Objection concerning an Under-current at the Proponâ—is The Streights of Gibralter and the Baltick Sound proposed and replied to 81 82 83 84. Concerning the breaking up of the Fountains of the Great Deep and how the Waters might be made to 〈◊〉 84 15. The inferiour Circulation and perpetual Motion of the Water disapproved 86 c. That the Continents and Islands are so equally dispersed all the World over as to counterballance one another so that the Centers of Motion Gravity and Magnitude concur in one 87 88. An occasional Discourse concerning the Original of Fountains 89 90 c. to 116. That the Preponderancy of the Earth and the Waters lying on an heap in the opposite Hemisphere cannot be the cause of the Waters ascent in Springs proved 86 88 89. That Rains and Snow may suffice to feed the Springs and do feed the ordinary ones proved 89 90 91. That the Rain-water sinks down and makes its way into the Earth more than ten or twenty or forty or even an hundred Foot proved by many Arguments and Experiments 92. 93 94 c. Mr. Halley's Opinion That Springs and Rivers owe their Original to Vapours condensed on the sides of the Mountains and not unto Rain propounded and approved in great part as to hot Countries tho' Rains even there not wholly excluded p. 98 99 c. but disallowed as to the more temperate and cold ones yet even there the Vapours granted to have a good interest in their production 101 102 c. to 116. Observations communicated by Dr. Tancr Robinson concerning the Original of Fountains Dropping Trees c. in confirmation in part of Mr. Halley's Opinion 110 111. An Experiment of mine own in confirmation of the Histories of Dropping or Fountain-trees 113. Inferences upon the supposition of the Rivers pouring into the Sea half an Ocean of Water daily 117 118 c. The most probable Causes of the Deluge viz. the emotion of the Center of the Earth or an extraordinary deprâ—ssion of the Superficies of the Sea 121 122 123. Chap. III. Of the Effects of the Deluge in general p. 125. 126. Chap. IV. Of formed Stones Sea-shells and other Marine or Marine-like Bodies found at great distance from the Shores supposed to have been brought in by the Deluge p. 127. Wherein is treated at large concerning the Nature and Original of these Bodies and that great Question Whether they were originally the real Shells and Bones of Fishes or Stones cast in such Molds or Whether they be primitive Productions of Nature in imitation only of such Shells and Bones not owing their Figure to them largely discussed the Arguments on both sides produced and weighed 127 128 c. to 162. Chap. V. That there have been great Changes made in the superficial part of the Earth since the General Deluge and by what means 163 c. As for instance The Submersion of the great Island of Atlantis 163. The breaking off Sicily from Italy Ceylon from India Sumatra from Malacca 164 of Britain from France proved out of Verstegan 165 of Barbary from Spain of Asia from Thrace 166 167. The raising up of new Islands 167 168. The atteration of the skirts of the Sea instances whereof are 1. The Dutch Netherlands proved out of Verstegan by sufficient Arguments to have been anciently covered by the Sea 2. The great level of the Fens running through Holland in Lincolnshire the Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire and Marshland in Norfolk 3. The Craux in Provence in France 4. The whole Land of Aegypt 5. Probably all China with many others briefly mentioned 168 169 c. to 174. The Submersion of the Land by the Irruptions and Inundations of the Sea Several instances thereof 175 176 177. Changes by the encroachments of the Sea undermining the Shores and washing them away and again letting the Earth so washed away to settle not far from the Shores and so raise up Islands 178 179. Changes by the depression and sinking of the Mountains the Earth being washed down by shots of Rain Rivers and subterraneous Waters These so great and considerable as to endanger in conclusion the submersion of the whole dry Land unless some stop be put p. 179 180 181. Changes made by Earth-quakes of which many instances out of Strabo Pliny and others are produced 181 182 c. A particular Narrative and Account of the late terrible Earthquake in Jamaica with Remarks and Observations Natural and Moral upon it 186 187 c. to 194. An occasional Discourse concerning the Nature Causes and Differences of Earthquakes 194 195 c. to 206. A particular Account of the late remarkable and far-extended Earthquake which happened here with us in England and in other parts of Europe upon Septemb. 8. 1692. 209 210 c. to 216. Of extraordinary Floods caused by long continuing Showers or violent Storms and Shots of Rain 221 222 c. Of boisterous and violent Winds and Hurricans what Interest they have in the Changes wrought in the Earth 225 226 227 228. That the Earth doth not proceed so fast towards â— general Inundation and Submersion by Water as the force and agency of all these Causes seem to require 229. DISCOURSE III. Of the Future Dissolution of the World and the General Conslagration THE Introduction being a Discourse concerning Prophesie 231 232 c. Chap. I. The Division of the Words 2 Peter 3. 1. and the Doctrine contained in them with the Heads of the following Discourse viz. I. Testimonies concerning the Dissolution 1. Of the Holy Scriptures 2. Of ancient Christian Writers 3. Of Heathen Philosophers and Sages II. Seven Questions concerning the Dissolution of the World proposed Chap. II. The Testimonies of Scripture concerning the Dissolution of the World And Dr. Hammond's Expositions referring the most of them to the Destruction of the City and Temple of Jerusalem and the Period of the Jewish State and Polity considered and pleaded for 240 241 c. to 258. Chap. III. Testimonies of the Ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church concerning the Dissolution of the World 258 259 c. to 264. Chap. IV. The Testimonies of some Heathen Philosophers and other Writers concerning the Dissolution the Epicureans 264 the Stoicks 265 c. who held certain Periods of Inâ—â—olation and Conflagrations 267 268. That this Opinion of a 〈◊〉 Conflagration was of far greater Antiquity then that Sect proved 272. Chap. V. The first Question concerning the World's Dissolution Whether there be any thing in Nature that may probably cause or argue a Future Dissolution Four probable means propounded and discussed 277. Sect. 1. The first is the probability of the Waters naturally returning to overflow and cover the Earth 277. The old Argument from the World's Dissolution taken from us daily consenescency and decay rejected 278. The necessity of such a prevailing of the Waters daily upon the dry Land till at last it proceed to a total submersion of it in the course of Nature as things now stand unless
Curious by publishing a general Catalogue of all the formed Stones found in England and his Remarks upon them And I have likewise proved by good Authority that beyond the Seas in high Mountains and many Leagues distant from the Sea too there have been Beds of real shells I might have added Sharks-teeth or Glossopetrae as both Goropius Becanus and Georgius Agricola testifie if not in Beds yet plentifully disperst in the Earth There are several Medical Histories extant as Dr. Tancred Robinson informs me of perfect shells found in Animal Bodies in whose Glands they were originally formed which is a considerable Objection not easily to be removed TAB II. pag 162 TAB III pag. 162 TAB IV Pag 162 CHAP. V. That there have been great Charges made in the Superficial Part of the Earth since the General Deluge and by what Means I Shall now Discourse a little concerning such Changes as have been made in the Superficial part of the Earth since the Universal Deluge and of their Causes That there have been such I think no sober and intelligent Person can deny there being so good Authority and Reason to prove it Plato in his Timaeus tells us That the Egyptian Priests related to Solon the Athenian Law-giver who lived about 600 years before our Saviour that there was of old time without the Straits of Gibraltar a vast Island bigger then Africa and Asia together called Atlantis which was afterward by a violent Earthquake and mighty Flood and Inundation of Water in one day and night wholly overwhelmed and drown'd in the Sea Whence it may be conjectured that the Old and New World were at first continuous or by the Intervention of that Island not very far remote from each other That the Island of Sicily was of old broken off from Italy by the irruption or insinuation of the Sea is generally believed and there is some memorial thereof retained in the very name of the City Rhegium standing upon the Fretum that separates Italy and Sicily which signifies breaking off Zancle quoque juncta fuisse Dicitur Italiae donec confinia pontus Abstulit mediâ tellurem reppulit undâ In like manner the Island called Euboea now Negroponte was of old joyned to Greece and broken off by the working of the Sea Moreover the Inhabitants of Ceylon report that their Island was anciently joyned to the Main-land of India and separated from it by the force of the Sea It is also thought and there is good ground for it that the Island of Sumatra was anciently continuous with Malacca and called the Golden Chersonese for being beheld from afar it seems to be united to Malacca And to come nearer home Verstegan affirms and not without good reason that our Island of Great Britain was anciently Continent to Gaule and so no Island but a Peninsula and to have been broken off from the Continent but by what means it is in his judgment altogether uncertain whether by some great Earthquake whereby the Sea first breaking through might afterward by little and little enlarge her passage or whether it were cut by the labour of Man in regard of commodity by that passage or whether the Inhabitants of one side or the other by occasion of War did cut it thereby to be sequestred and freed from their Enemies His Arguments to prove that it was formerly united to France are 1. The Cliffs on either side the Sea lying just opposite the one to the other that is those of Dover to those lying between Callice and Bouloin for from Dover to Callice is not the nearest Land being both of one Substance that is of Chalk and Flint 2. The sides of both towards the Sea plainly appearing to have been broken off from some more of the same stuff or matter that it hath sometime by Nature been fastned to 3. The length of the said Cliffs along the Sea-shore being on one side answerable in effect to the length of the very like on the other side that is about six Miles And 4. the nearness of Land between England and France in that place the distance between both as some skilful Sailers report not exceeding 24. English Miles Some of the Ancients as Strato quoted by Strabo in the first Book of his Geography say That the Fretum Gaditanum or Strait of Gibraltar was forcibly broken open by the Sea The same they affirm of the Thracian Bosphorus and Hellespont that the Rivers filling up the Euxine Sea forced a passage that way where there was none before And in confirmation hereof Diodorus Siculus in his Fifth Book gives us an Ancient Story current among the Samothracians viz. That before any other Floods recorded in Histories there was a very great Deluge that overflowed a good part of the Coast of Asia and the lower Grounds of their Island when the Euxine Sea first brake open the Thracian Bosphorus and Hellespont and drowned all the adjacent Countries This Traditional Story I look upon as very considerable for its Antiquity and Probability it seeming to contain something of truth For it 's not unlikely that the Euxine Sea being over-charged with Waters by extraordinary Floods or driven with violent storms of Wind might make its way through the Bosphorus and Hellespent But it will be objected That the Euxine Sea doth empty it self continually by the Bosphorus and Hellespont into the Mediterranean and that if it had not this way of discharge the Rivers bringing in more than is spent by vapour it would soon overflow all its shores and drown the circumjacent Countreys and so it must have done soon after the Flood and therefore it is not probable that Samothrace should have been inhabited before that irruption if any such there were To which I answer 1. That Monsieur Marsilly thinks he hath demonstrated an under-current in the Thracian Bosphorus by means of which the Euxine may receive as much Water from the Mediterranean as it pours forth into it But because I have already declared my self not to be satisfied of the being and possibility of these undercurrents I answer 2. The Annual receipts from the Rivers running into the Euxine not very much exceeding what is spent in vapour who knows but that from the time of the General Deluge till the Irruption whereof we are discoursing the Euxine might yearly enlarge its Bason and encroach upon the Neighbouring Countreys Natural Historians give us an account of new Islands raised up in the Sea Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. 2. cap. 87. enumerates Delos and Rhodes Islands of note and of less account and later emersion Anaphe beyond Melos and Nea between Lemnos and the Hellespont Alone between Lebedos and Teos and among the Cyclades Thera and Therasia Olymp. 135. An. 4. which last or one of the same name Seneca saith was raised himself beholding it nobis spectantibus enata Among the same after 130 years Hiera and two Furlongs distant in his own time when Iunius Syllanus and L. Balbus were Consuls Thia. But the most
Mutations are made in the upper or superficial Region of the Earth the parts thereof seeming to tend to a greater quiet and settlement Besides the Superficies of the Sea notwithstanding the overwhelming and submersion of Islands and the straitning of it about the Outlets of Rivers and the Earth it washes from the shores subsiding and elevating the bottom seems not to be raised higher nor spread further or bear any greater proportion to that of the Land then it did a thousand years ago So have I finished my second Discourse concerning the Deluge and its Effects and the Mutations that have been since made in the Earth and their Causes DISCOURSE III. OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE WORLD THE INTRODUCTION TO THE Third Discourse THERE is implanted in the Nature of Man a great desire and curiosity of fore-knowing future Events and what shall befal themselves their Relations and Dependents in time to come the Fates of Kingdoms and Commonwealths especially the Periodical Mutations and final Catastrophe of the World Hence in ancient times Divination was made a Science or Mystery and many Nations had their Colledges or Societies of Wise-men Magicians Astrologers and Sooth-sayers as for example the Egyptians Babylonians and Romans Hence the Vulgar are very prone to consult Diviners and Fortune-tellers To gratifie in some measure this Curiosity and that his People might not in any Priviledge be inferiour to the Nations about them it pleased God besides the standing Oracle of Vrim not only upon special occasions to raise up among the Iews extraordinary Prophets by immediate Mission but also to settle a constant Order and Succession of them for the maintenance and upholding whereof there were Colledges and Seminaries instituted for the educating and fitting young Men for the Prophetick Function These were the Sons of the Prophets of whom we find so frequent mention in Scripture Moreover it pleased God so far to condescend to the weakness of the Iews that in the Infancy of their State he permitted them to consult his Prophets concerning ordinary accidents of life and affairs of small moment As we see Saul did Samuel about the loss of his Fathers Asses which it 's not likely he would have done had it not been usual and customary so to do In the latter times of that State we read of no consulting of Prophets upon such occasions At last also by their own confession the Spirit of Prophecy was quite taken away and nothing left them but a Vocal Oracle which they called Bath col i. e. the Daughter of a Voice or the Daughter of Thunder a Voice out of a Voice This Dr. Light foot thinks to have been a meer Fancy or Imposture Quae de Bath Kol referunt Iudaei ignoscant illi mihi si ego partim pro fabulis habeam Iuduicis partim pro praestigis Diabolicis What the Iews report concerning Bath Kol I beg their pardon if I esteem them no other then either Jewish Fables or Diabolical Illusions It is a Tradition among them that after the death of the last Prophets Haggai Zachary and Malachy the Holy Spirit departed from Israel But why I beseech you was Prophecy withdrawn if Coelestial Oracles were to be continued Why was Vrim and Thummim taken away or rather not restored by their own confession after the Babylonish Captivity It were strange indeed that God taking away his ordinary Oracles from a People should bestow upon them one more or equally noble and that after they were extremely degenerated and fallen into all manner of Impiety Superstition and Heresy c. And a little after if I may freely speak what I think those innumerable Stories which every where occur in the Jewish Writings concerning Bath Kol are to be reduced to two Heads viz. 1. The most of them are meer Fables invented in honour of this or that Rabbin or to gain credit to some History 2. The rest meer Magical and Diabolical Illusions c. In the Primitive Churches of Christians planted by the Apostles there was also an Order of Prophets 1 Cor. 12. 28. God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets c. This Spirit of Prophecy was an extraordinary and temporary Gift as were the Gifts of Healing and Speaking with Tongues continuing not long after the Death of the Apostles and Consignation of the Canon of Scripture So that now we have no means left us of coming to the knowledge of future Events but the Prophecies contained in the Writings of the Holy Penmen of Scripture which we must search diligently consider attentively and compare together if we desire to understand any thing of what shall befal the Christian Church or State in time to come This Text which I have made choice of for my Subject is part of a Prophecy concerning the greatest of all Events the Dissolution of the World 2 PETER iii. 11. Seeing then all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness CHAP. 1. The Division of the Words and Doctrine contained in them with the Heads of the following Discourse THESE Words contain in them two Parts 1. An Antecedent or Doctrine All these things shall be dissolved 2. A Consequent or Inference thereupon What manner of persons ought we to be The Doctrine here only briefly hinted or summarily proposed is laid down more fully in the precedent Verse But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up These words are by the generality of Interpreters Ancient and Modern understood of the final destruction or dissolution of Heaven and Earth in which sense I shall choose rather to accept them at present than with the Reverend and Learned Dr. Hammond and some few others to stem the Tide of Expositors and apply them to the destruction of Ierusalem and the Jewish Polity I say then That this World and all things therein contained shall one day be dissolved and destroyed by Fire By World in this Proposition We and by Heaven and Earth in this place the most rational Interpreters of Scripture do understand only the whole Compages of this sublunary World and all the Creatures that are in it all that was destroyed by the Flood in the days of Noah and now secured from perishing so again that I may borrow Dr. Hammond's words in his Annotations on this place And again the word Heavens saith he being an Equivocal word is used either for the superiour Heavens whether Empyreal or Ethereal or for the sublunary Heavens the Air as the word World is either the whole Compages of the superiour and inferiour World as the Author of the Book De Mundo ascribed falsly to Aristotle defines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Systeme or Compages of Heaven and Earth and the Beings therein contained or
the middle of the Earth which could not be meant saith he of the Sepulchre because that was hewen out of a Rock in its Superficies 3. It is a received Opinion among the Divines of the Church of Rome that Hell is about the Center of the Earth insomuch as some of them have been solicitous to demonstrate that there is room enough to receive all the Damned by giving us the Dimensions thereof Neither is it repugnant to the History of the Creation in Genesis For tho' indeed Moses doth mention only Water and Earth as the component parts of this Body yet doth he not assert that the Earth is a simple uniform homogeneous Body as neither do we when we say Vpon the face of the earth or the like For the Earth we see is a Mass made up of a multitude of different Species of Bodies Metals Minerals Stones and other Fossils Sand Clay Marle Chalk c. which do all agree in that they are consistent and solid more or less and are in that respect contradistinguished to Water and together compound one Mass which we call Earth Whether the interior parts of the Earth be made up of so great a variety of different Bodies is to us altogether unknown For tho' it be observed by Colliers that the Beds of Coals lie one way and do always dip towards the East let them go never so deep so that would it quit cost and were it not for the Water they say they might pursue the Bed of Coals to the very Center of the Earth the Coals never failing or coming to an end that way yet that is but a rash and ungrounded Conjecture For what is the depth of the profoundest Mines were they a Mile deep to the Semidiameter of the Earth not as one to four thousand Comparing this Observation of Dipping with my Notes about other Mines I find that the Veins or Beds of all generally run East and West and dip towards the East Of which what Account or Reason can we give but the motion of the Earth from West to East I know some say that the Veins for Example of Tin and Silver dip to the North tho' they confess they run East and West which is a thing I cannot understand the Veins of those Metals being narrow things Sir Tho. Willoughby in his fore-mentioned Letter writes thus I have talked with some of my Colliers about the lying of the Coal and find that generally the Basset end as they call it lies West and runs deeper toward the East allowing about twenty Yards in length to gain one in depth but sometimes they decline a little from this posture for mine lie almost South-West and North-East They always sink to the East more or less There may therefore for ought we know be Fire about the Center of the Earth as well as any other Body if it can find a Pabulum or Fuel there to maintain it And why may it not since the Fires in those subterraneous Caverns of Aetna Vesuvius Stromboli Hecla and other burning Mountains or Vulcano's have found wherewith to feed them for Thousands of Years And as there are at some tho' uncertain Periods of Time violent Eruptions of Fire from the Craters of those Mountains and mighty Streams of melted Materials poured forth from thence so why may not this Central Fire in the Earth if any such there be receiving accidentally extraordinary supplies of convenient Fuel either from some inflammable Matter within or from without rend the thick exterior Cortex which imprisons it or finding some Vents and Issues break forth and overflow the whole Superficies of the Earth and burn up all things This is not impossible and we have seen some Phaenomena in Nature which bid fair towards a Probability of it For what should be the reason of new Stars appearing and disappearing again as that noted one in Cassiopeia which at first shone with as great a lustre as Venus and then by degrees diminishing after some two Years vanish'd quite away but that by great supplies of combustible Matter the internal Fire suddenly increasing in quantity and force either found or made its way through the Cracks or Vents of the Maculae which inclosed it and in an instant as it were overflowed the whole surface of the Star whence proceeded that illustrious Light which afterwards again gradually decayed its supply failing Whereas other newly appearing Stars which either have a constant supply of Matter or where the Fire hath quite dissolved the Maculae and made them comply with its motion have endured for a long time as that which now shines in the Neck of Cygnus which appears and disappears at certain Intervals But because it is not demonstrable that there is any such Central Fire in the Earth I propose the eruption thereof rather as a possible than probable means of a Conflagration and proceed to the last means whereby it may naturally be effected and that is SECT IV. The Fourth Natural Cause of the World's Dissolution the Earth's Dryness and Inflammability IV. THE Dryness and Inflammability of the Earth under the Torrid Zone with the eruption of the Vulcano's to set it on fire Those that hold the Inclination of the Equator to the Ecliptick daily to diminish so that after the Revolutions of some Ages they will jump and consent tell us that the Sun-beams lying perpendicularly and constantly on the parts under the Equator the Ground thereabout must needs be extremely parch'd and rendred apt for Inflammation But for my part I own no such Decrement of Inclination And the best Mathematicians of our Age deny that there hath been any since the eldest Observations that are come down to us For tho' indeed Ptolomy and Hipparchus do make it more than we find it by above twenty Minutes yet that Difference is not so considerable but that it may well be imputed to the Difference of Instruments or Observations in point of Exactness So that not having decreased for Eighteen hundred Years past there is not the least ground for Conjecture that it will alter in Eighteen hundred Years to come should the World last so long And yet if there were such a Diminution it would not conduce much so far as I can see to the bringing on of a Conflagration For tho' the Earth would be extremely dried and perchance thereby rendred more inflammable yet the Air being by the same Heat as much rarified would contain but few nitrous Particles and so be inept to maintain the Fire which we see cannot live without them It being much deaded by the Sun shining upon it and burning very remisly in Summer time and hot Weather For this reason in Southern Countries in extraordinary hot Seasons the Air scarce sufficeth for Respiration To the clearing up of this let us a little consider what Fire is It seems to consist of three different sorts of parts 1. An extremely thin and subtil Body whose Particles are in a very vehement and rapid motion 2.
Three Physico-Theological DISCOURSES CONCERNING I The Primitive CHAOS and Creation of the World II. The General DELUGE its Causes and Effects III. The Dissolution of the WORLD and Future Conflagration WHEREIN Are largely Discussed the Production and Use of Mountains the Original of Fountains of Formed Stones and Sea-Fishes Bones and Shells found in the Earth the Effects of particular Floods and Inundations of the Sea the Eruptions of Vulcano's the Nature and Causes of Earthquakes With an Historical Account of those Two late Remarkable Ones in Iamaica and England With PRACTICAL INFERENCES By IOHN RAY Fellow of the Royal Society The Second Edition Corrected very much Enlarged and Illustrated with Copper-plates LONDON Printed for Sam. Smith at the Princes Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard 1693. TO THE Most Reverend FATHER in GOD JOHN L d Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan My LORD IT was no Interest or Expectation of mine that induced me to Dedicate this Discourse to your Grace I am not so well conceited of my own Performances as to think it merits to be inscribed to so Great a Name much less that I should Oblige your Lordship or indeed a far meaner Person by such Inscription My principal motive was that it would give me opportunity of Congratulating with the Sober Part of this Nation your Advancement to the Archiepiscopal Dignity and of acknowledging His Majesty's Wisdom in making choice of so fit a Person to fill that Chair endued with all Qualifications requisite for so high a Calling so able and skilful a Pilot to govern the Church and so prudent and faithful a Counsellor to serve Himself But I will not enlarge in your just Praises lest I should incur the unjust Censure or Suspicion of Flattery Give me leave only to add what I may without injury of Truth and I think without violation of Modesty that your Grace's Election hath the concurrent Approbation and Applause of all good Men that know you or have had a true Character of you which may serve to strengthen your Hands in the Management and Administration of so difficult a Province though you need no such Support as being sufficiently involved and armed by your Vertues and protected by the Almighty Power and Providence Those that are Good and Wise are pleased and satisfied when Great Men are preferred to Great Places and think it pity that Persons of large and publick Spirits should be confined to narrow Spheres of Action and want Field to exercise and employ those rich Talents and Abilities wherewith they are endowed in doing all the Good they are thereby qualified and inclined to do My LORD I am sensible that the Present I make you is neither for Bulk nor Worth suitable to your Person and Greatness yet I hope you will favourably accept it being the best I have to offer and my Boldness may pretend some Excuse from ancient Acquaintance and from my Forwardness to embrace this Opportunity of professing my Name among those that Honour you and of publishing my self My LORD Your Grace's most devoted Servant and humble Orator IOHN RAY THE PREFACE HAving altered the Method of this Treatise and made considerable Additions to it it may justly be expected that I should give some Account thereof to the Reader In the Preface to the former Edition I acquainted him that I had taken Notice of five Matters of Ancient Tradition 1. That the World was formed out of a Chaos by the Divine Wisdom and Power 2. That there was an universal Flood of Waters in which all Mankind perished excepting some few which were saved in an Ark or Ship 3. That the World shall one day be destroyed by Fire 4. That there is a Heaven and a Hell an Elysium and a Tartarus the one to reward good Men and other to punish wicked and both eternal 5. That bloody Sacrifices were to be offered for the Expiation of Sin And that of four of them I had occasion to treat in this Book of two that is to say of the Dissolution of the World by Fire and the Eternal State that was to succeed in reference to Man either in Heaven or Hell more directly of the other two viz. The Primitive Chaos and Creation and the General Deluge occasionally and by way of digression at the request of some Friends But now this Treatise coming to a second Impression I thought it more convenient to make these several Discourses upon these Particulars substantial Parts of my Work and to dispose them according to the priority and posteriority of their Subjects in order of time beginning with the Primitive Chaos Concerning these Traditions it may be enquired what the Original of them was Whether they were of Divine Revelation or Humane invention In answer whereto As to the Second That there was once a General Deluge whereby this whole sublunary World was drown'd and all Animals both Man and Beast destroyed excepting only such as were preserved in an Ark it being matter of Fact and seen and felt by Noah and his Sons there can be no doubt of the Original of that The First concerning the Chaos and Creation of the World if it were not ancienter 〈…〉 Scripâ—â—re it is likely it had its Origâ—nal frâ—m the first Chapter of Genesis and the Chaos from the second Verse And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep But if it were more ancient it must still in all likelihood be Divinely revealed because Man being created last and brought into a World already filled and furnished And God being an Omnipotent and also a Free Agent who could as well have created the World in a moment or altogether as successively it was impossible for Man by reason to determine which way he made choice of The Third Concerning the future Dissolution and Destruction of the World by a General Conflagration there being nothing in Nature that can demonstrate the necessity of it and a second Inundation and Submersion by Water being in the Course of Nature an hundred times more probable as I have shewn in the ensuing Discourses And therefore we see God Almighty to secure Man against the apprehension and dread of a second Deluge made a Covenant with him to give him a visible Sign in confirmation of it never to destroy the World so again And the Ancients who relate this Tradition deivering it as an Oracle or Decree of Fate Ovid Metamorph. 1. Esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur affore tempus c. was likewise probable of Divine Revelation The Fourth That there shall be a Future State wherein Men shall be punished or rewarded accordingly as they have done ill or well in this Life and that State Eternal thô the first part may be demonstrated from the Justice and Goodness of God because there being an unequal distribution of Good and Evil in this Life there must be a time to set things streight in another World yet it being so difficult to Human Reason
the Alps excepting the Vallesian and Sabaudian there are multitudes of Kine fed in Summer time as I my self can witness having in my Simpling Voyages on those of Iura and Saleve observed Herds of Cattel there and many Dairy-houses built where I have been more than once refreshed by their Milk and Milk-Meats Nay there are but very few and those of the highest Summits of the Alps that keep Snow all Summer and I was told by the Inhabitants that one time or other in seven or eight years space for the most part there came a Summer that melted all the Snow that lay on them too 7. Another great use and necessity of the Mountains and Hills is for the Generation and Maintenance of Rivers and Fountains which in our Hypothesis that all proceed from Rain-water could not be without them or but rarely So we should have only Torrents which would fail in Summer time or any dry Season and nothing to trust to but stagnating Water reserved in Pools and Cisterns Which how great an Inconvenience it would be I need not take pains to shew I say that Fountains and Rivers would be but rare were there no Mountains For upon serious consideration I find that I was too hasty in conclnding because I had observed no Fountains springing up in Plains therefore there were or could be absolutely none and do now grant that there is reason to believe the Relations made of such For the whole dry Land being but one continued Mountain and ascending all along from the Sea to the Mid-land as is undeniably proved by the Descent of Rivers even in plain Countries the Water sinking into the Earth may run under ground and according as the Vein leads it break out in the side of this Mountain though the place as to outward appearance be a Plain I shall now add That though it be possible that without Mountains there may be Springs if there should be Rains which it is somewhat questionable were there no Mountains whether there could be or no at least in hot Countreys yet is it probable that most of those Springs we find in Plains or depressed places distant from Mountains may come along in subterraneous Channels from the next Mountains and there break out Monsieur Blundel related to the Parisian Academy what device the inhabitants of the lower Austria which is encompassed with the Mountains of Stiria are wont to use to fill their Wells with Water They dig in the Earth to the depth of twenty or five and twenty feet till they come to an argilla clammy earth then they bore a hole in the midst of a stone about five or six inches broad and through it boâ—e the argilla so deep till the Waters breaks forcibly out which Water it 's probable comes from the neighbouring Mounâ—ains in subterraneous Channels And Cassinus observed That in many places of the Territory of Modena and Bologna in Italy they make themselves Wells of springing Water by the like artifice They dig in the Earth till they come to the Water which stagnates in common Wells which they draw quite out Then within this new digged Well they make two cylindrical Walls concentrical one to another the space or interstice between them they fill and ramm close with well wrought Argilla or Clay to keep out the ambient Water which done they sink the Well deeper into the ground and continue the inner Wall so low till the Earth underneath seems to swell by the force of the Water rising up And lastly they bore this Earth or Soil with a long Wimble whereupon the Water breaks forth through the hole with a great force so that it doth not only fill the Well but overflows and waters the neighbouring fields with a constant stream By this means the same Seigneur Cassini made a Fountain at the Castle of Vrbin that cast up the water five foot high above the level of the ground It is very probable that these waters descend by subterraneous passages from the Appennine Mountains which are about ten miles distant If such things may be done by Art why may they not also by Nature Nay that the like are done we find by experience in the Lacus Lugeus or Zirchnitzer-Sea in Carniola which after it is empty of water running out at holes or pits in the bottom which it doth yearly in the Summer time in the Months of May Iune or Iuly in the Autumn when it rains moderately the water spouts out of some of the forementioned pits two or three fathoms perpendicularly but when it rains very hard and long together especially with Thunder then the water breaks forth with great force not only from the foresaid pits but likewise at a thousand other Caves and Holes spirting several fathoms high from some perpendicularly from others obliquely so that there is not a pleasanter sight then this and in a short time fills the lake A full description and an account of all the Phoenomena of this admirable Lake see in Philosoph Transact Numb 191. p. 411. c. So we see water may be brought down from the Mountains and raised up naturally in strait Channels with that force and to that height as to exceed all the artificial jets in the World if not in the altitude of the spout yet in the bigness of the stream abundantly This end and use of Mountains I find assigned by Mr. Halley in his Discourse concerning the original of Springs and Rivers in these words This if we may allow final causes and why may we not what needs this hesitancy and dubitation in a thing that is clear seems to be the design of the Hills that their ridges being placed through the midst of the Continents might serve as it were Alembicks to distil fresh water for the use of Man and Beast and their heights to give a descent to those streams to run gently like so many veins of the Macrocosm to be the more beneficial to the Creation But some may say Granting there be some use and benefit of moderate Hills and Risings what necessity is there of such extended Ridges of vast and towring Mountains hiding their Heads among the Clouds and seeming for Altitude to contend with the Skies I answer there is very great use of them for repelling the Vapours exhaled by the Sun-beams in the hot Regions and hindring their Evagations Northward as we have already shewn and shall not repeat I might add hereto 8. Those long Series and Chains of Mountains are of great use for Boundaries and Limits to the Territories of Princes or Commonwealths to secure them on those parts from sudden Incursions of Enemies As for the rudeness and confusion of Mountains their cragged and broken Rocks and Cliffs and whatever other Disorder there may be among them it may be accounted for from the manner of their first Generation and those other mutations they have been since obnoxious to by Earthquakes Eruptions of Vulcano's foundering and falling in of their Props and
Mankind whose right the Kingdom was 6. The sending out of a Dove to try whether the Waters were abated and the Flood gone off is we have seen by Plutarch attributed to Deucalion 7. Lucian in his Timon and in his Book De Dea Syria sets forth the Particulars of Deucalion's after the Example of Noah's Flood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Deucalion was the only Man that was left for a second Generation for his Prudence and Piety sake And he was saved in this manner He made a great Ark and got aboard it with his Wife and Children And to him came Swine and Horses and Lions and Serpents and all other living Creatures which the Earth maintains according to their kinds by pairs and he received them all and they hurt him not for there was by Divine Instinct a great friendship among them and they sailed together in the Ark so long as the Waters prevailed And in his Timon he saith That Noah laid up in the Ark plenty of all Provisions for their sustenance TAB I. pag 69 The two ancient Apamian Coyns taken out of Octav. Falconieri de Nummo Apamensi Deucalionaei Diluvij typum exhibente 8 â—â— Romae By the Greek inscriptions they were stamp under Philippus Marcus Aurelius Alexander and Septimius Severus Howbeit I do not deny that there was such a particular Flood in Thessaly as they call Deucalion's which happened Seven Hundred and Seventy Years or thereabouts after the general Deluge I acknowiedge also a more ancient Flood in Attica in the time of Ogyges about Two hundred and thirty years before Deucalion's by which the Countrey was so marred that it lay waste and uncultivated without Inhabitants for almost Two hundred years CHAP. II. Of the Causes of the Deluge WHat were the instrumental Causes or Means of the Flood Whether was it effected by natural or supernatural Means only Whether was God no further concerned in it than in so ordering second Causes at first as of themselves necessarily to bring it in at such a time First Those that hold this Deluge was altogether miraculous and that God Almighty created Waters on purpose to serve this occasion and when they had done their work destroyed them again dispatcht the Business and loose or cut the Knot in a few words And yet this Hypothesis is not so absurd and precarious as at first sight it may seem to be For the World being already full there needed not nor indeed could be any Creation of Water out of nothing but only a Transmutation of some other Body into Water Now if we grant all Natural Bodies even the Elements themselves to be mutually transmutable as few Men doubt and some think they can demonstrate why might not the Divine Power and Providence bring together at that time such natural Agents as might change the Air or Aether or both together into Water and so supply what was wanting in Rains and extraordinary Eruptions of Springs To them that argue the Improbability of such a change from the great quantity of Air requisite to the making of a little Water it may be answered That if Air and all Bodies commixt with it were together changed into Water they must needs make a bulk of Water of equal quantity with themselves unless we will grant a Peripatetical Condensation and Rarefaction and hold that the same Matter may have sometimes a greater sometimes a lesser quantity or extension This Cause the conversion of Air into Water the Learned Jesuite Athanasius Kircher in his Book De Arca Noae alledges as the undoubted instrumental Cause or Means of the Deluge in these words Dico totum illud aereum spatium usque ad supremam regionem aeris praepotentis Dei virtute in aquas per inexplicabilem nubium coacervatarum multitudinem quâ replebatur conversam esse cujus ubertas tanta fuit ut Aer supremus cum inferiori in Oceanum commutatus videri potuerit non naturae viribus sed illius cujus voluntati imperio cuncta subsunt That is I affirm That all that Aereal space that reaches up to the supreme Region of the Air was by the power of the Omnipolent God and instrumentality of an inexplicable multitude of Clouds amassed together wherewith it was filled changed into Water so that the upper and lower Air might seem to be 〈◊〉 into an Ocean not by the strength of Naâ—â—â—e but of him to whose Will and 〈◊〉 all things are subject And he is so confident that this Deluge in which the 〈…〉 raised fifteen Cubits above the highest by Mountains was not nor could be effected by natural Causes but by the right hand of the most High God only that he saith No Man can deny it but he who doth not penetrate how far the power of Nature can extend and where it is limited To conclude this Hypothesis hath the Suffrages of most Learned Men. But because the Scripture assigning the Causes or Means of the Inundation makes no mention of any conversion of Air into Water but only of the breaking up the Fountains of the Great Deep and the opening of the Windows of Heaven I suppose those Causes may be sufficient to work the Effect and that we need not have recourse to such an Assistance As for those that make the Deluge Topical and restrain it to a narrow compass of Land their Opinion is I think sufficiently confuted by a late ingenious Author to whom therefore I refer the Reader I shall not undertake the Defence or Confutation of those or any other Hypothesis only tell you which at present seems to me most probable and that is theirs who for a partial cause of the Deluge assign either a change of the Center of the Earth or a violent depression of the Surface of the Ocean and a forcing the Waters up from the subterraneous Abyss through the Channels of the Fountains that were then broken up and opened First then let us consider what Causes the Scripture assigns of the Flood and they are two 1. The breaking up the Fountains of the great Deep 2. The opening of the Windows of Heaven I shall first treat of this last By the opening of the Windows of Heaven is I suppose to be understood the causing of all the Water that was suspended in the Air to descend down in Rain upon the Earth the effect hereof here mentioned being a long continuing Rain of Forty days And that these Treasuries of the Air will afford no small quantity of Water may be made appear both by Scripture and Reason 1. By Scripture which opposes the Waters that are above the Heavens or Firmament to those that are under them which if they were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in some measure equal it would never do Gen. 1. 6. God is said to make a Firmament in the midst of the Waters and to divide the Waters which were under the Firmament from the Waters which were above the Firmament And this was the work of a whole