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diff --git a/75644-0.txt b/75644-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6787348 --- /dev/null +++ b/75644-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11200 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75644 *** + + + The Sacred Theory of the Earth + +[Illustration: The Sacred Theory of the Earth.] + +[Illustration: Effigies Authoris.] + + + + + The Sacred 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. + + In Two Volumes. + + The Two First Books + Concerning the DELUGE + AND + Concerning PARADISE + + The Two Last Books + Concerning the Burning of the WORLD, + AND + Concerning the New Heavens and New Earth + + With a REVIEW of the THEORY, and of its + Proofs; especially in reference to Scripture. + + The Sixth Edition. + + To which is added, + + The Author’s Defence of the WORK, from + the Exceptions of Mr. Warren, and the Examination + of Mr. Keil. + + AND + + An ODE to the Author by Mr. _Addison_. + + LONDON: Printed for J. HOOKE, at the _Flower-de-Luce_ + against St. _Dunstan’s-Church_ in _Fleet-street_. MDCCXXVI. + + + + +Ad Insignissimum Virum + +D. THO. BURNETTUM, + +_Sacræ Theoriæ Telluris Autorem_. + + Non usitatum carminis alitem, + BURNETTE, poscis, non humiles modos: + Vulgare plectrum, languidæque + Respuis officium camœnæ. + Tu mixta rerum semina conscius, + Molémque cernis dissociabilem, + Terrámque concretam, & latentem + Oceanum gremio capaci: + Dum veritatem quærere pertinax + Ignota pandis, sollicitus parùm + Utcunque stet commune vulgi + Arbitrium & popularis error. + Auditur ingens continuò fragor, + Illapsa tellus lubrica deserit + Fundamina, & compage fractà + Suppositas gravis urget undas. + Impulsus erumpit medius liquor, + Terras aquarum effusa licentia + Claudit vicissim: has inter orbis + Reliquiæ fluitant prioris. + Nunc & recluso carcere lucidam + Balæna spectat solis imaginem, + Stellasque miratur natantes, + Et tremulæ simulacra lunæ. + Quæ pompa vocum non imitablis! + Qualis calescit spiritus ingenî! + Ut tollis undas! ut frementem + Diluvii reprimis tumultum! + Quis tam valenti pectore ferreus + Ut non tremiscens & timido pede + Incedat, orbis dum dolosi + Detegis instabiles ruinas? + Quin hæc cadentûm fragmina montium + Natura vultum sumere simplicem + Coget resingens, in priorem + Mox iterum reditura formam. + Nimbis rubentem sulphureis Jovem + Cernas; ut udis sævit atrox Hyems + Incendiis, commune mundo + Et populis meditata Bustum! + Nudus liquentes plorat Athos nives, + Et mox liquescens ipse adamantinum + Fundit cacumen, dum per imas + Saxa fluunt resoluta valles. + Jamque alta cœli mœnia corruunt, + Et vestra tandem pagina (proh nefas!) + BURNETTE, vestra augebit ignes, + Heu socio peritura mundo. + Mox æqua tellus, mox subitus viror + Ubique rident: En teretem Globum! + En læta vernantis Favonî + Flamina, perpetuósque flores! + O pectus ingens! O animum gravem, + Mundi capacem! si bonus auguror, + Te, nostra quo tellus superbit, + Accipiet renovata civem. + +_Jo. Addison, è Coll. Magd. Oxon. 1699._ + + + + + AN ODE + + To the LEARNED + + Dr. _Thomas Burnet_, + + AUTHOR of _The Sacred Theory of + the EARTH_. + +I. + + _No common Height the Muse must soar, + That wou’d thy Fame in Numbers try; + Nor dare in humble Verse adore, + But rise with Thee above the Sky: + You ask a bold and lofty Strain, + And what we meanly sing, disdain._ + +II. + + _You Nature’s early Birth explore, + Her disunited Frame disclose, + From what mix’d Cause, and jarring Power, + The Infant Earth to Being rose: + How, in her circling Bosom sleep + Th’ imprisoned Seas, and bounded Deep._ + +III. + + _Resolv’d great hidden Truths to trace, + Each learned Fable you despise; + And, pleas’d, enjoy the fam’d Disgrace, + To think, and reason singly wise: + Each Tale reject by Time allow’d, + And nobly leave the erring Crowd._ + +IV. + + _Hark! from her weak Foundations tore, + The bursting Earth asunder flies, + And, prop’d by yielding Seas no more, + The dreadful Crack alarms the Skies: + Whose Arches rent, their Weight forego, + And plunge in opening Gulphs below._ + +V. + + _Now rushing from their watry Bed, + The driving Waves disdain a Shore; + And with resistless Force o’erspread + That Orb, which check’d their Rage before: + While scatter’d o’re the foamy Tide, + All Nature’s floating Ruins ride._ + +VI. + + _New Heavens disclos’d, the silver Train + The SUN beneath their Waves admire; + And gliding thro’ the enlight’ned Main, + Gaze at each Star’s diminish’d Fire, + Well pleas’d, the MOON’s bright Orb survey, + Trembling along their azure Play._ + +VII. + + _How strong each Line, each Thought how great, + With what an Energy you rise! + How shines each Fancy? with what Heat + Does every glowing Page surprize? + While spouting Oceans upward flow, + Or sink again to Caves below._ + +VIII. + + _As Nature’s Doom you thus impart, + The moving Scene we scarce endure; + But, shrinking, ask our anxious Heart, + If on our Earth we tread secure? + Whose Fate, unmov’d, as you persue, + We start and tremble but to view_. + +IX. + + _Yet these Remains we now behold, + Which tow’ring once in Hills arose; + Shall from a new and fairer Mould + A new and fairer Earth compose: + Which to her Fate shall owe her Bloom, + And rise more lovely from her Tomb._ + +X. + + _Yet see This beauteous Fabrick end, + This second Pride of Fate expire; + While gushing from the Clouds descend + The burning Storm, the liquid Fire; + Where Worlds and Men consuming lie, + And in one bright Confusion die._ + +XI. + + _Their naked Tops the Hills admire, + No longer white with fleecy Dew; + And as they moan the spreading Fire, + Add to the Flames dissolving too; + While Rocks from melting Mountains flow, + And roll in Streams thro’ Vales below._ + +XII. + + _And now the kindling Orbs on high + All Nature’s mournful End proclaim; + When thy great WORK, (Alas!) must die, + And feed the rich victorious Flame: + Give Vigour to the wasting fire, + And with the World TOO SOON expire._ + +XIII. + + _Once more her Bloom the Earth renews, + Smooth’d into Green, eternal Vales; + Her Glebe still moist with fragrant Dews, + Her Air still rich with balmy Gales: + No Change her flow’ry Seasons breed, + But Springs retire, and Springs succeed._ + +XIV. + + _Oh say, Thou Great, Thou sacred Name, + What Scenes Thy thoughtful Breast employ, + Capacious as that mighty Frame + You raise with Ease, with Ease destroy? + Each World shall boast thy Fame; and YOU, + Who charm’d the OLD, should grace the NEW._ + + + + + TO THE + KING’s + MOST + Excellent Majesty. + +_SIR_, + +New-found Lands and Countries accrue to the Prince whose Subject makes +the first Discovery; and having retriev’d a World that had been lost for +some thousands of Years, out of the Memory of Man, and the Records of +Time, I thought it my Duty to lay it at your Majesty’s Feet. ’Twill not +enlarge your Dominions, ’tis past and gone; nor dare I say it will +enlarge your Thoughts; but I hope it may gratify your Princely Curiosity +to read the Description of it, and see the Fate that attended it. + +We have still the broken Materials of that first World, and walk upon +its Ruins; while it stood, there was the Seat of _Paradise_, and the +Scenes of the _Golden Age_; when it fell, it made the Deluge; and this +unshapen Earth we now inhabit, is the Form it was found in when the +Waters had retir’d, and the dry Land appear’d. These things, Sir, I +propose and presume to prove in the following Treatise, which I +willingly submit to your Majesty’s Judgment and Censure; being very well +satisfied, that if I had sought a Patron in all the List of Kings, your +Contemporaries, or in the Roll of your Nobles of either Order, I could +not have found a more competent Judge in a Speculation of this Nature. +Your Majesty’s Sagacity, and happy Genius for natural History, for +Observations and Remarks upon the Earth, the Heavens, and the Sea, is a +better Preparation for Inquiries of this kind, than all the dead +Learning of the Schools. + +SIR, This Theory, in the full Extent of it, is to reach to the last +Period of the Earth, and the End of all Things; but this first Volume +takes in only so much as is already past, from the Origin of the Earth, +to this present Time and State of Nature. To describe in like manner the +Changes and Revolutions of Nature that are to come, and see thorough all +succeeding Ages, will require a steady and attentive Eye, and a Retreat +from the Noise of the World; especially so to connect the Parts, and +present them all under one View, that we may see, as in a Mirror, the +several Faces of Nature, from first to last, throughout all the Circle +of Successions. + +YOUR Majesty having been pleas’d to give Encouragement to this +Translation, I humbly present it to your gracious Acceptance. And ’tis +our Interest, as well as Duty, in Disquisitions of this Nature, to +address our selves to your Majesty, as the Defender of _Philosophick +Liberties_, against those that would usurp upon the fundamental +Privilege and Birthright of Mankind, _The free Use of Reason_. Your +Majesty hath always appear’d the Royal Patron of Learning and the +Sciences; and ’tis suitable to the Greatness of a Princely Spirit to +favour and promote whatsoever tends to the Enlargement of human +Knowledge, and the Improvement of human Nature. To be Good and Gracious, +and a Lover of Knowledge, are, methinks, two of the most amiable Things +in this World: And that your Majesty may always bear that Character in +present and future Ages; and after a long and prosperous Reign enjoy a +blessed Immortality, is the constant Prayer of + + _Your MAJESTY’s + Most Humble and + Most Obedient Subject_, + +THOMAS BURNET. + + + + + PREFACE TO THE READER. + + +Having given an Account of this whole Work in the first Chapter, and of +the Method of either Book, whereof this Volume consists, in their proper +Places, there remains not much to be said here to the Reader. This +Theory of the Earth may be called _Sacred_, because it is not the common +Physiology of the Earth, or of the Bodies that compose it, but respects +only the great Turns of Fate, and the Revolutions of our natural World; +such as are taken notice of in the Sacred Writings, and are truly the +Hinges upon which the Providence of this Earth moves; or whereby it +opens and shuts the several successive Scenes whereof it is made up. +This _English_ Edition is the same in Substance with the _Latin_, +though, I confess, ’tis not so properly a Translation, as a new +Composition upon the same Ground, there being several additional +Chapters in it, and several new-moulded. + +As every Science requires a peculiar Genius, so likewise there is a +Genius peculiarly improper for every one: And as to Philosophy, which is +the Contemplation of the Works of Nature, and the Providence that +governs them, there is no Temper or Genius, in my Mind, so improper for +it, as that which we call a _mean_ and _narrow Spirit_; and which the +_Greeks_ call _Littleness of Soul_. This is a Defect in the first Make +of some Mens Minds, which can scarce ever be corrected afterwards, +either by Learning or Age. And as Souls that are made little and +incapacious cannot enlarge their Thoughts to take in any great Compass +of Times or Things; so what is beyond their Compass, or above their +Reach, they are apt to look upon as fantastical, or at least would +willingly have it pass for such in the World. Now as there is nothing so +great, so large, so immense, as the Works of Nature, and the Methods of +Providence, Men of this Complexion must needs be very unfit for the +Contemplation of them. Who would set a purblind Man at the Top of the +Mast to discover Land? Or upon an high Tower to draw a Landskip of the +Country round about? For the same Reason, short-sighted Minds are unfit +to make Philosophers, whose proper Business it is to discover and +describe in comprehensive Theories the _Phænomena_ of the World, and the +Causes of them. + +This Original Disease of the Mind is seldom cur’d by Learning, which +cures many others; like a Fault in the first _Stamina_ of the Body, it +cannot easily be rectified afterwards. ’Tis a great Mistake to think +that every sort of Learning makes a Man a competent Judge of Natural +Speculations: We see unhappy Examples to the contrary amongst the +Christian Fathers, and particularly in St. _Austin_, who was +unquestionably a Man of Parts and Learning; but interposing in a +Controversy where his Talent did not lie, shew’d his Zeal against the +_Antipodes_ to very ill purpose, though he drew his Reasons partly from +Scripture. And if within a few Years, or in the next Generation, it +should prove as certain and demonstrable that the _Earth is mov’d_, as +it is now, that there are _Antipodes_; those that have been zealous +against it, and engag’d the Scripture in the Controversy, would have the +same Reason to repent of their Forwardness, that St. _Austin_ would have +now, if he was alive. ’Tis a dangerous thing to engage the Authority of +Scripture in Disputes about the Natural World, in Opposition to Reason; +lest Time, which brings all Things to Light, should discover that to be +evidently false which we had made Scripture to assert: And I remember +St. _Austin_, in his Exposition upon _Genesis_, hath laid down a Rule to +this very purpose, though he had the Unhappiness, it seems, not to +follow it always himself. The Reason also, which he gives there for his +Rule, is very good and substantial: For, saith he[1], _if the +Unbelievers or Philosophers shall certainly know us to be mistaken, and +to err in those things that concern the Natural World, and see that we +alledge our (Sacred) Books for such vain Opinions, how shall they +believe those same Books when they tell them of the RESURRECTION of the +Dead, and the World to come, if they find them to be fallaciously writ +in such things as lie within their certain Knowledge?_ + +We are not to suppose that any Truth concerning the Natural World can be +an Enemy to Religion; for Truth cannot be an Enemy to Truth, God is not +divided against himself; and therefore we ought not upon that Account to +condemn or censure what we have not examin’d or cannot disprove; as +those, that are of this narrow Spirit we are speaking of, are very apt +to do. Let every thing be try’d and examin’d in the first Place, whether +it be _True_ or _False_; and if it be found false, ’tis then to be +consider’d whether it be such a Falsity as is prejudicial to Religion or +no. But for every new Theory that is propos’d, to be alarm’d, as if all +Religion was falling about our Ears, is to make the World suspect that +we are very ill assur’d of the Foundation it stands upon. Besides, do +not all Men complain, even these as well as others, of the great +ignorance of Mankind? how little we know, and how much is still unknown? +and can we ever know more, unless something new be discover’d? It cannot +be old when it comes first to light, when first invented, and first +propos’d. If a Prince should complain of the Poorness of his Exchequer, +and the Scarcity of Money in his Kingdom, would he be angry with his +Merchants, if they brought him home a _Cargo_ of good Bullion, or a Mass +of Gold out of a foreign Country? and give this Reason only for it, He +would have no _new Silver_; neither should any be current in his +Dominions but what had his own Stamp and Image upon it: How should this +Prince or his People grow rich? To complain of Want, and yet refuse all +offers of a Supply, looks very sullen, or very fantastical. + + * * * * * + +I might mention also upon this occasion another Genius and Disposition +in Men, which often makes them improper for Philosophical +Contemplations; not so much, it may be, from the Narrowness of their +Spirit and Understanding, as because they will not take Time to extend +them. I mean Men of Wit and Parts, but of short Thoughts and little +Meditation, and that are apt to distrust every Thing for a Fancy or +Fiction that is not the Dictate of Sense, or made out immediately to +their Senses. Men of this Humour and Character call such Theories as +these philosophick Romances, and think themselves witty in the +Expression; they allow them to be pretty Amusements of the Mind, but +without Truth or Reality. I am afraid if an Angel should write the +Theory of the Earth, they would pass the same Judgment upon it; where +there is Variety of Parts in a due Contexture, with something of +surprizing Aptness in the Harmony and Correspondency of them, this they +call a Romance; but such Romances must all Theories of Nature and of +Providence be, and must have every Part of that Character with +Advantage, if they be well represented. There is in them, as I may so +say, a _Plot_ or _Mystery_ pursued thro’ the whole Work, and certain +grand Issues or Events upon which the rest depend, or to which they are +subordinate; but these Things we do not make or contrive our selves, but +find and discover them, being made already by the great Author and +Governor of the Universe: And when they are clearly discover’d, well +digested, and well reason’d in every Part, there is, methinks, more of +Beauty in such a Theory, at least a more masculine Beauty, than in any +Poem or Romance; and that solid Truth that is at the Bottom gives a +Satisfaction to the Mind, that it can never have from any Fiction how +artificial soever it be. + +To enter no further upon this Matter, ’tis enough to observe, that when +we make Judgments and Censures upon general Presumptions and Prejudices, +they are made rather from the Temper and Model of our own Spirits, than +from Reason; and therefore, if we would neither impose upon our selves, +nor others, we must lay aside that lazy and fallacious Method of +censuring by the Lump, and must bring things close to the Test of _True_ +or _False_, to explicit Proof and Evidence; and whosoever makes such +Objections against an _Hypothesis_, hath a Right to be heard, let his +Temper and Genius be what it will. Neither do we intend that any thing +we have said here should be understood in another Sense. + +To conclude, This Theory being writ with a sincere Intention to justify +the Doctrines of the _Universal Deluge_, and of a _Paradisiacal_ State, +and protect them from the Cavils of those that are no Well-wishers to +sacred History, upon that Account it may reasonably expect fair Usage +and Acceptance with all that are well-dispos’d; and it will also be, I +think, a great Satisfaction to them to see those Pieces of most ancient +History, which have been chiefly preserv’d in Scripture, confirm’d anew, +and by another Light, that of Nature and Philosophy; and also freed from +those Misconceptions or Misrepresentations, which made them sit uneasie +upon the Spirits even of the best Men that took Time to think. _Lastly_, +In things purely speculative, as these are, and no Ingredients of our +Faith, it is free to differ from one another in our Opinions and +Sentiments; and so I remember St. _Austin_ hath observ’d upon this very +Subject of _Paradise_; wherefore as we desire to give no Offence our +selves, so neither shall we take any at the Difference of Judgment in +others; provided this Liberty be mutual, and that we all agree to study +_Peace_, _Truth_, and a _good Life_. + +Footnote 1: + + Gen. ad lit. lib. 1. c. 19. Plerumque accidit ut aliquid de Terrâ de + Cœlo, de cæteris hujus mundi elementis, _&c._ Cùm enim quenquam + Christianorum in eâ re quam optimè nôrunt, errare deprehenderint, & + vanam sententiam suam ex nostris libris asserere, quo pacto illis + libris credituri sunt de Resurrectione Mortuorum, & spe vitæ æterne + regnoque cœlorum, quando de bis rebus quas jam experiri vel + indubitatis numeris percipere potuerunt, fallaciter putaverint esse + conscriptos? + + + + + CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS. + +The FIRST BOOK. + +CHAP. I. + +_The Introduction: An Account of the whole Work, of the Extent and +general Order of it._ ... Page 1 + +CHAP. II. + +_A general Account of Noah’s Flood. A Computation what Quantity of Water +would be necessary for the making of it; That the common Opinion and +Explication of that Flood is not intelligible._ ... 10 + +CHAP. III. + +_All Evasions concerning the Flood answer’d; That there was no 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._ ... +25 + +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 from divine Authority, and +from the Nature and Form of the Chaos, out of which the Earth was made._ +... 47 + +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 rose 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._ ... 71 + +CHAP. VI. + +_The Dissolution of the first Earth: The Deluge ensuing thereupon. And +the Form of the present Earth rising from the Ruins of the first._ ... +89 + +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._ ... 103 + +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 fect of an +ordinary Providence, and how far of an extraordinary._ ... 129 + +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._ ... 146 + +CHAP. X. + +_Concerning the Channel 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._ ... 172 + +CHAP. XI. + +_Concerning the Mountains of the Earth, their Greatness and irregular +Form, their Situation, Causes and Origin._ ... 188 + +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._ ... 206 + +The SECOND BOOK. + +CHAP. I. + +_The Introduction and Contents of the Second Book. The general State of +the Primæval Earth, and of Paradise._ ... 235 + +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._ ... 251 + +CHAP. III. + +_The Original Differences of the Primitive Earth from the Present or +Postdiluvian. The three Characters of Paradise, and the Golden Age, +found in the Primitive Earth. A particular Explication of each +Character._ ... 264 + +CHAP. IV. + +_A Digression concerning the Natural Causes of Longævity. That the +Machine of an Animal consists of Springs, and which are the two +principal. The Age of the Antediluvians to be computed by Solar, not +Lunar Years._ ... 277 + +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 Postdiluvian Origin of the Rainbow._ ... 307 + +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._ ... 329 + +CHAP. VII. + +_Concerning the Place of Paradise; It cannot be determin’d from the +Theory only, nor from Scripture only; What the Sense of Antiquity was +concerning it, as to the Jews and Heathens, and especially as to the +Christian Fathers. That they generally plac’d it out of this Continent, +in the Southern Hemisphere._ ... 345 + +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._ +... 363 + +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 Jewish 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 Providential +Conduct of Knowledge in the World. A Recapitulation and State of the +Theory._ ... 379 + +CHAP. X. + +_Concerning the AUTHOR of NATURE._ ... 401 + +CHAP. XI. + +Concerning NATURAL PROVIDENCE. + +_Several Incroachments upon natural Providence, or Misrepresentations of +it, and false Methods of Contemplation. A true Method propos’d, 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._ ... 432 + + + + + THE THEORY OF THE EARTH. + BOOK I. + Concerning the Deluge, and the Dissolution of the EARTH. + + + CHAP. I. + The INTRODUCTION. + + + _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 worthy our Study and Meditation, nor any thing that would conduce +more to discover the Ways of Divine Providence, and to shew us the +Grounds of all true Knowledge concerning Nature. And therefore, to clear +up the several Parts of this Theory, I was willing to lay aside a great +many other Speculations, and all those dry Subtilties with which the +Schools and the Books of Philosophers are usually fill’d. + +BUT when we speak of a _Rising World_, and the Contemplation of it, we +do not mean this, of the _Great Universe_; for who can describe the +Original of that vast Frame? But we speak of the _Sublunary World_, this +Earth, and its Dependencies, which rose out of a Chaos about Six +Thousand Years ago. And seeing it hath fallen to our Lot to act upon +this Stage, to have our present Home and Residence here, it seems most +reasonable, and the Place design’d by Providence, where we should first +employ our Thoughts, to understand the Works of God and Nature. We have +accordingly therefore design’d in this Work to give an Account of the +Original of the Earth, and of all the great and general Changes that it +hath already undergone, or is hence forwards to undergo, till the +Consummation of all things. For if from those Principles we have here +taken, and that Theory we have begun in these two first Books, we can +deduce with Success and Clearness the Origin of the Earth, and those +States of it that are already past; following the same Thread, and by +the Conduct of the same Theory, we will pursue its Fate and History +thro’ future Ages, and mark all the great Changes and Conversions that +attend it _while Day and Night shall last_; that is, so long as it +continues an Earth. + +By the States of the Earth that are already past, we understand chiefly +_Paradise_ and the _Deluge_; Names well known, and as little known in +their Nature. By the future States we understand the _Conflagration_, +and what new Order of Nature may follow upon that, ’till the whole +Circle of Time and Providence be compleated. As to the first and past +States of the Earth, we shall have little help from the Ancients, or +from any of the Philosophers, for the Discovery or Description of them: +We must often tread unbeaten Paths, and make a Way where we do not find +one; but it shall be always with a Light in our Hand, that we may see +our Steps, and that those that follow us may not follow us blindly. +There is no Sect of Philosophers that I know of, that ever gave an +Account of the Universal Deluge, or discover’d, from the Contemplation +of the Earth, that there had been such a Thing already in Nature. ’Tis +true, they often talk of an Alternation of _Deluges_ and +_Conflagrations_ in this Earth, but they speak of them as Things to +come; at least, they give no Proof or Argument of any that hath already +destroyed the World. As to _Paradise_, it seems to be represented to us +by the _Golden Age_; whereof the Ancients tell many Stories, sometimes +very luxuriant, and sometimes very defective: For they did not so well +understand the Difference betwixt the new-made Earth and the present, as +to see what were the just Grounds of the _Golden Age_, or of _Paradise_; +though they had many broken Notions concerning those Things, as to the +_Conflagration_ in particular. This hath always been reckon’d one +amongst the Opinions, or Dogmata of the Stoicks, _That the World was to +be destroyed by Fire_, and their Books are full of this Notion; but yet +they do not tell us the Causes of the Conflagration, nor what +Preparations there are in Nature, or will be, towards that great Change. +And we may generally observe this of the _Ancients_, that their Learning +or Philosophy consisted more in Conclusions, than in Demonstrations; +they had many Truths among them, whereof they did not know themselves +the Premises or the Proofs: Which is an Argument to me, that the +Knowledge they had, was not a Thing of their own Invention, or which +they came to by fair Reasoning and Observations upon Nature, but was +delivered to them from others by Tradition and ancient Fame, sometimes +more publick, sometimes more secret: These Conclusions they kept in +Mind, and communicated to those of their School, or Sect, or Posterity, +without knowing, for the most part, the just Grounds and Reasons of +them. + +’TIS the Sacred Writings of Scripture that are the best Monuments of +Antiquity, and to those we are chiefly beholden for the History of the +first Ages, whether Natural History or Civil. ’Tis true, the Poets, who +were the most ancient Writers among the _Greeks_, and serv’d them both +for Historians, Divines, and Philosophers, have delivered some Things +concerning the first Ages of the World, that have a fair resemblance of +Truth, and some Affinity with those Accounts that are given of the same +Things by Sacred Authors, and these may be of Use in due Time and Place; +but yet, lest any thing fabulous should be mix’d with them, as commonly +there is, we will never depend wholly upon their Credit, nor assert any +Thing upon the Authority of the Ancients which is not first prov’d by +natural Reason, or warranted by Scripture. + +IT seems to me very reasonable to believe that besides the Precepts of +Religion, which are the principal Subject and Design of the Books of +Holy Scripture, there may be providentially conserved in them the Memory +of Things and Times so remote, as could not be retrieved, either by +History, or by the Light of Nature; and yet were of great Importance to +be known, both for their own Excellency, and also to rectify the +Knowledge of Men in other Things consequential to them: Such Points may +be, _Our great Epocha_, or the Age of the Earth, The Origination of +Mankind, The First and Paradisiacal State, The Destruction of the old +World by an Universal Deluge, The Longevity of its Inhabitants, The +manner of their Preservation, and of their Peopling the second Earth; +and lastly, The Fate and Changes it is to undergo. These I always look’d +upon as the Seeds of great Knowledge, or Heads of Theories fix’d on +Purpose to give us Aim and Direction how to pursue the rest that depend +upon them. But these Heads, you see, are of a mix’d Order, and we +propose to our selves in this Work only such as belong to the natural +World, upon which I believe the Trains of Providence are generally laid; +and we must first consider, how God hath order’d Nature, and then, how +the Occonomy of the Intellectual World is adapted to it; for of these +two Parts consist the full System of Providence. In the mean Time, what +Subject can be more worthy the Thoughts of any serious Person, than to +view and consider the Rise and Fall, and all the Revolutions, not of a +Monarchy or an Empire, of the _Grecian_ or _Roman_ State, but of an +entire World? + +THE Obscurity of these Things, and their Remoteness from common +Knowledge, will be made an Argument by some, why we should not undertake +them; and by others, it may be, the very same Thing will be made an +Argument why we should. For my Part I think _There is nothing so secret +that shall not be brought to Light_, within the Compass of _our World_; +for we are not to understand that of the whole Universe, nor of all +Eternity, our Capacities do not extend so far; but whatsoever concerns +this Sublunary World in the whole Extent of its Duration, from the Chaos +to the last Period, this I believe Providence hath made us capable to +understand, and will in its due Time make it known. All I say, betwixt +the first Chaos and the last Completion of Time and all Things +temporary, this was given to the Disquisitions of Men: On either Hand is +Eternity, before the World and after, which is without our reach: But +that little spot of Ground that lies betwixt those two great Oceans, +this we are to cultivate, this we are Masters of, herein we are to +exercise our Thoughts, to understand and lay open the Treasures of the +Divine Wisdom and Goodness hid in this part of Nature and of Providence. + +AS for the Difficulty or Obscurity of an Argument, that does but add to +the Pleasure of contesting with it, when there are Hopes of Victory; and +Success does more than recompense all the Pains. For there is no sort of +Joy more grateful to the Mind of Man, than that which ariseth from the +Invention of Truth; especially when ’tis hard to come by. Every Man hath +a Delight suited to his Genius, and as there is Pleasure in the right +Exercise of any Faculty, so especially in that of Right-Reasoning; which +is still the greater, by how much the Consequences are more clear, and +the Chains of them more long: There is no Chace so pleasant, methinks, +as to drive a Thought, by good Conduct, from one end of the World to the +other; and never to lose Sight of it till it fall into Eternity, where +all things are lost, as to our Knowledge. + +THIS Theory being chiefly Philosophical, Reason is to be our first +Guide; and where that falls short, or any other just Occasion offers it +self, we may receive further Light and Confirmation from the Sacred +Writings. Both these are to be look’d upon as of Divine Original, God is +the Author of both; he that made the Scripture made also our Faculties, +and ’twere a Reflection upon the Divine Veracity for the one or the +other to be false when rightly used. We must therefore be careful and +tender of opposing these to one another, because that is, in effect, to +oppose God to himself. As for Antiquity and the Testimonies of the +Ancients, we only make general Reflections upon them, for Illustration +rather than Proof of what we propose; not thinking it proper for an +_English_ Treatise to multiply Citations out of _Greek_ or _Latin_ +Authors. + +I am very sensible it will be much our Interest, that the Reader of this +Theory should be of an ingenuous and unprejudiced Temper, neither does +it so much require Book-learning and Scholarship, as good natural Sense +to distinguish _True_ and _False_, and to discern what is well prov’d, +and what is not. It often happens that Scholastick Education, like a +Trade, does so fix a Man in a particular Way, that he is not fit to +judge of any thing that lies out of that Way; and so his Learning +becomes a Clog to his natural Parts, and makes him more indocile, and +more incapable of new Thoughts and new Improvements, than those that +have only the Talents of Nature. As Matters of Exercise had rather take +a Scholar that never learn’d before, than one that hath had a bad +Master; so generally one would rather chuse a Reader without Art, than +one ill instructed with Learning, but opinionative, and without +Judgment; yet it is not necessary they should want either, and Learning +well plac’d strengthens all the Powers of the Mind. To conclude, just +Reasoning and a generous Love of Truth, whether with or without +Erudition, is that which makes us most competent Judges what is true. +And further than this, in the Perusal and Examination of this Work, as +to the Author, as much Candor as you please; but as to the Theory, we +require nothing but Attention and Impartiality. + + + + + CHAP. II. + + + _A general Account of NOAH’s Flood; a Computation what Quantity of + Water would be necessary for the making of it; that the common + Opinion and Explication of that Flood is not intelligible._ + + +’TIS now more than five Thousand Years since our World was made, and +tho’ it would be a great Pleasure to the Mind, to recollect and view at +this Distance those first Scenes of Nature; what the Face of the Earth +was, when fresh and new, and how Things differ’d from the State we now +find them in, the Speculation is so remote, that it seems to be +hopeless, and beyond the reach of human Wit. We are almost the last +Posterity of the first Men, and fallen into the dying Age of the Worlds; +by what Footsteps, or by what Guide can we trace back our Way to those +first Ages, and the first Order of Things? And yet, methinks, it is +reasonable to believe, that Divine Providence, which sees at once +throughout all the Ages and Orders of the World, should not be willing +to keep Mankind finally and fatally ignorant of that part of Nature, and +of the Universe, which is properly their Task and Province to manage and +understand. We are the Inhabitants of the Earth, the Lords and Masters +of it; and we are endow’d with Reason and Understanding; doth it not +then properly belong to us to examine and unfold the Works of God in +this part of the Universe, which is fallen to our Lot, which is our +Heritage and Habitation? And it will be found, it may be, upon a +stricter Enquiry, that in the present Form and Constitution of the +Earth, there are certain Marks and Indications of its first State; with +which if we compare those Things that are recorded in Sacred History, +concerning the first Chaos, Paradise, and an Universal Deluge, we may +discover, by the help of those Lights, what the Earth was in its first +Original, and what Changes have since succeeded in it. + +AND tho’ we shall give a full Account of the Origin of the Earth in this +Treatise, yet that which we have propos’d particularly for the Title and +Subject of it, is to give an Account of the primæval _Paradise_, and of +the Universal _Deluge_, those being the two most important things that +are explained by the Theory we propose. And I must beg leave in treating +of these two, to change the Order, and treat first of the _Deluge_, and +then of _Paradise:_ For though the State of Paradise doth precede that +of the Flood in Sacred History, and in the Nature of the Thing, yet the +Explication of both will be more sensible and more effectual, if we +begin with the Deluge; there being more Observations and Effects, and +those better known to us that may be referr’d to this, than to the +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-flowed and destroyed in a Deluge of Water. Not a Deluge that +was National only, or over-run some particular Country or Region, as +_Judea_ or _Greece_, or any other, but it over-spread 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 preserved 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 _Abyss_ being quieted by degrees, the +Waters retir’d into their Channels 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 +Ruins and Remains of it. + +THIS is a short Story of the greatest Thing that ever yet hap’ned 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 extreamly +difficult, if not impossible, to give an Account of the Waters that +compos’d this Deluge, whence they came, or whither they went. If 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 us 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, contain’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; ’tis huge +and great, but ’tis 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 pared 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 ’tis 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 Channel 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 Channel, 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 Channel 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. + +’TIS true, there would not be altogether so much Water required 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 Inland 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 +required, 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 Abyss were broken up, or burst +asunder_, and the Rain descended for Forty Days, the _Cataracts_, or +_Floodgates_ of Heaven being opened. 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 Abyss, +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, _Cog. Phys. Mech._ p. 221. “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 Hour’s Time; but +because that sucks up nothing of the Moisture as the Earth doth, let us +take an Inch for half an Hour’s Rain; whence it follows, that in the +Space of Forty Days and Nights Rain, the Waters in the Deluge wou’d +rise, at four Feet in 24 Hours, 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 Forty Days Rain would supply little more than the +hundredth Part of the Water requisite to make the Deluge. ’Tis true, he +makes the Height 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 Forty Days and Forty 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 signify very little as to the +overflowing of the Mountains. Whence another Author upon the same +Occasion hath this Passage, _Auct. cat. in_ Gen. 7. 4. “If the Deluge +had been made by Rains only, there would not have needed Forty Days, but +Forty 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 Forty Days and Forty 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 superior Regions, we are next to examine the +inferior, and the Treasures of Water that may be had there. _Moses_ +tells us, that the Fountains of the great Abyss 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 explained; but we are here to consider what is +generally understood by the great _Abyss_, in the common Explication of +the Deluge; and ’tis 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 over-flowed the highest Mountains. But +whether, or how this could be deserves to be a little examined. + +AND in the first Place, the Sea is not higher than the Land, as some +have formerly imagin’d, fancying 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 ventured 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 Channel, 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 let’s imagine then that Force us’d and apply’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 Channel 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 _Abyss_, 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 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 drained the whole middle Region, and we have examined 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 examined 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 them to descend upon the Earth? If fluid, as the +Air or Æther, how could the Waters rest upon them, for Water is heavier +than Air or Æther? 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 ceased? 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 dry’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 Channels, 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 required; 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 proposed by +them, or belonging to them, as may silence the Cavils of Atheists, +satisfy 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 farther ’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 +proposed, 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 cut 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 St. +_Austin_ hath said upon a like Occasion, speaking concerning those that +disproved 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 Abyss_; 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 Channels. 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 Saint _Peter_ hath also assign’d +_Causes_ of the Deluge, _2 Pet. 3. 6._ namely the particular +Constitution of the Earth and Heavens before the Flood; by _reason +whereof_, he saith, _the World that was then perish’d 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 another’s 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 Controversy, 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 it is +vulgarly explained; 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 +satisfy 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 valued or gratified; 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 shew 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 tie 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 we 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 St. _Peter_’s; for then the _Opening of +the Abyss_ was needless, and the Form and Constitution of the +Antediluvian _Heavens_ and _Earth_, which St. _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 +St. _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, ’tis 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, ’tis 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, ’tis found, that 34 Foot of Water does counterballance 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, what must supply the +Place of that Air which you transform into Water, and bring down upon +the Earth? There would be little left but Fire and Æther betwixt us and +the Moon, and I am afraid it would endanger to suck down the Moon too +after it. In a Word, such an Explication as this is both purely +imaginary, and also very operose, and would affect a great part of the +Universe; and after all, they would be as hard put to it to get rid of +this Water, when the Deluge was to cease, as they were at first to +procure it. + +HAVING now examin’d and answered all the Pleas, from first to last, for +the vulgar Deluge, or the old way of explaining it, we should proceed +immediately to propose another Method, and another Ground for an +universal Deluge, were it not that an Opinion hath been started by some +of late, that would in effect supplant both these Methods, old and new, +and take away in a great measure the Subject of the Question. Some +Modern Authors observing what straits they have been put to in all Ages, +to find out Water enough for _Noah_’s Flood, have ventur’d upon an +Expedient more brisk and bold than any of the Ancients durst venture +upon: They say, _Noah_’s Flood was not Universal, but a National +Inundation, confin’d to _Judea_, and those Countries thereabouts; and +consequently, there would not be so much Water necessary for the Cause +of it, as we have prov’d to be necessary for an Universal Deluge of that +kind. Their Inference is very true, they have avoided that Rock, but +they run upon another no less dangerous; to avoid an Objection from +Reason, they deny matter of Fact, and such matter of Fact as is well +attested by History, both Sacred and Prophane. I believe the Authors +that set up this Opinion were not themselves satisfy’d with it; but +seeing insuperable Difficulties in the old Way, they are the more +excusable in chusing, as they thought, of two Evils the less. + +BUT the Choice, methinks, is as bad on this Hand, if all things be +considered; _Moses_ represents the Flood of _Noah_ as an Overthrow and +Destruction of the whole Earth; and who can imagine, that in sixteen or +seventeen hundred Years time, (taking the lower Chronology) that the +Earth had then stood, Mankind should be propagated no farther than +_Judea_, or some neighbouring Countries thereabouts? After the Flood, +when the World was renew’d again by eight Persons, they had made a far +greater Progress in _Asia_, _Europe_, and _Africa_, within the same +space of Years, and yet ’tis likely they were more fruitful in the first +Ages of the World, than after the Flood; and they liv’d six, seven, +eight, nine hundred Years a Piece, getting Sons and Daughters. Which +Longevity of the first Inhabitants of the Earth seems to have been +providentially design’d for the quicker Multiplication and Propagation +of Mankind; and Mankind thereby would become so numerous within sixteen +hundred Years, that there seems to me to be a greater Difficulty from +the Multitude of the People that would be before the Flood, than from +the want of People: For if we allow the first Couple at the End of one +hundred Years, or of the first Century, to have left ten Pair of +Breeders, which is no hard Supposition, there would arise from these, in +fifteen hundred Years, a greater Number than the Earth was capable of; +allowing every Pair to multiply in the same decuple Proportion the first +Pair did. But because this would rise far beyond the Capacities of this +Earth, let us suppose them to increase, in the following Centuries, in a +quintuple Proportion only, or, if you will, only in a quadruple; and +then the Table of the Multiplication of Mankind, from the Creation to +the Flood, would stand thus; + + _Century_ + + 1— 10 + 2— 40 + 3— 160 + 4— 640 + 5— 2560 + 6— 10240 + 7— 40960 + 8— 163840 + 9— 655360 + 10— 2621440 + 11— 10485760 + 12— 41943040 + 13— 167772160 + 14— 671088640 + 15— 2684354560 + 16— 10737418240 + +This Product is too excessive high, if compar’d with the present number +of Men upon the Face of the Earth, which, I think, is commonly estimated +to be betwixt three and four hundred Millions; and yet this Proportion +of their Increase seems to be low enough, if we take one Proportion for +all the Centuries; for, in reality, the same Measure cannot run equally +through all the Ages, but we have taken this as moderate and reasonable +betwixt the highest and the lowest; but if we had taken only a tripple +Proportion, it would have been sufficient (all things consider’d) for +the Purpose. There are several other ways of computing this Number, and +some more particular and exact than this is, but which way soever you +try, you shall find the Product great enough for the Extent of this +Earth; and if you follow the Septuagint Chronology, it will still be far +higher. I have met with three or four different Calculations, in several +Authors, of the Number of Mankind before the Flood, and never met with +any yet, but what exceeded the Number of the People that are at present +upon the Face of the Earth. So as it seems to me a very groundless and +forc’d Conceit to imagine, that _Judea_ only, and some Parts about it in +_Asia_, were stor’d with People when the Deluge was brought upon the old +World. Besides, if the Deluge was confin’d to those Countries, I do not +see but the Borderers might have escap’d, shifting a little into the +adjoining Places where the Deluge did not reach. But especially what +needed so much ado to build an Ark to save _Noah_ and his Family, if he +might have sav’d himself and them, only by retiring into some +neighbouring Country; as _Lot_ and his Family sav’d themselves, by +withdrawing from _Sodom_, when the City was to be destroyed? Had not +this been a far easier thing, and more compendious, than the great +Preparations he made of a large Vessel, with Rooms, for the Reception +and Accommodation of Beasts and Birds? And now I mention Birds, why +could not they at least have flown into the next dry Country? They might +have pearch’d upon the Trees, and the tops of the Mountains by the way +to have rested themselves if they were weary, for the Waters did not all +of a sudden rise to the Mountains tops. + +I cannot but look upon the Deluge as a much more considerable thing than +these Authors wou’d represent it, and as a kind of Dissolution of +Nature; _Moses_ calls it a destroying of the _Earth_, as well as of +Mankind, _Gen. 6. 13._ And the Bow was set in the Cloud to seal the +Covenant, _that he would destroy the Earth no more_, _Gen. 9. 11._ or +that there would be no more a Flood _to destroy the Earth_. And ’tis +said, _Verse 13._ That the Covenant was made between God and the Earth, +or this Frame of Nature, that it should perish no more by Water. And the +Rain-Bow, which was a Token and Pledge of this Covenant, appears not +only in _Judea_, or some other _Asiatick_ Provinces, but to all the +Regions of the Earth, who had an equal Share and Concern in it. _Moses_ +saith also, the Fountains of the great _Abyss_ were burst asunder to +make the Deluge; and what means this _Abyss_, and the bursting of it, if +restrain’d to _Judea_, or some adjacent Countries? What Appearance is +there of this Disruption _there_, more than in other Places? +Furthermore, St. _Peter_ plainly implies, _2 Epist. c. 5. 6._ That the +Antediluvian Heavens and Earth perished 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 +perished 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 St. _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 destroyed 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 prevail’d 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 covered 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 join with our Seas that environ the Continent. We cannot imagine +Hills and Mountains of Water to have hung about _Judea_, as if they were +congeal’d, or a 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 diffusive; for their Parts +being in Motion have no Tie 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, and 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 cou’d swell to the height 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 cou’d rise to the Tops of the Mountains in any Part of it: +And the Sea would be all raised to a considerable height before the +Mountains could be covered. For let us 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 +supply’d with new Waters pushing them forwards, would continue their +Course ’till they arrived 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 +_Alps_ on the one Hand, and 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 Height 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 thro’ 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. _Mart._ The _Chineses_ have the Tradition of it, +which is the farthest part of our Continent; and the nearer and Western +part of _Asia_ is acknowledg’d the proper Seat of it. Not to mention +_Deucalion_’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 _Ægyptians_ for Antiquity, which _Justin_ mentions, +they refer to a former Destruction of the World by Water or Fire, and +argue, whether Nation first rose again, and was original to the other. +So the _Babylonians_, _Assyrians_, _Phœnicians_ and others, mention the +Deluge in their Stories. And we cannot without offering Violence to all +Records and Authority, Divine and Human, 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 look’d 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 attested, or admit an Effect, whereof they cannot see any possible +Causes. And so having stated and proposed the whole Difficulty, and +try’d all ways offered by others, and found them ineffectual, let us now +apply our selves by degrees, to untie the Knot. + +THE excessive Quantity of Water is the great Difficulty, and the Removal +of it afterwards. Those eight Oceans lay heavy upon my thoughts, and I +cast about every way, to find an Expedient, or to find some way, whereby +the same Effect might be brought to pass with less Water, and in such a +manner that that Water might afterwards conveniently be discharg’d. The +first Thought that came into my Mind upon that Occasion, was concerning +the Form of the Earth, which I imagin’d might possibly at that Time be +different from what it is at present, and come nearer to Plainness and +Equallity in the Surface of it, and so might the more easily be +overflow’d, and the Deluge perform’d with less Water. This Opinion +concerning the Plainness of the first Earth, I also found in Antiquity, +mention’d and refer’d to by several Interpreters in their Commentaries +upon _Genesis_, either upon Occasion of the Deluge, or of that Fountain +which is said, _Gen. 2. 6._ to have watered the Face of the whole Earth: +And a late eminent Person, the Honour of his Profession for Integrity +and Learning, in his Discourse concerning the _Origination of Mankind_, +hath made a like Judgment of the State of the Earth before the Deluge, +that the Face of it was more smooth and regular than it is now. But yet +upon second Thoughts, I easily see that this alone wou’d not be +sufficient to explain the Deluge, nor to give an Account of the present +Form of the Earth, unequal and mountainous as it is. ’Tis true this +would give a great Advantage to the Waters, and the Rains that fell for +Forty Days together would have a great Power over the Earth, being plain +and smooth; but how would these Waters be dispos’d of when the Deluge +ceas’d? Or how could it ever cease? Besides, what means the Disruption +of the great _Deep_, or the great _Abyss_, or what answers to it upon +this Supposition? This was assuredly of no less Consideration than the +Rains; nay, I believe, the Rains were but preparatory in some measure, +and that the Violence and Consummation of the Deluge depended upon the +Disruption of the great Abyss. Therefore I saw it necessary, to my first +Thought, concerning the Smoothness and Plainness of the Antediluvian +Earth, to add a second, concerning the Disruption and Dissolution of it; +for, as it often happens in Earthquakes, when the exterior Earth is +burst asunder, and a great Flood of Waters issues out, according to the +Quantity and Force of them, an Inundation is made in those Parts, more +or less; so I thought, if that _Abyss_ lay under Ground and round the +Earth, and we should suppose the Earth in this manner to be broken in +several Places at once, and as it were a general Dissolution made, we +might suppose that to make a general Deluge, as well as a particular +Dissolution often makes a particular. But I will not anticipate here the +Explication we intend to give of the Universal Deluge in the following +Chapters; only by this previous Intimation we may gather some Hopes, it +may be, that the Matter is not so desperate as the former Representation +might possibly make us fancy it. + +GIVE me leave to add farther in this Place, that it hath been observ’d +by several, from the Contemplation of Mountains and Rocks and +Precipices, of the Channel of the Sea, and of Islands, and of +Subterraneous Caverns, that the Surface of the Earth, or the exterior +Region which we inhabit, hath been broke, and the parts of it +dislocated: And one might instance more particularly in several Parcels +of Nature, that retain still the evident Marks of Fraction and Ruin, and +by their present Form and Posture shew, that they have been once in +another State and Situation one to another. We shall have occasion +hereafter to give an Account of these _Phænomena_, from which several +have rightly argu’d, and concluded some general Rupture or Ruin in the +superficial Parts of the Earth. But this Ruin, it is true, they have +imagin’d and explain’d several ways, some thinking that it was made the +_third Day_ after the Foundation of the Earth; when they suppose the +Channel of the Sea to have been form’d, and Mountains and Caverns at the +same time, by a violent Depression of some Parts of the Earth, and an +Extrusion and Elevation of others to make them Room. Others suppose it +to have come not all at once, but by Degrees, at several Times, and in +several Ages, from particular and accidental Causes, as the Earth +falling in upon Fires under Ground, or Water eating away the lower +parts, or Vapours and Exhalations breaking out and tearing the Earth. +’Tis true, I am not of their Opinion in either of these Explications; +and we shall shew at large hereafter, when we have propos’d and stated +our own Theory, how incompetent such Causes are, to bring the Earth into +that Form and Condition we now find it in. But in the mean time, we may +so far make use of these Opinions in general, as not to be startled at +this Doctrine, concerning the Breaking or Dissolution of the Exterior +Earth; for in all Ages the Face of Nature hath provok’d Men to think of +and observe such a Thing. And who can do otherwise, to see the Elements +displac’d and disorder’d, as they seem to lie at present; the heaviest +and grossest Bodies in the highest Places, and the liquid and volatile +kept below; an huge Mass of Stone or Rock rear’d into the Air, and the +Water creeping at its Feet; whereas this is the more light and active +Body, and by the Law of Nature should take Place of Rocks and Stones? So +we see, by the like Disorder, the Air thrown down into Dungeons of the +Earth, and the Earth got up among the Clouds; for there are the tops of +the Mountains, and under their Roots in Holes and Caverns the Air is +often detained. By what regular Action of Nature can we suppose things +first produc’d in this Posture and Form? Not to mention how broke and +torn the inward Substance of the Earth is, which of it self is an +uniform Mass, close and compact; but in the Condition we see it, it lies +hollow in many places, with great Vacuities intercepted betwixt the +Portions of it; a Thing which we see happens in all Ruins more or less, +especially when the Parts of the Ruins are great and inflexible. Then +what can have more the Figure and Mien of a Ruin, than Crags, and Rocks, +and Cliffs, whether upon the Sea-shore, or upon the Sides of Mountains? +What can be more apparently broke, than they are? And those lesser +Rocks, or great bulky Stones that lie often scatter’d near the Feet of +the other, whether in the Sea, or upon the Land, are they not manifest +Fragments and pieces of these greater Masses? Besides, the Posture of +these Rocks, which is often leaning or recumbent, or prostrate, shews 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 Tracks 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 Ruin 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 wou’d 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 Channels +again, and left the Earth habitable; and likewise to shew it how the +Mountains were brought forth, and the Channel 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, tho’ 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 steady 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 determined, 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 Channel 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 preceding 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 Content 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 out 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 settled 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 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 assur’d 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 destroyed, 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. ’Tis 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 join’d, we cannot but conceive to have had those Pieces, at one +time or another, put together. ’Twere 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 ’tis 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 Workman 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_, ’tis not +Man by himself that begets a Man, but the Sun is his Coadjutor. You see +then ’twas as necessary that the Sun, that great Workman of Nature, +should pre-exist to Natural things, produc’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 +preternatural, 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 fancied, 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 itself, and chang’d itself: The +Mountains sinking by degrees into the Valleys, 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 drowned and uninhabitable, +for all succeeding Generations. For ’tis 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 tho’ those violent Causes are not constant, or universal, yet if the +Earth had stood from Eternity, there is not a Mountain would have +escaped this Fate in one Age or other. The Course of these Exhalations +or Fires would have reach’d them all sooner or later, if thro’ infinite +Ages they had stood exposed 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 wash’d +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 length come to an Equality; and the Waters that lie in the +lower parts and in the Channels, those Channels and Valleys being fill’d +up with Earth, would be thrust out and rise every where upon the Surface +of the Earth; which new Post, when they had once seiz’d on it, they +would never quit nor would any thing be able to dispossess them; for +’tis their natural Place and Situation which they always tend to, and +from which there is no Progress nor Regress in a Course of Nature. So +that the Earth would have been, both now, and from innumerable +Generations before this, all under Water and uninhabitable; if it had +stood from Everlasting, and this Form of it had been its first Original +Form. + +NOR can he doubt of this Argumentation, that considers the Coherence of +it, and will allow time enough for the Effect. I do not say the Earth +would be reduc’d to this uninhabitable Form in ten thousand Years time, +tho’ I believe it would: But take twenty, if you please, take an hundred +thousand, take a million, ’tis all one, for you may take the one as +easily as the other out of Eternity; and they make both equally against +their Supposition. Nor is it any matter how little you suppose the +mountains to decrease ’tis but taking more time, and the same Effect +still follows. Let them but waste as much as a Grain of Mustard-Seed +every Day, or a Foot in an Age, this would be more than enough in ten +thousand Ages to consume the tallest Mountain upon Earth. The Air alone, +and the little drops of Rain have defac’d the strongest and the proudest +Monuments of the _Greeks_ and _Romans_; and allow them but time enough, +and they will of themselves beat down the Rocks into the Sea, and the +Hills into the Valleys. But if we add to these all those other +foremention’d Causes that work with more Violence, and the Weight of the +Mountains themselves, which, upon any occasion offer’d, is ready to sink +them lower, we shall shorten the Time and make the Effect more sure. + +WE need add no more here in particular against this _Aristotelian_ +Doctrine, that makes the present Form of the Earth to have been from +Eternity; for the Truth is, this whole Book is one continued Argument +against that opinion; shewing that it hath _de facto_ chang’d its Form; +both in that we have prov’d that it was not capable of an universal +Deluge in this Form, and consequently was once under another; and also +in that we shall prove at large hereafter throughout the Third and +Fourth Sections, that it hath been broken and dissolv’d. We might also +add one Consideration more, that if it had stood always under this Form, +it would have been under Fire, if it had not been under Water; and the +Conflagration, which it is to undergo, would have overtaken it long ere +this. For St. _Peter_ saith, The Heavens and the Earth that are now, as +oppos’d to the Antediluvian, and consider’d in their present Form and +Constitution, are fitted to be consumed by Fire. And whosoever +understands the Progress and Revolutions of Nature, will see that +neither the present Form of the Earth, nor its first Form, were +permanent and immutable Forms, but transient and temporary by their own +Frame and Constitution; which the Author of Nature, after certain +Periods of Time, had design’d for Change and for Destruction. + +THUS much for the Body of the Earth, that it could not have been from +Eternity, as _Aristotle_ pretended, in the Form it hath. Now let’s +consider the Origination of Mankind; and that we shall find could much +less be Eternal than the other; for whatsoever destroy’d the Form of the +Earth, would also destroy Mankind; and besides, there are many +particular Marks and Arguments, that the Generations of Men have not +been from Everlasting. All History, and all Monuments of Antiquity, of +what kind soever, are but of a few Thousand of Years date; we have still +the Memory of the Golden Age, of the first State of Nature, and how +Mortals liv’d then in Innocency and Simplicity. The Invention of Arts, +even those that are necessary or useful to Human Life, hath been within +the Knowledge of Men: How imperfect was the Geography of the Ancients, +how imperfect their Knowledge of the Earth, how imperfect their +Navigation? Can we imagine, if there had been Men from Everlasting, a +Sea as now, and all materials for shipping as much as we have, that Men +could have been so ignorant, both of the Land and of the Sea, as ’tis +manifest they have been till of late Ages? They had very different +Fancies concerning the Figure of the Earth. They knew no Land beyond our +Continent, and that very imperfectly too; and the Torrid Zone they +thought utterly uninhabitable. We think it strange, taking that short +Date of the World, which we give it, that Men should not have made more +Progress in the Knowledge of these Things; but how impossible is it +then, if you suppose them to have been from Everlasting? They had the +same Wit and Passions that we have, the same Motives that we have, can +we then imagine, that neither the Ambition of Princes, nor Interest or +Gain in private Persons, nor Curiosity and the Desire of Knowledge, nor +the Glory of Discoveries, nor any other Passion or Consideration could +ever move them in that endless time, to try their Fortunes upon the Sea, +and know something more of the World they inhabited? Though you should +suppose them generally stupid, which there is no Reason to do, yet in a +Course of infinite Generations, there would be some great Genii, some +extraordinary Persons that would attempt things above the rest. We have +done more within the compass of our little World, which we can but count +(as to this) from the general Deluge, than those Eternal Men had done in +their innumerable Ages foregoing. + +YOU will say it may be, they had not the Advantages and Opportunities +for Navigation as we have, and for Discoveries; because the use of the +Loadstone, and the Mariners needle was not then known. But that’s the +Wonder, that either that Invention, or any other should not be brought +to light till t’other Day, if the World had stood from Eternity. I say +this or any other practical Invention; for such Things, when they are +once found out and known, are not easily lost again, because they are of +daily use. And ’tis in most other practical arts, as in Navigation, we +generally know their original and History; who the Inventors, and by +what degrees improv’d, and how few of them brought to any Perfection +till of late Ages. All the Artificial and Mechanical World is in a +manner new; and what you may call the _Civil_ World too is in a great +measure so. What relates to Government, and Laws; to Wars and +Discipline; we can trace these things to their Origin, or very near it. +The use of Money and of Coins, nay the Use of the very Elements; for +they tell us of the first Invention of fire by _Prometheus_, and the +employing of Wind or Water to turn the Mills, and grind their Corn was +scarce known before the _Romans_, _Plin. l. 7. c. 56._ And that we may +think nothing eternal here, they tell us the Ages and Genealogies of +their very Gods. The measures of Time for the common uses of Life, the +dividing it into Hours, with the Instruments for those Purposes, are not +of an unknown Date: Even the Arts for preparing Food and Cloathing, +Medicines and Medicaments, Building, Civil and Military, Letters and +Writing, which are the Foundations of the World Civil: These, with all +their Retinue of lesser Arts and Trades that belong to them, History and +Tradition tell us when they had their Beginning, or were very imperfect; +and how many of their Inventors and Inventresses were deify’d. The World +hath not stood so long but we can still run it up to those artless Ages, +when Mortals liv’d by plain Nature; when there was but one Trade in the +World, one Calling, to look to their Flocks; and afterwards to till the +Ground, when Nature grew less liberal: And may we not reasonably think +this the Beginning of Mankind, or very near it? If Man be a Creature, +both naturally sagacious to find out its own Conveniencies, and +naturally sociable and inclin’d to live in a Community, a little Time +would make them find out and furnish themselves with what was necessary +in these two kinds, for the Conveniencies of single Life, and the +Conveniencies of Societies; they would not have liv’d infinite Ages, +unprovided of them. If you say _Necessity_ is the Mother of Arts and +Inventions, and there was no Necessity before, and therefore these +things were so slowly invented; this is a good Answer upon our +Supposition, that the World began but some Ages before these were found +out, and was abundant with all Things at first; and Men not very +numerous, and therefore were not put so much to the use of their Wits, +to find out Ways for living commodiously. But this is no Answer upon +their Supposition; for if the World was eternal and Men too, there were +no first Ages, no new and fresh Earth; Men were never less numerous, nor +the Earth more fruitful; and consequently there was never less Necessity +at any time than is now. This also brings to Mind another Argument +against this Opinion, (_viz._) from the gradual Increase of Mankind. +’Tis certain the World was not so populous one or two thousand Years +since, as it is now, seeing ’tis observ’d in particular Nations, that +within the Space of two or three hundred Years, notwithstanding all +Casualties, the Number of Men doubles. If then the Earth had stood from +Everlasting, it had been overstock’d long ere this, and would not have +been capable to contain its Inhabitants many Ages and Millions of Ages +ago. Whereas we find the Earth is not yet sufficiently inhabited, and +there is still Room for some Millions. And we must not fly to universal +Deluges and Conflagrations to destroy Mankind; for besides that the +Earth was not capable of a Deluge in this present Form, nor would have +been in this Form after a Conflagration, _Aristotle_ doth not admit of +these universal Changes, nor any that hold the Form of the Earth to be +eternal. But to return to our Arts and Inventions. + +WE have spoken of practical Arts and Inventions useful in human Life; +then for Theoretical Learning and Sciences, there is nothing yet +finish’d or compleat in these; and what is known hath been chiefly the +Production of latter Ages. How little hath been discover’d till of late, +either of our own Bodies, or of the Body of the Earth, and of the +Functions or Motions of Nature in either? What more obvious, one would +think, than the Circulation of the Blood? What can more excite our +Curiosity than the flowing and ebbing of the Sea? Than the Nature of +Metals and Minerals? These are either yet unknown, or were so at least +till this last Age; which seems to me, to have made a greater Progress +than all Ages before put together, since the beginning of the World. How +unlikely is it then that these Ages were Eternal? That the Eternal +Studies of our Fore-fathers could not effect so much as a few Years have +done of late? And the whole Mass of Knowledge in this Earth doth not +seem to be so great, but that a few Ages more, with two or three happy +Genius’s in them, may bring to light all that we are capable to +understand in this State of Mortality. + +TO these Arguments concerning the Novelty of the Earth, and the Origin +of Mankind, I know there are some shuffling Excuses made, but they can +have little Effect upon those Instances we have chosen. And I would ask +those Eternalists one fair Question, What Mark is there that they could +expect or desire of the Novelty of a World, that is not found in this? +Or what Mark is there of Eternity that is found in this? If then their +Opinion be without any positive Argument, and against all Appearances in +Nature, it may be justly rejected as unreasonable upon all Accounts. +’Tis not the bold asserting of a Thing that makes it true, or that makes +it credible against Evidence. If one should assert that such an one had +liv’d from all Eternity, and I could bring Witnesses that knew him a +Sucking-child, and others that remembred him a School-boy, I think it +would be a fair Proof, that the Man was not Eternal. So if there be +Evidence, either in Reason or History, that it is not very many Ages +since Nature was in her Minority, as appears by all those Instances we +have given above; some whereof trace her down to her very Infancy: This, +I think, may be taken for a good Proof that she is not Eternal. And I do +not doubt, but if the History of the World was writ Philosophically, +giving an Account of the several States of Mankind in several Ages, and +by what Steps or Degrees they came from their first Rudeness or +Simplicity to that Order of Things, both Intellectual and Civil, which +the World is advanc’d to at present, That alone would be a full +Conviction, that the Earth and Mankind had a Beginning. As the Story of +_Rome_, how it rose from a mean Original, by what degrees it increas’d, +and how it chang’d its Form and Government till it came to its +Greatness, doth satisfy us very well, that the _Roman_ Empire was not +Eternal. + +THUS much concerning the Temporal Original of the Earth. We are now to +consider the manner of it, and to shew how it rose from a Chaos. I do +not remember that any of the Ancients that acknowledge the Earth to have +had an Original, did deny that Original to have been from a Chaos. We +are assur’d of both from the Authority of _Moses_, who saith, that in +the Beginning the Earth was _Tohu Bohu_, without Form and Void; a fluid, +dark, confus’d Mass, without Distinction of Elements; and made up of all +Variety of Parts, but without Order, or any determinate Form; which is +the true Description of a Chaos: And so it is understood by the general +Consent of Interpreters both Hebrew and Christian. We need not therefore +spend any time here to prove, that the Origin of the Earth was from a +Chaos, seeing that it is agreed on by all that give it any Origin. But +we will proceed immediately to examine into what Form it first rose when +it came out of that Chaos; or what was the primæval Form of the Earth, +that continued till the Deluge, and how the Deluge depended upon it, and +upon its Dissolution. + +And, that we may proceed in this Enquiry by such easy steps as any one +may readily follow, we will divide it into Three Propositions, whereof +the first is this in general; _that the Form of the Antediluvian Earth, +or of the Earth that rose first from the Chaos, was different from the +Form of the present Earth_. I say, _different in general_, without +specifying yet what its particular Form was, which shall be exprest in +the following Proposition. + +THIS first Proposition we have in effect prov’d in the second Chapter; +where we have shewn, that if the Earth had been always in this Form, it +would not have been capable of a Deluge; seeing that could not have been +effected without such an infinite Mass of Water as could neither be +brought upon the Earth, nor afterward any way removed from it. But we +will not content our selves with that Proof only, but will prove it also +from the Nature of the Chaos, and the manifest Consequences of it. And +because this is a leading Proposition, we think it not improper to prove +it also from Divine Authority, there being a pregnant Passage to this +Purpose in the Writings of St. _Peter_. Where treating of this very +Subject, the Deluge, he manifestly puts a difference between the +Antediluvian Earth and the present Earth, as to their Form and +Constitution. The Discourse is in the second Epistle of St. _Peter_, the +third Chapter, where certain Deists, as they seem to have been, laught +at the Prophecy of the Day of Judgment, and of the Conflagration of the +World, using this Argument against it, _That since the Fathers fell +asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning_. All +External Nature hath continued the same without any remarkable Change or +Alteration, and why should we believe, say they, there will be any? What +Appearance, or what Foundation is there of such a Revolution, that all +Nature will be dissolved, and the Heavens and the Earth consum’d with +Fire, as your Prophecies pretend? So from the Permanency and +Immutability of Nature hitherto, they argu’d its Permanency and +Immutability for the future. To this the _Apostle_ answers, that they +are willing to forget, that the Heavens and the Earth of old had a +particular Form and Constitution as to Water, by reason whereof the +World, that then was, perish’d by a Deluge. And the Heavens and the +Earth that are now, or since the Deluge, have a particular Constitution +in reference to Fire, by reason whereof they are expos’d to another sort +of Destruction or Dissolution, namely by Fire, or by an universal +Conflagration. The Words of the Apostle, _Chap. iii. v. 5, 6, 7._ are +these; _For this they are willingly ignorant of, that by the Word of God +the Heavens were of old, and the Earth, consisting of Water, and by +Water_; or (as we render it) _standing out of the Water, and in the +Water; wherein the World that then was, being overflow’d with Water, +perish’d. But the Heavens and the Earth that are now, by the same Word +are kept in store, reserv’d unto Fire against the Day of Judgment_. We +shall have occasion, it may be, hereafter to give a full Illustration of +these Words; but at present we shall only take notice of this in +general, that the Apostle here doth plainly intimate some difference +that was between the old World and the present World, in their Form and +Constitution; or betwixt the Antediluvian and the present Earth, by +reason of which difference, that was subject to perish by a Deluge, as +this is subject to perish by Conflagration. And as this is the general +Air and Importance of this Discourse of the Apostle’s, which every one +at first sight would discover; so we may in several particular ways +prove from it our first Proposition, which now we must return to; +(_viz._) _That the Form and Constitution of the Antediluvian Earth was +different from that of the present Earth._ This may be inferr’d from the +Apostle’s Discourse, first, because he makes an opposition betwixt these +two Earths, or these two natural Worlds; and that not only in respect of +their Fate, the one perishing by Water, as the other will perish by +Fire, but also in respect of their different Disposition and +Constitution leading to this different Fate; for otherwise his _fifth +Verse_ is superfluous, and his Inference in the _sixth_ ungrounded; you +see he premiseth in the _fifth Verse_ as the Ground of his Discourse, +what the Constitution of the antediluvian Heavens and Earth was, and +then infers from it in the _sixth Verse_, that they therefore perish’d +in a Deluge of Water. Now if they had been the same with ours, there had +neither been any Ground for making an Opposition betwixt them, nor any +Ground of making a contrary Inference as to their Fate. Besides, in that +he implies that the Constitution of the antediluvian Earth was such, as +made it subject to a Deluge; he shews that it was different from the +Constitution of the present Earth; for the Form of that is such, as +makes it rather incapable of a Deluge, as we have shewn in the second +Chapter. Then we are to observe further, that when he saith (_v. 6._) +that the first World perish’d in a Deluge, or was destroy’d by it; this +is not to be understood of the animate World only, Men and living +Creatures, but of the natural world, and the Frame of it; for he had +describ’d it before by the Heavens and the Earth, which make the natural +World. And the Objection of the Atheists, or Deists rather, which he was +to answer, proceeded upon the natural World. And lastly, this perishing +of the world in a Deluge is set against, or compar’d with the perishing +of the World in the Conflagration, when the Frame of Nature will be +dissolv’d. We must therefore, according to the Tenor of the Apostle’s +arguing, suppose, that the natural World was destroy’d or perish’d in +the Deluge; and seeing it did not perish as to Matter and Substance, it +must be as to the Form, Frame and Composition of it, that it perish’d; +and consequently, the present Earth is of another Form and Frame from +what it had before the Deluge; which was the thing to be proved. + +LASTLY, Let us consider what it is the Apostle tells these Scoffers that +they were ignorant of: Not that there was a Deluge, they could not be +ignorant of that; nor doth he tell them that they were. But he tells +them that they were ignorant that the Heavens and the Earth of old were +so and so constituted, after a different manner than they are now, and +that the State of Nature was chang’d at the Deluge; if they had known or +attended to this, they had made no such Objection, nor us’d any such +Argument as they did against the future Conflagration of the World. They +pretended that there had been no Change in Nature since the beginning, +and the Apostle in answer tells them, that they are willingly ignorant +of the first Constitution of the Heavens, and the Earth, and of that +Change and Dissolution that happen’d to them in the Deluge; and how the +present Heavens and Earth have another Constitution, whereby in like +manner they are expos’d, in God’s due time, to be consum’d or dissolv’d +by Fire. This is the plain, easy and natural Import of the Apostle’s +Discourse; thus all the Parts of it are coherent, and the Sense genuine +and apposite, and this is a full Confirmation of our first and general +Assertion, That _the antediluvian Earth was of another Form from the +present Earth_. This hath been observ’d formerly by some of the Ancients +from this Text, but that it hath not been generally observ’d, was partly +because they had no Theory to back such an Interpretation, and make it +intelligible; and partly because they did not observe, that the +Apostle’s Discourse here was an Argumentation, and not a bare +Affirmation, or simple Contradiction to those that rais’d the Scruple; +’tis an Answer upon a Ground taken, he premiseth, and then infers, in +the _fifth_ and _sixth_ Verses, concerning the Deluge; and in the +_seventh_, concerning the Conflagration. And when I had discover’d in my +Thoughts from the Consideration of the Deluge, and other natural +Reasons, that the Earth was certainly once in another Form, it was a +great Assurance and Confirmation to me, when I reflected on this place +of St. _Peter_’s; which seems to be so much directed and intended for +the same purpose, or to teach us the same Conclusion, that though I +design’d chiefly a Philosophical Theory of these Things, yet I should +not have thought we had been just to Providence, if we had neglected to +take Notice of this Passage and Sacred Evidence; which seems to have +been left us on purpose to excite our Enquiries, and strengthen our +Reasonings, concerning the first State of Things. Thus much from Divine +Authority: We proceed now to prove the same Proposition from Reason and +Philosophy, and the Contemplation of the Chaos, from whence the first +Earth arose. + +WE need not upon this Occasion make a particular Description of the +Chaos, but only consider it as a fluid Mass, or a Mass of all sorts of +little Parts and Particles of Matter mix’d together, and floating in +Confusion, one with another. ’Tis impossible that the Surface of this +Mass should be of such a Form and Figure, as the Surface of our present +Earth is: Or that any Concretion or consistent State which this Mass +could flow into immediately, or first settle in, could be of such a Form +and Figure as our present Earth. The first of these Assertions is of +easy proof; for a fluid Body, we know, whether it be Water or any other +Liquor, always casts it self into a smooth and spherical Surface; and if +any Parts, by Chance, or by some Agitation, become higher than the rest, +they do not continue so, but glide down again every way into the lower +Places, till they all come to make a Surface of the same height, and of +the same distance every where from the Center of their Gravity. A +Mountain of Water is a thing impossible in Nature, and where there are +no Mountains there are no Valleys. So also a Den or Cave within the +Water, that hath no Walls but the liquid Element, is a Structure unknown +to Art or Nature; all things there must be full within, and even and +level without, unless some external Force keep them by Violence in +another Posture. But is this the Form of our Earth, which is neither +regularly made within nor without? The Surface and exterior Parts are +broken into all sorts of Inequalities, Hills and Dales, Mountains and +Valleys; and the plainer Tracts of it lie generally inclin’d or bending +one way or other, sometimes upon an easy Descent, and other times with a +more sensible and uneasy Steepness; and though the great Mountains of +the Earth were taken all away, the remaining parts would be more unequal +than the roughest Sea; whereas the Face of the Earth should resemble the +Face of the calmest Sea, if it was still in the Form of its first Mass. +But what shall we say then to the huge Mountains of the Earth, which lie +sometimes in Lumps or Clusters heapt up by one another, sometimes +extended in long Ridges or Chains, for many hundred Miles in length? And +’tis remarkable, that in every Continent, and in every ancient and +original Island, there is either such a Cluster, or such a Chain of +Mountains. And can there be any more palpable Demonstrations than these +are, that the Surface of the Earth is not in the same Form that the +Surface of the Chaos was, or that any fluid Mass can stand or hold it +self in? + +THEN for the Form of the Earth within or under its Surface, ’tis no less +impossible for the Chaos to imitate that; for ’tis full of Cavities and +empty Places, of Dens and broken Holes, whereof some are open to the +Air, and others cover’d and enclos’d wholly within the Ground. These are +both of them unimitable in any liquid Substance, whose Parts will +necessarily flow together into one continued Mass, and cannot be divided +into Apartments and separate Rooms, nor have Vaults or Caverns made +within it; the Walls would sink, and the Roof fall in: For liquid Bodies +have nothing to sustain their Parts, nor any thing to cement them; they +are all loose and incoherent, and in a perpetual Flux: Even an heap of +Sand or fine Powder will suffer no Hollowness within them, though they +be dry Substances, and though the Parts of them being rough will hang +together a little and stand a little upon an Heap; but the Parts of +Liquors being glib, and continually in motion, they fall off from one +another, which way soever Gravity inclines them, and can neither have +any Hills or Eminencies on their Surface, nor any Hollowness within +their Substance. + +YOU will acknowledge, it may be, that this is true, and that a liquid +Mass or Chaos, while it was liquid, was incapable of either the outward +or inward Form of the Earth; but when it came to a Concretion, to a +State of Consistency and Firmness, then it might go, you’ll say, into +any Form. No, not in its first Concretion, nor in its first State of +Consistence; for that would be of the same Form that the Surface of it +was when it was liquid, as Water when it congeals, the Surface of the +Ice is smooth and level, as the Surface of the Water was before; so +Metals, or any other Substances melted, or Liquors that of themselves +grow stiff and harden, always settle into the same Form which they had +when they were last liquid, and are always solid within, and smooth +without, unless they be cast in a Mould, that hinders the Motion and +Flux of the Parts. So that the first concrete State or consistent +Surface of the Chaos must be of the same Form or Figure with the last +liquid State it was in; for that is the Mould, as it were, upon which it +is cast; as the Shell of an Egg is of a like Form with the Surface of +the Liquor it lies upon. And therefore by Analogy with all other Liquors +and Concretions, the Form of the Chaos, whether liquid or concrete, +could not be the same with that of the present Earth, or like it: And +consequently, that Form of the first or primogenial Earth which rose +immediately out of the Chaos, was not the same, nor like to that of the +present Earth; which was the first and preparatory Proposition we laid +down to be prov’d. And this being prov’d by the Authority both of our +Reason and our Religion, we will now proceed to the second which is more +particular. + + + + + 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 rose + 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._ + + +WE have seen it prov’d, in the foregoing Chapter, That the Form of the +first or antediluvian Earth was not the same, nor like the Form of the +present Earth. This is our first Discovery at a distance, but ’tis only +general and negative, tells us what the Form of that Earth was not, but +tells us not expresly what it was; that must be our next Enquiry, and +advancing one step farther in our Theory, we lay down this second +Proposition: _That the Face of the Earth before the Deluge was smooth, +regular, and uniform; without Mountains, and without a Sea_. This is a +bold Step, and carries us into another World, which we have never seen, +nor ever yet heard any relation of; and a World, it seems, of very +different Scenes and Prospects from ours, or from any thing we have yet +known. An Earth without a Sea, and plain as the _Elysian_ Fields; if you +travel it all over, you will not meet with a Mountain or a Rock, yet +well provided of all requisite things for an habitable World; and the +same indeed with the Earth we still inhabit, only under another Form. +And this is the great Thing that now comes into debate, the great +Paradox which we offer to be examined, and which we affirm, That the +Earth, in its first Rise and Formation from a Chaos, was of the Form +here described, and so continued for many hundreds of Years. + +TO examine and prove this, we must return to the beginning of the World, +and to that Chaos out of which the Earth and all sublunary things arose: +’Tis the Motions and Progress of this, which we must now consider, and +what Form it settled into when it first became an habitable World. + +NEITHER is it perhaps such an intricate Thing as we imagine at first +Sight, to trace a Chaos into an habitable World; at least there is a +particular Pleasure to see things in their Origin, and by what Degrees +and successive Changes they rise into that Order and State we see them +in afterwards, when compleated. I am sure, if ever we would view the +Paths of Divine Wisdom, in the Works and in the Conduct of Nature, we +must not only consider how Things are, but how they came to be so. ’Tis +pleasant to look upon a Tree in the Summer, cover’d with its green +Leaves, deckt with Blossoms, or laden with Fruit, and casting a pleasing +Shade under its spreading Boughs; but to consider how this Tree with all +its Furniture sprang from a little Seed; how Nature shap’d it, and fed +it, in its Infancy and Growth; added new Parts, and still advanc’d it by +little and little, ’till it came to this Greatness and Perfection: This, +methinks, is another sort of Pleasure, more rational, less common, and +which is properly the Contemplation of Divine Wisdom in the Works of +Nature. So to view this Earth, and this sublunary World, as it is now +complete, distinguish’d into the several Orders of Bodies of which it +consists, every one perfect and admirable in its kind; this is truly +delightful, and a very good Entertainment of the Mind: But to see all +these in their first Seeds, as I may so say; to take in Pieces this +Frame of Nature, and melt it down into its first Principles; and then to +observe how the Divine Wisdom wrought all these Things out of Confusion +into Order, and out of Simplicity into that beautiful Composition we now +see them in; this, methinks, is another kind of Joy, which pierceth the +Mind more deep, and is more satisfactory. And to give our selves and +others this Satisfaction, we will first make a short Representation of +the Chaos, and then shew, how, according to Laws establish’d in Nature +by the Divine Power and Wisdom, it was wrought by degrees from one Form +into another, ’till it settled at length into an habitable Earth; and +that of such a Frame and Structure, as we have described in this second +Proposition. + +BY the Chaos I understand the Matter of the Earth and Heavens, without +Form or Order; reduc’d into a fluid Mass, wherein are the Materials and +Ingredients of all Bodies, but mingled in Confusion one with another. As +if you should suppose all sorts of Metals, Gold, Silver, Lead, _&c._ +melted down together in a common Mass, and so mingled, that the Parts of +no one Metal could be discern’d as distinct from the rest, this would be +a little Metallick Chaos: Suppose then, the Elements thus mingled, Air, +Water and Earth, which are the Principles of all Terrestrial Bodies; +mingled, I say, without any Order of higher or lower, heavier or +lighter, solid or volatile, in such a kind of confus’d Mass as is here +represented in the first Scheme. + +[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 1. A confused spherical Mass of matter.] + +LET this then represent to us the Chaos; in which the first Change that +we should imagine to happen would be this, that the heaviest and +grossest Parts would sink down towards the middle of it, (for there we +suppose the Center of its Gravity) and the rest would float above. These +grosser Parts thus sunk down and compress’d more and more, would harden +by degrees, and constitute the interiour Parts of the Earth: The rest of +the Mass, which swims above, would be also divided by the same Principle +of Gravity into two Orders of Bodies, the one liquid like Water, the +other volatile like Air. For the more fine and active Parts +disentangling 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 Places 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 settled 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. + +[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 2. Concentric spheres of Matter, the +heaviest nearest the center.] + +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 mix’d 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 the third Figure. + +[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 3. The concentric spheres with heavy matter +inner-most, with heavier and the lighter liquids in spheres above.] + +HITHERTO the Changes of the Chaos are easy 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 unctuous Substance, they +compos’d a certain Slime, or fat, soft, and light Earth, spread upon the +Face of the Waters; as ’tis represented in the fourth Figure. + +[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 4. The liquid layers have rearranged by +heaviness and oilyness.] + +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 rose upon the Face of the Chaos. And the +whole Globe stood in this Posture, as in Figure the fifth. + +[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 5. The tiny Earthy parts from above have +settled down out of the Air, the rings marked 1, 2, and 3 from outside +to in.] + +[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 6. Another view of the Rings.] + +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. ’Tis 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 purify 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 purify’d; the Particles that were in the Regions of the Air having +a long way to come before they reach’d 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 finish’d before the Purgation of the Air began, tho’ we +represent them so for Distinction sake: Let them begin to purify 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 fed 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 exterior 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, tho’ these +earthy Particles we speak of were very thinly dispers’d thro’ those vast +Tracks 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 +cover’d with Snow two or 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 stop’d and heap’d 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, mix’d +with a benign Juice, easy 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 than 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_, +_Ægyptians_, _Phœnicians_, and others, have described the primogenial +Soil, Ἰλὺς πρωτογενὴς, 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 primogenial 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 +easy: 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, ’tis +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 exterior 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 +Abyss 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, _Prov. viii. 27._ _When he prepared the Heavens, I was there: +When he drew an Orb over the Surface of the Abyss_; or when he set an +Orb upon the Face of the Abyss. We render it in the _English_, a +_Compass_, or _Circle_, but ’tis more truly render’d 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 Abyss or Deep? [_See +Fig. 5. p. 78._ This Orb is represented by the Circle 1. and the Abyss +by the Region 2.] Lastly, This Scheme of the first Earth gives Light to +that Place we mention’d before of St. _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 Sense; 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 Sense, 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 primæval Earth, to have been mark’d and celebrated in the Sacred +Writings; so likewise in the Philosophy and Learning of the Ancients, +there are several Remains and Indications of this internal Form and +Composition of it. For ’tis observable, that the Ancients in treating of +the Chaos, and in raising the World out of it, rang’d it into several +Regions or Masses, as we have done; and in that Order successively, +rising one from another, as if it was a Pedigree or Genealogy. And those +Parts and Regions of Nature, into which the Chaos was by degrees +divided, they signified commonly by dark and obscure Names; as the +_Night_, _Tartarus_, _Oceanus_, and such like, which we have express’d +in their plain and proper Terms. And whereas the Chaos, when it was +first set on Work, ran all into Divisions and Separations of one Element +from another, which afterwards were all in some Measure united and +associated in this primogenial Earth; the Ancients accordingly made +_Contention_ the Principle that reign’d in the Chaos at first, and then +_Love:_ The one to express the Divisions, and the other the Union of all +Parties in this middle and common Bond. These, and such like Notions, +which we find in the Writings of the Ancients figuratively and darkly +delivered, receive a clearer Light, when compar’d with this Theory of +the Chaos; which representing every thing plainly, and in its natural +Colours, is a Key to their Thoughts, and an Illustration of their +obscurer Philosophy, concerning the original of the world; as we have +shewn at large in the _Latin_ Treatise, _Lib. 2. chap. 7._ + +THERE is another Thing in Antiquity, relating to the Form and +Construction of the Earth, which is very remarkable, and hath obtain’d +throughout all learned Nations and Ages. And that is the Comparison or +Resemblance of the Earth to an _Egg_. And this is not so much for its +external Figure, tho’ that be true too, as for the inward Composition of +it; consisting of several Orbs, one including another, and in that +Order, as to answer the several Elementary Regions of which the new made +Earth was constituted. For if we admit for the _Yolk_ a Central Fire +(which tho’ very reasonable, we had no occasion to take Notice of in our +Theory of the Chaos) and suppose the Figure of the Earth _Oval_, and a +little extended towards the Poles, (as probably it was, seeing the +Vortex that contains it is so) those two Bodies do very naturally +represent one another, as in this Scheme, which represents the interior +Faces of both, a divided _Egg_, or Earth. Where, as the two inmost +Regions (A, B,) represent the Yolk and the Membrane that lies next above +it; so the exterior Region of the Earth (D) is as the Shell of the Egg, +and the Abyss (C) under it as the White that lies under the Shell. And +considering that this Notion of the _Mundane Egg_, or that the World was +_Oviform_, hath been the Sense and Language of all Antiquity, _Latins_, +_Greeks_, _Persians_, _Ægyptians_, and others, as we have shew’d +elsewhere, [_Tell. Theor. Sac. lib. 2. c. 10._] I thought it worthy our +Notice in this Place; seeing it receives such a clear and easy +Explication from that Origin and Fabrick we have given to the first +Earth, and also reflects Light upon the Theory it self, and confirms it +to be no Fiction: This Notion, which is a kind of Epitome, or Image of +it, having been conserv’d in the most Ancient Learning. + +THUS much concerning the first Earth, its Production and Form; and +concerning our second Proposition relating to it; which being prov’d by +Reason, the Laws of Nature, and the Motions of the Chaos; then attested +by Antiquity, both as to the Matter and Form of it; and confirm’d by +Sacred Writers, we may take it now for a well establish’d Truth, and +proceed upon this Supposition, _That the antediluvian Earth was smooth +and uniform, without Mountains or Sea_, to the Explication of the +Universal Deluge. + +GIVE me leave only, before we proceed any further, to annex here a short +Advertisement, concerning the Causes of this wonderful Structure of the +first Earth. ’Tis true, we have propos’d the natural Causes of it, and I +do not know wherein our Explication is false or defective; but in Things +of this kind we may easily be too credulous. And this Structure is so +marvellous, that it ought rather to be consider’d as a particular Effect +of the Divine Art, than as the Work of Nature. The whole Globe of the +Water vaulted over, and the exterior Earth hanging above the Deep, +sustain’d by nothing but its own Measures and Manner of Construction: A +Building without Foundation or Corner-stone. This seems to be a Piece of +Divine Geometry or Architecture; and to this, I think, is to be referr’d +that magnificent Challenge which God Almighty made to _Job_, _Job +xxxviii. 4, 5, 6, 7,_ &c. _Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations +of the Earth? Declare if thou hast Understanding. Who hath laid the +Measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the Line upon +it? Whereupon are the Foundations thereof fastned? Or who laid the +Corner-stone thereof? When the Morning Stars sang together, and all the +Sons of God shouted for Joy._ _Moses_ also, when he had describ’d the +Chaos, saith, _The Spirit of God mov’d upon_, or sat brooding upon, _the +Face of the Waters_; without all doubt to produce some Effects there. +And St. _Peter_, when he speaks of the Form of the antediluvian Earth, +how it stood in reference to the Waters, adds, _By the Word of God_, Τῷ +λόγῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, or by the Wisdom of God it was made so. And this same +_Wisdom_ of God, in the _Proverbs_, as we observed before, takes Notice +of this very piece of Work in the Formation of the Earth. _When he set +an Orb over the Face of the Deep, I was there_. And lastly, the ancient +Philosophers, or at least the best of them, to give them their due, +always brought in _Mens_ or _Amor_, Λόγος & Ἔρως, as a Supernatural +Principle to unite and consociate the parts of the Chaos; which was +first done in the Composition of this wonderful Arch of the Earth. +_Wherefore_ to the great Architect, who made the boundless Universe out +of nothing, and form’d the Earth out of a Chaos, let the Praise of the +whole Work, and particularly of this Masterpiece, for ever with all +Honour be given. + + + + + CHAP. VI. + + + _The Dissolution of the first Earth: The Deluge ensuing thereupon. + And the Form of the present Earth rising from the Ruins of the + first._ + + +WE have now brought to light the antediluvian Earth out of the dark Mass +of the Chaos; and not only described the Surface of it, [_See Fig. 5, & +6. pag. 78, & 87._] but laid open the inward parts, to shew in what +Order its Regions lay. Let us now close it up, and represent the Earth +entire, and in larger Propositions, more like an habitable World; as in +this Figure, where you see the smooth Convex of the Earth, and may +imagine the great Abyss spread under it; _as at the Aperture_, which two +are to be the only Subject of our further Contemplation. + +[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 7. The smooth Sphere of the Earth, with an +Aperture into it.] + +IN this smooth Earth were the first Scenes of the World, and the first +Generations of Mankind; it had the Beauty of Youth and blooming Nature, +fresh and fruitful, and not a Wrinkle, Scar or Fracture in all its Body; +no Rocks nor Mountains, no hollow Caves, nor gaping Channels, but even +and uniform all over. And the Smoothness of the Earth made the Face of +the Heavens so too; the Air was calm and serene; none of those +tumultuary Motions and Conflicts of Vapours, which the Mountains and the +Winds cause in ours: ’Twas suited to a golden Age, and to the first +Innocency of Nature. + +ALL this you’ll say is well, we are got into a pleasant World indeed, +but what’s this to the Purpose? What Appearance of a Deluge here, where +there is not so much as a Sea, nor half so much Water as we have in this +Earth? Or what Appearance of Mountains or Caverns, or other +Irregularities of the Earth, where all is level and united: So that +instead of loosing the Knot, this ties it the harder. You pretend to +shew us how the Deluge was made, and you lock up all the Waters within +the Womb of the Earth, and set Bars and Doors, and a Wall of +impenetrable Strength and Thickness to keep them there. And you pretend +to shew us the Original of Rocks and Mountains, and Caverns of the +Earth, and bring us to a wide and endless Plain, smooth as the calm Sea. + +THIS is all true, and yet we are not so far from the Sight and Discovery +of those Things as you imagine; draw but the Curtain, and these Scenes +will appear, or something very like ’em. We must remember that St. +_Peter_ told us, that the antediluvian Earth perished, or was +demolished; and _Moses_ saith, the _great Abyss_ was broken open at the +Deluge. Let us then suppose, that at a Time appointed by Divine +Providence, and from Causes made ready to do that great Execution upon a +sinful World, that this _Abyss_ was open’d, or that the Frame of the +Earth broke and fell down into the _great Abyss_. 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 Abyss, 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 +destroy’d. Then when the Agitation of the Abyss was asswag’d, and the +Waters by degrees were retir’d into their Channels, and the dry Land +appear’d, you would see the true Image of the present Earth in the Ruins +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 Ruin were plac’d and dispos’d: Upon the +Banks of the Sea would stand the Rocks, and near the Shore would be +Islands, or lesser Fragments of Earth compass’d round by Water. Then as +to subterraneous Waters, and all subterraneous Caverns and Hollownesses, +upon this Supposition those things cou’d not be otherwise; for the Parts +would fall hollow in many Places in this, as in all other Ruins: And +seeing the Earth fell into this Abyss, the Waters at a certain Height +would flow into all those hollow Places and Cavities; and wou’d 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 interior Construction, whereof this _Hypothesis_ +doth 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 Abyss, 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 St. _Peter_, to the particular Constitution of that +Earth, which made it obnoxious to be absorpt in Water, so that our +Explication so far is justified. 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 Channel, in which these great Revolutions of Nature, which we +treat on, flow and succeed one another. + +LET us therefore resume that System of the antediluvian Earth, which we +have deduc’d from the Chaos, and which we find to answer St. _Peter_’s +Description, and _Moses_’s 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 Abyss 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 Abyss were broken open_. For +Fountains are broken open no otherwise than by breaking up the Ground +that covers them. We must therefore here enquire in what Order, and from +what Causes the Frame of this exterior Earth was dissolved, 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 human 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 rarefying 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, ’tis 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 +antediluvian Earth, as shall be prov’d in the following Book, concerning +_Paradise_. In the mean time, this being suppos’d, let us consider what +Effect it would have upon this Arch of the exterior 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 rarefied and +exhal’d the Waters beneath it: And considering the Structure of that +Globe, the exterior Crust, and the Waters lying round under it, both +expos’d to the Sun, we may fitly compare it to an _Æolipile_, or an +hollow Sphere with Water in it, which the Heat of the Fire rarefies and +turns into Vapours and Wind. The Sun here is as the Fire, and the +exterior Earth is as the Shell of the _Æolipile_, and the Abyss as the +water within it; now when the Heat of the Sun had pierced thro’ the +Shell and reach’d the Waters, it began to rarefy them, and raise them +into Vapours, which Rarefaction made them require more Space and Room +than they needed before, while they lay close and quiet. And finding +themselves pent in by the exterior Earth, they press’d with Violence +against that Arch, to make it yield and give way to their Dilatation and +Eruption. So we see all Vapours and Exhalations inclos’d within the +Earth, and agitated there, strive to break out, and often shake the +Ground with their Attempts to get loose. And in the Comparison we us’d +of an _Æolipile_, if the Mouth of it be stop’d that gives the Vent, the +Water rarefied will burst the Vessel with its Force: And the Resemblance +of the Earth to an Egg, which we us’d before, holds also in this +Respect; for when it heats before the Fire, the Moisture and Air within +being rarefied, makes it often burst the Shell. And I do the more +willingly mention this last Comparison, because I observe that some of +the Ancients, when they speak of the Doctrine of the _Mundane Egg_, say, +that after a certain Period of Time it was broken. + +BUT there is yet another Thing to be considered in this Case; for as the +Heat of the Sun gave Force to these Vapours more and more, and made them +more strong and violent; so on the other Hand, it also weaken’d more and +more the Arch of the Earth, that was to resist them; sucking out the +Moisture that was the Cement of its parts, drying it immoderately, and +chapping it in sundry Places. And there being no Winter then to close up +and unite its Parts, and restore the Earth to its former Strength and +Compactness, yet grew more and more dispos’d to a Dissolution. And at +length, these Preparations in Nature being made on either side, the +Force of the Vapours increas’d, and the Walls weaken’d which should have +kept them in, when the appointed time was come, that All-wise Providence +had design’d for the Punishment of a sinful World, the whole Fabrick +brake, and the Frame of the Earth was torn in Pieces, as by an +Earthquake; and those great Portions or Fragments, into which it was +divided, fell down into the Abyss, some in one Posture, and some in +another. + +THIS is a short and general Account how we may conceive the Dissolution +of the first Earth, and an Universal Deluge arising upon it. And this +manner of Dissolution hath so many Examples in Nature every Age, that we +need not insist farther upon the Explication of it. The generality of +Earthquakes arise from like Causes, and often end in a like Effect, a +partial Deluge or Inundation of the Place or Country where they happen; +and of these we have seen some Instances even in our own Times: But +whensoever it so happens that the Vapours and Exhalations shut up in the +Caverns of the Earth by Rarefaction or Compression come to be straitned, +they strive every way to set themselves at Liberty, and often break +their Prison, or the Cover of the Earth that kept them in; which Earth +upon that Disruption falls into the subterraneous Caverns that lie under +it: And if it so happens that those Caverns are full of Water, as +generally they are, if they be great or deep, that City or Tract of Land +is drown’d. And also the Fall of such a Mass of Earth, with its Weight +and Bulk, doth often force out the Water so impetuously, as to throw it +upon all the Country round about. There are innumerable Examples in +History (whereof we shall mention some hereafter) of Cities and +Countries thus swallowed up, or overflow’d, by an Earthquake, and an +Inundation arising upon it. And according to the manner of their Fall or +Ruin, they either remain’d wholly under Water, and perpetually drown’d +as _Sodom_ and _Gomorrha_, _Plato_’s _Atlantis_, _Bura_ and _Helice_, +and other Cities and Regions in _Greece_ and _Asia_; or they partly +emerg’d, and became dry Land again; when (their Situation being pretty +high) the Waters, after their violent Agitation was abated, retir’d into +the lower Places, and into their Channels. + +NOW if we compare these Partial Dissolutions of the Earth with an +Universal Dissolution, we may as easily conceive an Universal Deluge +from an Universal Dissolution, as a Partial Deluge from a Partial. If we +can conceive a City, a Country, an Island, a Continent thus absorpt and +overflown; if we do but enlarge our Thought and Imagination a little, we +may conceive it as well of the whole Earth. And it seems strange to me, +that none of the Ancients should hit upon this way of explaining the +Universal Deluge; there being such frequent Instances in all Ages and +Countries of Inundations made in this manner, and never of any great +Inundation made otherwise, unless in maritime Countries, by the +Irruption of the Sea into Grounds that lie low. ’Tis true, they would +not so easily imagine this Dissolution, because they did not understand +the true Form of the antediluvian Earth; but, methinks, the Examination +of the Deluge should have led them to the Discovery of that: For +observing the Difficulty, or Impossibility of an Universal Deluge, +without the Dissolution of the Earth; as also frequent Instances of +these Dissolutions accompanied with Deluges, where the Ground was +hollow, and had subterraneous Waters; this, methinks, should have +prompted them to imagine, that those subterraneous Waters were universal +at that time, or extended quite round the Earth; so as a Dissolution of +the exterior Earth could not be made any where but it would fall into +Waters, and be more or less overflow’d. And when they had once reach’d +this Thought, they might conclude, both what the Form of the +antediluvian Earth was, and that the Deluge came to pass by the +Dissolution of it. But we reason with Ease about the finding out of +Things, when they are once found out; and there is but a thin Paper-wall +sometimes between the great Discoveries, and a perfect Ignorance of +them. Let us proceed now to consider, whether this Supposition will +answer all the Conditions of an Universal Deluge, and supply all the +Defects which we found in other Explications. + +THE great Difficulty propos’d, was to find Water sufficient to make an +Universal Deluge, reaching to the Tops of the Mountains; and yet that +this Water should be transient, and after some time should so return +into its Channels, that the dry Land would appear, and the Earth become +again habitable. There was that double Impossibility in the common +Opinion, that the Quantity of Water necessary for such a Deluge was no +where to be found, or could no way be brought upon the Earth; and then +if it was brought, cou’d no way be remov’d again. Our Explication quite +takes off the Edge of this Objection; for, performing the same Effect +with a far less Quantity of Water, ’tis both easy to be found, and +easily remov’d when the Work is done. When the exterior Earth was broke, +and fell into the Abyss, a good part of it was cover’d with Water, by +the meer Depth of the Abyss it fell into, and those Parts of it that +were higher than the Abyss was deep, and consequently would stand above +it in a calm Water, were notwithstanding reach’d and overtop’d by the +Waves, during the Agitation and violent Commotion of the Abyss. For it +is not imaginable what the Commotion of the Abyss would be upon this +Dissolution of the Earth, nor to what Height its Waves would be thrown, +when those prodigious Fragments were tumbled down into it. Suppose a +Stone of ten thousand Weight taken up into the Air a Mile or two, and +then let fall into the middle of the Ocean, I do not believe but that +the dashing of the Water upon that Impression would rise as high as a +Mountain. But suppose a mighty Rock, or heap of Rocks to fall from that +Height, or a great Island, or a Continent; these would expel the Waters +out of their Places with such a Force and Violence, as to fling them +among the highest Clouds. + +’TIS incredible to what Height sometimes great Stones and Cinders will +be thrown, at the Eruptions of fiery Mountains; and the Pressure of a +great Mass of Earth falling into the Abyss, though it be a Force of +another kind, could not but impel the Water with so much Strength, as +would carry it up to a great Height in the Air; and to the top of any +thing that lay in its way, any Eminency, high Fragment, or new Mountain: +And then rolling back again, it would sweep down with it whatsoever it +rush’d upon, Woods, Buildings, living Creatures, and carry them all +headlong into the great Gulph. Sometimes a Mass of Water would be quite +struck off and separate from the rest, and toss’d through the Air like a +flying River; but the common Motion of the Waves was to climb up the +Hills or inclin’d Fragments; and then return into the Valleys and Deeps +again, with a perpetual Fluctuation going and coming, ascending and +descending, ’till the Violence of them being spent by degrees, they +settled at last in the Places allotted for them; where _Bounds are set +that they cannot pass over, that they return not again to cover the +Earth, Psalm. civ. 6, 7, 8, 9._ + +NEITHER is it to be wondred, that the great Tumult of the Waters, and +the Extremity of the Deluge lasted for some Months; for besides, that +the first Shock and Commotion of the Abyss was extreamly violent, from +the general Fall of the Earth, there were ever and anon some secondary +Ruins; or some Parts of the great Ruin, that were not well settled, +broke again, and made new Commotions: And ’twas a considerable Time +before the great Fragments that fell, and their lesser Dependencies +could be so adjusted and fitted, as to rest in a firm and immoveable +Posture: For the Props and Stays whereby they lean’d one upon another, +or upon the Bottom of the Abyss, often fail’d, either by the incumbent +Weight, or the violent Impulses of the Water against them; and so +renewed, or continued the Disorder and Confusion of the Abyss. Besides, +we are to observe, that these great Fragments falling hollow, they +inclos’d and bore down with them under their concave Surface a great +deal of Air; and while the Water compass’d these Fragments, and +overflow’d them, the Air could not readily get out of those Prisons, but +by degrees, as the Earth and Water above would give way; so as this +would also hinder the Settlement of the Abyss, and the retiring of the +Water into those subterraneous Channels, for some Time. But at length, +when this Air had found a vent, and left its place to the Water, and the +Ruins both primary and secondary were settled and fix’d then the Waters +of the Abyss began to settle too, and the dry Land to appear; first the +tops of the Mountains, then the high Grounds, then the Plains and the +rest of the Earth. And this gradual Subsidency of the Abyss (which +_Moses_ also hath particularly noted) and Discovery of the several Parts +of the Earth would also take up a considerable Time. + +THUS a new World appear’d, or the Earth put on its new Form, and became +divided into Sea and Land; and the Abyss, which from several Ages, even +from the beginning of the World, had lain hid in the Womb of the Earth, +was brought to light and discover’d; the greatest part of it +constituting our present Ocean, and the rest filling the lower Cavities +of the Earth: Upon the Land appear’d the Mountains and the Hills, and +the Islands in the Sea, and the Rocks upon the Shore. And so the Divine +Providence, having prepar’d Nature for so great a Change, at one stroke +dissolv’d the Frame of the old World, and made us a new one out of its +Ruins, which we now inhabit since the Deluge. All which Things being +thus explain’d, deduc’d, and stated, we now add and pronounce our Third +and last Proposition; _That the Disruption of the Abyss, or Dissolution +of the primæval Earth, and its Fall into the Abyss, was the Cause of the +Universal Deluge, and of the Destruction of the old World_. + + + + + 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 this Earth, + and the true Explication of Noah’s Flood; as is prov’d by Argument + and from History. 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; The frequent + Allusions in Scripture to the opening and shutting the Abyss, and + the particular Stile of Scripture in its Reflections on the Origin. + And the Formation of the Earth. Observations on Deucalion’s Deluge._ + + +WE have now given an Account of the first great Revolution of Nature, +and of the Universal Deluge, in a way that is intelligible, and from +Causes that answer the Greatness of the Effect: We have suppos’d nothing +but what is also prov’d, both as to the first Form of the Earth, and as +to the manner of its Dissolution; and how far from that would evidently +and necessarily arise a general Deluge; which was that, which put a +Period to the old World, and the first state of Things. And tho’ all +this hath been deduc’d in due Order, and with Connexion and Consequence +of one thing upon another, so far as I know, which is the true Evidence +of a Theory; yet it may not be sufficient to command the Assent and +Belief of some Persons, who will allow, it may be, and acknowledge, that +this is a fair _Idea_ of a possible Deluge in general, and of the +Destruction of a World by it; but this may be only an _Idea_, they’ll +say; 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 +delivered 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 satisfy 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 there 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 +incongruous 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 _Chapter_ of this +Book; In the mean time we will proceed to History, both Sacred and +Prophane, 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 Superior and Inferior, _Gen. vii. 11._ and the Inferior +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, _Verse 17, 18, 19, 20. Chap. viii. 3, 5._ 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 Abyss began to be more compos’d, and to retire +into their Channels, whence they shall never return to cover the Earth +again. This agrees wholly with our Theory; we suppose the Abyss 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 fallen; 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 Channels. + +IT was no doubt a great Oversight in the Ancients, to fancy 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 +Channels in the Earth that could hold so much Water, either to give it, +or to receive it. And the _Psalmist_, [_vid._ _St. Austin in loc._] +speaking of the Deluge, as it seems to me, notes this violent Commotion +of the Abyss, _Psal. civ. 8, 9._ _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. i. +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 referr’d to the Time +of the Deluge, and the State of the Waters then, ’tis both a just +Description of the Motion of the Abyss, and certainly true, that the +Waters since that time are so settled in their Channels, that they shall +never overflow the Earth again. As we are assur’d 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 _Tehom-Rabba_, or _great +Abyss_, which, he saith, was broken up at the Deluge, _Gen. vii. 11._ +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 Abyss, can be understood the Sea or +Ocean, under that Form we see it in at present; and ’tis plain, +methinks, that the Sea cannot be understood by this great Abyss, 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 Abyss, 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 a 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, 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. ii._ that eight such Oceans as ours would be +little enough for that Purpose. Then as to the Expressions of _Moses_ +concerning this Abyss, 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. i. 10._ and us’d a Word that was +common, and known to signify 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. i. 2._ when he saith, _Darkness was upon the Face of the Abyss, or +of the Deep_, as we render it; there the Abyss was open, or cover’d with +Darkness only, namely, before the exterior Earth was form’d; Here the +same Abyss is mention’d again, but cover’d, by the Formation of the +Earth upon it; and the covering of this Abyss was broken or _cloven +asunder_, and the Waters gush’d 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 Abyss, and whether that will +agree with the Sea or no; he saith the _Fountains of the great Abyss +were broken open_; now if by the great Abyss 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 _Abyss_, whose Disruption +was the Cause of the Deluge. + +AND as the _Mosaical_ Abyss cannot be the Sea, so neither can it be +those subterraneous Waters that are dispers’d in the Cells and Caverns +of the Earth; for as they are now lodg’d within the Earth, they are not +one _Abyss_, 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; ’Tis not +as if you open’d a Vein, where the Blood 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_ Abyss, 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 antediluvian Earth, represented; _Fig. 2. p. +77._ 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 antediluvian Abyss +answers truly to all these Characters; it was in the Womb of the Earth; +the Earth was founded upon those Waters, as the _Psalmist_ saith; or +they were inclos’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_ Abyss, 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 Seat 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 mere 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 antediluvian Earth, and as to +the Deluge, we may further be convinc’d from St. _Peter_’s Discourse +concerning those two Things, _2 Epist. iii. 6._ St. _Peter_ saith, that +the Constitution of the antediluvian 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 Abyss 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. ’Tis true, St. _Peter_ +doth not specify 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 overwhelmed, St. _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: St. _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 St. _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_ Abyss is sufficient +alone to prove all we have deliver’d concerning the Deluge, as also +concerning the Frame of the antediluvian 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 same Form of the Abyss +with the Earth above it, _2 Esdr. xvi. 58._ _Psal. xxiv. 2._ _He founded +the Earth upon the Seas, and establish’d it upon the Floods._ And _Psal. +cxxxvi. 6._ _He stretch’d out the Earth above the Waters._ Now this +Foundation of the Earth upon the Waters, or Extension of it above the +Waters, _2 Esdr. c. vi._ doth most aptly agree to that Structure and +Situation of the Abyss and the antediluvian Earth, which we have +assign’d them, and which we have before describ’d; but very improperly +and forcedly 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 fix’d and consolidated the Earth above +the Waters, as the Vulgate and Septuagint translate it: For ’tis from +the same Word with that which is used for the Firmament, _Gen. i._ 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 Abyss. + +THERE is another remarkable Place in the _Psalms_, to shew the +Disposition of the Waters in the first Earth; _Psal. xxxiii. 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 Abyss 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 +Sense. 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. _Jerom_, 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 Abyss +and the first Earth, give me leave to add this general Remark, that they +are commonly usher’d in, or follow’d, 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 +mentioned, that it is still made the Object of Praise and Admiration: In +the _cxxxvi. Palm_ ’tis reckon’d among the Wonders of God, _Verses 4, 5, +6._ _Give Praise to him who alone doth great Wonders: To him that by +Wisdom made the Heavens: To hime that stretched out the Earth above the +Waters_. And in like manner, in that _xxxiii. Ps._ ’tis join’d with the +Forming of the Heavens, and made the Subject of the Divine Power and +Wisdom: _Verses 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 Abyss 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 +establish’d 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 tho’ +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 Abyss, as it was inclos’d within +the Earth, than of the present Form of it in an open Channel. + +THERE are also in the Book of _Job_ many noble Reflections upon the +Works of Nature, and upon the Formation of the Earth and the Abyss; +whereof that in _Chap. xxvi. 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 apply’d to the +Chaos and the first Abyss, _Gen. i. 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 more critical Examination than this +Discourse will easily bear. + +THERE is another remarkable Discourse in _Job_, that contains many +Things to our present Purpose, ’tis _Chap. xxxviii._ where God +reproaches _Job_ with his Ignorance of what pass’d at the beginning of +the World, and the Formation of the Earth, _Verses 4, 5, 6._ _Where wast +thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth? Declare if thou hast +Understanding. Who hath laid the Measures thereof, if thou knowest? or +who hath stretched the Line upon it? Whereupon are the Foundations +thereof fastned? or who laid the Corner-stone?_ All these Questions have +far more Force and Emphasis, more Propriety and Elegancy, if they be +understood of the first and antediluvian Form of the Earth, than if they +be understood of the present; for in the present Form of the Earth there +is no Architecture, no Structure, no more than in a Ruin; or at least +none comparatively to what was in the first Form of it. And that the +exterior and superficial Part of the Earth is here spoken of, appears by +the Rule and Line applied to it; but what Rule or Regularity is there in +the Surface of the present Earth? What Line was us’d to level its Parts? +But in its original Construction, when it lay smooth and regular in its +Surface, as if it had been drawn, by Rule and Line in every Part; and +when it hung pois’d upon the Deep, without Pillar or Foundation-Stone, +then just Proportions were taken, and every thing plac’d by Weight and +Measure: And this, I doubt not, was that artificial Structure here +alluded to; and when this Work was finish’d, then _The Morning Stars +sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy, Verse 7._ + +THUS far the Questions proceed upon the Form and Construction of the +first Earth; in the following _Verses_ (8, 9, 10, 11.) they proceed upon +the Demolition of that Earth, the opening the Abyss, and the present +State of both. _Or who shut up the Sea with Doors when it brake forth, +as if it had issu’d out of a Womb?_ Who can doubt but this was at the +breaking open the _Fountains of the Abyss_? _Gen. vii. 11._ when the +Waters gush’d out, as out of the great Womb of Nature; and by reason of +that Confusion and Perturbation of Air and Water that rose upon it, a +thick Mist and Darkness was round the Earth, and all Things as in a +second Chaos, _When I made the Cloud the Garment thereof, and thick +Darkness a Swadling-band for it, and brake up for it my decreed Place, +and made Bars and Doors_. Namely, (taking the Words as thus usually +render’d) the present Channel of the Sea was made when the Abyss was +broke up, and at the same Time were made the shory Rocks and Mountains, +which are the Bars and Boundaries of the Sea. _And said hitherto shalt +thou come, and no further; and here shall thy proud Waves be stay’d._ +Which last Sentence shews, that this cannot be understood of the first +Disposition of the Waters, as they were before the Flood, for their +proud Waves broke those Bounds, whatsoever they were, when they +over-flow’d the Earth in the Deluge. And that the Womb which they broke +out of was the great Abyss, the _Chaldee_ Paraphrase in this Place doth +expresly mention; and what can be understood by חְהומה מן _the Womb of +the Earth_, but that subterraneous Capacity in which the Abyss lay? Then +that which followeth is a Description or Representation of the great +Deluge that ensued, and of that Disorder in Nature that was then, and +how the Waters were settled and bounded afterwards. Not unlike the +Description in _Psalm civ. ver. 6, 7, 8, 9._ And thus much for these +Places in the Book of _Job_. + +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 Pre-existence to all the Works of this Earth, _Chap. viii. Verse 23, +24, 25, 26, 27, 28._ _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._ Then in the _27th +Verse_, _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 broken 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, _Verse +28._ _He strengthned the Fountains of the Abyss_, that is, the cover of +those Fountains, for the Fountains could be strengthned 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 +prepar’d the Heavens, I was there; when he set a Compass on the Face of +the Abyss_; we render it _Compass_, the Word 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 the Abyss, according to the +Testimony of _Wisdom_, who was then present. And this shews us both the +Form of the _Mosaical_ Abyss, which was included within this Vault: And +the Form of the habitable Earth, which was the outward Surface of this +Vault, or the Cover of the Abyss that was broke up at the Deluge. + +AND thus much, I think, is sufficient to have noted out of Scripture, +concerning the _Mosaical_ Abyss, to discover the Form, Place, and +Situation of it; which I have done the more largely, because that being +determin’d, it will draw in easily all the rest of our Theory concerning +the Deluge. I will now only add one or two general Observations, and so +conclude this Discourse: The first Observation is concerning the Abyss; +namely, That the _opening and shutting of the Abyss_, is the great Hinge +upon which Nature turns in this Earth: This brings another Face of +things, other Scenes, and a new World upon the Stage: And accordingly it +is a thing often mention’d and alluded to in Scripture, sometimes in a +natural, sometimes in a moral or theological Sense; and in both Senses, +our Saviour shuts and opens it as he pleaseth. Our Saviour, who is both +Lord of Nature and of Grace, whose Dominion is both in Heaven and in +Earth, hath a double Key; that of the Abyss, whereby Death and Hell are +in his Power, and all the Revolutions of Nature are under his Conduct +and Providence; and the Key of _David_, whereby he admits or excludes +from the City of God, and the Kingdom of Heaven whom he pleaseth. _Job +xi. 10, 12, 14._ _Apoc. i. 18. xx. 1, 2, 3. xxi. 1._ _Apoc. iii. 7._ +_Isa. xxii. 22._ Of those Places that refer to the shutting and opening +the Abyss in a natural Sense, I cannot but particularly take Notice of +that in _Job_, _Chap. xii. ver. 14, 15._ and _Chap. xi. 10._ _God +breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: He shutteth up Man, and +there can be no opening: Behold, he withholdeth the Waters, and they dry +up; also he sendeth them out and they overturn the Earth_. Tho’ these +Things be true of God in lesser and common Instances, yet to me it is +plain, that they principally refer to the Deluge, the opening and +shutting the Abyss, with the Dissolution or Subversion of the Earth +thereupon; and accordingly they are made the great Effects of the divine +Power and Wisdom in the _13th Verse_ of _Chap. xii._ _With God is Wisdom +and Strength, he hath Counsel and Understanding; Behold, he breaketh +down_, &c. And also in the Conclusion ’tis repeated again, _Verse 16._ +_With him is Strength and Wisdom_; which Solemnity would scarce have +been us’d for common Instances of his Power. When God is said to build +or pull down, and no Body can build again, ’tis not to be understood of +an House or a Town. God builds and unbuilds Worlds; and who shall build +up that Arch that was broke down at the Deluge? Where shall they lay the +Foundation, or how shall the Mountains be rear’d up again to make Part +of the Roof? This is the Fabrick, which when God breaketh down, none can +build up again. _He withholdeth the Waters, and they dry up_: As we +shew’d the Earth to have been immoderately chap’d and parch’d before its +Dissolution. _He sendeth them forth, and they overturn the Earth_. What +can more properly express the breaking out of the Waters at the +Disruption of the Abyss, and the Subversion or Dissolution of the Earth +in consequence of it? ’Tis true, this last Passage may be applied to the +breaking out of Waters in an ordinary Earthquake, and the Subversion of +some Part of the Earth, which often follows upon it; but it must be +acknowledg’d, that the Sense is more weighty, if it be referr’d to the +great Deluge, and the great Earthquake which laid the World in Ruins and +in Water. And philosophical Descriptions in sacred Writings, like +Prophecies, have often a lesser and a greater Accomplishment and +Interpretation. + +I COULD not pass by this Place without giving this short Explication of +it. We proceed now to the second Observation, which is concerning the +Style of Scripture, in most of those Places we have cited, and others +upon the same Subject. The Reflections that are made in several Parts of +the divine Writings, upon the Origin of the World, and the Formation of +the Earth, seem to me to be writ in a Style something approaching to the +Nature of a prophetical Style, and to have more of a divine Enthusiasm +and Elocution in them, than the ordinary Text of Scripture; the +Expressions are lofty, and sometimes abrupt, and often figurative and +disguis’d, as may be observed in most of those Places we have made use +of, and particularly in that Speech of _Wisdom_, _Prov. viii._ where the +_26th Verse_ is so obscure, that no two Versions that I have yet met +with, whether ancient or modern, agree in the Translation of that Verse. +And therefore, tho’ I fully believe that the Construction of the first +Earth is really intended in those Words; yet seeing it could not be made +out clear without a long and critical Discussion of them, I did not +think that proper to be insisted upon here. We may also observe, that +whereas there is a double Form or Composition of the Earth, that which +it had at first, or till the Deluge, and that which it hath since; +sometimes the one, and sometimes the other may be glanc’d upon in these +Scripture Phrases and Descriptions; and so there may be in the same +Discourse an Intermixture of both. And it commonly happens so in an +enthusiastick or prophetick Style, that by reason of the Eagerness and +Trembling of the Fancy, it doth not always regularly follow the same +even Thread of Discourse, but strikes many times upon some other Thing +that hath Relation to it, or lies under or near the same view. Of this +we have frequent Examples in the _Apocalypse_, and in that Prophecy of +our Saviour’s, _Matth. xxiv._ concerning the Destruction of _Jerusalem_, +and of the World. But notwithstanding any such Unevenness or +Indistinctness in the Style of those Places which we have cited +concerning the Origin and Form of the Earth, we may at least make this +Remark, that if there never was any other Form of the Earth but the +present, nor any other State of the Abyss, than what it is in now, ’tis +not imaginable what should give Occasion to all those Expressions and +Passages that we have cited; which being so strange in themselves and +paradoxical, should yet so much favour, and so fairly comply with our +Suppositions. What I have observ’d in another Place, _Tell. Theor. lib. +2. c. 6._ in treating of _Paradise_, that the Expressions of the ancient +Fathers were very extravagant, if _Paradise_ was nothing but a little +Plot of Ground in _Mesopotamia_, as many of late have fancied, may in +like Manner be observ’d concerning the ancient Earth and Abyss; if they +were in no other Form nor other State than what they are under now, the +Expressions of the sacred Writers concerning them are very strange and +unaccountable, without any sufficient Ground, that we know, or any just +Occasion for such uncouth Representations. If there was nothing intended +or referr’d to in those Descriptions, but the present Form and State of +the Earth, that is so well known, that in describing of it there would +be nothing dark or mysterious, nor any occasion for Obscurity in the +Style or Expression, whereof we find so much in those. So as, all Things +consider’d, what might otherwise be made an Exception to some of these +Texts alledg’d by us, _viz._ that they are too obscure, becomes an +Argument for us: As implying that there is something more intended by +them than the present and known Form of the Earth. And we having +propos’d another Form and Structure of the Earth, to which those +Characters suit and answer more easily; as this opens and gives Light to +those difficult Places, so it may be reasonably concluded to be the very +Sense and Notion intended by the holy Writers. + +AND thus much, I think, is sufficient to have observ’d out of Scripture, +to verify our Explication of the Deluge, and our Application of it to +_Noah_’s Flood, both according to the _Mosaical_ History of the Flood, +and according to many occasional Reflections and Discourses dispers’d in +other Places of Scripture concerning the same Flood, or concerning the +Abyss and the first Form of the Earth. And though there may be some +other Passages of a different Aspect, they will be of no Force to +disprove our Conclusions, because they respect the present Form of the +Earth and Sea; and also, because Expressions that deviate more from the +common Opinion, are more remarkable and more proving; in that there is +nothing could give Occasion to such, but an Intention to express the +very Truth. So, for instance, if there was one Place in Scripture that +said _the Earth was mov’d_, and several that seem’d to imply, that the +_Sun_ was mov’d, we should have more regard to that one Place for the +Motion of the Earth, than to all the other that made against it; because +those others might be spoken and understood according to common Opinion +and common Belief, but that which affirm’d the Motion of the Earth, +could not be spoken upon any other Ground, but only for Truth and +Instruction-sake. I leave this to be apply’d to the present Subject. + +THUS much for the sacred Writings. As to the History of the ancient +Heathens, we cannot expect an Account or Narration of _Noah_’s Flood, +under that Name and Notion; but it may be of use to observe two Things +out of that History. First, that the Inundations recorded there came +generally to pass in the Manner we have describ’d the universal Deluge; +namely, by Earthquakes and an Eruption of subterraneous Waters, the +Earth being broken and falling in: And of this we shall elsewhere give a +full Account out of their Authors. Secondly, that _Deucalion_’s Deluge +in particular, which is suppos’d by most of the ancient Fathers to +represent _Noah_’s Flood, is said to have been accompanied with a gaping +or Disruption of the Earth. _Apollodorus_ said, _Bibl. lib. 1._ that the +Mountains of _Thessaly_ were divided asunder, or separate one from +another at that time: And _Lucian_ (_De Dea Syria_) tells a very +remarkable Story to this purpose, concerning _Deucalion_’s Deluge, and a +Ceremony observ’d in the Temple of _Hieropolis_, in Commemoration of it; +which Ceremony seems to have been of that Nature, as imply’d that there +was an opening of the Earth at the Time of the Deluge, and that the +Waters subsided into that again when the Deluge ceas’d. He saith, that +this Temple at _Hieropolis_ was built upon a kind of Abyss, or had a +bottomless Pit, or gaping of the Earth in one Part of it; and the People +of _Arabia_ and _Syria_, and the Countries thereabouts, twice a Year +repair’d to this Temple, and brought with them every one a Vessel of +Water, which they pour’d out upon the Floor of the Temple, and made a +kind of an Inundation there in Memory of _Deucalion_’s Deluge; and this +Water sunk by Degrees into a Chasm or opening of a Rock, which the +Temple stood upon, and so left the Floor dry again. And this was a Rite +solemnly and religiously perform’d both by the Priests and by the +People. If _Moses_ had left such a religious Rite among the _Jews_, I +should not have doubted to have interpreted it concerning his Abyss, and +the retiring of the Waters into it; but the actual Disruption of the +Abyss could not well be represented by any Ceremony. And thus much +concerning the present Question, and the true Application of our Theory +to _Noah_’s Flood. + + + + + CHAP. VIII. + + + _The particular History of Noah’s Flood is explained 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 look’d upon as + the Effect of an ordinary Providence, and how far of an + extraordinary._ + + +WE have now proved our Explication of the Deluge to be more than an +_Idea_, or to be a true Piece of natural History; and it may be the +greatest and most remarkable that hath yet been since the Beginning of +the World. We have shewn it to be the real Account of _Noah_’s Flood, +according to Authority both divine and human; and I would willingly +proceed one step further, and declare my Thoughts concerning the Manner +and Order wherein _Noah_’s Flood came to pass; in what Method all those +Things happen’d and succeeded one another, that make up the History of +it, as Causes or Effects, or other Parts or Circumstances: As how the +Ark was born upon the Waters, what Effect the Rains had, at what Time +the Earth broke, and the Abyss was open’d; and what the Condition of the +Earth was upon the ending of the Flood, and such like. But I desire to +propose my Thoughts concerning these Things only as Conjectures, which I +will ground as near as I can upon Scripture and Reason, and am very +willing they should be rectified where they happen to be amiss. I know +how subject we are to Mistakes in these great and remote Things, when we +descend to Particulars; but I am willing to expose the Theory to a full +Trial, and to shew the way for any to examine it, provided they do it +with Equity and Sincerity. I have no other Design than to contribute my +Endeavours to find out the Truth in a Subject of so great Importance, +and wherein the World hath hitherto had so little Satisfaction: And he +that in an obscure Argument proposeth an _Hypothesis_ that reacheth from +End to End, tho’ it be not exact in every Particular; ’tis not without a +good Effect; for it gives Aim to others to take their Measures better, +and opens their Invention in a matter which otherwise, it may be, would +have been impenetrable to them: As he that makes the first way thro’ a +thick Forest, tho’ it be not the streightest and shortest, deserves +better, and hath done more than he that makes it streighter and smoother +afterwards. + +PROVIDENCE that ruleth all things and all Ages, after the Earth had +stood above sixteen hundred Years, thought fit to put a Period to that +World; and accordingly it was revealed to _Noah_, that for the +Wickedness and Degeneracy of Men, God would destroy Mankind with the +_Earth_, (_Gen. vi. 13._) in a Deluge of Water; whereupon he was +commanded, in order to the preserving of himself and Family, as a Stock +for the new World, to build a great Vessel or Ark, to float upon the +Waters, and had Instructions given him for the Building of it, both as +to the Matter, and as to the Form. _Noah_ believed the Word of God, tho’ +against his Senses, and all external Appearances, and set himself to +work to build an Ark, according to the Directions given, which after +many Years Labour was finish’d; whilst the incredulous World, secure +enough, as they thought, against a Deluge, continued still in their +Excesses and Insolencies, and laught at the Admonition of _Noah_, and at +the Folly of his Design of building an extravagant Machine, a floating +House, to save himself from an imaginary Inundation; for they thought it +no less, seeing it was to be in an Earth where there was no Sea, nor any +Rain neither in those Parts, according to the ordinary Course of Nature; +as shall be shewn in the second Book of this Treatise. + +BUT when the appointed Time was come, the Heavens began to melt, and the +Rains to fall, and these were the first surprizing Causes and +Preparatives to the Deluge: They fell, we suppose, (tho’ we do not know +how that could proceed from natural Causes) throughout the Face of the +whole Earth; which could not but have a considerable Effect on 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 of a Dock or Cistern made to receive them, it might be afloat before +the Abyss was broken open. For I do not suppose the Abyss broken open +before any Rain fell; and when the opening of the Abyss 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 Abyss: 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 Vapours 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 Abyss gush’d out, as +out of a Womb. + +HOWEVER, when the Rains were fallen, we may suppose the Face of the +Earth cover’d over with Water; and whether it was these Waters that St. +_Peter_ refers to, or that of the Abyss afterwards, I cannot tell, when +he saith in his first Epistle, _Chap. iii. 20._ _Noah and his Family +were sav’d by Water_; so as the Water which destroyed 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 +exterior 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, ’tis 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 Cascades +of Water; and this is that which _Moses_ seems to call, not improperly, +the _Cataracts_ of Heaven, or the _Windows of Heaven being set open_. + +THUS the Flood came to its height; and ’tis not easy 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 swallowed 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 +distress’d 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 used in the Description of Storms and raging Seas, +were literally true in this, if not beneath it. The Ark was really +carried to the Tops of the highest Mountains, and into the Places of the +Clouds, and thrown down again into the deepest Gulphs; 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. xiii. 7._ _Abyss calls upon Abyss 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 mann’d, live upon such a Sea; that kept it from being +dash’d against the Hills, or overwhelm’d in the Deeps. That Abyss, which +had devoured 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_, _Dion. Argonaut. l. 1. v. 47._ when _Jason_ 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 Curiosity, 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 Ruin, 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. + +[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 8. The Sphere of the Earth has developed +mountains and valleys.] + +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 Channels, 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 Channels 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, ’tis 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 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 that 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 Channel, and bounded by +Rocks and Mountains: _Then was the decreed Place establish’d 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_, _Job xxxviii. 10, +11._ And the Deluge being thus ended, and the Waters settled in their +Channels, 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 ceas’d, 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 reach’d much +further in-land, and clim’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 Channel 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 _Dauphine_ and _Languedoc_ 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 _Ægypt_ to the _Atlantick_ Ocean, and now parts +_Barbary_ and _Numidia_, may possibly have been the ancient Barrier 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 easy, to have been full of Lakes and +Pools for a long Time; and these were often converted into Fens and +Bogs, where the Ground being spungy, suck’d 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 stock’d with People, and human Industry cleansed +and drained 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 +proportionally grew more dry, and more Parts of it fit for Habitation. I +easily believe that _Plato_’s Observation or Tradition [_de Leg. li. +3._] 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_ _Gen. xi._ tells us, +that some Time 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 dispers’d, 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 farther and farther 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 flew into remote Countries in +Colonies, like Swarms from the Hive, and settled 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 inclos’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 Abyss again at the End of the +Deluge, which our Explication supposeth to continue open. But besides +that half the Abyss 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 which +proceeded from their opening: For as _Moses_ had ascrib’d the Deluge to +the opening of these two, so when it was to cease, he saith, these two +were shut up; as they were really put into such a Condition, both of +then, that they could not continue the Deluge any longer, nor ever be +the Occasion of a second; and therefore in that Sense, and as to that +Effect were for ever shut up. Some may possibly make that also an +Objection against us, that _Moses_ mentions and supposes the Mountains +at the Deluge, for he saith, the Waters reached fifteen Cubits above the +Tops of them; whereas we suppose the antediluvian Earth to have had a +plain and uniform Surface, without any Inequality of Hills and Valleys. +But this is easily answer’d, it was in the Height of the Deluge that +_Moses_ mention’d the Mountains, and we suppose them to have risen then, +or more towards the Beginning of it, when the Earth was broke; and these +Mountains continuing still upon the Face of the Earth, _Moses_ might +very well take them for a Standard to measure and express to Posterity +the Height of the Waters, though they were not upon the Earth when the +Deluge began. Neither is there any mention made, as is observ’d by some, +of Mountains in Scripture, or of Rain, till the Time of the Deluge. + +WE have now finish’d our Account of _Noah_’s Flood, both generally and +particularly; and I have not wittingly omitted or conceal’d any +Difficulty that occurr’d to me, either from the History, or from +abstract Reason; our Theory, so far as I know, hath the Consent and +Authority of both: And how far it agrees and is demonstrable from +natural Observation, or from the Form and _Phænomena_ of this Earth, as +it lies at present, shall be the Subject of the remaining Part of this +first Book. In the mean time I do not know any Thing more to be added in +this Part, unless it be to conclude with an Advertisement to prevent any +Mistake or Misconstruction, as if this Theory, by explaining the Deluge +in a natural Way, in a great Measure, or, by natural Causes, did detract +from the Power of God, by which that great Judgment was brought upon the +World in a providential and miraculous Manner. + +TO satisfy all reasonable and intelligent Persons in this Particular, I +answer and declare, first, That we are far from excluding divine +Providence, either ordinary or extraordinary, from the Causes and +Conduct of the Deluge. I know a Sparrow doth not fall to the Ground +without the Will of our Heavenly Father, much less doth the great World +fall in Pieces without his good Pleasure and Superintendency. In him all +Things live, move, and have their Being; Things that have Life and +Thought have it from him, he is the Fountain of both. Things that have +Motion only, without Thought, have it also from him: And what hath only +naked Being, without Thought or Motion, owe still that Being to him. And +these are not only derived from God at first, but every Moment continued +and conserv’d by him. So intimate and universal is the Dependance of all +Things upon the Divine Will and Power. + +IN the second Place, they are guilty, in my Judgment, of a great Error +or Indiscretion, that oppose the Course of Nature to Providence. St. +_Paul_ says, (_Acts xiv. 17._) God hath not left us without Witness, in +that he gives us Rain from Heaven; yet Rains proceed from natural +Causes, and fall upon the Sea as well as upon the Land. In like manner, +our Saviour, _Mat. vi. 21._ makes those Things Instances of Divine +Providence, which yet come to pass in an ordinary Course of Nature; in +that Part of his excellent Sermon upon the Mount, _Luke xii. 24._ that +concerns Providence, he bids them _consider the Lilies how they grow, +they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet Solomon in all his Glory +was not array’d like one of these_: He bids them also _consider the +Ravens, they neither sow nor reap, neither have they Store-house nor +Barn, and God feedeth them_. The Lilies grow, and the Ravens are fed +according to the ordinary Course of Nature, and yet they are justly made +Arguments of Providence by our Saviour; nor are these Things less +providential, because constant and regular; on the contrary, such a +Disposition or Establishment of second Causes, as will in the best +Order, and for a long Succession, produce the most regular Effects, +assisted only with the ordinary Concourse of the first Cause, is a +greater Argument of Wisdom and Contrivance, than such a Disposition of +Causes as will not in so good an Order, or for so long a Time produce +regular Effects, without an extraordinary Concourse and Interposition of +the first Cause. This I think is clear to every Man’s Judgment. We think +him a better Artist that makes a Clock that strikes regularly at every +Hour from the Springs and Wheels which he puts in the Work, than he that +hath so made his Clock that he must put his Finger to it every Hour to +make it strike: And if one should contrive a Piece of Clock-work, so +that it should beat all the Hours, and make all its Motions regularly +for such a Time, and that Time being come, upon a Signal given, or a +Spring touch’d, it should of its own accord fall all to Pieces; would +not this be look’d upon as a Piece of greater Art than if the Workman +came at that Time prefix’d, and with a great Hammer beat it into pieces? +I use these Comparisons to convince us, that it is no Detraction from +divine Providence, that the Course of Nature is exact and regular, and +that even in its greatest Changes and Revolutions it should still +conspire and be prepar’d to answer the Ends and Purposes of the divine +Will in reference to the moral World. This seems to me to be the great +Art of divine Providence, so to adjust the two Worlds, human and +natural, material and intellectual, as seeing thro’ the Possibilities +and Futuritions of each, according to the first State and Circumstances +he puts them under, they should all along correspond and fit one +another, and especially in their great Crises and Periods. + +THIRDLY, Besides the ordinary Providence of God in the ordinary Course +of Nature, there is doubtless an extraordinary Providence that doth +attend the greater Scenes and the greater Revolutions of Nature. This, +methinks, besides all other Proof from the Effects, is very rational and +necessary in itself; for it would be a Limitation of the divine Power +and Will so to be bound up to second Causes, as never to use, upon +Occasion, an extraordinary Influence or Direction: And ’tis manifest, +taking any System of natural Causes, if the best possible, that there +may be more and greater Things done, if to this, upon certain Occasions, +you join an extraordinary Conduct. And as we have taken Notice before, +that there was an extraordinary Providence in the Formation or +Composition of the first Earth, so I believe there was also in the +Dissolution of it: And I think it had been 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 ’tis 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 St. _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 finished 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 begged any principles or Suppositions for the Proof of this; +but taking that common Ground, which both _Moses_ and all Antiquity +present to us, _viz._ _That this Earth rose from a Chaos_: We have from +that deduc’d, by an easy 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 interior +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._ + +ORATORS 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 Orator, 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 Orator; 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 placed 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 Tracks and +single Regions; yet if we consider the whole Surface of it, or the whole +exterior Region, ’tis 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 ’tis 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 Ruin, and have the true Aspect of a World lying in its Rubbish. +_See Fig._ in _Chap. XI._ + +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 Marshes, 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 surprizing to one that hath +consider’d the foregoing Theory: For ’tis 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 +extreamly 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 make Mountains or Plains upon the Land; and the Earth +would generally be full of Caverns and Hollownesses, especially in the +mountainous Parts of it. And we see the Resemblance and Imitation of +this in lesser Ruins, 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 Ruin 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 explained from +easy 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 ashamed 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 +easy: 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 _Phænomena_ 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 +Ruin 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 Ruins more or +less; and where the Fragments are great and hard, ’tis 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 unaccountable +when they are look’d 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 easy 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 its 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, ’tis a thousand to one that ’tis the +true Key, and was made for that Purpose. + +AN eminent Philosopher of this Age, _Monsier 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, _C. 7. & lib. 2. c. 4._ 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 +easy Account it gives of the Causes of it. And though I believe to +ingenuous Persons, that are not prejudic’d by the Forms and Opinions of +the Schools against every thing that looks like a Novelty or Invention, +thus much might be sufficient; yet for the Satisfaction of all, we will, +as a farther Proof of our Theory, or that part of it which concerns the +Dissolution of the Earth, descend to a particular Explication of three +or four of the most considerable and remarkable things that occur in the +Fabrick of this present Earth; namely, _The great Channel of the Ocean; +subterraneous Cavities and subterraneous Waters_; and lastly, _Mountains +and Rocks_. These are the Wonders of the Earth as to the visible Frame +of it; and who would not be pleas’d to see a rational Account of these, +of their Origin, and of their Properties? Or who would not approve of an +_Hypothesis_, when they see that Nature in her greatest and strongest +Works may easily be understood by it, and is in no other way, that we +know of, intelligible? + +WE will speak first of subterraneous Cavities and Waters, because they +will be of easier Dispatch, and an Introduction to the rest. + +THAT the Inside of the Earth is hollow and broken in many Places, and is +not one firm and united Mass, we have both the Testimony of Sense and of +easy Observations to prove: How many Caves and Dens and hollow Passages +into the Ground do we see in many Countries, especially amongst +Mountains and Rocks; and some of them endless and bottomless so far as +can be discover’d? We have many of these in our own Island, in +_Derbyshire_, _Somersetshire_, _Wales_, and other Counties, and in every +Continent or Island they abound more or less. These Hollownesses of the +Earth the Ancients made Prisons, or Store-houses for the Winds, and set +a God over them to confine them, or let them loose at his Pleasure. For +some Ages after the Flood, as all Antiquity tells us, these were the +first Houses Men had, at least in some Parts of the Earth; here rude +Mortals shelter’d themselves, as well as they could, from the Injuries +of the Air, till they were beaten out by wild Beasts that took +Possession of them. The ancient Oracles also us’d to be given out of +these Vaults and Recesses under Ground, the _Sibyls_ had their Caves, +and the _Delphick_ Oracle, and their Temples sometimes were built upon +an hollow Rock. Places that are strange and solemn strike an Awe into +us, and incline us to a kind of superstitious Timidity and Veneration, +and therefore they thought them fit for the Seats and Residences of +their Deities. They fancied also that Steams rise sometimes, or a sort +of Vapour in those hollow Places, that gave a kind of a divine Fury or +Inspiration. But all these Uses and Employments are now in a great +measure worn out, we know no Use of them but to make the Places talk’d +on where they are, to be the Wonders of the Country, to please our +Curiosity to gaze upon and admire; but we know not how they came, nor to +what purpose they were made at first. + +IT would be very pleasant to read good Descriptions of these +subterraneous Places, and of all the strange Works of Nature there; how +she furnisheth these dark neglected Grotto’s; they have often a little +Brook runs murmuring thro’ them, and the Roof is commonly a kind of +petrefied Earth, or icy Fret-work, proper enough for such Rooms. But I +should be pleas’d especially to view the Sea-caves, or those hollow +Rocks that lie upon the Sea, where the Waves roll a great Way under +Ground, and wear the hard Rock into as many odd Shapes and Figures as we +see in the Clouds. ’Tis pleasant also to see a River in the Middle of +its Course throw itself into the Mouth of a Cave, or an Opening of the +Earth, and run under Ground sometimes many Miles; still pursuing its Way +thro’ the dark Pipes of the Earth, till at last it find an Out-let. +There are many of these Rivers taken Notice of in History in the several +Parts of the Earth, as the _Rhone_ in _France_, _Guadiana_ in _Spain_, +and several in _Greece_, _Alpheus_, _Lycus_, and _Erasinus_; then +_Niger_ in _Africa_, _Tygris_ in _Asia_, _&c._ And I believe if we could +turn _Derwent_, or any other River, into one of the Holes of the Peak, +it would groap its Way till it found an Issue, it may be, in some other +Country. These subterraneous Rivers that emerge again, shew us that the +Holes of the Earth are longer and reach further than we imagine, and if +we could see into the Ground, as we ride, or walk, we should be +affrighted to see so often Waters or Caverns under us. + +BUT to return to our dry Caves; these commonly stand high, and are +sometimes of a prodigious Greatness: _Strabo_ [_Geo. l. 16._] mentions +some in the Mountains towards _Arabia_, that are capable to receive four +thousand Men at once. The Cave of _Engedi_ [_1 Sam. xxiv. 3, 4._] hid +_David_ and six hundred Men, so as _Saul_, when he was in the Mouth of +it, did not perceive them. In the Mountains of the _Traconites_ there +are many of these vast Dens and Recesses, and the People of that Country +defended themselves a long time in those strong Holds against _Herod_ +and his Army: They are plac’d among such craggy Rocks and Precipices, +that, as _Josephus_ [_Ant. Jud. l. 14. ch. 27._] tells us, _Herod_ was +forced to make a sort of open Chests, and in those by Chains of Iron he +let down his Soldiers from the Top of the Mountains to go fight them in +their Dens. I need add no more Instances of this Kind: In the natural +History of all Countries, or the geographical Descriptions of them, you +find such Places taken notice of, more or less; yet if there was a good +Collection made of the chief of them in several Parts, it might be of +use, and would make us more sensible how broken and torn the Body of the +Earth is. + +THERE are subterraneous Cavities of another Nature, and more remarkable, +which they call _Volcano_’s, or fiery Mountains; that belch out Flames +and Smoke and Ashes, and sometimes great Stones and broken Rocks, and +Lumps of Earth, or some metallick Mixture; and throw them to an +incredible Distance by the Force of the Eruption. These argue great +Vacuities in the Bowels of the Earth, and Magazines of combustible +Matter treasur’d up in them. And as the Exhalations within these Places +must be copious, so they must lie in long Mines or Trains to do so great +Execution, and to last so long. ’Tis scarce credible what is reported +concerning some Eruptions of _Vesuvius_ and _Ætna_. The Eruptions of +_Vesuvius_ seem to be more frequent and less violent of late; the Flame +and Smoke break out at the Top of the Mountain, where they have eaten +away the Ground and made a great Hollow, so as it looks at the Top, when +you stand upon the Brims of it, like an _Amphitheatre_, or like a great +Caldron, about a Mile in Circumference, and the burning Furnace lies +under it. The Outside of the Mountain is all spread with Ashes, but the +Inside much more; for you wade up to the Mid-leg in Ashes to go down to +the Bottom of the Cavity and ’tis 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 other +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. + +_ÆTNA_ is of greater Fame 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 _Ætna_: The Figure of the Mountain is +inconstant, by reason of the great Consumptions and Ruins it is subject +to; the Fires and Æstuations of it are excellently describ’d by +_Virgil_, upon Occasion of _Æneas_’s passing by those Coasts. + + —— _Horrificis juxta tonat Ætna ruinis; + Intendumque atram prorumpit ad ætheranubem, + Turbine fumantem piceo & candente favilla; + Attollitque globos flammarum & sydera lambit; + Interdum scopulos, avulsaque viscera montis + Erigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub auras + Cum gemitu glomerat, fundoque exæstuat imo._ + + _Fama est Enceladi semustum fulmine corpus + Urgeri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Ætnam + Impositam, ruptis flammam expirare caminis. + Et fessum quoties mutet latus, intremere omnem + Murmure Trinacriam & cœlum subtexere fumo._ + + ——_Ætna, whose Ruins make a thunder; + Sometimes black Clouds of Smoke, 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, + It gathers, then spews out, and gathers more._ + + _Enceladus, when Thunder-struck by Jove, + Was bury’d here, and Ætna thrown above; + And when, to change his wearied Side, he turns, + The Island trembles and the Mountain burns._ + +NOT far from _Ætna_ lies _Strombolo_, 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 Channels, and Clifts 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, +tho’ 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 Sound, like a dull Thunder which ariseth from the Vapours that are +striving in the Womb of Nature, when her Throws 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 _Gomorrah_, +and the Region of _Pentapolis_, and several Cities in _Greece_, and in +_Asia_, and other Parts. Whole Islands also have been thus absorpt in an +Earthquake; the Pillars and Props they stood upon being broken, they +have sunk and fallen 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 join’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 continued 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 happened. +_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 settled 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 Joints 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 Ruins, there happen lesser and secondary +Ruins after the first, ’till the Parts be so well pois’d and settled, +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 Cæsar_, that struck down twelve Cities of _Asia_ in one Night. +And _Fournier_ gives us an Account of one in _Peru_, that reach’d three +hundred Leagues along the Sea-shore, and seventy Leagues In-land; and +level’d the Mountains all along as it went, threw down the Cities, +turn’d the Rivers out of their Channels, 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 Ruins, 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 ’tis observ’d, that at one End the +great Ocean flows into it through the Straits of _Gibraltar_, 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 overflows its Banks. And besides that it is thus fed at +either End, it is fed by the Navel too, as I may so say; it sucks in, by +their Channels, 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 easy, namely, that it is discharged by +subterraneous Passages, or convey’d by Channels 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 Efflux or Consumption of the Waters of the +_Mediterranean_; some have suppos’d a double Current in the Strait of +_Gibraltar_, 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 +Blood 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 Blood 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 consumed +in Exhalations every Day: This seems to be a bolder Supposition than the +other; for if so much be consumed 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 consumed 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 +diminish’d 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 tho’ ’tis true some Rivers in +_Africk_, and in other 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 Channel 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 Channels 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, tho’ it might by +contrary Currents turn Things round within 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 shew 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 Divum + Tangere, ait: Simul alta jubet discedere late + Flumina, qua juvenis gressus inferret, at illum + Curvata in momis faciem circumstitit unda, + Accepitque sinu vasto, misitque sub amnem. + Jamq; domum mirans genetricis & humida regna, + Speluncisque lacos clausos, lucosque sonantes, + Ibat, & ingenti motu stupefactus aquarum + Omnia sub magna labentia flumina terra + Spectabat diversa locis; Phasimque Licumque, + Et Thalami matris pendentia pumice tecta, &c._ + + Virgil. + + _Come lead the Youth below, bring him to me, + The Gods are pleas’d our Mansions he should see; + Straight she commands the Floods to make him Way, + They open their wide Bosom and obey; + Soft is the Path, and easy is his Tread, + A watry Arch bends 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 ecchoing 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 Ruin 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 easy 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, ’tis 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 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, leisurely and by degrees, it would +slow 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. + +’TIS 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 unaccountable, say but +that they are a _Ruin_, 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 Ruin of that Nature. And as for the +subterraneous Waters, seeing the Earth fell into the Abyss, the Pillars +and Foundations of the present (exterior) 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. ’Tis 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 +exterior 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 +Blood lies in the Flesh, and in the Habit of the Body; sometimes in +greater or lesser Masses, as the Blood 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 easy 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 Channel 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 unaccountable from any other yet known. + +AS for the Ocean, there are two things considerable in it, the Water and +the Channel 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 Channel 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 ’tis 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 ’tis easy to imagine, how upon the +Dissolution of the Primæval Earth, the Channel 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-Channel 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 destroyed +the first World, and subjected the Creation to 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 thro’ 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-Channel again, and the possible Causes of it. + +IF we could imagine the Channel of the Sea to have been made as we may +imagine the Channel of Rivers to have been, by long and insensible +Attrition, the Water wearing by degrees the Ground under it, by the +Force it hath from its Descent and Course, we should not wonder at its +irregular Form; but ’tis not possible this Channel 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-Channel, 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 jagg’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; ’tis 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 ’tis rais’d into Banks and +Ramparts of Earth, and in others ’tis 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 Ruin. + +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 tho’ 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 Channel, 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-Channel is but a Ruin, and in a Ruin Things tumble uncertainly, and +commonly lie in Confusion: Tho’ 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 Channel 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 _Job_ +saith, _Chap. xxxviii. 16._ 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; +beside these, ’tis 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 +_Eddies_ and infamous _Syrtes_ and Whirpools that are in some Seas, as +the _Baltick_ and the _Mediterranean_, that suck into them and overwhelm +whatever comes within their reach, shew 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. + +’TIS 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 _Ideas_ 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 look’d 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 unaccountable; ’tis another Chaos in its kind; who can paint +the Scenes of it? Gulphs, 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, straight 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 easy +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-Channel, as if it was a sufficient +Account of them to say they were the Effects of a Ruin; there are other +things to be consider’d and explain’d beside 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 Channel of the Sea, it hath +one general Form, which may, though under many Differences, be observed +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 steeper +the Rocks are. Also where the Descent is more leisurely, ’tis 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 +Channel or deepest Part, and this in the deep Ocean is fathomless; and +such a deep Ocean, and such a deep Channel there is always between +Continents. This, I think, is a Property as determinate as any we can +pitch upon in the Channel of the Sea, and with those other two +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-Channel. + +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 the annex’d 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 Channel of the great +Ocean, lying betwixt two Continents; and the inclining Sides shew the +Declivity of the Shores. + +[Illustration: Fragments are starting to break into Continents.] + +[Illustration: The Fragments have Fallen like double Doors.] + +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 Channel 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 Channel. + +[Illustration: The great Disorder in the Chasm between the Fragments.] + +THIS gives an Account of two Things that we mention’d to be consider’d +and explain’d as to the Sea, how the great Cavity of its Channel was +made, and how it was made in that general Form of Declivity in its Sides +from the Land: The third Thing was the Irregularities of it, both as to +its various Depths, and as to the Form of the Shores and of the Bottom. +And this is as easily and naturally explain’d from the same Supposition +as the former two; for tho’ we have hitherto represented the Fragments +A. B. as even and regular after their Fall, because that was most +simple, and there was no occasion then to represent them otherwise, yet +we must suppose, that as soon as in their Fall they hit upon the Top or +Bottom of the Abyss, that great Force and Weight with which they +descended broke off all the Edges and Extremities, and so made +innumerable Ruptures and Inequalities in the Shores, and as many within +the Sea, and at the Bottom; where the broken Rocks and Lumps of Earth +would lie in all imaginable Disorder; as you may conceive from the +_third Figure_. For when the Motion came on a sudden to be obstructed, +the Load of the Fragment still pressing it forwards, such a Concussion +arose, as made thousands of lesser Fragments, of all Shapes and +Magnitudes, and in all Postures and Forms, and most of them irregular. +And by these Fractions and secondary Ruins the Line of the Shores was +broken, and the Level of them too: In some Places they would stand high, +in others low, sometimes rough, and sometimes even, and generally +crooked, with Angles and In-lets, and uncertain Windings. The Bottom +also by the same Stroke was diversify’d into all Manner of Forms, +sometimes rocky with Pits and Gulphs, and sometimes spread in plain +Beds, sometimes shallow, and sometimes deep; for those Differences would +depend only upon the Situation of the secondary Fragments; and so it +might come to pass, that some Places near the Shore might be excessive +deep when a Rock or Rocks stood in a steep Posture, as (_Figure 3._) _b. +b. b._ and, on the contrary, sometimes Places much more advanc’d into +the Ocean might be less deep, where a Fragment of Earth lay under Water, +or one bore up another, as _c. c. c._ but these Cases would not be very +frequent. To conclude, There are no Properties of the Sea-channel, that +I know of, nor Differences or Irregularities in the Form of it, which +this _Hypothesis_ doth not give a fair Account of: And having thus far +open’d the Way and laid down the general Grounds for their Explication, +other things that are more minute, we leave to the Curiosity of +particular Genius’s; being unwilling to clog the Theory at first with +things that may seem unnecessary. We proceed now to the Consideration of +Islands. + +WE must in the first Place distinguish between _Original_ Islands and +_Fictitious_ Islands: Those I call fictitious, 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, _Ægæan_ 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-Channel. + +BUT beside 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 Channel 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 tho’ 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 Extremities 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. ’Tis true, beside 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-India_ Shore, and the _Hesperides_ upon the _Africk_; and there +seldom happen to be any towards the Middle of the Ocean, tho’ 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 ’tis that makes them high +enough to appear above the Water, and strong enough to continue and +preserve themselves in that high Situation. + +AND thus much may suffice for a summary Explication of the Causes of the +Sea-Channel and Islands, according to our _Hypothesis_. + + + + + CHAP. XI. + + + _Concerning the Mountains of the Earth, their Greatness and + irregular Form, their Situation, Causes, and Origin._ + + +WE have been in the Hollows of the Earth, and the Chambers of the Deep, +amongst the Damps and Steams of those lower Regions; let us now go air +our selves on the Tops of the Mountains, where we shall have a more free +and large Horizon, and quite another Face of Things will present it self +to our Observation. + +THE greatest Objects of Nature are, methinks, the most pleasing to +behold; and next to the great Concave of the Heavens, and those +boundless Regions where the Stars inhabit, there is nothing that I look +upon with more Pleasure than the wide Sea and the Mountains of the +Earth. There is something august and stately in the Air of these things, +that inspires the Mind with great Thoughts and Passions; we do +naturally, upon such Occasions, think of God and his Greatness: And +whatsoever hath but the Shadow and Appearance of INFINITE, as all Things +have that are too big for our Comprehension, they fill and over-bear the +Mind with their Excess, and cast it into a pleasing kind of Stupor and +Admiration. + +AND yet these Mountains we are speaking of, to confess the Truth, are +nothing but great Ruins; but such as shew a certain Magnificence in +Nature; as from old Temples and broken Amphitheatres of the _Romans_ we +collect the Greatness of that People. But the Grandeur of a Nation is +less sensible to those that never see the Remains and Monuments they +have left; and those who never see the mountainous Parts of the Earth +scarce ever reflect upon the Causes of them, or what Power in Nature +could be sufficient to produce them. The Truth is, the Generality of +People have not Sense and Curiosity enough to raise a Question +concerning these things, or concerning the Original of them. You may +tell them that Mountains grow out of the Earth like Fuzz-balls, or that +there are Monsters under Ground, that throw up Mountains as Moles do +Mole-hills; they will scarce raise one Objection against your Doctrine. +Or if you would appear more Learned, tell them that the Earth is a great +Animal, and these are Wens that grow upon its Body; this would pass +current for Philosophy; so much is the World drown’d in Stupidity and +sensual Pleasures, and so little inquisitive into the Works of God and +Nature. + +THERE is nothing doth more awaken our Thoughts, or excite our Minds to +enquire into the Causes of such Things, than the actual View of them; as +I have had Experience my self, when it was my Fortune to cross the +_Alps_ and _Apennine_ Mountains; for the Sight of those wild, vast, and +indigested Heaps of Stones and Earth did so deeply strike my Fancy, that +I was not easy ’till I could give my self some tolerable Account how +that Confusion came in Nature, ’Tis true, the Height of Mountains +compar’d with the Diameter of the Earth is not considerable, but the +Extent of them and the Ground they stand upon bears a considerable +Proportion to the Surface of the Earth; and if from _Europe_ we may take +our Measures for the rest, I easily believe, that the Mountains do at +least take up the Tenth Part of the dry Land. The Geographers are not +very careful to describe or note in their Charts the Multitude or +Situation of Mountains; They mark the Bounds of Countries, the Site of +Cities and Towns, and the Course of Rivers, because these are Things of +chief Use to Civil Affairs and Commerce, and that they design to serve, +and not Philosophy or natural History. But _Cluverius_, in his +Description of _Ancient Germany_, _Switzerland_, and _Italy_, hath given +Maps of those Countries more approaching to the natural Face of them, +and we have drawn (at the end of this Chapter) such a Map of either +Hemisphere, without marking Countries or Towns, or any such artificial +Things; distinguishing only Land and Sea, Islands and Continents, +Mountains and not Mountains; and ’tis very useful to imagine the Earth +in this Manner, and to look often upon such bare Draughts, as shew us +_Nature_ undrest; for then we are best able to judge what her true +Shapes and Proportions are. + +’TIS certain that we naturally imagine the Surface of the Earth much +more regular than it is; for unless we be in some mountainous Parts, +there seldom occur any great Inequalities within so much Compass of +Ground as we can at once reach with our Eye; and to conceive the rest, +we multiply the same _Idea_, and extend it to those Parts of the Earth +that we do not see, and so fancy the whole Globe much more smooth and +uniform than it is. But suppose a Man was carried asleep out of a plain +Country amongst the _Alps_, and left there upon the Top of one of the +highest Mountains, when he wak’d and look’d about him, he wou’d think +himself in an inchanted Country, or carried into another World; every +Thing wou’d appear to him so different to what he had ever seen or +imagin’d before. To see on every Hand of him a Multitude of vast Bodies +thrown together in Confusion, as those Mountains are; Rocks standing +naked round about him; and the hollow Valleys gaping under him; and at +his Feet, it may be, an Heap of frozen Snow in the midst of Summer. He +would hear the Thunder come from below, and see the black Clouds hanging +beneath him; upon such a Prospect it would not be easy to him to +persuade himself that he was still upon the same Earth; but if he did, +he would be convinc’d, at least, that there are some Regions of it +strangely rude, and ruin-like, and very different from what he had ever +thought of before. But the Inhabitants of these wild Places are even +with us; for those that live amongst the _Alps_, and the great +Mountains, think that all the rest of the Earth is like their Country, +all broken into Mountains, and Valleys, and Precipices; they never see +other, and most People think of nothing but what they have seen at one +time or an other. + +THESE _Alps_ we are speaking of are the greatest Range of Mountains in +_Europe_; and ’tis prodigious to see and to consider of what extent +these Heaps of Stones and Rubbish are; one way they over-spread _Savoy_ +and _Dauphine_, and reach thro’ _France_ to the _Pyrenean_ Mountains, +and so to the Ocean. The other way they run along the Skirts of +_Germany_, thro’ _Styria_, _Pannonia_, and _Dalmatia_, as far as +_Thrace_ and the Black Sea. Then backwards they cover _Switzerland_ and +the Parts adjacent; and that Branch of them which we call the +_Apennines_ strikes thro’ _Italy_, and is, as it were, the Back-bone of +that Country. This must needs be a large Space of Ground which they +stand upon; yet ’tis not this Part of _Europe_ only that is laden with +Mountains, the Northern Part is as rough and rude in the Face of the +Country, as in the Manners of the People; _Bohemia_, _Silesia_, +_Denmark_, _Norway_, _Sweedland_, _Lapland_, and _Iseland_, and all the +Coasts of the _Baltick Sea_, are full of Clifts, and Rocks, and Crags of +Mountains: Besides the _Riphean_ Mountains in _Muscovy_, which the +Inhabitants there use to call the _Stone-girdle_, and believe that it +girds the Earth round about. + +NOR are the other Parts of our Continent more free from Mountains than +_Europe_, nor other Parts of the Earth than our Continent; They are in +the New World as well as the Old; and if they could discover two or +three New Worlds or Continents more, they would still find them there. +Neither is there any Original Island upon the Earth, but is either all a +Rock, or hath Rocks of Mountains in it. And all the dry Land, and every +Continent, is but a kind of Mountain; tho’ that Mountain hath a +Multitude of lesser ones, and Valleys, and Plains, and Lakes, and +Marshes, and all Variety of Grounds. + +IN _America_, the _Andes_, or a Ridge of Mountains so call’d, are +reported to be higher than any we have, reaching above a Thousand +Leagues in Length, and Twenty in Breadth, where they are the narrowest. +In _Africk_ the Mountain _Atlas_, that for its height was said to bear +the Heavens on its Back, runs all along from the Western Sea to the +Borders of _Ægypt_, parallel with the _Mediterranean_. There also are +the Mountains of the _Moon_, and many more, whereof we have but an +imperfect Account, as neither indeed of that Country in the remote and +inner Parts of it. _Asia_ is better known, and the Mountains thereof +better describ’d: _Taurus_, which is the principal, was adjudg’d by the +Ancient Geographers the greatest in the World. It divides _Asia_ into +two Parts, which have their Denomination from it: And there is an +_Anti-Taurus_ the greater and the less, which accordingly divide +_Armenia_ into greater and less. Then the _Cruciform_ Mountains of +_Imaus_, the famous _Caucasus_, the long Chains of _Tartary_ and +_China_, and the rocky and mountainous _Arabia_. If one could at once +have a Prospect of all these together, one would be easily satisfied, +that the Globe of the Earth is a more rude and indigested Body than ’tis +commonly imagin’d; if one could see, I say, all the Kingdoms and Regions +of the Earth at one view, how they lie in broken Heaps; the Sea hath +overwhelmed one half of them, and what remains are but the taller Parts +of a Ruin. Look upon those great Ranges of Mountains in _Europe_ or in +_Asia_, whereof we have given a short Survey; in what Confusion do they +lie? They have neither Form nor Beauty, nor Shape, nor Order, no more +than the Clouds in the Air. Then how barren, how desolate, how naked are +they? How they stand neglected by Nature? Neither the Rains can soften +them, nor the Dews from Heaven make them fruitful. + +I have given this short Account of the Mountains of the Earth, to help +to remove that Prejudice we are apt to have, or that Conceit, that the +present Earth _is regularly form’d_. And to this Purpose I do not doubt +but that it would be of very good Use to have _natural_ Maps of the +Earth, as we noted before, as well as _civil_; and done with the same +Care and Judgment. + +Our common Maps I call _Civil_, which note the Distinction of Countries +and of Cities, and represent the Artificial Earth as inhabited and +cultivated: But Natural Maps leave out all that, and represent the Earth +as it would be if there was not an Inhabitant upon it, nor ever had +been; the Skeleton of the Earth, as I may so say, with the sight of all +its Parts. Methinks also every Prince should have such a Draught of his +own Country and Dominions, to see how the Ground lies in the several +Parts of them, which highest, which lowest; what respect they have to +one another, and to the Sea; how the Rivers flow, and why; how the +Mountains stand; how the Heaths and how the Marshes are plac’d. Such a +Map or Survey would be useful both in time of War and Peace, and many +good Observations might be made by it, not only as to natural History +and Philosophy, but also in order to the perfect Improvement of a +Country. But to return to our Mountains. + +AND this View of the Multitude and Greatness of them, may help to +rectify our Mistakes about the Form of the Earth; so before we proceed +to examine their Causes it will be good to observe further, that these +Mountains are plac’d in no Order one with another, that can either +respect Use or Beauty; and if you consider them singly, they do not +consist of any Proportion of Parts that is referable to any Design, or +that hath the least Footsteps of Art or Counsel. There is nothing in +Nature more shapeless and ill-figur’d than an old Rock or a Mountain, +and all that Variety that is among them, is but the various Modes of +Irregularity; so as you cannot make a better Character of them, in +short, than to say they are of all Forms and Figures except regular. +Then if you would go within these Mountains (for they are generally +hollow) you would find all things there more rude, if possible, than +without: And lastly, if you look upon an Heap of them together, or a +mountainous Country, they are the greatest Examples of Confusion that we +know in Nature; no Tempest or Earthquake puts Things into more Disorder. +’Tis true, they cannot look so ill now as they did at first; a Ruin that +is fresh, looks much worse than afterwards, when the Earth grows +discolour’d and skinn’d over. But I fancy, if we had seen the Mountains +when they were new born and raw, when the Earth was fresh broken, and +the Waters of the Deluge newly retir’d, the Fractions and Confusions of +them would have appear’d very ghastly and frightful. + +AFTER this general Survey of the Mountains of the Earth and their +Properties, let us now reflect upon the Causes of them. There is a +double Pleasure in Philosophy; first, that of Admiration, whilst we +contemplate Things that are great and wonderful, and do not yet +understand their Causes; for tho’ Admiration proceeds from Ignorance, +yet there is a certain Charm and Sweetness in that Passion. Then the +second Pleasure is greater and more intellectual, which is that of +distinct Knowledge and Comprehension, when we come to have the Key that +unlocks those Secrets, and see the Methods wherein those Things come to +pass that we admir’d before: The Reasons why the World is so or so, and +from what Causes Nature, or any Part of Nature, came into such a State; +and this we are now to enquire after, as to the Mountains of the Earth, +what their Original was, how and when the Earth came into this strange +Frame and Structure? In the Beginning of our World, when the Earth rose +from a Chaos, ’twas impossible it should come immediately into this +mountainous Form; because a Mass that is fluid, as a Chaos is, cannot +lie in any other Figure than what is regular; for the constant Laws of +Nature do certainly bring all Liquors into that Form: And a Chaos is not +call’d so from any Confusion or Brokenness in the Form of it, but from a +Confusion and Mixture of all sorts of Ingredients in the Composition of +it. So we have already produc’d in the precedent Chapters, a double +Argument that the Earth was not originally in this Form, both because it +rose from a Chaos, which could not of it self, or by any immediate +Concretion, settle into a Form of this Nature, as hath been shewn in the +fourth and fifth Chapters; as also because if it had been originally +made thus, it could never have undergone a Deluge, as hath been prov’d +in the second and third Chapters. If this be then a secondary and +succedaneous Form, the great Question is, from what Causes it arises. + +SOME have thought that Mountains, and all other Irregularities in the +Earth, have Rise from Earthquakes, and such like Causes; others have +thought that they came from the universal Deluge; yet not from any +Dissolution of the Earth that was then, but only from the great +Agitation of the Waters, which broke the Ground into this rude and +unequal Form. Both these Causes seem to me very incompetent and +insufficient. Earthquakes seldom make Mountains, they often take them +away, and sink them down into the Caverns that lie under them; besides, +Earthquakes are not in all Countries and Climates as Mountains are; for +as we have observ’d more than once, there is neither Island that is +Original, nor Continent any where in the Earth, in what Latitude soever, +but hath Mountains and Rocks in it. And lastly, what Probability is +there, or how is it credible, that those vast Tracks of Land which we +see fill’d with Mountains both in _Europe_, _Asia_ and _Africa_, were +rais’d by Earthquakes, or any Eruptions from below? In what Age of the +World was this done, and why not continu’d? As for the Deluge, which +they alledge as another Cause, I doubt not but Mountains were made in +the Time of the general Deluge, that great Change and Transformation of +the Earth happen’d then, but not from such Causes as are pretended, that +is, the bare rolling and agitation of the Waters; for if the Earth was +smooth and plain before the Flood, as they seem to suppose as well as we +do, the Waters could have little or no Power over a smooth Surface to +tear it any way in Pieces, no more than they do a Meadow or low Ground +when they lie upon it; for that which makes Torrents and Land floods +violent, is their Fall from the Mountains and high Lands, which our +Earth is now full of; but if the Rain fell upon even and level Ground, +it would only sodden and compress it; there is no possibility how it +should raise Mountains in it. And if we could imagine an universal +Deluge as the Earth is now constituted, it would rather throw down the +Hills and Mountains, than raise new ones; or by beating down their Tops +and loose Parts, help to fill the Valleys, and bring the Earth nearer to +Evenness and Plainness. + +SEEING then there are no Hopes of explaining the Origin of Mountains, +either from particular Earthquakes, or from the general Deluge, +according to the common Notion and Explication of it; these not being +Causes answerable to such vast Effects: Let us try our _Hypothesis_ +again; which hath made us a Channel large enough for the Sea, and Room +for all subterraneous Cavities, and I think will find us Materials +enough to raise all the Mountains of the Earth. We suppose the great +Arch or Circumference of the first Earth to have fallen into the Abyss +at the Deluge, and seeing that was larger than the Surface it fell upon, +’tis absolutely certain, that it could not all fall flat, or lie under +the Water: Now as all those Parts that stood above the Water made dry +Land, or the present habitable Earth, so such Parts of the dry Land as +stood higher than the rest, made Hills and Mountains; and this is the +first and general Account of them, and of all the Inequalities of the +Earth. But to consider these Things a little more particularly: There is +a double Cause and Necessity of Mountains, first this now mention’d, +because the exterior Orb of the Earth was greater than the interior, +which it fell upon, and therefore it could not all fall flat; and +secondly, because this exterior Orb did not fall so flat and large as it +might, or did not cover all the Bottom of the Abyss, as it was very +capable to do; but as we shew’d before in explaining the Channel of the +Ocean, it left a gaping in the Middle, or an _Abyss-channel_, as I +should call it; and the broader this Abyss-channel was, the more +Mountains there would be upon the dry Land; for there would be more +Earth, or more of the falling Orb left, and less Room to place it in, +and therefore it must stand more in Heaps. + +IN what Parts of the Earth these Heaps would lie, and in what particular +manner, it cannot be expected that we should tell; but all that we have +hitherto observ’d concerning Mountains, how strange soever, and +otherwise unaccountable, may easily be explain’d and deduc’d from this +Original; we shall not wonder at their Greatness and Vastness, seeing +they are the Ruins of a broken World; and they would take up more or +less of the dry Land, according as the Ocean took up more or less Space +of our Globe: Then as to their Figure and Form, whether external or +internal, ’tis just such as answers our Expectation, and no more than +what the _Hypothesis_ leads us to; for you would easily believe that +these Heaps would be irregular in all manner of ways, whether consider’d +apart, or in their Situation to one another. And they would lie commonly +in Clusters and in Ridges, for those are two of the most general +Postures of the Parts of a Ruin, when they fall inwards. Lastly, We +cannot wonder that Mountains should be generally hollow; for great +Bodies falling together in Confusion, or bearing and leaning against one +another, must needs make a great many Hollownesses in them, and by their +unequal Applications empty Spaces will be intercepted. We see also from +the same Reason why mountainous Countries are subject to Earthquakes; +and why Mountains often sink and fall down into the Caverns that lie +under them; their Joints and Props being decayed and worn, they become +unable to bear their Weight. And all these Properties you see hang upon +one and the same String, and are just Consequences from our Supposition +concerning the Dissolution of the first Earth. And there is no surer +Mark of a good _Hypothesis_, than when it doth not only hit luckily in +one or two Particulars, but answers all that it is to be apply’d to, and +is adequate to Nature in her whole Extent. + +But how fully or easily soever these things may answer Nature, you will +say, it may be, that all this is but an _Hypothesis_; that is, a kind of +Fiction or Supposition that Things were so and so at first, and by the +Coherence and Agreement of the Effects with such a Supposition, you +would argue and prove that they were really so. This I confess is true, +this is the Method, and if we would know any Thing in Nature further +than our Senses go, we can know it no otherwise than by an _Hypothesis_. +When Things are either too little for our Senses, or too remote and +inaccessible, we have no Way to know the inward Nature, and the Causes +of their sensible Properties, but by reasoning upon an _Hypothesis_. If +you would know, for Example, of what Parts Water, or any other Liquor +consists, they are too little to be discern’d by the Eye; you must +therefore take a Supposition concerning their invisible Figure and Form, +and if that agrees and gives the Reason of all their sensible Qualities, +you understand the Nature of Water. In like manner, if you would know +the Nature of a Comet, or of what Matter the Sun consists, which are +Things inaccessible to us, you can do this no otherwise than by an +_Hypothesis_; and if that _Hypothesis_ be easy and intelligible, and +answers all the _Phænomena_ of those two Bodies, you have done as much +as a _Philosopher_ or as _human Reason_ can do. And this is what we have +attempted concerning the Earth and concerning the Deluge. We have laid +down an _Hypothesis_ that is easy and perspicuous, consisting of a few +things, and those very intelligible, and from this we have given an +Account how the old World was destroy’d by a Deluge of Water, and how +the Earth came into this present Form, so distinguish’d and interrupted +with Sea and Land, Mountains and Valleys, and so broken in the Surface +and inward Parts of it. + +BUT to speak the Truth, this Theory is something more than a bare +_Hypothesis_; because we are assured that the general Ground that we go +upon is true, namely, That the Earth rose at first from a Chaos; for +besides Reason and Antiquity, Scripture it self doth assure us of that; +and that one Point being granted, we have deduc’d from it all the rest +by a direct Chain of Consequences, which I think cannot be broken easily +in any Part or Link of it. Besides, the great Hinge of this Theory, upon +which all the rest turns, is the Distinction we make of the antediluvian +Earth and Heavens from the Postdiluvian, as to their Form and +Constitution. And it will never be beaten out of my Head, but that St. +_Peter_, _2 Epist. chap. iii. 5, 6._ hath made the same Distinction +sixteen hundred Years since, and to the very same purpose; so that we +have sure footing here again, and the Theory riseth above the Character +of a bare _Hypothesis_. And whereas an _Hypothesis_ that is clear and +proportion’d to Nature in every Respect, is accounted morally certain, +we must in Equity give more than a moral Certitude to this Theory. But I +mean this only as to the general Parts of it; for as to Particularities, +I look upon them only as problematical, and accordingly I affirm nothing +therein but with a Power of Revocation, and a Liberty to change my +Opinion when I shall be better inform’d. Neither do I know any Author +that hath treated a Matter new, remote, and consisting of a Multitude of +Particulars, who would not have had occasion, if he had liv’d to have +seen his _Hypothesis_ fully examin’d, to have chang’d his Mind and +Manner of explaining Things in many material Instances. + +TO conclude both this Chapter and this Section, we have here added a Map +or Draught of the Earth, according to the natural Face of it, as it +would appear from the Moon, if we were a little nearer to her; or as it +was at first after the Deluge, before Cities were built, Distinctions of +Countries made, or any Alterations by human Industry. ’Tis chiefly to +expose more to view the Mountains of the Earth, and the Proportions of +Sea and Land; to shew it as it lies in itself, and as a Naturalist ought +to conceive and consider it. ’Tis true, there are far more Mountains +upon the Earth than what are here represented, for more could not +conveniently be plac’d in this narrow Scheme; but the best and most +effectual Way of representing the Body of the Earth as it is by Nature, +would be, not in plain Tables, but by a _rough Globe_, expressing all +the considerable Inequalities that are upon the Earth. The smooth Globes +that we use, do but nourish in us the Conceit of the Earth’s Regularity; +and tho’ they may be convenient enough for geographical Purposes, they +are not so proper for natural Science, nothing would be more useful in +this Respect, than a rough Globe of the largest Dimensions, wherein the +Channel of the Sea should be really hollow, as it is in Nature, with all +its unequal Depths according to the best Soundings, and the Shores +express’d both according to Matter and Form, little Rocks standing where +there are Rocks, and Sands and Beaches in the Places where they are +found; and all the Islands planted in the Sea-channel in a due Form, and +in their solid Dimensions. Then upon the Land should stand all the +Ranges of Mountains, in the same Order or Disorder that Nature hath set +them there: And the in-land Seas, and great Lakes, or rather the Beds +they lie in, should be duly represented; as also the vast Desarts of +Sand as they lie upon the Earth. And this being done with Care and due +Art, would be a true Epitome, or true Model of our Earth. Where we +should see, besides other Instructions, what a rude Lump our World is, +which we are so apt to dote upon. + +[Illustration: The Eastern Hemisphere.] + +[Illustration: The Western Hemisphere.] + + + + + CHAP. XII. + + + _A short Review of what hath been already treated of, and in what + Manner. The several Faces and Schemes under which the Earth would + appear to a Stranger, that should view it first at a Distance, and + then more closely, and the Application of them to our Subject. 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 disprov’d. A Conjecture concerning the other Planets, + their natural Form and State compared with ours._ + + +WE have finish’d the three Sections of this Book, and in this last +Chapter we will make a short Review and Reflexion upon what hath been +hitherto treated of, and add some further Confirmations of it. The +Explication of the universal Deluge was the first Proposal and Design of +this Discourse, to make that a Thing credible and intelligible to the +Mind of Man: And the full Explication of this drew in the whole Theory +of the Earth; Whose Original we have deduc’d from its first Source, and +shew’d both what was its primæval Form, and how it came into its present +Form. The Sum of our _Hypothesis_ concerning the universal Deluge was +this; That it came not to pass, as was vulgarly believ’d, by an Excess +of Rains, or any Inundation of the Sea, nor could ever be effected by a +meer Abundance of Waters; unless we suppose some Dissolution of the +Earth at the same time, namely, when the _Great Abyss_ was broken open. +And accordingly we shewed, that without such a Dissolution, or if the +Earth had been always in the same Form it is in now, no Mass of Water, +any where to be found in the World, could have equall’d the Height of +the Mountains, or made such an universal Deluge. Secondly, We shewed +that the Form of the Earth at first, and till the Deluge, was such as +made it capable and subject to a Dissolution: And thirdly, That such a +Dissolution being suppos’d, the Doctrine of the universal Deluge is very +reasonable and intelligible; and not only the Doctrine of the Deluge, +but the same Supposition is a Key to all Nature besides, shewing us how +our Globe became terraqueous, what was the Original of Mountains, of the +Sea-channel, of Islands, of subterraneous Cavities; things which without +this Supposition are as untelligible as the universal Flood itself. And +these things reciprocally confirming one another, our _Hypothesis_ of +the Deluge is arm’d, both Breast and Back, by the Causes and by the +Effects. + +IT remains now, that, as to confirm our Explication of the Deluge, we +shew’d all other Accounts that had been given of it to be ineffectual or +impossible, to confirm our Doctrine concerning the Dissolution of the +Earth, and concerning the Original of Mountains, Seas, and all +Inequalities upon it, or within it, we must examine what Causes have +been assign’d by others, or what Accounts given of these things: That +seeing their Defectiveness, we may have the more Assurance and +Satisfaction in our own Method. + +AND in order to this, let us observe first the general Forms under which +the Earth may be consider’d, or under which it doth appear accordingly +as we view it more nearly or remotely; and the first of these and the +most general is that of a _terraqueous Globe_. If a Philosopher should +come out of another World out of Curiosity to see our Earth, the first +Discovery or Observation he would make would be this, that it was a +terraqueous Globe: Thus much he might observe at a great Distance, when +he came but near the Borders of our World. This we discern in the Moon, +and most of the Planets, that they are divided into Sea and Land, and +how this Division came would be his first Remark and Inquiry concerning +our Earth; and how also those Subdivisions of Islands, or little Earths +which lie in the Water; how these were form’d, and that great Channel +that contains them both. + +THE second Form that the Earth appears under, is that of an uneven and +_mountainous Globe_. When our Traveller had got below the Circle of the +Moon, he would discern the bald Tops of our Mountains, and the long +Ranges of them upon our Continents. We cannot from the Earth discern +Mountains and Valleys in the Moon directly, but from the Motion of the +Light and Shadows which we see there, we easily collect that there are +such Inequalities: And accordingly we suppose that our Mountains would +appear at a great Distance, and the shady Valleys lying under them; and +that this curious Person that came to view our Earth, would make that +his second Enquiry, how those Mountains were formed, and how our Globe +came to be so rude and irregular? For we may justly demand how any +Irregularity came into Nature, seeing all her first Motions and her +first Forms are regular, and whatsoever is not so, is but secondary, and +the Consequence of some Degeneracy, or of some Decay. + +THE third visible Form of our Earth is that of a _broken Globe_; and +broken throughout, but in the outward Parts and Regions of it. This, it +may be, you will say, is not a visible Form; it doth not appear to the +Eye, without reasoning, that the Surface of the Earth is so broken. +Suppose our new Visitant had now pass’d the middle Region of the Air, +and was alighted upon the Top of _Pic Teneriffe_ for his first resting +Place, and that sitting there, he took a View of the great Rocks, the +wide Sea, and of the Shores of _Africk_ and _Europe_; for we’ll suppose +his piercing Eye to reach so far; I will not say that at first Sight he +would pronounce that the Surface of this Globe was broken, unless he +knew it to be so by Comparison with some other Planet like to it; but +the broken Form and Figure of many Parts of the Rocks, and the Posture +in which they lay, or great Portions of them, some inclin’d, some +prostrate, some erected, would naturally lead him to that Thought, that +they were a Ruin; he would see also the Islands tore from the +Continents, and both the Shores of the Continents and their Inland Parts +in the same Disorder and irregular Situation. Besides, he had this great +Advantage in viewing the Earth at a Distance, that he could see a whole +Hemisphere together, which, as he made his Approaches thro’ the Air, +would have much what the same aspect and countenance as ’tis represented +within the great Scheme, _p. 203._ And if any Man should accidentally +hit upon that Scheme, not knowing or thinking that it was the Earth, I +believe his first Thought of it would be, that it was some great broken +Body, or ruin’d Frame of Matter; and the Original, I am sure, is more +manifestly so. But we’ll leave our strange Philosopher to his own +Observations, and with him good Guides and Interpreters in his Survey of +the Earth, and that he would make a favourable Report at his Return +home, of our little dirty Planet. + +IN the mean time let us pursue, in our own Way, this Third _Idea_ of the +Earth a little further, as it is _a broken Globe_. Nature I know hath +dissembled and cover’d this Form as much as may be, and Time hath help’d +to repair some of the old Breaches, or fill them up; besides, the +Changes that have been made by Art and human Industry, by Agriculture, +Planting, and Building Towns, hath made the Face of the Earth quite +another Thing from what it was in its naked Rudeness. As Mankind is much +alter’d from its pristine State, from what it was four thousand Years +ago, or towards the first Ages after the Flood, when the Nations liv’d +in Simplicity or Barbarousness; so is the Earth too, and both so +disguis’d and transform’d, that if one of those primitive Fathers should +rise from the Dead, he would scarce know this to be the same World which +he liv’d in before. But to discern the true Form of the Earth, whether +intire or broken, regular or disorder’d, we must in the first Place take +away all those Ornaments or Additions made by Art or Nature, and view +the bare Carcass of the Earth, as it hath nothing on it but Rocks and +Mountains, Deserts and Fields, and hollow Valleys, and a wide Sea. Then +secondly, We must in our Imagination empty this Channel of the Sea, take +out all the Waters that hinder the Sight of it, and look upon the dry +Ditch, measure the Depth and Breadth of it in our Mind, and observe the +Manner of its Construction, and in what a wild Posture all the Parts of +it lie; according as it hath been formerly represented, _Chap. 10._ And +lastly, we must take off the Cover of all subterraneous Places and deep +Caverns, to see the inside of the Earth; and lay bare the Roots of +Mountains, to look into those Holes and Vaults that are under them, +fill’d sometimes with Fire, sometimes with Water, and sometimes with +thick Air and Vapours. The Object being thus prepar’d, we are then to +look fixedly upon it, and to pronounce what we think of this disfigur’d +Mass, whether this exterior Frame doth not seem to be shatter’d; and +whether it doth more aptly resemble a new-made World, or the Ruins of +one broken. I confess when this _Idea_ of the Earth is present to my +Thoughts, I can no more believe that this was the Form wherein it was +first produc’d, than if I had seen the Temple of _Jerusalem_ in its +Ruins, when defac’d and sack’d by the _Babylonians_; I could have +persuaded my self, that it had never been in any other Posture, and that +_Solomon_ had given Orders for Building it so. + +SO much for the Form of the Earth: It remains now that we examine what +Causes have been assign’d by others, of these Irregularities in the Form +of the Earth, which we explain by the Dissolution of it; what Accounts +any of the Ancients have given, or attempted to give, how the Earth +swell’d into Mountains in certain Places, and in others was depress’d +into low Valleys, how the Body of it was so broken, and how the Channel +of the Sea was made. The Elements naturally lie in regular Forms one +above another, and now we find them mix’d, confounded and transpos’d, +how comes this Disturbance and Disordination in Nature? The Explications +of these Things that have been given by others, may be reduc’d to two +general Sorts, _Philosophical_ or _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 Channel 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 easy to be pleas’d. Do the Sun and the Wind use to +squeeze 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 rarify +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 ’tis 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 encompass’d 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 obliged 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 dry’d +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-channel in several Ages, as it is without all Proof or Probability, +if he mean it of the Channel of the great Ocean, so ’tis nothing to the +Purpose here; for the Question is not why the Channel 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 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 dry’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 Æquator; but +suppose they were dry’d up in certain Places, that would make no +Mountains, no more than there are Mountains in our dry’d Marshes: And +the Places where they were not dry’d, would not therefore become as deep +and hollow as the Sea-channel, and tear the Earth and Rocks in pieces. +If you would 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 itself, 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 fall 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 upside 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 Ruins and +Dissolutions of one sort or other; but these Ruins they make to have +been partial only, in this or in that Country, by piece-meal, and in +several Ages, and from no other Causes, but such as still continue to +act in Nature, namely, accidental Earthquakes and Eruptions of Fires and +Waters. These Causes we acknowledge as readily as they do, but not as +capable to produce so great Effects as they would ascribe to them; the +Surface of the Earth may be a little changed by such Accidents as these, +but for the most part, they rather sink the Mountains, than raise new +Ones: As when Houses are blown up by Mines of Powder, they are not set +higher, but generally fall lower and flatter: Or suppose they do +sometimes raise an Hill, or a little Mount, what’s that to the great +Mountains of our World, to those long and vast Piles of Rocks and +Stones, which the Earth can scarce bear? What’s that to strong-backt +_Taurus_ or _Atlas_, to the _American Andes_, or to a Mountain that +reacheth from the _Pyreneans_ to the _Euxine_ Sea? There’s as much +Difference between these, and those factious Mountains they speak of, as +betwixt them and Mole-hills. + +AND to answer more distinctly to this Opinion, as before in speaking of +Islands we distinguish’d betwixt factitious and original Islands, so, if +you please, we may distinguish here betwixt factitious and original +Mountains; and allowing some few, and those of the fifth or sixth +Magnitude, to have risen from such accidental Causes, we enquire +concerning the rest and the greatest, what was their Original? If we +should suppose that the seven Hills upon which _Rome_ stands, came from +Ruins or Eruptions, or any such Causes, it doth not follow that the +_Alps_ were made so too. And as for Mountains, so for the Cavities of +the Earth, I suppose there may be Disruptions sometimes made by +Earthquakes, and Holes worn by subterraneous Fires and Waters; but +what’s that to the Channel of the _Atlantick Ocean_, or of the _Pacifick +Ocean_, which is extended an hundred and fifty Degrees under the +Æquator, and towards the Poles still further? He that should derive such +mighty Things from no greater Causes, I should think him a very +credulous Philosopher. And we are too subject indeed to that Fault of +Credulity in Matter of Philosophizing: Many when they have found out +Causes that are proper for certain Effects within such a Compass, they +cannot keep them there, but they will make them do every Thing for them; +and extend them often to other Effects of a superior Nature or Degree, +which their Activity can by no Means reach to. _Ætna_ hath been a +burning Mountain ever since, and above the Memory of Man, yet it hath +not destroy’d that Island, nor made any new Channel to the Sea, tho’ it +stands so near it. Neither is _Vesuvius_ above two or three Miles +distant from the Sea-side, to the best of my Remembrance, and yet in so +many Ages it hath made no Passage to it, neither open nor subterraneous. +’Tis true, some _Isthmus’s_ have been thrown down by Earthquakes, and +some Lakes have been made in that Manner, but what’s this to a Ditch +nine thousand Miles broad? Such an one we have upon the Earth, and of a +Depth that is not measurable; what Proportion have these Causes to such +an Instance? And how many thousand Ages must be allow’d to them to do +their Work, more than the Chronology of our Earth will bear? + +BESIDES, When were these great Earthquakes and Disruptions, that did +such great Execution upon the Body of the Earth? Was this before the +Flood or since? If before, then the old Difficulty returns, how could +there be a Flood, if the Earth was in this mountainous Form before that +Time? This, I think, is demonstrated impossible in the second and third +Chapters. If since the Flood, where were the Waters of the Earth before +these Earthquakes made a Channel for them? Besides, where is the History +or Tradition, that speaks of these strange Things, and of this great +Change of the Earth? Hath any writ of the Origins of the _Alps_? In what +Year of _Rome_, or what _Olympiad_ they were born? Or how they grew from +little ones? How the Earth groan’d when it brought them forth, when its +Bowels were torn by the ragged Rocks? Do the Chronicles of the Nations +mention these things, or ancient Fame, or ancient Fables? were they made +all at once, or in successive Ages? These Causes continue still in +Nature, we have still Earthquakes and subterraneous Fires and Waters, +why should they not still operate and have the same Effects? We often +hear of Cities thrown down by Earthquakes, or Countries swallow’d up; +but who ever heard of a new Chain of Mountains made upon the Earth, or a +new Channel made for the Ocean? We do not read that there hath been so +much as a new _Sinus_ of the Sea ever since the Memory of Man: Which is +far more feasible than what they pretend. And Things of this Nature +being both strange and feasible, excite Admiration and great Attention +when they come to pass, and would certainly have been remembered or +propagated in some Way or other, if they had ever happen’d since the +Deluge. They have recorded the Foundation of Cities and Monarchies, the +Appearance of Blazing Stars, the Eruptions of fiery Mountains, the most +remarkable Earthquakes and Inundations, the great Eclipses or +Obscurations of the Sun, and any thing that look’d strange or +Prodigy-like, whether in the Heavens or on Earth: And these, which would +have been the greatest Prodigies, and greatest Changes that ever +happen’d in Nature, would these have escap’d all Observation and Memory +of Men? That’s as incredible as the Things themselves are. + +LASTLY, To comprehend all these Opinions together, both of the Ancient +and Modern Authors, they seem all to agree with us in this, _That_ the +Earth was once under another Form; otherwise why do they go about to +shew the Causes how it came into this Form? I desire then to know what +Form they suppose the Earth to have been under before the Mountains were +made, the Channel of the Sea, or subterraneous Cavities? Either they +must take that Form which we have assign’d it before the Deluge, or else +they must suppose it cover’d with Water, till the Sea-channels were +made, and the Mountains brought forth; as in _Fig. 2. p. 76._ And no +doubt it was once in this Form, both Reason and the Authority of _Moses_ +assure us of it; and this is the Test which every Opinion must be +brought to, _how_ the Earth emerg’d out of that watry Form? And in +particular, as to that Opinion which we are now examining, the Question +is, _how_ by Earthquakes, and fiery Eruptions, subterraneous Waters, and +such like Causes, the Body of the Earth could be wrought from that Form +to this present Form? And the Thing is impossible at first Sight; for +such Causes as these could not take place in such an Earth. As for +subterraneous Waters, there could be none at that Time, for they were +all above Ground; and as for subterraneous Exhalations, whether fiery or +aery, there was no Place for them neither; for the Earth, when 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 Ruins 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 Channel of the Sea: And these Authors say, God +Almighty made them immediately when he made the World; and so dispatch’d +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. Chap. 11._ 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, St. _Peter_’s Distinction +betwixt the present Earth and the Antediluvian; _2 Ep. Chap. iii. 5, 6._ +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 St. _Peter_ confutes and upbraids them with Ignorance or +Forgetfulness of the Change that was brought upon Nature at the Deluge, +or that the Antediluvian 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 St. _Peter_’s so +rudely as _Didymus Alexandrinus_ did, an ancient Christian, and one of +St. _Jerome_’s Masters; he was of the same Opinion with these +Theological Authors, and so fierce in it, that seeing St. _Peter_’s +Doctrine here to be contrary, he said, this Epistle of St. _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 triform in Success of Time. We acknowledge his Exposition of +St. _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, Ruins, and Dissolutions that have been on the +Earth, and which we have shewn 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 Channel 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, _Fig. 2. p. 77._ 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 Channel 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 Channel 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 Channel +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-Channel 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 Channel was made; for this +Channel 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 double 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 flung thorough 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_ thorough 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 press’d or taken out of the +Channel 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 continued Mass: And ’tis 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: ’Tis all +one Frame or Mass, only broken and disjointed in the Parts of it. To +conclude, ’Tis 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 Mile’s 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-channel to make all those +Inequalities? Or that Earthquakes have been in every Country 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 Ruin. + +WE have now finish’d this first Part of our Theory, and all that +concerns the Deluge or Dissolution of the Earth; and we have not only +establish’d 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 acknowledged 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 observ’d in them be their +Waters or their Sea, as they are in the Moon, ’tis 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_, ’tis a remarkable Passage that St. _Austin_ (_De Civ. Dei, lib. +21. c. viii._) 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 _Jupiter_ 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 exterior Earth of that Planet, at its Dissolution, did not all fall +in, but the polar Parts sinking into the Abyss, the middle or +equinoctial 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 +_Jupiter_, that it is not wholly Spherical, but a Spheroid, protuberant +in the Equator, and depress’d 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 Equator +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 Equator, 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 our Earth, sometimes +partial; and both of these may be under great Variety. In partial +Dissolutions, the middle Parts sometimes stand, and the Polar are broke; +or the Polar stand and the Middle are broke. Or one Hemisphere, or part +of an Hemisphere may be sunk, the rest standing. There may be Causes and +Occasions for all these Varieties and many more, in diversifying the +Phænomena of an immense Universe. But to return to _Saturn_. + +THAT this present uncouth Form of _Saturn_ was not its Original Form, I +am very well satisfied, if that Planet rose from a Chaos, as ours did. +And if this be an adventitious Form, I know no Account can be given of +it with more Probability, than by supposing it the Effect of some +Fraction or Disruption in the Polar Parts. Neither do I know any +Phænomenon hitherto observ’d concerning _Saturn_, that does disprove +this _Hypothesis_ or Conjecture. + +AS to _Jupiter_, that Planet without doubt is also turn’d about its +Axis, otherwise how should its four Moons be carried round him? And this +is also collected from the Motion of that permanent Spot (if it be found +to be so) that is upon its Body. Which Spot I take to be either a Lake +or a Chasm and _Hiatus_ into the Abyss of the Planet: That is, part of +the Abyss open or uncover’d, like the Aperture we made in the Seventh +Figure, _C. 6. p. 184._ And this might either have been left so by +Providence, at first, for some Reasons and Causes fitting that Earth: Or +it may have fallen in afterwards, as _Plato_’s _Atlantis_, or as _Sodom_ +and _Gomorrah_, for some Judgment upon part of that World. + +TO conclude, seeing all the Planets that are plac’d in this Heaven, and +are the Foster-Children of this Sun, seem to have some Affinity one with +another, and have much what the same Countenance, and the same general +_Phænomena_; it seems probable, that they rise much what the same way, +and after the like manner as our Earth, each one from its respective +Chaos; and that they had the same Elementary Regions at first, and an +exteriour Orb form’d over their Abyss: and lastly, That every one of +them hath suffer’d, or is to suffer its Deluge, as our Earth hath done. +These, I say, are probable Conjectures according to the Analogy of +Reason and Nature, so far as we can judge concerning Things very remote +and inaccessible. + +AND these things being thus, and our Theory of the Deluge, and the +Dissolution which brought it, having such a general Agreement both with +our Heavens and our Earth, I think there is nothing but the Uncouthness +of the Thing to some Men’s Understandings, the Custom of thinking +otherwise, and the Uneasiness of entring into a new set of Thoughts, +that can be a Bar or Hindrance to its Reception. But it may be improv’d, +I doubt not, in many Respects, and in some Particularities rectified. +The first Attempts in great Things are seldom or never perfect: Such is +the Weakness of our Understandings, and the want of a full Natural +History. And in assigning Causes of such great Effects, fair Conjectures +are to be allow’d, till they be displac’d by others more evident and +more certain. Accordingly I readily submit to these Terms, and leave +this, and all other Parts of the Theory, to further Examination and +Enquiries. + + + + + THE THEORY OF THE EARTH. + BOOK II. + Concerning the Primæval Earth, and concerning _Paradise_. + + CHAP. I. + + + _The Introduction and Contents of the Second Book. The general State + of the Primæval Earth, and of Paradise._ + + +We have already seen a World begin and perish; an Earth rais’d from the +Rudiments of a Chaos, and dissolv’d and destroy’d in an Universal +Deluge. We have given also an imperfect Description of that Primæval +Earth, so far as was necessary to shew the Causes and Manner of its +Dissolution. But we must not content our selves with this; seeing that +Earth was the first Theatre upon which Mortals appear’d and acted, and +continu’d so for above sixteen hundred Years; and that with Scenes, as +both Reason and History tell us, very extraordinary and very different +from these of our present Earth, ’tis reasonable we should endeavour to +make a more full Discovery and Description of it; especially seeing +_Paradise_ was there; that Seat of Pleasure which our first Parents +lost, and which all their Posterity have much ado to find again. + +IN the First Book we so far describ’d this new-found World, as to shew +it very different in Form and Fabrick from the present Earth; there was +no Sea there, no Mountains, nor Rocks, nor broken Caves, ’twas all one +continued and regular Mass, smooth, simple and compleat, as the first +Works of Nature use to be. But to know thus much only, doth rather +excite our Curiosity than satisfy it; what were the other Properties of +this World? How were the Heavens, how the Elements? What Accommodation +for Human Life? Why was it more proper to be the Seat of _Paradise_ than +the present Earth? Unless we know these Things, you will say, it will +seem but an easy _Idea_ to us; and ’tis certain that the more Properties +and Particularities that we know concerning any thing, the more real it +appears to be. + +AS it was our Chief Design therefore in the precedent Book, to give an +Account of the Universal Deluge, by way of a Theory; so we propose to +our selves chiefly in this Book, from the same Theory, to give an +Account of _Paradise_; and in performing of this, we shall be led into a +more full Examination and Display of that first Earth, and of its +Qualities. And if we be so happy, as, by the Conduct of the same +Principles and the same Method, to give as fair an Account, and as +intelligible of the State of _Paradise_ in that Original Earth, as we +have done of the Deluge by the Dissolution of it, and of the Form of +this Earth which succeeded, one must be very morose or melancholy to +imagine, that the Grounds we go upon, all this while, are wholly false +or fictitious. A Foundation which will bear the Weight of two Worlds +without sinking, must surely stand upon a firm Rock. And I am apt to +promise my self that this Theory of the Earth will find Acceptance and +Credit, more or less, with all but those that think it a sufficient +Answer to all Arguments, to say, _it is a Novelty_. + +BUT to proceed in our Disquisition concerning _Paradise_, we may note in +the first Place, two Opinions to be avoided, being both extreams; one +that placeth _Paradise_ in the extra-mundane Regions, or in the Air, or +in the Moon; and the other that makes it so inconsiderable, as to be +confin’d to a little Spot of Ground in _Mesopotamia_ or some other +Country of _Asia_, the Earth being now as it was then. This offends as +much in the Defect, as the other in the Excess. For it is not any single +Region of the Earth that can be _Paradisiacal_, unless all Nature +conspire, and a certain Order of Things proper and peculiar for that +State. Nor is it of less Importance to find out this peculiar Order of +Things, than to find out the particular Seat of _Paradise_, but rather +pre-requisite to it: We will endeavour therefore to discover and +determine both, so far as a Theory can go, beginning with that which is +more general. + +’TIS certain there were some Qualities and Conditions of _Paradise_ that +were not meerly topical, but common to all the rest of the Earth at that +Time; and these we must consider in the first Place, examine what they +were, and upon what they depended. History, both Sacred and Profane, +must tell us what they were, and our Theory must shew us upon what +Causes they depended. I had once, I confess, propos’d to my self another +Method, independent upon History or Effects; I thought to have continued +the Description of the Primitive or antediluvian Earth from the +Contemplation of its Causes only, and then left it to the Judgment of +others to determine, whether that was not the Earth where the Golden Age +was past, and where _Paradise_ stood. For I had observ’d three +Conditions or Characters of it, which I thought were sufficient to +answer all that we knew concerning that first State of Things, viz. _The +Regularity of its Surface; The Situation or Posture of its Body to the +Sun; and the Figure of it_: From these three general Causes I thought +might be deduc’d all the chief Differences of that Earth from the +present, and particularly those that made it more capable of being +_Paradisiacal_. + +BUT upon second Thoughts I judg’d it more useful and expedient to lay +aside the Causes at present, and begin with the Effects, that we night +have some sensible Matter to work upon. Bare _Ideas_ of Things are +look’d upon as romantick till Effects be propos’d, whereof they are to +give an Account; ’Tis that makes us value the Causes when Necessity puts +us upon Enquiry after them; and the Reasons of Things are very +acceptable, when they ease the Mind, anxious and at a loss how to +understand Nature without their help. We will therefore, without more +ado, premise those Things that have been taken Notice of as +extraordinary and peculiar to the first Ages of the World, and to +_Paradise_, and which neither do, nor can, obtain in the present Earth; +whereof the first is a _perpetual Spring or Equinox_; the second, the +_Longævity of Animals_; and the third, _their Production out of the +Earth_, and the great Fertility of the Soil in all other Things. + +THESE Difficulties guard the way to _Paradise_ like the flaming Sword, +and must be remov’d before we can enter; these are general Preliminaries +which we must explain before we proceed to enquire after the particular +Place of this Garden of Pleasure. The Ancients have taken Notice of all +those in the first Ages of the World, or in their _golden Age_, as they +call it; and I do not doubt but what they ascribe to the golden Age, was +more remarkably true of _Paradise_; yet was not so peculiar to it, but +that it did in a good measure extend to other Parts of the Earth at that +Time. And ’tis manifest that their golden Age was contemporary with our +_Paradise_; for they make it begin immediately after the Production and +Inhabitation of the Earth (which they, as well as _Moses_, raise from +the Chaos) and to degenerate by degrees till the Deluge; when the World +ended, and begun again. + +THAT this Parallel may the better appear, we may observe, that as we say +that the whole Earth was, in some Sense, Paradisiacal in the first Ages +of the World, and that there was, besides, one Region or Portion of it +that was peculiarly so, and bore the Denomination of _Paradise_; So the +Ancients, beside their golden Age, which was common to all the Earth, +noted some Parts of it that were more golden, if I may so say, than the +rest, and which did more particularly answer to _Paradise_; as their +_Elysian_ Fields, Fortunate Islands, Gardens of _Hesperides_, +_Alcinous_, _&c._ these had a double Portion of Pleasantness, and, +beside the Advantages which they had common with the rest of the Earth +at that Time, had something proper and singular, which gave them a +distinct Consideration and Character from the rest. + +HAVING made this Observation, let us proceed, and see what Antiquity +saith, concerning that first and Paradisiacal State of Things, upon +those three Heads forementioned; First, that there was a perpetual +Spring, and constant Serenity of the Air. This is often repeated by the +ancient Poets, in their Description of the golden Age. + + _Non alios prima crescentis origine mundi + Iluxisse dies, aliumve habuisse tenorem, + Crediderim: Ver illud erat, Ver magnus agebat + Orbis, & hybernis parcebant flatibus Euri._ + + Virgil. + + _Such Days the new-born Earth enjoy’d of old; + And the calm Heavens in this same Tenor rowl’d: + All the great World had then one constant Spring; + No cold East-winds, such as our Winters bring._ + +For I interpret this in the same Sense with _Ovid_’s Verses of the +golden Age: + + _Ver erat Æternum: Placidiq; tepentibus auris + Mulcebant Zephyri natos sine semine flores._ + + _The Spring was constant, and soft Winds that blew, + Rais’d without Seed, Flow’rs always sweet and new._ + +AND then upon the Expiration of the golden Age, he says, + + _Jupiter antiqui contraxit tempora Veris, &c._ + + _When Jove begun to reign, he chang’d the Year, + And for one Spring four Seasons made appear._ + +THE Ancients suppos’d, that in the Reign of _Saturn_, who was an +antediluvian God, as I may so call him, Time flow’d with a more even +Motion, and there was no Diversity of Seasons in the Year; but +_Jupiter_, they say, first introduc’d that, when he came to manage +Affairs. This is exprest after their way, who seldom give any severe and +philosophical Accounts of the Changes of Nature. And as they suppos’d +this perpetual Spring in the Golden Age, so they did also in their +particular _Elysiums_; as I could shew largely from their Authors, if it +would not multiply Citations too much. ’Tis true, their _Elysiums_ +respected the new Heavens, and new Earth to come, rather than the past; +but they are both fram’d upon the same Model, and have common +Properties. + +THE Christian Authors have no less celebrated the perpetual Spring and +Serenity of the Heavens in _Paradise_; such Expressions or Descriptions +you will find in _Justin Martyr_, _S. Basil_, _Damascen_, _Isidore +Hispalensis_, _De Grat. prim. hom._ and others, insomuch that +_Bellarmine_, I remember, reflecting upon those Characters of +_Paradise_, which many of the Fathers have given in these Respects, +saith, Such Things could not be, unless the Sun had then another Course +from what he hath now; or which is more easy, the Earth another +Situation. Which Conjecture will hereafter appear to have been well +grounded. In the mean Time, let us see the Christian Poetry upon this +Subject, as we have seen the _Roman_ upon the other. _Alcimus Avitus_ +hath thus describ’d _Paradise_ in his Notes upon _Genesis_: + + _Non hic alterni succedit temporis unquam + Bruma, nec æstivi redeunt post frigora Soles; + Hic Ver assiduum Cæli clementia servat. + Turbidus Auster abest, semperque sub aere sudo + Nubila diffugiunt, jugi cessura sereno. + Nec poscit Natura loci, quos non habet, imbres, + Sed contenta suo dotantur gerrmina rore. + Perpetuo viret omne solum, terræque benignæ + Blanda nitet facies: Stant semper collibus herbæ, + Arboribusque comæ, &c._ + + _No Change of Seasons or Excess was there, + No Winter chill’d, nor Summer scorch’d the Air, + But with a constant Spring, Nature was fresh and fair. + Rough Winds or Rains that Region never knew, + Water’d with Rivers and the Morning Dew; + The Heav’ns still clear, the Fields still green and gay, + No Clouds above, nor on the Earth decay; + Trees kept their Leaves and Verdure all the Year, + And Fruits were never out of Season there._ + +And as the Christian Authors, so likewise the _Jewish_ have spoken of +_Paradise_ in the same manner; they tell us also that the Days there +were always of the same Length throughout the whole Year; and that made +’em fancy _Paradise_ to lie under the Equinoctial; as we shall see in +its due Place. ’Tis true, we do not find these Things mention’d expresly +in the Sacred Writings, but the Effects that flow’d from ’em are +recorded there, and we may reasonably suppose Providence to have +foreseen, that when those Effects came to be scan’d and narrowly look’d +into, they would lead us to a Discovery of the Causes, and particularly +of this great and general Cause, that _perpetual Equinox_ and Unity of +Seasons in the Year, till the Deluge. The Longevity of the Antediluvians +cannot be explain’d upon any other Supposition, as we shall have +Occasion to shew hereafter; and that you know is recorded carefully in +Scripture: As also that there was no _Rainbow_ before the Flood; which +goes upon the same Ground, that there was no Variety of Seasons, nor any +Rain: And this by many is thought to be understood by _Moses_’s Words, +_Gen. ii. 5, 6._ which he speaks of the first and Paradisiacal Earth. +Lastly, Seeing the Earth then brought forth the Principles of Life and +all living Creatures (Man excepted) according to _Moses_, _Gen. i. 24._ +we must suppose that the State of the Heavens was such as favour’d these +Conceptions and Births, which could not possibly be brought to +Perfection, as the Seasons of the Year are at present. The first time +that we have mention made in Scripture of Summer and Winter, and the +Differences of Seasons, is at the ending of the Deluge, _Gen. viii. 22._ +_Henceforward all the Days of the Earth, Seed-time and Harvest, Heat and +Cold, Summer and Winter, Day and Night shall not cease._ ’Tis true these +Words are so lax, that they may be understood either of a new Course of +Nature then instituted, or of an old one restor’d; but seeing it doth +appear from other Arguments and Considerations, that there was at that +time a new Course of Nature constituted, it is more reasonable to +interpret the Words in that Sense; which, as it is agreeable to Truth, +according to Reason and Antiquity so it renders that Remark of _Moses_ +of far greater Importance, if it be understood as an Indication of a new +Order then settled in Nature, which should continue henceforwards so +long as the Earth endur’d. Nor do I at all wonder that such things +should not be expresly and positively declar’d in Scripture; for Natural +Mysteries in the Holy Writings, as well as Prophetical, are many times, +on set Purpose, incompleatly deliver’d, so as to awaken and excite our +Thoughts rather than fully resolve them: This being often more suitable +to the Designs of Providence in the Government of the World. But thus +much for this first common or general Character of the Golden Age, and +of _Paradise_, a _perpetual Serenity and perpetual Equinox_. + +THE second Character is the Longevity of Men, and, as is probable, of +all other Animals in Proportion. This, methinks, is as strange and +surprising as the other, and I know no Difference betwixt the +Antediluvian World and the present, so apt to affect us, if we reflect +upon it, as this wonderful Disproportion in the Ages of Men; our +Forefathers and their Posterity: They liv’d seven, eight, nine hundred +Years and upwards, and ’tis a wonder now if a Man live to one hundred. +Our Oaks do not last so long as their Bodies did; Stone and Iron would +scarce outwear them. And this Property of the first Ages, or their +Inhabitants, how strange soever, is well attested, and beyond all +Exception, having the joint Consent of Sacred and Profane History. The +Scripture sets down the precise Age of a Series of Antediluvian +Patriarchs, and by that measures the Time from the beginning of the +World to the Deluge; so as all Sacred Chronology stands upon that +bottom. Yet I know some have thought this so improbable and incongruous +a Thing, that to save the Credit of _Moses_ and the Sacred History, they +interpret these Years of _Lunar_ Years or Months; and so the Ages of +these Patriarchs are reduc’d to much what the same measure with the +common Life of Man at this Time. It may be observ’d in this, as in many +other Instances, that for want of a Theory to make Things credible and +intelligible, Men of Wit and Parts have often deprest the Sense of +Scripture; and that not out of any ill Will to Scripture or Religion, +but because they could not otherwise, upon the Stock of their Notions, +give themselves a rational Account of Things recorded there. But I hope +when we come to explain the Causes of this Longevity, we shall shew that +it is altogether as strange a Thing that Men should have such short +Lives as they have now, as that they had such long Lives in the first +Ages of the World. In the mean time there are a great many collateral +Reasons to assure us that _Lunar_ Years cannot be here understood by +_Moses_, for all Antiquity gives the same Account of those first Ages of +the World, and of the first Men, that they were extreamly long-liv’d. We +meet with it generally in the Description of the Golden Age; and not +only so, but in their Topical _Paradises_ also they always suppos’d a +great Vivacity or Longevity in those that enjoy’d them. And _Josephus_, +speaking upon this Subject, _Book I. C. iv. Jew. Ant._ saith, the +Authors of all the learned Nations, _Greeks_, or _Barbarians_, bare +witness to _Moses_’s Doctrine in this Particular. And in the _Mosaical_ +History it self, there are several Circumstances and Marks that discover +plainly, that the Years of the Patriarchs cannot be understood of +_Lunar_ Years; as we shall have Occasion to shew in another Place. We +proceed in the mean time to the third and last Character, The +extraordinary Fertility of the Soil, and the Production of Animals out +of the new made Earth. + +THE first part of this Character is unquestionable; All Antiquity speaks +of the Plenty of the Golden Age, and of their _Paradises_, whether +Christian or Heathen. The Fruits of the Earth were at first spontaneous, +and the Ground, without being torn and tormented, satisfied the Wants or +Desires of Man. When Nature was fresh and full, all things flow’d from +her more easily and more pure, like the first running of the Grape, or +the Honey-comb; but now she must be prest and squeez’d, and her +Productions taste more of the Earth and of bitterness. The ancient Poets +have often pleas’d themselves in making Descriptions of this happy +State, and in admiring the Riches and Liberality of Nature at that Time; +but we need not transcribe their Poetry here, seeing this Point is not, +I think, contested by any. The second Part of this Character, concerning +the spontaneous Origin of living Creatures out of that first Earth, is +not so unquestionable; and as to Man, _Moses_ plainly implies, that +there was a particular Action or Ministry of Providence in the Formation +of his Body; but as to other Animals, he seems to suppose that the Earth +brought them forth as it did Herbs and Plants. (_Gen. i. 24._ compar’d +with the 11th Verse.) And the Truth is, there is no such great +Difference betwixt Vegetable and Animal Eggs, or betwixt the Seeds out +of which Plants rise, and the Eggs out of which all Animals rise, but +that we may conceive the one as well as the other in the first Earth; +And as some Warmth and Influence from the Sun is required for the +Vegetation of Seeds, so that Influence or Impregnation, which is +necessary to make Animal Eggs fruitful, was imputed by the Ancients to +the _Æther_, or to an active and pure Element which had the same Effect +upon our great Mother the Earth, as the Irradiation of the Male hath +upon the Female’s Eggs. + + _Tum Pater Omnipotens fœcundus imbribus Æther + Conjugis in gremium lætæ descendit._ + + _In fruitful Showers of Æther Jove did glide + Into the Bosom of his joyful Bride._ + +’TIS true, this Opinion of the spontaneous Origin of Animals in the +first Earth hath lain under some _Odium_, because it was commonly +reckon’d to be _Epicurus_’s Opinion peculiarly; and he extended it not +only to all Brute Creatures, but to Mankind also, whom he suppos’d to +grow out of the Earth in great Numbers, in several Parts and Countries, +like other Animals; which is a Notion contrary to the Sacred Writings; +for they declare, that all Mankind, though diffus’d now through the +several Parts and Regions of the Earth, rose at first from one Head or +single Man or Woman; which is a Conclusion of great Importance, and that +could not, I think, by the Light of Nature, have ever been discover’d. +And this makes the _Epicurean_ Opinion the more improbable, for why +should two rise only, if they sprung from the Earth? Or how could they +rise in their full Growth and Perfection, as _Adam_ and _Eve_ did? But +as for the Opinion of Animals rising out of the Earth at first, that was +not at all peculiar to _Epicurus_: The _Stoicks_ were of the same Mind, +and the _Pythagoreans_ and the _Egyptians_, and I think, all that +suppos’d the Earth to rise from a Chaos. Neither do I know any harm in +that Opinion, if duly limited and stated; for what Inconvenience is it, +or what Diminution of Providence, that there should be the Principles of +Life, as well as the Principles of Vegetation, in the new Earth? And +unless you suppose all the first Animals, as well as the first Man, to +have been made at one Stroke, in their full Growth and Perfection, which +we have neither Reason nor Authority sufficient to believe; if they were +made young, little, and weak, as they come now into the World, there +seems to be no way for their Production more proper, and decorous, than +that they should spring from their great Mother the Earth. Lastly, +considering the innumerable little Creatures that are upon the Earth, +Insects and creeping Things; and that these were not created out of +nothing, but form’d out of the Ground; I think that an Office most +proper for Nature, that can set so many Hands to work at once; and that +hath Hands fit for all those little Operations or Manufactures, how +small soever, that would less become the Dignity of Superior Agents. + +THUS much for the Preliminaries, or three general Characters of +_Paradise_, which were common to it with the rest of the Primæval Earth; +and were the chief Ingredients of the Golden Age, so much celebrated by +the Ancients. I know there were several other Differences betwixt that +Earth and this; but these are the Original; and such as are not +necessary to be premis’d for the general Explication of _Paradise_, we +reserve for another Place. We may in the mean time observe, how +preposterously they go to work, that set themselves immediately to find +out some pleasant Place of the Earth to fix _Paradise_ in, before they +have consider’d, or laid any Grounds, to explain the general Conditions +of it, wheresoever it was. These must be first known and determin’d, and +we must take our Aim and Directions from these, how to proceed further +in out Enquiries after it; otherwise we sail without a Compass, or seek +a Port and know not which way it lies. And as we should think him a very +unskilful Pilot that sought a Place in the new World, or _America_, that +really was in the old; so they commit no less an Error, that seek +_Paradise_ in the present Earth, as now constituted, which could only +belong to the former, and to the State of the first World: As will +appear more plainly in the following Chapter. + + + + + 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._ + + +_THE Scheme of this World passeth away_, saith an Holy Author: the Mode +and Form both of the Natural and Civil World changeth continually more +or less, but most remarkable at certain Periods, when all Nature puts on +another Face; as it will do at the Conflagration, and hath done already +from the Time of the Deluge. We may imagine how different a Prospect the +first World would make from what we see now in the present State of +Things, if we consider only those Generals, by which we have describ’d +it in the foregoing Chapter, and what their Influence would be upon +Mankind and the rest of Nature. For every new State of Nature doth +introduce a new Civil Order, and a new Face and Oeconomy of Human +Affairs: And I am apt to think, that some two Planets, that are under +the same State or Period, do not so much differ from one another, as the +same Planet doth from it self in different Periods of its Duration. We +do not seem to inhabit the same World that our first Fore-fathers did, +nor scarce to be the same Race of Men. Our Life now is so short and +vain, as if we came into the World only to see it and leave it; by that +Time we begin to understand our selves a little, and to know where we +are, and how to act our part, we must leave the Stage, and give Place to +others as meer Novices as we were our selves at our first Entrance. And +this short Life is employ’d in a great Measure to preserve our selves +from Necessity, or Diseases, or Injuries of the Air, or other +Inconveniences; to make one Man easy, ten must work and do drudgery; The +Body takes up so much Time, we have little Leisure for Contemplation, or +to cultivate the Mind. The Earth doth not yield us Food, but with much +Labour and Industry; and what was her free-will Offering before, or an +easy Liberality, can scarce now be extorted from her. Neither are the +Heavens more favourable, sometimes in one Extream, sometimes in another; +The Air often impure or infectious, and, for a great Part of the Year, +Nature her self seems to be sick or dead. To this Vanity the external +Creation is made subject as well as Mankind, and so must continue till +the Restitution of all Things. + +CAN we imagine, in those happy Times and Places we are treating of, that +Things stood in this same Posture? Are these the Fruits of the golden +Age and of _Paradise_, or consistent with their Happiness? And the +Remedies of these Evils must be so universal, you cannot give them to +one Place or Region of the Earth, but all must participate: For these +are Things that flow from the Course of the Heavens, or such general +Causes, as extend at once to all Nature. If there was a perpetual Spring +and perpetual Equinox in _Paradise_, there was at the same Time a +perpetual Equinox all the Earth over; unless you place _Paradise_ in the +middle of the Torrid Zone. So also the long Lives of the Antediluvians +was an universal Effect, and must have had an universal Cause. ’Tis +true, in some single Parts or Regions of the present Earth, the +Inhabitants live generally longer than in others, but do not approach in +any Measure the Age of their antediluvian Fore-fathers; and that degree +of Longevity which they have above the rest, they owe to the Calmness +and Tranquillity of their Heavens and Air; which is but an imperfect +Participation of that Cause which was once universal, and had its Effect +throughout the whole Earth. And as to the Fertility of this Earth, +though in some Spots it be eminently more fruitful than in others, and +more delicious; yet that of the first Earth was a Fertility of another +kind, being spontaneous, and extending to the Production of Animals, +which cannot be without a favourable Concourse from the Heavens also. + +THUS much in general; we will now go over those three fore-mention’d +Characters more distinctly, to shew, by their Unsuitableness to the +present State of Nature, that neither the whole Earth, as it is now, nor +any Part of it, could be _Paradisiacal_. The perpetual Spring, which +belong’d to the golden Age, and to _Paradise_, is an Happiness this +present Earth cannot pretend to, nor is capable of, unless we could +transfer the Sun from the Ecliptick to the Equator, or, which is as +easy, persuade the Earth to change its Posture to the Sun. If +_Archimedes_ had found a Place to plant his Machines in for removing of +the Earth, all that I should have desir’d of him, would have been only +to have given it an Heave at one End, and set it a little to rights +again with the Sun, that we might have enjoy’d the Comfort of a +perpetual Spring, which we have lost by its Dislocation ever since the +Deluge. And there being nothing more indispensably necessary to a +_Paradisiacal_ State than this Unity and equality of Seasons, where that +cannot be, ’tis in vain to seek for the rest of _Paradise_. + +THE spontaneous Fruitfulness of the Ground was a thing peculiar to the +Primigenial Soil, which was so temper’d, as made it more Luxuriant at +that time than it could ever be afterwards; and as that rich Temperament +was spent, so by degrees it grew less fertile. The Origin or Production +of Animals out of the Earth depended not only upon this vital +Constitution of the Soil at first, but also upon such a Posture and +Aspect of the Heavens, as favour’d, or at least permitted Nature, to +make her best Works out of this prepar’d Matter, and better than could +be made in that manner after the Flood. _Noah_, we see, had Orders given +him to preserve the Races of living Creatures in his Ark, when the old +World was destroy’d; which is an Argument to me, that Providence foresaw +that the Earth would not be capable to produce them under its new Form; +and that, not only for want of Fitness in the Soil, but because of the +Diversity of Seasons which were then to take place, whereby Nature would +be disturb’d in her Work, and the Subject to be wrought upon would not +continue long enough in the same due Temper. But this Part of the second +Character, concerning the Original of Animals, deserves to be further +examin’d and explain’d. + +THE first Principles of Life must be tender and ductile, that they may +yield to all the Motions and gentle Touches of Nature; otherwise it is +not possible, that they should be wrought with that Curiosity, and drawn +into all those little fine Threads and Textures, that we see and admire +in some parts of the Bodies of Animals. And as the Matter must be so +constituted at first, so it must be kept in a due Temper till the Work +be finish’d, without any Excess of Heat or Cold; and accordingly we see +that Nature hath made Provision in all sorts of Creatures whether +Oviparous or Viviparous, that the first Rudiments of Life should be +preserv’d from all Injuries of the Air, and kept in a moderate Warmth. +Eggs are enclos’d in a Shell, or Film, and must be cherished with an +equal gentle heat, to begin Formation and continue it, otherwise the +Work miscarries: And in Viviparous Creatures, the Materials of Life are +safely lodg’d in the Female’s Womb, and conserv’d in a fit Temperature +’twixt heat and cold, while the Causes that Providence hath employ’d are +busy at work, fashioning and placing and joining the Parts in that due +Order which so wonderful a Fabrick requires. + +LET us now compare these Things with the Birth of Animals in the +new-made World, when they first rose out of the Earth, to see what +Provision could be made there for their Safety and Nourishment, while +they were a making, and when newly made; and though we take all +Advantages we can, and suppose both the Heavens and the Earth +favourable, a fit Soil and a warm and constant Temper of the Air, all +will be little enough to make this way of Production feasible or +probable. But if we suppose there was then the same Inconstancy of the +Heavens that is now, the same Vicissitude of Seasons, and the same +inequality of Heat and Cold, I do not think it at all possible that they +could be so form’d, or, being new-form’d, preserv’d and nourish’d. ’Tis +true, some little Creatures that are of short Dispatch in their +Formation, and find Nourishment enough wheresoever they are bred, might +be produc’d and brought to Perfection in this way, notwithstanding any +Inequality of Seasons; because they are made all at a Heat, as I may so +say, begun and ended within the compass of one Season. But the great +Question is, concerning the more perfect kinds of Animals, that require +a long stay in the Womb, to make them capable to sustain and nourish +themselves when they first come into the World. Such Animals, being big +and strong, must have a pretty Hardness in their Bones, and Force and +Firmness in their Muscles and Joints, before they can bear their own +weight, and exercise the common Motions of their Body: And accordingly +we see Nature hath ordain’d for these a longer Time of Gestation, that +their Limbs and Members might have time to acquire Strength and +Solidity. Besides, the young ones of these Animals have commonly the +Milk of the Dam to nourish them after they are brought forth, which is a +very proper Nourishment, and like to that which they had before in the +Womb; and by this means their Stomachs are prepar’d by degrees for +coarser Food; Whereas our Terrigenous Animals must have been wean’d as +soon as they were born, or as soon as they were separated from their +Mother the Earth, and therefore must be allow’d a longer Time of +Continuing there. + +THESE Things being consider’d, we cannot in Reason but suppose, that +these Terrigenous Animals were as long, or longer, a Perfecting, than +our Viviparous, and were not separated from the Body of the Earth for +ten, twelve, eighteen, or more Months, according as their Nature was; +and seeing in this Space of Time they must have suffer’d, upon the +common _Hypothesis_, all Vicissitudes and Variety of Seasons, and great +Excesses of Heat and Cold, which are Things incompatible with the tender +Principles of Life, and the Formation of living Creatures, as we have +shewn before; we may reasonably and safely conclude, that Nature had +not, when the World began, the same Course she hath now, or that the +Earth was not then in its present Posture and Constitution: Seeing, I +say, these first spontaneous Births, which both the Holy Writ, Reason +and Antiquity seem to allow, could not be finish’d and brought to +Maturity, nor afterwards preserv’d and nourish’d, upon any other +Supposition. + +LONGEVITY is the last Character to be consider’d, and as inconsistent +with the present State of the Earth as any other. There are many Things +in the Story of the first Ages that seem strange, but nothing so +prodigy-like as the long Lives of those Men; that their Houses of Clay +should stand eight or nine hundred Years and upwards, and those we build +of the hardest Stone, or Marble, will not now last so long. This hath +excited the Curiosity of ingenious and learned Men in all Ages, to +enquire after the possible Causes of that Longevity; and if it had been +always in Conjunction with Innocency of Life and Manners, and expir’d +when that expir’d, we might have thought it some peculiar Blessing or +Reward attending that; but it was common to good and bad, and lasted +till the Deluge, whereas Mankind was degenerate long before. Amongst +Natural Causes, some have imputed it to the Sobriety and Simplicity of +their Diet and manner of Living in those Days, that they eat no Flesh, +and had not all those Provocations to Gluttony, which Wit and Vice have +since invented. This might have some Effect, but not possibly to that +Degree and Measure that we speak of. There are many Monastical Persons +now, that live Abstemiously all their Lives, and yet they think an +hundred Years a very great Age amongst them. Others have imputed it to +the Excellency of their Fruits, and some unknown Virtue in their Herbs +and Plants in those Days; but they may as well say nothing, as say that +which can neither be prov’d nor understood. It could not be either the +Quantity or Quality of their food that was the Cause of their long +Lives, for the Earth was said to be curst long before the Deluge, and +probably by that time was more barren and juiceless (for the generality) +than ours is now; yet we do not see that their Longevity decreas’d at +all, from the Beginning of the World to the Flood. _Methusalah_ was +_Noah_’s Grandfather but one intire Remove from the Deluge, and he liv’d +longer than any of his Fore-fathers. That Food that will nourish the +Parts, and keep us in Health, is also capable to keep us in long Life, +if there be no Impediments otherwise; for to continue Health is to +continue Life; as that Fewel that is fit to raise and nourish a Flame, +will preserve it as long as you please, if you add fresh Fewel, and no +external Causes hinder: Neither do we observe that in those Parts of the +present Earth, where People live longer than in others, that there is +any thing extraordinary in their Food; but that the Difference is +chiefly from the Air and the Temperateness of the Heavens; And if the +Antediluvians had not enjoy’d that Advantage in a peculiar manner, and +differently from what any Parts of the Earth do now, they would never +have seen seven, eight, or nine hundred Years go over their Heads, +though they had been nourish’d with _Nectar_ and _Ambrosia_. + +OTHERS have thought that the long Lives of those Men of the old World +proceeded from the Strength of their _Stamina_, or first Principles of +their Bodies; which if they were now as strong in us, they think we +should still live as long as they did. This could not be the sole and +adequate Cause of their Longevity, as will appear both from History and +Reason. _Shem_, who was born before the Flood, and had in his Body all +the Virtue of the antediluvian _Stamina_ and Constitution, fell three +hundred Years short of the Age of his Fore-fathers, because the greatest +part of his Life was past after the Flood. That their _Stamina_ were +stronger than ours are, I am very ready to believe, and that their +Bodies were greater; and any Race of strong Men, living long in Health, +would have Children of a proportionable strong Constitution with +themselves; but then the Question is, how was this interrupted? We that +are their Posterity, why do not we inherit their long Lives? How was +this Constitution broken at the Deluge, and how did the _Stamina_ fail +so fast when that came? Why was there so great a _Crisis_ then and Turn +of Life, or why was that the Period of their Strength? + +WE see this Longevity sunk half in half immediately after the Flood, and +after that it sunk by gentler degrees, but was still in Motion and +Declension till it was fixt at length before _David_’s time, _Psal. xc. +10._ (_call’d a Psalm of Moses_,) in that which hath been the common +Standard of Man’s Age ever since: As when some excellent Fruit is +transplanted into a worse Climate and Soil, it degenerates continually +till it comes to such a degree of Meanness as suits that Air and Soil, +and then it stands. That the Age of Man did not fall all on a sudden +from the Antediluvian Measure to the present, I impute it to the +remaining _Stamina_ of those first Ages, and the Strength of that +pristine Constitution which could not wear off but by degrees. We see +the _Blacks_ do not quit their Complexion immediately, by removing into +another Climate, but their Posterity changeth by little and little, and +after some Generations they become altogether like the People of the +Country where they are. Thus by the Change of Nature that happen’d at +the Flood, the unhappy Influence of the Air and unequal Seasons, +weaken’d by degrees the innate Strength of their Bodies, and the Vigour +of their Parts, which would have been capable to have lasted several +more hundreds of Years, if the Heavens had continued their Course as +formerly, or the Earth its Position. To conclude this particular, if any +think that the Antediluvian Longevity proceeded only from the _Stamina_, +or the meer Strength of their Bodies, and would have been so under any +Constitution of the Heavens, let ’em resolve themselves these Questions: +First, Why these _Stamina_, or this Strength of Constitution fail’d? +Secondly, Why did it fail so much and so remarkably at the Deluge? +Thirdly, Why in such Proportions as it hath done since the Deluge? And +lastly, Why it hath stood so long immovable, and without any further +Diminution? Within the compass of five hundred Years they sunk from nine +hundred to ninety; and in the compass of more than three thousand Years +since, they have not sunk ten Years, or scarce any thing at all. Who +considers the Reasons of these Things, and the true Resolution of these +Questions, will be satisfied, that to understand the Causes of that +Longevity, something more must be consider’d than the Make and Strength +of their Bodies; which though they had been made as strong as the +_Behemoth_ or _Leviathan_, could not have lasted so many Ages, if there +had not been a particular Concurrence of external Causes, such as the +present State of Nature doth not admit of. + +By this short Review of the three general Characters of _Paradise_ and +the Golden Age, we may conclude how little consistent they are with the +present Form and Order of the Earth. Who can pretend to assign any Place +or Region in this terraqueous Globe, Island or Continent, that is +capable of these Conditions, or that agrees either with the Descriptions +given by the ancient Heathens of their _Paradises_, or by the Christian +Fathers of Scripture _Paradise_? But where then, will you say, must we +look for it, if not upon this Earth? This puts us more into Despair of +finding it than ever; ’tis not above nor below, in the Air or in the +subterraneous Regions; No, doubtless ’twas upon the Surface of the +Earth, but of the Primitive Earth, whose Form and Properties, as they +were different from this, so they were such as made it capable of being +truly _Paradisiacal_, both according to the forementioned Characters, +and all other Qualities, and Privileges reasonably ascrib’d to +_Paradise_. + + + + + 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._ + + +WE have hitherto only perplex’d the Argument and our selves, by shewing +how inexplicable the State of _Paradise_ is, according to the present +Order of Things, and the present Condition of the Earth. We must now +therefore bring into View that Original and Antediluvian Earth, where we +pretend its Seat was, and shew it capable of all those Privileges which +we have deny’d to the present; in virtue of which Privileges, and of the +order of Nature establish’d there, that Primitive Earth might be truly +_Paradisiacal_, as in the Golden Age; and some Region of it might be +peculiarly so, according to the receiv’d _Idea_ of _Paradise_. And this, +I think, is all the Knowledge and Satisfaction that we can expect, or +that Providence hath allow’d us in this Argument. + +THE Primigenial Earth, which in the first Book (_Chap. 5._) we rais’d +from a Chaos, and set up in an habitable Form, we must now survey again +with more Care, to observe its principal Differences from the present +Earth, and what Influence they will have upon the Question in Hand. +These Differences, as we have said before, were chiefly three; the Form +of it, which was smooth, even, and regular; the Posture and Situation of +it to the Sun, which was direct, and not as it is at present, inclin’d +and oblique; and the Figure of it, which was more apparently and +regularly Oval than it is now. From these three Differences flow’d a +great many more, inferior and subordinate; and which had a considerable +Influence upon the moral World at that Time, as well as the natural. But +we will only observe here, their more immediate Effects, and that in +reference to those general Characters or Properties of the Golden Age +and of _Paradise_, which we have instanc’d in, and whereof we are bound +to give an Account by our _Hypothesis_. + +AND in this respect the most Fundamental of those three Differences we +mentioned, was that of the right Posture and Situation of the Earth to +the Sun; for from this immediately follow’d a perpetual Æquinox all the +Earth over, or, if you will, a perpetual Spring: And that was the great +Thing we found wanting in the present Earth to make it _Paradisiacal_, +or capable of being so. Wherefore this being now found and establish’d +in the Primitive Earth, the other two Properties of Longevity, and of +spontaneous and vital Fertility, will be of more easy Explication. In +the mean Time let us view a little the Reasons and Causes of that +regular Situation in the first Earth. + +THE Truth is, one cannot so well require a Reason of the regular +Situation the Earth had then, for that was most simple and natural; as +of the irregular Situation it hath now, standing oblique and inclin’d to +the Sun or the Ecliptick: Whereby the Course of the Year is become +unequal, and we are cast into a great Diversity of Seasons. But however, +stating the first aright with its Circumstances, we shall have a better +Prospect upon the second, and see from what Causes, and in what Manner, +it came to pass. Let us therefore suppose the Earth, with the rest of +its fellow Planets, to be carried about the Sun in the Ecliptick, by the +Motion of the liquid Heavens; and being at that time perfectly uniform +and regular, having the same Center of its Magnitude and Gravity, it +would by the Equality of its Libration necessarily have its Axis +parallel to the Axis of the same Ecliptick, both its Poles being equally +inclin’d to the Sun. And this Posture I call a _right Situation_, as +oppos’d to oblique or inclin’d; or a _parallel_ Situation, if you +please. Now this is a Thing that needs no Proof besides its own +Evidence; for ’tis the immediate result and common Effect of Gravity or +Libration, that a Body, freely left to it self in a fluid _Medium_, +should settle in such a Posture as best answers to its Gravitation; and +this first Earth whereof we speak, being uniform, and every way equally +balanced, there was no Reason why it should incline at one End, more +than at the other, towards the Sun. As if you should suppose a Ship to +stand North and South under the Equator, if it was equally built and +equally ballasted, it would not incline to one Pole or other, but keep +its Axis parallel to the Axis of the Earth; but if the Ballast lay more +at one End, it would dip towards that Pole, and rise proportionably +higher towards the other. So those great Ships that sail about the Sun +once a Year, or once in so many Years, whilst they are uniformly built +and equally pois’d, they keep steady and even with the Axis of their +Orbit; but if they lose that Equality, and the Center of their Gravity +change, the heavier End will incline more towards the common Center of +their Motion, and the other End will recede from it. So particularly the +Earth, which makes one in that Aëry Fleet, when it scap’d so narrowly +from being Shipwreckt in the great Deluge, was however so broken and +disorder’d, that it lost its equal Poise, and thereupon the Center of +its Gravity changing, one Pole became more inclin’d towards the Sun, and +the other more remov’d from it, and so its right and parallel Situation +which it had before, to the Axis of the Ecliptick, was chang’d into an +Oblique; in which skew Posture it hath stood ever since, and is likely +so to do for some Ages to come. I instance in this, as the most obvious +Cause of the Change of the Situation of the Earth, though, it may be, +upon this followed a Change in its Magnetism, and that might also +contribute to the same Effect. + +HOWEVER, this Change and Obliquity of the Earth’s Posture had a long +train of Consequences depending upon it; whereof that was the most +immediate, that it alter’d the Form of the Year, and brought in that +Inequality of Seasons, which hath since obtain’d: As, on the contrary, +while the Earth was in its first and natural Posture, in a more easy and +regular Disposition to the Sun, that had also another respective train +of Consequences, whereof one of the first, and that which we are most +concern’d in at present, was, that it made a perpetual Equinox or Spring +to all the World, all the Parts of the Year had one and the same Tenor, +Face and Temper; there was no Winter or Summer, Seed-Time or Harvest, +but a continual Temperature of the Air and Verdure of the Earth. And +this fully answers the first and fundamental Character of the Golden Age +and of _Paradise_; and what Antiquity, whether Heathen or Christian, +hath spoken concerning that perpetual Serenity and constant Spring that +reign’d there, which in the one was accounted Fabulous, and in the other +Hyperbolical, we see to have been really and philosophically true. Nor +is there any Wonder in the Thing, the wonder is rather on our side, that +the Earth should stand and continue in that forc’d Posture wherein it is +now, spinning Yearly about an Axis, I mean that of the Equator, that +doth not belong to the Orbit of its Motion; This, I say, is more strange +than that it once stood in a Posture that was streight and regular; as +we more justly admire the Tower at _Pisa_, that stands crook’d, than +twenty other streight Towers that are much higher. + +HAVING got this Foundation to stand upon, the rest of our Work will go +on more easily; and the two other Characters which we mention’d, will +not be of very difficult Explication. The spontaneous Fertility of the +Earth, and its Production of Animals at that time, we have in some +measure explain’d before, supposing it to proceed partly from the +Richness of the primigenial Soil, and partly from this constant Spring +and Benignity of the Heavens, which we have now establish’d: These were +always ready to excite Nature, and put her upon Action, and never to +interrupt her in any of her Motions or Attempts. We have shew’d in the +fifth Chapter of the first Book, how this primigenial Soil was made, and +of what Ingredients; which were such as compose the richest and fattest +Soil, being a light Earth mix’d with unctuous Juices, and then +afterwards refresh’d and diluted with the Dews of Heaven all the Year +long, and cherish’d with a continual Warmth from the Sun. What more +hopeful Beginning of a World than this? You will grant, I believe, that +whatsoever degree, or whatsoever kind of Fruitfulness could be expected +from a Soil and a Sun, might be reasonably expected there. We see great +Woods and Forests of Trees rise spontaneously, and that since the Flood +(for who can imagine that the ancient Forests, whereof some were so +vastly great, were planted by the Hand of Man?) why should we not then +believe that Fruit-trees and Corn rose as spontaneously in that first +Earth? That which makes Husbandry and human Arts so necessary now for +the Fruits and Productions of the Earth, is partly indeed the Decay of +the Soil, but chiefly the Diversity of Seasons, whereby they perish, if +care be not taken of them; but when there was neither Heat nor Cold, +Winter nor Summer, every Season was a Seed-time to Nature, and every +Season an Harvest. + +THIS, it may be, you will allow as to the Fruits of the Earth, but that +the same Earth should produce Animals also, will not be thought so +intelligible. Since it hath been discover’d, that the first Materials of +all Animals are Eggs, as Seeds are of Plants, it doth not seem so hard +to conceive, that these Eggs might be in the first Earth, as well as +those Seeds; for there is a great Analogy and Similitude betwixt them; +especially if you compare these Seeds first with the Eggs of Insects or +Fishes, and then with the Eggs of viviparous Animals. And as for those +Juices which the Eggs of viviparous Animals imbibe thorough their Coats +from the Womb, they might as well imbibe them, or something analogous to +them, from a conveniently temper’d Earth, as Plant-Eggs do; and these +Things being admitted, the Progress is much what the same in Seeds as +Eggs, and in one sort of Eggs as in another. + +’TIS true, Animal-Eggs do not seem to be fruitful of themselves, without +the Influence of the Male; and this is not necessary in Plant-Eggs or +vegetable Seeds. But neither doth it seem necessary in all Animal-Eggs, +if there be any Animals _sponte orta_, as they call them, or bred +without Copulation. And, as we observ’d before, according to the best +Knowledge that we have of this Male influence, it is reasonable to +believe, that it may be supplied by the Heavens or _Æther_. The +Ancients, both the _Stoicks_ and _Aristotle_, have suppos’d that there +was something of an æthereal Element in the Malegeniture, from whence +the Virtue 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 fructify 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 fructify it, and by the Mediation of this +active Principle; but the Ancients speak more plainly with express +mention of this _Æther_, and of the Impregnation of the Earth by it, as +betwixt Male and Female. As in the Place before cited; + + _Tum pater omnipotens fœcundis imbribus Æther + Conjugis in gremium lætæ descendit; & omnes + Magnus alit magno commixtus corpore fœtus._ + +Which Notion, I remember, St. _Austin_ saith, _De Civ. D. lib. iv. c. +10._ _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 Virtue 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 æthereal +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 Malegeniture 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 Longevity. This sprung from the same Root in my +Opinion, with the other; though the Connexion, it may be, is not so +visible. We shew’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 exposed to the same +Changes of Air and of Seasons that our Bodies are: But taking a +perpetual Equinox, 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 steady and +uniform; a Stability 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 _Æther_ 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 fix’d 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 Blood 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 +falling, 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, moistned 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 steep’d 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, tho’ they were built of Oak, and that in a very short Time, in +Comparison of what they would last, if they were always encompass’d 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 +Longevity, 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 +Equinox; 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 Longevity of the Antediluvian +Patriarchs proceeded from a favourable Aspect and Influence of the +Heavens at that Time; which _Aspect_ of the Heavens, being rightly +interpreted, is the same thing that we call the position of the Heavens, +or the right Situation of the Sun and the Earth, from whence came a +perpetual Equinox. And if we consider the present Earth, I know no Place +where they live longer than in that little Island of the _Bermudas_, +where, according to the Proportion of Time they hold out there, after +they are arriv’d from other Parts, one may reasonably suppose, that the +Natives would live two hundred Years, and there’s nothing appears in +that Island that should give long Life above other Places, but the +extraordinary Steadiness of the Weather, and of the Temper of the Air +throughout the whole Year, so as there is scarce any considerable +Difference of Seasons. + +BUT because it would take up too much Time to shew in this Place the +full and just Reasons why, and how these long Periods of Life depend +upon the Stability of the Heavens: And how on the contrary, from their +Inconstancy and Mutability these Periods are shorten’d, as in the +present Order of Nature; we will set apart the next Chapter to treat +upon that Subject; yet by way of Digression only, so as those that have +a mind may pass to the following, where the Thread of this Discourse is +continued. In the mean Time you see, we have prepar’d an Earth for +_Paradise_, and given a fair and intelligible Account of those three +general Characters, which, according to the Rules of Method, must be +determin’d before any further Progress can be made in this Argument. For +in the Doctrine of _Paradise_ there are two things to be consider’d, the +State of it and the Place of it; And as it is first in Order of Nature, +so it is much more material, to find out the State of it, than the +Region where it stood. We need not follow the Windings of Rivers, and +the Interpretation of hard Names, to discover this, we take more +faithful Guides: The unanimous Reports of Antiquity, sacred and profane, +supported by a regular Theory. Upon these Grounds we go, and have thus +far proceeded on our way; which we hope will grow more easy and +pleasant, the nearer we come to our Journey’s End. + + + + + CHAP. IV. + + + _A Digression concerning the natural Causes of Longevity. That the + Machine of an Animal consists of Springs, and which are the two + principal. The Age of the Antediluvians to be computed by Solar, not + Lunar Years._ + + +TO confirm our Opinion concerning the Reasons of Longevity in the first +Inhabitants of the World, it will not be amiss to deduce more at large +the natural Causes of _long_, or _short Periods of Life_. And when we +speak of _long_ or _short Periods of Life_, we do not mean those little +Differences of ten, twenty, or forty Years, which we see amongst Men +now-a-days, according as they are of stronger or weaker Constitutions, +and govern themselves better or worse; but those grand and famous +Differences of several hundreds of Years, which we have Examples of in +the different Ages of the World, and particularly in those that liv’d +before and since the Flood. Neither do we think it peculiar to this +Earth to have such an Inequality in the Lives of Men; but the other +Planets, if they be inhabited, have the same Property, and the same +Difference in their different Periods: All Planets that are in their +Antediluvian State, and in their first and regular Situation to the Sun, +have long-liv’d Inhabitants; and those, that are in an oblique +Situation, have short-liv’d; unless there be some counter Causes that +hinder this general Rule of Nature from taking Place. + +WE are now so us’d to a short Life, and to drop away after threescore or +fourscore Years, that when we compare our Lives with those of the +Antediluvians, we think the Wonder lies wholly on their Side, _why_ they +liv’d so long; And so it doth popularly speaking; but if we speak +Philosophically, the Wonder lies rather on our side, _why_ we live so +little, or so short a Time? For seeing our Bodies are such Machines as +have a Faculty of nourishing themselves, that is, of repairing their +lost or decay’d Parts, so long as they have good Nourishment to make Use +of, why should they not continue in good Plight, and always the same, as +a Flame does, so long as it is supplied with Fewel? And that we may the +better see on whether side the Wonder lies, and from what Causes it +proceeds, we will propose this Problem to be examin’d, _Why the Frame or +Machine of an human Body, or of another Animal, having that Constriction +of Parts, and those Faculties which it hath, lasts so short a Time?_ And +tho’ it fall into no Disease, nor have any unnatural Accident, within +the Space of eighty Years, more or less, fatally and inevitably, decays, +dies, and perisheth. + +THAT the State and Difficulty of this Question may the better appear, +let us consider a Man in the Prime and Vigour of his Life, at the Age of +twenty or twenty four Years, of an healthful Constitution, and all his +Vitals sound; let him be nourished with good Food, use due Exercise, and +govern himself with Moderation in all other Things; the Question is, Why +this Body should not continue in the same Plight, and in the same +Strength, for some Ages? or at least, why it should decay so soon and so +fall as we see it does? We do not wonder at Things that happen daily, +though the Causes of them be never so hard to find out; we contrast a +certain Familiarity with common Events, and fancy we know as much of +them as can be known, though in Reality we know nothing of them, but +Matter of Fact; which the vulgar know as well as the Wise or the +Learned. We see daily Instances of the shortness of Man’s Life, how soon +his Race is run, and we do not wonder at it, because it is common; yet +if we examine the Composition of the Body, it will be very hard to find +any good Reasons why the Frame of it should decay so soon. + +I know ’tis easy to give general and superficial Answers and Accounts of +these Things; but they are such, as being strictly examin’d, give no +Satisfaction to an inquisitive Mind; You would say, it may be, that the +Interiour Parts and Organs of the Body wear and decay by Degrees, so as +not performing so well their several Offices and Functions, for the +Digestion and Distribution of the Food and its Juices, all the other +Parts suffer by it, and draws on insensibly a Decay upon the whole Frame +of the Body. This is all true; but why, and how comes this to pass? From +what Causes? Where is the first Failure, and what are the Consequences +of it? The inward parts do not destroy themselves, and we suppose that +there is no want of good Food, nor any Disease, and we take the Body in +its full Strength and Vigour, why doth it not continue thus, as a Lamp +does, if you supply it with Oil? The Causes being the same, why doth not +the same Effect still follow? Why should not the Flame of Life, as well +as any other Flame, if you give it Fewel, continue in its Force without +Languishing or Decay. + +YOU will say, it may be, the Case is not the same in a simple Body, such +as a Lamp or a Fire, and in an organical Body; which being variously +compounded of Multiplicity of Parts, and all those Parts put in +Connexion and Dependance one upon another, if any one fail, it will +disorder the whole Frame; and therefore it must needs be more difficult +for such a Body to continue long in the same State, than for a simple +Body, that hath no Variety of Parts or Operations. I acknowledge such a +Body is much more subject to Diseases and Accidents than a more simple; +but barring all Diseases and Accidents, as we do, it might be of as long +a Duration as any other, if it was supply’d with Nourishment adequately +to all its Parts: As this Lamp we speak of, if it consisted of twenty +Branches, and each of these Branches was to be fed with a different Oil, +and these Oils could be all mix’d together in some common Cistern, +whence they were to be distributed into the several Branches, either +according to their different Degrees of Lightness, one rising higher +than another; or according to the Capacity and Figure of the little +Pipes they were to pass thro’; such a compounded Lamp, made up of such +Artifices, would indeed be more subject to Accidents and to be out of +Order, by the Obstruction of some of the little Pipes, or some unfit +Qualities in the Oils; but all these Casualties and Disorders excepted, +as they are in our Case, if it was supply’d with convenient Liquors, it +would burn as long as any other, tho’ more plain and simple. + +TO instance yet, for more Plainness, in another sort of Machine; suppose +a Mill, where the Water may represent the Nourishment and Humours in our +Body, and the Frame of Wood and Stone, the solid Parts; if we could +suppose this Mill to have a Power of nourishing itself by the Water it +receiv’d, and of repairing all the Parts that were worn away, whether of +the Wood-work or of the Stone, feed it but with a constant Stream, and +it would subsist and grind for ever. And ’tis the same Thing for all +other artificial Machines of this Nature, if they had a Faculty of +nourishing themselves, and repairing their Parts. And seeing those +natural Machines we are speaking of, the Body of Man, and of other +Animals, have and enjoy this Faculty, why should they not be able to +preserve themselves beyond that short Period of Time, which is now the +Measure of their Life? + +THUS much we have said, to shew the Difficulty propos’d, and inforce it; +we must now consider the true Answer and Resolution of it; and to that +purpose bring into View again those Causes which we have assign’d, both +of the long Periods of Life before the Flood, and of the short ones +since. That there was a perpetual Equinox and Stability of the Heavens +before the Flood, we have shew’d both from History and Reason; neither +was there then any thing of Clouds, Rains, Winds, Storms, or unequal +Weather, as will appear in the following Chapter; and to this Steadiness +of Nature, and universal Calmness of the external World, we have imputed +those long Periods of Life which Men enjoy’d at that Time: As on the +contrary, when that great Change and Revolution happened to Nature at +the Deluge, and the Heavens and the Earth were cast in another Mould, +then was brought in, besides many other new Scenes, that Shortness and +Vanity in the Life of Man, and a general Instability in all sublunary +Things, but especially in the animate World. + +IT is not necessary to shew more than we have done already, how that +primitive State of Nature contributed to long Life; neither is it +requir’d that it should actively contribute, but only be permissive, and +suffer our Bodies to act their Parts; for if they be not disturb’d, nor +any Harm done them by external Nature, they are built with Art and +Strength enough to last many hundreds of Years. And, as we observ’d +before, concerning the Posture of the Earth, that that which it had at +first, being simple and regular, was not so much to be accounted for, as +its present Posture, which is irregular; so likewise for the Life of +Man, the Difficulty is not why they liv’d so long in the old World; that +was their due and proper Course; but why our Bodies, being made after +the same manner, should endure so short a Time now. This is it +therefore, which we must now make our Business to give an Account of, +namely, how that Vicissitude of Seasons, Inconstancy of the Air, and +unequal Course of Nature, which came in at the Deluge, do shorten +_Life_; and indeed hasten the Dissolution of all Bodies, animate or +inanimate. + +IN our Bodies we may consider three several Qualities or Dispositions, +and according to each whereof they suffer Decay: _First_, Their +Continuity; _Secondly_, That Disposition whereby they are capable of +receiving Nourishment, which we may call Nutribility; and _Thirdly_, The +Tone or tonick Disposition of the Organs, whereby they perform their +several Functions. In all these three respects they would decay in any +State of Nature, but far sooner and faster in the present State, than in +the Primæval. As for their Continuity, we have noted before that all +consistent Bodies must be less durable now, than under that first Order +of the World, because of the unequal and contrary Motions of the +Elements, or of the Air and Æther that penetrate and pervade them; and +’tis Part of that Vanity which all Things now are subject to, to be more +perishable than in their first Constitution. If we should consider our +Bodies only as breathing Statues, consisting of those Parts they do, and +of that Tenderness, the Air which we breathe, and wherewith we are +continually incompast, changing so often ’twixt moist and dry, hot and +cold, a slow and eager Motion, these different Actions and restless +Changes would sooner weaken and destroy the Union of the Parts, than if +they were always in a calm and quiet _Medium_. + +BUT it is not the gross and visible Continuity of the Parts of our Body +that first decays; there are finer Textures that are spoil’d insensibly, +and draw on the Decay of the rest; such are those other two we +mention’d; that Disposition and Temper of the Parts whereby they are fit +to receive their full Nourishment; and especially that Construction and +Texture of the Organs that are preparatory to this Nutrition. The +Nutribility of the Body depends upon a certain Temperament in the Parts, +soft and yielding, which makes them open to the Blood and Juices in +their Circulation and Passage thro’ them, and mixing intimately and +universally, hold fast and retain many of their Particles; as muddy +Earth doth the Parts of the Water that runs into it and mixeth with it: +And when these nutritious Particles retain’d are more than the Body +spends, that Body is in its Growth; as when they are fewer, ’tis in its +Decay. And as we compar’d the Flesh and tender Parts, when they are +young, and in a growing Disposition, to a muddy Soil, that opens to the +Water, swells and incorporates with it; so when they become hard and +dry, they are like a sandy Earth, that suffers the Water to glide +through it, without incorporating or retaining many of its Parts; and +the sooner they come to this Temper, the sooner follows their Decay: For +the same Causes, that set Limits to our Growth, set also Limits to our +Life; and he that can resolve that Question, _why_ the Time of our +Growth is so short, will also be able to resolve the other in a good +Measure, _why_ the Time of our _Life_ is so short. In both Cases, that +which stops our Progress is external Nature, whose Course, while it was +even and steady, and the ambient Air mild and balmy, preserv’d the Body +much longer in a fresh and fit Temper to receive its full Nourishment, +and consequently gave larger Bounds both to our Growth and Life. + +BUT the third thing we mention’d is the most considerable, the Decay of +the Organick Parts; and especially of the Organs preparatory to +Nutrition. This is the Point chiefly to be examin’d and explain’d, and +therefore we will endeavour to state it fully and distinctly. There are +several Functions in the Body of an Animal, and several Organs for the +Conduct of them; and I am of Opinion, that all the Organs of the Body +are in the Nature of Springs, and that their Action is tonical. The +Action of the Muscles is apparently so, and so is that of the Heart and +the Stomach; and as for those Parts, that make Secretions only, as the +_Glandules_ and _Parenchymata_, if they be any more than merely passive, +as Strainers, ’tis the Tone of the Parts, when distended, that performs +the Separation: And accordingly in all other active Organs, the Action +proceeds from a Tone in the Parts. And this seems to be easily prov’d, +both as to our Bodies, and all other Bodies; for no Matter that is not +fluid, hath any Motion or Action in it, but in Virtue of some Tone; if +Matter be fluid, its Parts are actually in Motion, and consequently may +impel or give Motion to other Bodies; but if it be solid or consistent, +the Parts are not separate or separately mov’d from one another, and +therefore cannot impel or give Motion to any other, but in virtue of +their Tone; they having no other Motion themselves. Accordingly we see +in Artificial Machines, there are but two general Sorts, those that move +by some fluid or volatile Matter, as Water, Wind, Air, or some active +Spirit; and those which move by Springs, or by the Tonick Disposition of +some Part that gives Motion to the rest: For as for such Machines as act +by Weights, ’tis not the Weight that is the active Principle, but the +Air or Æther that impels it. ’Tis true, the Body of an Animal is a kind +of mix’d Machine, and those Organs that are the primary Parts of it, +partake of both these Principles; for there are Spirits and Liquors that +do assist in the Motions of the Muscles, of the Heart, and of the +Stomach; but we have no occasion to consider them at present, but only +the Tone of the solid Organs. + +THIS being observ’d in the first Place, wherein the Force of our Organs +consists, we might here immediately subjoin, how this Force is weaken’d +and destroy’d by the unequal Course of Nature which now obtains, and +consequently our Life shorten’d; for the whole State and Oeconomy of the +Body depends upon the Force and Action of these Organs. But to +understand the Business more distinctly, it will be worth our Time to +examine upon which of the Organs of the Body Life depends more +immediately, and the Prolongation of it; that so reducing our Inquiries +into a narrower Compass, we may manage them with more Ease and more +Certainty. + +IN the Body of Man there are several _Compages_, or Sets of Parts, some +whereof need not be consider’d in this Question; there is that System +that serves for Sense and local Motion, which is commonly call’d the +Animal Compages; and that which serves for Generation, which is call’d +the Genital. These have no Influence upon long Life, being Parts +nourished, not nourishing, and that are fed from others, as Rivers from +their Fountain: Wherefore having laid these aside, there remain two +Compages more, the Natural and Vital, which consist of the Heart and +Stomach, with their Appendages. These are the Sources of Life, and these +are all that is absolutely necessary to the Constitution of a living +Creature; what Parts we find more, few or many of one sort or other, +according to the several kinds of Creatures, is accidental to our +Purpose: The Form of an Animal, as we are to consider it here, lies in +this little Compass, and what is superadded is for some new Purposes, +besides that of mere Life, as for Sense, Motion, Generation, and such +like. As in a Watch, beside the Movement which is made to tell you the +Hour of the Day, which constitutes a Watch; you may have a Fancy to have +an Alarm added, or a Minute-Motion, or that it should tell you the Day +of the Month; and this sometimes will require a new Spring, sometimes +only new Wheels; however, if you would examine the Nature of a Watch, +and upon what its Motion, or, if I may so say, its Life depends, you +must lay aside those secondary Movements, and observe the main Spring, +and the Wheels that immediately depend upon that, for all the rest is +accidental. So for the Life of an Animal, which is a piece of Nature’s +Clock-work, if we would examine upon what the Duration of it depends, we +must lay aside those additional Parts or Systems of Parts, which are for +other Purposes, and consider only the first Principles and Fountains of +Life, and the Causes of their natural and necessary Decay. + +HAVING thus reduc’d our Inquiries to these two Organs, the Stomach and +the Heart, as the two Master-Springs in the Mechanism of an Animal, upon +which all the rest depend, let us now see what their Action is, and how +it will be more or less durable and constant, according to the different +States of external Nature. We determin’d before, that the Force and +Action of all Organs in the Body was tonical, and of none more +remarkably than of these two, the Heart and Stomach; for though it be +not clearly determined what the particular Structure of these Organs, or +of their Fibres is, that makes them tonical, yet ’tis manifest by their +Actions, that they are so. In the Stomach, besides a peculiar Ferment +that opens and dissolves the Parts of the Meat, and melts them into a +Fluor or Pulp; the Coats of it, or Fibres whereof they consist, have a +Motion proper to them, proceeding from their Tone, whereby they close +the Stomach, and compress the Meat when it is receiv’d, and when turn’d +into Chyle, press it forwards, and squeeze it into the Intestines; and +the Intestines also partaking of the same Motion, push and work it still +forwards into those little Veins that convey it towards the Heart. The +Heart hath the same general Motions with the Stomach, of opening and +shutting, and hath also a peculiar Ferment, which rarifies the Blood +that enters into it; and that Blood, by the Spring of the Heart, and the +particular Texture of its Fibres, is thrown out again to make its +Circulation thro’ the Body. This is, in short, the Action of both these +Organs; and indeed the Mystery of the Body of an Animal, and of its +Operations and Oeconomy, consists chiefly in Springs and Ferments; the +one for the solid Parts, the other in the fluid. + +BUT to apply this Fabrick of the organick Parts to our Purpose, we may +observe and conclude, that whatsoever weakens the Tone or Spring of +these two Organs, which are the Bases of all Vitality, weaken the +Principle of Life, and shorten the natural Duration of it; and if of two +Orders or Courses of Nature, the one be favourable and easy to these +tonick Principles in the Body, and the other uneasy and prejudicial, +that Course of Nature will be attended with long Periods of Life, and +this with short. And we have shewn, that in the Primitive Earth the +Course of Nature was even, steady, and unchangeable, without either +different Qualities of the Air, or unequal Seasons of the Year, which +must needs be more easy to these Principles we speak of, and permit them +to continue longer in their Strength and Vigor, than they can possibly +do under all those Changes of the Air, of the Atmosphere, and of the +Heavens, which we now suffer yearly, monthly, and daily. And tho’ sacred +History had not acquainted us with the Longevity of the Antediluvian +Patriarchs, nor profane History with those of the Golden-Age, I should +have concluded from the Theory alone, and the Contemplation of that +State of Nature, that the Forms of all Things were much more permanent +in that World than in ours, and that the Lives of Men and all other +Animals had longer Periods. + +I confess, I am of Opinion that ’tis this that makes not only these +living Springs or tonick Organs of the Body, but all artificial Springs +also, tho’ made of the hardest Metal, decay so fast. The different +Pressure of the Atmosphere, sometimes heavier, sometimes lighter, more +rare or more dense, moist or dry, and agitated with different Degrees of +Motion, and in different Manners! this must needs operate upon that +nicer Contexture of Bodies, which make them tonical or elastick; +altering the Figure or Minuteness of the Pores, and the Strength and +Order of the Fibres upon which that Propriety depends; bending and +unbending, closing and opening the Parts. There is a subtle and æthereal +Element that traverseth the Pores of all Bodies, and when ’tis +straiten’d and pent up there, or stopt in its usual Course and Passage, +its Motion is more quick and eager, as a Current of Water, when ’tis +obstructed, or runs thro’ a narrower Channel; and that Strife and those +Attempts which these little active Particles make to get free, and +follow the same Tracts they did before, do still press upon the Parts of +the Body that are chang’d, to redress and reduce them to their first and +natural Posture, and in this consists the Force of a Spring. Accordingly +we may observe, that there is no Body that is or will be tonical or +elastick, if it be left to it self, and to that Posture it would take +naturally; for then all the Parts are at ease, and the subtle Matter +moves freely and uninterruptedly within its Pores; but if by Distention, +or by Compression, or by Flexion or any other way, the situation of the +Parts and Pores be so alter’d, that the Air sometimes, but for the most +Part that subtiler Element, is uneasy and compress’d too much, it +causeth that Renitency or Tendency to Restitution, which we call the +Tone, or Spring of a Body. Now as this Disposition of Bodies doth far +more easily perish than their Continuity, so I think, there is nothing +that contributes more to its perishing (whether in natural or artificial +Springs) than the unequal Action and different Qualities of the Æther, +Air, and Atmosphere. + +IT will be objected to us, it may be, that in the beginning of the +Chapter we instanc’d in artificial Things, that would continue for ever, +if they had but the Power of nourishing themselves, as Lamps, Mills, and +such like; why then may not natural Machines that have that Power last +for ever? The Case is not the same as to the Bodies of Animals, and the +Things there instanc’d in, for those were springless Machines, that act +only by some external Cause, and not in Virtue of any Tone or interior +Temper of the Parts, as our Bodies do; and when that Tone or Temper is +destroy’d, no Nourishment can repair it. There is something, I say, +irreparable in the tonical Disposition of Matter, which when wholly lost +cannot be restor’d by Nutrition. Nutrition may answer to a bare +Consumption of Parts; but where the Parts are to be preserv’d in such a +Temperament, or in such a Degree of Humidity and Driness, Warmth, Rarity +or Density, to make them capable of that Nourishment, as well as of +their other Operations, as Organs, (which is the Case of our Bodies) +there the Heavens, the Air, and external Causes will change the +Qualities of the Matter in spite of all Nutrition; and the Qualities of +the Matter being chang’d, (in a Course of Nature, where the Cause cannot +be taken away) that is a Fault incorrigible, and irreparable by the +Nourishment that follows, being hindred of its Effect by the +Indisposition or Incapacity of the Recipient. And as they say, a Fault +in the first Concoction cannot be corrected in the second; so neither +can a Fault in the Prerequisites to all the Concoctions be corrected by +any of them. + +I know the Ancients made the Decay and Term of Life to depend rather +upon the Humours of the Body, than the solid Parts, and suppos’d an +_Humidum radicale_ and a _Calidum innatum_, as they call them, a radical +Moisture and congenit Heat to be in every Body, from its Birth and first +Formation; and as these decay’d, Life decay’d. But who’s wiser for this +Account, what doth this instruct us in? We know there is Heat and +Moisture in the Body, and you may call the one _Radical_, and the other +_Innate_ if you please; this is but a sort of Cant, for we know no more +of the real physical Causes of that Effect we enquir’d into, than we did +before. What makes this Heat and Moisture fail, if the Nourishment be +good, and all the Organs in their due Strength and Temper? The first and +original Failure is not in the Fluid, but in the solid Parts, which if +they continued the same, the Humours would do so too. Besides, What +befel this radical Moisture and Heat at the Deluge, that it should decay +so fast afterwards, and last so long before? There is a certain Temper, +no doubt, of the Juices and Humours of the Body, which is more fit than +any other to conserve the Parts from Driness and Decay; but the Cause of +that Driness and Decay, or other Inability in the solid Parts, whence is +that, if not from external Nature? ’Tis thither we must come at length +in our Search of the Reasons of the natural Decay of our Bodies, we +follow the Fate and Laws of that: And I think, by those Causes, and in +that Order, that we have already describ’d and explain’d. + +TO conclude this Discourse, we may collect from it what Judgment is to +be made of those Projectors of Immortality, or Undertakers to make Men +live to the Age of _Methusalah_, if they will use their Methods and +Medicines: There is but one Method for this, to put the Sun into his old +Course, or the Earth into its first Posture; there is no other Secret to +prolong Life; our Bodies will sympathize with the general Course of +Nature, nothing can guard us from it, no Elixir, no Specific, no +Philosopher’s Stone. But there are Enthusiasts in Philosophy, as well as +in Religion; Men that go by no Principles, but their own Conceit and +Fancy, and by a Light within, which shines very uncertainly, and for the +most Part leads them out of the Way of Truth. And so much for this +Disquisition, concerning the _Causes_ of _Longevity_, or of the long and +short Periods of Life in the different Periods of the World. + + + _That the Age of the Antediluvian Patriarchs is to be computed by + Solar or common Years, not by Lunar or Months._ + + +HAVING made this Discourse of the unequal Periods of Life, only in +reference to the Antediluvians and their fam’d Longevity, lest we should +seem to have proceeded upon an ill-grounded and mistaken Supposition, we +are bound to take Notice of, and confute that Opinion which makes the +Years of the Antediluvian Patriarchs to have been _Lunar_, not _Solar_, +and so would bear us in Hand, that they liv’d only so many Months, as +Scripture saith they liv’d Years. Seeing there is nothing could drive +Men to this bold Interpretation but the Incredibility of the Thing, as +they fancied; they having no Motions or _Hypothesis_ whereby it could +appear intelligible or possible to them; and seeing we have taken away +that Stumbling-Stone, and shew’d it not only possible but necessary +according to the Constitution of that World, that the Periods of Life +should be far longer than in this; by removing the Ground or Occasion of +their Misinterpretation, we hope we have undeceiv’d them, and let them +see that there is no need of that Subterfuge, either to prevent an +Incongruity, or save the Credit of the Sacred Historian. + +BUT as this Opinion is inconsistent with Nature, truly understood, so is +it also with common History; for besides, what I have already mention’d +in the first Chapter of this Book, _Josephus_ tells us, (_Lib. i. Jew. +Ant. Chap. iv._) that the Historians of all Nations, both _Greeks_ and +_Barbarians_, give the same account of the first Inhabitants of the +Earth; Manetho, _who writ the Story of the_ Ægyptians; Berosus, _who +writ the Chaldæan History, and those Authors that have given us an +Account of the Phœnician Antiquities, besides Molus and Hestiæus, and +Hieronymus the Ægyptian; and amongst the Greeks, Hesiodus, Hecateus, +Hellanicus, Acusialus, Ephorus and Nicolaus: We have the Suffrages of +all these, and their common Consent, that in the first Ages of the World +Men liv’d a thousand Years._ Now we cannot well suppose that all these +Historians meant _Lunar_ Years, or that they all conspir’d together to +make and propagate a Fable. + +LASTLY, As Nature and profane History do disown and confute this +Opinion, so much more doth sacred History; not indeed in profess’d +Terms, for _Moses_ doth not say that he useth _Solar_ Years; but by +several Marks and Observations, or collateral Arguments, it may be +clearly collected, that he doth not use _Lunar_. As first, because he +distinguisheth _Months_ and _Years_ in the History of the Deluge, and of +the Life of _Noah_; for _Gen. vii. 11._ he saith in the six hundredth +Year of _Noah_’s Life, in the second Month, _&c._ It cannot be imagin’d +that in the same Verse and Sentence these two Terms of _Year_ and +_Month_ should be so confounded as to signify the same Thing; and +therefore _Noah_’s Years were not the same with Months, nor consequently +those of the other Patriarchs, for we have no Reason to make any +Difference. Besides, what ground was there, or how was it proper or +pertinent to reckon, as _Moses_ does there, first, second, third Month, +as so many going to a Year, if every one of them was a Year? And seeing +the Deluge begun in the six hundredth Year of _Noah_’s Life, and in the +second Month, and ended in the six hundredth and first Year, (_Chap. +viii. 13._) the first or second Month, all that was betwixt these two +Terms, or all the Duration of the Deluge, made but one Year in _Noah_’s +Life, or it may be not so much; and we know _Moses_ reckons a great many +Months in the Duration of the Deluge; so as this is a Demonstration, +that _Noah_’s Years are not to be understood of _Lunar_. And to imagine +that his Years are to be understood one way, and those of his +fellow-Patriarchs another, would be an unaccountable Fiction. This +argument therefore extends to all the Antediluvians, and _Noah_’s Life +will take in the Postdiluvians too; for you see Part of it runs amongst +them, and ties together the two Worlds: So that if we exclude _Lunar_ +Years from his Life, we exclude them from all; those of his Fathers, and +those of his Children. + +SECONDLY, If _Lunar_ Years were understood in the Ages of the +Antediluvian Patriarchs, the Interval betwixt the Creation and the +Deluge would be too short, and in many Respects incongruous. There would +be but 1656 Months from the Beginning of the World to the Flood; which +converted into common Years, make but 127 Years and five Months for that +Interval. This perverts all Chronology, and besides, makes the Number of +People so small and inconsiderable at the Time of the Deluge, that +destroying of the World then was not so much as destroying of a Country +Town would be now: For from one Couple you cannot well imagine there +could arise above five hundred Persons in so short a Time; but if there +were a thousand, ’tis not so many as we have sometimes in a good Country +Village. And were the Flood-gates of Heaven open’d, and the great Abyss +broken up to destroy such an handful of People, and the Waters rais’d +fifteen Cubits above the highest Mountains throughout the Face of the +Earth, to drown a Parish or two? Is not this more incredible than our +Age of the Patriarchs? Besides, This short Interval doth not leave Room +for ten Generations, which we find from _Adam_ to the Flood, nor allows +the Patriarchs Age enough at the Time when they are said to have got +Children. One hundred twenty-seven Years for ten Generations is very +strait; and of these you must take off forty-six Years for one +Generation only, or for _Noah_, for he liv’d six hundred Years before +the Flood, and if they were _Lunar_, they would come however to +forty-six of our Years; so that for the other nine Generations you would +have but eighty one Years, that is, nine Years a-piece; at which Age +they must all be suppos’d to have begun to get Children; which you +cannot but think a very absurd Supposition. Thus it would be, if you +divide the whole Time equally amongst the nine Generations; but if you +consider some single Instances; as they are set down by _Moses_, ’tis +still worse; for _Mahaleel_ and his Grandchild _Enoch_ are said to have +got Children at sixty five Years of Age, which if you suppose Months, +they were but five Years old at that time; now I appeal to any one, +whether it is more incredible that Men should live to the Age of nine +hundred Years, or that they should beget Children at the Age of five +Years. + +YOU will say, it may be, ’tis true these Inconveniences follow, if our +_Hebrew_ Copies of the Old Testament be Authentick: But if the _Greek_ +Translation by the _Septuagint_ be of better Authority, as some would +have it to be, that gives a little Relief in this Case; for the +_Septuagint_ makes the Distance from the Creation to the Flood six +hundred Years more than the _Hebrew_ Text does, and so give us a little +more Room for our ten Generations: And not only so, but they have so +conveniently dispos’d those additional Years, as to salve the other +Inconvenience too, of the Patriarchs having Children so young; for what +Patriarchs are found to have got Children sooner than the rest, and so +soon, that, upon a Computation by _Lunar_ Years, they would be but meer +Children themselves at that time? to these more Years are added, and +plac’d opportunely, before the time of their getting Children; so as one +can scarce forbear to think, that it was done on purpose to cure that +Inconvenience, and to favour and protect the Computation by _Lunar_ +Years. The thing looks so like an Artifice, and as done to serve a Turn, +that one cannot but have a less Opinion of that Chronology for it. + +BUT not to enter upon that Dispute at present, methinks they have not +wrought the Cure effectually enough; for with these six hundred _Lunar_ +Years added, the Sum will be only one hundred seventy three common Years +and odd Months; and from these deducting, as we did before, for _Noah_, +forty six Years, and for _Adam_, or the first Generation, about +eighteen, (for he was two hundred and thirty Years old, according to the +_Septuagint_ when he begot _Seth_) there will remain but one hundred and +nine Years for eight Generations; which will be thirteen Years a piece +and odd Months; a low Age to get Children in, and to hold for eight +Generations together. Neither is the other Inconvenience, we mention’d, +well cur’d by the _Septuagint_ Account, namely, the small Number of +People that would be in the World at the Deluge; for the _Septuagint_ +Account, if understood of _Lunar_ Years, adds but forty six common Years +to the _Hebrew_ Account, and to the Age of the World at the Deluge, in +which time there could be but a very small Accesion to the Number of +Mankind. So as both these Incongruities continue, though not in the same +degree, and stand good in either Account, if it be understood of _Lunar_ +Years. + +_Thirdly_, ’TIS manifest from other Texts of Scripture, and from other +Considerations, that our first Fathers liv’d very long, and considerably +longer than Men have done since, whereas if their Years be interpreted +_Lunar_, there is not one of them that liv’d to the Age that Men do now; +_Methusalah_ himself did not reach threescore and fifteen Years, upon +that Interpretation; which doth express them not only below those that +liv’d next to the Flood, but below all following Generations to this +Day; and those first Ages of the World which were always celebrated for +Strength and Vivacity, are made as weak and feeble as the last Dregs of +Nature. We may observe, that after the Flood for some Time, ’till the +pristine _Crasis_ of the Body was broken by the new Course of Nature, +they liv’d five, four, three, two hundred Years, and the Life of Men +shorten’d by Degrees; but before the Flood, when they liv’d longer, +there was no such Decrease or gradual Declension in their Lives. For +_Noah_, who was the last, liv’d longer than _Adam_; and _Methusalah_, +who was last but two, liv’d the longest of all: So that it was not +simply their Distance from the beginning of the World that made them +live a shorter Time, but some Change which happen’d in Nature after such +a Period of Time; namely at the Deluge, when the Declension begun. Let’s +set down the Table of both States. + +_A TABLE of the Ages of the Antediluvian Fathers._ + + _Adam_ 930 + _Seth_ 912 + _Enos_ 905 + _Cainan_ 910 + _Mahaleel_ 895 + _Jared_ 962 + _Enoch_ 365 + _Methusalah_ 969 + _Lamech_ 777 + _Noah_ 950 + +_A TABLE of the Ages of the Postdiluvian Fathers, from Shem to Joseph._ + + _Shem_ 600 + _Arphaxad_ 438 + _Salah_ 433 + _Eber_ 464 + _Peleg_ 239 + _Reu_ 239 + _Serug_ 230 + _Nahor_ 148 + _Terah_ 205 + _Abraham_ 175 + _Isaac_ 180 + _Jacob_ 147 + _Joseph_ 110 + +From these Tables we see that Mens Lives were much longer before the +Flood, and next after it, than they are now; which also is confirm’d +undeniably by _Jacob_’s Complaint of the Shortness of his Life, in +Comparison of his Forefathers, when he had liv’d one hundred and thirty +Years, _Gen. xlvii. 9._ _The Days of the Years of my Pilgrimage are an +hundred and thirty Years; few and evil have the Days of the Years of my +Life been, and have not attained unto the Days of the Years of the Life +of my Fathers._ There were then, ’tis certain, long-liv’d Men in the +World before _Jacob_’s Time; when were they, before the Flood or after? +We say both, according as the Tables shew it. But if you count by +_Lunar_ Years, there never were any, either before or after, and +_Jacob_’s Complaint was unjust and false; for he was the oldest Man in +the World himself, or at least there was none of his Forefathers that +liv’d so long as he. + +THE Patrons of this Opinion must needs find themselves at a loss, how or +where to break off the Account of _Lunar_ Years in sacred History, if +they once admit it. If they say that way of counting must only be +extended to the Flood, then they make the Postdiluvian Fathers longer +liv’d than the Antediluvian; did the Flood bring in Longevity? How could +that be the Cause of such an Effect? Besides, if they allow the +Postdiluvians to have lived six hundred (common) Years, that being +clearly beyond the Standard of our Lives, I should never stick at two or +three hundred Years more for the first Ages of the World. If they extend +their _Lunar_ Account to the Postdiluvians too, they will still be +intangled in worse Absurdities; for they must make their Lives miserably +short, and their Age of getting Children altogether incongruous and +impossible. _Nahor_, for Example, when he was but two Years and three +Months old must have begot _Terah_, _Abraham_’s Father: And all the rest +betwixt him and _Shem_ must have had Children before they were three +Years old: A pretty race of Pigmies. Then their Lives were +proportionably short, for this _Nahor_ liv’d but eleven Years and six +Months at this Rate; and his Grandchild _Abraham_, who is said to have +died _in a good old Age, and full of Years_, (_Gen. xxv. 8._) was not +fourteen Years old. What a ridiculous Account this gives of Scripture +Chronology and Genealogies? But you’ll say, it may be, these _Lunar_ +Years are not to be carried so far as _Abraham_ neither; tell us then +where you’ll stop, and why you stop in such a Place rather than another. +If you once take in _Lunar_ Years, what Ground is there in the Text, or +in the History, that you should change your way of computing at such a +Time, or in such a Place? All our ancient Chronology is founded upon the +Books of _Moses_, where the Terms and Periods of Times are exprest by +Years, and often by Genealogies and the Lives of Men; Now if these Years +are sometimes to be interpreted _Lunar_, and sometimes _Solar_, without +any Distinction made in the Text, what Light or certain Rule have we to +go by? Let these Authors name to us the Parts and Places where, and only +where the _Lunar_ Years are to be understood, and I dare undertake to +shew, that their Method is not only arbitrary, but absurd and +incoherent. + +TO conclude this Discourse, we cannot but repeat what we have partly +observ’d before, How necessary it is to understand Nature, if we would +rightly understand those Things in holy Writ that relate to the natural +World. For without this Knowledge, as we are apt to think some Things +consistent and credible, that are really impossible in Nature; so on the +other hand, we are apt to look upon other Things as incredible and +impossible that are really founded in Nature. And seeing every one is +willing so to expound Scripture, as it may be to them good Sense, and +consistent with their Notions in other Things, they are forc’d many +times to go against the easy and natural Importance of the Words, and to +invent other Interpretations more compliant with their Principles, and, +as they think, with the Nature of Things. We have, I say, a great +Instance of this before us in the Scripture-History, of the long Lives +of the Antediluvians, where, without any Ground or Shadow of Ground, in +the Narration, only to comply with a mistaken Philosophy, and their +Ignorance of the primitive World, many Men would beat down the Scripture +Account of Years into Months, and sink the Lives of those first Fathers +below the Rate of the worst of Ages. Whereby that great Monument, which +Providence hath left us of the first World, and of its Difference from +the second, would not only be defac’d, but wholly demolish’d. And all +this sprung only from the seeming Incredibility of the Thing; for they +cannot shew in any Part of Scripture, new or old, that these _Lunar_ +Years are made use of, or that any Computation, literal or prophetical, +proceeds upon them: Nor that there is any Thing in the Text or Context +of that Place, that argues or intimates any such Account. We have +endeavour’d, upon this Occasion, effectully to prevent this +Misconstruction of sacred History for the future; both by shewing the +Incongruities that follow upon it, and also that there is no Necessity +from Nature, of any such Shift or Evasion, as that is: But rather on the +contrary, that we have just and necessary Reasons to conclude, That as +the Forms of all Things would be far more permanent and lasting in that +primitive State of the Heavens and the Earth, so particularly the Lives +of Men, and of other Animals. + + + + + 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. + Some Things in sacred Writ that confirms this Hydrography of the + first Earth; especially the Origin of the Rainbow._ + + +HAVING thus far clear’d our Way to _Paradise_, and given a rational +Account of its general Properties; before we proceed to discourse of the +Place of it, there is one Affair of Moment, concerning this primitive +Earth, that must first be stated and explain’d; and that is, _How_ it +was water’d; from what Causes, and in what Manner? How could Fountains +rise, or Rivers flow in an Earth of that Form and Nature? We have shut +up the Sea with thick Walls on every Side, and taken away all +Communication that could be ’twixt it and the external Earth; and we +have remov’d all the Hills and the Mountains where the Springs use to +rise; and whence the Rivers descend to water the Face of the Ground: And +lastly, we have left no Issue for these Rivers, no Ocean to receive +them, nor any other Place to disburden themselves into. So that our +new-found World is like to be a dry and barren Wilderness, and so far +from being _Paradisiacal_, that it would scarce be habitable. + +I CONFESS there was nothing in this whole Theory that gave such a Stop +to my Thoughts, as this Part of it, concerning the Rivers of the first +Earth; how they rose, how they flow’d, and how they ended. It seem’d at +first, that we had wip’d away at once the Notion and whole Doctrine of +Rivers, we had turn’d the Earth so smooth, that there was not an Hill, +or Rising, for the Head of a Spring, nor any Fall or Descent for the +Course of a River: Besides, I had suck’d in the common Opinion of +Philosophers, That all Rivers rise from the Sea, and return to it again, +and both those Passages, I see, were stopt up in that Earth. This gave +me occasion to reflect upon the modern and more solid Opinion concerning +the Origin of Fountains and Rivers, That they rise chiefly from Rains +and melted Snows, and not from the Sea alone; and as soon as I had +demur’d in that Particular, I saw it was necessary to consider and +examine how the Rains fell in that first Earth, to understand what the +State of their Waters and Rivers would be. + +AND I had no sooner apply’d my self to that Inquiry, but I easily +discover’d, that the Order of Nature in the Regions of the Air would be +then very different from what it is now, and the Meteorology of the +World was of another sort from that of the present. The Air was always +calm and equal, there could be no violent Meteors there, nor any that +proceeded from Extremity of Cold; as Ice, Snow, or Hail; nor Thunder +neither; for the Clouds could not be of a Quality and Consistency fit +for such an Effect, either by falling one upon another, or 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 +struggling Motions of the Air: Nature was then a Stranger to all those +Disorders. But as for watry Meteors, or those that rise from watry +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 Store-house +of new Vapours. But, ’tis 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, ’tis 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 easy 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 Equinoctial 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 Climates, 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 settled; 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 +reach’d 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; +’tis 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 establish’d Order of Nature in that World, +this was the State of the Antediluvian 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 Channel 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 flowing 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 aerial +River. As may be easily apprehended from this Scheme of the Earth and +Air. + +[Illustration: The Earth, with Clouds of Vapour Descending from Above.] + +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, nor 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 ’tis manifest the polar Parts are higher than the +equinoctial, 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 extream 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. + +’TIS true, These Derivations of the Waters at first would be very +irregular and diffuse, till the Channels were a little worn and +hollow’d; and tho’ that Earth was smooth and uniform, yet ’tis +impossible, upon an inclining Surface, but that Waters should find a Way +of creeping downwards, as we see upon a smooth Table, or a flag’d +Pavement; if there be the least Inclination, Water will flow from the +higher to the lower Parts of it, either directly, or winding to and fro: +So the Smoothness of that Earth would be no Hindrance to the Course of +the Rivers, provided there was a general Declivity in the Site and +Libration of it, as ’tis plain there was from the Poles towards the +Æquator. The Current indeed would be easy and gentle all along, and if +it chanc’d in some Places to rest, or be stopt, it would spread it self +into a pleasant Lake, till by fresh Supplies it had rais’d its Waters so +high as to overflow and break loose again; then it would pursue its Way, +with many other Rivers its Companions, thro’ all the temperate Climates +as far as the Torrid Zone. + +BUT you’ll say, When they were got thither, what would become of them +then? _How_ would they end or finish their Course? This is the third +Difficulty _concerning_ the Ending of the Rivers in that Earth; what +Issue could they have when they were come to the middle Parts of it, +whither it seems they all tended? There was no Sea to lose themselves +in, as our Rivers do; nor any subterraneous Passages to throw themselves +into; how would they die, what would be their Fate at last? I answer, +The greater Rivers, when they were come towards those Parts of the +Earth, would be divided into many Branches, or a Multitude of Rivulets; +and those would be partly exhal’d by the Heat of the Sun, and partly +drunk up by the dry and sandy Earth. But how and in what Manner this +came to pass, requires a little further Explication. + +WE must therefore observe in the first Place, that those Rivers, as they +drew nearer to the æquinoctial Parts, would find a less Declivity or +Descent of Ground than in the beginning, or former Part of their Course; +that is evident from the oval Figure of the Earth, for near the middle +Parts of an Oval, the Semi-diameters, as I may call them, are very +little shorter one than another; and for this Reason the Rivers, when +they were advanc’d towards the middle Parts of the Earth, would begin to +flow more slowly, and, by that Weakness of their Current, suffer +themselves easily to be divided and distracted into several lesser +Streams and Rivulets; or else having no Force to wear a Channel, would +lie shallow upon the Ground like a Plash of Water; and in both Cases +their Waters would be much more expos’d to the Action of the Sun, than +if they had kept together in a deeper Channel, as they were before. + +SECONDLY, We must observe, that seeing these Waters could not reach to +the Middle of the Torrid Zone, for want of Descent; that Part of the +Earth having the Sun always perpendicular over it, and being refresh’d +by no Rivers, would become extreamly dry and parch’d, and be converted +at length into a kind of sandy Desert; so as all the Waters that were +carried thus far, and were not exhaled and consum’d by the Sun, would be +suck’d up, as in a Spunge, by these Sands of the Torrid Zone. This was +the common Grave wherein the Rivers of the first Earth were buried; and +this is nothing but what happens still in several Parts of the present +Earth; especially in _Africk_, where many Rivers never flow into the +Sea, but expire after the same Manner as these did, drunk up by the Sun +and the Sands. And one Arm of _Euphrates_ dies, as I remember, amongst +the Sands of _Arabia_, after the Manner of the Rivers of the first +Earth. + +THUS we have conquer’d the greatest Difficulty, in my Apprehension, in +this whole Theory, _To_ find out the State of the Rivers in the +primitive and antediluvian Earth, their Origin, Course, and Period. We +have been forc’d to win our Ground by Inches, and have divided the +Difficulty into Parts, that we might encounter them single with more +Ease. The Rivers of the Earth, you see, were in most respects different, +and in some, contrary to ours; and if you could turn our Rivers +backwards, to run from the Sea towards their Fountain-heads, they would +more resemble the Course of those Antediluvian Rivers; for they were +greatest at their first setting out, and the Current afterwards, when it +was more weak, and the Channel more shallow, was divided into many +Branches and little Rivers; like the Arteries in our Body, that carry +the Blood; they are greatest at first, and the further they go from the +Heart, their Source, the less they grow, and divided into a Multitude of +little Branches, which lose themselves insensibly in the Habit of the +Flesh, as these little Floods did in the Sands of the Earth. + +[Illustration: The Earth, with Zones near the Poles, and Rivers flowing +from there towards the Equator.] + +BECAUSE it pleaseth more and makes a greater Impression upon us, to see +Things represented to the Eye, than to read their Description in Words, +we have ventur’d to give a Model of the Primæval Earth, with its Zones +or greater Climates, and the general Order and Tracts of its Rivers: Not +that we believe Things to have been in the very same Form as here +exhibited; but this may serve as a general _Idea_ of that Earth, which +may be wrought into more exactness, according as we are able to enlarge +or correct our Thoughts hereafter. And as the Zones here represented, +resemble the _Belts_ or _Fasciæ_ of _Jupiter_, so we suppose them to +proceed from like Causes, if that Planet be in an Antediluvian State, as +the Earth we here represent. As for the Polar Parts in that first Earth, +I can say very little of them, they would make a Scene by themselves, +and a very particular one; the Sun would be perpetually in their +Horizon, which makes me think the Rains would not fall so much there, as +in the other Parts of the Frigid Zones, where accordingly we have made +their chief Seat and Receptacle. That they flow’d from thence in such +like Manner as is here represented, we have already prov’d; and +sometimes in their Passage swelling into Lakes, and towards the End of +their Course parting into several Streams and Branches, they would water +those Parts of the Earth like a Garden. + +WE have before compar’d the Branchings of these Rivers towards the End +of their Course, to the Ramifications of the Arteries in the Body, when +they are far from the Heart near the extream Parts; and some, it may be, +looking upon this Scheme, would carry the Comparison further, and +suppose, that as in the Body the Blood is not lost in the Habit of the +Flesh, but strain’d through it, and taken up again by the little +Branches of the Veins; so in that Earth the Waters were not lost in +those Sands of the Torrid Zone, but strain’d or percolated thorough +them, and receiv’d into the Channels of the other Hemisphere. This +indeed would in some Measure answer the Notion which several of the +ancient Fathers make use of, that the Rivers of _Paradise_ were +trajected out of the other Hemisphere into this, by subterraneous +Passages. But I confess I could never see it possible how such a +Trajection could be made, nor how they could have any Motion, being +arriv’d in another Hemisphere; and therefore I am apt to believe that +Doctrine amongst the Ancients arose from an Entanglement in their +Principles: They suppos’d generally, that _Paradise_ was in the other +Hemisphere, as we shall have occasion to shew hereafter; and yet they +believ’d that _Tygris_, _Euphrates_, _Nile_, and _Ganges_, were the +Rivers of _Paradise_, or came out of it; and these two Opinions they +could not reconcile, or make out, but by supposing that these four +Rivers had their Fountain-heads in the other Hemisphere, and by some +wonderful Trajection broke out again here. This was the Expedient they +found out to make their Opinions consistent one with another; but this +is a Method to me altogether unconceivable; and, for my part, I do not +love to be led out of my Depth, leaning only upon Antiquity. How there +could be any such Communication, either above Ground, or under Ground, +betwixt the two Hemispheres, does not appear; and therefore we must +still suppose the Torrid Zone to have been the Barrier betwixt them, +which nothing could pass either Way. + +WE have now examin’d and determin’d the State of the Air, and of the +Waters in the Primitive Earth, by the Light and Consequences of Reason; +and we must not wonder to find them different from the present Order of +Nature; what things are said of them, or relating to them in Holy Writ, +do testify or imply as much; and it will be worth our time to make some +Reflection upon those Passages for our further Confirmation. _Moses_ +tells us, that the _Rainbow_ was set in the Clouds after the Deluge; +those Heavens then, that never had a Rainbow before, were certainly of a +Constitution very different from ours. And St. _Peter_, _2 Epist. chap. +iii. v. 5._ doth formally and expresly tell us, that the _Old Heavens_, +or the Antediluvian Heavens had a different Constitution from ours, and +particularly, that they were compos’d or constituted of Water, which +Philosophy of the Apostle’s may be easily understood, if we attend to +two things, first, that the Heavens he speaks of were not the Starry +Heavens, but the aerial Heavens, or the Regions of our Air, where the +Meteors are: Secondly, that there were no Meteors in those Regions, or +in those Heavens, till the Deluge, but watry Meteors, and therefore, he +says, they consisted of Water. And this shews the Foundation upon which +that Description is made, how coherently the Apostle argues, and answers +the Objection there propos’d: How justly also he distinguisheth the +first Heavens from the present Heavens, or rather opposeth them one to +another; because as those were constituted of Water, and watry Meteors +only, so the present Heavens, he saith, have Treasures of Fire, fiery +Exhalations and Meteors, and a Disposition to become the Executioners of +the Divine Wrath and Decrees in the final Conflagration of the Earth. + +THIS minds me also of the _Celestial Waters_, or the Waters above the +Firmaments, which, Scripture sometimes mentions, and which, methinks, +cannot be explain’d so fitly and emphatically upon any Supposition as +this of ours. Those who place them above the Starry Heavens, seem +neither to understand Astronomy nor Philosophy; and, on the other hand, +if nothing be understood by them, but the Clouds and the middle Region +of the Air, as it is at present, methinks that was no such eminent and +remarkable Thing, as to deserve a particular Commemoration by _Moses_ in +his six Days Work; but if we understand them, not as they are now, but +as they were then, the only Source of Waters, or the only Source of +Waters upon that Earth, (for they had not one Drop of Water but what was +Celestial,) this gives it a new Force and Emphasis: Besides the whole +middle Region having no other sort of Meteors but them, that made it +still the greater Singularity, and more worthy Commemoration. As for the +Rivers of _Paradise_, there is nothing said concerning their Source, or +their Issue, that is either contrary to this, or that is not agreeable +to the general Account we have given of the Waters and Rivers of the +first Earth. They are not said to rise from any Mountain, but from a +great River or a kind of a Lake in _Eden_, according to the Custom of +the Rivers of that Earth. And as for their End and Issue, _Moses_ doth +not say, that they disburthen themselves into this or that Sea, as they +usually do in the Description of great Rivers, but rather implies that +they spent themselves in compassing and watering certain Countries, +which falls in again very easily with our _Hypothesis_. But I say this +rather to comply with the Opinions of others, than of my _own_ Judgment: +For I think, that Suggestion about the Supercelestial Waters made by +_Moses_, was not so much according to the strict Nature and Speciality +of Causes, as for the Ease and Profit of the People, in their Belief and +Acknowledgment of Providence for so great a Benefit, by what Causes +soever it was brought to pass. + +BUT to return to the Rainbow which we mentioned before, and is not to be +past over so slightly. This we say is a Creature of the modern World, +and was not seen nor known before the Flood. _Moses_ (_Gen. ix. 12, +13._) plainly intimates as much, or rather directly affirms it; for he +says, the Bow was set in the Clouds after the Deluge, as a Confirmation +of the Promise, or Covenant, which God made with _Noah_, that he would +drown the World no more with Water. And how could it be a Sign of this, +or given as a Pledge and Confirmation of such a Promise, if it was in +the Clouds before, and with no Regard to this Promise; and stood there, +it may be, when the World was going to be drown’d? This would have been +but cold Comfort to _Noah_, to have had such a Pledge of the Divine +Veracity. You’ll say, it may be, that it was not a Sign or Pledge, that +signified naturally, but voluntarily only, and by Divine Institution: I +am of Opinion, I confess, that it signify’d naturally, and by Connexion +with the Effect, importing thus much, that the State of Nature was +chang’d from what it was before, and so chang’d, that the Earth was no +more in a Condition to perish by Water. But however, let us grant that +it signifieth only by Institution, to make it significant in this Sense, +it must be something new, otherwise it could not signify any new thing, +or be the Confirmation of a new Promise. If God Almighty had said to +_Noah_, I make a Promise to you, and to all living Creatures, that the +World shall never be destroy’d by Water again, and for Confirmation of +this, Behold, _I set the Sun in the Firmament_: Would this have been any +strengthening of _Noah_’s Faith or any Satisfaction to his Mind? Why +says _Noah_, the Sun was in the Firmament when the Deluge came, and was +a Spectator of that sad Tragedy; why may it not be so again? What Sign +or Assurance is this against a second Deluge? When God gives a Sign in +the Heavens, or on the Earth, of any Prophecy or Promise to be +fulfill’d, it must be by something new, or by some Change wrought in +Nature; whereby God doth testify to us, that he is able and willing to +stand to his Promise. God says to _Ahaz_, Isai. vii. _Ask a Sign of the +Lord; ask it either in the Depth, or in the Height above_: And when +_Ahaz_ would ask no Sign, God gives one unask’d, _Behold a Virgin shall +conceive and bear a Son_. So when _Zachary_, _Luke 1._ was promis’d a +Son, he asketh for a Sign, _Whereby shall I know this? for I am old, and +my Wife well stricken in Years_, and the Sign given him was, that he +became dumb, and continued so till the Promise was fulfilled. +Accordingly, when _Abraham_ ask’d a Sign whereby he might be assured of +God’s Promise that his Seed should inherit the Land of _Canaan_, _Gen. +xv. 8._ ’Tis said (_ver. 17._) _When the Sun went down and it was dark, +behold a smoaking Furnace and a burning Lamp passed betwixt the Pieces_ +of the Beasts that he had cut asunder. So in other Instances of Signs +given in external Nature, as the Sign given to King _Hezekiah_, _Isai. +xxxviii._ for his Recovery, and to _Gideon_ for his Victory; to confirm +the Promise made to _Hezekiah_, _Judge vii._ the Shadow went back ten +Degrees in _Ahaz_ Dial. And for _Gideon_, _his Fleece was wet, and all +the Ground about it dry_; and then to change the Trial, _it was dry, and +all the Ground about it wet_. These were all Signs very proper, +significant, and satisfactory, having something surprising and +extraordinary, yet these were Signs by Institution only; and to be such +they must have something new and strange, as a Mark of the Hand of God, +otherwise they can have no Force or Significancy. Accordingly we see, +_Moses_ himself in another Place, speaks this very Sense, when in the +Mutiny or Rebellion of _Corah_ and _Dathan_, he speaks thus to the +People, _If these Men die the common Death of Men, then the Lord hath +not sent me. But if the Lord make a new Thing and the Earth open her +Mouth and swallow them up, &c. then you shall understand that these Men +have provoked the Lord, Numb. xxvi. 29, 30._ So in the Case of _Noah_, +if God _created a new Creature_ (which are _Moses_’s Words in the +forecited Place) the Sign was effectual: But where every thing continues +to be as it was before, and the Face of Nature, in all its Parts, the +very same, it cannot signify any thing new, nor any new Intention in the +Author of Nature; and consequently, cannot be a Sign or Pledge, a Token +or Assurance of the Accomplishment of any new Covenant or Promise made +by him. + +THIS, methinks, is plain to common Sense, and to every Man’s Reason; but +because it is a Thing of Importance, to prove that there was no Rainbow +before the Flood, and will confirm a considerable Part of this Theory, +by discovering what the state of the Air was in the old World, give me +leave to argue it a little further, and to remove some Prejudices that +may keep others from assenting to clear Reason. I know ’tis usually +said, that Signs like Words, signify any Thing by Institution, or may be +apply’d to any Thing by the Will of the Imposer; as hanging out a white +Flag is calling for Mercy; a Bush at the Door a Sign of Wine to be sold, +and such like. But these are Instances nothing to our Purpose, these are +Signs of something present, and that signify only by Use and repeated +Experience; we are speaking of Signs of another Nature given in +Confirmation of a Promise, or Threatning, or Prophecy, and given with +Design to cure our Unbelief, or to excite and beget in us faith in God, +in the Prophet, or in the Promiser; such Signs, I say, when they are +wrought in external Nature, must be some new Appearance, and must +thereby induce us to believe the Effect, or more to believe it, than if +there had been no Sign, but only the Affirmation of the Promiser; for +otherwise the pretended Sign is a mere Cypher and Superfluity. But a +Thing that obtain’d before, and in the same Manner, (even when that came +to pass, which we are now promis’d shall not come to pass again) +signifies no more, than if there had been no Sign at all: It can neither +signify another Course in Nature, nor another Purpose in God; and +therefore is perfectly insignificant. Some instance in the Sacraments, +Jewish or Christian, and make them Signs in such a Sense as the Rainbow +is: But those are rather Symbolical Representations or Commemorations; +and some of them Marks of Distinction and Consecration of our selves to +God in such a Religion; they were also new, and very particular when +first instituted; but all such Instances fall short, and do not reach +the Case before us; we are speaking of Signs confirmatory of a Promise; +when there is something affirm’d _de futuro_, and to give us a further +Argument of the Certainty of it, and of the Power and Veracity of the +Promiser, a Sign is given. This, we say, must indispensably be something +new, otherwise it cannot have the Nature, Virtue, and influence of a +Sign. + +WE have seen how incongruous it would be to admit, that the Rainbow +appear’d before the Deluge, and how dead a Sign that would make it, how +forc’d, fruitless and ineffectual, as to the Promise it was to confirm: +Let us now on the other hand suppose, that it first appear’d to the +Inhabitants of the Earth after the Deluge, how proper, and how apposite +a Sign would this be for Providence to pitch upon, to confirm the +Promise made to _Noah_ and his Posterity, _That_ the World should be no +more destroy’d by Water? It hath a secret Connexion with the Effect it +self, and was so far a natural Sign; but however, appearing first after +the Deluge, and in a watery Cloud, there was, methinks, a great Easiness +and Propriety of Application for such a purpose. And if we suppose, that +while God Almighty was declaring his Promise to _Noah_, and the Sign of +it, there appeared at the same Time in the Clouds a fair Rainbow, that +marvellous and beautiful Meteor, which _Noah_ had never seen before; it +could not but make a most lively Impression upon him, quickning his +Faith, and giving him Comfort and Assurance, that God would be stedfast +to his Promise. + +NOR ought we to wonder that Interpreters have commonly gone the other +Way, and suppos’d that the Rainbow was before the Flood: this, I say, +was no wonder in them, for they had no _Hypothesis_ that could answer to +any other Interpretation: And in the Interpretation of the Texts of +Scripture that concern natural Things, they commonly bring them down to +their own Philosophy and Notions: As we have a great Instance in that +Discourse of St. _Peter_’s (_2 Epist. c. iii. 5._) concerning the Deluge +and the Antediluvian Heavens and Earth, which, for want of a Theory, +they have been scarce able to make Sense of; for they have forcedly +apply’d to the present Earth, or the present Form of the Earth, what +plainly respected another. A like Instance we have in the _Mosaical_ +Abyss, or _Tehom-Rabba_, by whose Disruption the Deluge was made; this +they knew not well what to make of, and so have generally interpreted it +of the Sea, or of our subterraneous Waters; without any Propriety either +as to the Word, or as to the Sense. A third Instance is this of the +Rainbow, where their Philosophy hath misguided them again; for to give +them their due, they do not alledge, nor pretend to alledge any Thing +from the Text, that should make them interpret thus, or think the +Rainbow was before the Flood; but they pretend to go by certain Reasons, +as that the Clouds were before the Flood, therefore the Rainbow; and if +the Rainbow was not before the Flood, then all things were not made +within the six Days Creation: To whom these Reasons are convictive, they +must be led into the same Belief with them, but not by any Thing in the +Text, nor in the true Theory, at least if ours be so; for by that you +see, that the Vapours were never condens’d into Drops, nor into Rain, in +the temperate and inhabited Climates of that Earth, and consequently +there could never be the Production or Appearance of this Bow in the +Clouds. Thus much concerning the Rainbow. + +TO recollect our selves and conclude this Chapter, and the whole +Disquisition concerning the Waters of the primitive Earth; we seem to +have so well satisfied the Difficulties propos’d in the beginning of the +Chapter, that they have rather given us an Advantage; a better +Discovery, and such a new Prospect of that Earth, as makes it not only +habitable, but more fit to be _Paradisiacal_. The Pleasantness of the +Site of _Paradise_ is made to consist chiefly in two Things, its Waters, +and its Trees, (_Gen. ii._ and _Chap. xiii. 10._ _Ezek. xxxi. 8._) and +considering the Richness of that first Soil in the primitive Earth, it +could not but abound in Trees, as it did in Rivers and Rivulets; and be +wooded like a Grove, as it was water’d like a Garden, in the temperate +Climates of it; so as it would not be, methinks, so difficult to find +one _Paradise_ there, as not to find more than one. + + + + + 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._ + + +WE have now, in a good Measure, finish’d our Description of the first +and antediluvian Earth: And as Travellers, when they see strange +Countries, make it part of their Pleasure and Improvement to compare +them with their own, to observe the Differences, and wherein they excel, +or come short of one another: So it will not be unpleasant, nor +unuseful, it may be, having made a Discovery, not of a new Country, but +of a new World, and travell’d it over in our Thoughts and Fancy, now to +sit down and compare it with our own: And ’twill be no hard Task, from +the general Differences which we have taken Notice of already, to +observe what lesser would arise, and what the whole Face of Nature would +be. + +’TIS also one Fruit of travelling, that by seeing Variety of Places, and +People, of Humours, Fashions, and Forms of Living, it frees us by +degrees, from that Pedantry and Littleness of Spirit, whereby we are apt +to censure every thing for absurd and ridiculous, that is not according +to our own Way, and the Mode of our own Country: But if, instead of +crossing the Seas, we could waft our selves over to our neighbouring +Planets, we should meet with such Varieties there, both in Nature and +Mankind, as would very much enlarge our Thoughts and Souls, and help to +cure those Diseases of little Minds, that make them troublesome to +others, as well as uneasy to themselves. + +BUT seeing our heavy Bodies are not made for such Voyages, the best and +greatest thing we can do in this kind, is to make a Survey and +Reflection upon the antediluvian Earth, which in some Sense was another +World from this, and, it may be, as different as some two Planets are +from one another. We have declar’d already the general Grounds upon +which we must proceed, and must now trace the Consequences of them, and +drive them down into Particulars, which will shew us in most things, +wherein that Earth, or that World, differed from the present. The Form +of that Earth, and its Situation to the Sun, were two of its most +fundamental Differences from ours: As to the Form of it, ’twas all one +smooth Continent, one continued Surface of Earth, without any Sea, any +Mountains, or Rocks; any Holes, Dens, or Caverns: And the Situation of +it to the Sun was such as made a perpetual Æquinox. These two join’d +together, lay the Foundation of a new Astronomy, Meteorology, +Hydrography and Geography; such as were proper and peculiar to that +World. The Earth by this means having its Axis parallel to the Axis of +the Ecliptick, the Heavens would appear in another Posture; and their +diurnal Motion, which is imputed to the _Primum Mobile_, and supposed to +be upon the Poles of the Æquator, would then be upon the same Poles with +the second and periodical Motions of the Orbs and Planets, namely, upon +the Poles of the Ecliptick, by which Means the _Phænomena_ of the +Heavens would be more simple and regular, and much of that Entangledness +and Perplexity, which we find now in Astronomy, would be taken away. +Whether the Sun and Moon would suffer any Eclipses then, cannot well be +determin’d, unless one knew what the Course of the Moon was at that +time, or whether she was then come into our Neighbourhood: Her Presence +seems to have been less needful when there were no long Winter Nights, +nor the great Pool of the Sea to move or govern. + +AS for the Regions of the Air and the Meteors, we have in the preceding +Chapter set down what the State of them would be, and in how much a +better Order, and more peaceable, that Kingdom was, till the Earth was +broken and displac’d, and the Course of Nature chang’d: Nothing violent, +nothing frightful, nothing troublesome or incommodious to Mankind, came +from above, but the Countenance of the Heavens was always smooth and +serene. I have often thought it a very desirable Piece of Power, if a +Man could but command a fair Day, when he had occasion for it, for +himself, or for his Friends; ’tis more than the greatest Prince or +Potentate upon Earth can do; yet they never wanted one in that World, +nor ever saw a foul one. Besides they had constant Breezes from the +Motion of the Earth, and the 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 Antients call’d _Antichthon_, _the opposite +Earth_, or the _Other World_. And this Name and Notion remain’d long +after the Reason of it had ceas’d. 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 look’d upon as the first Division of that primæval 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 five 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 fixed 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 Æquator: +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 stop’d, 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 Deserts 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 Tracks of the Earth that +were not refreshed 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 _Pyrrah_, 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 unlaboured Soil, replenish’d 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 +had 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 moist 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 +covered with Leaves and Fruit: But we have occasionally spoken of these +things in several Places, and may do again hereafter, and therefore need +not enlarge 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 +coarser 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 supplied by other ways. These subterraneous things, Metals +and metallick Minerals, are fictitious, not original Bodies, coæval 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 rise from the lower Regions +that lie under the Abyss, as I am apt to think they do, it doth not seem +probable that they could be drawn thro’ 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 exterior 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 saw 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 antediluvian World; let us now look +upon Man and other living Creatures, that make up the superior and +animate Part of Nature. We have observed, and sufficiently spoken to +that Difference betwixt the Men of the old World, and those of the +present, in Point of Longevity, and given the Reasons of it; but we must +not imagine that this long Life was peculiar to Man, all other Animals +had their Share of it, and were in their Proportion longer-liv’d than +they are now. Nay, not only Animals, but also Vegetables; and the Forms +of all living Things were far more permanent: The Trees of the Field and +of the Forest, in all Probability, out-lasted the Lives of Men; and I do +not know but the first Groves of Pines and Cedars that grew out of the +Earth, or that were planted in the Garden of God, might be standing when +the Deluge came, (_Ezek. xxxi. 8._) and see from first to last, the +entire Course and Period of a World. + +We might add here, with St. _Austin_, (_Civ. Dei, lib. 15. c. 9._) +another Observation, both concerning Men and other living Creatures in +the first World, that they were greater as well as longer-liv’d, than +they are at present: This seems to be a very reasonable Conjecture; for +the State of every Thing that hath Life is divided into the Time of its +Growth, its Consistency and its Decay; and when the whole Duration is +longer, every one of these Parts, though not always in like Proportions, +will be longer. We must suppose then, that the Growth both in Men and +other Animals lasted longer in that World than it doth now, and +consequently carried their Bodies both to a greater Height and Bulk. And +in like Manner, their Trees would be both taller, and every Way bigger +than ours; neither were they in any Danger there, to be blown down by +Winds and Storms, or struck with Thunder, tho’ they had been as high as +the _Ægyptian_ Pyramids; and whatsoever their Height was, if they had +Roots and Trunks proportionable, and were streight and well pois’d, they +would stand firm, and with a greater Majesty. _The Fowls of Heaven +making their Nests in their Boughs, and under their Shadow the Beasts of +the Field bringing forth their Young._ When Things are fairly possible +in their Causes, and possible in several Degrees, higher or lower, ’tis +Weakness of Spirit in us, to think there is nothing in Nature, but in +that one Way, or in that one Degree, that we are us’d to. And whosoever +believes those Accounts given us, both by the Ancients (_Plin. l. 7. c. +2._ _Strab. l. 17._) and Moderns, (_Hort. Malabar, vol. 3._) of the +_Indian_ Trees, will not think it strange that those of the first Earth +should much exceed any that we now see in this World. That allegorical +Description of the Glory of _Assyria_ in _Ezekiel_, _Chap._ xxxi. by +Allusion to Trees, and particularly to the Trees of _Paradise_, was +chiefly for the Greatness and Stateliness of them; and there is all +Fairness of Reason to believe, that in that first Earth, both the Birds +of the Air, and the Beasts of the Field, and the Trees and their Fruit, +were all in their several Kinds more large and goodly than Nature +produces any now. + +SO much in short, concerning the natural World, inanimate or animate; we +should now take a Prospect of the moral World of that time, or of the +civil and artificial World; what the Order and Oeconomy of these was, +what the Manner of Living, and how the Scenes of humane Life were +different from ours at present. The Ancients, especially the Poets, in +their Description of the golden Age, exhibit to us an Order of Things, +and a Form of Life, very remote from any Thing we see in our Days; but +they are not to be trusted in all Particulars; many times they +exaggerate Matters on purpose, that they may seem more strange, or more +great, and by that Means move and please us more. A _Moral_ or +_Philosophick History_ of the World, well writ, would certainly be a +very useful Work, to observe and relate how the Scenes of humane Life +have chang’d in several Ages, the Modes and Forms of Living, in what +Simplicity Men begun at first, and by what Degrees they came out of that +Way, by Luxury, Ambition, Improvement, or Changes in Nature; then what +new Forms and Modifications were superadded by the Invention of Arts, +what by Religion, what by Superstition. This would be a View of Things +more instructive, and more satisfactory, than to know what Kings reign’d +in such an Age, and what Battles were fought, which common History +teacheth, and teacheth little more. Such Affairs are but the little +Under-plots in the Tragi comedy of the World; the main Design is of +another Nature, and of far greater Extent and Consequence. But to return +to the Subject. + +As the animate World depends upon the inanimate, so the civil World +depends upon them both, and takes its Measures from them; Nature is the +Foundation still, and the Affairs of Mankind are a Superstructure that +will be always proportion’d to it. Therefore we must look back upon the +Model, or Picture, of their natural World, which we have drawn before, +to make our Conjectures, or Judgment, of the civil and artificial, that +were to accompany it. We observ’d from their perpetual Æquinox, and the +Smoothness of the Earth, that the Air would be always calm, and the +Heavens fair, no cold or violent Winds, Rains, or Storms, no Extremity +of Weather in any kind, and therefore they would need little Protection +from the Injuries of the Air, in that State; whereas now, one great Part +of the Affairs of Life is to preserve our selves from those +Inconveniencies, by Building and Cloathing. How many Hands, and how many +Trades are employ’d about these two Things? Which then were in a manner +needless, or at least in such Plainness and Simplicity, that every Man +might be his own Workman. Tents and Bowers would keep them from all +Incommodities of the Air and Weather, better than Stone Walls and strong +Roofs defend us now; and Men are apt to take the easiest Ways of Living, +till Necessity or Vice put them upon others that are more laborious, and +more artificial. We also observ’d and prov’d, that they had no Sea in +the primitive and antediluvian World, which makes a vast difference +’twixt us and them. This takes up half of our Globe, and a good part of +Mankind is busied with Sea Affairs and Navigation. They had little need +of merchandizing then, Nature supply’d them at Home with all +Necessaries, which were few, and they were not so greedy of +Superfluities as we are. We may add to these, what concern’d their Food +and Diet; Antiquity doth generally suppose, that Men were not +carnivorous in those Ages of the World, or did not feed upon Flesh, but +only upon Fruit and Herbs. And this seems to be plainly confirm’d by +Scripture; for after the Deluge, God Almighty gives _Noah_ and his +Posterity a Licence to eat Flesh, (_Gen._ ix. 2, 3.) _Every moving Thing +that liveth shall be Meat for you._ Whereas before, in the new-made +Earth, God had prescrib’d them Herbs and Fruit for their Diet, (_Gen._ +i. 29.) _Behold I have given you every Herb bearing Seed, which is upon +the Face of all the Earth; and every Tree, in the which is the Fruit of +a Tree yielding Seed, to you it shall be for Meat._ And of this natural +Diet they would be provided to their Hands, without further Preparation, +as the Birds and the Beasts are. + +UPON these general Grounds we may infer and conclude, that the civil +World then as well as the natural, had a very different Face and Aspect +from what it hath now; for of these Heads, Food and Cloathing, Building +and Traffick, with that Train of Arts, Trades and Manufactures that +attend them, the civil Order of Things is in a great Measure constituted +and compounded; These make the Business of Life, the several Occupations +of Men, the Noise and Hurry of the World; these fill our Cities, and our +Fairs, and our Havens and Ports; yet all these fine Things are but the +Effects of Indigency and Necessitousness, and were, for the most part, +needless and unknown in that first State of Nature. The Ancients have +told us the same Things in Effect; but telling us them without their +Grounds, which they themselves did not know, they look’d like poetical +Stories, and pleasant Fictions, and with most Men past for no better. We +have shewn them in another Light, with their Reasons and Causes, deduc’d +from the State of the natural World, which is the Basis upon which they +stand; and this doth not only give them a just and full Credibility, but +also lays a Foundation for After-thoughts, and further Deductions, when +they meet with Minds dispos’d to pursue Speculations of this Nature. + +AS for Laws, Government, natural Religion, Military and Judicial +Affairs, with all their Equipage, which make an higher Order of Things +in the civil and moral World, to calculate these upon the Grounds given, +would be more difficult, and more uncertain; neither do they at all +belong to the present Theory. But from what we have already observ’d, we +may be able to make a better Judgment of those traditional Accounts +which the Ancients have left us concerning these Things, in the early +Ages of the World, and the primitive State of Nature. No doubt in these, +as in all other Particulars, there was a great Easiness and Simplicity, +in Comparison of what is now; we are in a more pompous, forc’d, and +artificial Method, which partly the Change of Nature, and partly the +Vices and Vanities of Men have introduc’d and establish’d. But these +things, with many more, ought to be the Subject of a _Philosophick +History_ of the World, which we mentioned before. + +THIS is a short and general Scheme of the primæval World, compared with +the modern; yet these things did not equally run thro’ all the Parts and +Ages of it; there was a Declension and Degeneracy, both natural and +moral, by Degrees, and especially towards the latter End; but the +principal Form of Nature remaining till the Deluge and the Dissolution +of the Heavens and Earth, till then also this civil Frame of Things +would stand in a great Measure. And tho’ such a State of Nature, and of +Mankind, when ’tis propos’d crudely, and without its Grounds, appear +fabulous or imaginary, yet ’tis really in itself a State, not only +possible, but more easy and natural, than what the World is in at +present. And if one of the old antediluvian Patriarchs should rise from +the Dead, he would be more surpriz’d to see our World in that Posture it +is, than we can be by the Story and Description of his. As an _Indian_ +hath more Reason to wonder at the _European_ Modes, than we have to +wonder at their plain Manner of Living. ’Tis we that have left the Track +of Nature, that are wrought and screw’d up into Artifices, that have +disguis’d ourselves; and ’tis in our World that the Scenes are chang’d, +and become more strange and fantastical. + +I WILL conclude this Discourse with an easy Remark, and without any +particular Application of it. ’Tis a strange Power that Custom hath upon +weak and little Spirits, whose Thoughts reach no further than their +Senses; and what they have seen and been us’d to, they make the Standard +and Measure of Nature, of Reason, and of all _Decorum_. Neither are +there any Sort of Men more positive and tenacious of their petty +Opinions, than they are; nor more censorious, even to Bitterness and +Malice. And ’tis generally so, that those that have the least Evidence +for the Truth of their beloved Opinions, are most peevish and impatient +in the Defence of them. This sort of Men are the last that will be made +wise Men, if ever they be, for they have the worst of Diseases that +accompany Ignorance, and do not so much as know themselves to be sick. + + + + + CHAP. VII. + + + _The Place of Paradise cannot be determined from the Theory only, + nor from Scripture only. What the Sense of Antiquity was concerning + it, both as to the Jews and Heathens, and especially as to the + Christian Fathers. That they generally plac’d it out of this + Continent, in the southern Hemisphere._ + + +WE have now prepared our Work for the last finishing Strokes; described +the first Earth, and compar’d it with the present; and not only the two +Earths, but in a good Measure the whole State and Oeconomy of those two +Worlds. It remains only to determine the Place of _Paradise_ in that +primæval Earth; I say, in that primæval Earth, for we have driven the +Point so far already, that the Seat of it could not be in the present +Earth, whose Form, Site, and Air, are so dispos’d, as could not consist +with the first and most indispensible Properties of _Paradise_: And +accordingly, we see with what ill Success our modern Authors have rang’d +over the Earth, to find a fit Spot of Ground to plant _Paradise_ in; +some would set it on the Top of an high Mountain, that it might have +good Air and fair Weather, as being above the Clouds, and the middle +Region; but then they were at a Loss for Water, which made a great Part +of the Pleasure and Beauty of that Place. Others therefore would seat it +in a Plain, or in a River-Island, that they might have Water enough; but +then it would be subject to the Injuries of the Air, and foul Weather at +the Seasons of the Year; from which, both Reason and all Authority have +exempted _Paradise_. ’Tis like seeking a perfect Beauty in a mortal +Body, there are so many Things required to it, as to Complexion, +Features, Proportions and Air, that they never meet all together in one +Person; neither can all the Properties of a terrestrial _Paradise_ ever +meet together in one Place, tho’ never so well chosen, in this present +Earth. + +BUT in the primæval Earth, which we have described, ’tis easy to find a +Seat that had all those Beauties and Conveniencies. We have every where +thro’ the temperate Climates, a clear and constant Air, a fruitful Soil, +pleasant Waters, and all the general Characters of _Paradise_; so that +the Trouble will be rather in that Competition, what Part or Region to +pitch upon in particular. But to come as near it as we can, we must +remember in the first Place, how that Earth was divided into two +Hemispheres, distant and separated from one another, not by an imaginary +Line, but by a real Boundary that could not be past; so as the first +Inquiry will be, in whether of these Hemispheres was the Seat of +_Paradise_. To answer this only according to our Theory, I confess, I +see no natural Reason or Occasion to place it in one Hemisphere more +than in another; I see no Ground of Difference or Pre-eminence, that one +had above the other; and I am apt to think, that depended rather upon +the Will of God, and the Series of Providence that was to follow in this +Earth, than upon any natural Incapacity in one of these two Regions more +than in the other, for planting in it the Garden of God. Neither doth +Scripture determine, with any Certainty, either Hemisphere for the Place +of it; for when ’tis said to be in _Eden_, or to be the Garden of +_Eden_, ’tis no more than the Garden of _Pleasure_ or _Delight_, as the +Word signifies: And even the _Septuagint_, who render this Word _Eden_, +as a proper Name twice, (_Gen._ ii. _ver._ 8, & 10.) do in the same +Story render it twice as a common Name, signifying τρυφὴ _Pleasure_, +(_Chap._ ii. 15. and _Chap._ iii. 24.) and so they do accordingly render +it in _Ezekiel_, (_Chap._ xxxi. 9, 16, 18.) where this Garden of _Eden_ +is spoken of again. Some have thought that the Word _Mekiddim_, (_Gen._ +ii. 8.) was to be render’d _in the East_, or _Eastward_, as we read it, +and therefore determin’d the Site of _Paradise_; but ’tis only the +_Septuagint_ translate it so; all the other _Greek_ Versions, and St. +_Jerome_, the _Vulgate_, the _Chaldee_ Paraphrase, and the _Syriack_ +render it _from the Beginning_, or _in the Beginning_, or to that +Effect. And we that do not believe the _Septuagint_ to have been +infallible, or inspir’d, have no Reason to prefer their single Authority +above all the rest. Some also think the Place of _Paradise_ may be +determined by the four Rivers that are named, as belonging to it, and +the Countries they ran through; but the Names of those Rivers are to me +uncertain, and two of them altogether unintelligible. Where are there +four Rivers in our Continent that come from one Head, as these are said +to have done, either at the Entrance or Issue of the Garden? ’Tis true, +if you admit our _Hypothesis_, concerning the Fraction and Disruption of +the Earth at the Deluge, then we cannot expect to find Rivers now as +they were before; the general Source is chang’d, and their Channels are +all broke up; but if you do not admit such a Dissolution of the Earth, +but suppose the Deluge to have been only like a standing Pool, after it +had once cover’d the Surface of the Earth, I do not see why it should +make any great Havock or Confusion in it; and they that go that Way, are +therefore the more oblig’d to shew us still, the Rivers of _Paradise_. +Several of the Ancients, as we shall shew hereafter, suppos’d these four +Rivers to have their heads in the other Hemisphere; and if so, the Seat +of _Paradise_ might be there too. But let them first agree among +themselves concerning these Rivers, and the Countries they run thro’, +and we will undertake to shew that there cannot be any such in this +Continent. + +SEEING then neither the Theory doth determine, nor Scripture, where the +Place of _Paradise_ was, nor in whether Hemisphere, we must appeal to +Antiquity, or the Opinions of the Ancients; for I know no other Guide +but one of these three, Scripture, Reason, and ancient Tradition; and +where the two former are silent, it seems very reasonable to consult the +third. And that our Inquiries may be comprehensive enough, we will +consider what the _Jews_, what the _Heathens_, and what the _Christian_ +Fathers have said, or determin’d, concerning the Seat of _Paradise_. The +_Jews_ and _Hebrew_ Doctors place it in neither Hemisphere, but betwixt +both, under the Æquinoctial, as you may see plainly in _Abravanel_, +_Manasses_, _Ben-Israel_, _Maimonides_, _Eben Ezra_, and others. But the +Reason why they carried it no further than the Line, is, because they +suppos’d it certain, as _Eben Ezra_ tells us, that the Days and Nights +were always equal in _Paradise_, and they did not know how that could +be, unless it stood under the Æquinoctial. But we have shewn another +Method, wherein that perpetual Equinox came to pass, and how it was +common to all the Parts and Climates of that Earth, which if they had +been aware of, and that the Torrid Zone at that time was utterly +uninhabitable, having remov’d their _Paradise_ thus far from Home, they +would probably have remov’d it a little further into the temperate +Climates of the other Hemisphere. + +THE ancient Heathens, Poets and Philosophers, had the Notion of +_Paradise_, or rather of several _Paradises_ in the Earth; and ’tis +remarkable, that they plac’d them generally, if not all of them, out of +this Continent; in the Ocean, or beyond it, or in another Orb or +Hemisphere. The Garden of the _Hesperides_, the fortunate _Islands_, the +_Elysian Fields_, _Ogygia_ and _Toprabane_, as it is describ’d by +_Diodorus Siculus_, with others such like; which as they were all +characteriz’d like so many _Paradises_, so they were all seated out of +our Continent, by their Geography and Descriptions of them. + +THUS far Antiquity seems to incline to the other Hemisphere, or to some +Place beyond the Bounds of our Continent for the Seat of _Paradise_: But +that which we are most to depend upon in this Affair, is Christian +Antiquity, the Judgment and Tradition of the Fathers upon this Argument. +And we may safely say in the first Place, negatively, that none of the +Christian Fathers, _Latin_ or _Greek_, ever plac’d _Paradise_ in +_Mesopotamia_; that is a Conceit and Invention of some modern Authors, +which have been much encourag’d of late, because it gave Men Ease and +Rest, as to further Enquiries, in an Argument they could not well +manage. _Secondly_, We may affirm, that none of the Christian Fathers +have plac’d _Paradise_ in any determinate Region of our Continent, +_Asia_, _Africk_, or _Europe_. I have read of one or two Authors, I +think, that fancied _Paradise_ to have been at _Jerusalem_; but ’twas a +mere Fancy, that no Body regarded or pursu’d. The Controversy amongst +the Fathers concerning _Paradise_ was quite another Thing from what it +is now of late: They disputed and controverted, whether _Paradise_ was +corporeal or intellectual only, and allegorical; this was the grand +Point amongst them. Then of those that thought it corporeal, some plac’d +it high in the Air, some inaccessible, by Desarts or Mountains, and many +beyond the Ocean, or in another World; and in these chiefly consisted +the Differences and Diversity of Opinions amongst them; nor do we find +that they nam’d any particular Place or Country in the known Parts of +the Earth for the Seat of _Paradise_, or that one contested for one Spot +of Ground, and another for another, which is the vain Temerity of modern +Authors; as if they could tell to an Acre of Land where _Paradise_ +stood, or could set their Foot upon the Centre of the Garden. These have +corrupted and misrepresented the Notion of our _Paradise_, just as some +Modern Poets have the Notion of the _Elysian_ Fields, which _Homer_ and +the Ancients plac’d remote, on the Extremities of the Earth, and these +would make a little green Meadow in _Campania Felix_ to be the fam’d +_Elysium_. + +Thus much concerning the Fathers, negatively; but to discover as far as +we can, what their positive Assertions were in this Argument, we may +observe, that tho’ their Opinions be differently exprest, they generally +concenter in this, that the _Southern Hemisphere_ was the Seat of +_Paradise_. This, I say, seems manifestly to be the Sense of Christian +Antiquity and Tradition, so far as there is anything definitive in the +Remains we have upon that Subject. Some of the Fathers did not believe +_Paradise_ to be corporeal and local, and those are to be laid aside in +the first Place, as to this Point; others that thought it local, did not +determine any thing (as most of them indeed did not) concerning the +particular Place of it; but the rest that did, tho’ they have exprest +themselves in various Ways, and under various Forms; yet, upon a due +Interpretation, they all meet in one common and general Conclusion, that +_Paradise_ was seated beyond the Æquinoctial, or in the other +Hemisphere. + +AND to understand this aright, we must reflect in the first Place, upon +the Form of the primæval Earth, and of the two Hemispheres of which it +consisted, altogether incommunicable one with another, by reason of the +Torrid Zone betwixt them; so as those two Hemispheres were then as two +distinct Worlds, or distinct Earths, that had no Commerce with one +another. And this Notion, or Tradition, we find among Heathen Authors, +as well as Christian; this opposite Earth being called by them +_Antichthon_, and its Inhabitants _Antichthones_: For those Words +comprehend both the _Antepodes_ and _Anœci_, or all beyond the Line, as +is manifest from their best Authors, as _Achilles_, _Tatius_, and _Cæsar +Germanicus_, upon _Aratus_, _Probus Grammaticus_, _Censorinus_, +_Pomponius Mela_, and _Pliny_. And these were called another World, and +look’d upon as another Stock and Race of Mankind, as appears from +_Cicero_ and _Macrobius_, (_Somn. Scip._) But as the latter Part was +their Mistake, so the former is acknowledged by Christian Authors, as +well as others; and particularly St. _Clement_, in his Epistle to the +_Corinthians_, mentions a _World_, or _Worlds beyond the Ocean subject +to divine Providence, and the great Lord of Nature as well as ours_. +This Passage of St. _Clement_ is also cited by St. _Jerome_, in his +Commentary upon _Eph. ii. 2._ and by _Origen Periarchon_, (_Lib. 2. c. +3._) where the Inhabitants of that other World are call’d +_Antichthones_. + +I MAKE this Remark in the first Place, that we may understand the true +Sense and Importance of those Phrases and Expressions amongst the +Ancients, when they say _Paradise_ was in _another World_. Which are not +to be so understood, as if they thought _Paradise_ was in the Moon, or +in _Jupiter_, or hung above like a Cloud or a Meteor, they were not so +extravagant; but that _Paradise_ was in another Hemisphere, which was +call’d _Antichthon_, another _Earth_, or another _World_ from ours; and +justly reputed so, because of an Impossibility of Commerce or +Intercourse betwixt their respective Inhabitants. And this Remark being +premis’d, we will now distribute the Christian Authors and Fathers, that +have deliver’d their Opinion concerning the Place of _Paradise_, into +three or four Ranks or Orders; and tho’ they express themselves +differently, you will see, when duly examin’d and expounded, they all +conspire and concur in the foremention’d Conclusion, _That_ the Seat of +_Paradise_ was in the other Hemisphere. + +IN the first Rank then we will place and reckon those that have set +_Paradise_ in another _World_, or in another _Earth_; seeing, according +to the foregoing Explication, that is the same thing as to affirm it +seated beyond the Torrid Zone in the other Hemisphere. In this Number +are _Ephrem Syrus_, _Moses Bar Cepha_, _Tatianus_, and of latter Date, +_Jacobus de Valentia_. To these are to be added again such Authors as +say, that _Adam_, when he was turn’d out of _Paradise_, was brought into +_our Earth_, or into our Region of the Earth; for this is tantamount +with the former; and this seems to be the Sense of St. _Jerome_ in +several Places against _Joviniam_, as also of _Constantine_, in his +_Oration_ in _Eusebius_, and is positively asserted by _Sulpitius +Severus_. And lastly, Those Authors that represent _Paradise_ as remote +from our World, and inaccessible; so St. _Austin_, _Procopius Gazæus_, +_Beda_, _Strabus Fuldensis_, _Historia Scholiastica_, and others; these, +I say, pursue the same Notion of Antiquity; for what is remote from our +World, (that is, from our Continent, as we before explain’d it) is to be +understood to be that _Antichthon_, (Οἱκουμένη) or Anti-hemisphere, +which the Ancients oppos’d to ours. + +ANOTHER Set of Authors, that interpret the _Flaming Sword_ that guarded +_Paradise_ to be the _Torrid Zone_, do plainly intimate, that _Paradise_ +in their Opinion lay beyond the Torrid Zone, or in the Anti-hemisphere; +and thus _Tertullian_ interprets the Flaming Sword, and in such Words as +fully confirm our Sense: _Paradise_, he says, _by the Torrid Zone, as by +a Wall of Fire, was sever’d from the Communication and Knowledge of our +World_. It lay then on the other Side of this Zone. And St. _Cyprian_, +or the ancient Author that passeth under his Name, in his Comment upon +_Genesis_, expresseth himself to the same Effect; so also St. _Austin_ +and _Isidore Hispalensis_ are thought to interpret it: And _Aquinas_, +who makes _Paradise_ inaccessible, gives this Reason for it, _Propter +vehementiam æstus in locis intermediis ex propinquitate Solis, & hoc +significatur per Flammeum Gladium_: _Because of that vehement Heat in +the Parts betwixt us and that, arising from the Nearness of the Sun, and +this is signified by the Flaming Sword_. And this Interpretation of the +_Flaming Sword_ receives a remarkable Force and Emphasis from our Theory +and Description of the primæval Earth, for there the Torrid Zone was as +a Wall of Fire indeed, or a Region of Flame, which none could pass or +subsist in, no more than in a Furnace. + +THERE is another Form of Expression amongst the Ancients concerning +_Paradise_, which if decyphered, is of the same Force and Signification +with this we have already instanc’d in: They say sometimes, _Paradise_ +was _beyond the Ocean_, or that the Rivers of _Paradise_ came from +beyond the Ocean. This is of the same Import with the former Head, and +points still at the other Hemisphere; for, as we noted before, some of +them fixt their _Antichthon_ and _Antichthones_ beyond the Ocean; that +is, since there was an Ocean; since the Form of the Earth was chang’d, +and the Torrid Zone became habitable, and consequently could not be a +Boundary or Separation, betwixt the two Worlds. Wherefore, as some run +still upon the old Division by the Torrid Zone, others took the new +Division by the Ocean. Which Ocean they suppos’d to lie from East to +West betwixt the Tropicks; as may be seen in ancient Authors, _Geminus_, +_Herodotus_, _Cicero de republica_, and _Clemens Romanus_, whom we cited +before. St. _Austin_ (_De Civ. Dei, lib. 16. c. 9._) also speaks upon +the same Supposition, when he would confute the Doctrine of the +_Antipodes_, or _Antichthones_; and _Macrobius_, I remember, makes it an +Argument of Providence, that the Sun and the Planets, in what Part of +their Course soever they are betwixt the two Tropicks, have still the +Ocean under them, that they may be cool’d and nourish’d by its Moisture. +They thought the Sea, like a Girdle, went round the Earth, and the +temperate Zones on either Side were the habitable Regions, whereof this +was called the _Oicoumene_, and the other _Antichthon_. + +THIS being observ’d, ’tis not material whether their Notion was true or +false, it shews us what their Meaning was, and what Part of the Earth +they design’d, when they spoke of any Thing beyond the Ocean; namely, +that they meant beyond the Line, in the other Hemisphere or in the +_Antichthon_; and accordingly, when they say _Paradise_, or the +Fountains of its Rivers were beyond the Ocean, they say the same Thing +in other Terms with the rest of those Authors we have cited. In _Moses +Bar Cepha_ above-mention’d, we find a Chapter upon this Subject, +_Quomodo trajecerint Mortales inde ex Paradisi terra in hanc terram._ +_How Mankind past out of that Earth or Continent, where Paradise was, +into that where we are_. Namely how they past the Ocean, _that lay +betwixt them_, as the Answer there given explains it. And so _Ephrem +Syrus_ is cited often in that Treatise, placing _Paradise_ beyond the +Ocean. The _Essenes_ also, who were the most Philosophick Sect of the +_Jews_, plac’d _Paradise_, according to _Josephus_, beyond the Ocean, +under a perfect Temperature of Air. And that Passage in _Eusebius_, in +the Oration of _Constantine_, being corrected and restor’d to the true +reading, represents _Paradise_, in like manner, as in another Continent, +from whence _Adam_ was brought after his Transgression, into this. And +lastly, there are some Authors, whose Testimony and Authority may +deserve to be consider’d, not for their own Antiquity, but because they +are professedly Transcribers of Antiquity and Traditions; such as +_Strabus_, _Comestor_, and the like, who are known to give this Account +or Report of _Paradise_ from the Ancients, that it was _interposito +Oceano ab Orbe nostro vel a Zona nostra habitabili secretus_, _separated +from our Orb or Hemisphere, by the Interposition of the Ocean_. + +IT is also observable, that many of the Ancients that took _Tigris_, +_Euphrates_, _Nile_ and _Ganges_, for the Rivers of _Paradise_, said +that those Heads or Fountains of them, which we have in our Continent, +are but their _capita secunda_, their second Sources, and that their +first Sources were in another Orb where _Paradise_ was; and thus _Hugo +de Sancto Victore_ says, _Sanctos communiter sensisse_, That the Holy +Men of old were generally of that Opinion. To this Sense also _Moses Bar +Cepha_ often expresseth himself; as also _Epiphanius_, _Procopius +Gazæus_, and _Severianus_ in _Catena_. Which Notion amongst the +Ancients, concerning the Trajection or Passage of the paradisiacal +Rivers under Ground, or under Sea, from one Continent into another, is +to me, I confess, unintelligible, either in the first or second Earth; +but however it discovers their Sense and Opinion of the Seat of +_Paradise_, that it was not to be sought for in _Asia_ or in _Africa_, +where those Rivers rise to us; but in some remoter Parts of the World, +where they suppos’d their first Sources to be. + +THIS is a short Account of what the Christian Fathers have left us +concerning the Seat of _Paradise_; and the Truth is, ’tis but a short +and broken account; yet ’tis no wonder it should be so, if we consider, +as we noted before, that several of them did not believe _Paradise_ to +be local and corporeal; others that did believe it so, yet did not offer +to determine the Place of it, but left that Matter wholly untouch’d and +undecided: and the rest that did speak to that Point, did it commonly +both in general Terms, and in Expressions that were disguis’d, and +needed Interpretation; but all these Differences and Obscurities of +Expression, you see, when duly stated and expounded, may signify one and +the same Thing, and terminate all in this common Conclusion, _That +Paradise_ was without our Continent, according to the general Opinion +and Tradition of Antiquity. And I do not doubt but the Tradition would +have been both more express and more universal, if the Ancients had +understood Geography better; for those of the Ancients that did not +admit or believe that there were _Antipodes_ or _Antichthones_, as +_Lactantius_, St. _Austin_, and some others; these could not join in the +common Opinion about the Place of _Paradise_, because they thought there +was no Land, nor any thing habitable ἔξω τὴς οἱκουμένες, or beside this +Continent. And yet St. _Austin_ was so cautious, that as he was bounded +on the one Hand by his false _Idea_ of the Earth, that he could not join +with Antiquity as to the Place of _Paradise_; so on the other Hand, he +had that Respect for it, that he would not say any thing to the +contrary; therefore being to give his Opinion, he says only, _Terrestrem +esse Paradisum, & locum ejus ab hominum cognitione esse remotissimum_: +_That it is somewhere upon the Earth, but the Place of it very remote +from the Knowledge of Men_. + +AND as their Ignorance of the Globe of the Earth was one Reason why the +Doctrine of _Paradise_ was so broken and obscure, so another Reason why +it is much more so at present is, because the chief ancient Books writ +upon that Subject are lost. _Ephrem Syrus_ who liv’d in the fourth +Century, writ a Commentary _in Genesin sine de Ortu rerum_, concerning +the Origin of the Earth; and by those Remains that are cited from it, we +have reason to believe that it contained many Things remarkable +concerning the first Earth, and concerning _Paradise_. _Tertullian_ also +writ a Book _de Paradiso_, which is wholly lost; and we see to what +Effect it would have been, by his making the Torrid Zone to be the +_Flaming Sword_, and the Partition betwixt this Earth and _Paradise_, +which two Earths he more than once distinguisheth as very different from +one another, (_Cont. Marc. lib. 2. c. 2. c. 5._) The most ancient Author +that I know upon this Subject, at least of those that writ of it +literally, is _Moses Bar Cepha_ a _Syrian_ Bishop, who liv’d about 700 +Years since, and his Book is translated into _Latin_ by that learned and +judicious Man _Andreas Masius_. _Bar Cepha_ writes upon the same Views +of _Paradise_ that we have here presented, that it was beyond the Ocean, +in another Track of Land, or another Continent from that which we +inhabit: As appears from the very Titles of his 8th, 10th, and 14th +Chapters. But we must allow him for his mistaken Notions about the Form +of the Earth; for he seems to have fancied the Earth plain, (not only as +oppos’d to rough and mountainous, for so it was plain; but as oppos’d to +spherical) and the Ocean to have divided it in two Parts, an interior, +and an exterior, and in that exterior Part was _Paradise_. Such +Allowances must often be made for Geographical Mistakes, in examining +and understanding the Writings of the Ancients. The rest of the _Syrian_ +Fathers, as well as _Ephrem_ and _Bar Cepha_, incline to the same +Doctrine of _Paradise_, and seem to have retain’d more of the ancient +notions concerning it, than the _Greek_ and _Latin_ Fathers have; and +yet there is in all some Fragments of this Doctrine, and but Fragments +in the best. + +WE might add in the last Place, that as the most ancient Treatises +concerning _Paradise_ are lost, so also the ancient _Glosses_ and +_Catenae_ upon Scripture, where we might have found the Traditions and +Opinions of the Ancients upon this Subject, are many of them either lost +or unpublish’d; and upon this Consideration, we did not think it +improper to cite some Authors of small Antiquity, but such as have +transcrib’d several Things out of ancient Manuscript-glosses into their +Commentaries. They living however before Printing was invented, or +Learning well restor’d, and before the Reformation. I add that also, +_before the Reformation_, for since that Time the Protestant Authors +having lessen’d the Authority of Traditions, the pontifical Doctors +content themselves to insist only upon such as they thought were useful +or necessary, left by multiplying others that were but Matter of +Curiosity, they should bring the first into Question, and render the +whole Doctrine of Traditions more dubious and exceptionable; and upon +this Account, there are some Authors that writ an Age or two before the +Reformation, that have with more Freedom told us the Tenets and +Traditions of the Ancients in these Speculations, that are but +collateral to Religion, than any have done since. + +AND I must confess I am apt to think, that what remains concerning the +Doctrine of _Paradise_, and the primæval Earth, is in a good Measure +traditional; for one may observe, that those that treat upon these +Subjects, quote the true Opinions, and tell you some of the Ancients +held so and so; as that _Paradise_ was in another Earth, or higher than +this Earth; that there were no Mountains before the Flood, nor any Rain, +and such like; yet they do not name those ancient Authors that held +these Opinions; which makes me apt to believe, either that they were +convey’d by traditional Communication from one to another, or that there +were other Books extant upon those Subjects, or other Glosses, than what +are now known. + +FINALLY, To conclude this Discourse concerning the Seat of _Paradise_, +we must mind you again upon what Basis it stands. We declar’d freely, +that we could not by our Theory alone determine the particular Place of +it, only by that we are assur’d, that it was in the primæval Earth, and +not in the present; but in what Region, or in whether Hemisphere of that +Earth it was seated, we cannot define from Speculation only. ’Tis true, +if we hold fast to that Scripture-conclusion, That all Mankind rose from +one Head, and from one and the same Stock and Lineage, (which doth not +seem to be according to the Sentiments of the Heathens) we must suppose +they were born in one Hemisphere, and after some Time translated into +the other, or a Colony of them: But this still doth not determine in +whether of the two they begun, and were first seated before their +Translation; and I am apt to think that depended rather, as we noted +before, upon the Divine Pleasure, and the Train of Affairs that was to +succeed, than upon natural Causes and Differences. Some of the Ancients, +I know, made both the Soil and the Stars more noble in the southern +Hemisphere, than in ours; but I do not see any Proof or Warrant for it; +wherefore, laying aside all natural Topicks, we are willing, in this +Particular, to refer our selves wholly to the Report and Majority of +Votes among the Ancients; who yet do not seem to me to lay much Stress +upon the Notion of a particular and topical Paradise, and therefore use +general and remote Expressions concerning it. And finding no Place for +it in this Continent, they are willing to quit their Hands of it, by +placing it in a Region somewhere far off, and inaccessible. This, +together with the old Tradition, that Paradise was in another Earth, +seems to me to give an Account of most of their Opinions concerning the +Seat of Paradise, and that they were generally very uncertain where to +fix it. + + + + + CHAP. VIII. + + + _The Uses of this Theory for the Illustration of Antiquity; The + ancient Chaos 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._ + + +WE have now dispatch’d the Theory of the primæval Earth, and reviv’d a +forgotten World. ’Tis pity the first and fairest Works of Nature should +be lost out of the Memory of Man, and that we should so much dote upon +the Ruins, as never to think upon the Original Structure. As the Modern +Artists, from some broken Pieces of an ancient Statue, make out all the +other Parts and Proportions; so from the broken and scatter’d Limbs of +the first World, we have shewn you how to raise the whole Fabrick again; +and renew the Prospect of those pleasant Scenes that first saw the +Light, and first entertain’d Man, when he came to act upon this +new-erected Stage. + +WE have drawn this Theory chiefly to give an Account of the universal +Deluge, and of _Paradise_; but as when one lights a Candle to look for +one or two Things which they want, the Light will not confine it self to +those two Objects, but shews all the other in the Room; so, methinks, we +have unexpectedly cast a Light upon all Antiquity, in seeking after +these two Things, or in retrieving the Notion and Doctrine of the +primæval Earth, upon which they depended. For in ancient Learning, there +are many Discourses, and many Conclusions deliver’d to us, that are so +obscure and confus’d, and so remote from the present State of Things, +that one cannot well distinguish whether they are Fictions or Realities: +And there is no way to distinguish with Certainty, but by a clear Theory +upon the same Subject; which shewing us the Truth directly and +independently upon them, shews us also by Reflection, how far they are +true or false, and in what Sense they are to be interpreted and +understood. And the present Theory being of great extent, we shall find +it serviceable in many Things, for the Illustration of such dubious and +obscure Doctrines in Antiquity. + +TO begin with their ancient CHAOS, what a dark Story have they made of +it, both their Philosophers and Poets; and how fabulous in Appearance? +’Tis deliver’d as confusedly as the Mass it self could be, and hath not +been reduc’d to Order, nor indeed made intelligible by any. They tell us +of _moral_ Principles in the Chaos, instead of _natural_, of _Strife_ +and _Discord_, and _Division_ on the one Hand, 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 _Genealogy_ 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 _Æther_ and the _Earth_; The +Earth conceiv’d by the Influences of Æther, and brought forth Man and +all Animals. + +THIS seems to be a poetical Fiction rather than Philosophy; yet when +’tis set in a true Light, and compar’d with our Theory of the Chaos, +’twill 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 shew’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 Offspring 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 Æther; so the earthy Parts +that were mix’d with it drop’d 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 Dissatisfaction, 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 continu’d a good +while, which the Ancients, after their poetick or moral Way, call’d the +Reign of _Eris_ or Contention, of Hatred, Slight, 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_ rose out of the Sea, and receiv’d into her Bosom, and intangled +into her Embraces, the falling Æther, _viz._ the Parts of lighter Earth, +which were mix’d 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, +_Lib. 2. c. 7._ + +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 primæval Earth was; or his +_Æthereal_ Earth, mention’d in his _Phædo_, 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 easy 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 Æquator, 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 primæval 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 +shewn 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 current, till Observation and +Experience taught later Ages to correct it. As the true Miracles that +were in the Christian Church at first, occasioned a Fame and Belief of +their Continuance long after they had really ceas’d. + +THIS gives an easy 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, Astronomers 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 look’d upon from the Clouds, or from the Moon, as _Jupiter_’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 _Fasciæ_. 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 _Jewish_ 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. +(_See Fig. 3. c. 5._) + +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 easy 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_; (_See the Lat. Treat. 2. lib. 2. c. 10._) 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 Equator, 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 _Egyptians_, 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 primæval +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; tho’ 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 among the Ancients +which we have not spoken to; ’tis partly symbolical, and the Propriety +of the Symbol, or of the Application of it, hath been little understood; +’tis 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 _Mystæ_, 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. (_Lib. 2. c. 10._) ’Tis 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 Nature 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 terrestrial 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 shew’d there, +(_Book 1. c. 5._) that the Figure of it, when finish’d, 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 easy and natural, +and shews 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 of this present Earth, +that is one, How _America_ could be peopled, or any other Continent, or +Island remote from all Continents the Sea interposing. This Difficulty +does not hold in our Theory of the first Earth, where there was no Sea. +And after the Flood, when the Earth was broken and the Sea laid open, +the same Race of Men might continue there, if settled there before. For +I do not see any Necessity of deducing all Mankind from _Noah_ after the +Flood. If _America_ was peopled before, it might continue so; not but +that the Flood was universal. But when the great Frame of the Earth +broke at the Deluge, Providence foresaw into how many Continents it +would be divided after the ceasing of the Flood; and accordingly, as we +may reasonably suppose, made Provision to save a Remnant in every +Continent, that the Race of Mankind might not be quite extinct in any of +them. What Provision he made in our Continent we know from sacred +History; but as that takes Notice of no other Continent but ours, so +neither could it take Notice of any Method that was us’d there for +saving of a Remnant of Men; but ’twere great Presumption, methinks, to +imagine, that Providence had a Care of none but us, or could not find +out Ways of Preservation in other Places, as well as in that where our +Habitations were to be. _Asia_, _Africa_ and _Europe_, were repeopled by +the Sons of _Noah_, _Shem_, _Ham_, and _Japhet_; but we read nothing of +their going over into _America_, or sending any Colonies thither; and +that World, which is near as big as ours, must have stood long without +People, or any thing of humane Race in it, after the Flood, if it stood +so till this was full, or till Men navigated the Ocean, and by chance +discover’d it: It seems more reasonable to suppose, that there was a +Stock providentially reserv’d there, as well as here, out of which they +sprung again; but we do not pretend in an Argument of this Nature to +define or determine any Thing positively. To conclude, As this is but a +secondary Difficulty, and of no great Force, so neither is it any Thing +peculiar to us, or to our _Hypothesis_, but alike common to both; and if +they can propose any reasonable Way whereby the Sons of _Noah_ might be +transplanted into _America_, with all my Heart; but all the Ways that I +have met with hitherto, have seem’d to me mere Fictions, or mere +Presumptions. Besides, finding Birds and Beasts there, which are no +where upon our Continent, nor would live in our Countries if brought +hither; ’tis a fair Conjecture that they were not carried from us, but +originally bred and preserv’d there. + +THUS much for the Illustration of Antiquity in some Points of human +Literature, by our Theory of the primæval Earth; there is also in +_Christian Antiquity_ a Tradition or Doctrine, that appears as obscure +and as much a Paradox as any of these, and better deserves an +Illustration, because it relates more closely and expresly to our +present Subject: ’Tis that Notion or Opinion amongst the Ancients +concerning _Paradise_, that it was seated as high as the Sphere of the +Moon, or _within the lunar Circle_. This looks very strange, and indeed +extravagantly at first Sight; but the Wonder will cease, if we +understand this not of _Paradise_ taken apart from the rest of the +Earth, but of the whole primæval Earth, wherein the Seat of _Paradise_ +was; That was really seated much higher than the present Earth, and may +be reasonably suppos’d to have been as much elevated as the Tops of our +Mountains are now. And that Phrase of reaching to _the Sphere of the +Moon_, signifies no more than those other Expressions of _reaching to +Heaven_, or _reaching above the Clouds_; which are Phrases commonly us’d +to express the Height of Buildings, or of Mountains, and such like +Things: So the Builders of _Babel_ said, they would make a Tower should +reach to Heaven; _Olympus_ and _Parnassus_ are said by the Poets to +reach to Heaven, or to rise above the Clouds; and _Pliny_ and _Solinus_ +use this very Expression of the _Lunar Circle_, when they describe the +Height of Mount _Atlas_, _Eductus in viciniam Lunaris Circuli_, (_Solin. +c. 17._) The Ancients, I believe, aim’d particularly by this Phrase, to +express an Height above the middle Region, or above our Atmosphere, that +_Paradise_ might be serene; and where our Atmosphere ended, they +reckon’d the Sphere of the Moon begun, and therefore said it reach’d to +the Sphere of the Moon. Many of the Christian Fathers exprest their +Opinion concerning the high Situation of _Paradise_ in plain and formal +Terms, as St. _Basil_, _Damascen_, _Moses Bar Cepha_, _&c._ but this +Phrase of reaching to the _Lunar Circle_ is repeated by several of them, +and said to be of great Antiquity. _Aquinas_, _Albertus_, and others, +ascribe it to _Bede_, but many to St. _Austin_; and therefore _Ambrosius +Catharinus_, (_Com. in Gen. c. 2._) is angry with their great Schoolman, +that he should derive it from _Bede_, seeing St. _Austin_ writing to +_Orosius_, deliver’d this Doctrine, which surely, says he, St. _Austin_ +_neither feign’d nor dream’d only, but had receiv’d it from Antiquity_: +And from so great Antiquity, that it was no less than Apostolical, if we +credit _Albertus Magnus_, and the ancient Books he appeals to; (_Sum. +Theol. par. 2. tract. 13. q. 79._) for he says this Tradition was +deriv’d as high as from St. _Thomas_ the Apostle. His Words are these, +after he had deliver’d his own Opinion, _Hoc tamen dico, &c._ _But this +I say without Prejudice to the better Opinion, for I have found it in +some most ancient Books, that Thomas the Apostle was the Author of that +Opinion, which is usually attributed to Bede and Strabus, namely, That +Paradise was so high as to reach to the Lunar Circle._ But thus much +concerning this Opinion, and concerning Antiquity. + +TO conclude all, we see this Theory, which was drawn only by a Thread of +Reason, and the Laws of Nature, abstractedly from all Antiquity, +notwithstanding casts a Light upon many Passages there, which were +otherwise accounted Fictions, or unintelligible Truths; and tho’ we do +not alledge these as Proofs of the Theory, for it carries its own Light +and Proof with it; yet, whether we will or no, they do mutually confirm, +as well as illustrate one another; and ’tis a Pleasure also, when one +hath wrought out Truth by a meer Dint of thinking, and Examination of +Causes, and propos’d it plainly and openly, to meet with it again among +the Ancients, disguis’d, and in an old fashion’d Dress; scarce to be +known or discover’d, but by those that beforehand knew it very well. And +it would be a further Pleasure and Satisfaction to have render’d those +Doctrines and Notions for the future, intelligible and useful to others, +as well as delightful to our selves. + + + + + 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 Jewish 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 providential Conduct of Knowledge in the + World. A Recapitulation and State of the Theory._ + + +HAVING gone through the two first Parts, and the two first Books of this +Theory that concern the primitive World, the universal Deluge, and the +State of _Paradise_, we have leisure now to reflect a little, and +consider what may probably be objected against a Theory of this Nature. +I do not mean single Objections against single Parts, for those may be +many, and such as I cannot foresee; but what may be said against the +Body and Substance of the Theory, and the Credibility of it appearing +new and surprizing, and yet of great Extent and Importance. This, I +fancy, will induce many to say, surely this cannot be a Reality; for if +there had been such a primitive Earth, and such a primitive World as is +here represented, and so remarkably different from the present, it could +not have been so utterly forgotten, or lain hid for so many Ages; all +Antiquity would have rung of it; the Memory of it would have been kept +fresh by Books or Traditions. Can we imagine that it should lie buried +for some thousands of Years in deep Silence and Oblivion? And now only +when the second World is drawing to an End, we begin to discover that +there was a first, and that of another Make and Order from this. + +TO satisfy this Objection, or Surmise rather, it will be convenient to +take a good large Scope and Compass in our Discourse; we must not +suppose that this primitive World hath been wholly lost out of the +Memory of Man, or out of History, for we have some History and +Chronology of it preserv’d by _Moses_, and likewise in the Monuments of +the Ancients, more or less; for they all suppos’d a World before the +Deluge. But ’tis the Philosophy of this primitive World that hath been +lost in a great Measure; what the State of Nature was then, and wherein +it differ’d from the present or postdiluvian order of Things. This, I +confess, hath been little taken notice of; it hath been generally +thought or presum’d, that the World before the Flood was of the same +Form and Constitution with the present World: This we do not deny, but +rather think it design’d and providential, that there should not remain +a clear and full Knowledge of that first State of Things; and we may +easily suppose how it might decay and perish, if we consider how little +of the remote Antiquities of the World have ever been brought down to +our Knowledge. + +THE _Greeks_ and _Romans_ divided the Ages of the World into three +Periods or Intervals, whereof they call’d the first the _Obscure_ +Period, the second the _Fabulous_, and the third _Historical_. The dark +and obscure Period was from the Beginning of the World to the Deluge; +what pass’d then, either in Nature, or amongst Men, they have no +Records, no Account, by their own Confession; all that Space of Time was +cover’d with Darkness and Oblivion; so that we ought rather to wonder at +those Remains they have, and those broken Notions of the Golden Age, and +the Conditions of it, how they were sav’d out of the common Ship-wrack, +than to expect from them the Philosophy of that World, and all its +Differences from the present. And as for the other Nations that pretend +to greater Antiquities, to more ancient History and Chronology, from +what is left of their Monuments, many will allow only this Difference, +that their fabulous Age begun more high, or that they had more ancient +Fables. + +BUT besides that our Expectations cannot be great from the Learning of +the _Gentiles_, we have not the Means or Opportunity to inform our +selves well what Notions they did leave us concerning the primitive +World; for their Books and Monuments are generally lost, or lie hid +unknown to us. The Learning of the World may be divided into the Eastern +Learning and the Western; and I look upon the Eastern as far more +considerable for philosophical Antiquities, and philosophical +Conclusions; I say _Conclusions_, for I do not believe either of them +had any considerable Theory, or Contexture of Principles and Conclusions +together: But ’tis certain that in the East, from what Source soever it +came, humane or divine, they had some extraordinary Doctrines and +Notions disperst amongst them. Now as by the western Learning we +understand that of the _Greeks_ and _Romans_; so by the eastern that +which was amongst the _Egyptians_, _Phœnicians_, _Chaldæans_, +_Assyrians_, _Indians_, _Ethiopians_, and _Persians_; and of the +Learning of these Nations, how little have we now left? Except some +Fragments and Citations in _Greek_ Authors, what do we know of them? The +modern _Brackmans_, and the _Persees_, or _Pagan Persians_, have some +broken Remains of Traditions relating to the Origin and Changes of the +World: But if we had not only those Books entire, whereof we have now +the Gleanings and Reversions only; but all that have perish’d besides, +especially in that famous Library at _Alexandria_; if these, I say, were +all restor’d to the World again, we might promise our selves the +Satisfaction of seeing more of the Antiquities, and natural History of +the first World, than we have now left, or can reasonably expect. That +Library we speak of at _Alexandria_, was a Collection, beside _Greek_ +Books, of _Egyptian_, _Chaldæan_, and all the Eastern Learning; and +_Cedrenus_ makes it to consist of an hundred thousand Volumes: But +_Josephus_ saith, when the Translation of the Bible by the _Septuagint_ +was to be added to it, _Demetrius Phalerius_, (who was Keeper or +Governor of it) told the King then, that he had already two hundred +thousand Volumes, and that he hop’d to make them five hundred thousand; +and he was better than his Word, or his Successors for him; for +_Ammianus Marcellinus_, and other Authors, report them to have increas’d +to seven hundred thousand. This Library was unfortunately burnt in the +sacking of _Alexandria_ by _Cæsar_, and considering that all these were +ancient Books, and generally of the eastern Wisdom, ’twas an inestimable +and irreparable Loss to the Commonwealth of Learning. In like manner we +are told of a vast Library of Books of all Arts and Sciences in _China_, +burnt by the Command or Caprice of one of their Kings. Wherein the +_Chineses_, according to their Vanity, were us’d to say, greater Riches +were lost, than will be in the last Conflagration. + +WE are told also of the _Abyssine_, or _Ethiopick_ Library, as something +very extraordinary. ’Twas formerly in great Reputation, but is now, I +suppose, embezzled and lost. But I was extreamly surpriz’d by a Treatise +brought to me some few Months since, wherein are mention’d some +_Ethiopick_ Antiquities relating to the primæval Earth and the Deluge: +To both which they give such Characters and Properties as are in Effect +the very same with those assign’d them in this Theory. They say the +first Earth 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 Scaturigine_.[2]) Taken from a Book writ by +_Fransisco Patricio_, to whom this wonderful Tradition was deliver’d by +Persons of Credit, from an _Æthiopian_ Philosoper then in _Spain_. I +have not yet had the good Fortune to see that Book of _Francisco +Patricio_; ’twas writ in _Italian_ with this Title, _Della Rhetorica +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 _Ægyptian_ Antiquities, in his _Timæus_, +_Politicus_, and _Phœdo_, of another Earth, and another State of Nature +and Mankind. But none of them are so full and distinct as this +_Æthiopian_ Doctrine. + +AS for the Western Learning, we may remember what the _Ægyptian_ Priest +says to _Solon_, in _Plato_’s _Timæus_, _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, +perish’d with the Books of _Varro_, of _Numa Pompilius_, and of the +ancient _Sibyls_, (_De Civ. Dei, lib. 6. Dion. Halic. Ant. Rom. lib. +4._) _Varro_ writ, as St. _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 +suffered about the Time of our Deluge. + +_Numa Pompilius_ was doubtless a contemplative Man, and ’tis thought +that he understood the true System of the World, and represented the Sun +by his _Vestal Fire_; tho’, 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 extinguish’d. 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 _Prætor Petilius_ to peruse; and +to make his Report to the Senate, whether they were fit to be publish’d +or no: The _Prætor_ made a wise politick Report, that the Contents of +them might be of dangerous Consequence to the establish’d 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. ’Tis 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 enrich’d 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 confusedly 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 rose +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 ’tis 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; ’tis 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 Footsteps 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 shewn there, that their Account of the Chaos, +tho’ it seem’d to many but a poetical Rhapsody, contain’d the true +Mystery of the Formation of the primitive Earth, (_Tell. Theor. lib. 2. +c. 7._) We have also shewn upon the same Occasion, that both the +external Figure and internal Form of that Earth were compriz’d and +signified in their ancient Doctrine of the Mundane Egg, which hath been +propagated through all the learned Nations, (_Ibid._ _cap. 10._) And +lastly, as to the Situation of that Earth, and the Change of its Posture +since, that the Memory of that has been kept up, we have brought several +Testimonies and Indications from the _Greek_ Philosophers, (_Ibid._) And +these were the three great and fundamental Properties of the primitive +Earth, upon which all the other depend, and all its Differences from the +present Order of Nature. You see then, tho’ Providence hath suffer’d the +ancient Heathen Learning and their Monuments, in a great Part, to +perish, yet we are not left wholly without Witnesses amongst them, in a +Speculation of this great Importance. + +YOU will say, it may be, tho’ this Account, as to the Books and Learning +of the Heathen, may be look’d upon as reasonable, yet we might expect +however, from the _Jewish_ and _Christian_ Authors, a more full and +satisfactory Account of that primitive Earth, and of the old World. +First, as to the _Jews_, ’tis well known that they have no ancient +Learning, unless by Way of Tradition, amongst them. There is not a Book +extant in their Language excepting the Canon of the Old Testament, that +hath not been writ since our Saviour’s Time. They are very bad Masters +of Antiquity, and they may in some Measure be excus’d, because of their +several Captivities, Dispersions, and Desolations. In the _Babylonish_ +Captivity their Temple was ransack’d, and they did not preserve, as is +thought, so much as the Autograph, or original Manuscript of the Law, +nor the Books of those of their Prophets that were then extant, and kept +in the Temple; and at their Return from the Captivity after seventy +Years, they seem to have forgot their native Language so much, that the +Law was to be interpreted to them in _Chaldee_, after it was read in +_Hebrew_; for so I understand that Interpretation in _Nehemiah_, (_Chap. +viii. 7, 8._) ’Twas a great Providence, methinks, that they should any +Way preserve their Law, and other Books of Scripture, in the Captivity, +for so long a Time; for ’tis likely they had not the Liberty of using +them in any publick Worship, seeing they return’d so ignorant of their +own Language, and, as ’tis thought, of their Alphabet and Character too. +And if their sacred Books were hardly preserv’d, we may easily believe +all others perish’d in that publick Desolation. + +YET there was another Destruction of that Nation, and their Temple, +greater than this, by the _Romans_; and if there were any Remains of +Learning preserv’d in the former Ruin, or any Recruits made since that +Time, this second Desolation would sweep them all away. And accordingly +we see they have nothing left in their Tongue, beside the Bible, so +ancient as the Destruction of _Jerusalem_. These and other publick +Calamities of the _Jewish_ Nation may reasonably be thought to have +wasted their Records of ancient Learning, _if they had any_; for to +speak Truth, the _Jews_ are a People of little Curiosity, as to Sciences +and philosophical Enquiries: They were very tenacious of their own +Customs, and careful of those Traditions that did respect them, but were +not remarkable, that I know of, or thought great Proficients in any +other sort of Learning. There has been a great Fame, ’tis true, of the +_Jewish Cabala_, and of great Mysteries contain’d in it; and, I believe, +there was once a traditional Doctrine amongst some of them, that had +extraordinary Notions and Conclusions: But where is this now to be +found? The _Essenes_ were the likeliest Sect, one would think, to retain +such Doctrines; but ’tis probable they are now so mixt with Things +fabulous and fantastical, that what one should alledge from thence would +be of little or no Authority. One Head in this _Cabala_ was the Doctrine +of the _Sephiroth_, (_Vide Men. ben Isr. de Creat. prob. 28._) and tho’ +the Explication of them be uncertain, the inferior _Sephiroth_ in the +corporeal World cannot so well be apply’d to any Thing, as to those +several Orbs and Regions, infolding one another, whereof the primigenial +Earth was compos’d. Yet such Conjectures and Applications, I know, are +of no Validity, but in Consort with better Arguments. I have often +thought also, that their first and second Temple represented the first +and second Earth or World; and that of _Ezekiel_’s, which is the third, +is still to be erected, the most beautiful of all, when this second +Temple of the World shall be burn’d down. If the Prophecies of _Enoch_ +had been preserv’d, and taken into the Canon by _Ezra_, after their +Return from _Babylon_, when the Collection of their sacred Books is +suppos’d to have been made, we might probably have had a considerable +Account there, both of Times past and to come, of Antiquities and +Futuritions; for those Prophecies are generally suppos’d to have +contain’d both the first and second Fate of this Earth, and all the +Periods of it. But as this Book is lost to us, so I look upon all others +that pretend to be Ante-mosaical or Patriarchal, as spurious and +fabulous. + +THUS much concerning the _Jews_. As for _Christian_ Authors, their +Knowledge must be from some of these foremention’d _Jews_ or _Heathens_; +or else by Apostolical Tradition: For the _Christian_ Fathers were not +very speculative, so as to raise a Theory from their own Thoughts and +Contemplations, concerning the Origin of the Earth. We have instanc’d, +in the last Chapter, in a _Christian_ Tradition concerning _Paradise_, +and the high Situation of it, which is fully consonant to the Scite of +the Primitive Earth, where _Paradise_ stood, and doth seem plainly to +refer to it, being unintelligible upon any other Supposition. And ’twas, +I believe, this Elevation of _Paradise_, and the Pencil Structure of +that _Paradisiacal_ Earth, that gave Occasion to _Celsus_, as we see by +_Origen_’s Answer, to say, that the _Christian Paradise_ was taken from +the pensile Gardens of _Alcinous:_ But we may see now what was the +Ground of such Expressions or Traditions amongst the Ancients, which +Providence left to keep Men’s Minds awake; not fully to instruct them, +but to confirm them in the Truth, when it should come to be made known +in other Methods. We have noted also above, that the ancient Books and +Authors amongst the _Christians_, that were most likely to inform us in +this Argument, have perish’d, and are lost out of the World, such as +_Ephrem Syrus de ortu rerum_, and _Tertullian de Paradiso_; and that +Piece, which is extant of _Moses Bar Cepha_’s upon this Subject, +receives more Light from our _Hypothesis_, than from any other I know; +for, correcting some Mistakes about the Figure of the Earth, which the +Ancients were often guilty of, the Obscurity or Confusion of that +Discourse in other Things may be easily rectified, if compar’d with this +Theory. + +OF this Nature also is that Tradition that is common both to _Jews_ and +_Christians_, and which we have often mentioned before, that there was a +perpetual Serenity, and perpetual Equinox in _Paradise_; which cannot be +upon this Earth, not so much as under the Equinoctial; for they have a +Sort of Winter and Summer, there, a Course of Rains at certain times of +the Year, and great Inequalities of the Air, as to Heat and Cold, +Moisture and Drought. They had also Traditions amongst them, _That there +was no Rain from the Beginning of the World till the Deluge_, and _that +there were no Mountains till the Flood_, (Lat. Treat. Lib. 2. c. 10.) +and such like. These, you see, point directly at such an Earth, as we +have describ’d. And I call these _Traditions_, because we cannot find +the Original Authors of them; the ancient _ordinary Gloss_ (upon +_Genesis_) which some make eight hundred Years old, mentions both these +Opinions; so does _Historia Scholastica_, _Alcuinus_, _Rabanus Maurus_, +_Lyranus_, and such Collectors of Antiquity. _Bede_ also relates that of +the _Plainness_ or Smoothness of the _Antediluvian_ Earth. Yet these are +reported Traditionally, as it were, naming no Authors or Books from +whence they were taken: Nor can it be imagin’d that they feign’d them +themselves; to what End or Purpose? It serv’d no Interest; or upon what +Ground? Seeing they had no Theory that could lead them to such Notions +as these, or that could be strengthen’d and confirm’d by them. Those +Opinions also of the Fathers, which we recited in the seventh Chapter, +placing _Paradise_ beyond the Torrid Zone, and making it therefore +inaccessible, suit very well to the Form, Qualities, and Bipartition of +the Primæval Earth, and seem to be grounded upon them. + +THUS much may serve for a short Survey of the ancient Learning, to give +us a reasonable Account, why the Memory and Knowledge of the Primitive +Earth should be so much lost out of the World; and what we retain of it +still; which would be far more, I do not doubt, if all Manuscripts were +brought to light, that are yet extant in publick or private Libraries. +The Truth is, one cannot judge with Certainty, neither what things have +been recorded and preserv’d in the Monuments of Learning, nor what are +still; nor what have been, because so many of those Monuments are lost: +The _Alexandrian_ Library, which we spoke of before, seems to have been +the greatest Collection that ever was made before Christianity, and the +_Constantinopolitan_ (begun by _Constantine_, and destroy’d in the fifth +Century, when it was rais’d to the Number, as is said, of one hundred +twenty thousand Volumes) the most valuable that was ever since, and both +these have been permitted by Providence to perish in the merciless +Flames. Beside those Devastations of Books and Libraries that have been +made in Christendom, by the _Northern_ barbarous Nations overflowing +_Europe_, and the _Saracens_ and _Turks_, great Parts of _Asia_ and +_Africk_. It is hard therefore to pronounce what Knowledge hath been in +the World, or what Accounts of Antiquity; neither can we well judge what +remain, or of what things the Memory may be still latently conserv’d: +For beside those Manuscripts that are yet unexamin’d in these Parts of +Christendom, there are many, doubtless, of good Value in other Parts; +beside those that be hid in the unchristianiz’d Dominions. The Library +of _Fez_ is said to contain thirty two thousand Volumes in _Arabick_; +and though the _Arabick_ Learning was most what _Western_, and therefore +of less Account, yet they did deal in _Eastern_ Learning too; for +_Avicenna_ writ a Book with that Title, _Philosophia Orientalis_. There +may be also in the _East_, Thousands of Manuscripts unknown to us, of +greater Value than most Books we have: And as to those Subjects we are +treating of, I should promise my self more Light and Confirmation from +the _Syriack_ Authors than from any others. These things being +consider’d, we can make but a very imperfect Estimate, what Evidences +are left us, and what Accounts of the primitive Earth; and if these +Deductions and Defalcations be made, both for what Books are wholly +lost, and for what lie asleep or dead, in Libraries, we have Reason to +be satisfied in a Theory of this Nature, to find so good Attestations as +we have produc’d for the several Parts of it; which we purpose to +enlarge upon considerably at another time and occasion. + +BUT to carry this Objection as far as may be, let us suppose it to be +urg’d still in the last Place, that though these Humane Writings have +perish’d or be imperfect, yet in the Divine Writings at least, we might +expect that the Memory of the old World, and of the primitive Earth +should have been preserv’d. To this I answer in short, that we could not +expect in the Scriptures any natural Theory of that Earth, nor any +Account of it, but what was general; and this we have, both by the +_Tehom Rabba_ of _Moses_, and the Description of the same Abyss in other +Places of Scripture, as we have shewn at large in the first Book. _Chap. +vii._ And also by the Description which St. _Peter_ hath given of the +antediluvian Heavens and Earth, and their different Constitution from +the present; which is also prov’d by the Rainbow, not seen in the first +World. You will say, it may be, that that Place of St. _Peter_, _2 Pet. +iii. 5, 6_, _&c._ is capable of another Interpretation; so are most +Places of Scripture, if you speak of a bare Capacity, they are capable +of more than one Interpretation: But that which is most natural, proper, +and congruous, and suitable to the Words, suitable to the Argument, and +suitable to the Context, wherein is nothing superfluous or impertinent, +that we prefer and accept of as the most reasonable Interpretation. +Besides, in such Texts as relate to the natural World, if of two +Interpretations propos’d, one agrees better with the Theory of Nature +than the others, _cæteris paribus_, that ought to be prefer’d. And by +these two Rules we are willing to be try’d, in the Exposition of that +remarkable Discourse of St. _Peter_’s, and to stand to that Sense which +is found most agreeable to them. + +GIVE me leave to conclude the whole Discourse with this general +Consideration: ’Tis reasonable to suppose, that there is a Providence in +the Conduct of _Knowledge_, as well as of other Affairs on the Earth; +and that it was not design’d that all the Mysteries of Nature and +Providence should be plainly and clearly understood throughout all the +Ages of the World; but that there is an Order establish’d for this, as +for other Things, and certain Periods and Seasons; and what was made +known to the Ancients only by broken Conclusions and Traditions will be +known (in the latter Ages of the World) in a more perfect way, by +Principles and Theories. The Increase of Knowledge being that which +changeth so much the Face of the World, and the State of humane Affairs, +I do not doubt but there is a particular Care and Superintendency for +the Conduct of it; by what Steps and Degrees it should come to light, at +what Seasons and in what Ages; what Evidence should be left, either in +Scripture, Reason, or Tradition, for the Grounds of it; how clear or +obscure, how dispers’d or united: All these things were weigh’d and +consider’d, and such Measures taken as best suit the Designs of +Providence, and the general Project and Method propos’d in the +Government of the World. And I make no Question but the State both of +the Old World, and of that which is to come, is exhibited to us in +Scripture in such a Measure and Proportion, as is fit for this +formentioned Purpose; not as the Articles of our Faith, or the Precepts +of a good Life, which he that runs may read; but to the attentive and +reflective, to those that are unprejudic’d, and to those who are +inquisitive, and have their Minds open and prepar’d for the Discernment +of Mysteries of such a Nature. + +THUS much in Answer to that general Objection which might be made +against this Theory, _That_ it is not founded in Antiquity. I do not +doubt but there may be many particular Objections against Parts and +Sections of it, and the exposing it thus in our own Tongue may excite +some one or other, it may be, to make them; but if any be so minded, I +desire (if they be Scholars) that it may rather be in _Latin_, as being +more proper for a Subject of this Nature; and also that they would keep +themselves close to the Substance of the Theory, and wound that as much +as they can: But to make Excursions upon Things accidental or +collateral, that do not destroy the _Hypothesis_, is but to trouble the +World with Impertinencies. Now the Substance of the Theory is this, THAT +there was a _Primitive Earth_ of another Form from the present, and +inhabited by Mankind till the Deluge: That it had those Properties and +Conditions that we have ascrib’d to it, namely, a perpetual Equinox or +Spring, by reason of its _right_ Situation to the Sun; was of an oval +Figure, and the exterior Face of it smooth and uniform, without +Mountains or a Sea. That in this Earth stood _Paradise_; the Doctrine +whereof cannot be understood but upon Supposition of this primitive +Earth, and its Properties. Then that the Disruption and Fall of this +Earth into the Abyss, which lay under it, was that which made the +universal Deluge, and the Destruction of the old World; and that neither +_Noah_’s Flood, nor the present Form of the Earth, can be explain’d in +any other Method that is rational, nor by any other Causes that are +intelligible, at least, that have been hitherto propos’d to the World. +These are the Vitals of the Theory, and the primary Assertions, whereof +I do freely profess my full Belief; and whosoever by solid Reasons will +shew me in an Error, and undeceive me, I shall be very much oblig’d to +him. There are other lesser Conclusions which flow from these, and may +be call’d Secondary, as that the Longevity of the Ante-diluvians +depended upon their perpetual Equinox, and the perpetual Equality and +Serenity of the Air: That the Torrid Zone in the primitive Earth was +uninhabitable, and that all their Rivers flow’d from the extream Parts +of the Earth towards the Equinoctial; there being neither Rain nor +Rainbow in the temperate and habitable Regions of it: And lastly, That +the Place of _Paradise_, according to the Opinion of Antiquity, (for I +determine no Place by the Theory) was in the southern Hemisphere. These, +I think, are all truly deduc’d and prov’d in their several Ways, tho’ +they be not such essential Parts of the Theory, as the former. There are +also besides, many particular Explications that are to be consider’d +with more Liberty and Latitude, and may be perhaps upon better Thoughts, +or better Observations, corrected without any Prejudice to the general +Theory. Those Places of Scripture, which we have cited, I think, are all +truly apply’d; and I have not mention’d _Moses_’s _Cosmopœia_, because I +thought it deliver’d by him as a Lawgiver, not as a Philosopher; which I +intend to shew at large in another Treatise, not thinking that +Discussion proper for the vulgar Tongue. Upon the whole, we are to +remember, that some Allowances are to be made for every _Hypothesis_ +that is new propos’d and untry’d; and that we ought not, out of Levity +of Wit, or any private Design, discountenance free and fair Essays; nor +from any other Motive but the only Love and Concern of Truth. + +Footnote 2: + + Page 41. _Franciscus Patricius, Vir eruditione sat clarus, in quodam + libello suo de Antiquorum Rhetoricâ, Italico idiomate conscripto, ac + Venetiis impresso per Franciscum Senensem, Dialogo primo satis lepidam + narrationem habet, quam referi Julium Strozzam à Comite Balthasare + Castilioneo audivisse, Illum verò à Philosopho quodam Abyssino in + Hispaniâ accepisse. Narrabat ergo sapiens ille Abyssinus in + antiquissimus Æthiopiæ Annalibus descriptam esse historiam perditionis + humani generis & disruptionis totius Terræ. In Mundi scilicet + primordiis fuisse Terram multo ampliorem quam nunc est, ac Cœlo + proximiorem, perfectè rotundam, sine Montibus ac Vallibus, totam tamen + intras cavernosam ad instar spongiæ, hominesque in illâ habitantes, ac + æthere purissimo gaudentes, jucundum ævum duxisse, Terrâ inaratâ + optimas fruges, & fructus ferente. Cum autem post diuturnum sæculorum + fluxum homines superbiâ elati à priscâ illâ bonitate descivissent, + Deos irates Terram adeo validè concussisse, ut major illius pars intra + proprias externas deciderit, atque hoc pacto Aquam in latebræsis + recessibus ante conclusam, expressam violenter fuisse, atque ita + Fontes, Fiumina, Lacus & Mare ipsium ortum duxisse. Eam vero Terra + portionem que intra has non deculisset, sed reliquâ elatior fluisset. + Montium formam. Insulas porrò & scopulos in medio mari ad aliud esse + nisi segmenta Terra cavernosa ab illo istius terrenæ milos præcipere + casu superstitis._ + + + + + CHAP. X. + Concerning the Author of Nature. + + +SEEING the Theory which we have propos’d in this Work is of that Extent +and Comprehension, that it begins with the first Foundation of this +World, and is to reach to the last Period of it, in one continued Series +or Chain of Nature; it will not be improper, before we conclude, to make +some Reflections and Remarks what _Nature_ is, and upon what superior +Causes she depends in all her Motions and Operations: And this will lead +us to the Discovery of the _Author_ of Nature, and to the true Notion +and State of _Natural Providence_, which seems to have been hitherto +very much neglected, or little understood in the World. And ’tis the +more reasonable and fitting that we should explain these Notions before +we shut up this Treatise, lest those natural Explications which we have +given of the Deluge, and other Things, should be mistaken or misapply’d; +seeing some are apt to run away with Pieces of a Discourse, which they +think applicable to their Purpose, or which they can maliciously +represent, without attending to the Scope or just Limitations of what is +spoken. + +BY _Nature_ in general is understood all the Powers of finite Beings, +with the Laws establish’d for their Action and Conduct according to the +ordinary Course of Things. And this extends both to intellectual Beings +and corporeal; but seeing ’tis only the material World that hath been +the Subject of our Discourse, Nature, as to that, may be defin’d, the +Powers of _Matter_, with the Laws establish’d for their Action and +Conduct. Seeing also Matter hath no Action, whether from it self, or +imprest upon it, but Motion, as to the corporeal World, Nature is no +more than the Powers and Capacities of Matter, with the Laws that govern +the Motions of it. And this Definition is so plain and easy, that, I +believe, all Parties will agree in it; there will also be no great +Controversy what these Laws are. As that one Part of Matter cannot +penetrate another, nor be in several Places at once; That the greater +Body overcomes the less, and the swifter the slower; That all Motion is +in a right Line, till something obstruct it or divert it; which are +Points little disputed as to the Matter of Fact; but the Points +concerning which the Controversy ariseth, and which are to lead us to +the Author of Nature, are these; _Who_ or _what_ is the Author of these +_Laws_ of this _Motion_, and even of _Matter_ it self; and of all those +Modes and Forms of it which we see in Nature? + +THE Question useth chiefly to be put concerning _Motion_, how it came +into the World; what the first Source of it is, or how Matter came at +first to be mov’d? For the simple Notion of Matter, not divided into +Parts, nor diversified, doth not imply Motion, but Extension only: ’Tis +true, from Extension there necessarily follows _Mobility_, or a Capacity +of being mov’d by an external Power, but not actual or necessary Motion, +springing from it self. For Dimensions, or Length, Breadth, and Depth, +which is the _Idea_ of Matter, or of a Body, do no Way include local +Motion, or Translation of Parts; on the contrary, we do more easily and +naturally conceive simple Extension as a Thing steady and fix’d; and if +we conceive Motion in it, or in its Parts, we must superadd something to +our first Thought, and something that does not flow from Extension. As +when we conceive a Figure, a Triangle, Square, or any other, we +naturally conceive it fix’d or quiescent; and if afterwards we imagine +it in Motion, that is purely accidental to the Figure; in like Manner it +is accidental to Matter, that there should be Motion in it, it hath no +inward Principle from whence that can flow, and its Nature is compleat +without it; wherefore, if we find Motion and Action in Matter, which is +of it self a dead inactive Mass; this should lead us immediately to the +Author of Nature, or to some external Power distinct from Matter, which +is the Cause of all Motion in the World. + +IN single Bodies, and single Parts of Matter, we readily believe and +conclude, that they do not move, unless something move them, and why +should we not conclude the same Thing of the whole Mass? If a Rock or +Mountain cannot move it self, nor divide it self, either into great +Gobbets, or into small Powder, why should it not be as impossible for +the whole Mass of Matter to do so? ’Tis true, Matter is capable both of +Motion and Rest; yet to conceive it undivided, undiversified and +unmoved, is certainly a more simple Notion, than to conceive it divided +and mov’d; and this being first in Order of Nature, and an adequate +Conception too, we ought to enquire and give our selves an Account how +it came out of this State, and by what Causes, or, as we said before, +how _Motion came first into the World_. + +IN the second Place, That Diversity which we see in Nature, both as to +the Qualities of Matter, and the Compositions of it, being one Step +further than bare Motion, ought also to be a further Indication of the +Author of Nature, and to put us upon Enquiry into the Causes of this +Diversity. There is nothing more uniform than simple Extension, nothing +more the same throughout, all of a Piece, and all of a Sort, similar, +and like to itself every where; yet we find the Matter of the Universe +diversified a thousand Ways, into Heavens and Earth, Air and Water, +Stars, Meteors, Light, Darkness, Stones, Wood, Animals, and all +terrestrial Bodies; These Diversifications are still further Removes +from the natural Unity and Identity of Matter, and a further Argument of +some external and superior Power that hath given these different Forms +to the several Portions of Matter, by the Intervention of Motion. For if +you exclude the Author of Nature, and suppose nothing but Matter in the +World, take whether _Hypothesis_ you will, either that Matter is without +Motion of it self, or that it is of it self in Motion, there could not +arise this Diversity, and these Compositions in it. If it was without +Motion, then the Case is plain, for it would be nothing but an hard +inflexible Lump of impenetrable Extension, without any Diversity at all. +And if you suppose it mov’d of it self, or to have an innate Motion, +that would certainly hinder all Sort of natural Concretions and +Compositions, and in Effect destroy all Continuity. For Motion, if it be +essential to Matter, it is essential to every Atom of it, and equally +diffus’d throughout all its Parts; and all those Parts or Atoms would be +equal to one another, and as little as possible; for if Matter was +divided into Parts by its own innate Motion, that would melt it down +into Parts as little as possible, and consequently all equal to one +another, there being no reason why you should stop those Divisions, or +the Effect of this innate _Impetus_ in any one Part sooner than in +another, or in any Part indeed, till it was divided as much as was +possible: wherefore upon this Principle, or in this Method, all the +Matter of the Universe would be one liquid or volatile Mass, smaller +than Pin-dust, nay, than Air or Æther; and there would be no Diversity +of Forms, only another sort of Identity from the former, when we +suppos’d it wholly without Motion. And so, upon the whole, you see, that +Matter, whether we allow it Motion, or no Motion, could not come into +that Variety of Tempers and Compositions in which we find it in the +World, without the Influence and Direction of a superior external Cause, +which we call the Author of Nature. + +BUT there is still a further and stronger Argument from this Head, if we +consider not only the Diversity of Bodies that the Mass of Matter is cut +into, but also that that Diversity is _regular_, and in some Parts of it +admirably artful and ingenious. This will not only lead us to an Author +of Nature, but to such an Author as hath Wisdom as well as Power. Matter +is a brute Being, stupid and senseless; and tho’ we should suppose it to +have a Force to move it self, yet that it should be able to meditate and +consult, and take its Measures how to frame a World, a regular and +beautiful Structure, consisting of such and such Parts and Regions, and +adapted to such and such Purposes, this would be too extravagant to +imagine; to allow it not only Motion from it self, but Wit and Judgment +too; and that before it came into any organical or animate Composition. + +YOU’ll say, it may be, the Frame of the World was not the Result of +Counsel and Consultation, but of _Necessity_; Matter being once in +Motion under the Conduct of those Laws that are essential to it, it +wrought it self by Degrees from one State into another, till at length +it came into the present Form which we call the World. These are Words +thrown out at Random, without any Pretence of Ground, only to see if +they can be confuted; and so they may easily be; for we have shewn +already, that if Matter had innate Motion, it would be so far from +running into the orderly and well dispos’d Frame of the World, that it +would run into no Frame at all, into no Forms or Compositions, or +Diversity of Bodies; but would either be all fluid, or all solid; either +every single Particle in a separate Motion, or all in one continued +Mass, with an universal Tremor, or Inclination to move without actual +Separation; and either of these two States is far from the Form of a +World. Secondly, As to the Laws of Motion, as some of them are essential +to Matter, so others are not demonstrable, but upon Supposition of an +Author of Nature. And thirdly, Tho’ all the Laws of Motion be admitted, +they cannot bring Matter into the Form of a World, unless some Measures +be taken at first by an intelligent Being; I say, some Measures be taken +to determine the primary Motions upon which the rest depend, and to put +them in a Way that leads to the Formation of a World. The Mass must be +divided into Regions, and Centers fixt, and Motions appropriated to +them; and it must be consider’d of what Magnitude the first Bodies, or +the first Divisions of Matter should be, and how mov’d: Besides, there +must be a determinate Proportion, and certain Degree of Motion imprest +upon the universal Matter, to qualify it for the Production of a World; +if the Dose was either too strong or too weak, the Work would miscarry; +and nothing but infinite Wisdom could see thro’ the Effects of every +Proportion, or every new degree of Motion, and discern which was best +for the Beginning, Progress, and Perfection of a World. So you see the +Author of Nature is no Way excluded, or made useless by the Laws of +Motion; nor if Matter was promiscuously mov’d, would these be sufficient +Causes of themselves to produce a World, or that regular Diversity of +Bodies that compose it. + +BUT ’tis hard to satisfy Men against their Inclinations, or their +Interest: And as their Regularity of the Universe was always a great +Stumbling-stone to the _Epicureans_; so they have endeavour’d to make +Shifts of all Sorts to give an Account and Answer to it, without +Recourse to an intelligent Principle; and for their last Refuge, they +say, that Chance might bring that to pass, which Nature and Necessity +could not do; the Atoms might hit upon a lucky Set of Motions, which, +tho’ it were casual and fortuitous, might happily lead them to the +forming of a World. A lucky hit indeed, for Chance to frame a World: But +this is a mere Shuffle and Collusion; for if there was nothing in Nature +but Matter, there could be no such Thing as _Chance_, all would be pure +_Mechanical Necessity_; and so this Answer, tho’ it seem very different, +is the same in effect with the former, and _Epicurus_ with his +anatomists are oblig’d to give a just mechanical Account, how all the +Parts of Nature, the most compound and elaborate Parts not excepted, +rise from their Atoms by pure Necessity: There could be no accidental +Concourse or Coalition of them, every step, every motion, every +composition was fatal and necessary, and therefore ’tis Nonsense for an +_Epicurean_ to talk of Chance, as Chance is oppos’d to Necessity; and if +they oppose it to _Counsel_ and _Wisdom_, ’tis little better than +Nonsense, to say the World and all its Furniture rose by Chance, in that +Notion of it. But it will deserve our Patience a little, to give a more +full and distinct Answer to this, seeing it reacheth all their Pleas and +Evasions at once. + +WHAT Proof or Demonstration of Wisdom and Counsel can be given, or can +be desir’d, that is not found in some Part of the World, animate or +inanimate? We know but a little Portion of the Universe, a mere Point in +Comparison, and a broken Point too; and yet in this broken Point, or +some small Parcels of it, there is more of Art, Counsel and Wisdom +shewn, than in all the Works of Men taken together, or than in all our +_Artificial_ World. In the Construction of the Body of an Animal, there +is more of Thought and Contrivance, more of exquisite Invention, and fit +Disposition of Parts, than is in all the Temples, Palaces, Ships, +Theatres, or any other Pieces of Architecture the World ever yet saw: +And not Architecture only, but all other Mechanism whatsoever, Engines, +Clock-work, or any other, is not comparable to the Body of a living +Creature. Seeing then we acknowledge these artificial Works, wheresoever +we meet with them, to be the Effects of Wit, Understanding and Reason, +is it not manifest Partiality, or Stupidity rather, to deny the Works of +Nature, which excel these in all Degrees, to proceed from an intelligent +Principle? Let them take any Piece of humane Art, or any Machine fram’d +by the Wit of Man, and compare it with the Body of an Animal, either for +Diversity and Multiplicity of Workmanship, or Curiosity in the minute +Parts, or just Connexion and Dependance of one Thing upon another, or +fit Subserviency to the Ends propos’d, of Life, Motion, Use and Ornament +to the Creature; and if in all these Respects they find it superior to +any Work of humane Production, (as they certainly must do) why should it +be thought to proceed from inferior and senseless Causes? Ought we not +in this, as well as in other Things, to proportion the Causes to the +Effect, and to speak Truth, and bring in an honest Verdict for Nature as +well as Art? + +IN the Composition of a perfect Animal, there are four several Frames or +Compages join’d together, the natural, vital, animal and genital: Let +them examine anyone of these apart, and try if they can find any Thing +defective or superfluous, or any Way inept for Matter or Form. Let them +view the whole Compages of the Bones, and especially the admirable +Constitution, Texture, and Disposition of the Muscles, which are join’d +with them for moving the Body, or its Parts. Let them take an Account of +the little Pipes and Conduits for the Juices and the Liquors, of their +Form and Distribution; or let them take any single Organ to examine, as +the Eye, or the Ear, the Hand, or the Heart: In each of these they may +discover such Arguments of Wisdom, and of Art, as will either convince +them, or confound them; tho’ still they must leave greater undiscover’d. +We know little the insensible Form and Contexture of the Parts of the +Body, nor the just Method of their Action: We know not yet the Manner, +Order and Causes of the Motion of the Heart, which is the chief Spring +of the whole Machine; and with how little Exactness do we understand the +Brain, and the Parts belonging to it? Why of that Temper and of that +Form: How Motions are propagated there, and how conserv’d: How they +answer the several Operations of the Mind: Why such little Discomposures +of it disturb our Senses, and upon what little Differences in this the +great Differences of Wits and Genius’s depend. Yet seeing in all these +Organs, whose Make and Manner of Action we cannot discover, we see +however by the Effects, that they are truly fitted for those Offices to +which Nature hath design’d them, we ought in Reason to admire that Art +which we cannot penetrate. At least we cannot but judge it a Thing +absurd, that what we have not Wit enough to find out or comprehend, we +should not allow to be an Argument of Wit and Understanding in the +Author, or Inventor of it. This would be against all Logick, common +Sense, and common _Decorum_. Neither do I think it possible to the Mind +of Man, while we attend to Evidence, to believe that these, and such +like Works of Nature came by _Chance_, as they call it, or without +Providence, Forecast and Wisdom, either in the first Causes, or in the +proximate; in the Design, or in the Execution; in the Preparation to +them, or in the finishing of them. + +WHEREFORE, in my Judgment, if any be of this Persuasion, it cannot be so +much the Effect of their Understanding, as of their Disposion and +Inclination; and in moral Things, Mens Opinions do as often spring from +the one, as from the other. For my Part, I do generally distinguish of +two Sorts of Opinions in all Men, _Inclination-opinions_, and +_Reason’d-opinions_; Opinions that grow upon Mens Complexions, and +Opinions that are the Results of their Reason; and I meet with very few +that are of a Temperament so equal, or a Constitution so even pois’d, +but that they incline to one Set of Opinions rather than another, +antecedently to all Proofs of Reason: And when they have espous’d their +Opinions from that secret Sympathy, then they find out as good Reasons +as they can, to maintain them, and say, nay think sometimes, that ’twas +for the sake of those Reasons that they first embrac’d them. We may +commonly distinguish these Inclination-opinions from the rational, +because we find them accompanied with more Heat than Light, a great deal +of Eagerness and Impatience in defending of them, and but slender +Arguments. One might give Instances of this, both in Sects of Religion +and Philosophy, in _Platonists_, _Stoicks,_ and _Epicureans_, that are +so by their Temper more than their Reason; but to our Purpose it will be +sufficient to instance in one hearty _Epicurean_, _Lucretius_, who is +manifestly such, more from his Inclination, and the Bent of his Spirit, +than from the Force of Argument. For tho’ his Suppositions be very +precarious, and his Reasonings all along very slight, he will many times +strut and triumph, as if he had rested the Thunder out of _Jove_’s right +Hand; and a Mathematician is not more confident of his Demonstration, +than he seems to be of the Truth of his shallow Philosophy. From such a +Principle of natural Complexion as this, I allow a Man may be +Athestical, but never from the calm Dictate of his Reason; yet he may be +as confident and as tenacious of his Conclusion, as if he had a clear +and distinct Evidence for it. For I take it to be a true Maxim in humane +Nature, that _a strong Inclination, with a little Evidence, is +equivalent to a strong Evidence_. And therefore we are not to be +surpriz’d if we find Men confident in their Opinions many times far +beyond the Degree of their Evidence, seeing there are other Things, +besides Evidence, that incline the Will to one Conclusion rather than +another. And as I have instanc’d in natural Complexion, so _Interest_ +hath the same Effect upon humane Nature, because it always begets an +Inclination to those Opinions that favour our Interest, and a +Disinclination to the contrary: And this Principle may be another +Ingredient, and secret Persuasive to Atheism; for when Men have run +themselves so deep into Vice and Immorality, that they expect no Benefit +from a God, ’tis in a Manner necessary to their Quiet, and the Ease of +their Mind, that they should fancy there is none; for they are afraid, +if there be a God, that he will not stand neuter, and let them alone in +another World. This, I say, is necessary to the Quiet of their Mind, +unless they can attain that great Art, which many labour after, of +_Non-reflection_, or an _unthinking Faculty_, as to God and a World to +come. But to return to our Argument, after this short Digression—— + +AND as that regular Diversity which we see in the Forms of Nature, and +especially in the Bodies of Animals, could not be from any blind +Principle, either of Necessity or of Chance; so in the last Place, that +_Subordination_ which we see in the Parts of Nature, and Subserviency to +one another, the less Noble to the more Noble, the Inanimate to the +Animate, and all Things upon Earth unto Man, must needs have been the +Effect of some Being higher than Matter; that did wisely dispose all +Things so at first, and doth still conserve them in the same order. If +Man had been born into the World, and a numerous Host of Creatures, +without any Provision or Accommodation made for their Subsistence and +Conveniences, we might have suspected that they had come by Chance, and +therefore were so ill provided for: But which of them can complain? +Thro’ their various kinds and orders, what is there awanting? They are +all fitted to their several Elements, and their ways of living, Birds, +Beasts, and Fishes, both by the Form and Shape of their Bodies, the +manner of their Covering, and the Quality of their Food. Besides, they +are instructed in little Arts and Instincts for their Conservation; and +not only for their proper Conservation, but also to find a way to make +and bring up young ones, and leave behind them a Posterity: And all this +in so fit a Method, and by such a pretty Train of Actions, as is really +admirable. + +MAN is the Master of all, and of him a double Care is taken; that he +should neither want what Nature can afford, nor what Art can supply. He +could not be provided of all Conveniences by Nature only, especially to +secure him against the Injuries of the Air; but in Recompence, Nature +hath provided Materials for all those Arts which she saw would be +needful in humane Life, as Building, Cloathing, Navigation, Agriculture, +_&c._ that so Mankind might have both wherewithal to answer their +Occasions, and also to employ their Time, and exercise their Ingenuity. +This Oeconomy of Nature, as I may call it, or well ordering of the great +Family of living Creatures, is an Argument both of Goodness and of +Wisdom, and is every way far above the Powers of Brute Matter. All +regular Administration we ascribe to Conduct and Judgment: If an Army of +Men be well provided for, in things necessary both for Food, Cloaths, +Arms, Lodging, Security and Defence, so as nothing is awanting in so +great a Multitude, we suppose it the Effect of Care and Forecast in +those Persons that had the Charge of it: They took their Measures at +first, computed and proportion’d one thing to another, made good +Regulations, and gave Orders for convenient Supplies. And can we suppose +the great Army of Creatures upon Earth, managed and provided for with +less Fore-thought and Providence, nay, with none at all, by mere Chance? +This is to recede from all Rules and Analogy of Reason, only to serve a +Turn, and gratify an unreasonable Humour. + +TO conclude this Argument; there are two general Heads of things, if I +recollect aright, which we make the Marks and Characters of Wisdom and +Reason, Works of Art, and the Conduct of Affairs or Direction of Means +to an End; and wheresoever we meet, either with regular material Works, +or a regular Ordination of Affairs, we think we have a good Title and +Warrant to derive them from an intelligent Author: Now these two being +found in the natural World, and that in an eminent Degree, the one in +the Frame of it, and the other in the Oeconomy of it, we have all the +Evidence and Ground that can be, in arguing from Things visible to +Things invisible, that there is an Author of Nature, superior both to +humane Power and humane Wisdom. + +BEFORE we proceed to give any further Proofs or Discoveries of the +Author of Nature, let us reflect a little upon those we have already +insisted upon; which have been taken wholly from the material World, and +from the common Course of Nature. The very Existence of Matter is a +Proof of a Deity, for the _Idea_ of it hath no Connexion with Existence, +as we shall shew hereafter; however we will take leave now to set it +down with the rest in Order as they follow one another. + + 1. _The Existence of Matter._ + + 2. _The Motion of Matter._ + + 3. _The just Quantity and Degree of that Motion._ + + 4. _The first Form of the Universe upon Motion imprest; both as to + the Divisions of Matter, and the Leading Motions._ + + 5. _The Laws for Communication and Regulation of that Motion._ + + 6. _The regular Effects of it, especially in the Animate World._ + + 7. _The Oeconomy of Nature, and fit Subordination of one part of the + World to another._ + +_The_ five first of these Heads are Prerequisites and Preparatives to +the Formation of a World, and the two last are as the Image and +Character of its Maker, of his Power, Goodness and Wisdom, imprest upon +it. Every one of them might well deserve a Chapter to it self, if the +Subject was to be treated on at large; but this is only an occasional +Dissertation, to state the Powers of Matter, lest they should be thought +boundless, and the Author of Nature unnecessary, as the _Epicureans_ +pretend; but notwithstanding their vain Confidence and Credulity, I defy +them, or any Man else, to make Sense of the material World, without +placing a God at the Center of it. + +TO these Considerations, taken wholly from the corporeal World, give me +leave to add one of a mix’d Nature, concerning the _Union of our Soul +and Body_. This strange Effect, if rightly understood, doth as truly +discover the Author of Nature, as many Effects that are accounted more +supernatural. The Incarnation, as I may so say, of a spiritual Substance +is to me a kind of standing Miracle; that there should be such an Union +and Connexion reciprocally betwixt the Motions of the Body, and the +Actions and Passions of the Soul; betwixt a Substance intellectual, and +a Parcel of organiz’d Matter, can be no Effect of either of those +Substances; being wholly distinct in themselves, and remote in their +Natures from one another. For Instance, when my finger is cut, or when +’tis burnt, that my Soul thereupon should feel such a smart and violent +Pain, is no Consequence of Nature, or does not follow from any Connexion +there is betwixt the Motion or Division of that Piece of Matter, I call +my Finger, and the Passion of that Spirit I call my Soul; for these are +two distinct Essences, and in themselves independent upon one another, +as much as the Sun and my Body are independent; and there is no more +Reason in strict Nature, or in the essential Chain of Causes and +Effects, that my Soul should suffer, or be affected with this Motion in +the Finger, than that the Sun should be affected with it; nay, there is +less Reason, if less can be, for the Sun being corporeal, as the Finger +is, there is some remote Possibility that there might be Communication +of Motion betwixt them; but Motion cannot beget a Thought, or a Passion, +by its own Force; Motion can beget nothing but Motion, and if it should +produce a Thought, the Effect would be more noble than the Cause. +Wherefore this Union is not by any Necessity of Nature, but only from a +positive institution or Decree, establish’d by the Author of Nature, +that there should be such a Communication betwixt these two Substances +for a time, _viz._ during the Vitality of the Body. + +’TIS true indeed, if Thought, Apprehension, and Reason, was nothing but +corporeal Motion, this Argument would be of no Force; but to suppose +this, is to admit an Absurdity to cure a Difficulty; to make a Thought +out of a local Motion is like making a God out of a Stock, or a Stone; +for these two are as remote in their Nature, and have as different +_Idea’s_ in the Mind, as any two desperate Things we can propose or +conceive; Number and Colour, a Triangle and Virtue, Free-will and a +Pyramid, are not more unlike, more distant, or of more different Forms, +than Thought and local Motion. Motion is nothing but a Body’s changing +its Place and Situation amongst other Bodies, and what Affinity or +Resemblance hath that to a _Thought_? How is that like to Pain, or to a +Doubt of the Mind? To Hope or to Desire? To the _Idea_ of God? To any +Act of the Will or Understanding, as judging, consenting, reasoning, +remembring, or any other? These are Things of several Orders that have +no Similitude, nor any Mixture of one another. And as this is the Nature +of Motion, so, on the other Hand, in a _Thought_ there are two Things, +_Consciousness_ and a _Representation_; Consciousness is in all Thoughts +indifferently, whether distinct or confus’d, for no Man thinks but he is +conscious that he thinks, nor perceives any Thing but he is conscious +that he perceives it; there is also in a Thought, especially if it be +distinct, a Representation; ’tis the Image of that we think upon, and +makes its Objects present to the Mind. Now what hath local Motion to do +with either of these two, Consciousness or Representativeness? How doth +it include either of them, or hold them any way affix’d to its Nature? I +think one may with as good Sense and Reason ask of what Colour a Thought +is, Green or Scarlet, as what Sort of Motion it is; for Motion of what +Sort soever can never be conscious, nor represent Things as our Thoughts +do. I have noted thus much in general, only to shew the different Nature +of Motion and Cogitation, that we may be the more sensible that they +have no mutual Connexion in us, nor in any other Creature, from their +Essence or essential Properties, but by a supervenient Power from the +Author of Nature, who hath thus united the Soul and the Body in their +Operations. + +WE have hitherto only consider’d the ordinary Course of Nature, and what +Indications and Proofs of its Author, that affords us: There is another +remarkable Head of Arguments from Effects, extraordinary and +supernatural, such as Miracles, Prophecies, Inspirations, Prodigies, +Apparitions, Witchcraft, Sorceries, _&c._ These, at one Step, lead us to +something above Nature, and this is the shortest way and the most +Popular; several Arguments are suited to several Tempers, and God hath +not left himself without a proper Witness to every Temper that is not +willfully blind. Of these Witnesses we now speak of, the most +considerable are Miracles, and the most considerable Records of them are +the Books of Scripture; which if we consider only as an History, and as +having nothing sacred in them more than other good Histories, that is, +Truth in Matter of Fact, we cannot doubt but there have been Miracles in +the World: That _Moses_ and the Prophets, our Saviour and his Apostles, +wrought Miracles, I can no more question, than that _Cæsar_ and +_Alexander_ fought Battles, and took Cities. So also that there were +true Prophecies and Inspirations, we know from Scripture, only +consider’d as a true History. But as for other supernatural Effects that +are not recorded there, we have Reason to examine them more strictly +before we receive them, at least as to particular Instances; for I am +apt to think they are like Lotteries, where there are ten or twenty +Blanks for one Prize; but yet if there were no Prizes at all, the +Lottery would not have Credit to subsist, and would be cry’d down as a +perfect Cheat: So if amongst those many Stories of Prodigies, +Apparitions, and Witchcrafts, there were not some true, the very Fame +and Thought of them would die from amongst Men, and the first Broachers +of them would be hooted at as Cheats. As a false Religion, that hath +nothing true and solid mix’d with it, can scarce be fix’d upon Mankind; +but where there is a Mixture of true and false, the Strength of the one +supports the Weakness of the other. As for Sorcery, the Instances and +Examples of it are undeniable; not so much those few scatter’d Instances +that happen now and then among us, but such as are more constant, and in +a manner National, in some Countries, and amongst barbarous People. +Besides, the Oracles, and the Magick that was so frequent amongst the +Ancients, shew us that there have been always some Powers more than +Humane, tampering with the Affairs of Mankind. But this Topick from +Effects, extraordinary and supernatural, being in a great measure +Historical, and respecting evil Spirits as well as the Author of Nature, +is not so proper for this Place. + +THERE is a third Set or Head of Arguments, that to some Tempers are more +cogent and convictive than any of these, namely, Arguments _Abstract_ +and _Metaphysical_; And these do not only lead us to an Author of Nature +in general, but shew us more of his Properties and Perfections; +represent him to us as a supreme Deity, infinitely perfect, the Fountain +of all Being, and the steady Center of all Things. But Reasons of this +Order being of a finer Thread, require more Attention, and some +Preparation of Mind to make us discern them well and be duly sensible of +them. When a Man hath withdrawn himself from the Noise of this busy +World, lock’d up his Senses and his Passions, and every thing that would +unite him with it; commanded a general Silence in the Soul, and suffers +not a Thought to stir, but what looks inwards; let him then reflect +seriously, and ask himself, _What am I_, and _How came I into Being_? If +I was Author and Original to my self, surely I ought to feel that mighty +Power, and enjoy the Pleasure of it; but, alas, I am conscious of no +such Force or Virtue, nor of any thing in my Nature, that should give me +necessary Existence; it hath no Connexion with any part of me, nor any +Faculty in me, that I can discern. And now that I do exist, from what +Causes soever, _Can I secure my self in Being_? Now that I am in +Possession, am I sure to keep it? Am I certain that three Minutes hence +I shall still exist? I may or I may not, for ought I see; either seems +possible in it self; and either is contingent as to me; I find nothing +in my Nature that can warrant my Substance for one Day, for one Hour, +for one Moment longer. I am nothing but Thoughts, fleeting Thoughts, +that chase and extinguish one another; and my Being, for ought I know, +is successive, and as dying as they are, and renew’d to me every Moment. +This I am sure of, that so far as I know my self, and am conscious what +I am, there is no Principle of Immutability, or of necessary and +indefectible Existence in my Nature; and therefore I ought in Reason to +believe, that I stand or fall at the Mercy of other Causes, and not by +my own Will, or my own Sufficiency. + +BESIDES, I am very sensible, and in this I cannot be mistaken, that my +Nature is in several Respects weak and imperfect, both as to Will and +Understanding. I _Will_ many Things in vain and without effect, and I +Wish often what I have no Ability to execute or obtain. And as to my +Understanding, how defective is it? How little or nothing do I know in +Comparison of what I am ignorant of? Almost all the intellectual World +is shut up to me, and the far greatest Part of the corporeal; and in +those Things that fall under my Cognizance, how often am I mistaken? I +am confin’d to a narrow Sphere, and yet within that Sphere I often err; +my Conceptions of Things are obscure and confus’d, my reason +short-sighted; I am forc’d often to correct my self, or to acknowledge +that I have judg’d false, and consented to an Error. In sum, all my +Powers I find are limited, and I can easily conceive the same kind of +Perfections in higher Degrees than I possess them, and consequently +there are Beings, or may be, greater and more excellent than my self, +and more able to subsist by their own Power, (Τὸ τέλειον πρότερον τῇ +Φύσει τοῦς ἀτελοῦς Arist.) Why should I not therefore believe that my +Original is from those Beings rather than from my self? For every +Nature, the more great and perfect it is, the nearer it approaches to +Necessity of Existence, and to a Power of producing other Things. Yet, +the Truth is, it must be acknowledg’d, that so long as the Perfection of +those other Beings are limited and finite, tho’ they be far superior to +us, there is no Necessity ariseth from their Nature that they should +exist; and the same Arguments that we have us’d against our selves, they +may, in Proportion, use against themselves; and therefore we must still +advance higher to find a self-originated Being, whose Existence must +flow immediately from his Essence, or have a necessary Connexion with +it. + +AND indeed all these different Degrees of higher and higher Perfections, +lead us directly to an highest, or supreme Degree, which is infinite and +unlimited Perfection. As subordinate Causes lead to the first, so +Natures more perfect one than another lead us to a Nature infinitely +perfect, which is the Fountain of them all. Thither we must go, if we +will follow the Course of Reason, which cannot stop at one more than +another, till it arrive there; and being arriv’d there at that sovereign +and original Perfection, it finds a firm and immovable Ground to stand +upon; the steady Centre of all Being, wherein the Mind rests and is +satisfied. All the Scruples or Objections that we mov’d against our +selves, or other Creatures, take no Place here: This Being is conscious +of an Allsufficiency in it self, and of Immutability as to any Thing +else; including in it all the Causes of Existence, or, to speak more +properly, all Necessity of Existence. Besides, that _we exist our +selves_, notwithstanding the Imperfection and Insufficiency of our +Nature, is a just, collateral Proof of the Existence, of this supreme +Being; for such an Effect as this cannot be without its Cause, and it +can have no other competent Cause but what we mention. And as this Being +is its own Origin, so it must needs be capable of producing all +Creatures; for whatsoever is possible, must be possible to it; and that +Creatures or finite Beings are possible, we both see by Experience, and +may also discern by Reason; for those several Degrees of Perfection or +Limitations of it, which we mention’d before, are all consistent +Notions, and consequently make consistent Natures, and such as may +exist; but contingently indeed, and in Dependance upon the first Cause. + +THUS we are come at length to a fair Resolution of that great Question, +_Whence we are_, and _how_ we continue in Being? And this hath led us by +an easy Ascent to the supreme Author of Nature, and the first Cause of +all things; and presents us also with such a Scheme and Draught of the +Universe, as is clear and rational; every thing in its Order, and in its +Place, according to the Dignity of its Nature, and the Strength of its +Principles. When the Mind hath rais’d it self into this View of a Being +infinitely perfect, ’tis in a Region of Light, hath a free Prospect +every Way, and sees all Things from Top to Bottom, as pervious and +transparent. Whereas without God and a first Cause, there is nothing but +Darkness and Confusion in the Mind, and in Nature; broken Views of +Things, short interrupted Glimpses of Light, nothing certain or +demonstrative, no Basis of Truth, no Extent of Thought, no Science, no +Contemplation. + +YOU will say, it may be, ’tis true, something must be _eternal_, and of +_necessary Existence_, but why may not _Matter_ be this eternal +necessary Being? Then our Souls and all other Intellectual Things must +be Parts and Parcels of Matter; and what Pretensions can Matter have to +those Properties and Perfections that we find in our Souls, how limited +soever? Much less to _necessary Existence_, and those Perfections that +are the Foundation of it? What _exists_ eternally, and from it self, its +Existence must flow immediately from its Essence, as its Cause, Reason, +or Ground; for as Existence hath always something antecedent to it in +Order of Nature, so that which is antecedent to it, must infer it by a +necessary Connexion, and so may be call’d the Cause, Ground, or Reason +of it. And nothing can be such a Ground, but what is a Perfection; nor +every Perfection neither, it must be sovereign and infinite Perfection; +for from what else can necessary Existence flow, or be infer’d? Besides, +if that Being was not infinitely perfect, there might be another Being +more powerful than it, and consequently able to oppose and hinder its +Existence; and what may be hinder’d is contingent and arbitrary. Now +_Matter_ is so far from being a Nature infinitely perfect, that it hath +no Perfection at all, but that of bare _Substance_; neither Life, Sense, +Will or Understanding; nor so much as Motion from it self; as we have +shew’d before. And therefore this brute inactive Mass, which is but, as +it were, the Drudge of Nature, can have no Right or Title to that +sovereign Prerogative of Self-existence. + +WE noted before, as a Thing agreed upon, _that something or other must +needs be Eternal_. For if ever there was a Time or State when there was +no being, there never could be any. Seeing _Nothing_ could not produce +_Something_. Therefore ’tis undeniably true on all Hands, that there was +some Being from Eternity. Now, according to our Understanding, _Truth_ +is _Eternal_: Therefore, say we, some intellect or intelligent Being. So +also the Reasons of _Goodness_ and _Justice_ appear to us Eternal; and +therefore some good and just Being is Eternal. Thus much is plain, that +these Perfections which bear the Signatures of Eternity upon them, are +Things that have no Relation to _Matter_, but relate immediately to an +intellectual Being: Therefore some such Being, to whom they originally +belong, must be that _Eternal_. Besides, We cannot possibly but judge +such a Being more perfect than Matter. Now every Nature, the more +perfect it is, the more remote it is from _Nothing_; and the more remote +it is from Nothing, the more it approaches to Necessity of Existence, +and consequently to eternal Existence. + +THUS we have made a short Survey, so far as the Bounds of a Chapter +would permit, of those Evidences and Assurances which we have from +abstract Reason and the external World, that there is an Author of +Nature; and that a Being infinitely perfect, which we call _God_. We may +add to these, in the last Place, that universal Consent of Mankind, or +natural Instinct of Religion which we see, more or less, throughout all +Nations, barbarous or civil. For tho’ this Argument, ’tis true, be more +disputable than the rest, yet having set down just Grounds already from +whence this natural Judgment or Persuasion might spring, we have more +Reason to impute it to some of those, and their insensible Influence +upon the Mind, than to the Artifices of Men, or to make it a Weakness, +Prejudice, or Error of our Nature. That there is such a Propension in +humane Nature, seems to be very plain; at least so far as to move us to +implore, and have recourse to invisible Powers in our Extremities. +Prayer is natural in certain Cases, and we do at the mere Motion of our +natural Spirit, and indeliberately, invoke God and Heaven, either in +case of extream Danger, to help and assist us; or in case of Injustice +and Oppression, to relieve or avenge us; or in case of false +Accusations, to vindicate our Innocency; and generally in all cases +desperate and remediless as to humane Power, we seem to appeal and +address our selves to something higher. And this we do by a sudden +Impulse of Nature, without Reflexion or Deliberation. Besides, as +Witnesses of our Faith and Veracity, we use to invoke the Gods, or +superior Powers, by Way of Imprecation upon our selves, if we be false +and perjur’d; and this hath been us’d in most Nations and Ages, if not +in all. These Things also argue, that there is a natural Conscience in +Man, and a Distinction of moral _Good_ and _Evil_; and that we look upon +those invisible Powers as the Guardians of Virtue and Honesty. There are +also few or no People upon the Earth but have something of external +Religion, true or false; and either of them is an Argument of this +natural Anticipation, or that they have an Opinion that there is +something above them, and above visible Nature; tho’ what that +_something_ was, they seldom were able to make a good Judgment. But to +pursue this Argument particularly, would require an historical Deduction +of Times and Places, which is not suitable to our present Design. + +TO conclude this Chapter and this Subject; if we set Religion apart, and +consider the Deist and Atheist only as two Sects in Philosophy, or their +Doctrine as two different _Hypotheses_ propos’d for the Explication of +Nature, and in Competition with one another, whether should give the +more rational Account of the Universe, of its Origin and _Phænomena_? I +say if we consider them only thus, and make an impartial Estimate +whether System is more reasonable, more clear, and more satisfactory; to +me there seems to be no more Comparison than betwixt Light and Darkness. +The _Hypothesis_ of the Deist reacheth from Top to Bottom, both through +the intellectual and material World, with a clear and distinct Light +every where; is genuine, comprehensive, and satisfactory; hath nothing +forc’d, nothing confus’d, nothing precarious; whereas the _Hypothesis_ +of the Atheist is strain’d and broken, dark and uneasy to the Mind, +commonly precarious; often incongruous and irrational, and sometimes +plainly ridiculous. And this Judgment I should make of them abstractly +from the Interest of Religion, considering them only as Matter of Reason +and Philosophy. _And_ I dare affirm with Assurance, if the Faculties of +our Souls be true, that no Man can have a System of Thoughts reaching +thorough Nature, coherent and confident in every Part, without a Deity +for the Basis of it. + + + + + CHAP. XI. + + + _Several Incroachments upon natural Providence, or + Misrepresentations of it, and false Methods of Contemplation. A true + Method propos’d, 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. The Conclusion._ + + +WE have set Bounds to Nature in the foregoing Chapter, and plac’d her +Author and Governor upon his Throne, to give Laws to her Motions, and to +direct and limit her Power in such Ways and Methods as are most for his +Honour. Let us now consider Nature under the Conduct of Providence, or +consider _Natural Providence_, and the Extent of it; and as we were +cautious before not to give too much Power or Greatness to Nature, +consider’d apart from Providence; so we must be careful now, under this +second Consideration, not to contract her Bounds too much; lest we +should, by too mean and narrow Thoughts of the Creation, eclipse the +Glory of its Author, whom we have so lately own’d as a Being infinitely +Perfect. + +AND to use no further Introduction, in the _first Place_, we must not by +any Means admit or imagine, that all Nature, and this great Universe, +was made only for the sake of Man, the meanest of all intelligent +Creatures that we know of; nor that this little Planet, where we sojourn +for a few Days, is the only habitable Part of the Universe: These are +Thoughts so groundless and unreasonable in themselves, and also so +derogatory to the infinite Power, Wisdom and Goodness of the first +Cause, that as they are absurd in Reason, so they deserve far better to +be mark’d and censur’d for Heresies in Religion, than many Opinions that +have been censur’d for such in former Ages. How is it possible that it +should enter into the Thoughts of vain Man to believe himself the +principal Part of God’s Creation, or that all the rest was ordain’d for +him, for his Service or Pleasure? Man, whose Follies we laugh at every +Day, or else complain of them; whose Pleasures are Vanity, and his +Passions stronger than his Reason? who sees himself every Way weak and +impotent, hath no power over external Nature, little over himself; +cannot execute so much as his own good Resolutions, mutable, irregular, +prone to Evil. Surely, if we made the least Reflection upon our selves +with Impartiality, we should be asham’d of such an arrogant Thought. How +few of these Sons of Men, for whom, they say, all Things were made, are +the Sons of Wisdom? How few find the Paths of Life? They spend a few +Days in Folly and Sin, and then go down to the Regions of Death and +Misery. And is it possible to believe that all Nature, and all +Providence, are only or principally for their sake? Is it not a more +reasonable Character or Conclusion which the Prophet hath made, _Surely +every Man is Vanity_? Man that comes into the World at the Pleasure of +another, and goes out by an hundred Accidents; his Birth and Education +generally determine his Fate here, and neither of those are in his own +Power; his Wit also is as uncertain as his Fortune; he hath not the +moulding of his own Brain, however a Knock on the Head makes him a Fool, +stupid as the Beasts of the Field; and a little Excess of Passion or +Melancholy makes him worse, Mad and Frantick. In his best Senses he is +shallow, and of little Understanding; and in nothing more blind and +ignorant than in Things sacred and divine; he falls down before a Stock +or a Stone, and says, Thou art my God; he can believe Nonsense and +Contradictions, and make it his Religion to do so. And is this the great +Creature which God hath made _by the Might of his Power, and for the +Honour of his Majesty_? Upon whom all Things must wait, to whom all +Things must be subservient? Methinks we have noted Weaknesses and +Follies enough in the Nature of Man; this need not be added as the Top +and Accomplishment, _That with all these he is so vain as to think that +all the rest of the World was made for his sake._ + +AND as due Humility and the Consideration of our own Meanness ought to +secure us from any such vain Opinion of our selves, so the Perfection of +other Beings ought to give us more Respect and Honour for them. With +what Face can we pretend that Creatures far superior to us, and more +excellent both in Nature and Condition, should be made for our Sake and +Service? How preposterous would it be to ascribe such a thing to our +Maker, and how intolerable a Vanity in us to affect it? We that are next +to the Brutes that perish, by a sacrilegious Attempt would make our +selves more considerable than the highest Dignities. It is thought to +have been the Crime of _Lucifer_, who was thrown down from Heaven to +Hell, that he affected an Equality with the Almighty; and to affect to +be next to the Almighty is a Crime next to that. We have no Reason to +believe but that there are, at least, as many Orders of Beings above us, +as there are Ranks of Creatures below us; there is a greater Distance +sure betwixt us and God Almighty, than there is betwixt us and the +meanest Worm; and yet we should take it very ill, if the Worms of the +Earth should pretend that we were made for them. But to pass from the +invisible World to the visible and corporeal—— + +WAS that made only for our sake? King _David_ was more wise, and more +just both to God and Man, in his viiith _Psalm_, where he says, _He +wonders, when he considers the Heavens, that the Maker of them could +think on Man_. He truly supposes the celestial Bodies, and the +Inhabitants of them, much more considerable than we are, and reckons up +only terrestrial Things as put in subjection to Man. Can we then be so +fond as to imagine all the corporeal Universe made for our Use? ’Tis not +the millioneth Part of it that is known to us, much less useful; we can +neither reach with our Eye, nor our Imagination, those Armies of Stars +that lie far and deep in the boundless Heavens. If we take a good Glass, +we discover innumerable more Stars in the Firmament than we can with our +single Eye; and yet if you take a second Glass, better than the first, +that carries the Sight to a greater Distance, you see more still lying +beyond the other; and a third Glass that pierceth further, still makes +new Discoveries of Stars; and so forwards, indefinitely and +inexhaustedly for any Thing we know, according to the Immensity of the +divine Nature and Power. Who can reckon up the Stars of the Galaxy, or +direct us in the Use of them? And can we believe that those and all the +rest were made for us? Of those few Stars that we enjoy, or that are +visible to the Eye, there is not a tenth Part that is really useful to +Man; and no doubt if the principal End of them had been our Pleasure or +Conveniency, they would have been put in some better Order in respect of +the Earth. They lie carelessly scatter’d, as if they had been sown in +the Heaven, like seed, by handfuls; and not by a skilful Hand neither. +What a beautiful Hemisphere they would have made, if they had been +plac’d in Rank and Order; if they had been all dispos’d into regular +Figures, and the little ones set with due Regard to the greater, then +all finish’d and made up into one fair Piece or great Composition, +according to the Rules of Art and Symmetry; what a surprizing Beauty +this would have been to the Inhabitants of the Earth? What a lovely Roof +to our little World? This indeed might have given one some Temptation to +have thought that they had been all made for us; but lest any such vain +Imagination should now enter into our Thoughts, Providence (besides more +important Reasons) seems on Purpose to have left them under that +Negligence or Disorder, which they appear in to us. + +THE second Part of this Opinion supposeth this Planet, where we live, to +be the only habitable Part of the Universe; and this is a natural +Consequence of the former: If all Things were made to serve us, why +should any more be made than what is useful to us? But ’tis only our +Ignorance of the System of the World, and of the Grandeur of the Works +of God, that betrays us to such narrow Thoughts. (_See the Lat. Treat. +lib. 1. c. 10. p. 108, 109_, _&c._) If we do but consider what this +Earth is, both for Littleness and Deformity, and what its Inhabitants +are, we shall not be apt to think that this miserable Atom hath +engross’d and exhausted all the divine Favours, and all the Riches of +his Goodness, and of his Providence. But we will not enlarge upon this +Part of the Opinion, lest it should carry us too far from the Subject, +and it will fall of its own Accord, with the former. Upon the whole we +may conclude, that it was only the sublunary World that was made for the +sake of Man, and not the great Creation, either material or +intellectual; and we cannot admit or affirm any more without manifest +Injury, Depression, and Misrepresentation of Providence, as we may be +easily convinc’d from these four Heads; _The_ Meanness of Man and of +this Earth; _The_ Excellency of other Beings; _The_ Immensity of the +Universe, and the infinite Perfection of the first Cause. Which I leave +to your further Meditation, and pass on to the second Rule concerning +natural Providence. + +_In the second Place_, then, If we would have a fair View and right +Apprehensions of natural Providence, we must not cut the Chains of it +too short, by having recourse without Necessity, either to the first +Cause, in explaining the Origins of Things; or to Miracles, in +explaining particular Effects. This, I say, breaks the Chains of natural +Providence, when it is done without Necessity; that is, when Things are +otherwise intelligible from second Causes. Neither is any Thing gain’d +by it to God Almighty; for ’tis but as the Proverb says, _To rob Peter +to pay Paul_; to take so much from his ordinary Providence, and place it +to his extraordinary. When a new Religion is brought into the World, +’tis very reasonable and decorous that it should be usher’d in with +Miracles, as both the _Jewish_ and _Christian_ were, but afterwards +Things return into their Channel and do not change or overflow again but +upon extraordinary Occasions or Revolutions. The Power _Extraordinary_ +of God is to be accounted very sacred, not to be touch’d or expos’d for +our Pleasure or Conveniency; but I am afraid we often make use of it +only to conceal our own Ignorance, or to save us the Trouble of +inquiring into natural Causes. Men are generally unwilling to appear +ignorant, especially those that make Profession of Knowledge; and when +they have not Skill enough to explain some particular Effect in a Way of +Reason, they throw it upon the first Cause, as able to bear all; and so +placing it to that Account, they excuse themselves, and save their +Credit; for all Men are equally wise, if you take away second Causes; as +we are all of the same Colour, if you take away the Light. + +BUT to state this Matter, and see the Ground of this Rule more +distinctly, we must observe and consider, That _the Course of Nature is +truly the Will of God_; (_See Book 1. c. 8. at the End._) and, as I may +so say, his first Will; from which we are not to recede, but upon clear +Evidence and Necessity. And as in Matter of Religion, we are to follow +the known reveal’d Will of God, and not to trust to every Impulse or +Motion of Enthusiasm, as coming from the Divine Spirit, unless there be +evident Marks that it is supernatural, and cannot come from our own; so +neither are we, without Necessity, to quit the known and ordinary Will +and Power of God, establish’d in the Course of Nature, and fly to +supernatural Causes, or his extraordinary Will; for this is a kind of +Enthusiasm or Fanaticism, as well as the other: And no doubt that great +Prodigality and Waste of Miracles which some make, is no way to the +Honour of God or Religion. ’Tis true, the other Extream is worse than +this, for to deny all Miracles, is in effect to deny all Reveal’d +Religion; therefore due Measures are to be taken betwixt these two, so +as neither to make the Divine Power too mean and cheap, nor the Power of +Nature illimited and all-sufficient. + +_In the third Place_, to make the Scenes of natural Providence +considerable, and the Knowledge of them satisfactory to the Mind, we +must take a true Philosophy, or the true Principles that govern Nature, +which are Geometrical and Mechanical. By these you discover the +Footsteps of the Divine Art and Wisdom, and trace the Progress of Nature +Step by Step, as distinctly as in artificial things, where we see how +the Motions depend upon one another, in what Order, and by what +Necessity. God made all Things in _Number_, _Weight_ and _Measure_, +which are Geometrical and Mechanical Principles; He is not said to have +made Things by _Forms_ and _Qualities_, or any Combination of Qualities, +but by these three Principles, which may be conceiv’d to express the +Subject of three Mathematical Sciences, Number, of _Arithmetick_; +Weight, of _Staticks_; and _Measure_ and Proportion, of _Geometry_: If +then all things were made according to these Principles, to understand +the Manner of their Construction and Composition, we must proceed in the +Search of them by the same Principles, and resolve them into these +again. Besides, the Nature of the Subject does direct us sufficiently; +for when we contemplate or treat of Bodies, and the material World, we +must proceed by the Modes of Bodies, and their real Properties, such as +can be represented either to Sense or Imagination, for these Faculties +are made for corporeal Things; but Logical Notions, when applied to +particular Bodies, are meer Shadows of them, without Light or Substance. +No Man can raise a Theory upon such Grounds, nor calculate any +Revolutions of Nature, nor render any Service, or invent any thing +useful in human Life. And accordingly we see, that for these many Ages, +that this dry Philosophy hath govern’d Christendom, it hath brought +forth no Fruit, produc’d nothing good to God or Man, to Religion or +human Society. + +TO these true Principles of Philosophy, we must join also the true +System of the World. That gives Scope to our Thoughts, and rational +Grounds to work upon; but the vulgar System, or that which _Aristotle_ +and others have propos’d, affords no Matter of Contemplation. All above +the Moon, according to him, is firm as Adamant, and as immutable; no +Change or Variation in the Universe, but in those little Removes that +happen here below, one Quality or Form shifting into another: There +would therefore be no great Exercise of Reason or Meditation in such a +World; no long Series of Providence: The Regions above being made of a +kind of immutable Matter, they would always remain in the same Form, +Structure, and Qualities: So as we might lock up that part of the +Universe as to any further Inquiries, and we should find it ten thousand +Years hence in the same Form and State wherein we left it. Then in this +sublunary World there would be but small Doings neither; Things would +lie in a narrow Compass, no great Revolution of Nature, no new Form of +the Earth, but a few Anniversary _Corruptions_ and _Generations_, and +that would be the short and the long of Nature, and of Providence, +according to _Aristotle_. But if we consider the Earth, as one of those +many Planets that move about the Sun, and the Sun as one of those +innumerable fix’d Stars that adorn the Universe, and are the Centers of +its greatest Motions; and all this subject to Fate and Change, to +Corruptions and Renovations: This opens a large Field for our Thoughts, +and gives a large Subject for the Exercise and Expansion of the Divine +Wisdom and Power, and for the Glory of his Providence. + +_In the last Place_; Having thus prepar’d your Mind, and the Subject, +for the Contemplation of _Natural Providence_, do not content your self +to consider only the present Face of Nature, but look back into the +first _Sources_ of Things, into their more simple and original States; +and observe the Progress of Nature from one Form to another, through +various Modes and Compositions. For there is no single Effect, nor any +single State of Nature, how perfect soever, that can be such an Argument +and Demonstration of Providence, as a Period of Nature, or a Revolution +of several States consequential to one another; and in such an Order and +Dependance, that as they flow and succeed, they shall still be adjusted +to the Periods of the moral World; so as to be ready always to be +Ministers of the Divine Justice or Beneficence to Mankind. This shews +the manifold Riches of the Wisdom and Power of God in Nature. And this +may give us just Occasion to reflect again upon _Aristotle_’s System and +Method, which destroys natural Providence in this respect also; for he +takes the World as it is now, both for Matter and Form, and supposeth it +to have been in this Posture from all Eternity, and that it will +continue to Eternity in the same; so as all the great Turns of Nature, +and the principal Scenes of Providence in the natural World are quite +struck out; and we have but this one Scene for all, and a pitiful one +too, if compar’d with the infinite Wisdom of God, and the Depths of +Providence. We must take Things in their full Extent, and from their +Origins, to comprehend them well, and to discover the Mysteries of +Providence, both in the Causes and in the Conduct of them. That Method +which _David_ followed in the Contemplation of the Little World, or in +the Body of Man, we should also follow in the Great; take it in its +first Mass, in its tender Principles and Rudiments, and observe the +Progress of it to a compleat Form; in these first Stroaks of Nature are +the Secrets of her Art; the Eye must be plac’d in this Point to have a +right Prospect, and see her Works in a true Light. _David_ admires the +Wisdom of God in the Origin and Formation of his Body; _My Body_, says +he, _was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, curiously wrought +in the lower Parts of the Earth; thine Eyes did see my Substance being +yet imperfect, and in thy Book all my Members were written; which in +Continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them, or being +at first in no Form. How precious are thy Thoughts to me, O God! &c._ +_Psal. cxxxix. 15, 16, 17._ This was the Subject of _David_’s, +Meditations, how his Body was wrought from a shapeless Mass into that +marvellous Composition which it had when fully fram’d; and this, he +says, was under the Eye of God all along, and the Model of it, as it +were, was design’d and delineated in the Book of Providence, according +to which, it was by Degrees fashion’d and wrought to Perfection. _Thine +Eyes did see my Substance yet being imperfect, in thy Book all my +Members were drawn, &c._ _Job_ also hath aptly express’d those first +Rudiments of the Body, or that little Chaos out of which it riseth; +_Hast thou not poured me out as Milk, and cruddled me like Cheese? Thou +hast cloathed me with Skin and Flesh, and fenced me with Bones and +Sinews, Job x. 10, 11._ Where he notes the first Matter and the last +Form of his Body, its compleat and most incompleat State. According to +these Examples we must likewise consider the greater Bodies of Nature, +the Earth and the sublunary World; we must go to the Origin of them, the +Seminal Mass, the Chaos out of which they rise; look upon the World +first as an Embryo World, without Form or Shape, and then consider how +its Members were fashion’d, how by degrees it was brought into that +Diversity of Parts and Regions which it consists of, with all their +Furniture, and with all their Ornaments. The _Idea_ of all which was +before-hand, according to _David_’s Expression, written in the Divine +Mind; and we partake of that Wisdom, according to our Capacity, in +seeing and admiring the Methods of it. + +THESE seem to be necessary Preparatives or Directions to those that +would contemplate, with Profit, natural Providence, and the great Works +of God in the visible Creation. We consider’d Nature in the precedent +Chapter abstractly, and in her self; and now we consider her under the +Conduct of Providence, which we therefore call Natural Providence: And +as we have endeavour’d to remove those false Notions and Suppositions +that lay as Clouds upon her Face, so we must now endeavour to represent +her in a better Light, and in a fuller Beauty. By _Natural Providence_ +therefore we understand, _the Form or Course of Universal Nature, as +actuated by the divine Power; with all the Changes, Periods, and +Vicissitudes that attend it, according to the Method and Establishment +made at first by the Author of it_. I said of _Universal Nature_, +through all the Orders of Beings in the intellectual World, and all the +Regions and Systems of Matter in the corporeal. For, having prov’d in +the foregoing Chapter, that there is an Author of Nature, a Being +infinitely perfect, by whose Power and Influence alone all finite +Natures exist and act, we have an assured Ground to conclude, that +nothing can come to pass, throughout the whole Creation, without the +Prescience and Permission of its Author; and as it is necessary to +suppose that there is an _Idea_ in the Divine Understanding of all the +Mass of Beings produc’d or created, according to the several Ranks and +Orders wherein they stand; so there is also an _Idea_ there, according +to which this great Frame moves, and all the Parts of it in Beauty and +Harmony. + +AND these two Things, The _Essences_ of all Beings, and the Series of +their _Motions_, compose the MUNDANE IDEA, as I may so call it; or that +great all comprehensive Thought in the divine Understanding, which +contains the System of universal Providence, and the State of all Things +past, present, or to come. This glorious _Idea_ is the express Image of +the whole Creation, of all the Works of God, and the Disposition of +them: Here lie the Mysteries of Providence, as in their Original; the +successive Forms of all Nature; and herein, as in a Glass, may be view’d +all the Scenes of Time or Eternity. This is an Abyss of sacred Wisdom, +the exhausted Treasure of all Science, the Root of Truth, and Fountain +of intellectual Light; and in the clear and full Contemplation of this +is perfect Happiness, and a truly beatifick Vision. + +BUT what concerns the intellectual World in this _Idea_, and the Orders +or Natures that compose it, is not our present Business to pursue; we +are to speak of the corporeal Universe, whereof we will make now a short +and general Survey, as it lies under Providence. The corporeal Universe, +how immense soever it be, and divided into innumerable Regions, may be +consider’d all as one System, made up of several subordinate Systems. +And there is also one immense Design of Providence co-extended with it, +that contains all the Fate, and all the Revolutions of this great Mass. +This, I say, is made up of several subordinate Systems, involving one +another, and comprehending one another, in greater and greater Orbs and +Compositions; and the Aggregate of all these is that which we call the +_Universe_. But what the Form of these Compositions is, and what the +Design of Providence that runs thro’ them all, and comprehends them all, +this is unsearchable, not only to humane Understanding, but even to +Angels and Archangels. + +WHEREFORE leaving those greater Systems and Compositions of the +Universe, as Matter of our Admiration, rather than of our Knowledge; +there are two or three kinds of lesser Systems that are visible to us, +and bring us nearer to our Subject, and nearer home. _That_ of a fix’d +Star single; _That_ of a fix’d Star with its Planets, and _that_ of a +single Planet, primary or secondary. These three Systems we see and +enjoy more or less. No doubt there are fix’d Stars single, or that have +no Planets about them, as our Sun hath; nay ’tis probable, that at first +the whole Universe consisted only of such Globes of liquid Fire, with +Spheres about them, of pure Light and Æther: Earths are but the Dirt and +Skum of the Creation, and all Things were pure as they came at first out +of the Hands of God. But because we have nothing particular taught us, +either by the Light of Nature or Revelation, concerning the Providence +that governs these single Stars, of what Use they are to intellectual +Beings, how animated by them, what Diversity there is amongst those +æthereal Worlds, what Periods they have, what Changes or Vicissitudes +they are capable to undergo, because such Inquiries would seem too +remote, and carry us too far from our Subject, we leave these heavenly +Systems to the Enjoyment and Contemplation of higher and more noble +Creatures. + +THE Sun, with all the Planets that move about him, and depend upon him, +make a good Sort of System; not considerable indeed, if compar’d with +the whole Universe, or some of the greater Compositions in it; but in +respect of us, the System of the Sun is of vast Extent: We cannot +measure the Greatness of his Kingdom, and his Dominion is without End. +The Distance from the highest Planet to the nearest fixt Star in the +Firmament is unmeasurable, and all this belongs to the Empire of the +Sun; besides the several Planets and their Orbs, which cast themselves +closer about his Body, that they may receive a warmer and stronger +Influence from him; for by him they may be said to _live_ and _move_. +But those vast Spaces that lie beyond these opaque Bodies, are Regions +of perpetual Light; one Planet may Eclipse the Sun to another, and one +Hemisphere of a Planet to the other Hemisphere makes Night and Darkness; +but nothing can eclipse the Sun, or intercept the Course of his Light to +these remote æthereal Regions; they are always luminous, and always pure +and serene. And if the worst and planetary Parts of his Dominions be +replenished with Inhabitants, we cannot suppose the better to lie as +Desarts unenjoy’d and uninhabited; his Subjects then must be numerous, +as well as his Dominions large; and in both respects this System of a +fixt Star, with its Planets, (of which kind we may imagin innumerable in +the Universe, besides this of the Sun, which is near and visible to us) +is of a noble Character and Order, being the Habitation of Angels and +glorified Spirits, as well as of mortal Men. + +A planetary System is the last and lowest; and of these, no doubt, there +is great Variety, and great Differences; not only of primary and +secondary, or of the principal Planet, and its Moons or Attendants, but +also amongst Planets of the same Rank; for they may differ both in their +original Constitution, and according to the Form and State they are +under at present; of which sort of Differences we have noted some +amongst our Planets, (_Book. 1. chap. last, p. 113_, _&c._) tho’ they +seem to be all of much-what the same original Constitution. Besides, +according to external Circumstances, their Distance, Manner of Motion, +and Posture to the Sun, which is the Heart of the whole System, they +become different in many Things. And we may observe, that those leading +Differences, tho’ they seem little, draw after them innumerable others, +and so make a distinct Face of Nature, and a distinct World; which still +shews the Riches and Fecundity of divine Providence, and gives new +Matter of Contemplation to those that take Pleasure in studying the +Works and Ways of God. But leaving all other Planets, or planetary +Systems to our Meditations only, we must particularly consider our own. + +HAVING therefore made this general Survey of the great Universe, run +through the boundless Regions of it, and with much ado found our Way +home to that little Planet where our Concerns lie, this Earth or +sublunary World, we must rest here at the End of our Course. And having +undertaken to give the general Theory of this Earth, to conclude the +present Treatise, we’ll reflect upon the whole Work, and observe what +Progress we have hitherto made in this Theory, and what remains to be +treated of hereafter. This Earth, tho’ it be a small Part or Particle of +the Universe, hath a distinct System of Providence belonging to it, or +an Order establisht by the Author of Nature for all its _Phænomena_ +(natural or moral) throughout the whole Period of its Duration, and +every Interval of it; for, as there is nothing so great as to be above +the divine Care, so neither is there any thing so little as to be below +it. All the Changes of out World are fixt; How, or how often to be +destroy’d, and how renew’d; What different Faces of Nature, and what of +Mankind, in every Part of its Course; What new Scenes to adorn the +Stage, and what new Parts to be acted; What the Entrance, and what the +Consummation of all. Neither is there any sort of Knowledge more proper, +or of more importance to us that are the Inhabitants of this Earth, than +to understand this its natural and sacred History, as I may so call it, +both as to what is past, and what is to come. And as those greater +Volumes and Compositions of the Universe are proportion’d to the +Understanding of Angels and superior Beings, so these little Systems are +_Compendiums_ of the divine Wisdom more fitted to our Capacity and +Comprehension. + +THE Providence of the Earth, as of all other Systems, consists of two +Parts, natural, and sacred or theological. I call that sacred or +theological that respects Religion, and the Dispensations of it; the +Government of the rational World, or of Mankind, whether under the Light +of Nature only, or of a Revelation? the Method and Terms of their +Happiness and Unhappiness in a future Life: The State, Oeconomy, and +Conduct of this, with all the Mysteries contain’d in it, we call +theological Providence; in the Head whereof stands the Soul of the +blessed _Messiah_, who is Lord of both Worlds, intellectual and +material. When we call the other Part of Providence _Natural_, we use +that Word in a restrain’d Sense, as respecting only the material World; +and accordingly this Part of Providence orders and superintends the +State of the Earth, the great Vicissitudes and Mutations of it; for we +must not imagin but that these are under the Eye of Providence, as well +as humane Affairs, or any Revolutions of States and Empires. Now seeing +both in the intellectual and corporeal World there are certain Periods, +Fulness of Time, and fixt Seasons, either for some great Catastrophe, or +some great Instauration; ’tis Providence that makes a due Harmony or +Synchronism betwixt these two, and measures out the concurrent Fates of +both Worlds, so as Nature may be always a faithful Minister of the +divine Pleasure, whether for Rewards or Punishments, according as the +State of Mankind may require. But theological Providence not being the +Subject of this Work, we shall only observe, as we said before, what +Account we have hitherto given of the natural State of the Earth, and +what remains to be handled in another Treatise, and so conclude. + +I did not think it necessary to carry the Story and Original of the +Earth, higher than the Chaos, as _Zoroaster_ and _Orpheus_ seem to have +done; but taking that for our Foundation, which Antiquity sacred and +prophane doth suppose, and natural Reason approve and confirm, we have +form’d the Earth from it. But when we say the Earth rose from a fluid +Mass, it is not to be so crudely understood, as if a Rock of Marble, +suppose, was fluid immediately before it became Marble; no, Things had a +gradual Progression from one Form to another, and came at length to +those more permanent Forms they are now settled in: Stone was once +Earth, and Earth was once Mud, and Mud was once fluid. And so other +Things may have another kind of Progression from Fluidity; but all was +once Fluid, at least all the exterior Regions of this Earth. And even +those Stones and Rocks of Marble which we speak of, seem to confess they +were once soft or liquid, by those Mixtures we find in them of +heterogeneous Bodies, and those Spots and Veins disperst thorough their +Substance; for these Things could not happen to them after they were +hard and impenetrable, in the Form of Stone or Marble. And if we can +soften Rocks and Stones, and run them down into their first Liquors, as +these Observations seem to do, we may easily believe that other Bodies +also that compose the Earth were once in a fluid Mass, which is that we +call a Chaos. + +WE therefore watch’d the Motions of that Chaos, and the several +Transformations of it, while it continued Fluid; and we found at length +what its first Concretion would be, and how it settled into the Form of +an habitable Earth. But that Form was very different from the present +Form of the Earth, which is not immediately deducible from a Chaos by +any known Laws of Nature, or by any Wit of Man; as every one, that will +have Patience to examine it, may easily be satisfied. That first Earth +was of a smooth, regular Surface, as the Concretions of Liquors are, +before they are disturb’d or broken; under that Surface lay the great +Abyss, which was ready to swallow up the World that hung over it, and +about it, whensoever God should give the Command, and the Vault should +break and this Constitution of the primæval Earth gave Occasion to the +first Catastrophe of this World, when it perish’d in a Deluge of Water. +For that Vault did break, as we have shewn 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 overflowed, 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 Channels, 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 I have thereby settled two great Points, given a rational Account of +the _Universal Deluge_, and shewn the Causes of the irregular Form of +the present or _Postdiluvian Earth_. This being done, we have apply’d +our selves in the second Book, to the Description of the _Primæval +Earth_, and the Examination of its Properties; and this hath led us by +an easy 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 finish’d, 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, Ἀποκατάσασις Γαλιγ ἐνεσία. And that Period +of Nature and Providence being expir’d, then follows the _Consummation +of all Things_, or the general _Apothesis_; _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._ + + + + + ● Transcriber’s Notes: + ○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). + ○ Footnotes have been moved to follow the sections in which they are + referenced. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75644 *** |