a Wicker Image in the form of a Man of a vast proportion whose inward Cavities they filled with live Men who were commonly Murtherers Thieves Robbers and other Criminals but for want of these often Innocents and then to set fire to it and consume them to ashes Now I think Mr. Sammes in his Britannia comes short in his guess concerning the grounds of this Festival Solemnity He conceives the Britains and Gauls by this solemn Act in burning these vast Images with Men in them express'd their detestation of the Phoenicians who he says were Men of a vast stature and who for a long time had subdu'd them and kept them in Slavery from which they were now got free This interpretation I say seems not to me to answer the Grandeur of the Act it being much more probable that by it they would present a solemn Type of the general Conflagration it being a Point of their Doctrine that such a thing was to be especially as it related to Mankind and the moral World tho as Boemus tells us they were wont also to make such great Images of Rowls of Hay and therein to inclose Beasts as well as Men and to set all on fire in like manner which nevertheless may also refer to Mankind for that in Man there are certain Fomites and Affects of Brutes which after they have been a long time habituated in him Man seems to have pass'd into their Nature the Pythagorean Transmigration according to the Sense of all the learned Platonicks except Plotinus importing no more which Transmigration was a Doctrine so antiently taught by the Druids that Lipsius says he knows not whether they learnt it of Pythagoras or he of them 3. Concerning the Learning of the Ancients whether it were in Conclusions and traditional only as the Author has intimated or from a contemplation of Causes we may consider what Plutarch says in the Case which is as follows All Generation proceeding from two Causes the first and most antient Divines and Poets kept themselves in a manner wholly to the first and most excellent Cause but as for necessary and natural Causes they meddle not with them whereas on the contrary the modern Philosophers leaving that excellent and divine Principle ascribe all to Bodies and Affects of Bodies and I know not what Juttings against each other Changes and Temperatures So that both are in a fault the latter because they either ignore or omit to tell us by whom the former after what manner and by what means each thing is effected Again as to the antient Philosophy we know that not long before the times of Plato and Aristotle and the other Philosophers all the Dogmata of Philosophy were not deliver'd openly but after an obscure and Aenigmatical manner under certain Veils which occult way of Philosophizing being learnt by the Greeks from the Egyptians they brought it into their Country and continu'd the same for a time being unwilling openly to publish among the vulgar that admirable Learning which being ill understood by them might make them fall from Religion and uprightness of Life till at length in succeeding Ages the whole came to be unravell'd and Men came to open Reasoning Hence it may be said that as our Corpuscularians or other Philosophers at present will not own themselves ignorant of the first Cause tho they mention him not in explaining natural Effects So the Antients knew well enough particular Causes it being wholly inconsistent with a Philosopher to rely barely on Tradition antient Fame or a general Cause as may be imagin'd tho they thought not fit generally to insist on any but the first Cause in their Writings more than what was done in a fabulous and aenigmatical way according to the stately Humour of those most antient times A Prophet indeed may say Lingua mea tanquam calamus scribae but for a Philosopher who pretends to know things not by divine Instinct or traditional Say-so's but by their adaequate Causes it 's Nonsense so to do Men of Sense as those Antients must be allow'd to have been have naturally an enquiring and restless Genius which will not permit them to sit still till they have either found that a Point is inscrutable in its Nature or have given themselves some tolerable account from Reason of it And any Man that considers how many things in the Books of the Old Testament or only in the Books of Job and Moses the two most antient authentick Writings perhaps of any extant are said according to a deep knowledge in Physiology and that Moses had his Learning from the Egyptians cannot think the Antients so ignorant in that kind as some may otherwise imagin them to have been Indeed it does not appear that the Greeks receiv'd that Philosophy which is demonstrated by Reasons from the Egyptians what they chiefly receiv'd from them being chiefly what belongs to Ceremonies and the Mathematicks the grand Theorem amongst them which they most valu'd relating thereunto and hence when it 's treated of the Mathematicks and Mysteries we find the Chaldean and Egyptian Opinions quoted but for Reasoning in Philosophy they are not mention'd by Aristotle and Plato and nevertheless we may conclude that from what the Egyptians set forth under Veils in their Aenigmatical way us'd chiefly by them for the sake of their grand Mystery which never was nor will be made common the Greeks by solving it compos'd their Philosophy the Egyptians not caring that any Man should be made acquainted in the knowledg of natural Causes who was not initiated in the foresaid Mystery the knowledg of Nature being subservient thereunto And tho it does not fully appear by any thing we have remaining that the antient Chaldeans and Egyptians were so well seen in Physical things that they well understood what an universal Cause differ'd from particular Causes or what was the Office of that and these or what might be the sign of a thing whereof it was not the Cause yet when we consider the great insight they had in the Properties of natural things it may be a rational inducement for us to believe that they had likewise well consider'd the particular Causes whence they flow'd and if they did not make them publick nor the Properties themselves it was only on that ground mention'd by Aristotle to Alexander saying He is a Transgressor of the Divine Law who discovers the hidden Secrets of Nature and the Properties of things because some Men desire as much as in them lies to overthrow the Divine Law by those Properties that God has plac'd in Animals Plants and Stones Whence to keep the Divine Law in its full vigour the Antients made it their business alway to keep the People minding the prime Cause and no others which indeed it concerned them to mind And it 's observ'd even to this day in some Countries that Youth piously educated with a strong Sense and Zeal of Religion when they come to pass a Course of Philosophy and
the following Passage Page 3. He says thus There is no Sect of Philosophers that I know of that ever gave an account of the universal Deluge or discovered from the Contemplation of the Earth that there had been such a thing already in Nature 'T is 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 have already destroy'd the World And beneath As to the Conflagration in particular this has always been reckon'd among 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 toward 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 Proofs which is an Argument with me that the knowledg they had was not a thing of their own Invention or which they came to by fair Reasoning and Observation upon Nature but was deliver'd 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 On this Passage I have the following Particulars to offer 1. We have no reason to expect that the Greeks or Latins should have given any Account of the Deluge in Noah's time unless we will allow the Deluge of the Ancient Ogyges which is said to have lasted nine months to have been the same with that of Noah for they pretend not to have any Records farther than that Ogyges wherefore all things among the Greeks which Antiquity had worn out of date were call'd Ogygia And if haply they had any thing of times before it came very obscurely to them whence they call'd the Ante-Ogygian Age 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and was only what they had by Hearsay of the Egyptians or other Nations Those who have made any mention of the universal Deluge under Noah are The Sibyl in Lactantius de Ira Dei c. 23. Xenophon de Equivocis Fabius Pictor de Aureo Seculo Cato de Originibus Archilochus the Greek who introduces also the Testimony of Moses in his Book de Temporibus Josephus in his Jewish Antiquities from Mnaseas Hierom of Egypt and Berosus the Chaldean Alexander Polyhistor and Abydenus in Cyril's first Book against Julian Plato in his Timaeus Ovid and others of the Poets confound the Deluge of Noah with that of Deucalion describing this as general which in regard they must have known to have been particular I judg the scope of their Discourse chiefly tended to a moral or divine Institution the historical Narratson in itself being not true And Servius tells us that by a Deluge and Emphytheosis the Ancients understood a Change and a Melioration of times and we know Deluges were still introduc'd in the Iron age after a total corruption of Manners 2. As to Alterations by Deluges and Conflagrations which the Author intimates the Ancients to have held only by Tradition without finding by the Earth that any such things had been and without considering any Causes and Preparations in Nature for them I find it to be otherwise First I think it plain enough among the ancient Philosophers tho unobserv'd by the Author that they discover'd from the Contemplation of the Earth there had been already such a thing as a general Deluge at least successively so as the Waters of the Sea had some time or other cover'd the whole face of the Earth Thus Ovid introduces Pythagoras saying Vidi ego quod fuerat quondam solidissima tellus Esse fretum vidi factas ex aequore terras Et procul à pelago Conchae jacuere marinae Et vetus inventa est in montibus Anchora summis Quodque fuit campus vallum decursus aquarum Fecit eluvie mons est deductus in aequor c. I 've seen what was most solid Earth before Become a Sea the Sea become a Shore Far from the Sea Sea-Cocles often lie And Anchors old are found on Mountains high Land-floods have made a Valley of a Plain And brought a Mountain with them to the Main And there you may read much more to the same purpose and all ancient Histories as well as modern tell us of such marine Bodies found on Mountains some urging them as Arguments for such Changes as there are learned Men now living who think they can demonstrate from such Bodies found on Mountains at all distances from the Sea that there is no part of the Land now appearing but has sometime been cover'd by the Sea I could produce much matter on this Argument were it not that I am unwilling to anticipate here what I have thoughts of setting forth in a particular Tract Again as for Causes of those Changes we find that Seneca a Master among the Stoicks describing an universal Deluge assigns Causes for them The sum of his Reasoning is thus He examines whether an universal Deluge will be caus'd by the overflowing of the Sea or by continual Rains or by the eruption of new Fountains and concludes it will be by all three joyn'd together and that nothing is difficult to Nature when she hastens to her end In the rise of things she uses a gentle effort and carries them on towards their perfection by unperceivable degrees but when the time of their Dissolution comes it 's done all on a sudden as he exemplifies in Animals and so he says Cities are long building and Woods long growing but reduc'd to Ashes in a few hours Therefore when that fatal Day shall come many Causes will act together There will be a general Concussion of the Earth opening new Sources of Waters continued and violent Rains whence at length the Snows heap'd up on Mountains for many Ages will be dissolv'd whereby the Rivers greatly swelling and forc'd by Tempests will overflow their Channels and by their rapid course carry all before them and many times their courses to the Sea being damn'd up they will return back and drown whole Countries mean while the immoderate Rains continuing the Winter Season encroaching on the Summer and the Seas being mightily increas'd by the vast discharges of the overflowing Rivers and being infested with violent Tempests they will find their Channel too narrow for them and overflow the Land forcing the Rivers back in a tempestuous manner towards their Sources and so at length bury the whole Earth in Waters unless happily for a time some of the Mountains may here and there stand as scatter'd Islands but at last there being a general Effort in the Waters as at
consider second Causes often remit of that earnest Devotion which they us'd before That Saying of the Lord Bacon in reference to this being true viz. That a narrow and slight inspection into Nature inclines Men of weak Heads to Atheism tho a more thorow insight into the Causes of things makes them more evidently see the necessary dependance of things on the great and wise Creator of them CHAP. II. and III. IN the Second Chapter the Author gives a general Account of Noah's Flood proposing also an estimate of what quantity of Waters would be necessary for making it and endeavours to shew that the common Opinion and Explication of that Flood is not intelligible In the Third Chapter he endeavours to answer any Evasions and to shew that there was no new Creation of Waters at the Deluge also that it was not particular and national but extended throughout the whole Earth and concludes with a short Prelude to the Account and Explication he intends to give of it Now as the first Chapter was only introductory to the Work so we find these two Chapters are only preparatory to his Hypothesis by setting forth the Inconsistency of other Opinions concerning the Deluge and in regard it does not concern my Undertaking to consider how validly he has refuted the Opinions of others but how firmly he has establish'd his own I shall pass by these two Chapters to proceed to the Theory he proposes tho I may have occasion now and then in what will ensue to bring some part of their Contents under consideration CHAP. IV. and V. THE Author coming now to establish his Hypothesis undertakes to make out two things First how the Earth from the beginning rose from a Chaos and in what form it continu'd till the time of the Deluge and Secondly how a Deluge at length happen'd his Fourth and Fifth Chapters which are now to be consider'd are for making out the Composition of his Earth or how it rose at first from a Chaos and what its antediluvian State was As for the Dissolution of it at the time of the Deluge he treats of that afterwards In the beginning therefore of his Fourth Chapter before he lays down his Theory he thinks fit in the first place to remove an Opinion concerning the Eternity of the World which he says takes away a Chaos and any beginning to the Earth and consequently the Subject of his Discourse whereupon he writes thus It has been the general Opinion and Consent 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 both 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 Fruits Metals and Minerals and whatsoever is of natural Production We say all these things arose and had their first Existence and Production not six Thousand Years ago he says 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 c. Having thus stated this Opinion he urges first the Scriptures against it and then many Arguments from natural Reason which would be too tedious here to set down but however this point of Beginnings being very nice and variously disputed amongst the Ancients and the foundation on which the Author proposes to build his Theory I must say a little of what I have consider'd on it I find then that Aristotle was not the first Introducer of this Opinion of the worlds Eternity as the Author intimates him to have been and that those who in their Accounts of beginnings describe a Chaos are not thence forc'd to deny the same Eternity Aristotle is so far from being the first that held this Opinion that ev'n his Master Plato according to the sense of most of his Expositors as Crantor Plotinus Porphyrius Jamblicus Proclus Macrobius Censorinus that excellent Christian Philosopher Boethius and many others who generally maintain'd the same is concluded to have held that the World was always and always was from God and flowed from him for they say God always is but that the World is always a making and flows and if it be consider'd as to a beginning of time the World may be said not to have had any birth but if as flowing perpetually from God it s continually brought forth Nor may the World be said less to depend of God if it always has depended and ever shall depend of him than if at some instant of time it began to depend and may cease from it as the light would no less draw its Origine from the Sun and depend of it if it had always flow'd from it and should always so do than if it began at some instant of time to slow thence Those therefore who maintain this Opinion will say that God did not at any time bring forth the matter new but from Eternity and that likewise with its Ornament altho it be conceiv'd without its Ornament before than with it for Nature wants its order which it expects from another and since each thing is conceiv'd first according to what it is than according to what it receives it may properly be conceiv'd first without Order being void of it in itself So that when these men talk of a Chaos and Changes it underwent before it came to be an habitable World they understand it only as to the natural order of things according to our way of conceiving Amongst the Schoolmen the Thomists who generally take upon them to defend Aristotle say It cannot be convinc'd by any natural efficacious Reason that the World was not made from Eternity but in time because the thing not implying Contradiction it depended meerly on the will of God and that when Aristotle said the World was from Eternity he said it only as opining because nothing certain can be had in this matter but by the sole light of Revelation and Faith according to what the Apostle says By faith we understand that the worlds were fram'd by the word of God Tho others say Aristotle affirm'd that God as being a necessary Agent made the World from Eternity Others that where he endeavours to prove the Eternity of the World he keeps himself within the Principles of the Science he was treating of viz. Physiology and thought himself not there accountable for Metaphysical Birth However this may be I think it manifest that the Opinion was much more Ancient than Aristotle Xenophanes before him asserted the word to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philolaus likewise that famous Pythagorean whose Books Plato is said to have bought for a great price of his Relations and to have compos'd his
the World compos'd these turbulent Commotions and put a stop to their exorbitant Efforts And this seems to me a more apt Explication of the original Formation of the World than that the Author would introduce I may farther here note that tho I think the original Formation of the World may be accounted for this way yet I am of opinion there is no Mountain on the Earth now that is an original Mountain or that existed when the World first rose and conclude with Aristotle that the Sea and Land have chang'd places and continue so to do and I think it not possible for any Man fairly to solve the Phaenomenon of marine Bodies found in Mountains by any other Principle especially by a Deluge caus'd as the Author has propos'd But it being not my business here to set for t a Theory of the Earth but only to shew the Inconsistency of the Author's Hypothesis I shall not enlarge at present in making out these things but refer them to a particular Tract I design to publish with what convenient speed I may the Demonstrations whereof will refer to certain Cuts taken from a Collection of Fossil's I have by me where I hope to satisfie the Author in some tolerable way concerning the Rise of Mountains Islands c. and to solve all the Objections he has made against their Rise any other way but what he has propos'd CHAP. VI. WE are now come to the main drift of the Author 's Undertaking viz. How the Deluge was caus'd And in this Chapter he proposes to shew that it happen'd upon the Dissolution of the first Earth and that the Form of the present Earth then rose from the Ruins of the first First then he here presents us with a Figure of the Earth all smooth on the Convex part as he conceivs it must necessarily have been as it rose from a Chaos the great Abysse suppos'd to be spread under it And next he supposes that at a time appointed by Providence this great Abysse was open'd or that the Frame of the Earth broke and it fell down into it And this he says would first cause an universal Deluge by the great Commotion and Agitation of the Abysse on the violent Fall of the Earth into it Then after the Agitation of the Abysse was asswag'd and the Waters by degrees were retir'd into their Channels and the dry Land appear'd we should see the true Image of the present Earth in the Ruins of the first The Surface of the Globe he says would be thence divided into Sea and Land the Land would consist of Plains Valleys Mountains with Caverns containing subterraneous Waters c. The Sea would have Islands in it and Banks and shelfy Rocks on its Shoar c. And these things in the following parts of his Work he examins piece-meal but first here he considers the general Deluge and how aptly this Supposition represents it Supposing therefore it will be easily allow'd that such a Dissolution of the Earth would make an universal Deluge he enquires in what order and from what Causes the Frame of this exterior Earth was dissolv'd The great Cause he assigns for producing this great Effect is the continued Heat of the Sun which he supposes in the Antidiluvian World to have always mov'd in the Equinox there being then no Colds nor Rains nor Change of Seasons so that what by its parching Heat sucking out the Moisture of the Earth which was the Cement of its Parts and so drying it immoderately and causing it to cleave in sundry places and what by rarifying the Waters under the Earth into Vapours which would thence force a way for their Dilatation and Eruption he concludes the Dissolution followed He exemplifies his Doctrine first by an Aeolipile or an hollow Sphere with water in it which if the mouth of it be stopt which gives the vent the water when rarified by the heat of the fire will burst the Vessel with its force Secondly in an Egg which being heated before the fire the moisture and air within being rarified will burst the shell and he is the more free to instance this Comparison because he says when the Ancients speak of the Doctrine of the Mundane Egg they say that after a certain period of time it was broken Thirdly In Earthquakes which generally he says arise from the like Causes and often end in a like effect viz. a partial Deluge or innundation of the place or Country where they happen which may naturally lead us to conceive that a general one has so come to pass Lastly He says the main difficulty propos'd was to find Waters sufficient to make an universal Deluge and that after sometime it should so return into its Channels that the Earth should become again habitable for according to the common Opinion he says it was impossible that such a quantity of waters should be any where found or be brought upon the Earth and then if it were brought that it should be again removed whereas this explication performs the same effect with a far less quantity of water which is easie to be found and easily remov'd when the work is done for he says when the Earth broke and fell into the Abyss a good part of it was cover'd by the meer depth of it and those parts of it that were higher than the Abyss was deep and consequently would stand above it in a calm water were reacht and overtopt by the Waves during the agitation and violent commotions of the Abyss and to represent this commotion to us he supposes 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 and believes that the dashing of the water upon that impression would rise as high as a Mountain But if a mighty Rock or heap of Rocks a great Island or a Continent fall from that height the dashing must rise even to the highest Clouds and he thinks it is not to be wondred that the great tumult of the waters and the extremity of the Deluge lasted for some months because besides that the first shock and commotion of the Abyss was extremely violent here were ever and anon some secondary ruins which made new Commotions lasting the time suppos'd till the waters by degrees were retreated the greatest part of them constituting our present Ocean and the rest filling the lower cavities of the Earth And from things thus explain'd he concludes that this third and last Proposition is made out viz. That the disruption of the Abyss or Dissolution of the primeval Earth and its fall into the Abyss was the cause of the universal Deluge and of the destruction of the old World I have been the more particular in stating this part of the Theory because the main point under debate is here contain'd which I must now examine The Causes assign'd by the Author for such a dissolution of the Earth as is mention'd do not seem to me so
Nature's Productions being consider'd the Diversity of Seasons will be found absolutely necessary for them For tho the Sun keeping always in the Aequator there would be a Diversity of Climates according to the different Latitudes from it Yet no Man can think that this alone would so much diversifie Effects as withal the Sun's Access and Recess according to the Latitude of the Zodiack in the Ecliptick the Sun being the chief universal Cause in Nature's Productions and tho general Causes do not specifie alone yet particular or proxim Causes cannot exert their Power without these gradual Approachments and Retirements of the Sun Aristotle is plain in this Matter viz. That the Sun by its oblique Motion and not by its direct diversifies Effects Because the Sun being in an unequal distance its Motion must be unequal when the variety of Effects is caus'd Or we may say thus if the Sun causes things by its Heat and Motion and gives a differing Impulse by its Motion according to the Rectitude of its Rayes it cannot but diversifie upon such gradual Accesses and Recesses To conclude the four Seasons of the Year seem so natural as nothing more if we consider their Analogy with the four Elements the four Humors in Man's Body the four Quarters of the World the Ages the parts of the Days and Nights c. And every Season is tempered or season'd by another and all Fruits receive their Temperament in the Seasons from Heat Cold Rain c. so that they are call'd Seasons from their Seasoning and have a mutual Connexion and Dependence on each other for the general benefit of the Earth and as the Learned Dr. More says consulting with our own Faculties we observe that an orderly Vicissitude of things is most pleasant to us and much more gratifies the contemplative Property in Man so that on all accounts I must conclude the four Seasons to have been from all Ages And hence the Learned Vives says Non semper est idem habitus Coeli Soli quum nihil ordinatius cogitari possit aut descriptius mutantur enim rerum perpetuarum immutabilium actiones prout expedit iis ad quae referuntur And I believe that all Men considering the State of Nature as it is will say with Maximus Tyrius Natura est perfectissima harmonia Now if the Reasons which I have given against the suppos'd Site of the Sun or Earth to it before the Flood have any Weight as some of them seem to me to carry a demonstrative Force in shewing the Nullity of the Author's Hypothesis in this Point then the three general Characters or Properties which he ascribes to the Golden Age and to Paradise viz. The perpetual Spring against which I have also particularly urg'd some Reasons the spontaneous Fertility of the Earth and the Longaevity of Animals and Vegetables all being chiefly grounded by him on the suppos'd Site of the Sun or Earth to it must fall of course unless other Reasons are assign'd for them than this he has urg'd There still remains the third Difference which he assigns to the Primaeval Earth from the present viz. That the Figure of it was more apparently and regularly oval than it is now which Difference I shall refute in my Considerations on the Fifth Chapter of this Book where he treats particularly of this oval Figure of the Earth Now as to the Longaevity before mention'd besides what the Author has said of it in this Chapter he has added another Chapter particularly concerning it the Contents of which I shall first set down and then offer what I have to say upon it CHAP. IV. HEre the Author by way of Digression treats concerning the natural Causes of Longaevity He sets forth that the Machine of an Animal consists of Springs and which are the two principal and endeavours to make out that the Age of the Antediluvians is to be computed by Solar not Lunar Years He says therefore that in our Bodies we may consider three several Qualities or Dispositions according to each whereof they suffer Decay First their Continuity Secondly that Disposition whereby they are capable of receiving Nourishment which we call Nutribility and Thirdly the Tone or tonical Disposition of the Organs whereby they perform their several Functions In all these respects they would decay in any state of Nature but far sooner and faster in the present state than in the primaeval As for their Continuity he says all consistent Bodies must be less durable now than under the first order of the World because of the unequal and contrary Motions of the Elements or of the Air and AEther that penetrate and pervade them But it is not the gross and visible Continuity of the parts of our Body that first decays there are finer Textures that are spoyl'd insensibly and draw on the Decay of the rest such as are Secondly 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 These being also wrought upon by external Nature whose Course while it was even and steady and the ambient Air mild and balmy preserved the Body much longer in a fresh and fit temper to receive its full Nourishment and consequently gave longer bounds both to our Growth and Life But the third thing he says is the most considerable the Decay of the organick Parts and especially of the Organs preparatory to Nutrition To explain this Point he says that all the Organs of the Body are in the nature of Springs and that their Action is tonical for that no Matter that is not fluid has any Motion or Action in it but in vertue 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 separated or separately mov'd from one another and therefore cannot impel or give Motion to any other but in virtue of this Tone they having no other Motion of themselves This being observ'd he considers upon which of the Organs of the Body Life depends more immediately and the Prolongation of it He says then that in the Body of Man there being several Setts of Parts the Animal and Genital System have no Influence upon long Life being Parts nourished not nourishing Wherefore laying these aside there remain two Compages more the Natural and Vital which consist of the Heart and Stomach with their Appendances These are the Sources of Life and all that is necessary to the Constitution of a living Creature Wherefore we consider only these first Principles and Fountains of Life and the Causes of their natural and necessary Decay Now he says Whatsoever Weakens the Tone or Spring of these two Organs shortens the natural duration of Life and therefore in the primitive Earth the Course of Nature being even steady and unchangeable without different