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
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
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
one But although the main reasons for such a Proposition are I confess to be taken from the consequences thence to be deriv'd and the admirable correspondence of them all to Ancient Tradition to the Phaenomena of the Deluge and to the Scripture Accounts thereto relating as will be visible hereafter yet there being some Arguments of a different nature which may render it probable and prepare the Reader for admitting the same before the consequences thereof come to be fully understood I chuse to place this Assertion here among my Hypotheses tho' I do not pretend that the Arguments here to be made use of ought to put the same so near to certainty as its fellows have I think reason to expect with unprejudic'd Readers But to come to the matter it self The Reasons I would offer are these following 1. The Designs and Uses of Planets seem most properly to require circular Orbits Now in order to give a rational guess at the same Designs and Uses of Planets I know no other way than that from comparison with the Earth And here when we find one of the Planets and that plac'd in the middle among the rest to agree with the others in every thing of which we have any means of enquiry 't is but reasonable to suppose that it does so also in those which 't is impossible for us by any other certain way to be assured of If we observe a certain Engin in one Country and see to what use 't is put and to what end it serves and if afterward we see another tho' in a different Country agreeing to the former in all things as far as we are able to discover Tho' we are not informed of its design and use we yet very naturally and very probably believe that it serves to the same purpose and was intended for the same end with the former Thus it ought sure to be in the case before us and by the same way of reasoning we may fairly conclude to what uses all the Planets serve and on what general designs Providence makes use of them viz. To be the seat or habitation of Animals and the Seminary of such Plants and Vegetables as are necessary or convenient for their support and sustenance Which being therefore probably suppos'd of the rest and certainly known of the Earth I argue That a circular Orbit being the most fit and proper for such purposes may justly be presum'd the original situation of the Planets and the primary work of Providence in ordering their courses Such Creatures Rational Sensitive or Vegetative as are fit and dispos'd for a certain degree of the Sun's heat are very much incommoded by one much greater or much less and by consequence are peculiarly accommodate to a Circular but by no means to an Eccentrical Orbit And tho' the inequality of the Earth's distance from the Sun in the different Points of its Orbit be so inconsiderable that we observe little effect of it yet in some of the other Orbits which are much more Eccentrical it must be very sensible and have a mighty influence on the productions of Nature and the constitution of Animals in Planets revolving therein And what reason can we imagine why the Southern Hemisphere for instance of a Planet by the situation of the Perihelion near its Summers Solstice should be so different from the Northern in the primary contrivance of the Divine Providence This seems not so agreeable to the original regularity and uniformity of Nature nor does it look like the immediate effect of the Divine Power and Wisdom in the first frame of the World when all things just coming out of the Creator's hands must be allow'd to have been perfect in their kind and exceeding good when the rational Creatures being Pure and Innocent the natural state of things was to be suited to them and dispos'd agreeably to reason proportion and the convenience of the same unspotted and sinless Creatures 2. The opposite position and use of the opposite Species of Bodies the Comets seem by the rule of contraries to suppose what we have been contending for If indeed we had found a mixture of Planets and Comets in the same Regions of the Solar System and a confusion of the Orbits and Order of both If we had discover'd all species of Ellipses with all degrees of Eccentricity from the Circle to the Parabola the Proposition I am upon would be more than precarious and but too disagreeable to the frame of Nature But when we find no such thing but the clean contrary namely That all the Comets revolve in Orbits so extremely Eccentrical that such segments of them as come within our observation are almost Parabolical or of an infinite degree of Eccentricity 'T is not unreasonable to conclude That likely enough the contradistinct Species of Bodies the Planets originally revolv'd in Orbits of no degree of Eccentricity that is in perfect Circles The Eccentrical or Elliptick Orbits of the one among other things probably distinguishing them from the other which originally moved in Concentrical or Circular ones 3. This Hypothesis is favour'd by the Ancient Astronomy which so pertinaciously adher'd to the Circular Hypothesis notwithstanding all its Eccentricks Epicycles and strange Wheel-work that it may seem the effect of Ancient Tradition that once the Heavenly Motions were really Circular And This is the more remarkable because not only the true System of the World but the Conick Sections and among them the Elliptick Figure was very anciently known and consider'd By the introduction of which all the fanciful and uncouth figments they were forc'd upon might have been wholly spar'd and an easie and natural Idea of the Planetary Motions obtain'd Which if ever it had been started by its exact agreement to the Phaenomena could scarce ever have been lost and which yet as far as I know never came into the Minds of Astronomers till the Great Kepler's time who first prov'd the Orbits to be Elliptick too plainly to be denied or almost doubted any longer 4. The Quantity of the several Orbits Eccentricity and the Position of their Aphelia are so various different and without any visible design order or method as far as is hitherto discover'd that the Whole looks more like the result of Second Causes in succeeding times than the Primary Contrivance and Workmanship of the Creator himself 'T is indeed possible that there may be Design and Contrivance in these things tho' we cannot discern them yet seeing we have on the common grounds no Reason to affirm such a thing seeing the equidistant situation from the Sun would more clearly shew such Design and Contrivance seeing also the original circular Motion of the Earth granted the Position of the Earth's Aphelion and the quantity of its Orbit's Eccentricity do so remarkably infer the Divine Wisdom and Artifice therein and are wonderfully subservient to the highest purposes By the one the Day of the Year when the Flood began by the other the length
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