three feet deep made up only of little flakes or pieces of Ice which falling from the middle Region of the Air and meeting with the Earth in their descent are there stopt and heapt up one upon another But if we should suppose little particles of Earth to shower down not only from the middle Region but from the whole capacity and extent of those vast spaces that are betwixt us and the Moon we could not imagine but these would constitute an Orb of Earth some thousands of times deeper than the greatest Snow which being increas'd and swoln by that oily liquor it fell into and incorporated with it would be thick strong and great enough in all respects to render it an habitable Earth We cannot doubt therefore but such a body as this would be form'd and would be sufficient in quantity for an habitable Earth Then for the quality of it it will answer all the purposes of a Rising World What can be a more proper Seminary for Plants and Animals than a soil of this temper and composition A finer and lighter sort of Earth mixt with a benign Juice easie and obedient to the action of the Sun or of what other causes were employ'd by the Author of Nature for the production of things in the new-made Earth What sort or disposition of matter could be more fit and ready to catch life from Heaven and to be drawn into all forms that the rudiments of life or the bodies of living Creatures would require What soil more proper for vegetation than this warm moisture which could have no fault unless it was too fertile and luxuriant And that is no fault neither at the beginning of a World This I am sure of that the learned amongst the Ancients both Greeks Egyptians Phoenicians and others have describ'd the primigenial soil or the temper of the Earth that was the first subject for the Generation and Origin of Plants and Animals after such a manner as is truly express'd and I think with advantage by this draught of the primigenial Earth Thus much concerning the matter of the first Earth Let us reflect a little upon the form of it also whether External or Internal both whereof do manifestly shew themselves from the manner of its production or formation As to the External form you see it is according to the Proposition we were to prove smooth regular and uniform without Mountains and without a Sea And the proof we have given of it is very easie The Globe of the Earth could not possibly rise immediately from a Chaos into the irregular form in which it is at present The Chaos being a fluid mass which we know doth necessarily fall into a Spherical surface whose parts are equi-distant from the Center and consequently in an equal and even convexity one with another And seeing upon the distinction of a Chaos and separation into several Elementary masses the Water would naturally have a superiour place to the Earth 't is manifest that there could be no habitable Earth form'd out of the Chaos unless by some concretion upon the face of the Water Then lastly seeing this concrete Orb of Earth upon the face of the Water would be of the same form with the surface of the Water it was spread upon there being no causes that we know of to make any inequality in it we must conclude it equal and uniform and without Mountains as also without a Sea for the Sea and all the mass of Waters was enclos'd within this exteriour Earth which had no other basis or foundation to rest upon The contemplation of these things and of this posture of the Earth upon the Waters doth so strongly bring to mind certain passages of Scripture which will recur in another place that we cannot without injury to truth pass them by here in silence Passages that have such a manifest resemblance and agreement to this form and situation of the Earth that they seem visibly to point at it such are those expressions of the Psalmist God hath founded the Earth upon the Seas And in another Psalm speaking of the wisdom and power of God in the Creation he saith To him who alone doth great wonders to him that by wisdom made the Heavens to him that extended or stretched out the Earth above the Waters What can be more plain or proper to denote that form of the Earth that we have describ'd and to express particularly the inclosure of the Waters within the Earth as we have represented them He saith in another place By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made he shut up the Waters of the Sea as in Bags for so the word is to be render'd and is render'd by all except the English and laid up the Abysse as in store-houses This you see is very conformable to that System of the Earth and Sea which we have propos'd here Yet there is something more express than all this in that remarkable place in the Proverbs of Solomon where Wisdom declaring her Antiquity and Existence before the foundation of the Earth amongst other things saith When he prepared the Heavens I was there When he drew an Orb over the surface of the Abysse or when he set an Orb upon the face of the Abysse We render it in the English a Compass or Circle but 't is more truly rendred an Orb or Sphere and what Orb or Spherical Body was this which at the formation of the Earth was built and plac'd round about the Abyss but that wonderful Arch whose form and production we have describ'd encompassing the mass of Waters which in Scripture is often call'd the Abysse or Deep Lastly This Scheme of the first Earth gives light to that place we mention'd before of S. Peter's where the first Earth is said to consist of Water and by Water and by reason thereof was obnoxious to a Deluge The first part of this character is plain from the description now given and the second will appear in the following Chapter In the mean time concerning these passages of Scripture which we have cited we may truly and modestly say that though they would not it may be without a Theory premis'd have been taken or interpreted in this sence yet this Theory being premis'd I dare appeal to any unprejudic'd person if they have not a fairer and easier a more full and more emphatical sence when apply'd to that form of the Earth and Sea we are now speaking of than to their present form or to any other we can imagine Thus much concerning the external form of the first Earth Let us now reflect a little upon the Internal form of it which consists of several Regions involving one another like Orbs about the same Center or of the several Elements cast circularly about each other as it appears in the Fourth and Fifth Figure And as we have noted the External form of this primaeâ—al Earth to have been markt and celebrated in the Sacred Writings so
impossible for the Ark to have liv'd upon the raging Abyss or for Noah and his Family to have been preserv'd if there had not been a miraculous hand of Providence to take care of them But 't is hard to separate and distinguish an ordinary and extraordinary Providence in all cases and to mark just how far one goes and where the other begins And writing a Theory of the Deluge here as we do we were to exhibit a Series of causes whereby it might be made intelligible or to shew the proximate Natural Causes of it wherein we follow the example both of Moses and S. Peter and with the same veneration of the Divine Power and Wisdom in the government of Nature by a constant ordinary Providence and an occasional extraordinary So much for the Theory of the Deluge and the second Section of this Discourse CHAP. IX The Second Part of this Discourse proving the same Theory from the Effects and present form of the Earth First by a general Scheme of what is most remarkable in this Globe and then by a more particular Induction beginning with an Account of Subterraneous Cavities and Subterraneous Waters WE have now finisht our explication of the Universal Deluge and given an account not only of the possibility of it but so far as our knowledge can reach of its Causes and of that form and structure of the Earth whereby the Old World was subject to that sort of Fate We have not beg'd any Principles or Suppositions for the proof of this but taking that common ground which both Moses and all Antiquity presents to us viz. That this Earth rose from a Chaos We have from that deduc'd by an easie train of consequences what the first Form of it would be and from that Form as from a nearer ground we have by a second train of consequences made it appear that at some time or other that first Earth would be subject to a dissolution and by that dissolution to a Deluge And thus far we have proceeded only by the intuition of Causes as is most proper to a Theory but for the satisfaction of those that require more sensible arguments and to compleat our proofs on either hand we will now argue from the Effects and from the present state of Nature and the present form of the Earth prove that it hath been broken and undergone such a dissolution as we have already describ'd and made the immediate occasion of the Deluge And that we may do this more perspicuously and distinctly we will lay down this Proposition to be prov'd viz. That the present form and structure of the Earth both as to the surface and as to the Interiour parts of it so far as they are known and accessible to us doth exactly answer to our Theory concerning the form and dissolution of the first Earth and cannot be explain'd upon any other Hypothesis yet known Oratours and Philosophers treat Nature after a very different manner Those represent her with all her graces and ornaments and if there be any thing that is not capable of that they dissemble it or pass it over slightly But Philosophers view Nature with a more impartial eye and without favour or prejudice give a just and free account how they find all the parts of the Universe some more some less perfect And as to this Earth in particular if I was to describe it as an Oratour I would suppose it a beautiful and regular Globe and not only so but that the whole Universe was made for its sake that it was the darling and favourite of Heaven that the Sun shin'd only to give it light to ripen its Fruit and make fresh its Flowers and that the great Concave of the Firmament and all the Stars in their several Orbs were design'd only for a spangled Cabinet to keep this Jewel in This Idea I would give of it as an Oratour But a Philosopher that overheard me would either think me in jest or very injudicious if I took the Earth for a body so regular in it self or so considerable if compar'd with the rest of the Universe This he would say is to make the great World like one of the Heathen Temples a beautiful and magnificent structure and of the richest materials yet built only for a little brute Idol a Dog or a Crocodile or some deformed Creature plac'd in a corner of it We must therefore be impartial where the Truth requires it and describe the Earth as it is really in it self and though it be handsome and regular enough to the eye in certain parts of it single tracts and single Regions yet if we consider the whole surface of it or the whole Exteriour Region 't is as a broken and confus'd heap of bodies plac'd in no order to one another nor with any correspondency or regularity of parts And such a body as the Moon appears to us when 't is look'd upon with a good Glass rude and ragged as it is also represented in the modern Maps of the Moon such a thing would the Earth appear if it was seen from the Moon They are both in my judgment the image or picture of a great Ruine and have the true aspect of a World lying in its rubbish Our Earth is first divided into Sea and Land without any regularity in the portions either of the one or the other In the Sea lie the Islands scatter'd like limbs torn from the rest of the body great Rocks stand rear'd up in the waters The Promontories and Capes shoot into the Sea and the Sinus's and Creeks on the other hand run as much into the Land and these without any order or uniformity Upon the other part of our Globe stand great heaps of Earth or stone which we call Mountains and if these were all plac'd together they would take up a very considerable part of the dry Land In the rest of it are lesser Hills Valleys Plains Lakes and Marishes Sands and Desarts c. and these also without any regular disposition Then the inside of the Earth or inward parts of it are generally broken or hollow especially about the Mountains and high Lands as also towards the shores of the Sea and among the Rocks How many Holes and Caverns and strange Subterraneous passages do we see in many Countries and how many more may we easily imagine that are unknown and unaccessible to us This is the pourtraicture of our Earth drawn without flattery and as oddly as it looks it will not be at all surprising to one that hath consider'd the foregoing Theory For 't is manifest enough that upon the dissolution of the first Earth and its fall into the Abyss this very face and posture of things which we have now describ'd or something extremely like it would immediately result The Sea would be open'd and the face of the Globe would be divided into Land and Water And according as the fragments fell some would make Islands or Rocks in the Sea others would
the Land besides thousands of lesser that pay their tribute at the same time into the great Receit of the Ocean These all taken together are capable to renew the Sea every twice four and twenty hours VVhich suppositions being admitted if by a great and lasting drought these Rivers were dried up or the Fountains from whence they flow what would then become of that vast Ocean that before was so formidable to us 'T is likely you will say These great Rivers cannot be dry'd up tho' the little ones may and therefore we must not suppose such an Universal stop of waters or that they will all fail by any drought whatsoever But great Rivers being made up of little ones if these fail those must be diminish'd if not quite drain'd and exhausted It may be all Fountains and Springs do not proceed from the same causes or the same original and some are much more copious than others for such differences we will allow what is due but still the driness of the Air and of the Earth continuing and all the sources and supplies of moisture both from above and from below being lessen'd or wholly discontinued a general decay of all Fountains and Rivers must necessarily follow and consequently of the Sea and of its fulness that depends upon them And that 's enough for our present purpose The first step therefore towards the Consumption of the Ocean will be the diminution or suspension of the Rivers that run into it The next will be an Evacuation by Subterraneous passages and the last by Eruptions of Fires in the very Chanel of it and in the midst of the Waters As for Subterraneous Evacutions we cannot doubt but that the Sea hath out-lets at the bottom of it whereby it discharges that vast quantity of Water that flows into it every day and that could not be discharg'd so fast as it comes from the wide mouths of the Rivers by percolation or straining thorough the Sands Seas also communicate with one another by these internal passages as is manifest from those particular Seas that have no external out-let or issue tho' they receive into them many great Rivers and sometimes the influx of other Seas So the Caspian Sea receives not only Volga which we mention'd before but several other Rivers and yet hath no visible issue for its Waters The Mediterranean Sea besides all the Rivers it receives hath a current flowing into it at either end from other Seas from the Atlantick Ocean at the streights of Gibralter and from the Black Sea above Constantinople and yet there is no passage above-ground or visible derivation of the Mediterranean waters out of their Chanel which seeing they do not overfil nor overflow the Banks 't is certain they must have some secret conveyances into the bowels of the Earth or subterraneous communication with other Seas Lastly From the Whirl-pools of the Sea that suck in Bodies that come within their reach it seems plainly to appear by that attraction and absorption that there is a descent of waters in those places Wherefore when the current of the Rivers into the Sea is stopt or in a great measure diminish'd The Sea continuing to empty it self by these subterraneous passages and having little or none of those supplies that it us'd to have from the Land it must needs be sensibly lessen'd and both contract its Chanel into a narrower compass and also have less depth in the waters that remain And in the last place we must expect fiery eruptions in several parts of the Sea-chanel which will help to suck up or evaporate the remaining Waters In the present state of Nature there have been several instances of such eruptions of Fire from the bottom of the Sea and in that last state of Nature when all things are in a tendency to inflammation and when Earth-quakes and Eruptions will be more frequent every where we must expect them also more frequently by Sea as well as by Land 'T is true neither Earth-quakes nor Eruptions can happen in the middle of the Great Ocean or in the deepest Abyss because there are no cavities or mines below it for the vapours and exhalations to lodge in But 't is not much of the Sea-chanel that is so deep and in other parts especially in streights and near Islands such Eruptions like Sea-Volcano's have frequently happen'd and new Islands have been made by such fiery matter thrown up from the bottom of the Sea Thus they say those Islands in the Mediterranean call'd the Vulcanian Islands had their original being matter cast up from the bottom of the Sea by the force of Fire as new Mountains sometimes are rais'd upon the Earth Another Island in the Archipelago had the same original whereof Strabo gives an account The flames he says sprung up through the waters four days togethâ—r so as the whole Sea was hot and burning and they rais'd by degrees as with Engines a mass of Earth which made a new Island twelve furlongs in compass And in the same Archipelago flames and smoke have several times particularly in the year 1650. rise out of the Sea and fill'd the Air with sulphureous scents and vapours In like manner in the Island of S. Michel one of the Tercera's there have been of later years such eructations of fire and flames so strong and violent that at the depth of an hundred and sixty fathoms they forc'd their way through the midst of the Waters from the bottom of the Sea into the open Air. As has been related by those that were eye-witnesses In these three ways I conceive the great force of the Sea will be broken and the mighty Ocean reduc'd to a standing Pool of putrid waters without vent and without recruits But there will still remain in the midst of the Chanel a great mass of troubled liquors like dregs in the bottom of the vessel which will not be drunk up till the Earth be all on fire and torrents of melted and sulphureous matter flow from the Land and mingle with this Dead Sea But let us now leave the Sea in this humble posture and go on to attack the Rocks and Mountains which stand next in our way See how scornfully they look down upon us and bid defiance to all the Elements They have born the Thunder and Lightning of Heaven and all the Artillery of the Skies for innumerable Ages and do not fear the crackling of thorns and of shrubs that burn at their feet Let the Towns and Cities of the Earth say they be laid in ashes Let the Woods and Forests blaze away and the fat Soyl of the Earth fry in its own greafe These things will not affect us We can stand naked in the midst of a Sea of Fire with our roots as deep as the foundations of the Earth and our heads above the Clouds of the Air. Thus they proudly defie Nature and it must be confest that these being as it were the Bones of the Earth when the Body
the Sea and establish'd it upon the Floods An Earth founded upon the Seas and establish'd upon the Waters is not this the Earth we have describ'd the first Earth as it came from the hands of its Maker Where can we now find in Nature such an Earth as has the Seas and the Water for its foundation Neither is this Text without a second as a fellow-witness to confirm the same truth For in the 136. Psal. ver 4 5 6. we read to the same effect in these words To him who alone does great wonders To him that by wisdom made the Heavens's To him that stretchèd out the Earth above the Waters We can hardly express that form of the Ante-diluvian Earth in words more determinate than these are Let us then in the same simplicity of heart follow the words of Scripture seeing this literal sence is not repugnant to Nature but on the contrary agreeable to it upon the strictest examination And we cannot without some violence turn the words to any other sence What tolerable interpretation can these admit of if we do not allow the Earth ones to have encompass'd and overspread the face of the Waters To be founded upon the waters to be establish'd upon the waters to be extended upon the waters what rational or satisfactory account can be given of these phrases and expressions from any thing we find in the present situation of the Earth or how can they be verified concerning it Consult Interpreters ancient or modern upon these two places see if they answer your expectation or answer the natural importance of the words unless they acknowledge another form of the Earth than the present Because a Rock hangs its â—ose over the Sea must the body of the Earth be said to be stretched over the wà ters Or because there are waters in some subterraneous cavities is the Earth therefore founded upon the Seas Yet such lame explications as these you will meet with and while we have no better light we must content our selves with them but when an explication is offer'd that answers the propriety force and extent of the words to reject it onely because it is not fitted to our former opinions or because we did not first think of it is to take an ill method in expounding Scripture This Foundation or Establishment of the Earth upon the Seas this Extension of it above the waters relates plainly to the body or whole circuit of the Earth not to parcels and particles of it as appears from the occasion and its being joyn'd with the Heavens the other part of the World Besides David is speaking of the Origin of the World and of the Divine power and wisdom in the construction and situation of our Earth and these attributes do not appear from the holes of the Earth and broken Rocks which have rather the face of a ruin than of wisdom but in that wonderful libration and expansion of the first Earth over the face of the waters sustained by its own proportions and the hand of his Providence These two places in the Psalms being duly consider'd we shall more easily understand a third place to the same effect in the Proverbs delivered by WISDOM concerning the Origin of the World and the form of the first Earth in these words Chap. 8. 27. When he prepared the Heavens I was there when HE SET an Orb or Sphere upon the face of the Abyss We render it when we set a Compass upon the face of the Abyss but if we have rightly interpreted the Prophet David 't is plain enough what compass is here to be understood not an imaginary circle for why should that be thought one of the wonderful works of God but that exterior Orb of the Earth that was set upon the waters That was the Master-piece of the Divine art in framing of the first Earth and therefore very fit to be taken notice of by Wisdom And upon this occasion I desire you to reflect upon St. Peter's expression concerning the first Earth and to compare it with Solomon's to see if they do not answer one another St. Peter calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Earth consisting standing or sustained by the waters And Solomon calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Orb drawn upon the face of the Abyss And St. Peter says that was done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the wisdom of God which is the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or wisdom that here declares her self to have been present at this work Add now to these two places the two foremention'd out of the Psalmist An Earth founded upon the Seas Psal. 24. 2. and an Earth stretched out above the waters Psal. 136. 6. Can any body doubt or question but all these four Texts refer to the same thing And seeing St. Peter's description refers â—â—rtainly to the Ante-diluvian Earth they must all refer to it and do all as certainly and evidently agree with our Theory concerning the form and situation of it The pendulous form and posture of that first Earth being prov'd from these four places 't is more easie and emphatical to interpret in this sence that passage in Iob ch 26. 7. He stretcheth â—ut the North over the Tohu for so it is in the original and hangeth the Earth upon nothing And this strange foundation or no foundation of the exteriour Earth seems to be the ground of those noble questions propos'd to Iob by God Almighty Ch. 38. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth Declare if thou hast understanding Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastned and who laid the corner-stone There was neither foundation nor corner-stone in that piece of Architecture and that was it which made the art and wonder of it But I have spoken more largely to these places in the Theory it self And if the four Texts before-mentioned be consider'd without prejudice I think there are few matters of natural Speculation that can be so well prov'd out of Scripture as the Form which we have given to the Ante-diluvian Earth But yet it may be thought a just if not a necessary appendix to this discourse concerning the form of the Ante-diluvian Earth to give an account also of the Ante-diluvian Abyss and the situation of it according to Scripture for the relation which these two have to one another will be a further means to discover if we have rightly determin'd the form of that Earth The Abyss or Tehom-Rabbah is a Scripture notion and the word is not us'd that I know of in that distinct and peculiar sence in Heathen Authors 'T is plain that in Scripture it is not always taken for the Sea as Gen. 1. 2. 7. 11. 49. 25. Deut. 33. 13. Iob 28. 14. 38. 16. Psal. 33. 7. 71. 20 78. 15. 135. 6. Apoc. 20. 1. 3. but for some other mass of waters or subterraneous store-house And this being observ'd we may easily discover the nature and set down the History
of it The method of the first Book CHAP. IV. That the Earth and Mankind had an Original and were not from Eternity Prov'd against Aristotle The first Proposition of our Theory laid down viz. That the Ante-diluvian Earth was of a different Form and Construction from the present This is prov'd from Divine Authority and from the Nature and Form of the Chaos out of which the Earth was made CHAP. V. The Second Proposition is laid down viz. That the face of the Earth before the Deluge was smooth regular and uniform without Mountains and without a Sea The Chaos out of which the World rise is fully examin'd and all its motions observ'd and by what steps it wrought it self into an habitable World Some things in Antiquity relating to the first state of the Earth are interpreted and some things in the Sacred Writings The Divine Art and Geometry in the construction of the first Earth is observ'd and celebrated CHAP. VI. The dissolution of the First Earth The Deluge ensuing thereupon And the form of the present Earth rising from the Ruines of the First CHAP. VII That the Explication we have given of an Universal Deluge is not an IDEA only but an account of what really came to pass in the Earth and the true explication of Noah's Flood An examination of Tehom-Rabba or the Great Abyss and that by it the Sea cannot be understood nor the Subterraneous Waters as they are at present What the true Notion and Form of it was collected from Moses and other Sacred Writers Observations on Deucalion's Deluge CHAP. VIII The particular History of Noah's Flood is explain'd in all the material parts and circumstances of it according to the preceding Theory Any seeming difficulties remov'd and the whole Section concluded with a Discourse how far the Deluge may be lookt upon as the effect of an Ordinary Providence and how far of an Extraordinary CHAP. IX The Second Part of this Discourse proving the same Theory from the Effects and the present Form of the Earth First by a general Scheme of what is most remarkable in this Globe and then by a more particular induction beginning with an account of Subterraneous Cavities and Subterraneous Waters CHAP. X. Concerning the Chanel of the Sea and the Original of it The causes of its irregular from and unequal depths As also of the Original of Islands their situation and other properties CHAP. XI Concerning the Mountains of the Earth their greatness and irregular Form their Situation Causes and Origin CHAP. XII A short review of what hath been already treated of and in what manner All methods whether Philosophical or Theological that have been offer'd by others for the explication of the Form of the Earth are examin'd and refuted A conjecture concerning the other Planets their Natural Form and State compar'd with ours Especially concerning Jupiter and Saturn THE SECOND BOOK CHAP. I. THE Introduction and Contents of the Second Book The general state of the Primaeval Earth and of Paradise CHAP. II. The great change of the World since the Flood from what it was in the first Ages The Earth under its present Form could not be Paradisiacal nor any part of it CHAP. III. The Original differences of the Primitive Earth from the present or Post-diluvian The three Characters of Paradise and the Golden Age found in the Primitive Earth A particular explication of each Character CHAP. IV. A Digression concerning the Natural Causes of Longaevity That the Machine of an Animal consists of Springs and which are the two principal The Age of the Ante-diluvians to be computed by Solar not Lunar Years CHAP. V. Concerning the Waters of the Primitive Earth What the state of the Regions of the Air was then and how all Waters proceeded from them How the Rivers arose what was their Course and how they ended Several things in Sacred Writ that confirm this Hydrography of the First Earth especially the Post-diluvian Origin of the Rain-bow CHAP. VI. A Recollection and review of what hath been said concerning the Primitive Earth with a more full Survey of the state of the First World Natural and Civil and the comparison of it with the present World CHAP. VII Concerning the place of Paradise It cannot be determin'd from the Theory only nor from Scripture only What the sence of Antiquity was concerning it as to the Iews and Heathens and especially as to the Christian Fathers That they generally plac'd it out of this Continent in the Southern Hemisphere CHAP. VIII The uses of this Theory for the illustration of Antiquity The Chaos of the Ancients explain'd The inhabitability of the Torrid Zone The change of the Poles of the World The Doctrine of the Mundane Egg How America was first peopled How Paradise within the Circle of the Moon CHAP. IX A general Objection against this Theory viz. That if there had been such a Primitive Earth as we pretend the fame of it would have sounded throughout all Antiquity The Eastern and Western Learning consider'd the most considerable Records of both are lost what footsteps remain relating to this subject The Iewish and Christian Learning consider'd how far lost as to this Argument and what Notes or Traditions remain Lastly How far the Sacred Writings bear witness to it The Prâ—vidential conduct of Knowledge in the World A Recapitulation and state of the Theory CHAP. X. Concerning the AUTHOR of NATURE CHAP. XI Concerning Natural Providence Several misrepresentations of it and false methods of Contemplation Preparatives to the true Method and a true representation of the Universe The Mundane Idea and the Universal System of Providence Several subordinate Systems That of our Earth and Sublunary World The Course and Periods of it How much of this is already treated of and what remains Conclusion THE THEORY OF THE EARTH BOOK I. Concerning the Deluge and the Dissolution of the Earth CHAP. I. THE INTRODVCTION An Account of the whole Work of the Extent and general Order of it SINCE I was first inclin'd to the Contemplation of Nature and took pleasure to trace out the Causes of Effects and the dependance of one thing upon another in the visible Creation I had always methought a particular curiosity to look back into the Sources and ORIGINAL of Things and to view in my Mind so far as I was able the Beginning and Progress of a RISING WORLD And after some Essays of this Nature and as I thought not unsuccessful I carried on my enquiries further to try whether this Rising World when form'd and finish'd would continue always the same in the same form structure and consistency or what changes it would successively undergo by the continued action of the same Causes that first produc'd it And lastly what would be its final Period and Consummation This whole Series and compass of things taken together I call'd a COURSE OF NATURE or a SYSTEM OF NATURAL PROVIDENCE and thought there was nothing belonging to the External World more fit or more
other and the Deluge being once truly explain'd we shall from thence know the Form and Quality of the Ante-diluvian Earth Let us then proceed to the explication of that great and fatal Inundation whose History is well known and according to Moses the best of Historians in a few words is this Sixteen Hundred and odd years after the Earth was made and inhabited it was over-flow'd and destroy'd in a Deluge of Water Not a Deluge that was National only or over-run some particular Country or Region as Iudea or Greece or any other but it overspread the face of the whole Earth from Pole to Pole and from East to West and that in such excess that the Floods over-reacht the Tops of the highest Mountains the Rains descending after an unusual manner and the fountains of the Great Deep being broke open so as a general destruction and devastation was brought upon the Earth and all things in it Mankind and other living Creatures excepting only Noah and his Family who by a special Providence of God was preserv'd in a certain Ark or Vessel made like a Ship and such kinds of living Creatures as he took in to him After these Waters had rag'd for some time on the Earth they began to lessen and shrink and the great waves and fluctuations of this Deep or Abysse being quieted by degrees the Waters retir'd into their Chanels and Caverns within the Earth and the Mountains and Fields began to appear and the whole habitable Earth in that form and shape wherein we now see it Then the World began again and from that little Remnant preserv'd in the Ark the present race of Mankind and of Animals in the known parts of the Earth were propagated Thus perish'd the Old World and the present arose from the ruines and remains of it This is a short story of the greatest thing that every yet hapned in the World the greatest revolution and the greatest change in Nature and if we come to reflect seriously upon it we shall find it extremely difficult if not impossible to give an account of the Waters that compos'd this Deluge whence they came or whither they went It it had been only the Inundation of a Country or of a Province or of the greatest part of a Continent some proportionable causes perhaps might have been found out but a Deluge overflowing the whole Earth the whole Circuit and whole Extent of it burying all in Water even the greatest Mountains in any known parts of the Universe to find Water sufficient for this Effect as it is generally explained and understood I think is impossible And that we may the better judge of the whole matter let us first compute how much Water would be requisite for such a Deluge or to lay the Earth consider'd in its present form and the highest Mountains under Water Then let 's consider whether such a quantity of Water can be had out of all the stores that we know in Nature And from these two we will take our Ground and Rise and begin to reflect whether the World hath not been hitherto mistaken in the common opinion and explication of the general Deluge To discover how much Water would be requisite to make this Deluge we must first suppose enough to cover the plain surface of the Earth the Fields and lower Grounds then we must heap up so much more upon this as will reach above the tops of the highest Mountains so as drawing a Circle over the tops of the highest Mountains quite round the Earth suppose from Pole to Pole and another to meet it round the middle of the Earth all that space or capacity contin'd within these Circles is to be fill'd up with Water This I confess will make a prodigious mass of Water and it looks frightfully to the imagination 't is huge and great but 't is extravagantly so as a great Monster It doth not look like the work of God or Nature However let 's compute a little more particularly how much this will amount to or how many Oceans of Water would be necessary to compose this great Ocean rowling in the Air without bounds or banks If all the Mountains were par'd off the Earth and so the surface of it lay even or in an equal convexity every where with the surface of the Sea from this surface of the Sea let us suppose that the height of the Mountains may be a mile and a half or that we may not seem at all to favour our own opinion or calculation let us take a mile only for the perpendicular height of the Mountains Let us on the other side suppose the Sea to cover half the Earth as 't is generally believ'd to do and the common depth of it taking one place with another to be about a quarter of a mile or 250 paces I say taking one place with another for though the middle Chanel of the great Ocean be far deeper we may observe that there is commonly a descent or declivity from the shore to the middle part of the Chanel so that one comes by degrees into the depth of it and those shory parts are generally but some fathoms deep Besides in arms of the Sea in Straits and among Islands there is commonly no great depth and some places are plain shallows So as upon a moderate computation one place compar'd with another we may take a quarter of a mile or about an hundred fathoms for the common measure of the depth of the Sea if we were cast into a Chanel of an equal depth every where This being suppos'd there would need four Oceans to lie upon this Ocean to raise it up to the top of the Mountains or so high as the Waters of the Deluge rise then four Oceans more to lie upon the Land that the Water there might swell to the same height which together make eight Oceans for the proportion of the Water requir'd in the Deluge 'T is true there would not be altogether so much Water requir'd for the Land as for the Sea to raise them to an equal height because Mountains and Hills would fill up part of that space upon the Land and so make less Water requisite But to compensate this and confirm our computation we must consider in the first place that we have taken a much less height of the Mountains than is requisite if we respect the Mediterraneous Mountains or those that are at a great distance from the Sea For their height above the surface of the Sea computing the declivity of the Land all along from the Mountains to the Sea-side and that there is such a declivity is manifest from the course and descent of the Rivers is far greater than the proportion we have taken The height of Mountains is usually taken from the foot of them or from the next Plain which if it be far from the Sea we may reasonably allow as much for the declension of the Land from that place to the Sea as for the
immediate height of the Mountain So for instance the Mountains of the Moon in Africa whence the Nile flows and after a long course falls into the Mediterranean Sea by Egypt are so much higher than the surface of that Sea first as the Ascent of the Land is from the Sea to the foot of the Mountains and then as the height of the Mountains is from the bottom to the top For both these are to be computed when you measure the height of a Mountain or of a mountainous Land in respect of the Sea And the height of Mountains to the Sea being thus computed there would be need of six or eight Oceans to raise the Sea alone as high as the highest In-land Mountains And this is more than enough to compensate the less quantity of Water that would be requisite upon the Land Besides we must consider the Regions of the Air upwards to be more capacious than a Region of the same thickness in or near the Earth so as if an Ocean pour'd upon the surface of the dry Land supposing it were all smooth would rise to the height of half a quarter of a mile every where the like quantity of Water pour'd again at the height of the Mountains would not have altogether the same effect or would not there raise the mass half a quarter of a mile higher for the surfaces of a Globe the farther they are from their Center are the greater and so accordingly the Regions that belong to them And lastly we must consider that there are some Countries or Valleys very low and also many Caverns or Cavities within the Earth all which in this case were to be first fill'd with Water These things being compar'd and estimated we shall find that notwithstanding the room that Hills and Mountains take up on the dry Land there would be at least eight Oceans requir'd or a quantity of Water eight times as great as the Ocean to bring an Universal Deluge upon the Earth as that Deluge is ordinarily understood and explained The proportion of Water for the Deluge being thus stated the next thing to be done is to enquire where this Water is to be found if any part of the Sublunary World will afford us so much Eight Oceans floating in the Air make a great bulk of Water I do not know what possible Sources to draw it from There are the Clouds above and the Deeps below and in the bowels of the Earth and these are all the stores we have for Water and Moses directs us to no other for the Causes of the Deluge The Fountains he saith of the great Abysse were broken up or burst asunder and the Rain descended for forty days the Cataracts or Floodgates of Heaven being open'd And in these two no doubt are contain'd the causes of the great Deluge as according to Moses so also according to reason and necessity for our World affords no other treasures of Water Let us therefore consider how much this Rain of Forty Days might amount to and how much might flow out of the Abysse that so we may judge whether these two in conjunction would make up the Eight Oceans which we want As for the Rains they would not afford us one Ocean nor half an Ocean nor the tenth part of an Ocean if we may trust to the Observations made by others concerning the quantity of Water that falls in Rain Mersennus gives us this account of it It appears by our Observations that a Cubical Vessel of Brass whereof we made use is fill'd an inch and an half in half an hours time but because that sucks up noâ—hing of the moisture as the Earth doth let us take an inch for half an hours Rain whence it follows that in the space of 40 days and nights Rain the Waters in the Deluge would rise 160 feet if the Rains were constant and equal to ours and that it rain'd at once throughout the face of the whole Earth But the Rain of the Deluge saith he should have been 90 times greater than this to cover for instance the Mountains of Armenia or to reach 15 Cubits above them So that according to his computation the 40 days Rain would supply little more than the hundredth part of the Water requisite to make the Deluge 'T is true he makes the heighth of the Mountains higher than we do but however if you temper the Calculation on all sides as much as you please the water that came by this Rain would be a very inconsiderable part of what was necessary for a Deluge If it rain'd 40 days and 40 nights throughout the face of the whole Earth in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere all at once it might be sufficient to lay all the lower grounds under water but it would signifie very little as to the over-flowing of the Mountains Whence another Author upon the same occasion hath this passage If the Deluge had been made by Rains only there would not have needed 40 days but 40 years Rain to have brought it to pass And if we should suppose the whole middle Region condens'd into water it would not at all have been sufficient for this effect according to that proportion some make betwixt Air and Water for they say Air turn'd into Water takes up a hundred times less room than it did before The truth is we may reasonably suppose that all the vapours of the middle Region were turn'd into water in this 40 days and 40 nights Rain if we admit that this Rain was throughout the whole Earth at once in either Hemisphere in every Zone in every Climate in every Country in every Province in every Field and yet we see what a small proportion all this would amount to Having done then with these Superiour Regions we are next to examine the Inferiour and the treasures of water that may be had there Moses tells us that the Fountains of the great Abysse were broke open or clove asunder as the word there us'd doth imply and no doubt in this lay the great mystery of the Deluge as will appear when it comes to be rightly understood and explain'd but we are here to consider what is generally understood by the great Abysse in the common explication of the Deluge and 't is commonly interpreted either to be the Sea or Subterraneous waters hid in the bowels of the Earth These they say broke forth and rais'd the waters caus'd by the Rain to such an height that together they overflowed the highest Mountains But whether or how this could be deserves to be a little examin'd And in the first place the Sea is not higher than the Land as some have formerly imagin'd fansying the Sea stood as it were upon a heap higher than the shore and at the Deluge a relaxation being made it overflow'd the Land But this conceit is so gross and so much against reason and experience that none I think of late have ventur'd to make use of it And yet on the
other hand if the Sea lie in an equal convexity with the Land or lower generally than the shore and much more than the midland as it is certainly known to do what could the Sea contribute to the Deluge It would keep its Chanel as it doth now and take up the same place And so also the Subterraneous waters would lie quiet in their Cells whatsoever Fountains or passages you suppose these would not issue out upon the Earth for water doth not ascend unless by force But le ts imagine then that force us'd and appli'd and the waters both of the Sea and Caverns under ground drawn out upon the surface of the Earth we shall not be any whit the nearer for this for if you take these waters out of their places those places must be fill'd again with other waters in the Deluge so as this turns to no account upon the whole If you have two Vessels to fill and you empty one to fill the other you gain nothing by that there still remains one Vessel empty you cannot have these waters both in the Sea and on the Land both above ground and under nor can you suppose the Chanel of the Sea would stand gaping without water when all the Earth was overflow'd and the tops of the Mountains cover'd And so for Subterraneous Cavities if you suppose the water pumpt out they would suck it in again when the Earth came to be laid under water so that upon the whole if you thus understand the Abysse or great Deep and the breaking open its Fountains in this manner it doth us no service as to the Deluge and where we expected the greatest supply there we find none at all What shall we do then whither shall we go to find more than seven Oceans of water that we still want We have been above and below we have drain'd the whole middle Region and we have examin'd the Deeps of the Earth they must want for themselves they say if they give us any And besides if the Earth should disgorge all the water that it hath in its bowels it would not amount to above half an Ocean which would not at all answer our occasions Must we not then conclude that the common explication of the Deluge makes it impossible there being no such quantity of water in Nature as they make requisite for an universal Deluge Yet to give them all fair play having examin'd the waters above the Earth or in the Air the waters upon the Earth and the waters under the Earth let us also consider if there be not waters above the Heavens and if those might not be drawn down for the Deluge Moses speaks of waters above the firmament which though it be generally understood of the middle Region of the Air yet some have thought those to be waters plac'd above the highest Heavens or Super-celestial waters and have been willing to make use of them for a supply when they could not find materials enough under the Heavens to make up the great mass of the Deluge But the Heavens above where these waters lay are either solid or fluid if solid as Glass or Crystal how could the waters get through 'em to descend upon the Earth If fluid as the Air or Aether how could the waters rest upon them For Water is heavier than Air or Aether So that I am afraid those pure Regions will prove no fit place for that Element upon any account But supposing these waters there how imaginary soever and that they were brought down to drown the World in that vast quantity that would be necessary what became of them when the Deluge ceas'd Seven or eight Oceans of water with the Earth wrapt up in the middle of them how did it ever get quit of them how could they be dispos'd of when the Earth was to be dri'd and the World renew'd It would be a hard task to lift them up again among the Spheres and we have no room for them here below The truth is I mention this opinion of the Heavenly waters because I would omit none that had ever been made use of to make good the common explication of the Deluge but otherwise I think since the System of the World hath been better known and the Nature of the Heavens there are none that would seriously assert these Super-celestial waters or at least make use of them so extravagantly as to bring them down hither for causes of the Deluge We have now employ'd our last and utmost endeavours to find out waters for the vulgar Deluge or for the Deluge as commonly understood and you see with how little success we have left no corner unsought where there was any appearance or report of water to be found and yet we have not been able to collect the eighth part of what was necessary upon a moderate account May we not then with assurance conclude that the World hath taken wrong measures hitherto in their notion and explication of the general Deluge They make it impossible and unintelligible upon a double account both in requiring more water than can be found and more than can be dispos'd of if it was found or could any way be withdrawn from the Earth when the Deluge should cease For if the Earth was encompass'd with eight Oceans of water heapt one upon another how these should retire into any Chanels or be drain'd off or the Earth any way disengag'd from them is not intelligible and that in so short a time as some months For the violence of the Deluge lasted but four or five months and in as many months after the Earth was dry and habitable So as upon the whole enquiry we can neither find source nor issue beginning nor ending for such an excessive mass of Waters as the Vulgar Deluge requir'd neither where to have them nor if we had them how to get quit of them And I think men cannot do a greater injury or injustice to Sacred History than to give such representations of things recorded there as make them unintelligible and incredible And on the other hand we cannot deserve better of Religion and Providence than by giving such fair accounts of all things propos'd by them or belonging to them as may silence the Cavils of Atheists satisfie the inquisitive and recommend them to the belief and acceptance of all reasonable persons CHAP. III. All Evasions answered That there was no new Creation of waters at the Deluge And that it was not particular or National but extended throughout the whole Earth A prelude and preparation to the true Account and Explication of it The method of the first Book THough in the preceding Chapter we may seem to have given a fair trial to the common opinion concerning the state of the Deluge and might now proceed to sentence of condemnation yet having heard of another plea which some have us'd in its behalf and another way found out by recourse to the Supream Power to supply all defects and to make
the whole matter intelligible we will proceed no further till that be consider'd being very willing to examine whatsoever may be offer'd in that or any other way for resolving that great difficulty which we have propos'd concerning the quantity of water requisite for such a Deluge And to this they say in short that God Almighty created waters on purpose to make the Deluge and then annihilated them again when the Deluge was to cease And this in a few words is the whole account of the business This is to out the knot when we cannot loose it They shew us the naked arm of Omnipotency such Arguments as these come like lightning one doth not know what Armour to put on against them for they pierce the more the more they are resisted We will not therefore oppose any thing to them that is hard and stubborn but by a soft answer deaden their force by degrees And I desire to mind those persons in the first place of what S. Austin hath said upon a like occasion speaking concerning those that disprov'd the opinion of waters above the Heavens which we mention'd before by natural Reasons We are not saith he to refute those persons by saying that according to the Omnipotence of God to whom all things are possible we ought to believe there are waters there as heavy as we know and feel them here below for our business is now to enquire according to his Scripture how God hath constituted the Nature of things and not what he could do or work in these things by a miracle of Omnipotency I desire them to apply this to the present argument for the first answer Secondly let them consider that Moses hath assign'd causes of the Deluge Forty days Rain and the disruption of the Abysse and speaks nothing of a new creation of water upon that occasion Those were causes in Nature which Providence had then dispos'd for this extraordinary effect and those the Divine Historian refers us to and not to any productions out of nothing Besides Moses makes the Deluge increase by degrees with the Rain and accordingly makes it cease by degrees and that the waters going and returning as the waves and great commotions of the Sea use to do retir'd leisurely from the face of the Earth and settled at length in their Chanels Now this manner of the beginning or ceasing of the Deluge doth not at all agree with the instantaneous actions of Creation and Annihilation Thirdly let them consider that S. Peter hath also assign'd Causes of the Deluge namely the particular constitution of the Earth and Heavens before the Flood by reason whereof he saith the World that was then perisht in a Deluge of water And not by reason of a new creation of water His words are these The Heavens and the Earth were of old consisting of water and by water whereby or by reason whereof the World that then was being overflowed with water perished Fourthly they are to consider that as we are not rashly to have recourse to the Divine Omnipotence upon any account so especially not for new Creations and least of all for the creation of new matter The matter of the Universe was created many Ages before the Flood and the Universe being full if any more was created then there must be as much annihilated at the same time to make room for it for Bodies cannot penetrate one anothers dimensions nor be two or more within one and the same space Then on the other hand when the Deluge ceas'd and these waters were annihilated so much other matter must be created again to take up their places And methinks they make very bold with the Deity when they make him do and undo go forward and backwards by such countermarches and retractions as we do not willingly impute to the wisdom of God Almighty Lastly I shall not think my labour lost if it be but acknowledg'd that we have so far clear'd the way in this controversie as to have brought it to this issue That either there must be new waters created on purpose to make a Deluge or there could be no Deluge as 't is vulgarly explain'd there not being water sufficient in Nature to make a Deluge of that kind This I say is a great step and I think will satisfie all parties at least all that are considerable for those that have recourse to a New Creation of waters are of two sorts either such as do it out of laziness and ignorance or such as do it out of necessity seeing they cannot be had otherwise as for the first they are not to be valu'd or gratifi'd and as for the second I shall do a thing very acceptable to them if I free them and the argument from that necessity and show a way of making the Deluge fairly intelligible and accountable without the creation of new waters which is the design of this Treatise For we do not tye this knot with an Intention to puzzle and perplex the Argument finally with it but the harder it is ty'd we shall feel the pleasure more sensibly when come to loose it It may be when they are beaten from this new Creation of water they will say the Element of Air was chang'd into water and that was the great store-house for the Deluge Forty days Rain we allow as Moses does but if they suppose any other transelementation it neither agrees with Moses's Philosophy nor S. Peter's for then the opening of the Abysse was needless and the form and constitution of the Antediluvian Heavens and Earth which S. Peter refers the Deluge to bore no part in the work it might have been made in that way indifferently under any Heavens or Earth Besides they offend against S. Austin's rule in this method too for I look upon it as no less a miracle to turn Air into Water than to turn Water into Wine Air I say for Vapours indeed are but water made volatile but pure Air is a body of another Species and cannot by any compression or condensation so far as is yet known be chang'd into water And lastly if the whole Atmosphere was turn'd into water 't is very probable it would make no more than 34 foot or thereabouts for so much Air or Vapours as is of the same weight with any certain quantity of water 't is likely if it was chang'd into water would also be of the same bulk with it or not much more Now according to the doctrine of the Gravitation of the Atmosphere 't is found that 34 foot of water does counterbalance a proportionable Cylinder of Air reaching to the top of the Atmosphere and consequently if the whole Atmosphere was converted into water it would make no more than eleven or twelve yards water about the Earth which the cavities of the Earth would be able in a good measure to suck up at least this is very inconsiderable as to our eight Oceans And if you would change the higher Regions into water too
an equal share and concern in it Moses saith also the Fountains of the grear Abyss were burst asunder to make the Deluge and what means this Abyss and the bursting of it if restrain'd to Iudaea or some adjacent Countries What appearance is there of this Disruption there more than in other Places Furthermore S. Peter plainly implies that the Antediluvian Heavens and Earth perish'd in the Deluge and opposeth the present Earth and Heavens to them as different and of another constitution and saith that these shall perish by Fire as the other perish'd by Water So he compares the Conflagration with the Deluge as two general dissolutions of Nature and one may as well say that the Conflagration shall be only National and but two or three Countries burnt in that last Fire as to say that the Deluge was so I confess that discourse of S. Peter concerning the several States of the World would sufficiently convince me if there was nothing else That the Deluge was not a particular or National Inundation but a mundane change that extended to the whole Earth and both to the lower Heavens and Earth All Antiquity we know hath spoke of these Mundane Revolutions or Periods that the World should be successively destroy'd by Water and Fire and I do not doubt but that this Deluge of Noah's which Moses describes was the first and leading instance of this kind and accordingly we see that after this Period and after the Flood the blessing for multiplication and for replenishing the Earth with Inhabitants was as solemnly pronounc'd by God Almighty as at the first Creation of Man Gen. 9. 1. with Gen. 1. 28. These considerations I think might be sufficient to give us assurance from Divine Writ of the universality of the Deluge and yet Moses affords us another argument as demonstrative as any when in the History of the Deluge he saith Gen. 7. 19. The waters exceedingly prevailed upon the Earth and all the high Hills that were under the whole Heavens were covered All the high Hills he saith under the whole Heavens then quite round the Earth and if the Mountains were coverâ—d quite round the Earth sure the Plains could not scape But to argue with them upon their own grounds Let us suppose only the Asiatick and Armenian Mountains covered with these waters this they cannot deny then unless there was a miracle to keep these waters upon heaps they would flow throughout the Earth for these Mountains are high enough to make them fall every way and make them joyn with our Seas that environ the Continent We cannot imagine Hills and Mountains of water to have hung about Iudaea as if they were congeal'd or mass of water to have stood upon the middle of the Earth like one great drop or a trembling Jelly and all the places about it dry and untouch'd All liquid bodies are dissusive for their parts being in motion have no tye or connexion one with another but glide and fall off any way as gravity and the Air presseth them so the surface of water doth always conform into a Spherical convexity with the rest of the Globe of the Earth aud every part of it falls as near to the Center as it can wherefore when these waters began to rise at first long before they could swell to the heighth of the Mountains they would diffuse themselves every way and thereupon all the Valleys and Plains and lower parts of the Earth would be filled throughout the whole Earth before they could rise to the tops of the Mountains in any part of it And the Sea would be all raised to a considerble heighth before the Mountains could be covered For let 's suppose as they do that this water fell not throughout the whole Earth but in some particular Country and there made first a great Lake this Lake when it begun to swell would every way discharge it self by any descents or declivities of the ground and these issues and derivations being once made and supplied with new waters pushing them forwards would continue their course till they arriv'd at the Sea just as other Rivers do for these would be but so many Rivers rising out of this Lake and would not be considerably deeper and higher at the Fountain than in their progress or at the Sea We may as well then expect that the Leman-Lake for instance out of which the Rhone runs should swell to the tops of the Alpes on the one hand aud the Mountains of Switzerland and Burgundy on the other and then stop without overflowing the plainer Countries that lie beyond them as to suppose that this Diluvian Lake should rise to the Mountains tops in one place and not diffuse it self equally into all Countries about and upon the surface of the Sea in proportion to its heighth and depth in the place where it first fell or stood Thus much for Sacred History The universality of the Deluge is also attested by profane History for the fame of it is gone through the Earth and there are Records or Traditions concerning it in all parts of this and the new-found World The Americans do acknowledge and speak of it in their Continent as Acosta witnesseth and Laet in their Histories of them The Chineses have the Tradition of it which is the farthest part of our Continent and the nearer and Western parts of Asia is acknowledg'd the proper seat of it Not to mention Deucallon's Deluge in the European parts which seems to be the same under a disguise So as you may trace the Deluge quite round the Globe in profane History and which is remarkable every one of these people have a tale to tell some one way some another concerning the restauration of mankind which is an argument that they thought all mankind destroy'd by that Deluge In the old dispute between the Scythians and the Aegyptians for Antiquity which Iustin mentions they refer to a former destruction of the World by Water or Fire and argue whether Nation first rise again and was original to the other So the Babylonians Assyrians Phoenicians and others mention the Deluge in their stories And we cannot without offering violence to all Records and Authority Divine and Humane deny that there hath been an universal Deluge upon the Earth and if there was an universal Deluge no question it was that of Noah's and that which Moses describ'd and that which we treat of at present These considerations I think are abundantly sufficient to silence that opinion concerning the limitation and restriction of the Deluge to a particular Country or Countries It ought rather to be lookt upon as an Evasion indeed than Opinion seeing the Authors do not offer any positive argument for the proof of it but depend only upon that negative argument That an universal Deluge is a thing unintelligible This stumbling-stone we hope to take away for the future and that men shall not be put to that unhappy choice either to deny matter of fact well
masses Besides the posture of these Rocks which is often leaning or recumbent or prostrate shows to the eye that they have had a fall or some kind of dislocation from their Natural site And the same thing may be observed in the Tracts and Regions of the Earth which very seldom for ten miles together have any regular surface or continuity one with another but lie high and low and are variously inclin'd sometimes one way sometimes another without any rule or order Whereas I see no reason but the surface of the Land should be as regular as that of the water in the first production of it And the Strata or beds within lie as even This I am sure of that this disposition of the Elements and the parts of the Earth outward and inward hath something irregular and unnatural in it and manifestly shews us the marks or footsteps of some kind of ruine and dissolution which we shall shew you in its due place happen'd in such a way that at the same time a general Flood of waters would necessarily over-run the face of the whole Earth And by the same fatal blow the Earth fell out of that regular form wherein it was produc'd at first into all these irregularities which we see in its present form and composition so that we shall give thereby a double satisfaction to the mind both to shew it a fair and intelligible account of the general Deluge how the waters came upon the Earth and how they return'd into their Chanels again and left the Earth habitable and likewise to shew it how the Mountains were brought forth and the Chanel of the Sea discover'd How all those inequalities came in the body or face of the Earth and those empty Vaults and Caverns in its bowels which things are no less matter of admiration than the Flood it self But I must beg leave to draw a Curtain before the Work for a while and to keep your patience a little in suspence till materials are prepar'd and all things ready to represent and explain what we have propos'd Yet I hope in the mean time to entertain the mind with scenes no less pleasing though of quite another face and order for we must now return to the beginning of the World and look upon the first rudiments of Nature and that dark but fruitful womb out of which all things sprang I mean the Chaos For this is the matter which we must next work upon and it will be no unpleasing thing to observe how that rude mass will shoot it self into several forms one after another till it comes at length to make an habitable World The steddy hand of Providence which keeps all things in weight and measure being the invisible guide of all its motions These motions we must examine from first to last to find out what was the form of the Earth and what was the place or situation of the Ocean or the great Abyss in that first state of Nature Which two things being determin'd we shall be able to make a certain judgment what kind of dissolution that Earth was capable of and whether from that dissolution an Universal Deluge would follow with all the consequences of it In the mean time for the ease and satisfaction of the Reader we will here mark the order and distribution of the first Book which we divide into Three Sections whereof the First is these Three Chapters past in the Second Section we will shew that the Earth before the Deluge was of a different frame and form from the present Earth and particularly of such a form as made it subject to a dissolution And to such a dissolution as did necessarily expose it to an Universal Deluge And in this place we shall apply our discourse particularly to the explication of Noah's Flood and that under all its conditions of the height of the waters of their universality of the destruction of the World by them and of their retiring afterwards from the Earth and this Section will consist of the Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh and Eighth Chapters In the Third Section we prove the same dissolution from the effects and consequences of it or from the contemplation of the present face of the Earth And here an account is given of the Origin of Mountains of subterraneous Waters and Caverns of the great Chanel of the Sea and of the first production of Islands and those things are the Contents of the Ninth Tenth and Eleventh Chapters Then in the last Chapter we make a general review of the whole Work and a general review of Nature that by comparing them together their full agreement and correspondency may appear Here several collateral arguments are given for confirmation of the preceeding Theory and some reflections are made upon the state of the other Planets compar'd with the Earth And lastly what accounts soever have been given by others of the present form and irregularities of the Earth are examin'd and shew'd insufficient And this seemeth to be all that is requisite upon this subject CHAP. IV. That the Earth and Mankind had an Original and were not from Eternity Prov'd against Aristotle The first proposition of our Theory laid down viz. That the Antediluvian Earth was of a different form and construction from the present This is prov'd by Divine Authority and from the nature and form of the Chaos out of which the Earth was made WE are now to enquire into the Original of the Earth and in what form it was built at first that we may lay our foundation for the following Theory deep and sure It hath been the general opinion and consent of the Learned of all Nations that the Earth arose from a Chaos This is attested by History both Sacred and Profane only Aristotle whom so great a part of the Christian World have made their Oracle or Idol hath maintain'd the Eternity of the Earth and the Eternity of Mankind that the Earth and the World were from Everlasting and in that very form they are in now with Men and Women and all living Creatures Trees and Fruit Metals and Minerals and whatsoever is of Natural production We say all these things arose and had their first existence or production not six thousand years ago He saith they have subsisted thus for ever through an infinite Series of past Generations and shall continue as long without first or last And if so there was neither Chaos nor any other beginning to the Earth This takes away the subject of our discourse and therefore we must first remove this stone but of the way and prove that the Earth had an Original and that from a Chaos before we shew how it arose from a Chaos and what was the first habitable form that it setled into We are assur'd by Divine Authority that the Earth and Mankind had a beginning Moses saith In the beginning God made the Heavens and the Earth Speaking it as of a certain Period or Term from whence he counts the
themselves by degrees from the rest would mount above them and having motion enough to keep them upon the wing would play in those open place where they constitute that body we call AIR The other parts being grosser than these and having a more languid motion could not fly up separate from one another as these did but setled in a mass together under the Air upon the body of the Earth composing not only Water strictly so called but the whole mass of liquors or liquid bodies belonging to the Earth And these first separations being thus made the body of the Chaos would stand in that form which it is here represented in by the second Scheme pag. 37 fig 2. The liquid mass which encircled the Earth was not as I noted before the mere Element of Water but a collection of all Liquors that belong to the Earth I mean of all that do originally belong to it Now seeing there are two chief kinds of Terrestrial Liquors those that are fat oily and light and those that are lean and more Earthy like common Water which two are generally found in compound liquors we cannot doubt but there were of both sorts in this common mass of liquids And it being well known that these two kinds mixt together if left to themselves and the general action of Nature separate one from another when they come to settle as in Cream and thin Milk Oil and Water and such like we cannot but conclude that the same Effect would follow here and the more oily and light part of this mass would get above the other and swim upon it The whole mass being divided into two lesser masses and so the Globe would stand as we see it in this Third Figure pag 38. fig 3. Hitherto the changes of the Chaos are easie and unquestionable and would be dispatcht in a short time we must now look over again these two great masses of the Air and Water and consider how their impurities or grosser parts would be dispos'd of for we cannot imagine but they were both at first very muddy and impure And as the Water would have its sediment which we are not here concern'd to look after so the great Regions of the Air would certainly have their sediment too for the Air was as yet thick gross and dark there being an abundance of little Terrestrial particles swimming in it still after the grossest were sunk down which by their heaviness and lumpish figure made their way more easily and speedily The lesser and lighter which remain'd would sink too but more slowly and in a longer time so as in their descent they would meet with that oily liquor upon the face of the Deep or upon the watery mass which would entangle and stop them from passing any further whereupon mixing there with that unctious substance they compos'd a certain slime or fat soft and light Earth spread upon the face of the Waters as 't is represented in this fourth Figure pag. 39. fig 4. This thin and tender Orb of Earth increas'd still more and more as the little Earthy parts that were detain'd in the Air could make their way to it Some having a long journey from the upper Regions and others being very light would float up and down a good while before they could wholly disengage themselves and descend But this was the general rendezvous which sooner or later they all got to and mingling more and more with that oily liquor they suckt it all up at length and were wholly incorporate together and so began to grow more stiff and firm making both but one substance which was the first concretion or firm and consistent substance that rise upon the face of the Chaos And the whole Globe stood in this posture as in Figure the fifth pag 40. fig. 5. It may be you will say we take our liberty and our own time for the separation of these two liquors the Oily and the Earthy the lighter and the heavier and suppose that done before the Air was clear'd of Earthy particles that so they might be catcht and stopt there in their descent Whereas if all these particles were fallen out of the Air before that separation was made in the liquid mass they would fall down through the Water as the first did and so no concretion would be made nor any Earthy crust form'd upon the face of the Waters as we here suppose there was 'T is true there could be no such Orb of Earth form'd there if the Air was wholly purg'd of all its Earthy parts before the Mass of liquids began to purifie it self and to separate the Oily parts from the more heavy But this is an unreasonable and incredible supposition if we consider the mass of the Air was many thousand times greater than the Water and would in proportion require a greater time to be purified the particles that were in the Regions of the Air having a long way to come before they reacht the Watery mass and far longer than the Oily particles had to rise from any part of that mass to the surface of it Besides we may suppose a great many degrees of littleness and lightness in these Earthy particles so as many of them might float in the Air a good while like Exhalations before they fell down And lastly We do not suppose the separation of these two liquors wholly made and finisht before the purgation of the Air began though we represent them so for distinction sake Let them begin to purifie at the same time if you please these parts rising upwards and those falling downwards they will meet in the middle and unite and grow into one body as we have describ'd And this body or new concretion would be increas'd daily being sed and supply'd both from above and below and having done growing it would become more dry by degrees and of a temper of greater consistency and firmness so as truly to resemble and be fit to make an habitable Earth such as Nature intended it for But you will further object it may be that such an effect as this would indeed be necessary in some degree and proportion but not in such a proportion and in such quantity as would be sufficient to make this crust or concrete Orb an habitable Earth This I confess appear'd to me at first a real difficulty till I consider'd better the great disproportion there is betwixt the Regions of the Air and the Circumference of the Earth or of that exteriour Orb of the Earth we are now a making which being many thousand times less in depth and extent than the Regions of the Air taken as high as the Moon though these Earthy particles we speak of were very thinly dispers'd through those vast tracts of the Air when they came to be collected and amass'd together upon the surface of a far lesser Sphere they would constitute a body of a very considerable thickness and solidity We see the Earth sometimes covered with Snow two or
World that this Abysse was open'd or that the frame of the Earth broke and fell down into the Great Abysse At this one stroke all Nature would be chang'd and this single action would have two great and visible Effects The one Transient and the other permanent First an universal Deluge would overflow all the parts and Regions of the broken Earth during the great commotion and agitation of the Abysse by the violent fall of the Earth into it This would be the first and unquestionable effect of this dissolution and all that World would be destroyed Then when the agitation of the Abysse was asswag'd and the Waters by degrees were retir'd into their Chanels and the dry land appear'd you would see the true image of the present Earth in the ruines of the first The surface of the Globe would be divided into Land and Sea the Land would consist of Plains and Valleys and Mountains according as the pieces of this ruine were plac'd and dispos'd Upon the banks of the Sea would stand the Rocks and near the shoar would be Islands or lesse fragments of Earth compass'd round by Water Then as to Subterraneous Waters and all Subterraneous Caverns and hollownesses upon this supposition those things could not be otherwise for the parts would fall hollow in many places in this as in all other ruines And seeing the Earth fell into this Abysse the Waters at a certain height would flow into all those hollow places and cavities and would also sink and insinuate into many parts of the solid Earth And though these Subterraneous Vaults or holes whether dry or full of Water would be more or less in all places where the parts fell hollow yet they would be found especially about the roots of the Mountains and the higher parts of the Earth for there the sides bearing up one against the other they could not lie so close at the bottoms but many vacuities would be intercepted Nor are there any other inequalities or irregularities observable in the present form of the Earth whether in the surface of it or interiour construction whereof this hypothesis doth not give a ready fair and intelligible account and doth at one view represent them all to us with their causes as in a glass And whether that Glass be true and the Image answer to the Original if you doubt of it we will hereafter examine them piece by piece But in the first place we must consider the General Deluge how easily and truly this supposition represents and explains it and answers all the properties and conditions of it I think it will be easily allow'd that such a dissolution of the Earth as we have propos'd and fall of it into the Abysse would certainly make an Universal Deluge and effectually destroy the old World which perish'd in it But we have not yet particularly prov'd this dissolution and in what manner the Deluge follow'd upon it And to assert things in gross never makes that firm impression upon our understandings and upon our belief as to see them deduc'd with their causes and circumstances And therefore we must endeavour to shew what preparations there were in Nature for this great dissolution and after what manner it came to pass and the Deluge in consequence of it We have noted before that Moses imputed the Deluge to the disruption of the Abyss and S. Peter to the particular constitution of that Earth which made it obnoxious to be absorpt in Water so that our explication so far is justifi'd But it was below the dignity of those Sacred Pen-men or the Spirit of God that directed them to shew us the causes of this disruption or of this absorption this is left to the enquiries of men For it was never the design of Providence to give such particular explications of Natural things as should make us idle or the use of Reason unnecessary but on the contrary by delivering great conclusions to us to excite our curiosity and inquisitiveness after the methods by which such things were brought to pass And it may be there is no greater trial or instance of Natural Wisdom than to find out the Chanel in which these great revolutions of Nature which we treat on flow and succeed one another Let us therefore resume that System of the Ante-diluvian Earth which we have deduc'd from the Chaos and which we find to answer S. Peter's description and Moses his account of the Deluge This Earth could not be obnoxious to a Deluge as the Apostle supposeth it to have been but by a dissolution for the Abysse was enclos'd within its bowels And Moses doth in effect tell us there was such a dissolution when he saith The fountains of the great Abysse were borken open For Fountains are broken open no otherwise than by breaking up the ground that covers them We must therefore here inquire in what order and from what causes the frame of this exteriour Earth was dissolv'd and then we shall soon see how upon that dissolution the Deluge immediately prevail'd and overflow'd all the parts of it I do not think it in the power of humane wit to determine how long this frame would stand how many Years or how many Ages but one would soon imagine that this kind of structure would not be perpetual nor last indeed many thousands of Years if one consider the effect that the heat of the Sun would have upon it and the Waters under it drying and parching the one and raresying the other into vapours For we must consider that the course of the Sun at that time or the posture of the Earth to the Sun was such that there was no diversity or alternation of seasons in the Year as there is now by reason of which alternation our Earth is kept in an equality of temper the contrary seasons balancing one another so as what moisture the heat of the Summer sucks out of the Earth 't is repaid in the Rains of the next Winter and what chaps were made in it are fill'd up again and the Earth reduc'd to its former constitution But if we should imagine a continual Summer the Earth would proceed in driness still more and more and the cracks would be wider and pierce deeper into the substance of it And such a continual Summer there was at least an equality of seasons in the Ante-diluvian Earth as shall be prov'd in the follwing Book concerning Paradise In the mean time this being suppos'd let us consider what effect it would have upon this Arch of the exteriour Earth and the Waters under it We cannot believe but that the heat of the Sun within the space of some hundreds of years would have reduc'd this Earth to a considerable degree of driness in certain parts and also have much raresi'd and exhal'd the Waters beneath it And considering the structure of that Globe the exteriour crust and the Waters lying round under it both expos'd to the Sun we may fitly compare it to an Aeolipile or
we desire it may be prov'd from some collateral arguments taken either from Sacred History or from observation that this hath really been exemplified upon the Earth and that Noah's Flood came to pass this way And seeing we have design'd this first Book chiefly for the Explication of Noah's Deluge I am willing to add here a Chapter or two extraordinary upon this occasion to shew that what we have deliver'd is more than an Idea and that it was in this very way that Noah's Deluge came to pass But they who have not this doubt and have a mind to see the issue of the Theory may skip these two Chapters if they please and proceed to the following where the order is continued To satisfie then the doubtful in this particular let us lay down in the first place that conclusion which they seem to admit viz. That this is a possible and consistent Explication of an Universal Deluge and let 's see how far this would go if well consider'd towards the proof of what they desire or towards the demonstration of Noah's Deluge in particular It is granted on both hands that here hath been an Universal Deluge upon the Earth which was Noah's Deluge and it is also granted that we have given a possible and consistent Idea of an Universal Deluge Now we have prov'd Chap. II. and III. that all other ways hitherto assign'd for the Explication of Noah's Flood are incongrous or impossible therefore it came to pass in that possible and competent way which we have propos'd And if we have truly prov'd in the foremention'd Chapters the impossibility or unintelligibility of it in all other ways this argumentation is undeniable Besides we may argue thus as it is granted that there hath been an Universal Deluge upon the Earth so I suppose it will be granted that there hath been but one Now the dissolution of the Earth whensoever it happen'd would make one Universal Deluge and therefore the only one and the same with Noah's That such a Dissolution as we have describ'd would make an Universal Deluge I think cannot be question'd and that there hath been such a dissolution besides what we have already alledg'd shall be prov'd at large from natural Observations upon the Form and Figure of the present Earth in the Third Section and last Chap. of this Book In the mean time we will proceed to History both Sacred and Profane and by comparing our Explication with those give further assurance of its truth and reality In the first place it agrees which is most considerable with Moses's Narration of the Deluge both as to the matter and manner of it The matter of the Deluge Moses makes to be the Waters from above and the Waters from below or he distinguishes the Causes of the Deluge as we do into Superiour and Inferiour and the Inferiour causes he makes to be the disruption of the Abyss which is the principal part and the great hinge of our Explication Then as to the manner of the Deluge the beginning and the ending the increase and decrease he saith it increas'd gradually and decreas'd gradually by going and coming that is after many repeated fluctuations and reciprocations of the waves the waters of the Abysse began to be more compos'd and to retire into their Chanels whence they shall never return to cover the Earth again This agrees wholly with our Theory we suppose the Abysse to have been under an extream commotion and agitation by the fall of the Earth into it and this at first encreas'd more and more till the whole Earth was faln Then continuing for some time at the height of its rage overwhelming the greatest Mountains it afterwards decreas'd by the like degrees leaving first the tops of the Mountains then the Hills and the Fields till the Waters came to be wholly drawn off the Earth into their Chanels It was no doubt a great oversight in the Ancients to fansie the Deluge like a great standing Pool of water reaching from the bottom of the Valleys to the tops of the Mountains every where alike with a level and uniform surface by reason of which mistaken notion of the Deluge they made more water necessary to it than was possible to be had or being had than it was possible to get quit of again for there are no Chanels in the Earth that could hold so much water either to give it or to receive it And the Psalmist speaking of the Deluge as it seems to me notes this violent commotion of the Abysse The Waters went up by the Mountains came down by the Valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them I know some interpret that passage of the state of the waters in the beginning when they cover'd the face of the whole Earth Gen. 1. 2. but that cannot be because of what follows in the next Verse Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over that they turn not again to cover the Earth Which is not true if the preceding words be understood of the state of the waters at the beginning of the World for they did pass those bounds and did return since that time to cover the Earth namely at the Deluge But if these words be refer'd to the time of the Deluge and the state of the waters then 't is both a just description of the motion of the Abysse and certainly true that the waters since that time are so setled in their Chanels that they shall never overflow the Earth again As we are assured by the promise made to Noah and that illustrious pledge and confirmation of it the Rainbow that the Heavens also shall never pour out so much waters again their state being chang'd as well as that of the Earth or Sea from what they were before the Deluge But before we leave Moses's Narration of the Deluge we must examine further what is or can be understood by his TEHOMRABBA or great Abysse which he saith was broken up at the Deluge for this will help us to discover whether our Explication be the same with his and of the same Flood And first we must consider whether by the Tehom-Rabba or Mosaical Abysse can be understood the Sea or Ocean under that form we see it in at present and 't is plain methinks that the Sea cannot be understood by this great Abysse both because the Sea is not capable upon any disruption to make such an universal Deluge and because the Narration of Moses and his expressions concerning this Abysse do not agree to the Sea Some of the Ancients indeed did imagine that the waters of the Sea were much higher than the Land and stood as it were on an heap so as when these waters were let loose they overflow'd the Earth and made a Deluge But this is known to be a gross mistake the Sea and the Land make one Globe and the Waters couch themselves as close as may be to the Center of this
Globe in a Spherical convexity so that if all the Mountains and Hills were scal'd and the Earth made even the Waters would not overflow its smooth surface much less could they overflow it in the form that it is now in where the Shores are higher than the Sea the Inland parts than the Shores and the Mountains still far above all So as no disruption of the Sea could make an universal Deluge by reason of its situation But besides that the quantity of Water contain'd in the Sea is no way sufficient to make a Deluge in the present form of the Earth for we have shewn before Chap. 2. that Eight such Oceans as ours would be little enough for that purpose Then as to the expressions of Moses concerning this Abysse if he had meant the Sea by it and that the Deluge was made by the disruption of the Sea why did he not say so There is no mention of the Sea in all the History of the Deluge Moses had mention'd the Sea before Gen. 1. 10. and us'd a word that was common and known to signifie the Sea And if he had a mind to express the same thing here why should he not use the same word and the same term In an Historical relation we use terms that are most proper and best known but instead of that he useth the same term here that he did Gen. 1. 2. when he saith Darkness was upon the face of the Abysse or of the Deep as we render it there the Abysse was open or cover'd with darkness only namely before the exterior Earth was form'd Here the same Abysse is mention'd again but cover'd by the formation of the Earth upon it and the covering of this Abysse was broken or cloven asunder and the Waters gusht out that made the Deluge This I am sure is the most natural interpretation or signification of this word according as it is us'd in Moses's writings Furthermore we must observe what Moses saith concerning this Abysse and whether that will agree with the Sea or no he saith the Fountains of the great Abysse were broken open now if by the great Abysse you understand the Sea how are its Fountains broken open To break open a Fountain is to break open the ground that covers it and what ground covers the Sea So that upon all considerations either of the word that Moses here useth Tehom-Rabba or of the thing affirmed concerning it breaking open its Fountains or of the effect following the breaking open its Fountains drowning of the Earth from all these heads it is manifest that the Sea cannot be understood by the great Abysse whose disruption was the cause of the Deluge And as the Mosaical Abysse cannot be the Sea so neither can it be those Subterraneous waters that are disperst in the Cells and Caverns of the Earth for as they are now lodg'd within the Earth they are not one Abysse but several Cisterns and Receptacles of water in several places especially under the roots of Mountains and Hills separate one from another sometimes by whole Regions and Countries interpos'd Besides what Fountains if they were broken up could let out this water or bring it upon the face of the Earth When we sink a Mine or dig a Well the waters when uncover'd do not leap out of their places out of those Cavities or at least do not flow upon the Earth 'T is not as if you openâ—d a Vein where the Bloud spirts out and riseth higher than its Source but as when you take off the cover of a Vessel the water doth not fly out for that So if we should imagine all the Subterraneous Caverns of the Earth uncover'd and the waters laid bare there they would lie unmov'd in their beds if the Earth did not fall into them to force them up Furthermore if these waters were any way extracted and laid upon the surface of the ground nothing would be gain'd as to the Deluge by that for as much water would run into these holes again when the Deluge begun to rise so that this would be but an useless labour and turn to no account And lastly These waters are no way sufficient for quantity to answer to the Mosaical Abyss or to be the principal cause of the Deluge as that was Now seeing neither the Sea as it is at present nor the Subterraneous Waters as they are at present can answer to the Mosaical Abysse we are sure there is nothing in this present Earth that can answer to it Let us then on the other hand compare it with that Subterraneous Abyss which we have found in the Ante-diluvian Earth represented 5 Fig. 2. and examine their characters and correspondency First Moses's Abyss was cover'd and Subterraneous for the Fountains of it are said to have been cloven or burst open then it was vast and capacious and thirdly it was so dispos'd as to be capable of a disruption that would cause an universal Deluge to the Earth Our Ante-diluvian Abyss answers truly to all these characters 't was in the womb of the Earth the Earth was founded upon those Waters as the Psalmist saith or they were enclos'd within the Earth as in a Bag. Then for the capacity of it it contained both all the Waters now in the Ocean and all those that are dispers'd in the Caverns of the Earth And lastly it is manifest its situation was such that upon a disruption or dissolution of the Earth which cover'd it an universal Deluge would arise Seeing then this answers the description and all the properties of the Mosaical Abysse and nothing else will how can we in reason judge it otherwise than the same and the very thing intended and propos'd in the History of Noah's Deluge under the name of Tehom-Rabba or the great Abyss at whose disruption the World was over-flow'd And as we do not think it an unhappy discovery to have found out with a moral certainty the feat of the Mosaical Abyss which hath been almost as much sought for and as much in vain as the seat of Paradise so this gives us a great assurance that the Theory we have given of a general Deluge is not a meer Idea but is to be appropriated to the Deluge of Noah as a true explication of it And to proceed now from Moses to other Divine Writers That our Description is a reality both as to the Ante-diluvian Earth and as to the Deluge we may further be convinc'd from S. Peter's discourse concerning those two things S. Peter saith that the constitution of the Ante-diluvian Earth was such in reference to the Waters that by reason of that it was obnoxious to a Deluge we say these Waters were the great Abysse it stood upon by reason whereof that World was really expos'd to a Deluge and overwhelm'd in it upon the disruption of this Abyss as Moses witnesses 'T is true S. Peter doth not specifie what those waters were nor mention either the Sea or the Abyss but seeing
Moses tells us that it was by the waters of the Abyss that the Earth was overwhelm'd S. Peter's waters must be understood of the same Abyss because he supposeth them the cause of the same Deluge And I think the Apostle's discourse there cannot receive a better illustration than from Moses's History of the Deluge Moses distinguishes the Causes of the Flood into those that belong to the Heavens and those that belong to the Earth the Rains and the Abyss S. Peter also distinguisheth the causes of the Deluge into the constitution of the Heavens in reference to its waters and the constitution of the Earth in reference to its waters and no doubt they both aim at the same causes as they refer to the same effect only Moses mentions the immediate Causes the Rains and the Waters of the Abyss and S. Peter mentions the more remote and fundamental causes that constitution of the Heavens and that constitution of the Earth in reference to their respective Waters which made that world obnoxious to a Deluge And these two speaking of Noah's Deluge and agreeing thus with one another and both with us or with the Theory which we have given of a General Deluge we may safely conclude that it is no imaginary Idea but a true account of that Ancient Flood whereof Moses hath left us the History And seeing the right understanding of the Mosaical Abysse is sufficient alone to prove all we have deliver'd concerning the Deluge as also concerning the frame of the Ante-diluvian Earth give me leave to take notice here of some other places of Scripture which we mention'd before that seem manifestly to describe this fame form of the Abyss with the Earth above it Psal. 24. 2. He founded the Earth upon the Seas and establish'd it upon the Floods and Psal. 136. 6. He stretched out the Earth above the Waters Now this Foundation of the Earth upon the Waters or extension of it above the Waters doth most aptly agree to that structure and situation of the Abyss and the Ante-diluvian Earth which we have assign'd them and which we have before describ'd but very improperly and forc'dly to the present form of the Earth and the Waters In that second place of the Psalmist the word may be render'd either he stretch'd as we read it or he fixt and consolidated the Earth above the Waters as the Vulgate and Septuagint translate it For 't is from the same word with that which is used for the Firmament Gen. 1. So that as the Firmament was extended over and around the Earth so was the Earth extended over and about the Waters in that first constitution of things and I remember some of the Ancients use this very comparison of the Firmament and Earth to express the situation of the Paradisiacal Earth in reference to the Sea or Abysse There is another remarkable place in the Psalms to shew the disposition of the Waters in the first Earth Psal. 33. 7. He gathereth the Waters of the Sea as in a Bag he layeth up the Abysses in store-houses This answers very fitly and naturally to the place and disposition of the Abysse which it had before the Deluge inclos'd within the vault of the Earth as in a Bag or in a Store house I know very well what I render here in a Bag is render'd in the English as an heap but that translation of the word seems to be grounded on the old Error that the Sea is higher than the Land and so doth not make a true sence Neither are the two parts of the Verse so well suited and consequent one to another if the first express an high situation of the Waters and the second a low one And accordingly the Vulgate Septuagint and Oriental Versions and Paraphrase as also Symmachus St. Ierome and Basil render it as we do here in a Bag or by terms equivalent To these passages of the Psalmist concerning the form of the Abysse and the first Earth give me leave to add this general remark that they are commonly ushered in or followed with something of Admiration in the Prophet We observ'd before that the formation of the first Earth after such a wonderful manner being a piece of Divine Architecture when it was spoken of in Scripture it was usually ascrib'd to a particular Providence and accordingly we see in these places now mention'd that it is still made the object of praise and admiration In that 136 Psalm 't is reckon'd among the wonders of God Vers. 4 5 6 Give praise to him who alone doth great wonders To him that by wisdom made the Heavens To him that stretched out the Earth above the Waters And in like manner in that 33 Psalm 't is joyn'd with the forming of the Heavens and made the subject of the Divine Power and Wisdom Vers. 6 7 8 9. By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Host of them by the breath of his mouth He gathereth the Waters of the Sea together as in a Bag he layeth up the Abysse in Store-houses Let all the Earth fear the Lord Let all the Inhabitants of the World stand in awe of him For he spake and it was he commanded and it stood fast Namely all things stood in that wonderful posture in which the Word of his Power and Wisdom had establisht them David often made the works of Nature and the External World the matter of his Meditations and of his praises and Philosophical Devotions reflecting sometimes upon the present form of the World and sometimes upon the primitive form of it And though Poetical expressions as the Psalms are seldom are so determinate and distinct but that they may be interpreted more than one way yet I think it cannot but be acknowledg'd that those expressions and passages that we have instanc'd in are more fairly and aptly understood of the Ancient form of the Sea or the Abysse as it was enclos'd within the Earth than of the present form of it in an open Chanel There are also in the Book of Iob many noble reflections upon the works of Nature and upon the formation of the Earth and the Abysse whereof that in Chap. 26. 7. He stretcheth out the North over the Empty places and hangeth the Earth upon nothing seems to parallel the expression of David He stretched out the Earth upon the Waters for the word we render the empty place is TOHU which is appli'd to the Chaos and the first Abysse Gen. 1. 2. and the hanging the Earth upon nothing is much more wonderful if it be understood of the first habitable Earth that hung over the Waters sustain'd by nothing but its own peculiar form and the libration of its parts than if it be understood of the present Earth and the whole body of it for if it be in its Center or proper place whither should it sink further or whither should it go But this passage together with the foregoing and following Verses requires a
that Earth being even and smooth without Hills and eminencies and might lay it all under water to some depth so as the Ark if it could not float upon those Rain-waters at least taking the advantage of a River or a Dock or Cistern made to receive them it might be a float before the Abysse was broken open For I do not suppose the Abysse broken open before any Rain fell And when the opening of the Abysse and of the Flood-gates of Heaven are mention'd together I am apt to think those Flood-gates were distinct from the common Rain and were something more violent and impetuous So that there might be preparatory Rains before the disruption of the Abysse and I do not know but those Rains so covering up and enclosing the Earth on every side might providentially contribute to the disruption of it not only by softning and weakning the Arch of the Earth in the bottom of those cracks and Chasms which were made by the Sun and which the Rain would first run into but especially by stopping on a sudden all the pores of the Earth and all evaporation which would make the vapors within struggle more violently as we get a Fever by a Cold and it may be in that struggle the Doors and the Bars were broke and the great Abysse gusht out as out of a womb However when the Rains were faln we may suppose the face of the Earth cover'd over with water and whether it was these waters that S. Peter refers to or that of the Abysse afterwards I cannot tell when he saith in his first Epistle Chap. 3. 20. Noah and his Family were sav'd by water so as the water which destroy'd the rest of the World was an instrument of their conservation in as much as it bore up the Ark and kept it from that impetuous shock which it would have had if either it had stood upon dry land when the Earth fell or if the Earth had been dissolv'd without any water on it or under it However things being thus prepar'd let us suppose the great frame of the exteriour Earth to have broke at this time or the Fountains of the great Abyss as Moses saith to have been then open'd from thence would issue upon the fall of the Earth with an unspeakable violence such a Flood of waters as would over-run and overwhelm for a time all those fragments which the Earth broke into and bury in one common Grave all Mankind and all the Inhabitants of the Earth Besides if the Flood-gates of Heaven were any thing distinct from the Forty days Rain their effusion 't is likely was at this same time when the Abyss was broken open for the sinking of the Earth would make an extraordinary convulsion of the Regions of the Air and that crack and noise that must be in the falling World and in the collision of the Earth and the Abyss would make a great and universal Concussion above which things together must needs so shake or so squeeze the Atmosphere as to bring down all the remaining Vapours But the force of these motions not being equal throughout the whole Air but drawing or pressing more in some places than in other where the Center of the Convulsion was there would be the chiefest collection and there would fall not showers of Rain or single drops but great spouts or caskades of water and this is that which Moses seems to call not improperly the Gataracts of Heaven or the Windows of Heaven being set open Thus the Flood came to its height and 't is not easie to represent to our selves this strange Scene of things when the Deluge was in its fury and extremity when the Earth was broken and swallow'd up in the Abyss whose raging waters rise higher than the Mountains and fill'd the Air with broken waves with an universal mist and with thick darkness so as Nature seem'd to be in a second Chaos and upon this Chaos rid the distrest Ark that bore the small remains of Mankind No Sea was ever so tumultuous as this nor is there any thing in present Nature to be compar'd with the disorder of these waters All the Poetry and all the Hyperboles that are us'd in the description of Storms and raging Seas were literally true in this if not beneath it The Ark was really carry'd to the tops of the highest Mountains and into the places of the Clouds and thrown down again into the deepest Gulfs and to this very state of the Deluge and of the Ark which was a Type of the Church in this World David seems to have alluded in the name of the Church Psal. 42. 7. Abysse calls upon Abysse at the noise of thy Cataracts or water-spouts all thy waves and billows have gone over me It was no doubt an extraordinary and miraculous Providence that could make a Vessel so ill man'd live upon such a Sea that kept it from being dasht against the Hills or overwhelm'd in the Deeps That Abyss which had devour'd and swallow'd up whole Forests of Woods Cities and Provinces nay the whole Earth when it had conquer'd all and triumph'd over all could not destroy this single Ship I remember in the story of the Argonauticks when Iason set out to fetch the Golden Fleece the Poet saith all the Gods that day look'd down from Heaven to view the Ship and the Nymphs stood upon the Mountain-tops to see the noble Youth of Thessaly pulling at the Oars We may with more reason suppose the good Angels to have look'd down upon this Ship of Noah's and that not out of couriosity as idle spectators but with a passionate concern for its safety and deliverance A Ship whose Cargo was no less than a whole World that carry'd the fortune and hopes of all posterity and if this had perish'd the Earth for any thing we know had been nothing but a Desart a great ruine a dead heap of Rubbish from the Deluge to the Conflagration But Death and Hell the Grave and Destruction have their bounds We may entertain our selves with the consideration of the face of the Deluge and of the broken and drown'd Earth in this Scheme with the floating Ark and the guardian Angels pag. 68. Thus much for the beginning and progress of the Deluge It now remains only that we consider it in its decrease and the state of the Earth after the waters were retir'd into their Chanels which makes the present state of it Moses saith God brought a wind upon the waters and the tops of the Hills became bare and then the lower grounds and Plains by degrees the waters being sunk into the Chanels of the Sea and the hollowness of the Earth and the whole Globe appearing in the form it is now under There needs nothing be added for explication of this 't is the genuine consequence of the Theory we have given of the Deluge and whether this wind was a descending wind to depress and keep down the swellings and inequalities of the Abyss or
much more for you wade up to the mid-leg in Ashes to go down to the bottom of the Cavity and 't is extremely heavy and troublesome to get up again The inside lies sloping and one may safely go down if it be not in a raging fit but the middle part of it or center which is a little rais'd like the bottom of a Platter is not to be ventur'd upon the ground there lies false and hollow there it always smoaks and there the Funnel is suppos'd to be yet there is no visible hole or gaping any where when it doth not rage Naples stands below in fear of this fiery Mountain which hath often cover'd its Streets and Palaces with its Ashes and in sight of the Sea which lies by the side of them both and as it were in defiance to it threatens at one time or another to burn that fair City History tells us that some eruptions of Vesuvius have carry'd Cinders and Ashes as far as Constantinople this is attested both by Greek and Latin Authors particularly that they were so affrighted with these Ashes and darkness that the Emperor left the City and there was a day observ'd yearly for a memorial of this calamity or prodigy Aetna is of greater same than Vesuvius and of greater fury all Antiquity speaks of it not only the Greeks and Romans but as far as History reacheth either real or fabulous there is something recorded of the Fires of Aetna The Figure of the Mountain is inconstant by reason of the great consumptions and ruines it is subject to The Fires and Aestuations of it are excellently describ'd by Virgil upon occasion of Aeneas his passing by those Coasts Horrificis juxta tonat Aetna ruinis Interdumque atram prorumpit ad aethera nubem Turbine fumantem piceo candente favillâ AttollÃtque globos flammarum sydera lambit Interdum scopulos avolsáque viscera Montis Erigit eructans liquefactáque saxa sub auras Cum gemitu glomerat fundóque exaesluat into Fama est Enceladi semustum fulmine corpus Urgeri mole hâc ingentémque insuper Aetnam Impositam ruptis flammam expirare caminis Et fessum quoties mutet latus intremere omnem Murmure Trinacriam coelum subtexere fumo Aetna whose ruines make a thunder Sometimes black clouds of smoak that rowl about Mingled with flakes of fire it belches out And sometimes Balls of flame it darts on high Or its torn bowels flings into the Sky Within deep Cells under the Earth a store Of fire-materials molten Stones and Ore Iâ— gathers then spews out and gathers more Emceladus when thunder-struck by Jove Was buri'd here and Aetna thrown above And when to change his wearied side he turns The Island trembles and the Mountain burns Not far from Aetna lies Strâ—mbolo and other adjacent Islands where there are also such magazines of Fire and throughout all Regions and Countries in the West-Indies and in the East in the Northern and Southern parts of the Earth there are some of these Volcano's which are sensible evidences that the Earth is incompact and full of Caverns besides the roarings and bellowings that use to be heard before an eruption of these Volcano's argue some dreadful hollowness in the belly or under the roots of the Mountain where the Exhalations struggle before they can break their Prison The Subterraneous Cavities that we have spoke of hitherto are such as are visible in the surface of the Earth and break the skin by some gaping Orifice but the Miners and those that work under ground meet with many more in the bowels of the Earth that never reach to the top of it Burrows and Chanels and Clefts and Caverns that never had the comfort of one beam of light since the great fall of the Earth And where we think the ground is firm and solid as upon Heaths and Downs it often betrays its hollowness by sounding under the Horses feet and the Chariot-wheels that pass over it We do not know when and where we stand upon good ground if it was examin'd deep enough and to make us further sensible of this we will instance in two things that argue the unsoundness and hollowness of the Earth in the inward recesses of it though the surface be intire and unbroken These are Earthquakes and the communication of Subterraneous waters and Seas Of which two we will speak a little more particularly Earthquakes are too evident demonstrations of the hollowness of the Earth being the dreadful effects or consequences of it for if the body of the Earth was sound and compact there would be no such thing in Nature as an Earthquake They are commonly accompanied with an heavy dead found like a dull thunder which ariseth from the Vapours that are striving in the womb of Nature when her throes are coming upon her And that these Caverns where the Vapours lie are very large and capacious we are taught sometimes by sad experience for whole Cities and Countries have been swallow'd up into them as Sodom and Gomorrha and the Region of Pentapolis and several Cities in Greece and in Asia and other parts Whole Islands also have been thus absort in an Earthquake the pillars and props they stood upon being broken they have sunk and faln in as an house blown up I am also of opinion that those Islands that are made by divulsion from a Continent as Sicily was broken off from Italy and Great Britain as some think from France have been made the same way that is the Isthmus or necks of Land that joyn'd these Islands with their Continents before have been hollow and being either worn by the water or shak'd by an Earthquake have sunk down and so made way for the Sea to overflow them and of a Promontory to make an Island For it is not at all likely that the neck of Land continu'd standing and the Sea overflow'd it and so made an Island for then all those passages between such Islands and their respective Continents would be extremely shallow and unnavigable which we do not find them to be Nor is it any more wonder if such a neck of Land should fall than that a Mountain should sink or any other Tract of Land and a Lake rise in its place which hath often happen'd Plato supposeth his Atlantis to have been greater than Asia and Africa together and yet to have sunk all into the Sea whether that be true or no I do not think it impossible that some arms of the Sea or Sinus's might have had such an original as that and I am very apt to think that for some years after the Deluge till the fragments were well setled and adjusted great alterations would happen as to the face of the Sea and the Land many of the fragments would change their posture and many would sink into the water that stood out before the props failing that bore them up or the joynts and corners whereby they lean'd upon one another and thereupon a new face
of things would arise and a new Deluge for that part of the Earth Such removes and interchanges I believe would often happen in the first Ages after the Flood as we see in all other ruines there happen lesser and secondary ruines after the first till the parts be so well pois'd and setled that without some violence they scarce change their posture any more But to return to our Earthquakes and to give an instance or two of their extent and violence Pliny mentions one in the Reign of Tiberius Caesar that struck down Twelve Cities of Asia in one night And Fournier gives us an account of one in Peru that reacht three hundred leagues along the Sea-shore and seventy leagues inland and level'd the Mountains all along as it went threw down the Cities turn'd the Rivers out of their Chanels and made an universal havock and confusion And all this he saith was done within the space of seven or eight minutes There must be dreadful Vaults and Mines under that Continent that gave passage to the Vapours and liberty to play for nine hundred miles in length and above two hundred in breadth Asia also hath been very subject to these desolations by Earthquakes and many parts in Europe as Greece Italy and others The truth is our Cities are built upon ruines and our Fields and Countries stand upon broken Arches and Vaults and so does the greatest part of the outward frame of the Earth and therefore it is no wonder if it be often shaken there being quantities of Exhalations within these Mines or Cavernous passages that are capable of rarefaction and inflammation and upon such occasions requiring more room they shake or break the ground that covers them And thus much concerning Earthquakes A second observation that argues the hollowness of the Earth is the communication of the Seas and Lakes under ground The Caspian and Mediterranean Seas and several Lakes receive into them great Rivers and yet have no visible out let These must have Subterraneous out-lets by which they empty themselves otherwise they would redound and overflow the brims of their Vessel The Mediterranean is most remarkable in this kind because 't is observ'd that at one end the great Ocean flows into it through the straits of Gibralter with a sensible current and towards the other end about Constantinople the Pontus flows down into it with a stream so strong that Vessels have much ado to stem it and yet it neither hath any visible evacuation or out-let nor over-flows its banks And besides that it is thus fed at either end it is sed by the navel too as I may so say it sucks in by their Chanels several Rivers into its belly whereof the Nile is one very great and considerable These things have made it a great Problem What becomes of the water of the Mediterranean Sea And for my part I think the solution is very easie namely that it is discharg'd by Subterraneous passages or convey'd by Chanels under the ground into the Ocean And this manner of discharge or conveyance is not peculiar to the Mediterranean but is common to it with the Caspian Sea and other Seas and Lakes that receive great Rivers into them and have no visible issue I know there have been propos'd several other ways to answer this difficulty concerning the eâ—flux or consumption of the waters of the Mediterranean some have suppos'd a double current in the strait of Gibralter one that carry'd the water in and another that brought it out like the Arteries and Veins in our Body the one exporting our bloud from the heart and the other re-importing it So they suppos'd one current upon the surface which carry'd the water into the Mediterranean and under it at a certain depth a counter-current which brought the water back into the Ocean But this hath neither proof nor foundation for unless it was included in pipes as our bloud is or consisted of liquors very different these cross currents would mingle and destroy one another Others are of opinion that all the water that flows into the Mediterranean or a quantity equal to it is consum'd in Exhalations every day This seems to be a bolder supposition than the other for if so much be consum'd in Vapours and Exhalations every day as flows into this Sea what if this Sea had an out-let and discharg'd by that every day as much as it receiv'd in a few days the Vapours would have consum'd all the rest and yet we see many Lakes that have as free an out-let as an in-let and are not consum'd or sensibly diminisht by the Vapours Besides This Reason is a Summer-reason and would pass very ill in Winter when the heat of the Sun is much less powerful At least there would be a very sensible difference betwixt the height of the waters in Summer and Winter if so much was consum'd every day as this Explication supposeth And the truth is this want of a visible out-let is not a property belonging only to the Mediterranean Sea as we noted before but is also in other Seas and great Lakes some lying in one Climate and some in another where there is no reason to suppose such excessive Exhalations and though 't is true some Rivers in Africk and in others parts of the Earth are thus exhal'd and dry'd up without ever flowing into the Sea as were all the Rivers in the first Earth yet this is where the sands and parch'd ground suck up a great part of them the heat of the Climate being excessively strong and the Chanel of the River growing shallower by degrees and it may be divided into lesser branches and rivulets which are causes that take no place here And therefore we must return to our first reason which is universal for all seasons of the Year and all Climates and seeing we are assur'd that there are Subterraneous Chanels and passages for Rivers often fall into the ground and sometimes rise again and sometimes never return why should we doubt to ascribe this effect to so obvious a cause Nay I believe the very Ocean doth evacuate it self by Subterraneous out-lets for considering what a prodigious mass of water falls into it every day from the wide mouths of all the Rivers of the Earth it must have out-lets proportionable and those Syrtes or great Whirlpools that are constant in certain parts or Sinus's of the Sea as upon the Coast of Norway and of Italy arise probably from Subterraneous out-lets in those places whereby the water sinks and turns and draws into it whatsoever comes within such a compass and if there was no issue at the bottom though it might by contrary currents turn things round within in its Sphere yet there is no reason from that why it should suck them down to the bottom Neither does it seem improbable that the currents of the Sea are from these in-draughts and that there is always a submarine in-let in some part of them to make a circulation of
the Waters But thus much for the Subterraneous communication of Seas and Lakes And thus much in general concerning Subterraneous Cavities and concerning the hollow and broken frame of the Earth If I had now Magick enough to show you at one view all the inside of the Earth which we have imperfectly describ'd if we could go under the roots of the Mountains and into the sides of the broken rocks or could dive into the Earth with one of those Rivers that sink under ground and follow its course and all its windings till it rise again or led us to the Sea we should have a much stronger and more effectual Idea of the broken form of the Earth than any we can excite by these faint descriptions collected from Reason The Ancients I remember us'd to represent these hollow Caves and Subterraneous Regions in the nature of a World under-ground and suppos'd it inhabited by the Nymphs especially the Nymphs of the waters and the Sea-Goddesses so Orpheus sung of old and in imitation of him Virgil hath made a description of those Regions feigning the Nymph Cyrene to send for her son to come down to her and make her a visit in those shades where mortals were not admitted Duc age duc ad nos fas illi limina Divûm Tangere ait Simul alta jubet discedere latè Flumina quà juvenis gressus inferret at illum Curvata in montis faciem circumstitit unda AccepÃtque sinu vasto misÃtque sub amnem Iámque domum â—mirans Genetricis humida regna Speluncisque lacos clausos lucósque sonantes Ibat ingenti motu stupâ—factus aquarum Omnia sub magnâ labentia slumina terrâ Spectabat diversa locis PhasÃmque Licúmque c. Et Thalami matris pendentia pumice tecta c. Come lead the Youth below bring him to me The Gods are pleas'd our Mansions he should see Streight she commands the floods to make him way They open their wide bosom and obey Soft is the path and easie is his tread A watry Arch hends o'er his dewy head And as he goes he wonders and looks round To see this new-found Kingdom under ground The silent Lakes in hollow Caves he sees And on their banks an echoing grove of Trees The fall of waters 'mongst the Rocks below He hears and sees the Rivers how they flow All the great Rivers of the Earth are there Prepar'd as in a womb by Nature's care Last to his mother's bed-chamber he 's brought Where the high roof with Pumice-stone is wrought c. If we now could open the Earth as this Nymph did the Water and go down into the bosom of it see all the dark Chambers and Apartments there how ill contriv'd and how ill kept so many holes and corners some fill'd with smoak and fire some with water and some with vapours and mouldy Air how like a ruine it lies gaping and torn in the parts of it we should not easily believe that God created it into this form immediately out of nothing It would have cost no more to have made things in better order nay it had been more easie and more simple and accordingly we are assured that all things were made at first in Beauty and proportion And if we consider Nature and the manner of the first formation of the Earth 't is evident that there could be no such holes and Caverns nor broken pieces made then in the body of it for the grosser parts of the Chaos falling down towards the Center they would there compose a mass of Earth uniform and compact the water swimming above it and this first mass under the water could have no Caverns or vacuities in it for if it had had any the Earthy parts while the mass was liquid or semi-liquid would have sunk into them and fill'd them up expelling the Air or Water that was there And when afterwards there came to be a crust or new Earth form'd upon the face of the Waters there could be no Cavities no dens no fragments in it no more than in the other And for the same general reason that is passing from a liquid form into a concrete or solid leasurely and by degrees it would flow and settle together in an entire mass There being nothing broken nor any thing hard to bear the parts off from one another or to intercept any empty spaces between them 'T is manifest then that the Earth could not be in this Cavernous form originally by any work of Nature nor by any immediate action of God seeing there is neither use nor beauty in this kind of construction Do we not then as reasonably as aptly ascribe it to that desolation that was brought upon the Earth in the general Deluge When its outward frame was dissolv'd and fell into the great Abyss How easily doth this answer all that we have observ'd concerning the Subterraneous Regions That hollow and broken posture of things under ground all those Caves and holes and blind recesses that are otherwise so inaccountable say but that they are a Ruine and you have in one word explain'd them all For there is no sort of Cavities interior or exterior great or little open or shut wet or dry of what form or fashion soever but we might reasonably expect them in a ruine of that nature And as for the Subterraneous waters seeing the Earth fell into the Abyss the pillars and foundations of the present exteriour Earth must stand immers'd in water and therefore at such a depth from the surface every where there must be water found if the soil be of a nature to admit it 'T is true all Subterraneous waters do not proceed from this original for many of them are the effects of Rains and melted Snows sunk into the Earth but that in digging any where you constantly come to water at length even in the most solid ground this cannot proceed from these Rains or Snows but must come from below and from a cause as general as the effect is which can be no other in my judgment than this that the roots of the exteriour Earth stand within the old Abyss whereof as a great part lies open in the Sea so the rest lies hid and cover'd among the fragments of the Earth sometimes dispers'd and only moistning the parts as our bloud lies in the flesh and in the habit of the body sometimes in greater or lesser masses as the bloud in our Vessels And this I take to be the true account of Subterraneous waters as distinguish'd from Fountains and Rivers and from the matter and causes of them Thus much we have spoke to give a general Idea of the inward parts of the Earth and an easie Explication of them by our Hypothesis which whether it be true or no if you compare it impartially with Nature you will confess at least that all these things are just in such a form and posture as if it was true CHAP. X. Concerning the Chanel of the
Sea and the Original of it The Causes of its irregular form and unequal depths As also of the Original of Islands their situation and other properties WE have hitherto given an account of the Subterraneous Regions and of their general form We now come above ground to view the surface of the Globe which we find Terraqueous or divided into Sea and Land These we must survey and what is remarkable in them as to their frame and structure we must give an account of from our Hypothesis and shew to be inaccountable from any other yet known As for the Ocean there are two things considerable in it the Water and the Chanel that contains it The Water no doubt is as ancient as the Earth and cotemporary with it and we suppose it to be part of the great Abyss wherein the World was drown'd the rest lying cover'd under the hollow fragments of Continents and Islands But that is not so much the subject of our present discourse as the Chanel of the Ocean that vast and prodigious Cavity that runs quite round the Globe and reacheth for ought we know from Pole to Pole and in many places is unsearchably deep When I present this great Gulf to my imagination emptied of all its waters naked and gaping at the Sun stretching its jaws from one end of the Earth to another it appears to me the most ghastly thing in Nature What hands or instruments could work a Trench in the body of the Earth of this vastness and lay Mountains and Rocks on the side of it as Ramparts to enclose it But as we justly admire its greatness so we cannot at all admire its beauty or elegancy for 't is as deform'd and irregular as it is great And there appearing nothing of order or any regular design in its parts it seems reasonable to believe that it was not the work of Nature according to her first intention or according to the first model that was drawn in measure and proportion by the Line and by the Plummet but a secondary work and the best that could be made of broken materials And upon this supposition 't is easie to imagine how upon the dissolution of the primaeval Earth the Chanel of the Sea was made or that huge Cavity that lies between the several Continents of the Earth which shall be more particularly explain'd after we have view'd a little better the form of it and the Islands that lie scatter'd by its shores There is no Cavity in the Earth whether open or Subterraneous that is comparably so great as that of the Ocean nor would any appear of that deformity if we could see it empty The inside of a Cave is rough and unsightly The beds of great Rivers and great Lakes when they are laid dry look very raw and rude The Valleys of the Earth if they were naked without Trees and without Grass nothing but bare ground and bare stones from the tops of their Mountains would have a ghastly aspect but the Sea-chanel is the complex of all these here Caves empty Lakes naked Valleys are represented as in their original or rather far exceeded and out-done as to all their irregularities for the Cavity of the Ocean is universally irregular both as to the shores and borders of it as to the uncertain breadth and the uncertain depth of its several parts and as to its ground and bottom and the whole mould If the Sea had been drawn round the Earth in regular figures and borders it might have been a great beauty to our Globe and we should reasonably have concluded it a work of the first Creation or of Nature's first production but finding on the contrary all the marks of disorder and disproportion in it we may as reasonably conclude that it did not belong to the first order of things but was something succedaneous when the degeneracy of Mankind and the judgments of God had destroy'd the first World and subjected the Creation of some kind of Vanity Nor can it easily be imagin'd if the Sea had been always and the Earth in this Terraqueous form broke into Continents and Islands how Mankind could have been propagated at first through the face of the Earth all from one head and from one place For Navigation was not then known at least as to the grand Ocean or to pass from Continent to Continent And I believe Noah's Ark was the first Ship or Vessel of bulk that ever was built in the World how could then the Posterity of Adam overflow the Earth and stock the several parts of the World if they had been distant or separate then as they are now by the interposal of the great Ocean But this consideration we will insist upon more largely in another place let us reflect upon the irregularities of the Sea-chanel again and the possible causes of it If we could imagine the Chanel of the Sea to have been made as we may imagine the Chanel of Rivers to have been by long and insensible attrition The Water wearing by degrees the ground under it by the â—orce it hath from its descent and course we should not wonder at its irregular form but 't is not possible this Chanel should have had any such original whence should its water have descended from what Mountains or from what Clouds Where is the spring-head of the Sea What force could eat away half the surface of the Earth and wear it hollow to an immeasurable depth This must not be from feeble and lingring causes such as the attrition of waters but from some great violence offer'd to Nature such as we suppose to have been in the general Deluge when the frame of the Earth was broken And after we have a little survey'd the Sea-coast and so far as we can the form of the Sea-chanel we shall the more easily believe that they could have no other original than what we assign The shores and coasts of the Sea are no way equal or uniform but go in a line uncertainly crooked and broke indented and jag'd as a thing torn as you may see in the Maps of the Coasts and the Sea-charts and yet there are innumerable more inequalities than are taken notice of in those draughts for they only mark the greater Promontories and Bays but there are besides those a multitude of Creeks and out-lets necks of Land and Angles which break the evenness of the shore in all manner of ways Then the height and level of the shore is as uncertain as the line of it 'T is sometimes high and sometimes low sometimes spread in sandy Plains as smooth as the Sea it self and of such an equal height with it that the waves seem to have no bounds but the meer figure and convexity of the Globe In other places 't is rais'd into banks and ramparts of Earth and in others 't is wall'd in with Rocks And all this without any order that we can observe or any other reason than that this is what might be
expected in a ruine As to the depths and soundings of the Sea they are under no rule nor equality any more than the figures of the Shores Shallows in some places and Gulphs in others beds of Sands sometimes and sometimes Rocks under water as Navigators have learn'd by a long and dangerous experience And though we that are upon dry Land are not much concern'd how the Rocks and the Shelves lie in the Sea yet a poor shipwreckt Mariner when he hath run his Vessel upon a Rock in the middle of the Chanel expostulates bitterly with Nature who it was that plac'd that Rock there and to what purpose Was there not room enough saith he upon the Land or the Shore to lay your great stones but they must be thrown into the middle of the Sea as it were in spite to Navigation The best Apology that can be made for Nature in this case so far as I know is to confess that the whole business of the Sea-chanel is but a ruine and in a ruine things tumble uncertainly and commonly lie in confusion Though to speak the truth it seldom happens unless in narrow Seas that Rocks or Banks or Islands lie in the middle of them or very far from the Shores Having view'd the more visible parts of the Chanel of the Sea we must now descend to the bottom of it and see the form and contrivance of that but who shall guide us in our journey while we walk as Iob saith in the search of the deep Or who can make a description of that which none hath seen It is reasonable to believe that the bottom of the Sea is much more rugged broken and irregular than the face of the Land There are Mountains and Valleys and Rocks and ridges of Rocks and all the common inequalities we see upon Land besides these 't is very likely there are Caves under water and hollow passages into the bowels of the Earth by which the Seas circulate and communicate one with another and with Subterraneous waters Those great Eddees and infamous Syrtes and Whirlpools that are in some Seas as the Baltick and the Mediterranean that suck into them and overwhelm whatever comes within their reach show that there is something below that sucks from them in proportion and that drinks up the Sea as the Sea drinks up the Rivers We ought also to imagine the Shores within the water to go inclin'd and sloping but with great inequality there are many Shelves in the way and Chambers and sharp Angles and many broken Rocks and great stones lie rolled down to the bottom 'T is true these things affect us little because they are not expos'd to our senses and we seldom give our selves the trouble to collect from reason what the form of the invisible and inaccessible parts of the Earth is or if we do sometimes those Idea's are faint and weak and make no lasting impression upon our imagination and passions but if we should suppose the Ocean dry and that we lookt down from the top of some high Cloud upon the empty Shell how horridly and barbarously would it look And with what amazement should we see it under us like an open Hell or a wide bottomless pit So deep and hollow and vast so broken and confus'd so every way deform'd and monstrous This would effectually waken our imagination and make us enquire and wonder how such a thing came in Nature from what causes by what force or engines could the Earth be torn in this prodigious manner did they dig the Sea with Spades and carry out the molds in hand-baskets Where are the entrails laid and how did they cleave the Rocks asunder If as many Pioneers as the Army of Xerxes had been at work ever since the beginning of the World they could not have made a ditch of this greatness Nor is it the greatness only but that wild and multifarious confusion which we see in the parts and fashion of it that makes it strange and inaccountable 't is another Chaos in its kind who can paint the Scenes of it Gulfs and Precipices and Cataracts Pits within Pits and Rocks under Rocks broken Mountains and ragged Islands that look as if they had been Countries pull'd up by the roots and planted in the Sea If we could make true and full representations of these things to our selves I think we should not be so bold as to make them the immediate product of Divine Omnipotence being destitute of all appearance of Art or Counsel The first orders of things are more perfect and regular and this Decorum seems to be observ'd that Nature doth not fall into disorder till Mankind be first degenerate and leads the way Monsters have been often made an argument against Providence if a Calf have two heads or five legs streight there must not be a God in Heaven or at least not upon Earth and yet this is but a chance that happens once in many years and is of no consequence at all to the rest of the World But if we make the standing frame of Nature monstrous or deform'd and disproportion'd and to have been so not by corruption and degeneracy but immediately by Divine Creation or Formation it would not be so easie to answer that objection against Providence Let us therefore prevent this imputation and supposing according to our Theory that these things were not originally thus let us now explain more distinctly how they came to pass at the Deluge or upon the dissolution of the first Earth And we will not content our selves with a general answer to these observations concerning the Sea-chanel as if it was a sufficient account of them to say they were the effects of a ruine there are other things to be consider'd and explain'd besides this irregularity as the vast hollowness of this Cavity bigger incomparably than any other belonging to the Earth and also the declivity of the sides of it which lie shelving from top to bottom For notwithstanding all the inequalities we have taken notice of in the Chanel of the Sea it hath one general form which may though under many differences be observ'd throughout and that is that the shores and sides within the water lie inclin'd and you descend by degrees to the deepest part which is towards the middle This I know admits of many exceptions for sometimes upon a rocky shore or among rocky Islands the Sea is very deep close to the Rocks and the deeper commonly the higher and sleeper the Rocks are Also where the descent is more leisurely 't is often after a different manner in some coasts more equal and uniform in others more broken and interrupted but still there is a descent to the Chanel or deepest part and this in the deep Ocean is fathomless And such a deep Ocean and such a deep Chanel there is always between Continents This I think is a property as determinate as any we can pitch upon in the Chanel of the Sea and with those other two
Theological and we will try them both for our satisfaction Of Philosophers none was more concern'd to give an account of such things than Epicurus both because he acknowledged the Origin of the Earth to have been from a Chaos and also admitted no causes to act in Nature but Matter and Motion Yet all the account we have from the Epicureans of the form of the Earth and the great inequalities that are in it is so slight and trivial that methinks it doth not deserve the name of a Philosophical Explication They say that the Earth and Water were mix'd at first or rather the Earth was above the Water and as the Earth was condens'd by the heat of the Sun and the Winds the Water was squeez'd out in certain places which either it found hollow or made so and so was the Chanel of the Sea made Then as for Mountains while some parts of the Earth shrunk and sunk in this manner others would not sink and these standing still while the others fell lower made the Mountains How the subterraneous Cavities were made according to them I do not find This is all the Account that Monsieur Gassendi who seems to have made it his business as well as his pleasure to embellish that Philosophy can help us to out of the Epicurean Authors how the Earth came into this form and he that can content himself with this is in my mind of an humour very easie to be pleas'd Do the Sun and the Wind use to squeaze pools of Water out of the Earth and that in such a quantity as to make an Ocean They dry the Earth and the Waters too and rarifie them into vapours but I never knew them to be the causes of pressing Water out of the Earth by condensation Could they compress the Earth any otherwise than by drying it and making it hard and in proportion as it was more dry would it not the more imbibe and suck up the Water and how were the great Mountains of the Earth made in the North and in the South where the influence of the Sun is not great What sunk the Earth there and made the flesh start from the bones But 't is no wonder that Epicurus should give such a mean account of the Origin of the Earth and the form of its parts who did not so much as understand the general Figure of the Body of it that it was in some manner Spherical or that the Heavens encompast it round One must have a blind love for that Philosophy and for the conclusions it drives at not to see its lameness and defects in those first and fundamental parts Aristotle though he was not concern'd to give an account how the Earth came into this present form as he suppos'd it Eternal yet upon another consideration he seems oblig'd to give some reason how the Elements came into this disorder seeing he supposeth that according to the order of Nature the Water should lie above the Earth in a Sphere as the Air doth above the Water and his Fire above the Air. This he toucheth upon in his Meteors but so gently and fearfully as if he was handling hot coals He saith the Sea is to be consider'd as the Element or body of Waters that belongs to this Earth and that these Waters change places and the Sea is some Ages in one part of the Globe and some Ages in another but that this is at such great distances of time that there can be no memory or record of it And he seems willing to suppose that the Water was once all over the Earth but that it drid up in certain places and continuing in others it there made the Sea What a miserable account is this As to his change or removal of the Sea-chanel in several Ages as it is without all proof or probability if he mean it of the Chanel of the great Ocean so 't is nothing to the purpose here for the question is not why the Chanel of the Sea is in such a part of the Earth rather than in another but why there is any such prodigious Cavity in or upon the Earth any where And if we take his supposition that the Element of Water was once higher than the Earth and lay in a Sphere about it then let him tell us in plain terms how the Earth got above or how the Cavity of the Ocean was made and how the the Mountains rise for this Elementary Earth which lay under the Water was I suppose equal and smooth when it lay there and what reason was there that the Waters should be dri'd in one part of it more than another if they were every where of an equal depth and the ground equal under them It was not the Climates made any distinction for there is Sea towards the Poles as well as under the Aequator but suppose they were dri'd up in certain places that would make no Mountains no more than there are Mountains in our dri'd Marches And the places where they were not dri'd would not therefore become as deep and hollow as the Sea chanel and tear the Earth and Rocks in pieces If you should say that this very Elementary Earth as it lay under the Waters was unequal and was so originally form'd into Mountains and Valleys and great Cavities besides that the supposition is altogether irrational in it self you must suppose a prodigious mass of Water to cover such an Earth as much as we found requisite for the vulgar Deluge namely eight Oceans and what then is become of the other seven Upon the whole I do not see that either in Epicurus's way who seems to suppose that the Waters were at first within the Earth nor in Aristotle's way who seems to suppose them upon the Earth any rational or tolerable account can be given of the present form of the Earth Wherefore some modern Authors dissatisfied as very well they might be with these Explications given us by the Ancients concerning the form of the Earth have pitch'd upon other causes more true indeed in their kind and in their degree but that â—all as much short of those effects to which they would apply them They say that all the irregularities of the body of the Earth have risen from Earthquakes in particular places and from Torrents and Inundations and from eruptions of Fire or such like causes whereof we see some instances more or less every Age And these have made that havock upon the face of the Earth and turn'd things up-side down raising the Earth in some places and making great Cavities or Chasms in others so as to have brought it at length into that torn broken and disorderly form in which we now see it These Authors do so far agree with us as to acknowledge that the present irregular form of the Earth must have proceeded from ruines and dissolutions of one sort or other but these ruines they make to have been partial only in this or in that Country by piece-meal and
it lay under the Water was a solid uniform mass compact and close united in its parts as we have shewn before upon several occasions no Mines or hollow Vaults for the Vapours to be lodg'd in no Store-houses of Fire nothing that could make Earthquakes nor any sort of ruines or eruptions These are Engines that cannot play but in an Earth already broken hollow and cavernous Therefore the Authors of this opinion do in effect beg the question they assign such causes of the present form of the Earth as could not take place nor have any activity until the Earth was in this form These causes may contribute something to increase the rudeness and inequalities of the Earth in certain places but they could not be the original causes of it And that not only because of their disproportion to such effects but also because of their incapacity or non-existence at that time when these effects were to be wrought Thus much concerning the Philosophical opinions or the natural Causes that have been assign'd for the irregular form of this present Earth Let us now consider the Theological opinions how Mountains were made at first and the wonderful Chanel of the Sea And these Authors say God Almighty made them immediately when he made the World and so dispatcht the business in a few words This is a short account indeed but we must take heed that we do not derogate from the perfection of God by ascribing all things promiscuously to his immediate action I have often suggested that the first order of things is regular and simple according as the Divine Nature is and continues so till there is some degeneracy in the moral World I have also noted upon several occasions especially in the Lat. Treat Cap. II. the deformity and incommodiousness of the present Earth and from these two considerations we may reasonably infer that the present state of the Earth was not Original but is a state of subjection to Vanity wherein it must continue till the redemption and restitution of all things But besides this general consideration there are many others both Natural and Theological against this opinion which the Authors of it I believe will find unanswerable As first S. Peter's distinction betwixt the present Earth and the Ante-diluvian and that in opposition to certain profane persons who seem to have been of the same opinion with these Authors namely That the Heavens and the Earth were the same now that they had been from the beginning and that there had been no change in Nature either of late or in former Ages These S. Peter confutes and upbraids them with ignorance or forgetfulness of the change that was brought upon Nature at the Deluge or that the Ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth were of a different form and constitution from the present whereby that World was obnoxious to a Deluge of Water as the present is to a Deluge of Fire Let these Authors put themselves in the place of those Objectors and see what answer they can make to the Apostle whom I leave to dispute the case with them I hope they will not treat this Epistle of S. Peter's so rudely as Didymus Alexandrinus did an ancient Christian and one of S. Ierom's Masters he was of the same opinion with these Theological Authors and so fierce in it that seeing S. Peter's doctrine here to be contrary he said this Epistle of S. Peter's was corrupted and was not to be receiv'd into the Canon And all this because it taught that the Heavens and the Earth had chang'd their form and would do so again at the Conflagration so as the same World would be Tâ—iform in success of time We acknowledge his Exposition of S. Peter's words to be very true but what he makes an argument of the corruption of this Epistle is rather in my mind a peculiar argument of its Divine Inspiration In the second place these Writers dash upon the old rock the impossibility of explaining the Deluge if there were Mountains from the beginning and the Earth then in the same form as it is in now Thirdly They make the state of Paradise as unintelligible as that of the Deluge For those properties that are assign'd to Paradise by the Ancients are inconsistent with the present form of the Earth As will appear in the Second Book Lastly They must answer and give an account of all those marks which we have observ'd in Nature both in this Chapter and the Ninth Tenth and Eleventh of fractions ruines and dissolutions that have been on the Earth and which we have shown to be inexplicable unless we admit that the Earth was once in another form These arguments being premis'd let us now bring their opinion close to the Test and see in what manner these Mountains must have been made according to them and how the Chanel of the Sea and all other Cavities of the Earth Let us to this purpose consider the Earth again in that transient incompleat form which it had when the Abyss encompast the whole body of it we both agree that the Earth was once in this state and they say that it came immediately out of this state into its present form there being made by a supernatural Power a great Chanel or Ditch in one part of it which drew off the Waters from the rest and the Earth which was squeez'd and forc'd out of this Ditch made the Mountains So there is the Chanel of the Sea made and the Mountains of the Earth how the subterraneous Cavities were made according to these Authors I do not well know This I confess seems to me a very gross thought and a way of working very un-God-like but however let 's have patience to examine it And in the first place if the Mountains were taken out of the Chanel of the Sea then they are equal to it and would fill it up if they were thrown in again But these proportions upon examination will not agree for though the Mountains of the Earth be very great yet they do not equal by much the great Ocean The Ocean extends to half the surface of the Earth and if you suppose the greatest depth of the Ocean to answer the height of the greatest Mountains and the middle depth to the middle sort of Mountains the Mountains ought to cover all the dry Land to make them answer to all the capacity of the Ocean whereas we suppos'd them upon a reasonable computation to cover but the tenth part of the dry Land and consequently neither they nor the Sea-chanel could have been produc'd in this manner because of their great disproportion to one another And the same thing appears if we compare the Mountains with the Abyss which cover'd the Earth before this Chanel was made for this Chanel being made great enough to contain all the Abyss the Mountains taken out of it must also be equal to all the Abyss but the aggregate of the Mountains will not answer this by many degrees
for suppose the Abyss was but half as deep as the deep Ocean to make this Calculus answer all the dry Land ought to be cover'd with Mountains and with Mountains as high as the Ocean is deep or doubly high to the depth of the Abyss because they are but upon one half of the Globe And this is the first argument against the reciprocal production of Mountains and the Sea their incongruency or disproportion Secondly We are to consider that a great many Mountains of the Earth are far distant from any Seas as the great in-land Mountains of Asia and of Africk and the Sarmatick Mountains and others in Europe how were these great bodies slung thorow the Air from their respective Seas whence they were taken to those places where they stand What appearance is there in common reason or credibility that these huge masses of Earth and Stone that stand in the middle of Continents were dug out of any Seas We think it strange and very deservedly that a little Chapel should be transported from Palestine to Italy over Land and Sea much more the transportation of Mount Atlas or Taurus thorow the Air or of a range of Mountains two or three thousand miles long would surely upon all accounts appear incongruous and incredible Besides neither the hollow form of Mountains nor the stony matter whereof they commonly consist agrees with that supposition that they were prest or taken out of the Chanel of the Sea Lastly We are to consider that the Mountains are not barely laid upon the Earth as a Tomb-stone upon a Grave nor stand as Statues do upon a Pedestal as this opinion seems to suppose but they are one continued substance with the body of the Earth and their roots reach into the Abyss as the Rocks by the Sea-side go as deep as the bottom of the Sea in one continu'd mass And 't is a ridiculous thing to imagine the Earth first a plain surface then all the Mountains set upon it as Hay-cocks in a Field standing upon their flat bottoms There is no such common surface in Nature nor consequently any such super-additions 'T is all one frame or mass only broken and disjoynted in the parts of it To conclude 'T is not only the Mountains that make the inequalities of the Earth or the irregularity of its surface every Country every Province every Field hath an unequal and different situation higher or lower inclin'd more or less and sometimes one way sometimes another you can scarce take a miles compass in any place where the surface of the ground continues uniform and can you imagine that there were Moulds or Stones brought from the Sea-chanel to make all those inequalities Or that Earthquakes have been in every County and in every Field The inner Veins and Lares the beds or Strata of the Earth are also broken as well as the surface These must proceed from universal causes and all those that have been alledg'd whether from Philosophy or Theology are but particular or Topical I am fully satisfied in contemplation of these things and so I think every unprejudic'd person may be that to such an irregular variety of situation and construction as we see every where in the parts of the Earth nothing could answer but some universal concussion or dislocation in the nature of a general ruine We have now finisht this first part of our Theory and all that concerns the Deluge or dissolution of the Earth and we have not only establisht our own Hypothesis by positive arguments but also produc'd and examin'd all suppositions that have been offer'd by others whether Philosophical or Theological for the Explication of the same things so as nothing seems now to remain further upon this subject For a conclusion of all we will consider if you please the rest of the Earths or of the Planets within our Heavens that appertain to the same common Sun to see so far as we can go by rational conjectures if they be not of the same Fabrick and have undergone the like fate and forms with our Earth It is now acknowledg'd by the generality of Learned Men that the Planets are Opake bodies and particularly our next neighbour the Moon is known to be a Terraqueous Globe consisting of Mountains and Valleys as our Earth does and we have no reason to believe but that she came into that form by a dissolution or from like causes as our Earth did Mercury is so near the Sun that we cannot well discern his face whether spotted or no nor make a judgment of it But as for Venus and Mars if the spots that be observed in them be their Waters or their Sea as they are in the Moon 't is likely They are also Terraqueous Globes and in much what a like form with the Moon and the Earth and for ought we know from like causes Particularly as to Venus 't is a remarkable passage that S. Austin hath preserv'd out of Varro he saith That about the time of the great Deluge there was a wonderful alteration or Catastrophe happen'd to the Planet Venus and that she chang'd her Colour form figure and magnitude This is a great presumption that she suffer'd her dissolution about the same time that our Earth did I do not know that any such thing is recorded concerning any of the other Planets but the body of Mars looks very rugged broken and much disorder'd Saturn and Iupiter deserve a distinct consideration as having something particular and different from the rest of the Planets Saturn is remarkable for his Hoop or Ring which seems to stand off or higher than his body and would strongly induce one to believe that the exteriour Earth of that Planet at its dissolution did not all fall in but the Polar parts sinking into the Abyss the middle or Aequinoctial parts still subsisted and bore themselves up in the nature of an Arch about the Planet or of a Bridge as it were built over the Sea of Saturn And as some have observ'd concerning the figure of Iupiter that it is not wholly Sphaerical but a Sphaeroid protuberant in the Aequator and deprest towards the Poles So I should suspect Saturn to have been much more so before his disruption Namely That the Body of that Planet in its first state was more flat and low towards the Poles and also weaker and thinner and about the Aequator higher fuller and stronger Built By reason of which figure and construction the Polar parts did more easily fall in or were suckt in as Cupping-glasses draw in the Flesh when the Abyss below grew more empty Whereas the middle parts about the Aequator being a more just Arch and strongly built would not yield or sink but stood firm and unbroken and continues still in its first posture Planets break in different ways according to the quality of their matter the manner of their construction and the Nature of the Causes that act upon them Their dissolutions are sometimes total as in
by their disruption And as for Winds they could not be either impetuous or irregular in that Earth seeing there were neither Mountains nor any other inequalities to obstruct the course of the Vapours nor any unequal Seasons or unequal action of the Sun nor any contrary and strugling motions of the Air Nature was then a stranger to all those disorders But as for watery Meteors or those that rise from watery Vapours more immediately as Dews and Rains there could not but be plenty of these in some part or other of that Earth for the action of the Sun in raising Vapours was very strong and very constant and the Earth was at first moist and soft and according as it grew more dry the Rays of the Sun would pierce more deep into it and reach at length the great Abyss which lay underneath and was an unexhausted storehouse of new Vapours But 't is true the same heat which extracted these Vapours so copiously would also hinder them from condensing into Clouds or Rain in the warmer parts of the Earth and there being no Mountains at that time nor contrary Winds nor any such causes to stop them or compress them we must consider which way they would tend and what their course would be and whether they would any where meet with causes capable to change or condense them for upon this 't is manifest would depend the Meteors of that Air and the Waters of that Earth And as the heat of the Sun was chiefly towards the middle parts of the Earth so the copious Vapours rais'd there were most rarified and agitated and being once in the open Air their course would be that way where they found least resistance to their motion and that would certainly be towards the Poles and the colder Regions of the Earth For East and West they would meet with as warm an Air and Vapours as much agitated as themselves which therefore would not yield to their progress that way but towards the North and the South they would find a more easie passage the Cold of those parts attracting them as we call it that is making way to their motion and dilatation without much resistance as Mountains and Cold places usually draw Vapours from the warmer So as the regular and constant course of the Vapours of that Earth which were rais'd chiefly about the Aequinoctial and middle parts of it would be towards the extream parts of it or towards the Poles And in consequence of this when these Vapours were arriv'd in those cooler Climats and cooler parts of the Air they would be condens'd into Rain for wanting there the cause of their agitation namely the heat of the Sun their motion would soon begin to languish and they would fall closer to one another in the form of Water For the difference betwixt Vapours and Water is only gradual and consists in this that Vapours are in a flying motion separate and distant each from another but the parts of Water are in a creeping motion close to one another like a swarm of Bees when they are setled as Vapours resemble the same Bees in the Air before they settle together Now there is nothing puts these Vapours upon the wing or keeps them so but a strong agitation by Heat and when that fails as it must do in all colder places and Regions they necessarily return to Water again Accordingly therefore we must suppose they would soon after they reacht these cold Regions be condens'd and fall down in a continual Rain or Dew upon those parts of the Earth I say a continual Rain for seeing the action of the Sun which rais'd the Vapours was at that time always the same and the state of the Air always alike nor any cross Winds nor any thing else that could hinder the course of the Vapours towards the Poles nor their condensation when arriv'd there 't is manifest there would be a constant Source or store-house of Waters in those parts of the Air and in those parts of the Earth And this I think was the establisht order of Nature in that World this was the state of the Ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth all their Waters came from above and that with a constant supply and circulation for when the croud of Vapours rais'd about the middle parts of the Earth found vent and issue this way towards the Poles the passage being once open'd and the Chanel made the Current would be still continued without intermission and as they were dissolv'd and spent there they would suck in more and more of those which followed and came in fresh streams from the hotter Climates Aristotle I remember in his Meteors speaking of the course of the Vapours saith there is a River in the Air constantly slowing betwixt the Heavens and the Earth made by the ascending and descending Vapours This was more remarkably true in the Primitive Earth where the state of Nature was more constant and regular there was indeed an uninterrupted flood of Vapours rising in one Region of the Earth and flowing to another and there continually distilling in Dews and Rain which made this Aereal River As may be easily apprehended from this Scheme of the Earth and Air. Book 2d. fig. 1st p. 155. Thus we have found a Source for Waters in the first Earth which had no communication with the Sea and a Source that would never fail neither diminish or overflow but feed the Earth with an equal supply throughout all the parts of the year But there is a second difficulty that appears at the end of this How these Waters would flow upon the even surface of the Earth or form themselves into Rivers there being no descent or declivity for their course There were no Hills nor Mountains not high Lands in the first Earth and if these Rains fell in the frigid Zones or towards the Poles there they would stand in Lakes and Pools having no descent one way more than another and so the rest of the Earth would be no better for them This I confess appear'd as great a difficulty as the former and would be unanswerable for ought I know if that first Earth was not water'd by Dews only as I believe some Worlds are or had been exactly Spherical but we noted before that it was Oval or Oblong and in such a Figure 't is manifest the Polar parts are higher than the Aequinoctial that is more remote from the Center as appears to the eye in this Scheme This affords us a present remedy and sets us free of the second difficulty for by this means the Waters which fell about the extreme parts of the Earth would have a continual descent towards the middle parts of it this Figure gives them motion and distribution and many Rivers and Rivulets would flow from those Mother-Lakes to refresh the face of the Earth bending their course still towards the middle parts of it Booke 2d. fig. 2d. p. 156. 'T is true These derivations of the Waters at first would
first occasion'd a fame and belief of their continuance long after they had really ceast This gives an easie account and I think the true cause of that opinion amongst the Ancients generally receiv'd That the Torrid Zone was uninhabitable I say generally receiv'd for not only the Poets both Greek and Latin but their Philosophers Astsonomers and Geographers had the same notion and deliver'd the same doctrine as Aristotle Cleomedes Achilles Tatius Ptolomy Cicero Strabo Mela Pliny Macrobius c. And to speak truth the whole doctrine of the Zones is calculated more properly for the first Earth than for the present for the divisions and bounds of them now are but arbitrary being habitable all over and having no visible distinction whereas they were then determin'd by Nature and the Globe of the Earth was really divided into so many Regions of a very different aspect and quality which would have appear'd at a distance if they had been lookt upon from the Clouds or from the Moon as Iupiter's Belts or as so many Girdles or Swathing-bands about the body of the Earth And so the word imports and so the Ancients use to call them Cinguli and Fasciae But in the present form of the Earth if it was seen at a distance no such distinction would appear in the parts of it nor scarce any other but that of Land and Water and of Mountains and Valleys which are nothing to the purpose of Zones And to add this note further When the Earth lay in this regular form divided into Regions or Walks if I may so call them as this gave occasion of its distinction by Zones so if we might consider all that Earth as a Paradise and Paradise as a Garden for it is always call'd so in Scripture and in Iewish Authors And as this Torrid Zone bare of Grass and Trees made a kind of Gravel-walk in the middle so there was a green Walk on either hand of it made by the temperate Zones and beyond those lay a Canal which water'd the Garden from either side But to return to Antiquity We may add under this Head another observation or doctrine amongst the Ancients strange enough in appearance which yet receives an easie explication from the preceding Theory They say The Poles of the World did once change their situation and were at first in another posture from what they are in now till that inclination happen'd This the ancient Philosophers often make mention of as Anaxagoras Empedocles Diogenes Leucippus Democritus as may be seen in Laertius and in Plutarch and the Stars they say at first were carried about the Earth in a more uniform manner This is no more than what we have observ'd and told you in other words namely That the Earth chang'd its posture at the Deluge and thereby made these seeming changes in the Heavens its Poles before pointed to the Poles of the Ecliptick which now point to the Poles of the Aequator and its Axis is become parallel with that Axis and this is the mystery and interpretation of what they say in other terms this makes the different aspect of the Heavens and of its Poles And I am apt to think that those changes in the course of the Stars which the Ancients sometimes speak of and especially the Aegyptians if they did not proceed from defects in their Calendar had no other Physical account than this And as they say the Poles of the World were in another situation at first so at first they say there was no variety of seasons in the Year as in their Golden Age. Which is very coherent with all the rest and still runs along with the Theory And you may observe that all these things we have instanc'd in hitherto are but links of the same chain in connexion and dependance upon one another When the Primaeval Earth was made out of the Chaos its form and posture was such as of course brought on all those Scenes which Antiquity hath kept the remembrance of though now in another state of Nature they seem very strange especially being disguis'd as some of them are by their odd manner of representing them That the Poles of the World stood once in another posture That the Year had no diversity of Seasons That the Torrid Zone was uninhabitable That the two Hemispheres had no possibility of intercourse and such like These all hang upon the same string or lean one upon another as Stones in the same Building whereof we have by this Theory laid the very foundation bare that you may see what they all stand upon and in what order There is still one remarkable Notion or Doctrine amongst the Ancients which we have not spoken to 't is partly Symbolical and the propriety of the Symbol or of the Application of it hath been little understood 'T is their doctrine of the Mundane Egg or their comparing the World to an Egg and especially in the Original composition of it This seems to be a mean comparison the World and an Egg what proportion or what resemblance betwixt these two things And yet I do not know any Symbolical doctrine or conclusion that hath been so universally entertain'd by the Mystae or Wise and Learned of all Nations as hath been noted before in the fifth Chapter of the First Book and at large in the Latin Treatise 'T is certain that by the World in this similitude they do not mean the Great Universe for that hath neither Figure nor any determinate form of composition and it would be a great vanity and rashness in any one to compare this to an Egg The works of God are immense as his rature is infinite and we cannot make any image or resemblance of either of them but this comparison is to be understood of the Sublunary World or of the Earth And for a general key to Antiquity upon this Argument we may lay this down as a Maxim or Canon That what the Ancients have said concerning the form and figure of the World or concerning the Original of it from a Chaos or about its periods and dissolution are never to be understood of the Great Universe but of our Earth or of this Sublunary and Terrâ—strial World And this observation being made do but reflect upon our Theory of the Earth the manner of its composition at first and the figure of it being compleated and you will need no other interpreter to understand this mystery We have show'd there that the figure of it when finisht was Oval and the inward form of it was a frame of four Regions encompassing one another where that of Fire lay in the middle like the Yolk and a shell of Earth inclos'd them all This gives a solution so easie and natural and shows such an aptness and elegancy in the representation that one cannot doubt upon a view and compare of circumstances but that we have truly found out the Riddle of the Mundane Egg. Amongst other difficulties arising from the Form
was much greater than the present higher and more advanc'd into the Air That it was smooth and regular in its surface without Mountains or Valleys but hollow within and was spontaneously fruitful without plowing or sowing This was its first state but when Mankind became degenerate and outragious with Pride and Violence The angry Gods as they say by Earthquakes and Concussions broke the habitable Orb of the Earth and thereupon the Subterraneous Waters gushing out drown'd it in a Deluge and destroy'd Mankind Upon this fraction it came into another Form with a Sea Lakes and Rivers as we now have And those parts of the broken Earth that stood above the Waters became Mountains Rocks Islands and so much of the Land as we now inhabit This account is given us by Barnardinus Ramazzinus in his Treatise De Fontium Mutinensium Seaturigine Taken from a Book Writ by Francisco Patricio to whom this wonderful Tradition was deliver'd by persons of credit from an Aethiopian Philosopher then in Spain I have not yet had the good fortune to see that Book of Francisco Patricio 't is writ in Italian with this Title Della Retorica degli Antichi Printed at Venice 1562. This story indeed deserves to be enquired after for we do not any where amongst the Ancients meet with such a full and explicit narration of the state of the First and Second Earth That which comes nearest to it are those accounts we find in Plato from the Aegyptian Antiquities in his Timaeus Politicus and Phoedo of another Earth and another state of Nature and Mankind But none of them are so full and distinct as this Aethiopian Doctrine As for the Western Learning we may remember what the Aegyptian Priest says to Solon in Plato's Timaeus You Greeks are always Children and know nothing of Antiquity And if the Greeks were so much more the Romans who came after them in time and for so great a People and so much civiliz'd never any had less Philosophy and less of the Sciences amongst them than the Romans had They studied only the Art of Speaking of Governing and of Fighting and left the rest to the Greeks and Eastern Nations as unprofitable Yet we have reason to believe that the best Philosophical Antiquities that the Romans had perisht with the Books of Varro of Numa Pompilius and of the ancient Sibyls Varro writ as S. Austin tells us a multitude of Volumes and of various sorts and I had rather retrieve his works than the works of any other Roman Author not his Etymologies and Criticisms where we see nothing admirable but his Theologia Physica and his Antiquitates which in all probability would have given us more light into remote times and the Natural History of the past World than all the Latin Authors besides have done He has left the foremention'd distinction of three Periods of time He had the doctrine of the Mundane Egg as we see in Probus Grammaticus and he gave us that observation of the Star Venus concerning the great change she suffer'd about the time of our Deluge Numa Pompilius was doubtless a contemplative Man and 't is thought that he understood the true System of the World and represented the Sun by his Vestal Fire though methinks Vesta does not so properly refer to the Sun as to the Earth which hath a Sacred fire too that is not to be extinguisht He order'd his Books to be buried with him which were found in a Stone Chest by him four hundred years after his death They were in all Twenty-four whereof Twelve contain'd Sacred Rites and Ceremonies and the other Twelve the Philosophy and Wisdom of the Greeks The Romans gave them to the Praetor Petilius to peruse and to make his report to the Senate whether they were fit to be publisht or no The Praetor made a wise politick report that the Contents of them might be of dangerous consequence to the establisht Laws and Religion and thereupon they were condemn'd to be burnt and Posterity was depriv'd of that ancient Treasure whatsoever it was What the Nine Books of the Sibyl contain'd that were offer'd to King Tarquin we little know She valued them high and the higher still the more they seem'd to slight or neglect them which is a piece of very natural indignation or contempt when one is satisfied of the worth of what they offer 'T is likely they respected besides the fate of Rome the fate and several periods of the World both past and to come and the most mystical passages of them And in these Authors and Monuments are lost the greatest hopes of Natural and Philosophick Antiquities that we could have had from the Romans And as to the Greeks their best and Sacred Learning was not originally their own they enricht themselves with the spoils of the East and the remains we have of that Eastern Learning is what we pick out of the Greeks whose works I believe if they were intirely extant we should not need to go any further for witnesses to confirm all the principal parts of this Theory With what regret does one read in Laertius Suidas and others the promising titles of Books writ by the Greek Philosophers hundreds or thousands whereof there is not one now extant and those that are extant are generally but fragments Those Authors also that have writ their Lives or collected their Opinions have done it confus'dly and injudiciously I should hope for as much light and instruction as to the Original of the World from Orpheus alone if his Works had been preserv'd as from all that is extant now of the other Greek Philosophers We may see from what remains of him that he understood in a good measure how the Earth rise from a Chaos what was its external Figure and what the form of its inward structure The opinion of the Oval Figure of the Earth is ascrib'd to Orpheus and his Disciples and the doctrine of the Mundane Egg is so peculiarly his that 't is call'd by Proclus The Orphick Egg not that he was the first Author of that doctrine but the first that brought it into Greece Thus much concerning the Heathen Learning Eastern and Western and the small remains of it in things Philosophical 't is no wonder then if the account we have left us from them of the Primitive Earth and the Antiquities of the Natural World be very imperfect And yet we have trac'd in the precedent Chapter and more largely in our Latin Treatise the foot-steps of several parts of this Theory amongst the Writings and Traditions of the Ancients and even of those parts that seem the most strange and singular and that are the Basis upon which the rest stand We have shown there that their account of the Chaos though it seem'd to many but a Poetical Rhapsody contain'd the true mystery of the formation of the Primitive Earth We have also shown upon the same occasion that both the External Figure and Internal Form of that Earth
that Vault did break as we have shown at large and by the dissolution and fall of it the Great Deep was thrown out of its bed forc'd upwards into the Air and overflow'd in that impetuous Commotion the highest tops of the Fragments of the ruin'd Earth which now we call its Mountains And as this was the first great and fatal Period of Nature so upon the issue of this and the return of the Waters into their Chanels the second face of Nature appear'd or the present broken form of the Earth as it is Terraqueous Mountainous and Cavernous These things we have explain'd fully in the First Book and have thereby setled two great Points given a rational account of the Universal Deluge and shown the Causes of the irregular form of the present or Post-diluvian Earth This being done we have apply'd our selves in the Second Book to the description of the Primaeval Earth and the examination of its properties and this hath led us by an easie tract to the discovery of Paradise and of the true Notion and Mystery of it which is not so much a spot of ground where a fine Garden stood as a course of Nature or a peculiar state of the Earth Paradisiacal in many parts but especially in one Region of it which place or Region we have also endeavour'd to determine though not so much from the Theory as from the suffrages of Antiquity if you will take their judgment THUS much is finisht and this contains the Natural Theory of the Earth till this present time for since the Deluge all things have continued in the same state or without any remarkable change We are next to enter upon new Matter and new Thoughts and not only so but upon a Series of Things and Times to come which is to make the Second Part of this Theory Dividing the duration of the World into two parts Past and Future we have dispatch'd the first and far greater part and come better half of our way And if we make a stand here and look both ways backwards to the Chaos and the beginning of the World and forwards to the End and Consummation of all Things though the first be a longer prospect yet there are as many general Changes and Revolutions of Nature in the remaining part as have already happen'd and in the Evening of this long Day the Scenes will change faster and be more bright and illustrious From the Creation to this Age the Earth hath undergone but one Catastrophe and Nature hath had two different faces The next Catastrophe is the CONFLAGRATION to which a new face of Nature will accordingly succeed New Heavens and a New Earth Paradise renew'd and so it is call'd the Restitution of things or Regeneration of the World And that Period of Nature and Providence being expir'd then follows the Consummation of all things or the General Apotheosts when Death and Hell shall be swallowed up in victory When the great Circle of Time and Fate is run or according to the language of Scripture When the Heavens and the Earth shall pass away and Time shall be no more MAY we in the mean time by a true Love of God above all things and a contempt of this Vain World which passeth away By a careful use of the Gifts of God and Nature the Light of Reason and Revelation prepare our selves and the state of things for the great Coming of our Saviour To whom be Praise and Honour for evermore FINIS THE THEORY OF THE EARTH Containing an Account OF THE Original of the Earth AND OF ALL THE GENERAL CHANGES Which it hath already undergone OR IS TO UNDERGO Till the CONSUMMATION of all Things THE TWO LAST BOOKS Concerning the BURNING of the WORLD AND Concerning the NEW HEAVENS and NEW EARTH LONDON Printed by R. N. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1697. TO THE QUEEN'S MOST Excellent Majesty MADAM HAVING had the honour to present the first part of this Theory to Your ROYAL UNCLE I presume to offer the Second to Your Majesty This part of the Subject I hope will be no less acceptable for certainly 't is of no less importance They both indeed agree in this That there is a WORLD made and destroy'd in either Treatise But we are more concern'd in what is to come than what is past And as the former Books represented to us the Rise and Fall of the First World so These give an account of the present Frame of Nature labouring under the last Flames and of the Resurrection of it in the New Heavens and New Earth which according to the Divine Promises we are to expect Cities that are burnt are commonly rebuilt more beautiful and regular than they were before And when this World is demolish'd by the last Fire He that undertakes to rear it up again will supply the defects if there were any of the former Fabrick This Theory supposes the present Earth to be little better than an Heap of Ruines where yet there is room enough for Sea and Land for Islands and Continents for several Countries and Dominions But when these are all melted down and refin'd in the general Fire they will be cast into a better mould and the Form and Qualities of the Earth will become Paradisiâ—cal But I fear it may be thought no very proper address to shew Your Majesty a World laid in ashes where You have so great an interest Your Self and Such fair Dominions and then to recompence the loss by giving a Reversion in a Future Earth But if that future Earth be a second Paradise to be enjoyed for a Thousand Years with Peace Innocency and constant health An Inheritance there will be an happy exchange for the best Crown in this World I confess I could never perswade my self that the Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints which the Scripture speaks of so frequently was design'd to be upon this present Earth But however upon all suppositions They that have done some eminent Good in this Life will be sharers in the happiness of that State To humble the Oppressors and rescue the Oppressed is a work of Generosity and Charity that cannot want its reward Yet MADAM They are the greatest Benefactors to Mankind that dispose the World to become Vertuous and by their example Influence and Authority retrieve that TRUTH and JUSTICE that have been lost amongst men for many Ages The School-Divines tell us Those that act or suffer great things for the Publick Good are distinguish'd in Heaven by a Circle of Gold about their Heads One would not willingly vouch for that but one may safely for what the Prophet says which is far greater namely that They shall shine like Stars in the Firmament that turn many to Righteousness Which is not to be understood so much of the Conversion of single Souls as of the turning of Nations and People the turning of the World to Righteousness They that lead on that great and happy Work
answer to that difficulty Two suppos'd causes of the Conflagration by the Sun 's drawing nearer to the Earth or the Earth's throwing out the central fire examin'd and rejected WE have now made our way clear to the principal point The Causes of the Conflagration How the Heavens and the Earth will be set on fire what materials are prepar'd or what train of Causes for that purpose The Ancients who have kept us company pretty well thus far here quite desert us They deal more in Conclusions than Causes as is usual in all Traditional Learning And the Stoicks themselves who inculcate so much the doctrine of the Conflagration and make the strength of it such as to dissolve the Earth into a fiery Chaos are yet very short and superficial in their explications how this shall come to pass The latent seeds of fire they say shall every where be let loose and the Element will prevail over all the rest and transform every thing into its own nature But these are general things that give little satisfaction to inquisitive Persons Neither do the modern Authors that treat of the same subject relieve us in this particular They are willing to suppose the Conflagration a superficial effect that so they may excuse themselves the trouble of enquiring after causes 'T is no doubt in a sort supernatural and so the Deluge was yet Moses sets down the Causes of the Deluge the rains from above and the disruption of the Abyss So there must be treasures of fire provided against that day by whose eruption this second Deluge will be brought upon the Earth To state the case fairly we must first represent the difficulty of setting the Earth on Fire Tie the knot before we loose it that so we may the better judge whether the Causes that shall be brought into view may be sufficient to overcome so great opposition The difficulty no doubt will be chiefly from the great quantity of Water that is about our Globe whereby Nature seems to have made provision against any invasion by Fire and secur'd us from that enemy more than any other We see half of the Surface of the Earth cover'd with the Seas whose Chanel is of a vast depth and capacity Besides innumerable Rivers great and small that water the face of the dry Land and drench it with perpetual moisture Then within the bowels of the Earth there are Store-houses of subterraneous Waters which are as a reserve in case the Ocean and the Rivers should be overcome Neither is Water our only security for the hard Rocks and stony Mountains which no Fire can bite upon are set in long ranges upon the Continents and Islands and must needs give a stop to the progress of that furious Enemy in case he should attack us Lastly The Earth it self is not combustible in all its parts 'T is not every Soyl that is fit fewel for the Fire Clay and Mire and such like Soyls will rather choak and stifle it than help it on its way By these means one would think the Body of the Earth secur'd and tho' there may be partial fires or inuâ—â—lations of fire here and there in particular regions yet there cannot be an Universal Fire throughout the Earth At least one would hope for a safe retreat towards the Poles where there is nothing but Snow and Ice and bitter cold These regions sure are in no danger to be burnt whatsoever becomes of the other climates of the Earth This being the state and condition of the present Earth one would not imagine by these preparations 't was ever intended that it should perish by an Universal Fire But such is often the method of Providence that the exteriour face of things looks one way and the design lies another till at length touching a Spring as it were at a certain time all those affairs change posture and aspect and shew us which way Providence inclines We must therefore suppose before the Conflagration begins there will be dispositions and preparatives suitable to so great a work and all antiquity sacred and prophane does so far concur with us as to admit and suppose that a great drought will precede and an extraordinary heat and driness of the Air to usher in this fiery doom And these being things which often happen in a course of Nature we cannot disallow such easie preparations when Providence intends so great a consequence The Heavens will be shut up and the Clouds yield no rain and by this with an immoderate heat in the Air the Springs of Water will become dry the Earth chap'd and parch'd and the Woods and Trees made ready fewel for the Fire We have instances in History that there have been droughts and heats of this Nature to that degree that the Woods and Forests have taken fire and the outward Turf and Surface of the Earth without any other cause than the driness of the Season and the vehemency of the Sun And which is more considerable the Springs and Fountains being dry'd up the greater Rivers have been sensibly lessen'd and the lesser quite emptied and exhal'd These things which happen frequently in particular Countreys and Climates may at an appointed time by the disposition of Providence be more universal throughout the Earth and have the same effects every where that we see by experience they have had in certain places And by this means we may conceive it as feisible to set the whole Earth on fire in some little space of time as to burn up this or that Countrey after a great drought But I mean this with exception still to the main Body of the Sea which will indeed receive a greater diminution from these Causes than we easily imagine but the final consumption of it will depend upon other reasons whereof we must give an account in the following Chapters As to the Mountains and Rocks their lofty heads will sink when the Earthquakes begin to roar at the beginning of the Conflagration as we shall see hereafter And as to the Earth it self 't is true there are several sorts of Earth that are not proper fewel for fire but those Soils that are not so immediately as clayey Soils and such like may by the strength of Fire be converted into Brick or Stone or Earthen Metal and so melted down and vitrified For in conclusion there is no Terrestrial Body that does not finally yield to the force of Fire and may either be converted into flame incorporated fire or into a liquor more ardent than either of them Lastly As to the Polar Regions which you think will be a safe retreat and inaccessible to the fire 'T is true unless Providence hath laid subterraneous treasures of fire there unknown to us those parts of the Earth will be the last consum'd But it is to be observ'd that the cold of those regions proceeds from the length of their Winter and their distance from the Sun when he is beyond the Aequator and both these causes will be
This may be encreas'd and strengthned and its effects convey'd throughout the whole Body of the Earth But if an augmentation is to be made of Terrestrial Fire or of such terrestrial principles as contain it most as Sulphur Oyl and such like I am apt to believe these will encrease of their own accord upon a general drought and desiccation of the Earth For I am far from the opinion of some Chymists that think these principles immutable and incapable of diminution or augmentation I willingly admit that all such particles may be broken and disfigur'd and thereby lose their proper and specifick virtue and new ones may be generated to supply the places of the former Which supplies or new productions being made in a less or greater measure according to the general dispositions of Nature when Nature is heightned into a kind of Feaver and Ebullition of all her juices and humours as she will be at that time we must expect that more parts than ordinary should be made inflammable and those that are inflam'd should become more violent Under these circumstances when all Causes lean that way a little help from a superior power will have a great effect and make a great change in the state of the World And as to the power of Angels I am of opinion that it is very great as to the Changes and Modifications of Natural Bodies that they can dissolve a Marble as easily as we can crumble Earth and Moulds or fix any liquor in a moment into a substance as hard as Crystal That they can either make flames more vehement and irresistible to all sorts of Bodies or as harmless as Lambent Fires and as soft as Oyl We see an instance of this last in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery Furnace where the three Children walk'd unconcern'd in the midst of the Flames under the charge and protection of an Angel And the same Angel if he had pleas'd could have made the same Furnace seven times hotter than the wrath of the Tyrant had made it We will therefore leave it to their ministery to manage this great Furnace when the Heavens and the Earth are on Fire To conserve encrease direct or temper the flames according to instructions given them as they are to be Tutelary or Destroying Neither let any body think it a diminution of Providence to put things into the hands of Angels 'T is the true rule and method of it For to employ an Almighty power where it is not necessary is to debase 〈◊〉 and give it a task fit for lower Beings Some think it devotion and piety to have recourse immediately to the arm of God to salve all things This may be done sometimes with a good intention but commonly with little judgment God is as jealous of the glory of his Wisdom as of his Power and Wisdom consists in the conduct and subordination of several causes to bring our purposes to effect but what is dispatched by an immediate Supreme Power leaves no room for the exercise of Wisdom To conclude this point which I have touch'd upon more than once We must not be partial to any of God's Attributes and Providence being a complexion of many Power Wisdom Justice and Goodness when we give due place and honour to all these then we most honour DIVINE PROVIDENCE CHAP. IX How the Sea will be diminish'd and consum'd How the Rocks and Mountains will be thrown down and melted and the whole exteriour frame of the Earth dissolv'd into a Deluge of Fire WE have now taken a view of the Causes of the Conflagration both ordinary and extraordinary It remains to consider the manner of it How these Causes will operate and bring to pass an effect so great and so prodigious We took notice before that the grand obstruction would be from the Sea and from the Mountains we must therefore take these to task in the first place and if we can remove them out of our way or overcome what resistance and opposition they are capable to make the rest of the work will not be uneasie to us The Ocean indeed is a vast Body of Waters and we must use all our art and skill to dry it up or consume it in a good measure before we can compass our design I remember the advice a Philosopher gave Amasis King of Egypt when he had a command sent him from the King of Aethiopia That he should drink up the Sea Amasis being very anxious and sollicitous what answer he should make to this strange command the Philosopher Bias advis'd him to make this round answer to the King That he was ready to perform his command and to drink up the Sea provided he would stop the rivers from flowing into his cup while he was drinking This answer baffled the King for he could not stop the rivers but this we must do or we shall never be able to drink up the Sea or burn up the Earth Neither will this be so impossible as it seems at first sight if we reflect upon those preparations we have made towards it by a general drought all over the Earth This we suppose will precede â—he Conflagration and by drying up the Fountains and Rivers which daily feed the Sea will by degrees starve that Monster or reduce it to such a degree of weakness that it shall not be able to make any great resistance More than half an Ocean of Water flows into the Sea every day from the Rivers of the Earth if you take them all together This I speak upon a moderate computation Aristotle says the Rivers carry more water into the Sea in the space of a year thâ—n would equal in bulk the whole Globe of the Earth Nay some have ventur'd to affirm this of one single River The Volga that runs into the Caspian Sea 'T is a great River indeed and hath seventy mouths and so it had need have to disgorge a mass of Water equal to the Body of the Earth in a years time But we need not take such high measures There are at least an hundred great Rivers that flow into the Sea from several parts of the Earth Islands and Continents besides several thousands of lesser ones Let us suppose these all together to pour as much water into the Sea-chanel every day as is equal to half the Ocean And we shall be easily convinc'd of the reasonableness of this supposition if we do but examine the daily expence of one River and by that make an estimate of the rest This we find calculated to our hands in the River Po in Italy a River of much what the same bigness with our Thames and disburthens it self into the Gulph of Venice Baptista Riccioli hath computed how much water this River discharges in an hour viz. 18000000. cubical paces of Water and consequently 432000000. in a day which is scarce credible to those that do not distinctly compute it Suppose then an hundred Rivers as great as this or greater to fall into the Sea from
as high and relating to the Natural World The Windows from on high are open and the foundations of the Earth do shake The Earth is utterly broken down the Earth is clean dissolv'd the Earth is moved exceedingly The Earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard and shall be removed like a Cottage and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it and it shall fall and not rise again To restrain all these things to Iudaea as their adequate and final object is to force both the words and the sence Here are manifest allusions and foot-steps of the destruction of the World and the dissolution of the Earth partly as it was in the Deluge and partly as it will be in its last ruine torn broken aâ—d shatter'd But most Men have fallen into that errour To fancy both the destructions of the World by Water and by Fire quiet noiseless things executed without any ruines or ruptures in Nature That the Deluge was but a great Pool of still Waters made by the rains and inundation of the Sea and the Conflagration will be only a superficial scorching of the Earth with a running fire These are false Idea's and unsuitable to Scripture for as the Deluge is there represented a Disruption of the Abyss and consequently of the then habitable Earth so the future combustion of it according to the representations of Scripture is to be usher'd in and accompanied with all sorts of violent impressions upon Nature and the chief instrument of these violences will be Earth-quakes These will tear the Body of the Earth and shake its foundations rend the Rocks and pull down the tall Mountains sometimes overturn and sometimes swallow up Towns and Cities disturb and disorder the Elements and make a general confusion in Nature Next to Earth-quakes we may consider the roarings of a troubled Sea This is another sign of a dying World S. Luke hath set down a great many of them together Let us hear his words And there shall be signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars and upon the Earth distress of Nations with perplexity The Sea and the Waves roaring Mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth for the powers of Heaven shall be shaken And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory c. As some would allegorize these Signs which we noted before so others would confine them to the destruction of Ierusalem But 't is plain by this coming of the Son of man in the clouds and the redemption of the faithful and at the same time the sound of the last trumpet which all relate to the end of the World that something further is intended than the destruction of Ierusalem And though there were Prodigies at the destruction of that City and State yet not of this force nor with these circumstances 'T is true those partial destructions and calamities as we observ'd before of Babylon Ierusalem and the Roman Empire being types of an universal and final destruction of all Godâ—s Enemies have in the pictures of them some of the same strokes to show they are all from the same hand decreed by the same wisdom foretold by the same Spirit and the same power and Providence that have already wrought the one will also work the other in due time the former being still pledges as well as prefigurations of the latter Let us then proceed in our explication of this sign The roaring of the Sea and the Waves applying it to the end of the World I do not look upon this ominous noise of the Sea as the effect of a tempest for then it would not strike such a terror into the Inhabitants of the Earth nor make them apprehensive of some great evil coming upon the World as this will do what proceeds from visible causes and such as may happen in a common course of Nature does not so much amaze us nor affright us Therefore 't is more likely these disturbances of the Sea proceed from below partly by sympathy and revulsions from the Land by Earth-quakes there and exhausting the subterraneous cavities of Waters which will draw again from the Seas what supplies they can And partly by Earth-quakes in the very Sea it self with exhalations and fiery Eruptions from the bottom of it Things indeed that happen at other times more or less but at this conjuncture all causes conspiring they will break out with more violence and put the whole Body of the Waters into a tumultuary motion I do not see any occasion at this time for high Winds neither can think a superficial agitation of the Waves would answer this Phaenomenon but 't is rather from Contorsions in the bowels of the Ocean which make it roar as it were for pain Some Causes impelling the Waters one way and some another make intestine struglings and contrary motions from whence proceed unusual noises and such a troubled state of the Waters as does not only make the Sea innavigable but also strikes terror into all the Maritime Inhabitants that live within the view or sound of it So much for the Earth and the Sea The face of the Heavens also will be chang'd in divers respects The Sun and the Moon darkned or of a bloudy or pale countenance The Celestial Powers shaken and the Stars unsetled in their Orbs. As to the Sun and Moon their obscuration or change of colour is no more than what happens commonly before the Eruption of a fiery Mountain Dion Cassius you see hath taken notice of it in that Eruption of Aetna which he describes and others upon the like occasions in Vesuvius And 't is a thing of easie explication for according as the Atmosphere is more or less clear or turbid the Luminaries are more or less conspicuous and according to the nature of those fumes or exhalations that swim in the Air the face of the Sun is discolour'd sometimes one way sometimes another You see in an ordinary Experiment when we look upon one another through the fumes of Sulphur we appear pale like so many Ghosts and in some foggy days the Sun hangs in the Firmament as a lump of Bloud And botlâ— the Sun and Moon at their rising when their light comes to us through the thick vapours of the Earth are red and fiery These are not changes wrought in the substance of the Luminaries but in the modifications of their light as it flows to us For colours are but Light in a sort of disguise as it passes through Mediums of diffâ—rent qualities it takes different forms but the matter is still the same and returns to its simplicity when it comes again into a pure air Now the air may be changed and corrupted to a great degree tho' there appear no visible change to our eye This is manifest from infectious airs and the changes of the air before storms and rains which we feel
If we therefore remember that there was both a dislocation as I may so say and a fraction in the body of the Earth by that great fall a dislocation as to the Centre and a fraction as to the Surface and Exterior Region it will truly answer to all those expressions in the Prophet that seem so strange and extraordinary T is true this place of the Prophet respects also and foretels the future destruction of the World but that being by Fire when the Elements shall melt with fervent heat and the Earth with the works therein shall be burnt up these expressions of fractions and concussions seem to be taken originally from the manner of the World's first destruction and to be transferr'd by way of application to represent and signifie the second destruction of it though it may be not with the same exactness and propriety There are several other places that refer to the dissolution and subversion of the Earth at the Deluge Amos 9. 5 6. The Lord of Hosts is he that toucheth the Earth and it shall melt or be dissolv'd and it shall rise up wholly like a Flood and shall be drowned as by the Flood of Egypt By this and by the next verse the Prophet seems to allude to the Deluge and to the dissolution of the Earth that was then This in Iob seems to be call'd breaking down the Earth and overturning the Earth Chap. 12. 14 15. Behold he breaketh down and it cannot be built again He shâ—â—teth upon man and there can be no opening Behold he witholdeth the waters and they dry up also he â—endeth them out and they overturn the Earth Which place you may see paraphras'd Theor. Book 1. p. 91 92. We have already cited and shall hereafter cite other places out of Iob And as that Ancient Author who is thought to have liv'd before the Judaical Oeconoray and nearer to Noah than Moses seems to have had the Praecept a Noachidarum so also he seems to have had the Dogmata Noachidarum which were deliver'd by Noah to his Children and Posterity concerning the mysteries of Natural Providence the origine and fate of the World the Deluge and Ante-diluvian state c. and accordingly we find many strictures of these doctrines in the Book of Iob. Lastly In the Psalms there are Texts that mention the shaking of the Earth and the foundations of the World in reference to the Flood if we judge aright whereof we will speak under the next Head concerning the raging of the Waters in the Deluge These places of Scripture may be noted as left us to be remembrancers of that general ruine and disruption of the Earth at the time of the Deluge But I know it will be said of them That they are not strict proofs but allusions only Be it so yet what is the ground of those allusions something must be alluded to and something that hath past in Nature and that is recorded in Sacred History and what is that unless it be the Universal Deluge and that change and disturbance that was then in all Nature If others say that these and such like places are to be understood morally and allegorically I do not envy them their interpretations but when Nature and Reason will bear a literal sence the rule is that we should not recede from the Letter But I leave these things to every one's thoughts which the more calm they are and the more impartial the more easily they will feel the impressions of Truth In the mean time I proceed to the last particular mention'd The form of the Deluge it self This we suppose to have been not in the way of a standing Pool the Waters making an equal Surface and an equal heighth every where but that the extreme heighth of the Waters was made by the extreme agitation of them caus'd by the weight and force of great Masses or Regions of Earth falling at once into the Abyss by which means as the Waters in some places were prest out and thrown at an excessive height into the Air so they would also in certain places gape and lay bare even the bottom of the Abyss which would look as an open Grave ready to swallow up the Earth and all it bore Whilst the Ark in the mean time falling and rising by these gulphs and precipices sometimes above water and sometimes under was a true Type of the state of the Church in this World And to this time and state David alludes in the name of the Church Psal. 42. 7. Abyss calls unto Abyss at the noise of thy Cataracts or Water-spouts All thy waves and billows have gone over me And again Psal. 46. 2 3. In the name of the Church Therefore will not we fear tho' the Earth be removed and tho' the mountains be carried into the midst of the Seas The waters thereof roar and are troubled the mountains shake with the swelling thereof But there is no description more remarkable or more eloquent than of that Scene of things represented Psal. 18. 7 8 9 c. which still alludes in my opinion to the Deluge-scene and in the name of the Church We will set down the words at large Ver. 6. In my distress I called upon the Lord and cryed unto my God He heard my voice out of his Temple and my cry came before him into his ears 7. Then the Earth shook and trembled the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth 8. There went up a smoke from his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured Coals were kindled by it 9. He bowed the Heavens also and came down and darkness was under his feet 10. And he rode upon a Cherub and did flie he did flie upon the wings of the wind 11. He made darkness his secret place his pavilion round about him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skie 12. At the brightness before him the thick clouds passed hail and coals of fire 13. The Lord also thunder'd in the Heavens and the Highest gave his voice hail and coals of fire 14. Yea he sent out his arrows and scatter'd them and he shot out lightnings and discoinfited them 15. Then the Chanels of waters were seen and the foundations of the World were discovered at thy rebuke O Lord at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils He sent from above he took me he drew me out of great waters This I think is a rough* draught of the face of the Heavens and the Earth at the Deluge as the last Verses do intimate and 't is apply'd to express the dangers and deliverances of the Church The Expressions are far too high to be applyed to David in his Person and to his deliverance from Saul no such agonies or disorders of Nature as are here instanc'd in were made in David s time or upon his account but 't is a Scheme of the Church and of her fate particularly as represented by the Ark in that dismal distress
Age of the World And the same Moses tells us that Adam was the first Man and Eve the first Woman from whom sprung the race of Mankind and this within the compass of six thousand years We are also assured from the Prophets and our Christian Records that the world shall have an end and that by a general Conflagration when all Mankind shall be destroy'd with the form and all the furniture of the Earth And as this proves the second part of Aristotle's Doctrine to be false immediately so doth it the first by a true consequence for what hath an end had a beginning what is not immortal was not Eternal That which exists by the strength of its own Nature at first the same Nature will enable to exist for ever and indeed what exists of it self exists necessarily and what exists necessarily exists eternally Having this infallible assurance of the Origin of the Earth and of Mankind from Scripture we proceed to refute the same Doctrine of Aristotle's by Natural Reason And we will first consider the form of the Earth and then Mankind and shew from plain evidence and observation neither of them to have been Eternal 'T is natural to the mind of Man to consider that which is compound as having been once more simple whether that composition be a mixture of many ingredients as most Terrestrial Bodies are or whether it be Organical but especially if it be Organical For a thing that consists of a multitude of pieces aptly joyn'd we cannot but conceive to have had those pieces at one time or another put together 'T were hard to conceive an eternal Watch whose pieces were never separate one from another nor ever in any other form than that of a Watch. Or an eternal House whose materials were never asunder but always in the form of an House And 't is as hard to conceive an Eternal Earth or an Eternal World These are made up of more various substances more ingredients and into a far greater composition and the living part of the World Plants and Animals have much more variety of parts and multifarious construction than any House or any other artificial thing So that we are led as much by Nature and necessity to conceive this great Machine of the World or of the Earth to have been once in a state of greater simplicity than now it is as to conceive a Watch an House or any other structure to have been once in its first and simple materials This I speak without reference to immediate Creation for Aristotle did not own any such thing and therefore the argument stands good against him upon those grounds and notions that he goes yet I guess what answer would be made by him or his followers to this argumentation They would say there is not the same reason for Natural things as for Artificial though equally compounded Artificial things could not be from Eternity because they suppose Man by whose Art they were made pre existent to them the work-man must be before the work and whatsoever hath any thing before it is not Eternal But may not the same thing be said of Natural things do not most of them require the action of the Sun and the influence of the Heavens for their production and longer preparations than any Artificial things do Some Years or Ages would be necessary for the concoction and maturation of Metals and Minerals Stones themselves at least some sorts of them were once liquors or fluid masses and all Vegetable productions require the heat of the Sun to predispose and excite the Earth and the Seeds Nay according to Aristotle 't is not Man by himself that begets a Man but the Sun is his Coadjutor You see then 't was as necessary that the Sun that great Workman of Nature should pre-exist to Natural things producâ—d in or upon the Earth as that Man should pre-exist to Artificial So that the Earth under that form and constitution it now hath could no more be Eternal than a Statue or Temple or any work of Art Besides that form which the Earth is under at present is in some sort preter-natural like a Statue made and broken again and so hath still the less appearance or pretence of being Eternal If the Elements had lain in that order to one another as Aristotle hath dispos'd them and as seems to be their first disposition the Earth altogether in a mass in the middle or towards the Centre then the Water in a Spherical mass about that the Air above the Water and then a Sphere of Fire as he fansied in the highest Circle of the Air If they had lain I say in this posture there might have been some pretence that they had been Eternally so because that might seem to be their Original posture in which Nature had first plac'd them But the form and posture we find them in at present is very different and according to his Doctrine must be look'd upon as unnatural and violent and no violent state by his own Maxim can be perpetual or can have been so But there is still a more pressing consideration against this Opinion If this present state and form of the Earth had been from Eternity it would have long ere this destroy'd it self and chang'd it self the Mountains sinking by degrees into the Vallies and into the Sea and the Waters rising above the Earth which form it would certainly have come into sooner or later and in it continu'd drown'd and uninhabitable for all succeeding Generations For 't is certain that the Mountains and higher parts of the Earth grow lesser and lesser from Age to Age and that from many causes sometimes the roots of them are weaken'd and eaten by Subterraneous Fires and sometimes they are torn and tumbled down by Earthquakes and fall into those Caverns that are under them and though those violent causes are not constant or universal yet if the Earth had stood from Eternity there is not a Mountain would have escap'd this fate in one Age or other The course of these exhalations or Fires would have reach'd them all sooner or later if through infinite Ages they had stood expos'd to them But there are also other causes that consume them insensibly and make them sink by degrees and those are chiefly the Winds Rains and Storms and heat of the Sun without and within the soaking of Water and Springs with streams and currents in their veins and crannies These two sorts of causes would certainly reduce all the Mountains of the Earth in tract of time to equality or rather lay them all under Water For whatsoever moulders or is washt away from them is carried down into the lower grounds and into the Sea and nothing is ever brought back again by any circulation Their losses are not repair'd nor any proportionable recruits made from any other parts of Nature So as the higher parts of the Earth being continually spending and the lower continually gaining they must of necessity at
whether it was only to dry the Land as fast as it appear'd or might have both effects I do not know But as nothing can be perpetual this is violent so this commotion of the Abyss abated after a certain time and the great force that impell'd the waters decreasing their natural gravity began to take effect and to reduce them into the lowest places at an equal height and in an even surface and level one part with another That is in short the Abyss became our Sea fixt within its Chanel and bounded by Rocks and Mountains Then was the decreed place establisht for it and Bars and Doors were set then was it said hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shall thy proud waves be stopt And the Deluge being thus ended and the waters setled in their Chanels the Earth took such a broken Figure as is represented in those larger Schemes p. 100. And this will be the form and state of it till its great change comes in the Conflagration when we expect a New Heaven and a New Earth But to pursue this prospect of things a little further we may easily imagine that for many years after the Deluge ceast the face of the Earth was very different from what it is now and the Sea had other bounds than it hath at present I do not doubt but the Sea reacht much further in-land and climb'd higher upon the sides of the Mountains And I have observ'd in many places a ridge of Mountains some distance from the Sea and a Plain from their roots to the shore which Plain no doubt was formerly cover'd by the Sea bounded against those Hills as its first and natural Ramparts or as the ledges or lips of its Vessel And it seems probable that the Sea doth still grow narrower from Age to Age and sinks more within its Chanel and the bowels of the Earth according as it can make its way into all those Subterraneous Cavities and crowd the Air out of them We see whole Countries of Land gain'd from it and by several indications as ancient Sea-ports left dry and useless old Sea-marks far within the Land pieces of Ships Anchors c. left at a great distance from the present shores from these signs and such like we may conclude that the Sea reach'd many places formerly that now are dry Land and at first I believe was generally bound in on either side with a chain of Mountains So I should easily imagine the Mediterranean Sea for instance to have been bounded by the continuation of the Alps through Dauphiné and Languedock to the Pyreneans and at the other end by the Darmatick Mountains almost to the Black Sea Then Atlas major which runs along with the Mediterranean from Aegypt to the Atlantick Ocean and now parts Barbary and Numidia may possibly have been the Ancient Barriere on the Africk side And in our own Island I could easily figure to my self in many parts of it other Sea-bounds than what it hath at present and the like may be observ'd in other Countries And as the Sea had much larger bounds for some time after the Deluge so the Land had a different face in many respects to what it hath now for we suppose the Valleys and lower grounds where the descent and derivation of the water was not so easie to have been full of Lakes and Pools for a long time and those were often converted into Fens and Bogs where the ground being spongy suckt up the water and the loosen'd Earth swell'd into a soft and pappy substance which would still continue so if there was any course of water sensible or insensible above or within the ground that fed this moist place But if the water stood in a more firm Basin or on a soil which for its heaviness or any other reason would not mix with it it made a Lake or clear Pool And we may easily imagine there were innumerable such Lakes and Bogs and fastnesses for many years after the Deluge till the World begun to be pretty well stockt with people and humane industry cleans'd and drain'd those unfruitful and unhabitable places And those Countries that have been later cultivated or by a lazier people retain still in proportion to their situation and soil a greater number of them Neither is it at all incongruous or inconvenient to suppose that the face of the Earth stood in this manner for many years after the Deluge for while Mankind was small and few they needed but a little ground for their seats or sustenance and as they grew more numerous the Earth proportionably grew more dry and more parts of it fit for habitation I easily believe that Plato's observation or tradition is true that Men at first after the Flood liv'd in the Up-lands and sides of the mountains and by degrees sunk into the Plains and lower Countries when Nature had prepar'd them for their use and their numbers requir'd more room The History of Moses tells us that sometime after the Deluge Noah and his posterity his Sons and his Grand-children chang'd their quarters and fell down into the Plains of Shiner from the sides of the Hills where the Ark had rested and in this Plain was the last general rendezvous of Mankind so long they seem to have kept in a body and from thence they were divided and broken into companies and disperst first into the neighbouring Countries and then by degrees throughout the whole Earth the several successive Generations like the waves of the Sea when it flows over-reaching one another and striking out further and further upon the face of the Land Not that the whole Earth was peopled by an uniform propagation of Mankind every way from one place as a common center like the swelling of a Lake upon a Plain for sometimes they shot out in length like Rivers and sometimes they shew into remote Countreys in Colonies like swarms from the Hive and setled there leaving many places uninhabited betwixt them and their first home Sea-shores and Islands were generally the last places inhabited for while the memory or story of the Deluge was fresh amongst them they did not care for coming so near their late Enemy or at least to be enclos'd and surrounded by his forces And this may be sufficient to have discours'd concerning all the parts of the Deluge and the restitution of the Earth to an habitable form for the further union of our Theory with the History of Moses There rests only one thing in that History to be taken notice of which may be thought possibly not to agree so well with our account of the Deluge namely that Moses seems to shut up the Abysse again at the end of the Deluge which our Explication supposeth to continue open But besides that half the Abysse is still really cover'd Moses saith the same thing of the windows of Heaven that they were shut up too and he seemeth in both to express only the cessation of the Effect
mention'd its vast Cavity and universal irregularity is all one can desire an account of as to the form of it we will therefore from this ground take our rise and first measures for the Explication of the Sea-chanel Let us suppose then in the dissolution of the Earth when it began to fall that it was divided only into three or four fragments according to the number of our Continents but those fragments being vastly great could not descend at their full breadth and expansion or at least could not descend so fast in the middle as towards the extremities because the Air about the edges would yield and give place easily not having far to go to get out of the way but the Air that was under the middle of the fragment could not without a very swift motion get from under the concave of it and consequently its descent there would be more resisted and suspended but the sides in the mean time would continually descend bending the fragment with their weight and so making it of a lesser compass and expansion than it was before And by this means there would be an interval and distance made between the two falling fragments and a good part of the Abyss after their descent would lie uncover'd in the middle betwixt them as may be seen in this Figure where the fragments A. B. bending downwards in their extremities separate as they go and after they are faln leave a good space in the Abyss betwixt them altogether uncover'd This space is the main Chanel of the great Ocean lying betwixt two Continents and the inclining sides shew the declivity of the Shores This we have represented here only in a Ring or Circle of the Earth in the first Figure but it may be better represented in a broader surface as in the second Figure where the two fragments A. B. that are to make the two opposite Continents fall in like double Doors opening downwards the Hinges being towards the Land on either side so as at the bottom they leave in the middle betwixt them a deep Chanel of water a. a. a. such as is betwixt all Continents and the water reaching a good height upon the Land on either side makes Sea there too but shallower and by degrees you descend into the deepest Chanel fig. 1. page 92. fig. 2. fig. 3. We must in the first place distinguish between Original Islands and Factitious Islands Those I call factitious that are not of the same date and Antiquity with the Sea but have been made some at one time some at another by accidental causes as the aggestion of Sands and Sand-beds or the Sea leaving the tops of some shallow places that lie high and yet flowing about the lower skirts of them These make sandy and plain Islands that have no high Land in them and are but mock-Islands in effect others are made by divulsion from some Continent when an Isthmus or the neck of a Promontory running into the Sea sinks or falls in by an Earthquake or otherwise and the Sea entring in at the gap passeth through and makes that Promontory or Country become an Island Thus the Island Sicily is suppos'd to have been made and all Africa might be an Island if the Isthmus between the Mediterranean and the red Sea should sink down And these Islands may have Rocks and Mountains in them if the Land had so before Lastly There are Islands that have been said to rise from the bottom of the Sea History mentions such in both the Archipelago's Aegaean and Indian and this seems to argue that there are great fragments or tracts of Earth that lie loose at the bottom of the Sea or that are not incorporated with the ground which agrees very well with our Explication of the Sea-chanel But besides these Islands and the several sorts of them there are others which I call Original because they could not be produc'd in any of the forementioned ways but are of the same Origin and Antiquity with the Chanel of the Sea and such are the generality of our Islands They were not made of heaps of Sands nor torn from any Continent but are as ancient as the Continents themselves namely ever since the Deluge the common Parent of them both Nor is there any difficulty to understand how Islands were made at the dissolution of the Earth any more than how Continents were made for Islands are but lesser Continents or Continents greater Islands and according as Continents were made of greater masses of Earth or greater fragments standing above the Water so Islands were made of less but so big always and in such a posture as to bear their tops above the Water Yet though they agree thus far there is a particular difference to be taken notice of as to their Origin for the Continents were made of those three or four primary masses into which the falling Orb of the Earth was divided but the Islands were made of the fractures of these and broken off by the fall from the skirts and extremities of the Continents We noted before that when those great masses and primary fragments came to dash upon the Abyss in their fall the sudden stop of the motion and the weighty bulk of the descending fragment broke off all the edges and extremities of it which edges and extemities broken off made the Islands and accordingly we see that they generally lie scatter'd along the sides of the Continents and are but splinters as it were of those greater bodies 'T is ture besides these there were an infinite number of other pieces broke off that do not appear some making Rocks under water some shallows and banks in the Sea but the greatest of them when they fell either one upon another or in such a posture as to prop up one another their heads and higher parts would stand out of the water and make Islands Thus I conceive the Islands of the Sea were at first produc'd we cannot wonder therefore that they should be so numerous or far more numerous than the Continents These are the Parents and those are the Children Nor can we wonder to see along the sides of the Continents several Islands or sets of Islands sown as it were by handfuls or laid in trains for the manner of their generation would lead us to think they would be so plac'd So the American Islands lie scatter'd upon the Coast of that Continent the Maldivian and Philippine upon the East-Indian shore and the Hesperides upon the Africk and there seldom happen to be any towards the middle of the Ocean though by an accident that also might come to pass Lastly It suits very well with our Explication that there should be Mountains and Rocks sometimes in clusters sometimes in long chains in all Islands as we find there are in all that are true and Original for 't is that makes them high enough to appear above the water and strong enough to continue and preserve themselves in that high situation And
the Heavens or Aether The Ancients both the Stoicks and Aristotle have suppos'd that there was something of an Aethereal Element in the Male-geniture from whence the vertue of it chiefly proceeded and if so why may we not suppose at that time some general impression or irradiation of that purer Element to fructifie the new-made Earth Moses saith there was an incubation of the Spirit of God upon the mass and without all doubt that was either to form or fructifie it and by the mediation of this active principle but the Ancients speak more plainly with express mention of this Aether and of the impregnation of the Earth by it as betwixt Male and Female As in the place before-cited Tum Pater omnipotens faecundis imbribus Aether Conjugis in gremium laetae descendit omnes Magnus alit magno commixtus corpore foetus Which notion I remember S. Austin saith Virgil did not take from the fictions of the Poets but out of the Books of the Philosophers Some of the gravest Authors amongst the Romans have reported that this vertue hath been convey'd into the Wombs of some Animals by the Winds or the Zephyri and as I easily believe that the first fresh Air was more impregnated with this Aethereal principle than ours is so I see no reason but those balmy dews that fell every night in the Primitive Earth might be the Vehicle of it as well as the Male-geniture is now and from them the teeming Earth and those vital Seeds which it contain'd were actuated and receiv'd their first fruitfulness Now this Principle howsoever convey'd to those rudiments of life which we call Eggs is that which gives the first stroke towards Animation and this seems to be by exciting a ferment in those little masses whereby the parts are loosen'd and dispos'd for that formation which is to follow afterwards And I see nothing that hinders but that we may reasonably suppose that these Animal productions might proceed thus far in the Primigenial Earth And as to their progress and the formation of the Body by what Agents or Principles soever that great work is carried on in the womb of the Female it might by the same be carried on there Neither would there be any danger of miscarrying by excess of Heat or Cold for the Air was always of an equal temper and moderate warmth And all other impediments were remov'd and all principles ready whether active or passive so as we may justly conclude that as Eve was the Mother of all living as to Mankind so was the Earth the Great Mother of all living Creatures besides The Third Character to be explain'd and the most extraordinary in appearance is that of LONGAEVITY This sprung from the same root in my opinion with the other though the connexion it may be is not so visible We show'd in the foregoing Chapter that no advantage of Diet or of strong Constitutions could have carried their lives before the Flood to that wonderful length if they had been expos'd to the same changes of Air and of Seasons that our Bodies are But taking a perpetual Aequinox and fixing the Heavens you fix the life of Man too which was not then in such a rapid flux as it is now but seem'd to stand still as the Sun did once without declension There is no question but every thing upon Earth and especially the Animate World would be much more permanent if the general course of Nature was more steddy and uniform A stabiâ—ity in the Heavens makes a stability in all things below and that change and contrariety of qualities that we have in these Regions is the fountain of corruption and suffers nothing to be long in quiet Either by intestine motions and fermentations excited within or by outward impressions Bodies are no sooner well constituted but they are tending again to dissolution The Aether in their little pores and chinks is unequally agitated and differently mov'd at different times and so is the Air in their greater and the Vapours and Atmosphere round about them All these shake and unsettle both the texture and continuity of Bodies Whereas in a fixt state of Nature where these principles have always the same constant and uniform motion when they are once suited to the forms and compositions of Bodies they give them no further disturbance they enjoy a long and lasting peace without any commotions or violence within or without We find our selves sensible changes in our Bodies upon the turn of the Year and the change of Seasons new fermentations in the Bloud and resolutions of the Humours which if they do not amount to diseases at least they disturb Nature and have a bad effect not only upon the fluid parts but also upon the more solid upon the Springs and Fibres in the Organs of the Body to weaken them and unfit them by degrees for their respective functions For though the change is not sensible immediately in these parts yet after many repeated impressions every year by unequal heat and cold driness and moisture contracting and relaxing the Fibres their tone at length is in a great measure destroy'd and brought to a manifest debility and the great Springs failing the lesser that depend upon them fall in proportion and all the symptoms of decay and old age follow We see by daily experience that Bodies are kept better in the same medium as we call it than if they often change their medium as sometimes in Air sometimes in Water moisten'd and dry'd heated and cool'd these different states weaken the contexture of the parts But our Bodies in the present state of Nature are put into an hundred different mediums in the course of a Year sometimes we are steept in Water or in a misty foggy Air for several days together sometimes we are almost frozen with cold then fainting with heat at another time of the Year and the Winds are of a different nature and the Air of a different weight and pressure according to the Weather and the Seasons These things would wear our Bodies though they were built of Oak and that in a very short time in comparison of what they would last if they were always incompast with one and the same medium under one and the same temper as it was in the Primitive Earth The Ancients seem to have been sensible of this and of the true causes of those long periods of life for wheresoever they assign'd a great longaevity as they did not only to their Golden Age but also to their particular and topical Paradises they also assign'd there a constant serenity and equality of the Heavens and sometimes expresly a constant Aequinox as might be made appear from their Authors And some of our Christian Authors have gone farther and connected these two together as Cause and Effect for they say that the Longaevity of the Ante-diluvian Patriarchs proceeded from a favourable Aspect and influence of the Heavens at that time which Aspect of the Heavens being rightly
course of the Vapours which cool'd the open Plains and made the weather temperate as well as fair But we have spoken enough in other places upon this subject of the Air and the Heavens Let us now descend to the Earth The Earth was divided into two Hemispheres separated by the Torrid Zone which at that time was uninhabitable and utterly unpassable so as the two Hemispheres made two distinct Worlds which so far as we can judge had no manner of commerce or communication one with another The Southern Hemisphere the Ancients call'd Antichthon the Opposite Earth or the Other World And this name and notion remain'd long after the reason of it had câ—ast Just as the Torrid Zone was generally accounted uninhabitable by the Ancients even in their time because it really had been so once and the Tradition remain'd uncorrected when the causes were taken away namely when the Earth had chang'd its posture to the Sun after the Deluge This may be lookt upon as the first division of that Primaval Earth into two Hemispheres naturally sever'd and disunited But it was also divided into five Zones two Frigid two Temperate and the Torrid betwixt them And this distinction of the Globe into â—â—ve Zones I think did properly belong to that Original Earth and Primitive Geography and improperly and by translation only to the present For all the Zones of our Earth are habitable and their distinctions are in a manner but imaginary not fixt by Nature whereas in that Earth where the Rivers fail'd and the Regions became uninhabitable by reason of driness and heat there begun the Torrid Zone and where the Regions became uninhabitable by reason of cold and moisture there begun the Frigid Zone and these being determin'd they became bounds on either side to the Temperate But all this was alter'd when the posture of the Earth was chang'd and chang'd for that very purpose as some of the Ancients have said That the uninhabitable parts of the Earth might become habitable Yet though there was so much of the first Earth uninhabitable there remain'd as much to be inhabited as we have now for the Sea since the breaking up of the Abyss hath taken away half of the Earth from us a great part whereof was to them good Land Besides We are not to suppose that the Torrid Zone was of that extent we make it now twenty three degrees and more on either side of the Aequator these bounds are set only by the Tropicks and the Tropicks by the obliquity of the course of the Sun or of the posture of the Earth which was not in that World Where the Rivers stopt there the Torrid Zone would begin but the Sun was directly perpendicular to no part of it but the middle How the Rivers flow'd in the first Earth we have before explain'd sufficiently and what parts the Rivers did not reach were turn'd into Sands and Desarts by the heat of the Sun for I cannot easily imagine that the Sandy Desarts of the Earth were made so at first immediately and from the beginning of the World from what causes should that be and to what purpose in that age But in those Tracts of the Earth that were not refresht with Rivers and moisture which cement the parts the ground would moulder and crumble into little pieces and then those pieces by the heat of the Sun were bak'd into Stone And this would come to pass chiefly in the hot and scorch'd Regions of the Earth though it might happen sometimes where there was not that extremity of heat if by any chance a place wanted Rivers and Water to keep the Earth in due temper but those Sands would not be so early or ancient as the other As for greater loose Stones and rough Pebbles there were none in that Earth Deucalion and Pyrrha when the Deluge was over found new made Stones to cast behind their backs the bones of their mother Earth which then were broken in pieces in that great ruine As for Plants and Trees we cannot imagine but that they must needs abound in the Primitive Earth seeing it was so well water'd and had a soil so fruitful A new unlabour'd soil replenistht with the Seeds of all Vegetables and a warm Sun that would call upon Nature early for her First-Fruits to be offer'd up at the beginning of her course Nature 〈◊〉 a wild luxuriancy at first which humane industry by degrees gave form and order to The Waters flow'd with a constant and gentle Current and were easily led which way the Inhabitants had a mind for their use or for their pleasure and shady Trees which grow best in most and warm Countries grac'd the Banks of their Rivers or Canals But that which was the beauty and crown of all was their perpetual Spring the Fields always green the Flowers always fresh and the Trees always cover'd with Leaves and Fruit But we have occasionally spoken of these things in several places and may do again hereafter and therefore need not inlarge upon them here As for Subterraneous things Metals and Minerals I believe they had none in the first Earth and the happier they no Gold nor Silver nor courser Metals The use of these is either imaginary or in such works as by the constitution of their World they had little occasion for And Minerals are either for Medicine which they had no need of further than Herbs or for Materials to certain Arts which were not then in use or were suppli'd by other ways These Subterraneous things Metals and metallick Minerals are Factitious not Original bodies coaeval with the Earth but are made in process of time after long preparations and concoctions by the action of the Sun within the bowels of the Earth And if the Stamina or principles of them risâ—e from the lower Regions that lie under the Abyss as I am apt to think they do 〈◊〉 doth not seem probable that they could be drawn through such a mass of Waters or that the heat of the Sun could on a sudden penetrate so deep and be able to loosen them and raise them into the exteriour Earth And as the first Age of the World was call'd Golden though it knew not what Gold was so the following Ages had their names from several Metals which lay then asleep in the dark and deep womb of Nature and see not the Sun till many Years and Ages afterwards Having run through the several Regions of Nature from top to bottom from the Heavens to the lower parts of the Earth and made some observations upon their order in the Ante-diluvian World Let us now look upon Man and other living Creatures that make the Superiour and Animate part of Nature We have observ'd and sufficiently spoken to that difference betwixt the Men of the old World and those of the present in point of Longaevity and given the reasons of it but we must not imagine that this long life was peculiar to Man all other Animals had their
and Love Friendship and Venus on the other and after a long contest Love got the better of Discord and united the disagreeing principles This is one part of their story Then they make the forming of the World out of the Chaos a kind of Genealogie or Pedigree Chaos was the common Parent of all and from Chaos sprung first Night and Tartarus or Oceanus Night was a teeming Mother and of her were born Aether and the Earth The Earth conceiv'd by the influences of Aether and brought forth Man and all Animals This seems to be a Poetical fiction rather than Philosophy yet when 't is set in a true light and compar'd with our Theory of the Chaos 't will appear a pretty regular account how the World was form'd at first or how the Chaos divided it self successively into several Regions rising one after another and propagated one from another as Children and Posterity from a common Parent We show'd in the first Book Chap. 5. how the Chaos from an uniform mass wrought it self into several Regions or Elements the grossest part sinking to the Center upon this lay the mass of Water and over the Water was a Region of dark impure caliginous Air This impure caliginous Air is that which the Ancients call Night and the mass of Water Oceanus or Tartarus for those two terms with them are often of the like force Tartarus being Oceanus inclos'd and lock'd up Thus we have the first off-spring of the Chaos or its first-born twins Nox and Oceanus Now this turbid Air purifying it self by degrees as the more subtle parts flew upwards and compos'd the Aether so the earthy parts that were mixt with it dropt down upon the surface of the Water or the liquid mass and that mass on the other hand sending up its lighter and more oily parts towards its surface these two incorporate there and by their mixture and union compose a body of Earth quite round the mass of Waters And this was the first habitable Earth which as it was you see the Daughter of Nox and Oceanus so it was the Mother of all other things and all living Creatures which at the beginning of the World sprung out of its fruitful womb This doctrine of the Chaos for the greater pomp of the business the Ancients call'd their Theogonia or the Genealogy of the Gods for they gave their Gods at least their Terrestrial Gods an original and beginning and all the Elements and greater portions of Nature they made Gods and Goddesses or their Deities presided over them in such a manner that the names were us'd promiscuously for one another We also mention'd before some moral principles which they plac'd in the Chaos Eris and Eros Strife discord and disaffection which prevail'd at first and afterward Love kindness and union got the upper hand and in spite of those factious and dividing principles gather'd together the separated Elements and united them into an habitable World This is all easily understood if we do but look upon the Schemes of the rising World as we have set them down in that fifth Chapter for in the first commotion of the Chaos after an intestine struggle of all the parts the Elements separated from one another into so many distinct bodies or masses and in this state and posture things continued a good while which the Ancients after their Poetick or Moral way call'd the Reign of Eris or Contention of hatred flight and disaffection and if things had always continued in that System we should never have had an habitable World But Love and good Nature conquer'd at length Venus rise out of the Sea and receiv'd into her bosom and intangled into her imbraces the falling Aether viz. The parts of lighter earth which were mixt with the Air in that first separation and gave it the name of Night These I say fell down upon the oily parts of the Sea-mass which lay floating upon the surface of it and by that union and conjunction a new Body and a new World was produc'd which was the first habitable Earth This is the interpretation of their mystical Philosophy of the Chaos and the resolution of it into plain natural History Which you may see more fully discuss'd in the Latin Treatise In consequence of this We have already explain'd in several places the Golden Age of the Ancients and laid down such grounds as will enable us to discern what is real and what Poetical in the reports and characters that Antiquity hath given of those first Ages of the World And if there be any thing amongst the Ancients that refers to another Earth as Plato's Atlantis which he says was absorpt by an Earthquake and an inundation as the primaeval Earth was or his Aethereal Earth mention'd in his Phaedo which he opposeth to this broken hollow Earth makes it to have long-liv'd inhabitants and to be without Rains and Storms as that first Earth was also or the pendulous Gardens of Alcinous or such like to which nothing answers in present Nature by reflecting upon the state of the first Earth we find an easie explication of them We have also explain'd what the Antichthon and Antichthones of the Ancients were and what the true ground of that distinction was But nothing seems more remarkable than the inhabitability of the Torrid Zone if we consider what a general fame and belief it had amongst the Ancients and yet in the present form of the Earth we find no such thing nor any foundation for it I cannot believe that this was so universally receiv'd upon a slight presumption only because it lay under the course of the Sun if the Sun had then the same latitude from the Aequator in his course and motion that he hath now and made the same variety of seasons whereby even the hottest parts of the Earth have a Winter or something equivalent to it But if we apply this to the Primaeval Earth whose posture was direct to the Sun standing always fixt in its Equinoctial we shall easily believe that the Torrid Zone was then uninhabitable by extremity of heat there being no difference of seasons nor any change of weather the Sun hanging always over head at the same distance and in the same direction Besides this the descent of the Rivers in that first Earth was such that they could never reach the Equinoctial parts as we have shown before by which means and the want of Rain that Region must necessarily be turn'd into a dry Desart Now this being really the state of the first Earth the fame and general belief that the Torrid Zone was uninhabitable had this true Original and continued still with posterity after the Deluge though the causes then were taken away for they being ignorant of the change that was made in Nature at that time kept up still the same Tradition and opinion currant till observation and experience taught later Ages to correct it As the true miracles that were in the Christian Church at
it against any resistance or opposition Then all the vegetable productions upon the Surface of the Earth as Trees shrubs grass corn and such like Every thing that grows out of the ground is fewel for the Fire and tho' they are now accommodated to our use and service they will then turn all against us and with a mighty blaze and rapid course make a devastation of the outward fumrniture of the Earth whether natural or artificial But these things deserve some further consideration especially that strange Phaenomenon of the Voleano's or Burning Mountains which we will now consider more particularly There is nothing certainly more terrible in all Nature than Fiery Mountains to those that live within the view or noise of them but it is not easie for us who never see them nor heard them to represent them to our selves with such just and lively imaginations as shall excite in us the same passions and the same horrour as they would excite if present to our senses The time of their eruption and of their raging is of all others the most dreadful but many times before their eruption the symptomes of an approaching fit are very frightful to the People The Mountain begins to roar and bellow in its hollow caverns cries out as it were in pain to be deliver'd of some burthen too heavy to be born and too big to be easily discharg'd The Earth shakes and trembles in apprehension of the pangs and convulsions that are coming upon her And the Sun often hides his head or appears with a discolour'd face pale or dusky or bloudy as if all Nature was to suffer in this Agony After these forerunners or symptomes of an eruption the wide jaws of the Mountain open And first clouds of smoke issue out then flames of fire and after that a mixture of all sorts of burning matter red hot stones lumps of metal half-dissolv'd minerals with coals and fiery ashes These fall in thick showres round about the Mountain and in all adjacent parts and not only so but are carried partly by the force of the expulsion and partly by the winds when they are aloft in the Air into far distant Countries As from Italy to Constantinople and cross the Mediterranean Sea into Africk as the best Historians Procopius Ammianus Marcâ—llinus and Dion Cassius have attested These Volcano's are planted in several regions of the Earth and in both Continents This of ours and the other of America For by report of those that have view'd that new-found World there are many Mountains in it that belch out Smoke and Fire some constantly and others by fits and intervals In our Continent Providence hath variously disperst them without any rule known to us but they are generally in Islands or near the Sea In the Asiatick Oriental Islands they are in great abundance and Historians tell us of a Mountain in the Island Iava that in the year 1586. at one eruption kill'd ten thousand people in the neighbouring Cities and Country But we do not know so well the History of those remote Volcano's as of such as are in Europe and nearer home In Iseland tho' it lie within the Polar Circle and is scarce habitable by reason of the extremity of cold and abundance of Ice and Snow yet there are three burning Mountains in that Island whereof the chief and most remarkable is Hecla This hath its head always cover'd with Snow and its belly always fill'd with Fire and these are both so strong in their kind and equally powerful that they cannot destroy one another It is said to cast out when it rages besides Earth stones and ashes a sort of flaming water As if all contrarieties were to meet in this Mountain to make it the more perfect resemblance of Hell as the credulous inhabitants fancy it to be But there are no Volcano's in my opinion that deserve our observation so much as those that are in and about the Mediterranean Sea There is a knot of them called the Vulcanian Islands from their fiery eruptions as if they were the Forges of Vulcan as Strombolo Lipara and others which are not so remarkable now as they have been formerly However without dispute there are none in the Christian World to be compared with Aetna and Vesuvius one in the Island of Sicily and the other in Campanid overlooking the Port and City of Naples These two from all memory of Man and the most ancient Records of History have been fam'd for their Treasures of subterraneous Fiers which are not yet exhausted nor diminish'd so far as is perceivable for they rage still upon occasions with as much fierceness and violence as they ever did in former Ages as if they had a continual supply to answer their expences and were to stand till the last Fire as a type and prefiguration of it throughout all generations Let us therefore take these two Volcano's as a pattern for the rest seeing they are well known and stand in the heart of the Christian World where 't is likely the last fire will make its first assault Aetna of the two is more spoken of by the ancients both Poets and Historians and we should scarce give credit to their relations concerning it if some later eruptions did not equal or exceed the same of all that hath been reported from former ages That it heated the Waters of the Sea and cover'd them over with ashes crack'd or dissolv'd the neighbouring Rocks darkened the Sun and the Air and cast out not only mighty streams of flame but a floud of melted Ore and other Materials These things we can now believe having had experience of greater or an account of them from such as have been eye-witnesses of these fires or of the fresh ruines and sad effects of them There are two things especially in these Eruptions of Aetna that are most prodigious in themselves and most remarkable for our purpose The Rivers of fiery matter that break out of its bowels or are spew'd out of its mouth and the vast burning stones which it slings into the Air at a strange height and distance As to these fiery Rivers or Torrents and the matter whereof they are compounded we have a full account of them by Alphonsus Borellus a learned Mathematician at Pisa who after the last great Eruption in the year 1669. went into Sicily while the fact was fresh to view and survey what Aetna had done or suffer'd And he says the quantity of matter thrown out of the Mountain at that time upon survey amounted to Ninety three millions eight hundred thirty eight thousand seven hundred and fifty cubical paces So that if it had been extended in length upon the surface of the Earth at the breadth and depth of 3 foot it would have reacht further than ninety three millions of paces which is more than four times the Circuit of the whole Earth taking a thousand paces to a mile This is strange to our imagination and almost incredible that one Mountain
is burning will be the last consum'd And I am apt to think if they could keep in the same posture they stand in now and preserve themselves from falling the fire could never get an entire power over them But Mountains are generally hollow and that makes them subject to a double casualty First Of Earth-quakes Secondly Of having their roots eaten away by Water or by Fire but by Fire especially in this case For we suppose there will be innumerable subterraneous Fires smothering under ground before the general Fire breaks out and these by corroding the bowels of the Earth will make it more hollow and more ruinous And when the Earth is so far dissolv'd that the cavities within the Mountains are fill'd with Lakes of Fire then the Mountains will sink and fall into those boyling Caldrons which in time will dissolve them tho' they were as hard as Adamant There is another Engine that will tear the Earth with great violence and rend in pieces whatsoever is above or about those parts of it And that is the Element of Water so gentle in it self when undisturb'd But 't is found by experience that when Water falls into liquid Metals it flies about with an incredible impetuosity and breaks or bears down every thing that wou'd stop its motion and expansion This force I take to come from the sudden and strong rarefaction of its parts which make a kind of explosion when it is sudden and vehement And this is one of the greatest forces we know in Nature Accordingly I am apt to think that the marvellous force of Volcano's when they throw out lumps of Rocks great fragments of Earth and other heavy Bodies to such a vast height and distance that it is done by this way of explosion And that explosion made by the sudden rarefaction of sea-Sea-waters that fall into Pans or receptacles of molten Ore and ardent Liquors within the cavities of the Mountain and thereupon follow the noises roarings and eruptions of those places 'T is observ'd that Volcano's are in Mountains and generally if not always near the Sea And when its waters by subterraneous passages are driven under the Mountain either by a particular Wind or by a great agitation of the Waves they meet there with Metals and fiery Minerals dissolv'd and are immediately according to our supposition rarefied and by way of explosion fly out at the mouth or funnel of the Mountain bearing before then whatsoever stands in their way Whether this be a true account or no of the present Volcano's and their Eruptions 't is manifest that such cases as we have mention'd will happen in the Conflagration of the Earth and that such eruptions or disruptions of the Earth will follow thereupon and that these will contribute very much to the sinking of Mountains the splitting of Rocks and the bringing of all strong Holds of Nature under the power of the General Fire To conclude this point the Mountains will all be brought low in that state of Nature either by Earthquakes or subterraneous fires Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low Which will be literally true at the second coming of our Saviour as it was figuratively apply'd to his first coming Now being once level'd with the rest of the Earth the question will only be how they shall be dissolv'd But there is no Terrestrial Body indissolvable to Fire if it have a due strength and continuance and this last Fire will have both in the highest degrees So that it cannot but be capable of dissolving all Elementary compositions how hard or solid soever they be 'T is true these Mountains and Rocks as I said before will have the priviledge to be the last destroy'd These with the deep parts of the Sea and the Polar Regions of the Earth will undergo a flower fate and be consum'd more leisurely The action of the last Fire may be distinguish'd into two Times or two assaults The first assault will carry off all Mankind and all the works of the Earth that are easily combustible and this will be done with a quick and sudden motion But the second assault being employ'd about the consumption of such Bodies or such Materials as are not so easily subjected to fire will be of long continuance and the work of some years And 't is fit it should be so that this Flaming World may be view'd and consider'd by the neighbouring Worlds about it as a dreadful spectacle and monument of God's wrath against disloyal and disobedient Creatures That by this example now before their eyes they may think of their own fate and what may befal them as well as another Planet of the same Elements and composition Thus much for the Rocks and Mountains which you see according to our Hypothesis will be level'd and the whole face of the Earth reduc'd to plainness and equality nay which is more melted and dissolv'd into a Sea of liquid Fire And because this may seem a Paradox being more than is usually supposed or taken notice of in the doctrine of the Conflagration it will not be improper in this place to give an account wherein our Idea of the Conflagration and its effects differs from the common opinion and the usual representation of it 'T is commonly suppos'd that the Conflagration of the World is like the burning of a City where the Walls and materials of the Houses are not melted down but scorch'd inflam'd demolish'd and made unhabitable So they think in the Burning of the World such Bodies or such parts of Nature as are sit Fewel for the Fire will be inflam'd and it may be consum'd or reduc'd to smoke and ashes But other Bodies that are not capable of Inflammation will only be scorch'd and defac'd the beauty and furniture of the Earth spoil'd and by that means say they it will be laid wast and become unhabitable This seems to me a very short and imperfect Idea of the Conflagration neither agreeable to Scripture nor to the deductions that may be made from Scripture We therefore suppose that this is but half the work this destroying of the outward garniture of the Earth is but the first onset and that the Conflagration will end in a dissolution and liquefaction of the Elements and all the exteriour region of the Earth so as to become a true Deluge of Fire or a Sea of Fire overspreading the whole Globe of the Earth This state of the Conflagration I think may be plainly prov'd partly by the expressions of Scripture concerning it and partly from the Renovation of the Earth that is to follow upon it S. Peter who is our chief Guide in the doctrine of the Conflagration says The Elements will be melted with fervent heat besides burning up the works of the Earth Then adds Seeing all these things shall be dissolv'd c. These terms of Liquefaction and Dissolution cannot without violence be restrained to simple devastation and superficial scorching Such
being a work of Providence we may be sure such measures are taken as will effectually carry it on when once begun The Body of the Earth will be loosen'd and broken by Earth-quakes the more solid parts impregnated with sulphur and the cavities fill'd with unctuous fumes and exhalations so as the whole Mass will be but as one great funeral Pile ready built and wanting nothing but the hand of a destroying Angel to give it fire I will not take upon me to determine which way this devouring Enemy will steer his course from Italy or in what order he will advance and enter the several Regions of our Continent that would be an undertaking as uncertain as useless But we cannot doubt of his success which way soever he goes unless where the Chanel of the Ocean may chance to stop him But as to that we allow that different Continents may have different Fires not propagated from one another but of distinct sources and originals and so likewise in remote Islands and therefore no long passage or trajection will be requir'd from shore to shore And even the Ocean it self will at length be as Fiery as any part of the Land But that with its Rocks like Death will be the last thing subdued As to the Animate World the Fire will over-run it with a swift and rapid course and all living Creatures will be suffocated or consumed at the first assault And at the same time the beauty of the Fields and the external decorations of Nature will be defac'd Then the Cities and the Towns and all the works of man's hands will burn like stubble before the wind These will be soon dispatch'd but the great burthen of the Work still remains which is that Lâ—quefaction we mention'd before or a melting fire much more strong and vehement than these transient blazes which do but sweep the surface of the Earth This Liquefaction I say we prov'd before out of Scripture as the last state of the fiery Deluge And 't is this which at length will make the Sea it self a Lake of fire and brimstone When instead of Rivers of Waters which used to flow into it from the Land there come streams and rivulets of Sulphureous Liquors and purulent melted matter which following the tract of their natural gravity will fall into this great drain of the Earth Upon which mixture the remaining parts of sweet water will soon evaporate and the salt mingling with the Sulphur will make a Dead Sea an Asphaltites a Lake of Sodom a Cup of the dregs of the Wine of the fierceness of God's Wrath. We noted before two remarkable effects of the Burning Mountains which would contribute to the Conflagration of the World and gave instances of both in former Eruptions of Aetna and Vesuvius One was of those Balls or lumps of Fire which they throw about in the time of their rage and the other of those torrents of liquid Fire which rowl down their sides to the next Seas or Valleys In the first respect these Mountains are as so many Batteries planted by Providence in several parts of the Earth to fling those fiery Bombs into such places or such Cities as are marked out for destruction And in the second respect they are to dry up the Waters and the Rivers and the Sea it self when they fall into its Chanel T. Fazellus a Sicilian who writ the History of that Island tells us of such a River of fire upon an eruption of Aetna near twenty eight miles long reaching from the Mountain to Port Longina and might have been much longer if it had not been stopt by the Sea Many such as these and far greater we ought in reason to imagin when all the Earth begins to melt and to ripen towards a dissolution It will then be full of these Sulphureous juices as Grapes with Wine and these will be squeez'd out of the Earth into the Sea as out of a wine-press into the Receiver to fill up that Cup as we said before with the wine of the fierceness of God's wrath If we may be allow'd to bring Prophetical passages of Scripture to a natural sence as doubtless some of those must that respect the end of the World these phrases which we have now suggested of the Wine-press of the wrath of God Drinking the fierceness of his wine poured without mixture into the cup of his indignation with expressions of the like nature that occur sometimes in the old Prophets but especially in the Apocalypse These I say might receive a full and emphatical explication from this state of things which now lies before us I would not exclude any other explication of less force as that of alluding to the bitter cup or mixt potion that us'd to be given to malefactors but that methinks is a low sence when applyed to these places in the Apocalypse That these phrases signifie God's remarkable judgments all allow and here they plainly relate to the end of the World to the last Plagues and the last of the last Plagues chap. 16. 19. Besides The Angel that presided over this judgment is said to be an Angel that had power over fire And those who are to drink this potion are said to be tormented with fire and brimstone ch 14. 10. This presiding Angel seems to be our Saviour himself â— 19. 15. who when he comes to execute Divine Vengeance upon the Earth gives his orders in these words Gather the clusters of the Vine of the Earth for her grapes are fully ripe And thereupon the Destroying Angel thrust in his sickle into the Earth and gathered the Vine of the Earth and cast it into the great Wine-press of the Wrath of God And this made a potion compounded of several ingredients but not diluted with water ch 14. 10. and was indeed a potion of fire and brimstone and all burning materials mixt together The similitudes of Scripture are seldom nice and exact but rather bold noble and great and according to the circumstances which we have observ'd This Vineyard seems to be the Earth and this Vintage the end of the World The pressing of the Grapes into the cup or vessel that receives them the distillation of burning liquors from all parts of the Earth into the trough of the Sea and that lake of red Fire the bloud of those Grapes so flowing into it 'T is true This judgment of the Vintage and Wine-press and the effects of it seem to aim more especially at some particular region of the Earth â—h 14. 20. And I am not against that provided the substance of the explication be still retained and the universal Sea of Fire be that which follows in the next Chapter under the name of a Sea of Glass mingled with Fire This I think expresses the highest and compleat state of the Conflagration when the Mountains are fled away and not only so but the exterior region of the Earth quite dissolv'd like wax before the Sun
little people and the multitude cry'd Hosanna to the Son of David Nay This is the same Person that at his first comeing into this World was laid in a Manger instead of a Cradle A naked Babe dropt in a Crib at Bethlehem His poor Mother not having wherewithal to get her a better Lodging when she was to be deliver'd of this Sacred Burthen This helpless Infant that often wanted a little Milk to refresh it and support its weakness That hath often cry'd for the Breast with hunger and tears now appears to be the Lord of Heaven and Earth If this Divine Person had faln from the Clouds in a mortal Body cloath'd with Flesh and Bloud and spent his life here amongst sinners That alone had been an infinite condescension But as if it had not been enough to take upon him Humane Nature he was content for many months to live the life of an Animal or of a Plant in the dark Cell of a Womans Womb. This is the Lord 's doing it is marvellous in our eyes Neither is this all that is wonderful in the story of our Saviour If the manner of his death be compar'd with his present glory we shall think either the one or the other incredible Look up first into the Heavens see how they bow under him and receive a new light from the Glory of his Presence Then look down upon the Earth and see a naked Body hanging upon a cursed Tree in Golgotha â— Crucified betwixt Two Thieves wounded spit upon mock'd abus'd Is it possible to believe that one and the same person can act or suffer such different parts That he that is now Lord and Master of all Nature not only of Death and Hell and the powers of darkness but of all Principalities in heavenly places is the same Infant Jesus the same crucified Jesus of whose life and death the Christian records give us an account The History of this Person is the Wonder of this World and not of this World only but of the Angels above that desire to look into it Let us now return to our Subject We left the Earth in a languishing condition ready to be made a Burnt-offering to appease the wrath of its offended Lord. When Sodom was to be destroy'd Abraham interceded with God that he would spare it for the Righteous sake And David interceded to save his guiltless People from God's Judgments and the Destroying Angel But here is no Intercessor for Mankind in this last extremity None to interpose where the Mediator of our Peace is the party offended Shall then the righteous perish with the wicked Shall not the Iudge of all the Earth do right Or if the Righteous be translated and delivered from This Fire what shall become of innocent Children and Infants Must these all be given up to the merciless flames as a Sacrifice to Moloch and their tender flesh like burnt incense send up fumes to feed the nostrils of evil Spirits Can the God of Israel smell a sweet favour from such Sacrifices The greater half of Mankind is made up of Infants and Children and if the wicked be destroyed yet these Lambs what have they done Are there no bowels of compassion for such an harmless multitude But we leave them to their Guardian Angels and to that Providence which watches over all things It only remains therefore to let fall that Fire from Heaven which is to consume this Holocaust Imagine all Nature now standing in a silent expectation to receive its last doom The Tutelary and Destroying Angels to have their instructions Every thing to be ready for the fatal hour And then after a little silence all the Host of Heaven to raise their voice and sing aloud LET GOD ARISE Let his enemies be scatter'd As smoak is driven away so drive them away As wax melteth before the fire so LET the wicked perish at the presence of God And upon this as upon a signal given all the sublunary World breaks into Flames and all the Treasuries of Fire are open'd in Heaven and in Earth Thus the Conflagration begins If one should now go about to represent the World on Fire with all the confusions that necessarily must be in Nature and in Mankind upon that occasion it would seem to most Men a Romantick Scene yet we are sure there must be such a Scene The heavens will pass away with a noise and the Elements will melt with fervent heat and all the works of the Earth will be burm up And these things cannot come to pass without the greatest disorders imaginable both in the minds of Men and in external Nature and the â—addest spectacles that eye can behold We think it a great matter to see a single person burnt alive here are Millions shrieking in the flames at once 'T is frightful to us to look upon a great City in flames and to see the distractions and misery of the people here is an Universal Fire through all the Cities of the Earth and an Universal Massacre of their Inhabitants Whatsoever the Prophets foretold of the desolations of Iudea Ierusalem or Babylon in the highest strains is more than literally accomplinsn'd in this last and general Calamity And those only that are Spectators of it can make iâ—s History The disorders in Nature and the inanimate World will be no less nor less strange and unaccountable than those in Mankind Every Element and every Region so far as the bounds of this Fire extend will be in a tumult and a fury and the whole habitable World running into confusion A World is sooner destroyed than made and Nature relapses hastily into that Chaos-state ouâ— of which she came by slow and leisurely motions As an Army advances into the field by just and regular marches but when it is broken and routed it flies with precipitation and one cannot describe its posture Fire is a barbarous Enemy it gives no mercy there is nothing but fury and rage and ruine and destruction wheresoever it prevails A storm or Hurricano tho' it be but the force of Air makes a strange havock where it comes but devouring â—lames or exhalations set on Fire have still a far greater violence and carry more terror along with them â— Thunder and Earthquakes are the Sons of Fire and we know nothing in all Nature more impetuous or more irresistibly destructive than these two And accordingly in this last war of the Elements we may be sure they will bear theâ—â— parts and do great execution in the several regions of the World Earthquakes and Subterraneous Eruptions will tear the body and bowels of the Earth and Thunders and convulsive motions of the Air rend the Skies The waters of the Sea will boyl and struggle with streams of Sulphur that â—un into them which will make them fume and smoak and roar beyond all storms and tempests And these noises of the Sea will be answered again from the Land by falling Rocks and Mountains
place forementioned seems to do And accordingly the Prophet having set down several natural characters of that State as indolency and joy longevity ease and plenty from ver 18. to the 24th He there begins the moral characters of divine favour and such a particular protection that they are heard and answer'd before they pray And lastly He represents it as a state of universal peace and innocency ver 23. The Wolf and the Lamb shall feed together c. This last character which comprehends Peace Iustice and Innocency is more fully display'd by the same Prophet in the 11th chap. where he treats also of the Kingdom of Christ. Give me leave to set down his words ver 4 5 6 7 8 9. But with Righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the Earth and he shall smite the Earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and faithfulness the girdle of his reins The Wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lyon and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them And the Cow and the Bear shall feed their young ones shall lye down together and the Lyon shall eat straw like the Ox. And the suckling ohbild shall play on the hole of the Asp and the weaned child shall put his hand on the Cockatrice-den They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea Thus far the Prophet Now if we joyn this to what we noted before from his 65th chap. concerning the same state 't will be impossible to understand it of any order of things that is now or hath been hitherto in the World And consequently it must be the Idea of some state to come and particularly of that which we call the Future Kingdom of Christ. The same pacifick temper Innocency and Justice are celebrated by this Prophet when the Mountain of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains chap. 2. 2 4. And he shall judge amongst the nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall heat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks Nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more And as to righteousness he says in the 23. chap. Behold a King shall reign in righteousness and Princes shall rule in judgment c. These places I know usually are applyed to the first coming of our Saviour the peaceableness of his doctrine and the propagation of it through all the World I willingly allow this to be a true sence so far as it will go But 't is one thing to be a true sence to such a degree and another thing to be the final sence and accomplishment of a Prophecy The affairs of the first and second coming of our Saviour are often mingled together in the Prophecies of the Old Testament but in that mixture there are some characters whereby you may distinguish what belongs to his first and what to his second coming what to the time when he came to suffer and what to the time when he shall come to reign For instance In these Prophecies recited though there are many things very applicable to his first coming yet that Regality which is often spoken of and that universal Peace and Innocency that will accompany it cannot be verified of his coming in the flesh Seeing it is plain that in his state of humiliation he did not come as a King to rule over the Nations of the Earth And he says himself expresly That his Kingdom is not of this World Iohn 18. 36. And the Prayer of Salome and of the good Thief upon the Cross suppose it not then present but to come Then as to the establishment of Peace in his Kingdom it does not at all appear to me that there is more Peace in the World now than there was before our Saviour came into it or that the Christian parts of the World are more peaceable than the unchristian Therefore these great promises of a Pacifick Kingdom which are exprest in terms as high and emphatical as can be imagin'd must belong to some other days and some other ages than what we have seen hitherto You 'l say it may be 't is not the fault of the Gospel that the World is not peaceable but of those that profess it and do not practise it This is true but it does not answer the Prophecy for that makes no such exception And by such a reserve as this you may elude any Prophecy So the Iews say Their Messiah defers his coming beyond the time appointed by Prophecy because of their sins but we do not allow this for a good reason The Israelites had their promised Canaan tho' they had render'd themselves unworthy of it and by this method of interpreting Prophecies all the happiness and glory promised in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ may come to nothing upon a pretended forfeiture Threatnings indeed may have a tacit condition God may be better than his word and upon repentance divert his judgments but he cannot be worse than his word or fail of performance when without any condition exprest he promises or prophesies good things to come This would destroy all assurance of Hope or Faith Lastly This Prophecy concerning Pacifick times or a Pacifick Kingdom is in the 65th chap. subjoyn'd to the Renovation of the Heavens and the Earth and several marks of a change in the Natural World which things we know did not come to pass at the first coming of our Saviour there was no change of Nature then nor has been ever since And therefore this happy change both in the Natural and Moral World is yet to come But as we said before we do not speak this exclusively of the first coming of our Saviour as to other parts of these Prophecies for no doubt that was one great design of them And in the Prophecies of the Old Testament there are often three gradations or gradual accomplishments The first in some King of Israel or some Person or affair relating to Israel as National only The second in the Messiah at his first coming And the last in the Messiah and his Kingdom at his second coming And that which we affirm and contend for is that the Prophecies foremention'd have not a final and total accomplishment either in the Nation of the Iews or at the first coming of our Saviour And this we bide by The next Prophet that we mention'd as a witness of the future Kingdom of Christ is David Who in his Psalms seems to be pleas'd with this subject above all others And when he is most exalted in his thoughts and Prophetical raptures the Spirit carries him into the Kingdom
the foregoing verse but it is the Natural World that is describ'd there the Heavens and the Earth so and so constituted and therefore in fairness of interpretation they ought to be understood here that World being the subject that went immediately before and there being nothing in the words that restrains them to the animate World or to Mankind In the 2d ch ver 5. the Apostle does restrain the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by adding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the World of the ungodly but here 't is not only illimited but according to the context both preceding and following to be extended to the Natural World I say by the following context too for so it answers to the World that is to perish by Fire which will reach the frame of Nature as well as Mankind For a conclusion of this first point I will set down S. Austin ' s judgment in this case who in several parts of his works hath interpreted this place of S. Peter of the natural world As to the heavens he hath these words in his Exposition upon Genesis Hos etiam aerios coelos quondam periisse Diluvio in quâdam earum quae Canonica appellantur Epistolâ legimus We read in one of the Epistles called Canonical meaning this of S. Peter ' s that the aerila heavens perish'd in the Deluge And he concerns himself there to let you know that it was not the starry heavens that were destroy'd the waters could not reach so high but the regions of our air Then afterwards he hath these words Faciliùs eos coelos secundum illius Epistolae authoritatem credimus periisse alios sicut ibi scribitur repositos We do more easily believe according to the authority of that Epistle those heavens to have perish'd and others as it is there written substituted in their plaâ—e In like manner and to the same sence he hath these words upon Psal. 101. Aerii utique coeli perierunt ut propinqus Terris secundum quod dicuntur volucres coeli sunt autem coeli coelorum superiores in Firmamento sed utrùm ipsi perituri sint igni an hi soli qui etiam diluvio perierunt disceptatio est aliquanto scrupulosior inter doctos And in his Book de Civ Dei he hath several passages to the same purpose Quemadmodum in Apostolicâ illâ Epistolâ à toto pars aâ—cipitur quod diluvio periisse dictus est mundus quamvis sola ejus cum suis coelis pars ima perierit These being to the same effect with the first câ—tation I need not make them English and this last place refers to the Earth as well as the Heavens as several other places in S. Austin do whereof we shall give you an account when we come to shew his judgment concerning the second point the diversity of the ante-diluvian and post-diluvian World This being but a foretaste of his good will and inclinations towards this Doctrine These considerations alledg'd so far as I can judge are full and unanswerable proofs that this discourse of the Apostle's comprehends and refers to the Natural World and consequently they warrant our interpretation in this particular and destroy the contrary We have but one step more to make good That there was a change made in this natural world at the Deluge according to the Apostle and this is to confute the second part of their interpretation which supposeth that S. Peter makes no distinction or opposition betwixt the antediluvian Heavens and Earth and the present Heavens and Earth in that respect This second difference betwixt us methinks is still harsher than the first and contrary to the very form as well as to the matter of the Apostle's discourse For there is a plain antithesis or opposition made betwixt the Heavens and the Earth of old ver the 5th and the Heavens and the Earth that are now ver the 7th 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the adversative particle but you see marks the opposition so that it is full and plain according to Grammar and Logick And that the parts or members of this opposition differ in nature from one another is certain from this because otherwise the Apostle's argument or discourse is of no effect concludes nothing to the purpose he makes no answer to the objection nor proves any thing against the Scoffers unless you admit that diversity For they said All things had been the same from the beginning in the Natural World and unless he say as he manifestly does that there hath been a change in Nature and that the Heavens and Earth that are now are different from the ancient Heavens and Earth which perish'd at the Flood he says nothing to destroy their argument nor to confirm the Prophetical doctrine of the future destruction of the Natural World This I think would be enough to satisfie any clear and free mind concerning the meaning of the Apostle but because I desire to give as full a light to this place as I can and to put the sence of it out of controversie if possible for the future I will make some further remarks to confirm this exposition And we may observe that several of those reasons which we have given to prove That the Natural World is understood by S. Peter are double reasons and do also prove the other point in question a diversity betwixt the two Natural Worlds the Ante diluvian and the present As for instance unless you admit this diversity betwixt the two natural Worlds you make the 5th verse in this Chapter superfluous and useless and you must suppose the Apostle to make an inference here without premises In the 6th verse he makes an inference Whereby the World that then was perish'd in a Deluge what does this whereby relate to by reason of what sure of the particular constitution oâ— the Heavens and the Earth immediately be fore describ'd Neither would it have signified any thing to the Scoffers for the Apostle to have told them how the Ante diluvian Heavens and Earth were constituted if they were constituted just in the same manner as the present Besides what is it as I ask'd before that the Apostle tells these Scoffers they were ignorant of does he not say formally and expresly ver 5. that they were ignornat that the Heavens and the Earth were constituted so and so before the Flood but if they were constituted as these present Heavens and Earth are they were not ignorant of their constitution nor did pretend to be ignorant for their own mistaken argument supposeth it But before we proceed any further give me leave to note the impropriety of our Translation in the 5th Verse or latter part of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This we translate standing in the water and out of the water which is done manifestly in compliance with the present form of the Earth and the notions of the Translators and not according to the natural force and
transibunt Mundus transit sed puto quod praeterit transit transibunt aliquantò mitiùs dicta sunt quà m peribunt In Epistolâ quoque Petri Apostoli ubi aquâ inundatus qui tum erat periisse dictus est Mundus satis clarum est quae pars mundi à toto significata est quatenùs periisse dicta sit qui coeli repositi igni reservandi This he explains more fully afterwards by subjoyning a caution which we cited before that we must not understand this passion of S. Peter's concerning the destruction of the Ante diluvian World to take in the whole Universe and the highest Heavens but only the aerial Heavens and the sublunary World In Apostolicâ illâ Epistolâ à toto parâ— accipitur quod Diluvie periisse dictus est 〈◊〉 quamvis solâ— ejus cum suâ—s coelis pars ima peâ—ierit In that Apostolical Epistle a part is signified by the whole when the World is said to have perish'd in the Deluge although the lower part of it only with the Heavens belonging to at perished that is The Earth with the regions of the Air that belong to it And consonant to this in his exposition of that hundred and first Psalm upon those words The Heavens are the work of thy hands They shall perish but thou shalt endure This perishing of the Heavens he says S. Peter tells us hath been once done already namely at the Deluge Apeâ—â—e dixit hoc Apostolus Petrus Coeli erant olim Terra de aquâ per â—quam constituti Dei verbo per quod qui factus est mundus aquâ 〈…〉 Terra autem coeli qui nunc sunt 〈…〉 ergo dixit perisse coelos per Dilavium These places shew us that S. Austin understood S. Peter's discourse to aim at the Natural World and his periit or periisse ver 6. to be of the same force as 〈◊〉 in the Psalms when 't is said the Heavens shalt perishâ— and consequently that the Heavens and the Earth in this Father's opinion were as really chang'd and transform'd at the time of the Flood as they will be at the Conflagration But we must not expect from S. Austin or any of the Ancients a distinct account of this Apostolical Doctrine as if they knew and acknowledg'd the Theory of the Firsâ— World that does not at all appear but what they said was either from broken Tradition or extorted from them by the force of the Apostle's words and their own sincerity There are yet other places in S. Austin worthy our consideration upon this subject especially his exposition of this 3d. chap. of S. Peter as we find it â—n that same Treatise de Civ Dei There he compares again the destruction of the World at the Deluge with that which shall be at the Confâ—agration and supposeth both the Heavens and Earth to have perish'd Apostelus â—ominemorans factum ante Diluvium videtur admonâ—â—sse quodaminodo quatenus in fiâ—e hujus secuâ—â— mundum istum periturium esse credamus Nam illo tempore periisse dixit qui tunc erat mundum nec solum otbem terrae verùm etiam coelos Then giving his usual caution That the Stars and Starry Heavens should not be comprehended in that mundane destruction He goes on Atque hoc modo pene totus aer cum terra periorat cujus Terrae utÃque prior facies nempe ante-diluviana fuerat deleta Diluvio Qui autem nunc sunt coeli terra eodem verbo repâ—siti sunt igni reservandi Proinde qui coeli quae Terra id est qui mundus pro â—o mundo qui Diluvio periit ex eâdem aquâ reposâ—tus est ipse igni novissimo reservatur Here you see S. Austin's sence upon the whole matter which is this That the Natural World the Earth with the Heavens about it was destroyed and chang'd at the Deluge into the present Heavens and Earth which shall again in like manner be destroyed and chang'd by the last Fire Accordingly in another place to add no more he saith the figure of the subâ—â—nary World shall be chang'd at the Conflagration as it was chang'd at the Deluge Tunc figura huius mundi c. cap. 16. Thus you see we have S. Austin on our side in both parts of our interpretation that S. Peter's discourse is to be referr'd to the natural inanimate World and that the present Natural World is distinct and different from that which was before the Deluge And S. Austin having applyed this expresly to S. Peter's doctrine by way of Commentary it will free us from any crime or affectation of singularity in the exposition we have given of that place Venerable Bede hath â—ollowed S. Austin ' s footsteps in this doctrine for interpreting S. Peter ' s Original World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Peti 2. 5. he refers both that and this chap. 3. 6. to the natural inanimate World which he supposeth to have undergone a change at the Deluge His words are these Idem ipse mundus est nempe quoad materiam in quo nunc humanum genus habitat quem inhabitaverunt hi qui ante diluvium fuerunt fed tamen rectè Originalis Mundus quasi alius dicitur quia sicut in consequentibus bujus Epistolae â—â—riptum continetur Ille tunc mundus aquâ inundatus periâ—â— Coelis videlicet qui eranâ— prius id est cunctis aeris hujus turbulentâ— spaciis aquanum accrescentium altitudine consumptis ac Terrâ in alteram faciem excedentibus aquis immutatâ Nam etsi montes aliqui atque convalles ab initio facti creduntur non tament anti quanti nunc in orbe cernuntur universo T is the same World namely as to the matter and substance of it which mankind lives in now and did live in before the Flood but yet that is truly call'd the ORIGINAL WORLD being as it were another from the present For 't is said in the sequel of this Epistle that the World that was then perish'd in the Deluge namely The regions of the air were consumed by the height and excess of the waters and by the same waters the Earth was chang'd into another form or face For although some Mountains and Valleys are thought to have been made from the beginning yet not such great ones as now we see throughout the whole Earth You see this Author does not only own a change made at the Deluge but offers at a further explication wherein that change consisted viz. That the Mountains and inequalities of the Earth were made greater than they were before the Flood and so he makes the change or the difference betwixt the two Worlds gradual rather than specifical if I may so term it But we cannot wonder at that if he had no principles to carry it further or to make any other sort of change intelligible to him Bede also pursues the same sence and notion in his interpretation of that fountain Gen. 2. 5. that watered the
of the Scripture-Abyss The Mother-Abyss is no doubt that in the beginning of Genesis v. 2. which had nothing but darkness upon the face of it or a thick caliginous air The next news we hear of this Abyss is at the Deluge Gen. 7. 11. where 't is said to be broke open and the waters of it to have drowned the World It seems then this Abyss was clos'd up some time betwixt the Creation and the Deluge and had got another cover than that of darkness And if we will believe Wisdom Prov. 8. 27. who was there present at the formation of the Earth an Orb was set upon the face of the Abyss at the beginning of the World That these three places refer to the same Abyss I think cannot be questioned by any that will compare them and consider them That of the Deluge Moses calls there Tehom-Rabbah the Great Abyss and can there be any greater than the forementioned Mother-Abyss And WISDOME in that place in the Proverbs useth the same phrase and words with Moses Gen. 1. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the face of the Deep or of the Abyss changâ—ng darkness for that Orb of the exteriour Earth which was made afterwards to inclose it And in thâ—s vault it lay and under this cover when the Psalmist speaks of it in these words Psal. 33. 7. He gathereth the waters of the Sea as in a bag he layeth up the Abyss in store-houses Lastly we may observe that 't was this Mother-Abyss whose womb was burst at the Deluge when the Sea was born and broke forth as if it had issued out of a womb as God expresseth it to Iob ch 38. 8. in which place the Chaldee Paraphrase reads it when it broke forth coming out of the Abyss Which disruption at the Deluge seems also to be alluded to Iob 12. 14 15. and more plainly Prov. 3. 20. by his knowledge the Abysses are broken up Thus you have already a threefold state of the Abyss which makes a short History of it first Open at the beginning then covered till the Deluge Then broke open again as it is at present And we pursue the History of it no further but we are told Apoc. 20. 3. That it shall be shut up again and the great Dragon in it for a Thousand years In the mean time we may observe from this form and posture of the Ante diluvian Abyss how suitable it is and coherent with that form of the Ante-diluvian Earth which St. Peter and the Psalmist had describ'd sustain'd by the waters founded upon the waters stretcht above the waters for if it was the cover of this Abyss and it had some cover that was broke at the Deluge it was spread as a Crust or Ice upon the face of those waters and so made an Orbis Terrarum an habitable sphere of Earth about the Abyss SO much for the form of the Ante-diluvian Earth and Abyss which as they aptly correspond to one another so you see our Theory answers and is adjusted to both and I think so fitly that we have no reason hitherto to be displeas'd with the success we have had in the examination of it according to Scripture We have dispatch'd the two main points in question first to prove a diversity in general betwixt the two natural Worlds or betwixt the Heavens and the Earth before and after the Flood Secondly to prove wherein this diversity consisted or that the particular form of the Ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth was such according to Scripture as we have describ'd it in the Theory You 'l say then the work is done what needs more all the rest follows of course for if the Antediluvian Earth had such a â—orm as we have propos'd and prov'd it to have had there could be no Deluge in it but by a dissolution of its parts and exteriour frame And a Deluge so made would not be in the nature of a standing Pool but of a violent agitation and commotion of the Waters This is true These parts of the Theory are so cemented that you must grant all if you grant any However we will try if even these two particulars also may be prov'd out of Scripture That is if there be any marks or memorandums left there by the Spirit of God of such a fraction or dissolution of the Earth at the Deluge And also such characters of the Deluge it self as show it to have been by a fluctuation and impetuous commotion of the Waters To proceed then That there was a Fraction or Dissolution of the Earth at the Deluge the history of it by Moses gives us the first account seeing he tells us as the principol cause of the Flood That the Fountains of the Great Abyss were cloven or burst asunder and upon this disruption the waters gush'd out from the bowels of the Earth as from the widen'd mouths of so many Fountains I do not take Fountains there to signifie any more than Sources or Stores of Water noting also this manner of their eruption from below or out of the ground as Fountains do Accordingly in the Proverbs chap. 3. 20. 't is only said the Abysses were broken open I do not doubt but this refers to the Deluge as Bede and others understand it the very word being us'd here both in the Hebrew and Septuagint that express'd the disruption of the Abyss at the Deluge And this breaking up of the Earth at that time is elegantly exprest in Iob by the bursting of the Womb of Nature when the Sea was first brought to light when after many pangs and throes and dilacerations of her body Nature was delivered of a burthen which she had born in her Womb Sixteen Hundred Years These three places I take to be memorials and proofs of the disruption of the Earth or of the Abyss at the universal Deluge And to these we may add more out of the Prophets Iob and the Psalms by way of allusion commonly to the state of Nature at that time The Prophet Isaiah in describing the future destruction of the World chap. 24. 18 19. seems plainly to allude and have respect to the past destruction of it at the Deluge as appears by that leading expression the windows from an high are open 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taken manifestly from Gen. 7. 11. Then see how the description goes on the windows from an high are open and the foundations of the Earth do shake The Earth is utterly broken down the Earth is quite dissolv'd the Earth is exceedingly moved Here are Concussions and Fractions and dissolutions as there were in the Mundane Earth-quake and Deluge which we had exprest before only by breaking open the Abyss By the Foundations of the Earth here and elsewhere I perceive many understand the Centre so by moving or shaking the foundations or putting them out of course must be understood a displacing of the Centre which was really done at the Deluge as we have shewn in its proper place
make Mountains or Plains upon the Land and the Earth would generally be full of Caverns and hollownesse especially in the Mountainous parts of it And we see the resemblance and imitation of this in lesser ruines when a Mountain sinks and falls into Subterraneous water or which is more obvious when the Arch of a Bridge is broken and falls into the water if the water under it be not so deep as to overflow and cover all its parts you may see there the image of all these things in little Continents and Islands and Rocks under water And in the parts that stand above the water you see Mountains and Precipices and Plains and most of the varieties that we see and admire in the parts of the Earth What need we then seek any further for the Explication of these things Let us suppose this Arch of the Bridge as the great Arch of the Earth which once it had and the water under it as the Abyss and the parts of this ruine to represent the parts of the Earth There will be scarce any difference but of lesser and greater the same things appearing in both But we have naturally that weakness or prejudice that we think great things are not to be explain'd from easie and familiar instances We think there must be something difficult and operose in the explication of them or else we are not satisfied whether it is that we are asham'd to see our ignorance and admiration to have been so groundless or whether we fancy there must be a proportion between the difficulty of the explication and the greatness of the thing explain'd but that is a very false Judgment for let things be never so great if they be simple their explication must be simple and easie And on the contrary some things that are mean common and ordinary may depend upon causes very difficult to find out for the difficulty of explaining an effect doth not depend upon its greatness or littleness but upon the simplicity or composition of its causes And the effects and Phaenomena we are here to explain though great yet depending upon causes very simple you must not wonder if the Explication when found out be familiar and very intelligible And this is so intelligible and so easily deducible from the forementioned causes that a Man born blind or brought up all his life in a Cave that had never seen the face of the Earth nor ever heard any description of it more than that it was a great Globe having this Theory propos'd to him or being instructed what the form of the first Earth was how it stood over the waters and then how it was broke and fell into them he would easily of his own accord foretel what changes would arise upon this dissolution and what the new form of the Earth would be As in the first place he would tell you that this second Earth would be distinguish'd and checker'd into Land and Water for the Orb which fell being greater than the circumference it fell upon all the fragments could not fall flat and lie drown'd under water and those that stood above would make the dry Land or habitable part of the Earth Then in the second place he would plainly discern that these fragments that made the dry Land could not lie all plain and smooth and equal but some would be higher and some lower some in one posture and some in another and consequently would make Mountains Hills Valleys and Plains and all other varieties we have in the situation of the parts of the Earth And lastly a blind man would easily divine that such a great ruine could not happen but there would be a great many holes and cavities amongst the parts of it a great many intervals and empty places in the rubbish as I may so say for this we see happens in all ruines more or less and where the fragments are great and hard 't is not possible they should be so adjusted in their fall but that they would lie hollow in many places and many unfill'd spaces would be intercepted amongst them some gaping in the surface of the Earth and others hid within so as this would give occasion to all sorts of fractures and cavities either in the skin of the Earth or within its body And these Cavities that I may add that in the last place would be often fill'd with Subterraneous waters at least at such a depth for the foundations of the Earth standing now within the waters so high as those waters reach'd they would more or less propagate themselves every way Thus far our Blind man could tell us what the New World would be or the form of the Earth upon the great dissolution and we find his reasonings and inferences very true these are the chief lineaments and features of our Earth which appear indeed very irregular and very inaccountable when they are lookt upon naked in themselves but if we look upon them through this Theory we see as in a glass all the reasons and causes of them There are different Genius's of Men and different conceptions and every one is to be allow'd their liberty as to things of this nature I confess for my own part when I observe how easily and naturally this Hypothesis doth apply it self to the general face of this Earth hits and falls in so luckily and surprizingly with all the odd postures of iâ—s parts I cannot without violence bear off my mind from fully assenting to it And the more odd and extravagant as I may so say and the more diversify'd the effects and appearances are to which an Hypothesis is to be apply'd if it answers them all and with exactness it comes the nearer to a moral certitude and infallibility As a Lock that consists of a great deal of workmanship many Wards and many odd pieces and contrivances if you find a Key that answers to them all and opens it readily 't is a thousand to one that 't is the true Key and was made for that purpose An eminent Philosopher of this Age Monsteur des Cartes hath made use of the like Hypothesis to explain the irregular form of the present Earth though he never dream'd of the Deluge nor thought that first Orb built over the Abyss to have been any more than a transient crust and not a real habitable World that lasted for more than sixteen hundred years as we suppose it to have been And though he hath in my opinion in the formation of that first Orb and upon the dissolution of it committed some great oversights whereof we have given an account in the Latin Treatise however he saw a necessity of such a thing and of the disruption of it to bring the Earth into that form and posture wherein we now find it Thus far we have spoken in general concerning the agreement and congruity of our supposition with the present face of the Earth and the easie account it gives of the causes of it And