as Moses the Servant of God tells us in a stile suitable to the Grandeur of the Subject that the Spirit of God moved upon the Waters And the Great Creator by an Almighty Fiat commanded Dry Land and all things to be and accordingly Dry Land and all things were It is not then by the Principles of the simple Elements or of meer motion and gravity that the works of Nature in the state they are now in do perform their several Offices and Operations for we may observe that those Powers are in many things restrain'd without altering the essential properties of natural Bodies or hindering the ordinary exercise of them in any thing that is consistent with the order and welfare of the Universe It is then the Constitution they received at their first Creation the Figure Proportion Scite and Position of their parts in Mixion which Philosophers have call'd the Substantial Form that is the main Principle whereby they act and preserve themselves in the order and state they are in which if dissolved and Nature let loose to itself the Elements would certainly return to their antient state and by their primary and natural principle of Gravity involve all things again into confusion Whatever might be the immediate cause of this the Will of the Creator must be the chief Director Since the Creation the World has but had one sad instance of this and by vertue of a Divine Promise is to have no more before its final Dissolution And this happened in the Days of Noah when for the Sins of Mankind the World was overwhelmed by a Flood and the Waters mounted Fifteen Cubits high over the tops of the highest Mountains which how it may be done by Natural Causes without any Miracle is that which now I undertake to explain In order to this It will not be amiss to observe the external Face and Figure of the World The Terraqueous Globe then which we inhabit though it be round yet it is not of a smooth equal and united Surface but there are in it many and great Depressions and Cavities vast and spacious Chasms that lie betwixt the highest swelling of the Ocean and the tops of the Mountains as there is between one Mountain and another and these vast Chasms are the Appartment of the lower Region of the Air which is that strong Barrier though but a thin and transparent Partition Wall that hinders the tumid Ocean from falling down according to its natural principle of Gravity and overflowing the lower Grounds and by so doing bringing Ruin and Desolation upon a great part of the habitable Earth For we are to take notice that the Ocean in its highest swelling rises to as great a height as the tops of the highest Mountains And if this could not be demonstrated by Experience and Observation as it can the following Proof is sufficient to evince the truth of it Parts of Water being imbibed by the Earth as they are forced into its Pores by succeeding Parts that descend from higher Places in the Ocean are in the same manner as the blood does pass through the Flesh and Bodies of Animals percolated through the Body and Substance of the Earth where leaving their saline Particles to impregnate the ground with fertility and vegitation the vapid and simple Lymph is forced into small and capillary Veins by which it is conveyed into larger Vessels or subterranean Pipes and Conduits and from them is discharged into more capacious and hidden Rills as into some Vena Porta or Cava out of which qua data porta ruit at the first open Passage it meets with it gushes out in Springs where being in the open Air and in the Region of another Element to which it must yield it falls downward and by way of circulation returns back to the Ocean from whence it came This as it plainly discovers the Origin of Fountains and Rivers which hath hitherto puzell'd the most ingenious and industrious Enquirers so it does in a manner demonstrate that the swelling of the Ocean rises higher or at least as high as the tops of the highest Mountains where Springs of Water are found and Vegetables grow The Use I make of what has been said is to shew that the Elements those simple Bodies of Nature maintain their several Posts in the Universe by the different form and figure of the simulary Particles of which they are constituted as must needs appear to us when we consider the difficulty there is and violence that must be used to sink a Body of Air out of its natural place into the Water or to make a Body of Water mount into the Air for by no means can they be made to incorporate and mix together whilst they subsist in intire Bodies To effect this they must be attenuated and taken in pieces It is by this Principle then and not that of Natural Gravity that the lower Region of the Air maintains its post and becomes a Barrier to keep the Ocean from falling down upon those Parts of the Earth that are lower than it self and that it performs this with so much vigour that when it is attack'd by any powerful Neighbour born down and comprest beyond the natural scite and position of its parts it will regain its ground with such a suddain and forcible Jerk of Reciprocation that hardly does the Explosion of Gun-powder exceed it as may be experimented by shooting in a Wind-Gun or that if it be forced by any irresistible Impulse to quit it's Place it forces the hardest and most solid Bodies to give way and make room for it sad Instances of this may be seen when by Hurricanes Tempests and violent Concussions of the Air Trees are blown up by the Roots Houses laid prostrate and sometimes large Pieces of Ground transplaced to make Way for it But when by the direction of the Supream Being and the Influence of instrumental and secondary Causes the Air does pass from its close Order of Nature opens rank and file and sends off detachments of small Bodies and Particles at the same time when the Ocean being in the same manner affected the Fountain of the great Deep is broken up and Mother Thetis opening her Breasts sweats out her purer Exhalations These small Particles of Air enter into the evacuated Spaces of the Water as the Effluvia of the Water possess themselves of the Interstices of the Air so deserted and these two being Strangers new Comers and at first no very good Neighbours co-operating with the other causes mutually force more Particles to follow the same Course they have done so that by a successive and continued Transmigration of Colonies the Two Elements are blended and incorporated together and in a manner united into one Body the Air becoming a thinner Water as the Water doth a thicker Air both improper for the nourishing and preserving the Life of the Animals that live in those Elements in the state they are now inâ— This Rarefaction and Condensation is indeed a
lay down as a Principle sufficient to overthrow all the Author's Hypothesis this plain Proposition which being in it self so evident as not to need demonstration might be demanded as a Postulate and will be readily granted by all knowing Men viz. That all Bodies which tend to a Central Point as their place of rest must needs cast themselves into a Circular or Orbicular Figure And the Reason is plain and obvious because no natural Body in motion can stop till it comes at the place of Rest or as near it as possibly it can for the interposition of other Bodies that have their right to be before it Now since in a Circle or Orb all the points of the Circumference are equally distant from the Center Bodies which rest upon and are gathered about the Center must needs cast themselves into a round to be as near the place of rest as possibly they can From this true Position two undeniable Corollaries do result First That there can be no Vacuum or Place in the World altogether empty of some Body for Bodies tending towards a place of Rest must croud and touch one another contiguously for if any void Space should be betwixt them the succeeding Body would not be so near his Place as otherwise it might which is contrary to the Position laid down And then next that no Natural Body can shift or remove its place but that in exchange another must immediately possess it else there must needs be a Void in the Universe contrary to the Principle of Nature Not but that there are small and imperceptible Interstices more or less in all Bodies occasioned by the sight and position of the variously figured Particles of which they are constituted these being absolutely necessary for the motions changes and alterations of Nature as Generation and Corruption Growth Vegetation Rarefaction and Condensation Compression Expansion and the like which cannot be performed without them but that there should be any considerable Space wholly void and destitute of some body is inconsistent with the order and oeconomy of the World the being of Matter and the Idea of its Creator And thus the debate of Philosophers about the being or not being of a Vacuum may be easily reconciled and both may be in the right and both may be in the wrong according to the different Sense they spake in Now since Gravity is that Principle which gives natural Bodies their tendency towards the Center and yet seems not essential to the pure and abstract notion of matter of which they consist it would be worth the while to find out what Gravity truly is To guide us therefore into this Enquiry we are to conceive that the great Abyss of Matter which made the Chaos was no more but a Mass and Croud or aggregate of infinite Numbers of Atoms jumbled together in that vast Expanse without any property or quality but that of shape and figure according to the Opinion of the Ancient and Modern Corpuscularian Philosophers And that there being great variety amongst those indivisible Atoms as to their shape and figure some Globular some Angular and those of many different kinds whilst reeling in the dark and encountering one another fortuitously too if Naturalists be in the right according as the several Figures were fitted for union and coalition they combined and incorporated one with another some into a more close and compact some into a more lax and fluid concretion and divided themselves into several distinct and homogeneous Bodies Some of these Bodies then that consisted of more Atoms and parts of Matter closely compacted together and therefore taking up a less space since the bounds of the Expanse were not to be enlarged nor contracted but all filled did as they must needs do possess the middle part or center leaving the rest of the Expanse to be filled with the other Homogeneous Bodies according to the texture of the several constituent Particles which was either more close or loose as their Figures did suffer them to unite so that the Bodies that were of the most lax and open Concretion possest themselves of the Place most remote from the middle which is the circumference and the utmost limit of the Sphere or Vortex and the others in order filled up the intermedial Spaces betwixt the Center and that These distinct and homogeneous Bodies are those which are called the first perceptible Elements of Nature and by reason of the quantity of Matter they contain their solidity or fluidity challenging the Places that they possess in the Universe by what cause soever they are removed or displaced they naturally tend to the same again because there is no other Place for them all being full of the other Bodies which will not make room for them nor incorporate with them And this is that which is called Gravity and Levity according to which the Elementary Bodies possest themselves of their several Places in the Universe though indeed all affect to be as near the Center or Point of rest as they can from which they stir not unless the danger of a Vacuum or some other external Force or Violence compel them so to do According to this Philosophy if no other Power but that of Nature were concerned in framing of the Universe those great Bodies which we call the Elements though indeed they be not purely so must needs have subsisted in this Order First The Earth being the most weighty as consisting of most solid and compact Matter must have been as now it is the Basis and Foundation of all then the Water as coming nearest to it in consistence must have succeeded in place after it the Air then the Ether and last of all the Fire if any such Element exist separate from the rest to limit and circumscribe this World And since all these being in their proper Places according to the Laws of Nature and Gravity they must have rested and continued in that posture no Earth then could have been seen being covered and surrounded by the Orb of Water and the Superior Orbs being invisible to the Eye nothing must have appeared to the sight but a vast and spacious Globe of Water Now since we find it is otherwise and that the Earth is to be seen as well as the Water distinct and separate from it and both replenished with vast numbers of Beings animate and inanimate all harmoniously conspiring to the order and beauty of the whole Universe and to the mutual uses and advantages of each other which is far above the power of meer Matter to effect it must needs convince the most obstinate and prejudiced Materialist or Atheist that matter and nature are not eternal all-sufficient and independent but that they must derive their being and vertue from a Supream and Omnipotent Cause which hath brought Nature out of the Chaos of Matter and put all things into the decent state and order that we see them in and that this was so done in the beginning of Time when
natural sort of Distillation which may be well illustrated by the ordinary Process of Distilling which doth exactly imitate the same Of this we have daily Instances but because they are so common but slightly observed as when Vapours and Exhalations attracted and raised by the heat of the Sun in the Day time fall again by Night in Dews But this is far more remarkable in the Instance of Water-Spouts And since that does conduce so much to the Illustration of what I am about and that I my self have seen one at Sea I will describe it with as much Plainness and Exactness as possibly I can Being at Sea and sailing between the Tropics in or about the 15 th or 16 th Degree of Northern Latitude one Morning when the Weather was very fair the Air serene not troubled with the least Cloud or Shadow of Meteor and the Sun shone very hot about Ten a Clock in the Morning a Sea-man at work on the out-side of the Ship alarm'd us with a Cry of a Spout a Spout the Curiosity of seeing this invited me as it did others to come upon the Quarter-Deck there I saw to the Larboard within about half a League distance from the Ship in the middle of the Ocean that then look'd as smooth as a Looking-Glass a Circle of Water which appeared not to be a quarter of a Mile in Diameter much differing from the rest of the Sea for the Water therein did goggle and wamble much faster and higher than any Copper or Caldron full of Water could have proportionably done over the intense Heat of an open Fire From this boiling Water there arose Steams as thick as the Smoak of a Brew-house or Glass-house but pure and white like that of the cleanest Wood or like thick and white Fogs that gather about the Tops of Trees in an Autumn Morning this Steam ascended impetuously as in a natural Alembeck consisting of two Pillars of a black Cloud which terminated above in a Point like a Cone wherein was a small Opening through which the Sun peeped and darted down his Rays upon the Circle of the Water underneath the thick sides of that Cloudy Alembeck or Cone which widened towards the Basis but reacht not the Surface of the Water by some little distance hindering the Sun-beams from being dispersed any where else so that in the space of Half an Hour after this first appear'd the whole Hemisphere was overcast with black thick and low hanging Clouds which soon bursting the Windows of Heaven were opened and poured down such a prodigious quantity of Rain in whole Cataracts as forced us all under Decks and this Rain lasted as I do remember near a third part of the time longer than the Clouds were a gathering in the manner aforesaid I had the Curiosity to taste a little of the Rain Water that I might know whether or no in so swift a Distillation it could be wholly purified from its Saltness and when I found an odd taste but what I could not call a brackishness in it the Master of the Ship rectified a mistake which otherwise I might have fallen into by telling me that since I had the Water out of the Ship 's Bucket that oddness of taste proceeded from the Pitch and Far of the Ropes from which it had drop'd but that the Water was sweet and fresh Now since subsistente causa subsistit effectus had this Distillation continued or been often repeated or had several other Spouts of the same kind happened in different Horrisons at the same time as what can be said to the contrary but that they might I dare be bold to affirm That in less time than Forty Days and Forty Nights which is the space assigned by Moses for the Encrease of the Waters to compleat the Flood the Waters would have prevailed and mounted as high above the Tops of the highest Mountains as Moses says they did nay more should the same cause be employed and continued a sufficient Space of Time it 's more than probable that not only the Water and Air might be blended and mixt together but that these two making then a Body still thicker than that of the Orbs above them by the same Operation the Ether and all the rest might be involved in the same Confusion and the whole World be turned into one Immense Globe of Water having the Earth as a Core remaining in the middle And that if a proper Menstruum were applied to dissolve it as such may be had in nature and who knows but that the Salt of the Ocean being then separated from it's Mixtion with the purer Elementary Water whose Globular Particles muffled and blunted the Edge of it's sharp Angels might prove such a Solvent Which then precipitating into the bottom might with it's sharp and aculiated Points exert its Corrosive Virtue open and attenuate the Solid Body of the Earth the Earth also might be reduced into its Original and Constituent Atoms whereby the World would again return to the old Chaos or Thales Melesius's First Principle of Water The Prophet Elijah it seems was not Ignorant of this Philosophy when after God Almighty had made him the instrument of the Miraculous Vindication of his own Glory and Worship from the Idolatry and False Worship of the Priests of Baal he had promised King Ahab Rain the Israelites having had none for three Years before he sat down upon the Top of Mount Carmel ordering his Servant to go seven times and look toward the Sea and to bring him word back what he observ'd there this his Servant having done and after the seventh time bringing his Master the News that he saw a Cloud rising from the Sea no bigger than a Mans Hand the Prophet thereupon sent to the King advising him to hasten home least he should be stop'd by the Rain which accordingly ensued immediately after now this having been observed in the Mediterranean where Spouts frequently happen and so like in all Circumstances to that which I observed in the Ocean they were both of them no doubt the effects of the same natural and ordinary Causes acting by the Will of God in an extraordinary Manner There have been several particular and local Floods and Inundations in the World as the Ogygian and other Floods of the Ancients taken Notice of by our Author in his Theory of the Earth and in most Countries there are daily Instances of Land Floods and Inundations Now since in all such Inundations the Waters of the Sea are not diminished but rather increased the Water-Mark being carried further up and the Tides swelling higher upon the Shore the Rivers overflow their Banks and the low Grounds ly drowned under Water if Dr. Burnet since he allows no Miracle of a New Creation of Waters nor that they can be borrowed from any Neighbouring or Superior Orb for which I quarrel not with him can shew any rational Way besides what I have now alledged how Waters can be had to cause those Inundations