gave us notice of them And then if we turn our Eyes from the Hills down to the pleasant Valleys below what variety do we there discern of great Plains and Fields chequered with divers colours and adorned with several beautiful Flowers and fruitful Trees All which we are deprived of in his smooth spherical Earth where we find all to be of one even uniform shape without any variety to raise up our minds to the contemplation of God's Greatness and Goodness or to invite us to move a foot from our own Habitation to see the rest of the World all being but one and the same a smooth Earth without any Sea which gives occasion to men of the boldest and noblest Invention that is in the World when in a small Vessel they lanch out into a boundless Ocean many thousands of miles together seeking out new and unknown Countries Really I should grow an extream dull Creature to be confined to such a smooth uniform Habitation and should desire to be transplanted into this misshapen irregular World he finds us in where we have the variety of delightful motions and prospects both by Sea and Land Now if we further consider That from Moses and several other Writers of Scripture it appears that God created this World in that form and fashion as now it is which this Man hath so boldly called Rude and Deformed Will not he as I said before be strangely confounded at this But I shall not at present disorder him in the Fabrick of his new World as he sets it forth in his Theory IV. In the first place he tells us that all originally proceeded from a Chaos and saith All the Antients were of Opinion that such a thing there was from whence the World did arise I desire to know whom he means by those Antients whether Heathens or Christians If Heathens Is he then to learn from them how the World was made Sure all Christians take Moses to be the onely true Historiographer for the Worlds Creation and are no way concerned with the several vain opinions of Heathen Poets or Philosophers but thank God we have a better light to guide us than those Ignes fatui Yet I desire him to tell us whether all the ancient Heathens were of this opinion sure not all but very different among themselves and some said the World was made of Fire some of Water some of Atoms and I know not what some that it was never made but eternal And therefore we shall conclude this Chaos especially in such a manner as he describes it to be an Idea framed out of his own brain and reject it as we do Epicurus's Atoms We desire him then to declare unto us who was the framer of his Chaos for he doth not plainly express whether he thinks his Chaos was the workmanship of God or no or when it had beginning And if he saith that God created it methinks he should have thought such a rude confused Chaos far more improper and unbecoming Gods perfection than this rude World we live in but he finds fault with as unbecoming the perfection of God for God doubtless could as easily have made the Heavens and the Earth in a perfect form as leave them to his Chaos to produce I see he is strangely in love with Nature and Natural Productions and God must produce only a rude fluid Mass and from thence Nature must work it out in her orderly way into delicate Heavens and Earth 5. But where doth he find that God created this Chaos He saith Moses mentions it in his description of the Creation Let us then look into Moses and fee how he relates the framing of this mighty World Moses saith Gen. 1. In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth and the Earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the Deep Here we find within the time of one day the Heavens and the Earth and the Waters above the Earth all framed But our Philosopher tells us of a strange Chaos to be in the beginning such a one as came not to the consistency of Earth in many days or rather in many years I know not how many we find not a word in Scripture of any such thing Yes saith he Moses doth affirm such a thing in saying The earth was void and without form If the earth was without form there was then an Earth the first day though without form But this Chaos was a confused mass of several parts intermingled together which came not to the confistency of earth in a long time as I said before so that this is wholly contrary to Moses's description which saith both Heaven and Earth were created the first day firm solid earth and farther tells us how that the earth though rude the first day was clothed with Grass Herbs and Trees the third day which more fully confutes his fluid intermingled mass of all things But let us proceed 6. He tells us Pag. 53. That by the Chaos he understands the matter of the Earth and Heavens without Form or Order intermingled in a fiuid Mass wherein are the materials and ingredients of all Bodies Earth Water Fire Air yea and Oyl also all confused and mixt together And of these were composed the Earth with all its Creatures Fishes Fowls and Beasts I have often heard of four Elements whereof all things are framed but I never heard of this fifth Element of Oyl before which in framing his Earth is the principal for it seems it was composed mainly of that But he saith it was not Oyl but of an Oyly substance as Cream may be said to be of an oyly or unctuous substance and such this fifth Element was for so I must call it it being neither Earth Water Fire nor Air or else it must arise from somewhat else as Cream doth from Milk and so this must arise from one of the four principal Elements And sure it could not arise from Fire or Air they are of too thin a substance to produce such a thick fat and unctuous matter And for Water that is too barren in it self to produce such a creamy substance The Earth likewise is originally a dry heavy and cold substance very unfit to produce it So that I cannot find out whence it should arise And therefore for ought I see it must be a distinct Element of it self But whencesoever it did arise or whatever it be it is a main principle in his mass of which consists the Fabrick of all his new-found Earth So that here we have the ingredients of all sublunary things whatsoever all intermingled and for ought I find in his Theory all above the Moon also for he doth not tell us of what the Heavens with all those glorious Stars Sun Moon and Planets were composed or when Created or whether Nature had a hand in the framing of them from some other kind of fluid Mass. Surely these things were worth his mentioning for Moses in his
for them for they came not by their knowledg in Divine matters by any such Philosophical way as from Human Principles making Inferences and Consequences after the manner of men in which way this man much admires himself tho he as often failes therein as others guided by their own shallow and deceitful Reason but by Divine Revelation from God and Infusion of his Holy Spirit and spake as that Spirit gave them utterance And tho Moses was learned in all the Wisdom of the Aegyptians yet he made little or no use of that Wisdom nor could ever from thence have found out how the World was at first Created which many great Philosophers were wholly at a loss in and tho they laboured much in it yet could never attain to a right understanding therein but left to the World their vain and idle opinions as a perpetual testimony of their foolery tho much admired by men for their Wisdom III. I should begin with Moses first but I shall be necessitated to interpret him as we go on in the Discourse of his Theory and therefore pass him by here and come to St. Peter whom he so often cites as his main support And after we have done with St. Peter we shall clear some other Scriptures which are cited in his Theory 'T is the second Epistle of St. Peter our Theorist would make use of and therefore I think it not amiss to acquaint the Reader that this second Epistle of St. Peter was not received in the Church for many years and that there are some Reformed Churches that do not yet allow it as Canonical and Authentick But this second Epistle of St. Peter having no material point of Belief but what is contained in other Scriptures expresly or circumstantially and our Church receiving the same I readily submit unto it and let our Theorist make what advantage he can from thence IV. This man tells us that the present World is quite of another form and nature than it was before the Flood then the earth was of a smooth perfect Spherical form a fat and delicious Surface the Air serene and temperate without storms tempests or any boistrous winds coming from the Regions above or arising from the Sea for there was no Sea at all in it all that vast Water was included within the Earth and the Earth in a perfect Sphere round about it but this Earth was at the great Deluge broken all to pieces and the Sea rising up overflowed it and put it all in that confusion as now it is with broken Rocks and Mountains with deep Valleys and Caverns in many places under it and pieces of this Earth scattered in several parts of the present Sea causing innumerable Islands small and great all the World over The Air also now boistrous and turbulent with various Heats and Colds so that for one calm and serene day we have ten if not twenty quite otherwise And for this his Assertion he hath no Scripture at all but something to colour the business he would fain scrue out of St. Peter's 2 Ep. 3. 5. c. where he tells us that S. Peter sets forth an evident opposition or diversity betwixt the old World before the Flood and our present World Now good Reader I desire you to view this Chapter from v. 1. to v. 9. or 10. and see what you can find there to this purpose without either his or my Comment upon it and when you have done hear what he saith of it pag. 48 especially of v. 5 6 7. viz. That this is so pregnant a place to his purpose as he should do an Injury to Providence had he neglected to take notice of this passage and that the Apostles discourse is so plain and easie as every one at first sight must needs discover the meaning of it These expressions of his would make a man expect to find in St. Peter his whole Theory and description of his Antediluvian Earth set forth on the one hand and the different state of our present Earth as plainly set forth on the other V. The best way to have a good understanding of any mans Writings is to consider the business that he is upon and what he designs and then if we meet with any difficulty or obscurity in his discourse we may be sure from his design to discover the right meaning of them Let us then consider what the business of St. Peter is in this second Epistle 'T is not a Philosophical Discourse to teach us the nature and constitution of the Heavens or the Earth but to teach wicked men the nature of Sin and to shew them the Judgment and Danger that constantly follows it this is the business of this Epistle and therefore he brings several examples of fearful Judgments that befel wicked men for their obstinacy in Sin And his design is to bring them to Repentance and so to avoid the grievous Punishment that will certainly fall upon them if they persist Now let us come to the words of St. Peter cited by our Theorist which are these c. 3. v. 5 c. For this they are willingly ignorant of That by the word of God the Heavens were of old and the Earth standing out of the Water and in the Water whereby the World that then was being overflowed with Water perished But the Heavens and the Earth that are now by the same Word are kept in store reserved unto Fire against the day of Judgment This passage I have Read full oft but could never yet see at the first sight nor at the twentieth any thing relating to his new fancy And if it were so easy to discover at first sight what need he so enlarge upon it for four whole pages together turning and wresting the words with many ambages to bring them about to his bent I shall now in few words lay down the meaning of St. Peter It is an Answer as he truly saith to certain Scoffers who made a mock at the Apostles threatening the coming of our Saviour to Judgment with fiery indignation at the end of the World and saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation To this St. Peter answers That they were willingly ignorant of this That by the Word of God the Heavens were of old and the Earth standing out of the Water and in the Water whereby the World that then was being overflowed with Water perished They are willingly ignorant or wilfully ignorant how that God by his Word made the Heavens of old and the Earth standing out of the Water and in the Water whereby the Animate World that is all Men and other living Creatures of the Earth being overflowed perished They willingly forget this Judgment of God executed upon the old World and therefore will not believe That the Heavens and the Earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the
mans eyes opened by a Rational way or by a Miracle So likewise at the Pool of Bethesda John 5. an Angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had Here we see the means express'd how they were cured yet without all doubt a miraculous means and far above the Reason of this Man and beyond his Philosophy to find out be it ever so great And so it is related by Moses himself when God caused the people to pass through the Red Sea Exod. 14. 21. Moses stretched out his hand over the Sea and the Lord caused the Sea to go back by a strong East-wind all that night and made the Sea dry Land and the waters were divided and the Children of Israel went into the middest of the Sea upon the dry ground and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left Here we see a means used Moses stretching out his hand over the Sea and the Sea went back by a strong East-wind all night So that the Sea was not dried up of a sudden but by degrees Now will this Man with his Philosophy shew us a Rational way how this was done without any Miracle most absurd And just so though Moses ascribes the Deluge to a means the breaking open the Fountains of the great Deep and the Windows of Heaven to be opened and the Rain to descend and the Fountains to run forty days and forty nights and so the Flood prevailed till it overflowed the whole World to say there was no Miracle at all in this is as absurd and especially in his way of his new-found World where were neither Seas Rains nor Tempests whatsoever till the Flood but a constant calm serene Air perpetually which must needs cause them to think such a Deluge miraculous indeed never having any such thing as Rain before and of a sudden to see Water poured down in such wonderful abundance for forty days together If we should see Fire descend from Heaven in like manner forty days together no Man would doubt to affirm it to be a Miracle not Intelligible And thus you see what wonderful unintelligible difficulties this Man hath raised out of his Philosophy in this matter of the Deluge which he so much stumbles at IX But because he is a Man so desirous that all should be done in a Rational way we will endeavour a little to make this Deluge Intelligible in his own way and shew him how we may find Water enough for it in the vast great Deep below which he says is fathomless and from the vaster Heaven above which I may call Boundless in comparison of the lesser body of Earth to overflow that little circumference though it be taken fifteen Cubits above the highest Mountain and so make up his eight Oceans which he says is requisite Gen. 1. We find that when God created the Heavens and the Earth the Waters covered the Earth and then God divided the Waters and placed some above the Firmament and left some remaining under it Where or how the Waters above the Firmament were placed the Scripture doth not mention and therefore I acknowledg my ignorance and I find very knowing persons have much disputed whether in his Atmosphere or in some higher place but I rest contented in believing it because the Word of God hath said it Yet if I may propose my thoughts I conceive they might be placed in some upper part of the Aerial Firmament and not carried up above the Heavens as some have fansied and there extended to a far wider circumference than they were in here below whilst they compassed the Earth for a great depth of Water here when carried up and enlarged to that mighty extent would make a far thinner Orb and as clear as Crystal all earthly parts being extracted and no way hinder but rather encrease the light of Sun Moon and Stars as we see glasses of like nature do If this Philosopher tell me that immediately above the Air lies the fiery Region an ill neighbour for the Water I shall make bold to ask him how he knows that Hath he ever been there to see it As for Philosophers talk I think it much like Physicians many guesses but no certainty of any thing But if he like not this place for the Waters let him find out another for I hope he will not deny Moses's plain words That the Waters were divided and part placed above the Firmament If this Philosopher ask me farther how the Water being a heavier body than the Air doth there subsist and not fall down again I shall ask him how the thickest and heaviest Clouds sometimes pass away without any falling Rain and sometimes thin and far lighter Clouds fall down in showers How at the Prayer of Eliah it rained not on the Earth by the space of three years and six months and he pray'd again and the Heaven gave rain James 5. 17. Will this Philosopher say this was done by the course of Nature and ordinary means I am sure S. James ascribes it to Eliah's Prayer which withheld the natural course of the Rains descending for presently when he prayed again the Heaven gave rain All Elements have no other station than what God hath appointed them We know the fire came down from above when God commanded and burnt Sodom and Gomorrha And we are likewise assured that God commanding the Waters ascended up on high and that the Firmament is betwixt those above and those below this the Scripture declares Wherefore the first Principle of my Philosophy is To believe the Scriptures and that God governs all things and that every Element keeps that station which God hath appointed until he determine otherwise But if this Theorist be unsatisfied with this kind of discourse as not agreeing with his Principles of Nature let him place the Waters above the Firmament where he will it matters not to me Yet if he allow the Scripture he must join with me and grant that God had a great reserve of Waters in some Storehouse above to make use of whensoever he pleased As for the Waters under the Firmament first they covered all the Earth after they were divided then God gathered them together unto one place and made the dry land appear and God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the Waters called he Seas For the reception of which Waters he had prepared a Channel how deep or how great a part of the Earth is filled with them I suppose is beyond this Mans skill in Philosophy or Hydrography to determine yet so that they were not all contained in the depth of that Channel below the Earth but part within the Channel and part remaining yet higher than the Earth in a wonderful manner as David expresseth it Psalm 33. 7. He gathereth the waters of the Sea together as an heap He
relation of the World mentions all particularly and how that the Earth with the great Abyss about it was framed first and some days after that mentions the Creation of Sun Moon Stars c. And therefore it is a strange thing that this being done in the middle of the Creation he frames his World and takes no notice of them when or how they had their being But this is a mystery we must be ignorant of and pass it over in silence However if he thought not sit to meddle with these things yet methinks he might have told us something more plainly of the Creatures below how they were produced And first for Fishes he passeth them over in silence as not sit to be mentioned in his black Sea under the Earth And as for Fowls and Beasts he seems not fully resolved whether they were produced all at one stroke or no as he phrases it that is all at their full growth but seems rather to believe that the Earth of it self spawned them forth in their first Seeds and that in time they grew up to more strength and perfection Here he mentions not 〈◊〉 all Gods command impowering the Earth to produce them that is contrary to his course who will needs have Nature alone act in all things And truly for my part I have not faith enough to believe that his fine fat oyly Earth ever so fat was able to produce Creatures of it self alone And as far as my old head can remember I take it to be against Philosophy also that vegetating power alone can produce Animals and I should wonder much to see a Horse grow out of a Tree or the Earth But let it be his Earth produced Animals If then the Earth naturally of it self produced these various Creatures methinks the same Earth having the same principles of life in it should still have gone on to produce more and more Creatures till at length the whole Earth should be covered by them But I leave him to confider more of this matter VII We will rather hearken to Moses who plainly tells us that both the Earth and the Water produced these Creatures by God's special Command and when his Command ceased their production also ceased And farther tells us God commanded the Sea to produce all sorts of Fishes among others the great Whales Did all these swim up and down in his Sea under the Earth and the great Leviathan take his pastime therein as the Scripture saith He had but a dark place to sport himself in nor any room to spout up the Water into the Air as he hath in our Seas Sure he rejoyced much when this Earth broke and let the Waters go abroad to flow over it but doubtless many of them were knock'd in the Head by those great Mountains of stone falling into his Deep Yet we will let all this pass and be it so that the Fish were all imprisoned in his dark Sea under the Earth But I must needs tell him though he past this over in silence this business of Fishes loudly and fully consutes his Sea under the Earth But we will proceed to Fowls We find ver 20. 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 Were then all the sorts of Fowl under Heaven produced by his Sea shut up under the Earth Truly I can as little believe that Water of it self should produce an Eagle as the Earth a Horse yet we must believe Nature can do all things But if Water naturally produced Fowls at the beginning of his World why should it not go on to produce to this day I have heard indeed that there is in the Sea about the coast of Africk a kind of flying Fishes that are able to raise themselves up a spirt from the Sea but I never met with any Traveller who told us that either Sea Lakes or Rivers produced Eagles Swans Kites or Ravens or any other Fowl The Earth perchance he will say is grown more barren since the Fraction but the Waters sure must be the fatter that fat oily Earth having fallen in to enrich it Besides it hath now the warmth of the Sun to help forwards its production But he will have it otherwise and we must submit Yet I desire him to tell us how the Fowls being produced by his Waters under the Earth how they got out Certainly they could not get out till the Deluge when the Earth brake and let them also fly abroad at liberty his Earth being firmly closed up on every side not one loop-hole to fly out at for he will not allow so much as a Spring in his Earth to arise from the Sea and by this means they must needs have been drowned as soon as they were made having no place to fly abroad under Heaven no nor any space of Air between the Water and his oily substance I believe these things will make any serious man stumble much at his Theory And I desire him to consider that men will expect to be satisfied in these great seeming absurdities VIII In the mean time we will proceed to examine his fluid Mass in it self without any relation to the Animals before-mentioned and how the parts divided themselves and by degrees separated one from another till at length the heavier sinking downwards and the lighter mounting upwards it settled in all these distinct bodies of Earth Water Oil Air Fire and the Heavens above which he never told us yet what they were made of therefore we go no farther than Fire And when all these were distinct then this oily substance to settle concrete and harden and make up a new-fashioned Earth I desire him to tell me how many years this was in doing We find a Tun of new Wine having a great deal of foul and heavy lees in it mingled with the body of the Wine requires two or three months time to settle in How much time then would it require for such a vast Vessel as the wide circumference from the uttermost Circle under the Moon round about the World to the very Centre which is many thousand miles I say for such a Vessel full of his fluid Mass to divide it self and settle in I leave him to consider the time I am not concerned in it But I think I may securely affirm it could not settle in one two or three or thirty months time much less in one two or three days time in which Moses relates the Heavens and Earth with the Sea to be framed and the Earth to be clothed with Grass Herbs and Trees And therefore were there nothing else different in his Production from Moses's Creation this alone would make a believing Christian throw his Theory aside Moses so plainly telling us God created the Heavens and the Earth part dry Land which he called Earth and the gathering together of the Waters he called Seas IX But we will go on with his
Mass which became an Earth by certain particles falling down into it that helped towards a concretion I beseech him of what nature were these Particles that sunk down into the Oil If they were of an airy substance they must still have remained in the Air their proper Region If of a watry substance they would have sunk clean through the Oil into the Water and not have rested till they had come to their own Element If of an earthy substance they would have sunk down below the Water If of an oily substance Oil added to Oil makes it never the harder and so it would have remained Oil still and never congeled or concreted into an Earth I wish he had told us of what nature these Particles were and given a Philosophical Reason how they came to stick in the Oil and go no farther But put the case they sunk no farther at first yet methinks before they came to be a hardened Earth they must needs have so much weight as to make them sink down into the Waters for we find if you scatter dust upon the face of the Waters though it lie on the top a while yet as soon as it is throughly moistened it will sink down to the bottom And thus his fine Earth had been wholly spoiled in the concreting and we should have had a Deluge over the Earth before there was any Earth X. I have yet another scruple and desire him to tell me of what nature those heavy bodies of his fluid Mass were that sunk down below the Waters unto the Centre If of an earthy substance then certainly they constituted an Earth there their nature inclining unto that and so we have two Earths in one Mass one below at the Centre another made up of Oil and certain Particles I know not what And I would fain know how long this Surface which he calls Earth was in congeling and hardening to make it a perfect and habitable Body sure no small time and yet we have very far outgone already Moses's time of three days in which he tells us God made the Earth compleat with form and comeliness with Grass Herbs Trees c. Yet we must have time to bring it into an Earth and a longer time to harden it so far as to turn it into Stone also of which the surface of his new-found Earth seems to me rationally to consist for we generally find the higher we ascend up to the Mountain tops the more stony and rocky they are and consequently we may well suppose the Surface was the most rocky of all And yet he tells us that his Antediluvian Earth was of a delicate fine and fat substance fit to produce any thing even living Animals which a man can hardly believe that sees the ruins of it the higher we go all being as I said the more rocky and barren unfit to produce any thing And yet this is the same Antediluvian Earth in substance with the former though broken and ruined as he would have it From whence we may conclude his fine fat Earth had no other being but in his brain and fansie for the nature of it could not be so altered by his imaginary Flood which was but the dashing of Water by the fall of the Earth into it and tossing it up and in an instant down again there being nothing to support it And as this rockiness in the highest parts proves his fine fat Earth to be but a figment so do the several sorts of Mines confirm the same as Mines of Gold and Silver Lead Brass Sulphur Alum and such like Wherefore I desire him to shew by his Philosophical Reason how his fluid Mass wherein all things were confusedly mingled and settled onely according to their lightness or gravity the higher keeping above the heavier sinking down how it came to pass that these heavier bodies of Gold and Lead rested in the same parts where his oily and lighter Particles subsisted Methinks those Particles which were of so heavy a substance should have sunk quite through the fluid matter of Oil and Water also and never have stopt till they had gotten to the very Centre Besides How came it that Particles of so different a nature as Gold and Lead Sulphur and Alum should be found in distinct places within the same body of the Earth not far asunder one from another for he must still remember that his Particles which constituted his Earth had nothing else to distinguish their natures but lightness and gravity And therefore as I said before all the heavier must needs hasten quickly and equally towards the Center and could not make up so various bodies in the same parts of the Earth as here Gold there Sulphur hard by Lead near that Alum in another place pure earth and so Stone Coal and such-like all which are found in our present earth and were undoubtedly in the Antediluvian earth and could not possibly be so variously altered by the breaking of it the substance being the same though the former fashion of the earth might be altered We will yet consider his new fine spherical Earth a little farther XI He says and that very truly That all fluid bodies must run in a smooth and equal Line round about the Center and it is contrary to Philosophical Reason for any fluid body to rise up into a Hill unless kept in by force contrary to its natural propension Let him then tell me by Philosophical Reason how this fluid spherical body came into an Oblong and settled in the form of an Egg as he supposes it doth extend at each end towards the Poles and so he hath made two vast exorbitant Mountains in his Sphere he might better have allowed a great many little Hills as we find in our Earth Nay I dare say the highest Hill in the world doth not extend above the Valley from whence it ariseth by many degrees to that height from the Center as his Oval Poles must needs surmount the rest of his Sphere And if he once allow me but two Hills to be in his Sphere I shall by consequence bring in two hundred or two thousand there being no more reason against many than one To this he answers That all fluid Bodies do settle in a perfect Sphere unless there be some other cause to hinder it But for our Earth he give this reason for its setling in an oblong form viz. That this being one of the Planets is prest down by another adjoyning Planet and so forced out of its own natural form and compelled to extend it self towards the Poles We desire to know whether this our Planet hath two other adjoyning Planets pressing it together on both sides and they likewise others pressing them and if so yet there is no reason for its stretching out into an oblong for make two spherical Balls of Wax or Dough or the like and let one press the other they will both extend into a spherical Circumference as Cakes do being made round at first
day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly Men. But this they may be sure of that as by the Word of God they were warned then of the Deluge which came upon ungodly Men So now we give you warning that by the same Word of God this World at our Saviours coming shall be destroyed by Fire not only the Earth but the Heavens also shall melt with fervent Heat This is the plain and full meaning of St. Peter's words and this indeed is obvious to any understanding Person at first sight And this is St. Peter's business here to set forth Gods Judgments upon Sin and not the diversity of the old Heavens or Earth from the present for here is nothing mentioning any such diversity or opposition in the former Earth to the present Earth no more than in the former Heavens to the present Heavens where he would have a perfect Antithesis forsooth and a direct opposition between the former Heavens and Earth and the present Heavens and Earth Now let us hear St. Peter's words in the Original Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are willingly or wilfully ignorant that the Heavens were that is Created of old and the Earth situated out of the Water and by the Water but the present Heavens and Earth by the same Word are kept in store against the day of Judgment He doth not say here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This might be an Antithesis but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Heavens were Created of old by the word of God and so sure were the present Heavens And for the Earth he saith it was situated out of the Water and by the Water He doth not say the Heavens and the Earth were both so situated but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a participle of the Feminine Gender and Singular number agreeing with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Earth whereas had he meant the Heavens also were so situated he should have used another Gender and the Plural number so that this situation belongs only to the Earth Then follows But the present Heavens and Earth are by the same Word kept in store reserved unto Fire What opposition is here The Heavens and the Earth were Created of old by God But the present Heavens and Earth are by God reserved unto Fire Here is no diversity or opposition experst betwixt the old Heavens and Earth and the new Heavens and Earth but only the diversity or opposition between the two Judgments the one was only of the Earth by Water and the other is to be of both Heavens and Earth by Fire Not one word here of a disposition in the old Heavens to Water and the present Heavens to Fire nor any disposition in the Earth to the one of old or to the other now but that the former Earth was situated out of and by Water and is now reserved unto Fire Let our Theorist if he can shew me how the Heavens or how the Earth is now disposed for Fire I see not a word in St. Peter signifying any such thing tho he with his wonted confidence doth affirm it pag. 233 and say that St. Peter doth formally and expresly tells us that the old Heavens or the Antediluvian Heavens had a different constitution from ours and particularly that they were composed or constituted of Water and in the margin sets down 2 Epist. Pet. 3. 5. Now to say that a thing is formally and expresly told us sure you will expect to find that thing in the same formal or very words I pray you now look back upon the very words and see if you can find any such thing there Are there any such particular words there as he affirms that the Heavens of old were composed or constituted of Water Nor of the Earth is it said that it was composed of Water but that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies as well and as usually situated or settled and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often taken for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of And so the sense runs thus The Earth placed out of the Water and by or in the Water which cannot relate to the Heavens for then the participle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should as I said have been in the Plural number Nor can it be truly said that the Heavens are situated out of the Water and by the Water whatever may be said of the Firmament But he doth not use the word Firmament here but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Heavens which were of old Created by God in the Plural number all the Heavens the highest as well as the lowest VI. S. Peter having thus express'd the diversity of the Judgments he goes on and infers from the former Judgment that as they found by experience That the word of God threatening them with a Deluge came really to pass and all perished So the word of God now threatening them with a Conflagration will assuredly consume them This seventh Verse is a consequence inferred from the first and sixth Verses which were the Antecedent and the fifth Verse is so far from being Superfluous or Redundant as our Theorist would have it that from thence the Apostle takes the Rise of his Argument and begins That by the word of God the Heavens were of old and the Earth standing out of the Water and in the Water Whereby that is by which Waters the World of the ungodly that then was being overflowed with Water perished The Earth standing out of the Water and by the Water those Waters commanded by the word of God overflowed the Earth with the ungodly The Waters which were before miraculously restrained by the Word of God beingnow let loose by the same Word overflowed the world and would do so again were they not restrain'd for there the same disposition or rather situation of the Earth now as was of old but the Word Will or Promise of God is now otherwise than it was of old Whereof I shall speak more by and by The word of God goes along in all this Discourse and is set forth as the only cause of the Deluge of old and the Conflagration to come Which follows in the seventh verse But the Heavens and the Earth which are now by the same Word are kept in store by no disposition nor any natural cause preparing them for it reserved unto Fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly Men. For their sakes this Judgment is to be then brought upon the Heavens as well as the Earth And so there will be a total end of this World and then will follow as it is v. 13. according to Gods promise new Heavens and a new Earth whether literally or figuratively this Epistle doth not declare Let this Theorist with his strange Confidence declare what he pleases I am ready to declare my Ignorance herein But these Scoffers as they were willingly ignorant and forgetful how the
he intend aright whether he call it in or by both must signisie the same thing And therefore his cavilling at our English Translation is very frivolous and captious without ground And thus St. Peter and his Philosophy as he terms it plainly contradicts him and is a pregnant place uttered by Providence if I may say so to confute his new invention And Moses in his Philosophy plainly contradicts him also Whereby it is evident that the Antediluvian Earth and the present Earth are one and the same for that had a Sea covering the Earth as this hath Neither Moses nor St. Peter make any such Philosophical distinction as he would prove from them but clean contrary XVIII And that this present Earth is as subject to a Deluge as the former is evident by that passage in Gen. 9. 8. where God promised to Noah that he would never destroy this World again by Water and confirmed the same also by a Sign All which had been very superfluous and vain if the present Earth were so shaped and fashioned as it could not by destroyed by Water Noah might well have smiled at Gods assurance that it should not be when saith this man it could not be there is not Water enough in the whole Universe as he affirms to cover it again Wherefore as by Gods promise a clear possibility is implied that it may be so by Gods promise also we are assured that it shall not be Unto this Scripture you may add that formerly mentioned Psal. 104. 9. Thou hast set a bound that they the Waters may not pass over and turn again to cover the Earth And that most remarkable passage Jer. 5. 22. Fear ye not me saith the Lord Will ye not tremble at my Presence which have placed the Sand for the Bound of the Sea by a perpetual Decree that it cannot pass it and tho the Waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail tho they roar yet can they not pass over it Where God so plainly expresseth a possibility of the Seas overflowing the Earth again or else we must make Gods threatening very vain And that this Command of God for the restraining of the Sea was not given after the Flood tho it continued then also but before the Flood even at the very first Creation appears Prov. 8. 29. where it is said God gave to the Sea his Decree that the waters should not pass his commandment when he appointed the foundations of the earth I shall speak more of this passage by and by when I come to enlarge more on this Chapter XIX I have shewed you before how that St. Peter declares that both the Deluge was and the Conflagration will be by the Word of God not from any Natural Cause But our Theorist will needs ascribe all unto Natural Causes and the disposition which was in the Earth and Heavens for the Flood So likewise he will have a disposition and frame in them for the Conflagration We shall be very glad to learn from our Theorist what that frame or disposition is wherein it consists At the Deluge he hath a rare knack of invention the Suns so heating the Waters in the Bowels of the Earth that just at such a nick of time the Waters and Vapours from them boiled up and burst the whole Frame of the Earth to pieces But I would fain be satisfied concerning this Fiery destruction to come and know how the Heavens and the Earth they both being of so very different constitutions should both take Fire at once I know Gods Word hath said they shall and therefore I believe it But how this shall come to pass our curiosity desires to know from his Philosophy which tells us so exactly how the Deluge came and may I hope as exactly set forth the future Conflagration and tell us the Natural Causes and Preparatory means to dispose the Heavens and the Earth unto it for I suppose he will stick to his own method of having Natural Causes for all things and will not allow God the liberty to use any extraordinary means tho upon such an extraordinary occasion as the Deluge or Conflagration Nature must act in all these and his Philosophy must find out the means whereby she acts and will discover it unto us and will also shew us how it comes to pass that in three thousand years time and upwards since the Flood we find no visible change or disposition in the Heavens or Earth to a Conflagration more now than formerly If this be too hard a task for him to tell us of the future destruction of the whole World yet methinks he should be able to declare unto us that which is past and shew us the Natural Cause of Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction how those Cities came to fall on Fire and the rest of the World escape what disposition there was in that patch of ground or in the Heavens over it to send down Fire upon them XX. I will trouble him no more with Questions of this Nature at present But yet I shall desire leave to give him a short Admonition This way of Philosophising all from Natural Causes I fear will make the whole World turn Scoffers such as St. Peter met with for men supposing and expecting the World to be consumed by Natural Causes as this man would have it and seeing no visible Cause or Alteration in the Heavens or Earth in three thousand years space may conclude that in three thousand years to come there may be as little or no Change and so may ask as those Scoffers did Where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things have continued as they were from the beginning To conclude this matter Let me advise him to trust to Gods Word only that assuredly there will be a Conflagration of the whole World and lay aside his curious vain and endless Philosophising labour to find out the Natural Causes thereof And thus I have taken a great deal of pains more than I intended to shew the little or no ground this man hath so much to boast this second Epistle of St. Peter which first is doubtful and secondly doth so little prove that which he would have tho so frequently made use of in his Theory as if he had proved his whole design from thence Having thus dispatch'd his principal Text on which he so much depends I shall now briefly examin some other Scriptures made use of in his Theory XXI In the ninetieth page of his first Book he hath these words There remains a remarkable discourse in the Proverbs of Solomon relating to the Mosaical Abyss and not only to that but to the Origin of the Earth in general where Wisdom declares her Antiquity and Preexistence to all the Works of this Earth chap. 8. 23. c. I was set up from everlasting from the beginning ' ere the earth was When there were no deeps or Abysses I was brought forth when no fountains abounding with water
and the Ark with it tossed up so often into the air with his flying Rivers and carryed headlong again down into the Abyss that the preservation of it must be a far greater Miracle than any we require in Moses's Deluge And thus is that Chapter framed in so wonderful a Romantick way as exceeds all that ever yet was written of that kind Is it not a strange thing that Moses should not have one word mentioning such a Fraction of the earth and so horrible a Tempest as ensued To this he Answers Page 70. That it is below the dignity of Sacred Penmen or the Spirit of God that directs them to shew the Causes of things and their manner of proceeding but Providence leaves that to the exercise of our Wills and Inventions And truly he has exercised his Wit and Invention in a most ample manner But though it be below the dignity of the Sacred Pen-men to shew Causes upon our Enquiry and to satisfie our Curiosity Yet when they condescend so far as to express the Causes and manner of their proceeding as Moses here doth shewing us the Cause from whence the Flood came viz. the excessive flowing of Fountains and the great abundance of Rains falling and how these Waters prevailed by degrees upon the Earth till at length they reached the place where the Ark was and swelling yet higher lifted the Ark above the Earth and prevailed so far as to carry it upon the face of the Waters fifteen Cubits above the tops of the Mountains and so on to the decrease Now Moses describing so punctually the whole business of the Deluge yet as I said before not to have one word of this horrible Fraction which this Man puts for the main Cause of the Deluge nor of this Tempest and for him to say 't is below the dignity of the Sacred Penman to give a Cause when they particularly relate the Cause is very absurd and also quite contrary for Moses expresly declares the Cause of the Flood to be the running of the Fountains of the great Deep and not the breaking of the Earth which he could not call Fountains Fountains being quite another thing Wherefore 't is evident this Man makes use of Scripture onely to give some credit to his Theory with inconsiderate people that mind Scripture very little Moses goes on in his description of the Flood and says that all the Hills and Mountains under the whole Heaven continued covered many days until the beginning of the tenth month when the Waters began to decrease and then decreasing forty days by degrees the tops of the Mountains began to appear all the other parts were covered still with Water for the tops onely appeared But this Man would have it clean otherwise The Waters did not prevail and ascend to the tops of the Mountains in his spherical Earth but the smooth body of the Earth fell down into the Water with such a mighty force as dash'd the Water on a sudden up into the Air even to the Heavens and the Water must needs fall down again on a sudden for nothing was there to hold it up but down it must How then did the Waters continue to cover and prevail upon the Earth a hundred and fifty days for part after part falling into it in all places the Water dash'd up and fell down on a sudden And sure Moses would not call the dashing of the Mountains the covering of the Mountains But suppose it to be so I ask Did all the whole earth fall down or no If not all then the parts remaining were not covered with Water and so the Deluge was not universal The men then that lived upon those parts of the Earth might escape the Deluge But Moses saith the Flood destroyed all flesh living except Noah and his And if the whole Earth did fall into the Water then the whole Earth was covered all at once by his own confession and the Deluge was universal in that manner as we affirm but he denies Now whether all the Hills in this World were made by the Flood or no we will not question But saith he They were all made by the breaking of the Earth there were no Mountains nor Hills in his fine World Well let it be so they were all made by the breaking of the Earth which he calls the Flood yet when they were made all were covered by Water and many Cubits higher Let this Man ask Moses whence he had all this Water for that is the Principle on which he depends for his whole Theory which this of Moses plainly confutes XIX Now the sum of all this Discourse lies here Moses as plainly as a man can express it declares that the Waters wholly encompassed the Earth all at once to the heighth of fifteen Cubits above the highest Mountain This quantity of Water saith our Theorist is unintelligible I say it is very Intelligible without making use of God's Omnipotent Power in Creating new Waters for it or in Multiplying any before Created though we may upon such an occasion do it But I hope we may make use of all those Waters which God Created the first day of the World And I have plainly shewed how that those Waters are fully sufficient to make up that mighty Deluge which to him is unintelligible For the first day of the World God Created a deep Abyss to encompass the whole Earth and this deep Abyss God divided and placed part above the Firmament and the other part remained under the Firmament which still did encompass the whole Earth Now if this Water which remained under the Firmament did once encompass the Earth Why might it not again in the Deluge encompass the same Earth overflowing all yea and fifteen Cubits more If he say the Waters were not so deep after they were divided I desire him first to prove that if he can and after he has proved it I have yet a great reserve of Water to make the Deluge viz. the Waters which God carried up above the Firmament I do not mean mists and vapours in the Firmament or in the Air below which saith he being condensed would make up but a small quantity of Water to contribute towards a Deluge let it be so I speak not of such vapours but of real solid Water part of that deep Abyss which encompassed the whole Earth at first and God divided and placed above the Firmament If he ask me in what place they were setled I freely confess I do not know yet God's Word hath said it and I very easily believe it was done tho where he placed them I will not take upon me to determine I hope he believes it was done as well as I and then if he please let him with his Philosophy determine the place where they were settled And when he informs me I will presently again inform him and shew him how there was Water sufficient to make up this grand Deluge And thus the business will be very intelligible which