relation of the World mentions all particularly and how that the Earth with the great Abyss about it was framed first and some days after that mentions the Creation of Sun Moon Stars c. And therefore it is a strange thing that this being done in the middle of the Creation he frames his World and takes no notice of them when or how they had their being But this is a mystery we must be ignorant of and pass it over in silence However if he thought not sit to meddle with these things yet methinks he might have told us something more plainly of the Creatures below how they were produced And first for Fishes he passeth them over in silence as not sit to be mentioned in his black Sea under the Earth And as for Fowls and Beasts he seems not fully resolved whether they were produced all at one stroke or no as he phrases it that is all at their full growth but seems rather to believe that the Earth of it self spawned them forth in their first Seeds and that in time they grew up to more strength and perfection Here he mentions not 〈◊〉 all Gods command impowering the Earth to produce them that is contrary to his course who will needs have Nature alone act in all things And truly for my part I have not faith enough to believe that his fine fat oyly Earth ever so fat was able to produce Creatures of it self alone And as far as my old head can remember I take it to be against Philosophy also that vegetating power alone can produce Animals and I should wonder much to see a Horse grow out of a Tree or the Earth But let it be his Earth produced Animals If then the Earth naturally of it self produced these various Creatures methinks the same Earth having the same principles of life in it should still have gone on to produce more and more Creatures till at length the whole Earth should be covered by them But I leave him to confider more of this matter VII We will rather hearken to Moses who plainly tells us that both the Earth and the Water produced these Creatures by God's special Command and when his Command ceased their production also ceased And farther tells us God commanded the Sea to produce all sorts of Fishes among others the great Whales Did all these swim up and down in his Sea under the Earth and the great Leviathan take his pastime therein as the Scripture saith He had but a dark place to sport himself in nor any room to spout up the Water into the Air as he hath in our Seas Sure he rejoyced much when this Earth broke and let the Waters go abroad to flow over it but doubtless many of them were knock'd in the Head by those great Mountains of stone falling into his Deep Yet we will let all this pass and be it so that the Fish were all imprisoned in his dark Sea under the Earth But I must needs tell him though he past this over in silence this business of Fishes loudly and fully consutes his Sea under the Earth But we will proceed to Fowls We find ver 20. God said Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and Fowl that may fly above the earth in the open Firmament of Heaven Were then all the sorts of Fowl under Heaven produced by his Sea shut up under the Earth Truly I can as little believe that Water of it self should produce an Eagle as the Earth a Horse yet we must believe Nature can do all things But if Water naturally produced Fowls at the beginning of his World why should it not go on to produce to this day I have heard indeed that there is in the Sea about the coast of Africk a kind of flying Fishes that are able to raise themselves up a spirt from the Sea but I never met with any Traveller who told us that either Sea Lakes or Rivers produced Eagles Swans Kites or Ravens or any other Fowl The Earth perchance he will say is grown more barren since the Fraction but the Waters sure must be the fatter that fat oily Earth having fallen in to enrich it Besides it hath now the warmth of the Sun to help forwards its production But he will have it otherwise and we must submit Yet I desire him to tell us how the Fowls being produced by his Waters under the Earth how they got out Certainly they could not get out till the Deluge when the Earth brake and let them also fly abroad at liberty his Earth being firmly closed up on every side not one loop-hole to fly out at for he will not allow so much as a Spring in his Earth to arise from the Sea and by this means they must needs have been drowned as soon as they were made having no place to fly abroad under Heaven no nor any space of Air between the Water and his oily substance I believe these things will make any serious man stumble much at his Theory And I desire him to consider that men will expect to be satisfied in these great seeming absurdities VIII In the mean time we will proceed to examine his fluid Mass in it self without any relation to the Animals before-mentioned and how the parts divided themselves and by degrees separated one from another till at length the heavier sinking downwards and the lighter mounting upwards it settled in all these distinct bodies of Earth Water Oil Air Fire and the Heavens above which he never told us yet what they were made of therefore we go no farther than Fire And when all these were distinct then this oily substance to settle concrete and harden and make up a new-fashioned Earth I desire him to tell me how many years this was in doing We find a Tun of new Wine having a great deal of foul and heavy lees in it mingled with the body of the Wine requires two or three months time to settle in How much time then would it require for such a vast Vessel as the wide circumference from the uttermost Circle under the Moon round about the World to the very Centre which is many thousand miles I say for such a Vessel full of his fluid Mass to divide it self and settle in I leave him to consider the time I am not concerned in it But I think I may securely affirm it could not settle in one two or three or thirty months time much less in one two or three days time in which Moses relates the Heavens and Earth with the Sea to be framed and the Earth to be clothed with Grass Herbs and Trees And therefore were there nothing else different in his Production from Moses's Creation this alone would make a believing Christian throw his Theory aside Moses so plainly telling us God created the Heavens and the Earth part dry Land which he called Earth and the gathering together of the Waters he called Seas IX But we will go on with his
for them for they came not by their knowledg in Divine matters by any such Philosophical way as from Human Principles making Inferences and Consequences after the manner of men in which way this man much admires himself tho he as often failes therein as others guided by their own shallow and deceitful Reason but by Divine Revelation from God and Infusion of his Holy Spirit and spake as that Spirit gave them utterance And tho Moses was learned in all the Wisdom of the Aegyptians yet he made little or no use of that Wisdom nor could ever from thence have found out how the World was at first Created which many great Philosophers were wholly at a loss in and tho they laboured much in it yet could never attain to a right understanding therein but left to the World their vain and idle opinions as a perpetual testimony of their foolery tho much admired by men for their Wisdom III. I should begin with Moses first but I shall be necessitated to interpret him as we go on in the Discourse of his Theory and therefore pass him by here and come to St. Peter whom he so often cites as his main support And after we have done with St. Peter we shall clear some other Scriptures which are cited in his Theory 'T is the second Epistle of St. Peter our Theorist would make use of and therefore I think it not amiss to acquaint the Reader that this second Epistle of St. Peter was not received in the Church for many years and that there are some Reformed Churches that do not yet allow it as Canonical and Authentick But this second Epistle of St. Peter having no material point of Belief but what is contained in other Scriptures expresly or circumstantially and our Church receiving the same I readily submit unto it and let our Theorist make what advantage he can from thence IV. This man tells us that the present World is quite of another form and nature than it was before the Flood then the earth was of a smooth perfect Spherical form a fat and delicious Surface the Air serene and temperate without storms tempests or any boistrous winds coming from the Regions above or arising from the Sea for there was no Sea at all in it all that vast Water was included within the Earth and the Earth in a perfect Sphere round about it but this Earth was at the great Deluge broken all to pieces and the Sea rising up overflowed it and put it all in that confusion as now it is with broken Rocks and Mountains with deep Valleys and Caverns in many places under it and pieces of this Earth scattered in several parts of the present Sea causing innumerable Islands small and great all the World over The Air also now boistrous and turbulent with various Heats and Colds so that for one calm and serene day we have ten if not twenty quite otherwise And for this his Assertion he hath no Scripture at all but something to colour the business he would fain scrue out of St. Peter's 2 Ep. 3. 5. c. where he tells us that S. Peter sets forth an evident opposition or diversity betwixt the old World before the Flood and our present World Now good Reader I desire you to view this Chapter from v. 1. to v. 9. or 10. and see what you can find there to this purpose without either his or my Comment upon it and when you have done hear what he saith of it pag. 48 especially of v. 5 6 7. viz. That this is so pregnant a place to his purpose as he should do an Injury to Providence had he neglected to take notice of this passage and that the Apostles discourse is so plain and easie as every one at first sight must needs discover the meaning of it These expressions of his would make a man expect to find in St. Peter his whole Theory and description of his Antediluvian Earth set forth on the one hand and the different state of our present Earth as plainly set forth on the other V. The best way to have a good understanding of any mans Writings is to consider the business that he is upon and what he designs and then if we meet with any difficulty or obscurity in his discourse we may be sure from his design to discover the right meaning of them Let us then consider what the business of St. Peter is in this second Epistle 'T is not a Philosophical Discourse to teach us the nature and constitution of the Heavens or the Earth but to teach wicked men the nature of Sin and to shew them the Judgment and Danger that constantly follows it this is the business of this Epistle and therefore he brings several examples of fearful Judgments that befel wicked men for their obstinacy in Sin And his design is to bring them to Repentance and so to avoid the grievous Punishment that will certainly fall upon them if they persist Now let us come to the words of St. Peter cited by our Theorist which are these c. 3. v. 5 c. For this they are willingly ignorant of That by the word of God the Heavens were of old and the Earth standing out of the Water and in the Water whereby the World that then was being overflowed with Water perished But the Heavens and the Earth that are now by the same Word are kept in store reserved unto Fire against the day of Judgment This passage I have Read full oft but could never yet see at the first sight nor at the twentieth any thing relating to his new fancy And if it were so easy to discover at first sight what need he so enlarge upon it for four whole pages together turning and wresting the words with many ambages to bring them about to his bent I shall now in few words lay down the meaning of St. Peter It is an Answer as he truly saith to certain Scoffers who made a mock at the Apostles threatening the coming of our Saviour to Judgment with fiery indignation at the end of the World and saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation To this St. Peter answers That they were willingly ignorant of this That by the Word of God the Heavens were of old and the Earth standing out of the Water and in the Water whereby the World that then was being overflowed with Water perished They are willingly ignorant or wilfully ignorant how that God by his Word made the Heavens of old and the Earth standing out of the Water and in the Water whereby the Animate World that is all Men and other living Creatures of the Earth being overflowed perished They willingly forget this Judgment of God executed upon the old World and therefore will not believe That the Heavens and the Earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the
Then v. 27. When he prepared the heavens I was there when he set a compass upon the face of the Deep or Abyss When he established the Clouds above when he strengthned the fountains of the Abyss Here is mention made of the Abyss and of the Fountains of the Abyss And who can question but that the Fountains of the Abyss here are the same with the Fountains of the Abyss which Moses mentions and were broke open as he tells us at the Deluge Let us observe therefore what form Wisdom gives to this Abyss and consequently to the Mosaical and here seem to be two expressions that determine the form of it v. 28. He strengthened the Fountains of the Abyss that is the cover of those Fountains for the Fountains could be strengthened no other way than by making a strong cover or Arch over them And that Arch is express'd more fully and distinctly in the foregoing verse When he prepared the Heavens I was there when he set a compass on the Face of the Abyss we render it Compass the world signifies a Circle or Circumference or an Orb or Sphere So there was in the beginning of the World a Sphere Orb or Arch set round about the Abyss according to the Testimony of Wisdom who was then present Thus far our Theorist And in this last part he faith very true that in the beginning the form of the Abyss was in a Circle or Circumference for it encompassed the Earth round about But our Theorist would have the Earth to encompass the Abyss round about and the Abyss included within the Earth which is clean contrary to Moses Gen. 1. 9. where God said Let the Waters under the Heavens be gathered together unto one place and let the dry Land appear In which words you may observe two things First that next unto the Firmament or the Heaven were placed the Waters for v. 7. it is said God made the Firmament and divided the Waters which were under the Firmament from the Waters which were above the Firmament So that the Firmament was in the middle of the Waters Water above and Water below it But our Theorist in his new World makes the Earth to divide the Waters for all the Abyss was encompassed by the Earth clean contrary to Moses The second thing I desire you to take notice of is that when the Waters thus encompassed the Earth God said Let them be gathered together unto one place and let the dry Land appear So that until this Command of Gods of gathering the Waters together unto one place no dry Land appeared but all was covered with Water But our Theorist clean contrary orders his matters so that dry Land only appeared in a perfect Arch round about the Waters and no Water at all appeared And thus you see how rarely he hath interpreted this compass of the Abyss mentioned here in the Proverbs His following interpretation of v. 28. is as rare He strengthened the Fountains of the Abyss That is according to Wisdom he made them run with a strong Current or to abound with Water as Wisdom expresseth it v. 24. I was brought forth when there were no Fountains abounding with Water But our Theorist in his new Earth will have no Fountains at all abounding or flowing with Water no Fountains at all but saith that the Fountains could be strengthened no other way than by making a strong cover or Arch over them and that Arch was the whole Earth which had not one Fountain in it abounding with Water So that he makes the Fountains of the Abyss to be only the Abyss without any Fountains appearing and the strengthening of the Fountains of the Deep must be to make no Fountains at all of the Deep You see now how little this place of the Proverbs is to his purpose but rather quite contrary to his new Spherical Earth where he would have neither Mountains Hills nor Sea whereas in this Chapter v. 25. there are both Mountains and Hills plainly declared Wisdom saying Before the Mountains were settled before the Hills was I brought forth And again v. 29. when I gave to the Sea his Decree that the Waters should not pass his Commandment when he appointed the Foundation of the Earth Here you see Mountains Hills and a Sea confined to its bounds at the very beginning of the World when the Foundations of the Earth were first settled All which is as he saies a remarkable passage indeed to confute his new-found World far from confirming it XXII There is another Scripture also which our Theorist makes use of to prove that the Earth was above and the Waters all contained in it and brings for this Psal. 24. 1. The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein v. 2. For he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods So our Translation hath it upon the Seas But the Word in the Original is Al which signifies as well near or by as upon as you will find it Psal. 1. 3. where it is said of the Righteous he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water Here the same word Al is put for by or near the Rivers of Water which Psal. 24. is translated upon And thus it is interpreted by several Authors He hath founded it juxta by the seas and established it by the floods But perchance our Translators might have regard to another thing in this expression upon the Seas because the Earth hath very great hollows and Caverns in it full of Water from the Sea over which the Earth doth stand and so may be said to be founded upon the Seas the Waters of the Sea passing under the Earth and runing through it to the tops of the Mountains and there springing forth with great Fountains run down the Valleys as it is exprest Psal. 104. 8. where it is said of the-Waters they go up by the mountains they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them And so Psal. 33. 7. 't is said He layeth up the depth in store-houses in those great hollows under the Earth from whence Fountains arise to water it all over And in these Store-houses also he reserved Waters to overflow the whole Earth at the Deluge when the Fountains of this great Deep were broke open and made to run in that excessive manner as together with the forty daies Rain caused an universal Deluge XXIII Another place he makes use of is Psal. 136. 4. where David speaking of the Wonders of God saith To him who alone doth great Wonders for his mercy endureth for ever And then v. 6. To him that stretcheth out the earth above the waters This David recounts as a great wonder for the Waters by their natural situation should be above the Earth and were so at the first Creation the Abyss or great deep encompassing the Earth round But God gathered all the Waters together and made the dry Land
the vast quantity of Water which is requisite to make such a Deluge and according to his computation makes up a sum of eight Oceans that is eight times as much Water as all the Seas in the World contain You must suppose this man a rare Hydrographer and can tell us exactly to a fathom the depth of all the Seas in the World not only near the shore but in the main fathomless Ocean nay his skill reaches above the Heavens and can tell you the quantity of Waters there By what Art or Instrument this is computed is best known to himself but not intelligible to any body else But let us hear the rest He then affirms that all the Waters upon or under the Earth together with the Waters above the Firmament would not amount to much above one Ocean so that there would be above six wanting to fill up the Valleys to the Mountain tops and fifteen Cubits upwards You must know this man is a rare Geographer also and hath taken the heighth of every Mountain and the depth of every Valley in the whole World and can tell you what quantity of Water is requisite to fill them up and make an even Sphere with the whole Earth And then concludes That 't is not intelligible from whence so great a quantity of Water should be produced and whither it should be conveyed after the Deluge Well let it be unintelligible Is it a good consequence therefore to say it is Incredible This man professes to believe that God created all this whole World from nothing not onely the Earth but the vast incomprehensible Heavens with Sun and Moon and all the innumerable Stars and believing this could not doubt but God having a mind to overflow this whole Earth could far more easily find Water enough to make such a Flood And should I say he did create Water on this occasion what can he say to confute it Where hath God in Scripture confined himself from any new Creation for ever No where as I know of for to say that God rested the seventh day from all his Work certainly cannot imply that God must never work more John 5. 17. Christ faith My Father worketh hitherto and I work We find in the Gospel our Saviour fed five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes I may as well say this is unintelligible and consequently Incredible yet no good Christian doubts of the truth And why then might not God multiply the Waters in that Deluge as well as multiply the Loaves in the Gospel Wherefore if we say that the Waters in this great Deluge were multiplied methinks a true Believer should rest satisfied with such an answer for this way of multiplication better satisfies an Objection of his made Pag. 19. That Moses saith the Waters increased by degrees for when our Saviour multiplied the Loaves he did not at once create as many as would satisfie the five thousand but multiplied them by degrees as the Disciples distributed them and when they returned they still found more to distribute And so the Waters by degrees increased and decreased likewise by degrees But saith he What became of all these Waters after the Deluge Where were they disposed A strange Question for a Believer to ask as if the same Power that multiplied could not also lessen And thus he may have eight or eighteen Oceans if it were requisite to make up his Deluge which says he is unintelligible yet is very intelligible to any true Believer tho the means whereby so much Water was produced be unintelligible And I would gladly know of any man what absurdity or what inconvenience there would be to Religion in this way of multiplication I profess I cannot see why any one should scruple at the unintelligibleness of this if he believes the other of multiplying Loaves in the Gospel And therefore I require our Theorist to shew us some inconvenience or unintelligibleness in the one more than in the other VII But he brings a Rule out of S. Austin That in the difficulties of Scripture we should not easily make use of Gods Omnipotency for their interpretation Let it be so we are not easily to make use of Gods Omnipotency Must we therefore never use it Are there not a hundred Miracles in Scripture which neither St. Austin nor this man with all his Philosophy can shew how they could be done in a Natural way And therefore when our Reason cannot find out how such a thing can be effected by any other means than by Gods Omnipotency we aseribe it unto that This saith he is to make God march forwards and backwards create and annihilate multiply and lessen according to our will and pleasure Not so but according to his own Word When he tells us such a thing was done by him and we cannot in reason find out how it was done by any other means than by Creation or Multiplication we do not then vainly make use of his Omnipotency but only to make good his own Word And I conceive we can never fully satisfie our Reason and answer every Objection that may be made in this matter of the Deluge and in many other things contained in Scripture without some such way And give me leave to say further We do in this deal much more mannerly with the Deity than he does for we leave God to his own liberty to Create or multiply when he sees occasion but this Man would bind up Gods hands and manacle them so as he must not by any means Create anew or Multiply be the occasion ever so great even the Deluge of the whole World And truly this Man seems to me and I believe to all Men else a very Miracle who allows no Miracle in the Deluge but will needs have all done by Intelligible and Rational ways as he calls it but we may rather call it a fictitious and Romantick way as we shall see by and by when we come to it VIII But I think it fit at present to give an Answer to an Objection made by him I shall make bold to say very frivolous Moses saith he in the description of the Deluge ascribes it unto two express Causes the breaking open the Fountains of the great Deep and opening the Windows of Heaven and by these two means the Deluge arose and overflowed the World Here you may see Moses tells you the means whereby the Deluge was effected Moses makes no mention of Creating or Multiplying power And what of all this Was there therefore no extraordinary power made use of in the Deluge Job 9. 6. It is said our Saviour spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay and said unto him Go wash in the Pool of Siloam he went his way therefore and washed and came seeing Here you see the means expressed whereby this mans eyes were opened viz. by anointing his eyes with clay and washing in the Pool of Siloam Were this
mans eyes opened by a Rational way or by a Miracle So likewise at the Pool of Bethesda John 5. an Angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had Here we see the means express'd how they were cured yet without all doubt a miraculous means and far above the Reason of this Man and beyond his Philosophy to find out be it ever so great And so it is related by Moses himself when God caused the people to pass through the Red Sea Exod. 14. 21. Moses stretched out his hand over the Sea and the Lord caused the Sea to go back by a strong East-wind all that night and made the Sea dry Land and the waters were divided and the Children of Israel went into the middest of the Sea upon the dry ground and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left Here we see a means used Moses stretching out his hand over the Sea and the Sea went back by a strong East-wind all night So that the Sea was not dried up of a sudden but by degrees Now will this Man with his Philosophy shew us a Rational way how this was done without any Miracle most absurd And just so though Moses ascribes the Deluge to a means the breaking open the Fountains of the great Deep and the Windows of Heaven to be opened and the Rain to descend and the Fountains to run forty days and forty nights and so the Flood prevailed till it overflowed the whole World to say there was no Miracle at all in this is as absurd and especially in his way of his new-found World where were neither Seas Rains nor Tempests whatsoever till the Flood but a constant calm serene Air perpetually which must needs cause them to think such a Deluge miraculous indeed never having any such thing as Rain before and of a sudden to see Water poured down in such wonderful abundance for forty days together If we should see Fire descend from Heaven in like manner forty days together no Man would doubt to affirm it to be a Miracle not Intelligible And thus you see what wonderful unintelligible difficulties this Man hath raised out of his Philosophy in this matter of the Deluge which he so much stumbles at IX But because he is a Man so desirous that all should be done in a Rational way we will endeavour a little to make this Deluge Intelligible in his own way and shew him how we may find Water enough for it in the vast great Deep below which he says is fathomless and from the vaster Heaven above which I may call Boundless in comparison of the lesser body of Earth to overflow that little circumference though it be taken fifteen Cubits above the highest Mountain and so make up his eight Oceans which he says is requisite Gen. 1. We find that when God created the Heavens and the Earth the Waters covered the Earth and then God divided the Waters and placed some above the Firmament and left some remaining under it Where or how the Waters above the Firmament were placed the Scripture doth not mention and therefore I acknowledg my ignorance and I find very knowing persons have much disputed whether in his Atmosphere or in some higher place but I rest contented in believing it because the Word of God hath said it Yet if I may propose my thoughts I conceive they might be placed in some upper part of the Aerial Firmament and not carried up above the Heavens as some have fansied and there extended to a far wider circumference than they were in here below whilst they compassed the Earth for a great depth of Water here when carried up and enlarged to that mighty extent would make a far thinner Orb and as clear as Crystal all earthly parts being extracted and no way hinder but rather encrease the light of Sun Moon and Stars as we see glasses of like nature do If this Philosopher tell me that immediately above the Air lies the fiery Region an ill neighbour for the Water I shall make bold to ask him how he knows that Hath he ever been there to see it As for Philosophers talk I think it much like Physicians many guesses but no certainty of any thing But if he like not this place for the Waters let him find out another for I hope he will not deny Moses's plain words That the Waters were divided and part placed above the Firmament If this Philosopher ask me farther how the Water being a heavier body than the Air doth there subsist and not fall down again I shall ask him how the thickest and heaviest Clouds sometimes pass away without any falling Rain and sometimes thin and far lighter Clouds fall down in showers How at the Prayer of Eliah it rained not on the Earth by the space of three years and six months and he pray'd again and the Heaven gave rain James 5. 17. Will this Philosopher say this was done by the course of Nature and ordinary means I am sure S. James ascribes it to Eliah's Prayer which withheld the natural course of the Rains descending for presently when he prayed again the Heaven gave rain All Elements have no other station than what God hath appointed them We know the fire came down from above when God commanded and burnt Sodom and Gomorrha And we are likewise assured that God commanding the Waters ascended up on high and that the Firmament is betwixt those above and those below this the Scripture declares Wherefore the first Principle of my Philosophy is To believe the Scriptures and that God governs all things and that every Element keeps that station which God hath appointed until he determine otherwise But if this Theorist be unsatisfied with this kind of discourse as not agreeing with his Principles of Nature let him place the Waters above the Firmament where he will it matters not to me Yet if he allow the Scripture he must join with me and grant that God had a great reserve of Waters in some Storehouse above to make use of whensoever he pleased As for the Waters under the Firmament first they covered all the Earth after they were divided then God gathered them together unto one place and made the dry land appear and God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the Waters called he Seas For the reception of which Waters he had prepared a Channel how deep or how great a part of the Earth is filled with them I suppose is beyond this Mans skill in Philosophy or Hydrography to determine yet so that they were not all contained in the depth of that Channel below the Earth but part within the Channel and part remaining yet higher than the Earth in a wonderful manner as David expresseth it Psalm 33. 7. He gathereth the waters of the Sea together as an heap He
should cease But he will say The Water coming out from thence might overflow all the Earth especially there being also great Rains at the same time To this I Answer according to his own Rule in his first Book Chap. 2. That all the Vapours in the upper Region condensed and become solid Water do not make up the hundredth part of what it was before To this he adds another Reason there an Experiment made by a Cubical Vessel set forth to receive the Rain in four and twenty hours the Waters received do not make up an inch and an half and then computes how much Water forty days rain would cause all which he concludes would amount to very little towards the Deluge for which he requires eight Oceans If this were so little as he would have it he must have all the rest from his Sea under the Earth But then he comes upon us with his Romantick flying Rivers as he expresseth it pag. 75. which like the great Dragon in the Apocalyps with their wonderful tails swept away a great part of Mankind Yet the greater part for ought I know might still remain and escape the Deluge For I would ask him how far these flying Rivers could reach We find when a mighty stone dashes into the Water the greatest part of the Water which is raised by it flies upward though some may rise obliquely on either side Let us now consider when two or three Mountains or half a dozen fall into his Gulf at once they might raise the Water oblikely a great way on either side I pray you how far Shall I yield unto him a hundred miles or five hundred miles sure I yield a great way yet this would come very far short of the Northern Poles And thus many men might have escaped the Deluge and been saved from it as well as Noah with his Ark. So that this Deluge would have been but a partial Deluge over a small part of the Earth a thing which he mightily argues against in the first Book of his Theory Chap. 3. for as I shewed before the Earth must needs break in those parts next the Torrid Zone several hundred years before the Northern And thus the greater part of his habitable World would have escaped the Deluge Again I pray you consider what Moses saith of the Flood and this Man urges also upon other occasions when it seems to serve his turn as when he argues against the Creation of new Waters for that would make a sudden rise of Water against which he urges the words of Moses who saith That the Flood increased by degrees till at length it lifted up the Ark above the Earth and carried it upon the face of the Waters and so decreased by degrees but now the case is altered and the Waters must dash up and turnble down on a sudden Is this increasing by degrees forty days or forty hours when the Water could not be four minutes in dashing up and so tumbling down again And thus he doth in several places of his Theory now Pro and then Con. XVII And now comes a thing very admirable He endeavours to screw out the ground of this Romantick Rupture from those few words of Moses The Fountains of the great Deep were broke open Mark you saith he Here Moses first speaks of breaking open From whence he concludes a great breach And of what The Fountains of the great Deep And this great Deep he supposes was all included within the Earth and had no Fountain at all issuing out for he allows no Fountains in his new Earth and therefore by Fountains you must conceive Moses doth not mean such flowing Fountains as we have but the breaking or cleaving the Earth asunder when the Water with the Vapours forced its way out But all this fansie of his is quite spoiled by himself he giving us a Rule and a true one Page 82. That Moses relating unto us the Deluge as an Historiographer ought to use common words and such as may express his meaning to the people to whom he delivered this relation Surely then the people who knew no other Fountains but such as usually we have flowing with Water must needs understand the like unto them and not such Fractions and breaches of the Earth as they never heard of before nor any man ever called Fountains Then he makes another Observation That Moses useth here the word great Abyss mentioned Gen. 1. 2. and not the common word for the Sea But I shall shew him that Moses doth call the same Abyss the Sea For Gen. 1. 9. those Waters which covered the Earth ver 2. were gathered together into one place and ver 10. God called those waters Seas And so we find that the Fountains of the great Deep and the Fountains of the Sea are both one and the same in the first Chapter of Genesis and therefore we in our Earth understand them so Moses calls them Fountains of the great Deep or Fountains of the Sea and by Fountains of the Sea we understand those that run from the Sea which were broken up whether Literally or Metaphoricaly as he pleases that is broken up and enlarged that they might flow in great abundance All this proves nothing to us nor to any man that hath not his head already filled with such a vain fansie as the rupture of the whole Earth But passing over all this let us now consider whether this be the Deluge that Moses meant XVIII He saith the Flood was forty days upon the Earth and the waters increased and bare up the Ark and it was lift up above the earth Here we have an increase of the Waters forty days by the flowing of the Fountains from the great Deep and the Windows of Heaven being opened both in the same day But in his description of the Flood he puts the Rain forty days before any breach of the Earth And when the Earth brake what became of the Ark Moses saith it was born up and lift above the Earth by the Waters prevailing but in his description the Earth must first break under the Ark and so the Ark necessarily must fall along with it into the Waters which were under the Earth And this he would have to be the same with lifting up above the Earth But poor Noah with his Sons and Daughters found it otherwise and surely were mightily amazed to find themselves so much deceived in God's Promise having taken so great pains to make an Ark to save them by swimming upon the Waters yet were now tumbled headlong down Ark and all into the Abyss A rare way of lifting up Then another great part of the Earth falling into the Abyss flounced the Waters up with a mighty force even unto the Heavens and made there as it were a flying River as his own words express it in the end of the sixth Chapter And so one piece of the Earth after another falling down into the Abyss there was such a commotion and tempest raised
that it were more Tautological if he did use the same words here but he doth not express it here at-large having exprest it in the former Chapter And if he did use the same expression here as he did in the former Chapter Have we not very many repetitions of things in Scripture mentioned in a former Chapter and in the same Chapter also XIII His fifth Argument is much the same with the third comparing the whole destruction of the Heavens and the Earth with the destruction of the Heavens and the Earth in the former World To this I answer as I did there that if he will needs compare both then the Heavens as well as the Earth must be destroyed in the former for you see he speaks in the Plural number as I said before the Heavens not the Firmament or Region of the Air as our Theorist would have it but the Superior Heavens that of old at the Creation were made by the Word of God which certainly are the same now as they were at the beginning and did not perish Neither did S. Peter mean this perishing of the Earth or Air but after he hath named the Heavens and the Earth he doth not say they perish'd but the World that is the World of the ungodly mentioned in the former Chapter Nor can it be properly said that the Earth perish'd if it were broken and the fashion of it changed as our Theorist would have it We do not say if a man hath broken his Legs or Arms by a fall that he perish'd but when he dies and all his Body perishes Perishing implies a total destruction But of the World of the ungodly it was properly said they perished being wholly destroyed And the main business of St. Peter was to Preach perishing and destruction to these Scoffers and for their sakes and such-like Sinners the Heavens and the Earth shall be consumed together with them XIV I know St. Austin and some others have applied these words of St. Peter to the perishing of the Firmament or Region of the Air yet very few in comparison of those that have thought otherwise but I wish him to observe a Rule that St. Austin gives of distinction between the Scripture and other mens Writings as well as a Rule he shews us ut quantalibet sanctitate doctrinaque praepolleant non ideo verum putem quia ipsi ita senserint sed quia c. That how holy or learned soever Men are I do not therefore believe it to be true because they say so but as far as they bring Scripture for it or some very probable reason And I am sure the words themselves in Scripture are the Heavens in the Plural and not the Firmament in the Singular and therefore we may more surely adhere to them than to the words of some few Men And yet they allow no such perishing of the Earth or Air as our Theorist would have but some small alteration It was the World of the ungodly the Animate World that wholly perish'd XV. I think it sit to answer here an Argument that our Theorist seems mightily to boast of the Rainbow which he affirms never appeared in the World till after the Flood and from thence would prove an alteration in the Airy Region What tho it do prove an alteration yet it proves no perishing which St. Peter affirms of the old World that it perish'd And how doth he prove this alteration He assirms it 't is true but proves it not by any other Argument but that God set his Bow in the Clouds to assure Noah of his promise that the World should never be destroyed by Water again No doubt a most clear proof I would fain ask this Theorist whether a Man of years being Baptized doth not take the sign of washing in that Sacrament for an assurance of his regeneration and forgiveness of his Sins tho perchance he hath been often washed before And thus tho Rainbows had often appeared before the Flood yet God might afterwards appoint it for a sign unto Noah to assure him that he would never destroy the World again by Water And so you see what becomes of this Mans convincing Argument he much boasts of But to return to St. Peter XVI Having thus expounded his words and shewed as I humbly conceive that our Theorist hath little or no ground for his vain siction I shall be bold to tell him further that it is very impertinent to talk to the Apostles of an Antithesis and Apodosis Tautologies or Redundancies and such-like terms of Rhetorick or Grammar-Rules fitter for School-boys to learn than for them whom our Saviour chose as unlearned and poor Fisher-men to Preach his Gospel to the Learned and Wise men of this World and by the Foolishness of Preaching as St. Paul calls it that is by plain and simple Preaching which the World calls Foolishness to confound all their Learning and Wisdom for the Apostles observed no such curious method and exactness of discourse but in their Preaching or Prophesying out of Zeal spake sometimes very abruptly and incoherently sometimes relating to one matter sometimes to another as the Spirit gave them utterance XVII And now I shall prove from these very words of St. Peter the clean contrary to what he affirms viz. His Antediluvian Earth without any Sea For St. Peter here in plain words affirms that the Earth before the Deluge stood part out of the water and part in the water These are his plain words without any such long Comment as he hath brought upon them But he objects that this our English Translation doth not accord with the original Greek which doth express it otherwise saying The earth standing Out of the water and By the water not In the water However these words of St. Peter express two distinct situations of the Earth Out of the water and By the water Let our Theorist tell me what those two distinct situations are out and by and I will presently shew him how that they cannot agree with his new-found Earth where the Waters were all in one manner situated within the Earth and none at all without But I shall now shew him from Gen. 1. which these words have a relation to that the words of St. Peter agree very well with the exposition of our English Translators Out of the water and in the water for Gen. 1. 9 10. it is said God gathered the waters together unto one place and made the dry land appear And God called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas Here you see the Earth out of the Waters in one place And I pray you let our Theorist tell us where the other part of the Earth was Was it not in the Waters for the Waters covered it It may be said also it was by or near the Waters as St. Peter hath it but yet more properly in the Waters And the Author of this Epistle whoever he was must needs intend the same if
he intend aright whether he call it in or by both must signisie the same thing And therefore his cavilling at our English Translation is very frivolous and captious without ground And thus St. Peter and his Philosophy as he terms it plainly contradicts him and is a pregnant place uttered by Providence if I may say so to confute his new invention And Moses in his Philosophy plainly contradicts him also Whereby it is evident that the Antediluvian Earth and the present Earth are one and the same for that had a Sea covering the Earth as this hath Neither Moses nor St. Peter make any such Philosophical distinction as he would prove from them but clean contrary XVIII And that this present Earth is as subject to a Deluge as the former is evident by that passage in Gen. 9. 8. where God promised to Noah that he would never destroy this World again by Water and confirmed the same also by a Sign All which had been very superfluous and vain if the present Earth were so shaped and fashioned as it could not by destroyed by Water Noah might well have smiled at Gods assurance that it should not be when saith this man it could not be there is not Water enough in the whole Universe as he affirms to cover it again Wherefore as by Gods promise a clear possibility is implied that it may be so by Gods promise also we are assured that it shall not be Unto this Scripture you may add that formerly mentioned Psal. 104. 9. Thou hast set a bound that they the Waters may not pass over and turn again to cover the Earth And that most remarkable passage Jer. 5. 22. Fear ye not me saith the Lord Will ye not tremble at my Presence which have placed the Sand for the Bound of the Sea by a perpetual Decree that it cannot pass it and tho the Waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail tho they roar yet can they not pass over it Where God so plainly expresseth a possibility of the Seas overflowing the Earth again or else we must make Gods threatening very vain And that this Command of God for the restraining of the Sea was not given after the Flood tho it continued then also but before the Flood even at the very first Creation appears Prov. 8. 29. where it is said God gave to the Sea his Decree that the waters should not pass his commandment when he appointed the foundations of the earth I shall speak more of this passage by and by when I come to enlarge more on this Chapter XIX I have shewed you before how that St. Peter declares that both the Deluge was and the Conflagration will be by the Word of God not from any Natural Cause But our Theorist will needs ascribe all unto Natural Causes and the disposition which was in the Earth and Heavens for the Flood So likewise he will have a disposition and frame in them for the Conflagration We shall be very glad to learn from our Theorist what that frame or disposition is wherein it consists At the Deluge he hath a rare knack of invention the Suns so heating the Waters in the Bowels of the Earth that just at such a nick of time the Waters and Vapours from them boiled up and burst the whole Frame of the Earth to pieces But I would fain be satisfied concerning this Fiery destruction to come and know how the Heavens and the Earth they both being of so very different constitutions should both take Fire at once I know Gods Word hath said they shall and therefore I believe it But how this shall come to pass our curiosity desires to know from his Philosophy which tells us so exactly how the Deluge came and may I hope as exactly set forth the future Conflagration and tell us the Natural Causes and Preparatory means to dispose the Heavens and the Earth unto it for I suppose he will stick to his own method of having Natural Causes for all things and will not allow God the liberty to use any extraordinary means tho upon such an extraordinary occasion as the Deluge or Conflagration Nature must act in all these and his Philosophy must find out the means whereby she acts and will discover it unto us and will also shew us how it comes to pass that in three thousand years time and upwards since the Flood we find no visible change or disposition in the Heavens or Earth to a Conflagration more now than formerly If this be too hard a task for him to tell us of the future destruction of the whole World yet methinks he should be able to declare unto us that which is past and shew us the Natural Cause of Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction how those Cities came to fall on Fire and the rest of the World escape what disposition there was in that patch of ground or in the Heavens over it to send down Fire upon them XX. I will trouble him no more with Questions of this Nature at present But yet I shall desire leave to give him a short Admonition This way of Philosophising all from Natural Causes I fear will make the whole World turn Scoffers such as St. Peter met with for men supposing and expecting the World to be consumed by Natural Causes as this man would have it and seeing no visible Cause or Alteration in the Heavens or Earth in three thousand years space may conclude that in three thousand years to come there may be as little or no Change and so may ask as those Scoffers did Where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things have continued as they were from the beginning To conclude this matter Let me advise him to trust to Gods Word only that assuredly there will be a Conflagration of the whole World and lay aside his curious vain and endless Philosophising labour to find out the Natural Causes thereof And thus I have taken a great deal of pains more than I intended to shew the little or no ground this man hath so much to boast this second Epistle of St. Peter which first is doubtful and secondly doth so little prove that which he would have tho so frequently made use of in his Theory as if he had proved his whole design from thence Having thus dispatch'd his principal Text on which he so much depends I shall now briefly examin some other Scriptures made use of in his Theory XXI In the ninetieth page of his first Book he hath these words There remains a remarkable discourse in the Proverbs of Solomon relating to the Mosaical Abyss and not only to that but to the Origin of the Earth in general where Wisdom declares her Antiquity and Preexistence to all the Works of this Earth chap. 8. 23. c. I was set up from everlasting from the beginning ' ere the earth was When there were no deeps or Abysses I was brought forth when no fountains abounding with water
appear and in many parts of the Land there are by the Sea-Shore great Rocks and Mountains placed which seem to us to stand much above the Sea and therefore 't is said To him that stretcheth out the Earth above the Waters But for this and other Poetical expressions in the Psalms or Job or such like Poetical Sacred Authors I may say in general as he doth pag. 87. at the lower end That they seldom are so determinate and distinct but that they may be interpreted more than one way Wherefore I desire the Reader when he meets with some such expressions to remember what our Theorist himself confesseth and to take the pains to consult some other Interpreters and then he will find the truth of what is here acknowledged These are the most material Scriptures he depends upon which I have mentioned and therefore I will now pass to discourse of his Theory more particularly SECTION II. CONTAINS The Narration of the Deluge I. GOds providential Care of and Favour to Man is very wonderful that he should make poor man who is not able to create or produce and give life to the meanest creatures absolute Lord over them all and not only for his necessity but for his entertainment also and pleasure to dispose of the life of the noblest and best of Creatures at his will and command And besides all this great power and authority given him in this World hath prepared for him a life of eternal happiness in the World to come in the presence and full injoyment of this his great benefactor Yet ungrateful man so degenerated as soon to forget his maker and manifold benefits and at length all flesh had so corrupted his way that the Justice of God resolved to destroy them all by an universal Deluge saving only Noah and his Posterity who had found favour with God by his more righteous Life And from him began a new and righteous Generation but in process of time they also degenerated as far in all sorts of wickedness Yet God having promised unto Noah never to destroy mankind again by another Flood made good his Word and chose unto himself righteous Abraham and his Wife and from their Son and succeeding Generation to sever from the rest of the wicked World a peculiar People that might serve him aright four hundred years together in the Land of Aegypt and when he brought them out from thence into the Land of Canaan with other adjacent Countries which they were to possess and multiply in he gave them several Laws and Ordinances very different from the rest of the World and Moses their chief Captain and Leader inspired by God wrote them all down in five Books beginning at the very Creation of the World and punctually declaring the manner the time and all other circumstances how and when every thing was Created and how Man was made Lord of all He sets down likewise the several Generations of men until the Deluge and as punctually declares how the Flood came upon the whole World and how God preserved Noah and his Sons in an Ark the manner and form of which he exactly sets forth and how God commanded Noah to take into the same Ark some of all the sorts of Creatures upon Earth to preserve them from perishing And so goes on to describe how the Flood came upon all the rest of the World and the Waters encreased by degrees till at length they lifted up the Ark from the Earth and by the Waters still encreasing it was born up fifteen Cubits above the tops of the highest Mountains and how it decreased likewise and the Earth became habitable again and so continues his relation of all the Posterity of Noah till he comes to Abraham and his Generation unto whom at their coming out of Aegypt God gave by this Moses Laws and Ordinances as I said before which was his peculiar favour to the People of Israel As for the rest of the World God suffered all Nations to walk in their own waies Nevertheless he left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave them Rain from Heaven and fruitful Seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness as it is Acts 14. 16 17. And he also wrote a Law in their Hearts a Law of gratitude unto his infinite goodness for all these benefits That they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel after him and find him as it is Acts 17. 27. And he wrote a Law likewise in their hearts for their demeanour and conversation one with another Whatsoever you would that men should do unto you even so do unto them And as their knowledge was but little so God required little at their hands only to observe these Laws written in their hearts And the times of this ignorance God winked at as it is v. 30. And thus both Jews and Gentiles continued until the fulness of time was come that God sent forth his Son into the World a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of his People Israel Then this his Eternal Son manifested the glory of the Father both to Jews and Gentiles and sent Apostles abroad into all the World to Preach the same who kept nothing back that was profitable unto them but declared all the counsel of God as it is Acts 20. 20 and 27. Who can now doubt but that the Son of Righteousness hath so enlightned all the World by himself and his blessed Apostles and taught us all things not only things necessary to our Salvation but all knowledge required to perfection Certainly then no man can think that the infinite goodness of God who hath thus enlightened us with all knowledge to perfection should leave his People unto this day ignorant in the first Principles of Religion even the very Creation of the World and of man with all other Creatures of the Universal Deluge and Noah's preservation in that Deluge and suchlike rudiments which our Children learn in their Minority II. What then shall we say to the man that after several thousand years now in the end of the World steps forth as a new light come into it to shew us how that the whole World has been mistaken unto this day in the true knowledg of the Creation Deluge c. and pretends to deliver to us a new and strange interpretation of Scriptures which neither we nor our Fathers before us ever heard of and by his Philosophy would not only confute all other Philosophers before him but also Christians in their Divinity and would make it as plain unto them as the Sun at Noonday that they have not yet had a right understanding of these things And tho David saith The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy-work he would be so bold as to tell David that neither these Heavens nor this Earth are the same which they were at the Creation and so continued till the Deluge but quite another thing and therefore neither
layeth up the depth in store-houses Which seems to express that which I said before That the Waters were partly above the Earth and partly below the Earth as in a Store-house But though the Waters stood as he saith on an heap above yet God set them a bound that they may not pass over and that they turn not again to cover the Earth Which Jeremiah expresseth also Chap. 5. v. 22. Fear ye not me saith the Lord Will ye not tremble at my Presence which have placed the sand for a bound of the Sea by a perpetual Decree that it cannot pass it and though the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it This passage also of Jeremiah is very remarkable Will ye not tremble at my Presence who have placed the Sea in that wonderful manner as it hourly threatens you with an overwhelming destruction and would certainly confound you did not I restrain it and keep it back by a perpetual Decree And whereas our Philosopher saith that God hath set Rocks Hills and Mountains and decreed those for bounds to the Sea I desire him to take notice that here Jeremiah speaks not of any such bounds but the Sand only where the Waves roar and toss themselves yet cannot pass over it because of God's Decree He gives that as a reason for their restraint from overflowing the lower ground and not the highest of the Land above which the Sea can as easily pass over as the lower Sands were it not kept in by Gods Decree For as I said before this great Abyss did once cover the whole Earth before God gathered it together and there setled it by a Decree and might as well again cover it were there no Decree to hinder it Now Davids expression and Jeremiahs also were very vain if the Sea as this Man would have it were so much below the Earth that it did not need any restraint from God to keep it from overflowing and therefore let the Waves roar and toss themselves never so much yet without any Decree of God it is impossible they should overflow the Earth and men need not at all tremble at Gods Presence in that regard but may sleep secure from any danger of a Deluge Which Blasphemy I hope he will not presume to speak or think And if to avoid this Blasphemy he should say that Gods threatning was not in vain because by his Omnipotent Power he could take away all those bounds of the Sea Rocks Hills and Mountains And what then he hath brought the ground level to such a place as Jeremiah spoke of before yet there Jeremiah saith the Waters were not able to overflow it But he will farther extend God's Omnipotent Power to raise the Waters tho they are below the Earth and make them come like flying Rivers such as he mentions in his Deluge and overflow the Land Mark you now This Man would not allow God to do the least Miracle to make good the common interpretation of Moses's words no by no means he must not alter the course of Nature and therefore he hath taken so great pains to invent his Fraction to save God from doing a Miracle But now God must do Miracle upon Miracle pull down Mountains and raise up the Waters and make them come flying as I said over the Earth if he will destroy these obstinate Jews So that the whole fabrick of his Design and Fraction is wholly spoiled And the Jews being assured by this Philosopher that God would not do such Miracles to destroy them were safe enough and Jeremiah's or rather Gods threats would still be in vain And thus by avoiding one Rock he falls upon another and a greater Incidit in Scyllam X. And so let us return to Moses who saith the Waters first covered all the Earth and then that God gathered them together in one place where they might lie together as a swelling Mountain for as David expresseth it Psal. 33.7 He gathereth the waters together as an heap He layeth up the depth in store-houses This Opinion then of the Seas being higher than the Earth is no such old and foolish Opinion as he expresseth it for we shall not take his Ipse dixit for any Confutation though ever so magisterially spoken And if he argues against this That the Land and Sea make up one entire Globe and therefore the Sea must not swell out so far as to spoil the fashion of it Sure the swelling of high Mountains so far above the Valleys quite spoils the spherical form of his whole Globe let the Seas swell or no. But by what doth he find us necessarily obliged to confess the Earth and Sea to be in such a perfect Globe as we may not allow the Sea to swell above the Earth Perchance he will say all must run in an equal line round about the Centre How then doth the Earth it self run in so unequal a line as from the highest Mountain to the lowest Valley And the Mountains for ought I know might have been as high again and yet the whole Globe subsist in the same place that it doth Again If every thing must lie in an even line how comes the Sea in its deepest Channel to lie so much below the Mountains or any thing at all below them the Earth being so much a heavier body than it and the Earth according to its gravity should lie so much below the Sea and that encompass it round about as it did at the first Creation Wherefore his Philosophical Suppositions and Reasons signifie little Gods Creation and appointment are according to his own Will and pleasure and every Element sinks and rises and keeps that station he hath appointed for it And if he comes now to confute me with his Mathematical Instruments and pretends to shew me that the Sea is not higher than the Earth by standing on the shore and taking a level I shall not at all hearken unto him for tho by his Instrument no considerable rise of the Sea may be discerned in one short view yet in many thousand miles a very great rising may be discovered when he comes into the main Ocean and therefore I shall desire him to assure me that he hath walked with his Instrument upon the grand Sea and taken an exact level from England to America and that in a most perfect absolute calm for the least commotion of the Sea will spoil his measuring and so go on into the other Ocean beyond America and take the level likewise of that Sea A hard task I lay upon him but yet very necessary seeing he goes about to confute me and Scripture too with his Mathematical Instrument and therefore it is no wonder if I require him to walk upon the Sea being in a perfect Mathematical level Nor is this rise of the Sea a vain and useless thing but kept up by God in this form by his perpetual Decree for the use and benefit of
Mankind and done by the same Power by which he created the whole World for the benefit of Men that is that Fountains might run from thence unto the highest Hills and there spring forth to water the whole Earth as David saith Psalm 104. 8. They go up by the Mountains and down by the Valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them And v. 13. He watereth the hills from his chambers the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works And for this purpose though the Sea lies ever so high in the main Ocean yet descending by degrees towards the shores it lies there very low that the Rivers may exonerate themselves into it And from hence we may gather the meaning of Moses when for the Deluge he mentioned the breaking up the Fountains of the Great Deep that is the Fountains and Springs which flow from the great Deep by several passages contrived by God under the Earth to convey the Waters of the great Deep and make the springs run among the highest Hills as David saith and there break out in the tops of the Mountains in such flowing streams as I have been amazed to see it and have seriously considered whether the top of the Mountain sometimes very small above the Spring could possibly contain vapours enough to engender so much Water as flowed from them for a great quantity of vapours being condensed will make but a few drops of solid Water And our Theorist being a Man of observation I doubt not but he hath concluded as I have done That tho the top of the Mountain had been filled with solid Water it could not cause the Spring to run at that rate very many hours And whereas in Autumn Springs that are raised by Vapours condensed into Water at the foot of Hills or in lower grounds do generally cease after a dry Summer or at best run low these from the Mountains continue to flow plentifully And from all this I conclude that when Moses saith the Fountains of the great Deep were broke open he means by the great Deep the same he mentioned in Genesis at the Creation which in the second Verse he calls the Great Deep And the same Waters being gathered together in one place he calls them by the common name of Seas v. 10. which of it self might afford Water enough to cover the whole Earth for it is evident by Moses that the Waters did cover the whole Earth before God gathered them together in one place after they were divided from the Waters above the Firmament XI Now if he take into his consideration all the Waters that were created at the beginning which Moses saith did cover the Earth and how deep they covered it I suppose no man will presume to affirm whether fifteen or fifty Cubits And no man can think that God created abundance of Water to annihilate any part of it again presently without any Cause and therefore we may be assured that the same quantity of Water still remains This then is clear that as these waters did once cover the Earth the same quantity of Waters may do so again Now let him take all these Waters both them above the Firmament which God certainly could as easily bring down as carry them up let the place of their abode be where it will and those under the Firmament he cannot possibly want Water abundantly to serve for a Deluge over the whole Earth Peradventure he will say as he did above That in this carrying the Waters up and down we make God to march backwards and forwards according to our will And I answer again as I did before That we do not make God do any thing but onely shew unto this Theorist who will not allow God either to Create or Multiply the Waters that were created upon so great an occasion as this Deluge how God might do it without either Multiplying or Creating anew I do it then to satisfie his curiosity rather than our own for we rest satisfied with God's affirming that there was such a Deluge and that it was caused by the breaking open of the Fountains and opening the Windows of Heaven whether partly or wholly by those means which Moses sets down we do not positively affirm And yet if we did affirm the Waters to come down from above and the Fountains to run below for the increase and so likewise to be taken up again and the Fountains to run back for the decrease it were no more than we find in Scripture to be done upon a far smaller occasion For God made that mighty body of the Sun which wheels about the Earth with such incomprehensible speed yet at the command of Joshuah that he might have the longer day to obtain a full Victory to stand still Josh. 10. And 2 Kings 20. we find by the Dial of Ahaz it went back ten degrees to satisfie Hezekiahs doubt whether he should recover or no according to the words of Isaiah If on such occasions God did such mighty Miracles What wonder is it if we suppose him to do far greater Miracles upon so much a greater occasion as the Deluge If he will shew me how this was done without a Miracle I will undertake to shew him how the Deluge was made without a Miracle And if God wrought a Miracle then Why not before at the Deluge I hope these Scripture-reasons and examples which I have brought are far more considerable than his trivial experiments of a Mathematical Instrument or Cubical Pot which he mentions also Pag. 13. as to tell us of such a Vessel receiving the Rain when it falls for several hours together and how little a body of Water is found by it and consequently how little this would conduce towards the Deluge I conceive it signifies nothing unless he had been present at the Deluge and seen in what measure the Rains did then descend for upon that occasion who can doubt but that the Waters were poured forth in a strange and wonderful manner the Windows of Heaven being opened so as they will never be again to the Worlds end Wherefore to depend so much upon trivial Experiments and his weak Reason in such extraordinary wonderful and supernatural things as no man can doubt but this Deluge was his Faith may be much damnified though his Reason or rather Fansie may be much delighted with inquisitiveness after them And when he hath done all and spent his whole time to say nothing of things more precious in searching after the Causes of things and wearied himself with busie and toiling labour therein he will find that to be true by experience which weak and deluded Reason will not easily believe That he knows onely this one thing that he knows nothing And therefore 't is a strange presumption for vain man who is born as ignorant ant as a wild asses colt as Job saith c. 11. v. 12. to take upon him to be so wise as to examine and determine the works of God by his