to those anciently more known Phaenomena of Nature together with such other helps as his own excellent Abilities could afford him and that as to several main and principal strokes to very great Satisfaction and to the very remarkable Illustration of the Holy Scriptures But in the Prosecution of this Scheme being so vast so noble so uniform so coherent and withal so new and surprizing it at last appear'd that such his Theory would not in several Particulars accord with the letter of Scripture This unhappy dissonancy the Theorist was soon sensible of and no doubt not a little concern'd about In which streight seeing no possible way of securing the main Points without so unpleasing a Concession instead of resolving to rest satisfied in the natural Sense of Scripture and acquiescing in the Divine Revelation till farther means of clearing the whole should offer themselves which I think is a good Man's Duty in such cases he ventur'd to suppose that the Sacred Books were not always to be so literally and naturally understood as was generally believ'd hitherto He alledg'd That considering the mean Capacities of the Jews which were not capable of such Points of Philosophick Truths considering the most ancient way of conveying or rather of concealing sublime Theorems by Parables Fables and Hieroglyphicks considering the Scripture Stile in some other cases very much different from the present plain and explicit way of Discourse and nearer a-kin to that most ancient Method considering the main end of the Holy Writings the benefit of the Moral World seem'd not to require a strict adherence to truth in every circumstance relating to the Natural nay rather enforc'd a receeding from it in some cases considering lastly That all Ages had in vain endeavoured to clear these Points according to the strictness of the most obvious Sense and that the greater Improvements in Philosophy seem'd but to render them still more unaccountable considering I say all these things He suppos'd that the Holy Writers only secur'd the Fundamental and General Verities involving the rest under and explaining the whole by a way of speaking which was Mystical and Mythological rather popular than true and fitted more to the needs of Men than to the reality of Things This is I think a fair and full Account of the Opinion and a genuine Explication of the occasion of this unhappy Slip of our late Excellent Theorist and such an one I acknowledge 't is as in it self has no solid or necessary Foundation is of ill consequence to the Authority of the Holy Scriptures and dishonourable both to their Penmen and chiefly to their Principal Inditer the Blessed Spirit of God In which Censure if the Learned Author think me too free or too severe he will I hope see reason to excuse and not to be displeas'd with me when I have own'd as I must ingenuously do That in accusing him I condemn my self for I my self in great measure have thought the same things For I cannot but with the Theorist confess That the Difficulties in the Vulgar Expositions were so great such absurd Incongruities ascrib'd to God by them the true System of the World did so disagree and increase
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
wast thou made before the hills Lord thou hast been our dwelling place from one generation to another Before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God And indeed these three last Phaenomena are in their own Natures so linked together they so depend on and infer one another mutually that the proofs of each of them singly may justly be esteemed under the same Character to both the other and all of them are thereby establish'd past all rational Contradiction Of which whole matter Dr. Woodward's Observations are a sufficient Attestation also XVIII The Waters of the Seas in the Primitive Earth were Salt and those of the Rivers Fresh as they are at present and each as now were then stor'd with great plenty of Fish This appears from the difference of the Species and Natures of Fishes some being produc'd and nourish'd by Salt Water others by Fresh and yet all created on the fifth Day And this in all its parts is confirm'd by Dr. Woodward's Observations XIX The Seas were agitated with a like Tide or Flux and Reflux as they are at present There is in it self no reason to doubt of this and 't is moreover attested by Dr. Woodward's Observations XX. The Productions of the Primitive Earth as far as we can guess by the remainders of them at the Deluge differ'd little or nothing from those of the present either in Figure Magnitude Texture of Parts or any other correspondent respect This is prov'd by Dr. Woodward's Observations XXI The Primitive Earth had such Metals and Minerals in it as the Present has In the land of Havilah there was gold and the gold of that land was good there was bdellium and the onyx-stone Tubal-cain was an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron Which is withal attested by Dr. Woodward's Observation XXII Arts and Sciences were invented and improv'd in the first Ages of the World as well as they since have been Abel was a keeper of sheep but Cain was a tiller of the ground Cain builded a city and called it after the name of his son Enoch Jabal was the father of such as dwell in tents and of such as have cattel Jubal was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ Tubal-cain was an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron See also the Right Reverend Bishop Patrick on Gen. iv 20 21 22 25. and v. 18. CHAP. II. Phaenomena relating to the Primitive State of the Earth XXIII THE Primitive State of the Earth admitted of the primary Production of Animals out of the Waters and dry Ground which the subsequent States otherwise than in the ordinary method of Generation have been incapable of This appears from the History of the Creation compar'd with that of Nature ever since By the former of which agreeing with the oldest Traditions 't is evident That the Fishes and Fowls were the immediate Productions or Off-spring of the Waters and the Terrestrial Animals of the Dry-land in the Primitive State of the Earth And by the latter 't is equally so that neither of those Elements have assorded the like ever since XXIV The Constitution of Man in his Primitive State was very different from that ever since the Fall not only as to the Temper and Perfections of his Soul but as to the Nature and Disposition of his Body also This the whole Drift and Series of the Sacred History of this Primitive State supposes in which these two Particulars may here be taken notice of 1. Nakedness was no shame and so no sense of any need to cover it does appear Those Inclinations which provide for the Propagation of Mankind were it seems so regular and so intirely under the command of Reason that not so much as an Apron was esteem'd necessary to hide those Parts which all the World have since thought proper to do 2. The Temper of the Humane Body was more soft pliable and alterable than now it is Some sorts of Fruits and Food were capable of causing a mighty change therein either to fix and adapt it to its present Condition or discompose and disorder it i. e. in other words either to render it Permanent and Immortal on the one hand or to devolve upon it Diseases Corruption and Mortality on the other What concerns the Soul or its moral Perfections is without the compass of this Theory and not here to be consider'd XXV The Female was then very different from what she is now particularly she was in a state of greater equality with the Male and little more subject to Sorrow in the Propagation of Posterity than he 1. Her Names were as much as possible the very same with his The Husband was call'd Adam the Wife Adamah the Husband Issch the Wife Isschah God called their Name Adam in the day that they were created She shall be called Isschah because she was taken out of Issch. 2. We find little to infer any Inequality or Subjection till after the Fall Adam said This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh Unto the woman God said after the Fall thy desire shall be subject to thine husband and he shall rule over thee 3. Her pains in Conception and Childbirth were inconsiderable in comparison of what they since have been Unto the woman God said after the Fall I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children XXVI The other Terrestrial Animals were in a state of greater Capacities and Operations nearer approaching to reason and discourse and partakers of higher degrees of Perfection and Happiness than they have been ever since This appears 1. From the necessity or occasion of a particular view and distinct consideration of each Species of Animals before Adam was satisfied that none of them were a Help meet for him or suitable to his Faculties and Condition 2. From the Serpent's discourse with the Woman In which tho' the Old Serpent the Devil was also concern'd yet the particular Subtilty of the Serpent is taken notice of as a means of her Deception and a Curse denounced and inflicted on the same Beast upon account thereof Now the Serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made c. I fear lest by any means as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty The Lord God said unto the serpent Because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattel and above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life 3. From St. Paul's Discourse in the Eighth Chapter to the Romans For the earnest expectation of the
began to revolve but that he made use of the Attraction or Impulse of some other Body yet in this case without considering that one of those Powers at least is nothing but a Divine Energy the Lines of each Bodies motion the quantity of force the proper distance from the Sun where and the exact time when it happen'd to name no other particulars here must have been so precisely and nicely adjusted before-hand by the Prescience and Providence of the Almighty that here will be not a much less remarkable Demonstration of the Wisdom Contrivance Care and Goodness than the other immediate Operation would have been of the Power of God in the World 3. The Formation of the Seeds of all Animals and Vegetables was originally I suppose the immediate Workmanship of God As far as our Micrometers can help us to discern the Make and Constitution of Seeds those of Plants evidently and by what hitherto appears of Animals too are no other than the intire Bodies themselves in parvo and contain every one of the same Parts and Members with the compleat Bodies themselves when grown to maturity When therefore consequently all Generation is with us nothing as far as we can find but Nutrition or Augmentation of Parts and that agreeably thereto no Seed has been by any Creature produc'd since the beginning of things 'T is very Just and very Philosophical to conclude them to have been originally every one created by God either out of nothing in the primary Existence of things or out of praeexisting Matter at the Mosaick Creation And indeed since the Origin of Seeds appears to be hitherto unaccountable by the mechanical Laws of Matter and Motion 't is but reasonable to suppose them the immediate work of the Author of Nature which therefore I think the wariest Philosopher may well do in the present case 4. The Natures Conditions Rules and Quantities of those several Motions and Powers according to which all Bodies of the same general nature in themselves are specifi'd distinguish'd and fitted for their several uses were no otherwise determin'd than by the immediate Fiat Command Power and Efficiency of Almighty God 'T is to be here consider'd That tho' the Power of mutual Attraction or Gravitation of Bodies appears to be constant and universal nay almost essential to Matter in the present constitution of the world the intire Frame of that System in which we are if not of all the other Systems so strictly depending thereon yet the other Laws of Nature on which the particular qualities of Bodies depend seems not to be so but mutable in themselves and actually chang'd according to the changes in the figure bigness texture or other conditions of the Bodies or Corpuscles with which they are concern'd Thus the Cohaesion of the parts of Matter and that in some with less but in others with the greatest and most surprizing firmness the Fermentation of several heterogeneous Particles when mixt together the Magnetism of the Loadstone with the various and very strange Phaenomena of that wonderful Fossil the Elasticity of certain Fluids and Solids the contrary obstinate inflexibility and resistance of others the different Density of several collections or masses of Fluids while yet the greatest part of their contained space is Vacuity not to be considerably increas'd or diminish'd without the destruction of the speoies All these and many other Phaenomena shew That there are various Rules and Laws of Matter and Motion not belonging to all as that of Gravitation does but peculiar to some particular conditions thereof which therefore may be chang'd without any damage to the Law of Gravity In the impressing and ordering of which there is room for if not a necessity of introducing the particular and immediate efficacy of the Spirit of God at first as well as of his continual concurrence and conservation ever since When therefore in a full agreement with the ancient Traditions 't is said by Moses That the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters We may justly understand thereby his impressing exciting or producing such Motions Agitations and Fermentations of the several Parts such particular Powers of Attraction or Avoidance besides the general one of Gravity of Concord or Enmity of Union or Separation and all these in such certain Quantities on such certain Conditions of Bodies and in such certain distinct Parts and Regions of the Chaos as were proper and necessary for that particular Course and Disposition of Nature which it seem'd good to the Divine Spirit to introduce and on which this future frame of things here below was ever after to depend 5. The Ordering of all things so that in the space of six successive Solar Revolutions the whole Creation should be finish'd and each distinct Day 's work should be confin'd to and compleated in its own distinct and proper period is also to be ascrib'd to the particular Providence and Interposition of God That every thing followed in its own order and place As that the Seeds of Vegetables on the Third those of Fish and Fowl on the Fifth and those of the Terrestrial Animals on the Sixth Day should be every one plac'd in their proper Soil and fitly dispos'd at their proper time to accompany and correspond with the suitable disposition of external Nature and just then to germinate and fructify when the order and process of the other parts of the Creation were ready for and required the same Every thing here does so suit together that the plain footsteps of particular Art and Contrivance are visible in the whole conduct and management of this matter Which therefore is not to be deriv'd from meer Mechanical Laws of Brute Matter but from a Supernatural and Divine Providence 6. But principally The Creation of our First Parents is to be esteem'd the peculiar Operation of the Almighty and that whether we regard the Formation of their Bodies or the Forepast Creation and After-Infusion of their Souls 'T is Evident from the Mosaick History of the Creation that Our First Parents were on the very same Day in which they were made in a State of Maturity and Perfection and capable of all Humane Actions both of Mind and Body Now if they like the other Animals had been produc'd in the usual Time and Process of Generation and come to ripeness of Age and Faculties by degrees afterwards That were plainly impossible This Creation therefore must have been peculiar and the immediate Effect of a Divine Power And this is noless agreeable to Philosophy than suitable to the Dignity of the Subject and for the Honour of Mankind It has been already observ'd that the Seeds of Plants and Animals must be all ow'd to have been all the immediate Workmanship of God and that they contain every individual Part or Member of the intire Bodies in parvo and that by consequence Generation is nothing else but Nutrition or Augmentation Since therefore God by his immediate Power Created the
in the least favour that ungrounded and pernicious opinion of the Equivocal or Spontaneous Generation of any of them XXIV The Constitution of Man in his Primitive State was very different from that ever since the Fall not only as to the Temper and Perfections of his Soul but as to the Nature and Disposition of his Body also XXIV The Book of Genesis affords us so short a History of this Primitive Stage of the World and of the Constitution of Man therein and all other accounts are so inconsiderable in this respect that a particular account of all things relating to this Proposition is by no means to be expected 'T is in general sufficient that we have from Sacred and Prophane Authority evinc'd the state of External Nature to have been mighty different from the present and that consequently the State of Man even on Philosophical Considerations ought to be suppos'd equally different from the present also And 't is so highly unreasonable from meer observations made now to pass a Censure on what was done then and from the Frail Imperfect Sinful and Miserable Condition of Humane Nature in our Days to judge of the same in its State of Innocence Perfection and Felicity or from the Circumstances it is in at present to determine those it must at that time have been in that nothing can be more so We might almost as well Argue that Angels Eat and Drink Sleep and Wake Work and Rest because We do so or that the Infant in the Womb Sees and Hears Talks and Discourses Reads and Writes because afterward He commonly does the same things as that because We have need of Cloathing to cover our Shame and have Inflexible Robust and in a certain time Corruptible Temperaments of Body therefore so had our Primitive Parents in the State of Innocency But to speak somewhat more distinctly to those two particulars included under this Proposition 1. That in the actions relating to the propagation of the Species there should be no sense of Shame and consequently no occasion for covering such parts as were therein concern'd is by no means strange in a state of Innocence where there was no inclination to any sinful kind or degree of Application and where all such inferior Appetites were in compleat subjection to the Superior the Reason and Conscience of Man 'T is rather an evident Token of our Guilt a demonstration of the disorder and pollution of our Nature and Faculties now that what in permitted circumstances is innocent and natural in it self nay necessary for the propagation of the Species and the preservation of Mankind should make us blush 'T is a plain note of the vileness of our present state a mark of the baseness of our condition now that what God and Nature have ordain'd for the continuation of the World should yet inevitably seem to have something of Indecency and Turpitude adhering to it So far that meer bashfulness and modesty oblige us to conceal and pass over in silence all that belongs thereto It indeed might more reasonably be made a query why the Covering our Nakedness has been so general and is so necessary now as it has justly by all Ages and Nations been esteem'd than why it was otherwise in this Primitive state of the World 2. That the use of one sort of Food that of the Tree of Life might be capable of fixing and setling the temper of a humane Body of rendring it so lasting that while its Earthly condition was to continue it might never be dissolv'd and that the use of a contrary sort of Food That of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil might be capable of so far corrupting and disordering the same that it would become subject to Sickness Misery and Dissolution in a shorter space is I think even by what we at present see by no means incredible We cannot but observe how great a change a course of Diet moderate wholesome and agreeable will make in our present temperament for the better and on the contrary how far an intemperate and immoderate indulgence of our Appetites either as to the kinds or quantities of our Meats and Drinks tho' but for a few Weeks or Months will do the same for the worse even to the spoiling and destroying of a very good habit of Body to the depriving men of their healths nay frequently of their Lives too by a violent Disease If we therefore to take the narrowest Supposition imagine the eating of that pernicious and forbidden Fruit to have been confin'd to one Day or Year of this Primitive State which yet there is no necessity of doing 't will be no harsh or incredible supposal especially if we consider what has been said of the present State of Things and how much more the temper of our first Parents Bodies and the particular Food on which they fed might be peculiarly fitted for the same purposes that the intemperate Indulgence of a very pestilent course of Diet for so many Months together might break and pervert the well temper'd Constitutions of our first Parents might render their Bodies liable to such Distempers as in length of time would dissolve and entirely overthrow them or in other words would render Mankind sickly miserable and mortal Creatures for ever after Which is I think enough to clear the Proposition before us so far as a bare Physical Theory is concern'd therein XXV The Female was then very different from what she is now particularly she was in a state of greater Equality with the Male and little more subject to Sorrow in the Propagation of Posterity than he XXV That the original State and Circumstances of the Female should be as they are here represented is so far from being strange that the contrary ones of that Sex at present were not the occasion thereof known might much more justly appear so For granting the Equality of Humane Souls in themselves 't is not very easy to give a good reason why that part which one half of Mankind was to bear in the Propagation of it should subject it to such a low Condition great weakness of Nature and those severe Pains and Agonies which did not at all affect the other as God and Nature have at present made unavoidable And as to the change of her Name after the Fall from Adamah and Isschah to Eve which latter seems to denote her Capacity then attain'd of becoming the Mother of all those Generations of Mankind which were afterward to live on the Face of the Earth it may probably intimate to omit any other Observations that might be made on it some change in the Method or Circumstances concerning Humane Generation And if we consider that Adam and his Wife were no inconsiderable time in Paradise together even after the Blessing of Increase and Multiply before their Fall and carefully consider the Texts quoted in the Margin we shall perhaps believe 't is no improbable conjecture XXVI The other Terrestrial Animals
Learning notwithstanding it might have been cultivated and improv'd to great degree before the Deluge as therefore in all probability it was CHAP. II. A Solution of the Phaenomena relating to the Primitive State of the Earth XXIII The Primitive state of the Earth admitted of the primary production of Animals out of the Waters and Dry Ground which the subsequent states otherwise than in the ordinary method of Generation have been uncapable of XXIII 'T IS not to be expected that I should here be able to give a full and methodical account of the growth of the Primitive Pairs of Animals and of the several dispositions of the Primigenial state of Nature subservient or contributary thereto The method of the Generation of Animals is it self in gèneral so little known and the History of this first stage of the World as well so short in the Sacred Writings as so difficult to be in all its circumstances now otherwise understood that such an Attempt might justly be look'd upon as too rash a presumption All that ought to be expected and all that I shall endeavour is this To shew that as far as is known of that Original Earth its properties were as peculiarly fit for as those opposite ones of the succeeding are incapable of such a production of Animals at first as this Proposition takes notice of Which the five following particulars shall include 1. The long and continued spaces of Day and Night in the Primitive state did capacitate it for such productions which the quick returns of the same afterward prohibited 'T will be easily granted that in the Generation of Animals there must be a pretty constant and continual warmth without the frequent interposition of Cold during the most part of the process Now this the long days of half a year afforded these Primary Embrio's which the short ones of only twelve small hours and the sudden and frequent returns of equal Nights has utterly deni'd to any such ever since 2. The Primitive Earth was moist and juicy enough to supply nourishment all the time of the Generation of the Foetus which after it was once become perfectly Dry and Solid was not again to be expected It was before observ'd that upon the descent of the vast quantities of Vapours on the Third Day the ground was so tender soft and full of juices as very naturally answered to what all Antiquity made the fund and promptuary of the rising Plants and Animals the famous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as that was but a necessary qualification of a Soil which was to produce Animals so the want of it ever since takes away all hopes of a like Propagation 3. The Primitive state of the Earth and Air where the Animals were produc'd had heat sufficient for that purpose which the subsequent has not 'T is evident that a greater heat than the present Earth or Ambient Air can afford is requisite to and made use of in the present Generation of Animals which the Incubation in the Oviparous and the still warmer Position of the Faetus in the Viviparous Animals assure us of On which account the present Earth must needs be incapable of their production But that the Heat in the Primitive Earth and particularly where the Animals were produc'd was much greater will thus appear As to the Heat from the Central Body while the Earth was somewhat loose and pretty freely admitted the ascending steams that would be considerably greater than after its more intire consolidation when these steams were thereby so much confin'd within or diverted to some particular conceptacles Besides The Production of Animals was near Paradise and I suppose no where else Now those middle Regions of which Eden the Country of Paradise was one being situate under the ancient Ecliptick and present Tropick of which before enjoy'd also a greater Heat from the same Central Body by reason of their greater nearness thereto than since they or the corresponding parts of the Torrid Zone do or can partake of For when the Earth was then perfectly Sphaerical the middle and their neighbouring parts were about 10 miles nearer the Central Solid than the same Regions now are They being in that proportion Elevated and the circumpolar depress'd at the commencing of the Diurnal Rotation Which greater Vieinity of the Central Heat must certainly have a suitable effect and cause somewhat warmer Regions thereabouts than they have been ever since Moreover If the real proper heat of the Central Solid be in any considerable proportion diminish'd in near 6000 years time as in some proportion it must be That degree of Heat which it had at first was still the most powerful of all other ever since But then as to the Solar Heat to take no notice of the greater nearness of the Sun's Body before the Deluge than since as not directly reaching the present case 'T is evident that Paradise situate under or near the very Ecliptick it self must receive the utmost power of the same heat which any part of the Globe were capable of which by lying under the Tropick afterward it would not do On all which accounts joyn'd together 't is evident that the heat in the Primitive State was much more considerable and so much more adapted to the Generation of Animals than that in the subsequent ever was or can possibly be 4. The Primitive state was perfectly still and calm free from all such winds storms violent tides or any the like hurries and disorders as at present wholly render the production of Animals impossible Which quiet condition if in some respects it endur'd till the Deluge yet as even in those the Paradisiacal state might have the preheminence so in others particularly the gentleness of the Tides it had still the most peculiar advantage as was before observed 5. The Equability of Seasons and the greater uniformity of the Air 's temperature which in part remain'd till the Deluge but might be more signal in the Paradisiacal state rendred that Earth as proper as the contrary sudden uncertain and violent extreams of heat and cold drought and moisture sultry and frosty Weather now wholly indispose it for such a production of Animals Which Prerogatives of the Primitive Earth and Air will certainly demonstrate if not its intire fitness yet sure it s less unfitness for such an original Generation as was here to be accounted for and is all as was before observ'd that can justly be requir'd and expected in the present case Corollary When it has been before allow'd that all Generation is but Nutrition and that all Seeds as well of Animals as of Plants are the immediate workmanship of God 'T is evident that this Supposition of the Original Production of Animals out of the Waters and Earth according to the plainest letter of the Mosaick History does by no means derogate from the Divine Efficiency and the wonderful Art and Skill in the Structure of their Bodies nor