up in Barns the herbs of the field to eat because sometimes the Earth should yield none 10. Moreover those words 'till thou returnest into the Earth out of which thou art taken c. clearly shew that he should have been immortall that is have liv'd a long time and afterwards not be devested but cloathed-over as the Apostle speaks 11. It follows how he was cast out of Paradise and 't is said that Adam being cast out God plac'd before the Paradise of Pleasure a Cherubim a flaming and turning sword to keep the way of the Tree of life To understand which we must reflect upon the universall cause of the Corruption of all things especially of Living Creatures And because Animals are cold in death 't is plain that Cold is the cause of Death whence we see that Winter is as it were the old Age of the Year The years therefore had continu'd in one state of heat and cold in Paradise and to introduce Winter is to make life shorter to have brought Death nearer 12 The cause therefore of the variety of the year is the cause of Death and this Astronomers teach happens because the Earth keeps not still it s same parts to the Sun or in that it conforms not its Axis to the Axis of the Ecliptick but alwaies turns it from the Poles of the Ecliptick to the Poles of the Aequator this Naturalists teach us happens through that motion by which the Flux of the Sea turns the Earth and the Flux of the Sea from a Wind which the Sun under the Aequator raises 13. Let 's see what the sacred monuments expresse concerning this First therefore They say that which was to be done was therefore done least perhaps he should reach out his hand and take of the Tree of Life and eat and live a full age or a thousand years whence 't is evident that the vertue of the Tree of Life was not wholy to exempt from Death but to deferre it and make to live in seculum that is a long time which vertue ther 's no doubt is taken away by the empairing of the Fruits 14. Then that which our translation saies before Paradise others render from the East to Paradise If therefore as we have said the whole Earth was Paradise and the motion of the Earth proceeds from the Sun the cause of the conversion of the Earth is from the East and to be from the East is to be before the Earth and Paradise Moreover that which ours renders a Cherubim and a flaming and turning sword in the originall is a Cherubim the edge of a sword turning it self The one Phrase shews that the force of Death proceeded from a Cherubim by flames and fire and the other by turning Now that the Sun's motion proceeds from a Cherubim or an Angel Metaphysicks demonstrate If therefore that winding of the terrestriall Axis to the Poles of the Aequator be deriv'd from the Sun and from that the nature of Death by the variation of light and heat is it not evident if a sword may signifie a killing power how a Cherubim with a flaming and turning sword keeps the way to the Tree of life least Man should live by it a full age 15. And he that thinks this interpretation of a sword for a killing power too hard let him remember the Angel in the threshing floor of Ornam holding a drawn sword to bring the Plague upon Jerusalem Let him consider also if the name of Sword be taken materially how disagreeable the narration will be for the Angel should have been plac'd not from the East or before Paradise but round about nor would there be any need of a turning sword but of a sharp one for the Angel could have turn'd it as he pleas'd 16. Lastly the cloathing of Adam and his wife with Coats made of skins manifestly insinuates that the Cold grew upon them the Year as it were now inclining towards Winter whence it seems 't was Autumn in that Region where Adam was created Yet 't is not necessary that God must have given them those Coats of skins immediately upon the malediction but after some time when having done Penance they had sacrific'd Beasts to God with whose skins God cover'd them not so much for their nakcdnesse sake which was cover'd with Aprons as for the Colds and therefore they were made of skins with which Beasts are kept warm CHAP. XIV Of the Evils deriv'd to posterity out of the same 1. NOne doubts nor can according to what we have said but this state of infelicity and Death is deriv'd to us the Posterity of Adam from his Sin but what evil or corruption we derive as to the Mind 't is to be consider'd And first 't is evident that the Understanding of Adam was most happy which so easily attain'd the knowledge of things that at first sight he could impose significant names upon every one 2. Which is not so to be understood that he perfectly saw through all things for from the deceipt of Eve and both their hiding themselves from the face of God 't is clear their discourse was short and imperfect at that time Nor is it believ'd that they lost their naturall force wherefore by nature their understanding was so hinderable by Passion as to bring them to such Inconsideration 3. But we read too that they were naked and blusht not before their Sin but afterwards whence we understand there were before no inordinate Motions in them since in lust the most vehement kind they had none 4. Now for Man to have no inordinate Motions in him may happen two waies One that we should assert there were indeed such Motions but as it were rooted out by a long use and exercise of Vertues another way that we should imagine his nature so temperate and equally ballanc'd between Passions that it should submit it self intirely to Reason out of its own equability and not out of an acquir'd dominion of Reason 5. And since God might have created Man in the perfection of either of these if we consider the circumstance of the newnesse of nature we shall rather assent to the later description for the former state is of one already proceeded from power to act but this later is a certain species of potentiality or of Man as to his Soul existing in power that the state of Man grown good of evil that he was this of Man not yet knowing good and evil or untaught by experience To that Man 't is now hard to Sin and certain that he will not be separated from the love of Christ to this 't is easie not-to-sin but Sin is rather unknown to him then hard and consequently his entrance to good or evil is doubtfull That state is more establisht in the Brain through the exercise of Reason this more in the Body through the goodnesse of its Temperature whence this is more propagable to his Issue though that be so too in some degree 6. Since
expiration and consequently that every body more or lesse operates upon and affects other bodies which approach it round about or acts in a Sphear as we see by experience in hot cold odoriferous poys'nous bodies and in Animals c. Every body therefore has a certain Sphear of activity by this motion and its action depends upon this action 7. Again therefore since its action is not effected but by an emission of its own parts 't is plain it cannot act upon a distant thing but by a Medium as also that it suffers from that upon which it acts if it be within that 's Sphear of activity the emanations of the one running by lines different from the emanations of the other 8. Again 't is evident that since these emanations are certain minutest particles in a denser body more will stick to its parts because its pores are narrow and hard to passe through wherefore with greater labour and time and at the cost of more little particles a dense body receiv's the nature and similitude of the body acting upon it retains more strongly and works more vigorously then if it were rarer 9. And hence the nature of intension and remission is evident viz. because there are within the same space more or fewer of these particles as also why in a denser body a quality is more intended LESSON X. Of the Motions of Vndulation Projection Reflection and Refraction 1. 'T Is consequentiall to what has been said that Water stir'd and alter'd by any violence from its planesse and equidistance from the Centre will not suddenly cease its motion and return to rest though that extrinsecall force be withdrawn For since by that violence some of its parts are rais'd higher then they should be 't is manifest that those higher parts by the course of common causes must presse towards the Centre and consequently thrust others out of their place wherefore the motion will continue 'till every one be restor'd to its own proper place 2. And because ther 's no motion without a concitation and a certain degree of velocity therefore by the very stop of the motion a new motion will be occasion'd but weaker and weaker still till it quite faint away 3. 'T is plain too that the very same must of necessity happen in Aire if its parts be either condens'd or stir'd out of their right place 4. Again it appears that if it be thus with the Aire the same must be expected too of any weighty moveable that 's carri'd in the Aire For since the reason why such descend not perpendicularly is because the progressive motion or the causes of it are stronger then the causes of descent at least in part and since the moveable has of it self no inclination this or that way it must needs follow the motion of the Aire that 's next it But since a dense thing mov'd is carri'd more forceably then a rare body in which it is the rare body it self as it gives a beginning to that 's motion so again it receiv's an advance from that whence it comes to passe that both the Aire and the moveable continue their motion longer then the Aire alone would 5. Hence again it appears that Moveables in all other respects alike the denser they are the longer they retain their Motion 6. 'T is plain therefore why Pendents by a thrid fastned above wave up and down if they be rais'd from the perpendicular and then let drop for with their first descent they move the Aire following it when it ascends and returning with it when it returns but with a new and a weaker impulse and so proceed still till they can stir it no longer 7. It appears likewise that if a Moveable be violently struck against a hard resister because the Aire before it must of necessity yield and that which follows it pushes it on it will follow the Aire before it that is 't will be reflected from the hard Resister 8. And this making equall Angles at least without any sensible difference for since an oblique motion is resolv'd into two perpendiculars which are in a certain proportion by vertue of the moving causes and the Angle is caus'd and emerges out of this proportion it must needs be that this proportion remaining the Angle of the result or reflection must needs be the same with that of the impulse or incidence as in light where the reflection diminishes not sensibly the force but where the reflection notably weakens the force the angle of reflection will be proportionably lessen'd 9. But if the Resister do but partly resist and partly admit that which is obliquely mov'd will be refracted as they call it from the resistance towards the contrary part that is at the entring towards the Perpendicular falling from the mover upon the Superficies at the going out from the Perpendicular as experience conformable to reason witnesses 10. You 'l object that Refraction of light and dense bodies is very different I answer all the Experiments I have ever heard of conclude no such thing 11. The cause of Restitution is that those bodies which recover themselves again are chang'd from length to breadth but 't is known an extrinsecall superficies the more equall dimensions it has the greater Quantity 't is capable of whence the more the longitude exceeds the latitude so much the more the parts of the imprison'd body are compress'd whose motion is so much the swifter as they are the more spirituous and so much the easilyer too they are dilated and rarifi'd after they have been compress'd and condens'd by the circumstant causes and this is that we call Restitution 12. But it ordinarily happens that if they stand too long in bent they recover not themselves again afterwards because either the condens'd parts are rarifi'd by the expulsion of some of them or else time has begot some stiffnesse by the concretion of the parts press'd together so that now 't is not so easy for them to return to their former habit 13. This doctrine is evident to the very sight in Flesh which being press'd becomes white the Bloud retiring but when that returnes it comes to it self again and recovers its colour But Steel above all things most swiftly restores it self because it has a many extremely spirited particles imprison'd in it LESSON XI Of the Electricall and Magneticall Attractions of hot bodies 1. OUt of what has been said 't is again deduc'd that since there 's a perpetuall issue and sally of some parts out of bodies abounding with intense heat and thereupon a certain Orbe of Steams other little bodies must of necessity flow in after the same manner to the body it self and consequently there must be the same tumult about every such body Les 9. 2. as we spake of about the Earth 2. Hence we see that hot bodies naturally attract those things which are in the Aire about them Thus we believe hot Loafs Onions Apples Dogs and Cats c. draw infection to them
divide the Waters from the Waters In the Hebrew an Expansion Either word is properly taken since it was a Space unpassable for its vastnesse and expansion and by consequence fixed and fixing the division of the Waters 7. But those words in the midst of the waters are to be noted which teach that no Substance was made a new but only between the waters and the waters which is evident too from the word Heaven which name he gave the Firmament by which very word 't is express'd that before God created the Heaven The Etymology also of the word is to be noted which both in the Hebrew and Greek Idiom signifies as much as whence the waters or whence or where it drops that it may be evidenc'd even from the name that the Aire it self is the Firmament CHAP. V. A Philosophicall discourse of the vvorks of the other four days 1. FArther by the operation of this vast Fire not only the Water but much of the Earth too with the Water must needs have been rais'd up For Chymists know that the intense heat of fire can raise up and carry away crasse Oyls and Oyntments nay even Salts and very Gold it self Since therefore the Earth before the operation of Light was dissolv'd in minutest parts and Dust as void of all Moisture it must needs be that the Heat mix'd every where the Water with Earth and thus all muddy carry'd it up into the Aire but most of all about those parts over which the Fire perpendicularly hung 2. Whence 't is plain two Effects must needs have risen one that the Earth in that Circle should become more hollowed and low then in the rest of its Superficies the other that the Water from the remoter places should flow into these hollownesses whether by the attraction of the Fire or by naturall connection or by some power of Gravity which through the operation of the Fire by little and little attain'd a force 3. 'T is plain therefore that since the motion of the Earth was of necessity by the greatest Circle the Earth by the course of the foresaid causes must be drain'd and dry'd first about the Poles of that Circle and the waters gathered together in the empty hollownesse under that Circle 4. I said by the course of the foresaid causes for if we consider what was likely to be done by accident this consequence will not be universally necessary For 't is clear that the Earth by the boyling of the water being unequally mixt and remixt with continuall agitation must according to the law of contingency have produc'd by the meeting of different parts as many kinds and species of Earths as we see diversities of Fossils which we divide generally into four kinds Stones Metalls Mold and concrete Iuyces 5. And since from the varieties also of those great parts of that masse now tempered with water a notable variety must needs follow the Earth yet cover'd with Waters may easily here and there have boyl'd up into Excrescencies as Islands have often grown up in the Sea By this irregularity therefore some Mountains growing may have appear'd before the Polar Regions of the Earth 6. From the same principles it follows that the Earth did not appear wholly squallid and desart but already impregnated with the Seeds of all things nor with Seeds only but with Plants too those especially which either require or can endure more moisture the rest by little and little as the dryer Earth grew more apt and fitly dispos'd for their birth they too sprung out 7. And because an Animal is nothing but a more-compounded Plant by the same reason the Earth then most aptly tempered and dispos'd brought forth perfect Animals as it now being barrener of its own accord produces such as we call insecta as Mice and Frogs and sometimes new fashion'd Animals 8. But because the waters must needs have been very muddy even They before the Earth must have sprung into Animals fit to inhabit them viz. Fishes small and great as also into certain middle Animals which might fly up to the higher parts of the Earth that is Birds as even now we see all kind of Birds that are bred of Putrefaction by the Sea shores and Lake's sides grow out of the rottennesse of wood tempered with water 9. 'T was necessary too that by the force of that mighty Flame parts of Earth and Water of a vast bulk carry'd up above the Aire should by naturall attraction and the power of the baking Fire coagulate into many vast Bodies whereof some should more abound with fiery vertue and therefore both conceive and belch out abundance of Flames so that being entirely lucid they should be apt to enlighten other bodies too within a fit distance and that others lesse abounding with fiery parts should be fit in a congruous order and method to be concocted and enlightened by Them and themselves too be able to reflect light from the former to the rest 10. Wherefore were they set moved in a convenient site to the Earth now inhabited they might alwaies more or lesse enlighten it nor would there be any longer need of that vast light made by the Angels And this formation of things the Aegyptians Aethiopians Empedocles and other naturall Philosophers as it were by the conduct of Nature out of the very steps and order of Generation which they still observ'd in nature have emulated and attempted though not throughly attain'd CHAP. VI. An Explication of Genesis concerning the same 1. THe sacred Commentaries concerning these things tell us thus And God said let the Waters which are under the Heaven be gathered together into one place and let the dry Land appear Here is the first mention made of gravity whose effect is said to be to congregate into one place that we may see Gravity is not a motion towards any particular Site but towards the unity of a body and that it was made out of the Order of the Universe now establisht after that between the acting Light and the Earth upon which it acted a great distance full of Aire was interpos'd wherein the motion of things ascending and descending might be free 2. Iob 38. 't is said that the Sea flow'd as it were out of a womb whence 't is understood that the Earth throughly moistned with Water sweat out on all sides into the lower Vaults and increas'd the Water where by the extreme force of the light it had been too much suck'd out and so left the Earth in its due temperament Whence ther 's evidenc'd another cause too besides what we have explicated of the Earths appearing viz. because by the permixtion of hot water it swel'd into a far greater bulk 3. It follows and God call'd the dry Land and the gathering together of the waters he call'd Seas For it was not Earth in the same sense wherein at the beginning 't was said God created the Heaven and the Earth for there the Element of Earth was call'd Earth but