this particular description of Moses which is so plain as I do not know how he could speak plainer telling us how the Deluge was caused this Man hath the confidence to make a very different relation of it Job 28. God asks him a question Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth Declare if thou hast understanding So I may well say to this Man Where wast thou when I brought a Deluge upon the Earth Declare if thou hast understanding Sure this Man was not then in being and therefore can discover no more unto us of that Deluge but what he received from others And I desire to know of him whether any of the Antients except the fabulous Heathens have delivered unto him any different narration from Moses concerning this Deluge the Christians sure have no other nor had the fews any other before them who are the men most likely to retain such a Tradition written or unwritten for Abraham had Sem the Son of Noah to instruct him in all things during his whole life of a hundred and seventy years Sem dying after Abraham as all conclude by a just computation Is it not then a strange thing that this Fraction of the Earth being the principal Cause given by this Man for the Deluge and without which there could be none as he affirms I say again Is it not very strange that Sem should not relate so wonderful a matter to Abraham unto whom doubtless he delivered the narration of the Flood with all its circumstances The other Sons of Noah Ham and Japhet lived also many years after the Flood and it is as strange that none of them should mention it to their Posterity and so it might have been conveyed unto Heathens also Yet no man in the World hitherto hath uttered one syllable of it And therefore I think I may safely affirm and he will be very well pleased with it if I say no Author in the World ever understood the Deluge or related it in such a manner as he hath found out and consequently may challenge to himself the glory of it if it be true but must bear the shame also if it be false But if you will have patience I will tell you in short the whole substance of this Deluge as he sets it forth XV. First he presupposes the World to have been before the Deluge of a smooth uniform surface of Earth as I shall shew hereafter without any Sea appearing but all the Sea was enclosed within a compass of Earth round about it and this Earth inhabited by all Mankind whose wickedness grew to be so great that God resolved to destroy them all except Noah and his Family who found favour with him And God foreseeing that the people of the World would grow so wicked as to deserve a destruction he so fashioned this World as at sixteen hundred years after the Creation it should in an instant fall all to pieces of it self And in this he admires God's great Wisdom but 't is his own invention setting it forth by the comparison of an Artists making a Clock with so rare an invention as not onely to strike at every hour but exactly at the end of a hundred hours it would all of it self fly asunder and break which would be far more admirable faith he than onely to make it so as to strike at each hour But now I pray you observe the rare Invention whereby this was effected This Earth at first you must suppose was a very Paradise but in process of time the Sun with its mighty heat so parched and filled it with chops and chauns which descended very far into the Earth and prepared it for a rupture and so heated the Waters within the Earth as it made them boil and send forth such violent furious vapours that the whole body of the Earty by their strugling to get forth was put into a terrible Earthquake and at length broke out in that raging manner as shattered this lower World to pieces which falling into that gulf of Water underneath great bodies of Earth tumbling down at once into it did so force the Waters up as to mount even to the very Heavens and so down again And by this means the Waters being cast up into the Air in several places one after another as the Earth tumbled down covered the Earth part after part as he supposes and thus made a Deluge for so he would fain have it Is not this a rare Romantick way and far exceeds all that ever hath been written of Sir Amadis de Gaule or the Knight of the Burning Pestle XVI Before I proceed farther I shall make some Remarks upon this his rare Invention First this whole body of the Earth like a vast great Pitcher was heating by the Sun sixteen hundred years together a wonderful thing One would have thought the Sun in six hundred years time or a thousand at most would have tried the uttermost of its strength and have set this Pitcher a boiling I pray you how thick was this Earth that it could heat the Waters under it He supposes a mile at least and yet in the hottest part of the World that we can now find do but make a Vault in the Earth twenty yards deep we shall find the Earth rather cold than hot and 't will yield a refreshment to any one that goes into it And sure our Torrid Zone is as hot as the Temperate Regions were in his fine World How then came his fine Earth to break into so many parts For we find when fumes or vapours are in the Earth and cause an Earthquake by their struggling mightily to get forth as soon as they have made a breach in one place to get out the struggling ceaseth and the Vapours come out in a Whirlwind Hurricane or some such thing And therefore had his Earth broken in some few places towards the Torrid Zone where it was most likely to break being thereabouts much more parched and chopt than in other parts methinks those vapours going forth at liberty his great Pitcher should cease from it boiling fury and the remaining body of the Earth might still have continued its dainty spherical form For certainly those parts under the Torrid Zone and nearit would have been more chopt and made ready for a breach in the first six hundred years than the Northern parts in the whole sixteen hundred especially considering the Earth as he would have it was set in that posture to the Sun and was so unfufferably hot thereabouts as no man living could endure it For so he sets it forth when he comes to treat of Paradise and dividing the World into two Hemispheres by the Torrid Zone and that men could not pass from one to the other by reason of the excessive heat Wherefore as I said it must needs be that this part must break many hundred years before the Northern part and the vapours got out the struggling and breaking of the Earth
day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly Men. But this they may be sure of that as by the Word of God they were warned then of the Deluge which came upon ungodly Men So now we give you warning that by the same Word of God this World at our Saviours coming shall be destroyed by Fire not only the Earth but the Heavens also shall melt with fervent Heat This is the plain and full meaning of St. Peter's words and this indeed is obvious to any understanding Person at first sight And this is St. Peter's business here to set forth Gods Judgments upon Sin and not the diversity of the old Heavens or Earth from the present for here is nothing mentioning any such diversity or opposition in the former Earth to the present Earth no more than in the former Heavens to the present Heavens where he would have a perfect Antithesis forsooth and a direct opposition between the former Heavens and Earth and the present Heavens and Earth Now let us hear St. Peter's words in the Original Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are willingly or wilfully ignorant that the Heavens were that is Created of old and the Earth situated out of the Water and by the Water but the present Heavens and Earth by the same Word are kept in store against the day of Judgment He doth not say here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This might be an Antithesis but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Heavens were Created of old by the word of God and so sure were the present Heavens And for the Earth he saith it was situated out of the Water and by the Water He doth not say the Heavens and the Earth were both so situated but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a participle of the Feminine Gender and Singular number agreeing with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Earth whereas had he meant the Heavens also were so situated he should have used another Gender and the Plural number so that this situation belongs only to the Earth Then follows But the present Heavens and Earth are by the same Word kept in store reserved unto Fire What opposition is here The Heavens and the Earth were Created of old by God But the present Heavens and Earth are by God reserved unto Fire Here is no diversity or opposition experst betwixt the old Heavens and Earth and the new Heavens and Earth but only the diversity or opposition between the two Judgments the one was only of the Earth by Water and the other is to be of both Heavens and Earth by Fire Not one word here of a disposition in the old Heavens to Water and the present Heavens to Fire nor any disposition in the Earth to the one of old or to the other now but that the former Earth was situated out of and by Water and is now reserved unto Fire Let our Theorist if he can shew me how the Heavens or how the Earth is now disposed for Fire I see not a word in St. Peter signifying any such thing tho he with his wonted confidence doth affirm it pag. 233 and say that St. Peter doth formally and expresly tells us that the old Heavens or the Antediluvian Heavens had a different constitution from ours and particularly that they were composed or constituted of Water and in the margin sets down 2 Epist. Pet. 3. 5. Now to say that a thing is formally and expresly told us sure you will expect to find that thing in the same formal or very words I pray you now look back upon the very words and see if you can find any such thing there Are there any such particular words there as he affirms that the Heavens of old were composed or constituted of Water Nor of the Earth is it said that it was composed of Water but that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies as well and as usually situated or settled and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often taken for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of And so the sense runs thus The Earth placed out of the Water and by or in the Water which cannot relate to the Heavens for then the participle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should as I said have been in the Plural number Nor can it be truly said that the Heavens are situated out of the Water and by the Water whatever may be said of the Firmament But he doth not use the word Firmament here but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Heavens which were of old Created by God in the Plural number all the Heavens the highest as well as the lowest VI. S. Peter having thus express'd the diversity of the Judgments he goes on and infers from the former Judgment that as they found by experience That the word of God threatening them with a Deluge came really to pass and all perished So the word of God now threatening them with a Conflagration will assuredly consume them This seventh Verse is a consequence inferred from the first and sixth Verses which were the Antecedent and the fifth Verse is so far from being Superfluous or Redundant as our Theorist would have it that from thence the Apostle takes the Rise of his Argument and begins That by the word of God the Heavens were of old and the Earth standing out of the Water and in the Water Whereby that is by which Waters the World of the ungodly that then was being overflowed with Water perished The Earth standing out of the Water and by the Water those Waters commanded by the word of God overflowed the Earth with the ungodly The Waters which were before miraculously restrained by the Word of God beingnow let loose by the same Word overflowed the world and would do so again were they not restrain'd for there the same disposition or rather situation of the Earth now as was of old but the Word Will or Promise of God is now otherwise than it was of old Whereof I shall speak more by and by The word of God goes along in all this Discourse and is set forth as the only cause of the Deluge of old and the Conflagration to come Which follows in the seventh verse But the Heavens and the Earth which are now by the same Word are kept in store by no disposition nor any natural cause preparing them for it reserved unto Fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly Men. For their sakes this Judgment is to be then brought upon the Heavens as well as the Earth And so there will be a total end of this World and then will follow as it is v. 13. according to Gods promise new Heavens and a new Earth whether literally or figuratively this Epistle doth not declare Let this Theorist with his strange Confidence declare what he pleases I am ready to declare my Ignorance herein But these Scoffers as they were willingly ignorant and forgetful how the
he intend aright whether he call it in or by both must signisie the same thing And therefore his cavilling at our English Translation is very frivolous and captious without ground And thus St. Peter and his Philosophy as he terms it plainly contradicts him and is a pregnant place uttered by Providence if I may say so to confute his new invention And Moses in his Philosophy plainly contradicts him also Whereby it is evident that the Antediluvian Earth and the present Earth are one and the same for that had a Sea covering the Earth as this hath Neither Moses nor St. Peter make any such Philosophical distinction as he would prove from them but clean contrary XVIII And that this present Earth is as subject to a Deluge as the former is evident by that passage in Gen. 9. 8. where God promised to Noah that he would never destroy this World again by Water and confirmed the same also by a Sign All which had been very superfluous and vain if the present Earth were so shaped and fashioned as it could not by destroyed by Water Noah might well have smiled at Gods assurance that it should not be when saith this man it could not be there is not Water enough in the whole Universe as he affirms to cover it again Wherefore as by Gods promise a clear possibility is implied that it may be so by Gods promise also we are assured that it shall not be Unto this Scripture you may add that formerly mentioned Psal. 104. 9. Thou hast set a bound that they the Waters may not pass over and turn again to cover the Earth And that most remarkable passage Jer. 5. 22. Fear ye not me saith the Lord Will ye not tremble at my Presence which have placed the Sand for the Bound of the Sea by a perpetual Decree that it cannot pass it and tho the Waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail tho they roar yet can they not pass over it Where God so plainly expresseth a possibility of the Seas overflowing the Earth again or else we must make Gods threatening very vain And that this Command of God for the restraining of the Sea was not given after the Flood tho it continued then also but before the Flood even at the very first Creation appears Prov. 8. 29. where it is said God gave to the Sea his Decree that the waters should not pass his commandment when he appointed the foundations of the earth I shall speak more of this passage by and by when I come to enlarge more on this Chapter XIX I have shewed you before how that St. Peter declares that both the Deluge was and the Conflagration will be by the Word of God not from any Natural Cause But our Theorist will needs ascribe all unto Natural Causes and the disposition which was in the Earth and Heavens for the Flood So likewise he will have a disposition and frame in them for the Conflagration We shall be very glad to learn from our Theorist what that frame or disposition is wherein it consists At the Deluge he hath a rare knack of invention the Suns so heating the Waters in the Bowels of the Earth that just at such a nick of time the Waters and Vapours from them boiled up and burst the whole Frame of the Earth to pieces But I would fain be satisfied concerning this Fiery destruction to come and know how the Heavens and the Earth they both being of so very different constitutions should both take Fire at once I know Gods Word hath said they shall and therefore I believe it But how this shall come to pass our curiosity desires to know from his Philosophy which tells us so exactly how the Deluge came and may I hope as exactly set forth the future Conflagration and tell us the Natural Causes and Preparatory means to dispose the Heavens and the Earth unto it for I suppose he will stick to his own method of having Natural Causes for all things and will not allow God the liberty to use any extraordinary means tho upon such an extraordinary occasion as the Deluge or Conflagration Nature must act in all these and his Philosophy must find out the means whereby she acts and will discover it unto us and will also shew us how it comes to pass that in three thousand years time and upwards since the Flood we find no visible change or disposition in the Heavens or Earth to a Conflagration more now than formerly If this be too hard a task for him to tell us of the future destruction of the whole World yet methinks he should be able to declare unto us that which is past and shew us the Natural Cause of Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction how those Cities came to fall on Fire and the rest of the World escape what disposition there was in that patch of ground or in the Heavens over it to send down Fire upon them XX. I will trouble him no more with Questions of this Nature at present But yet I shall desire leave to give him a short Admonition This way of Philosophising all from Natural Causes I fear will make the whole World turn Scoffers such as St. Peter met with for men supposing and expecting the World to be consumed by Natural Causes as this man would have it and seeing no visible Cause or Alteration in the Heavens or Earth in three thousand years space may conclude that in three thousand years to come there may be as little or no Change and so may ask as those Scoffers did Where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things have continued as they were from the beginning To conclude this matter Let me advise him to trust to Gods Word only that assuredly there will be a Conflagration of the whole World and lay aside his curious vain and endless Philosophising labour to find out the Natural Causes thereof And thus I have taken a great deal of pains more than I intended to shew the little or no ground this man hath so much to boast this second Epistle of St. Peter which first is doubtful and secondly doth so little prove that which he would have tho so frequently made use of in his Theory as if he had proved his whole design from thence Having thus dispatch'd his principal Text on which he so much depends I shall now briefly examin some other Scriptures made use of in his Theory XXI In the ninetieth page of his first Book he hath these words There remains a remarkable discourse in the Proverbs of Solomon relating to the Mosaical Abyss and not only to that but to the Origin of the Earth in general where Wisdom declares her Antiquity and Preexistence to all the Works of this Earth chap. 8. 23. c. I was set up from everlasting from the beginning ' ere the earth was When there were no deeps or Abysses I was brought forth when no fountains abounding with water
Mankind and done by the same Power by which he created the whole World for the benefit of Men that is that Fountains might run from thence unto the highest Hills and there spring forth to water the whole Earth as David saith Psalm 104. 8. They go up by the Mountains and down by the Valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them And v. 13. He watereth the hills from his chambers the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works And for this purpose though the Sea lies ever so high in the main Ocean yet descending by degrees towards the shores it lies there very low that the Rivers may exonerate themselves into it And from hence we may gather the meaning of Moses when for the Deluge he mentioned the breaking up the Fountains of the Great Deep that is the Fountains and Springs which flow from the great Deep by several passages contrived by God under the Earth to convey the Waters of the great Deep and make the springs run among the highest Hills as David saith and there break out in the tops of the Mountains in such flowing streams as I have been amazed to see it and have seriously considered whether the top of the Mountain sometimes very small above the Spring could possibly contain vapours enough to engender so much Water as flowed from them for a great quantity of vapours being condensed will make but a few drops of solid Water And our Theorist being a Man of observation I doubt not but he hath concluded as I have done That tho the top of the Mountain had been filled with solid Water it could not cause the Spring to run at that rate very many hours And whereas in Autumn Springs that are raised by Vapours condensed into Water at the foot of Hills or in lower grounds do generally cease after a dry Summer or at best run low these from the Mountains continue to flow plentifully And from all this I conclude that when Moses saith the Fountains of the great Deep were broke open he means by the great Deep the same he mentioned in Genesis at the Creation which in the second Verse he calls the Great Deep And the same Waters being gathered together in one place he calls them by the common name of Seas v. 10. which of it self might afford Water enough to cover the whole Earth for it is evident by Moses that the Waters did cover the whole Earth before God gathered them together in one place after they were divided from the Waters above the Firmament XI Now if he take into his consideration all the Waters that were created at the beginning which Moses saith did cover the Earth and how deep they covered it I suppose no man will presume to affirm whether fifteen or fifty Cubits And no man can think that God created abundance of Water to annihilate any part of it again presently without any Cause and therefore we may be assured that the same quantity of Water still remains This then is clear that as these waters did once cover the Earth the same quantity of Waters may do so again Now let him take all these Waters both them above the Firmament which God certainly could as easily bring down as carry them up let the place of their abode be where it will and those under the Firmament he cannot possibly want Water abundantly to serve for a Deluge over the whole Earth Peradventure he will say as he did above That in this carrying the Waters up and down we make God to march backwards and forwards according to our will And I answer again as I did before That we do not make God do any thing but onely shew unto this Theorist who will not allow God either to Create or Multiply the Waters that were created upon so great an occasion as this Deluge how God might do it without either Multiplying or Creating anew I do it then to satisfie his curiosity rather than our own for we rest satisfied with God's affirming that there was such a Deluge and that it was caused by the breaking open of the Fountains and opening the Windows of Heaven whether partly or wholly by those means which Moses sets down we do not positively affirm And yet if we did affirm the Waters to come down from above and the Fountains to run below for the increase and so likewise to be taken up again and the Fountains to run back for the decrease it were no more than we find in Scripture to be done upon a far smaller occasion For God made that mighty body of the Sun which wheels about the Earth with such incomprehensible speed yet at the command of Joshuah that he might have the longer day to obtain a full Victory to stand still Josh. 10. And 2 Kings 20. we find by the Dial of Ahaz it went back ten degrees to satisfie Hezekiahs doubt whether he should recover or no according to the words of Isaiah If on such occasions God did such mighty Miracles What wonder is it if we suppose him to do far greater Miracles upon so much a greater occasion as the Deluge If he will shew me how this was done without a Miracle I will undertake to shew him how the Deluge was made without a Miracle And if God wrought a Miracle then Why not before at the Deluge I hope these Scripture-reasons and examples which I have brought are far more considerable than his trivial experiments of a Mathematical Instrument or Cubical Pot which he mentions also Pag. 13. as to tell us of such a Vessel receiving the Rain when it falls for several hours together and how little a body of Water is found by it and consequently how little this would conduce towards the Deluge I conceive it signifies nothing unless he had been present at the Deluge and seen in what measure the Rains did then descend for upon that occasion who can doubt but that the Waters were poured forth in a strange and wonderful manner the Windows of Heaven being opened so as they will never be again to the Worlds end Wherefore to depend so much upon trivial Experiments and his weak Reason in such extraordinary wonderful and supernatural things as no man can doubt but this Deluge was his Faith may be much damnified though his Reason or rather Fansie may be much delighted with inquisitiveness after them And when he hath done all and spent his whole time to say nothing of things more precious in searching after the Causes of things and wearied himself with busie and toiling labour therein he will find that to be true by experience which weak and deluded Reason will not easily believe That he knows onely this one thing that he knows nothing And therefore 't is a strange presumption for vain man who is born as ignorant ant as a wild asses colt as Job saith c. 11. v. 12. to take upon him to be so wise as to examine and determine the works of God by his
and the Ark with it tossed up so often into the air with his flying Rivers and carryed headlong again down into the Abyss that the preservation of it must be a far greater Miracle than any we require in Moses's Deluge And thus is that Chapter framed in so wonderful a Romantick way as exceeds all that ever yet was written of that kind Is it not a strange thing that Moses should not have one word mentioning such a Fraction of the earth and so horrible a Tempest as ensued To this he Answers Page 70. That it is below the dignity of Sacred Penmen or the Spirit of God that directs them to shew the Causes of things and their manner of proceeding but Providence leaves that to the exercise of our Wills and Inventions And truly he has exercised his Wit and Invention in a most ample manner But though it be below the dignity of the Sacred Pen-men to shew Causes upon our Enquiry and to satisfie our Curiosity Yet when they condescend so far as to express the Causes and manner of their proceeding as Moses here doth shewing us the Cause from whence the Flood came viz. the excessive flowing of Fountains and the great abundance of Rains falling and how these Waters prevailed by degrees upon the Earth till at length they reached the place where the Ark was and swelling yet higher lifted the Ark above the Earth and prevailed so far as to carry it upon the face of the Waters fifteen Cubits above the tops of the Mountains and so on to the decrease Now Moses describing so punctually the whole business of the Deluge yet as I said before not to have one word of this horrible Fraction which this Man puts for the main Cause of the Deluge nor of this Tempest and for him to say 't is below the dignity of the Sacred Penman to give a Cause when they particularly relate the Cause is very absurd and also quite contrary for Moses expresly declares the Cause of the Flood to be the running of the Fountains of the great Deep and not the breaking of the Earth which he could not call Fountains Fountains being quite another thing Wherefore 't is evident this Man makes use of Scripture onely to give some credit to his Theory with inconsiderate people that mind Scripture very little Moses goes on in his description of the Flood and says that all the Hills and Mountains under the whole Heaven continued covered many days until the beginning of the tenth month when the Waters began to decrease and then decreasing forty days by degrees the tops of the Mountains began to appear all the other parts were covered still with Water for the tops onely appeared But this Man would have it clean otherwise The Waters did not prevail and ascend to the tops of the Mountains in his spherical Earth but the smooth body of the Earth fell down into the Water with such a mighty force as dash'd the Water on a sudden up into the Air even to the Heavens and the Water must needs fall down again on a sudden for nothing was there to hold it up but down it must How then did the Waters continue to cover and prevail upon the Earth a hundred and fifty days for part after part falling into it in all places the Water dash'd up and fell down on a sudden And sure Moses would not call the dashing of the Mountains the covering of the Mountains But suppose it to be so I ask Did all the whole earth fall down or no If not all then the parts remaining were not covered with Water and so the Deluge was not universal The men then that lived upon those parts of the Earth might escape the Deluge But Moses saith the Flood destroyed all flesh living except Noah and his And if the whole Earth did fall into the Water then the whole Earth was covered all at once by his own confession and the Deluge was universal in that manner as we affirm but he denies Now whether all the Hills in this World were made by the Flood or no we will not question But saith he They were all made by the breaking of the Earth there were no Mountains nor Hills in his fine World Well let it be so they were all made by the breaking of the Earth which he calls the Flood yet when they were made all were covered by Water and many Cubits higher Let this Man ask Moses whence he had all this Water for that is the Principle on which he depends for his whole Theory which this of Moses plainly confutes XIX Now the sum of all this Discourse lies here Moses as plainly as a man can express it declares that the Waters wholly encompassed the Earth all at once to the heighth of fifteen Cubits above the highest Mountain This quantity of Water saith our Theorist is unintelligible I say it is very Intelligible without making use of God's Omnipotent Power in Creating new Waters for it or in Multiplying any before Created though we may upon such an occasion do it But I hope we may make use of all those Waters which God Created the first day of the World And I have plainly shewed how that those Waters are fully sufficient to make up that mighty Deluge which to him is unintelligible For the first day of the World God Created a deep Abyss to encompass the whole Earth and this deep Abyss God divided and placed part above the Firmament and the other part remained under the Firmament which still did encompass the whole Earth Now if this Water which remained under the Firmament did once encompass the Earth Why might it not again in the Deluge encompass the same Earth overflowing all yea and fifteen Cubits more If he say the Waters were not so deep after they were divided I desire him first to prove that if he can and after he has proved it I have yet a great reserve of Water to make the Deluge viz. the Waters which God carried up above the Firmament I do not mean mists and vapours in the Firmament or in the Air below which saith he being condensed would make up but a small quantity of Water to contribute towards a Deluge let it be so I speak not of such vapours but of real solid Water part of that deep Abyss which encompassed the whole Earth at first and God divided and placed above the Firmament If he ask me in what place they were setled I freely confess I do not know yet God's Word hath said it and I very easily believe it was done tho where he placed them I will not take upon me to determine I hope he believes it was done as well as I and then if he please let him with his Philosophy determine the place where they were settled And when he informs me I will presently again inform him and shew him how there was Water sufficient to make up this grand Deluge And thus the business will be very intelligible which
and prest down So that unless this our Planet be surrounded quite about with other Planets no force can make it extend into an oblong but it will as I said extend into an equal Circumference And if they be so placed round about then all the Planets must be equally oblong on their pressing side yet none of them do appear unto us in an oblong but in a round form And further he himself acknowledges the Planets all to lie one above another and so they can only press one another into a round Circumference as I said before We find yet no cause for an oblong form And how knows our Theorist of what matter the other Planets are composed whether they all proceeded from such fluid Masses as ours did and setled all alike at the same time and whether their outward Circumference be of Air or Fire And if they be then those outward parts would yield one to another and stretch out very far before they came to operate upon the more solid body of the Earth Many more are the difficulties which would arise from this his Planets pressing one upon another but I will not trouble my head to object any further than only to shew him that this his Planets Pressing one upon another cannot possibly cause an oblong form in this our Earth it can only force it into a flat Circumference XII But I will pass from this to another matter in his New-found World which he hath made void of Fountains or any other means to water and refresh it and hath brought in a new invention of Rivers towards the Poles caused by vapours descending from the superiour Region and running towards the Torrid Zone by degrees branching themselves out with several as it were Veins and thus to afford moisture to all the parts of his New Earth I observe that he mentions several Pools and Lakes made by these Rivers as they run Southward for so he describes them and sets them forth in a Map pag. 231. I have now a great difficulty which I desire him to resolve me in How these hollows for Lakes and Channels for so great Rivers as they must needs be when one River divides it self as it goes into so many parts towards the Torrid Zone I say how these Hollows and Channels came to be in his perfect spherical World For I hope he will not desert his own Principle That all fluid Bodies being congeled or concreted rest in the same form as they were in before concretion Who then made these Channels for the Rivers to run in or Hollows for his Lakes to settle in Truly this doth not seem to me coherent with his new form of Earth for the vapours coming down from above upon his new Earth supposing it to be perfect spherical must needs either disperse abroad or sink equally in all places where they fall and can have no descent to carry them any way and thus cannot make up so great a body as we suppose his Rivers must be towards the North where they fall Nor will I allow any declivity from his Poles towards the Torrid Zone having shewed him already that it is impossible by his Principles to shape his Earth into an oblong form but all must be spherical Besides when Rivers run in a Channel they never part but meeting with some obstruction of higher ground that forces them to divide and then his Rivers dividing into so many several parts plainly shews his Earth hath many Hilly obstructions which force them to divide into several branches And this business of Rivers will wholly destroy this new Fabrick of the Earth for there can be no running of water where the Earth by reason of its spherical form can have no Channels to receive the Rivers nor any declivity or sinking ground to convey them from the place they were in If he answers to the business of Channels That though there were none at the first framing of his new Earth yet the falling of those vapours which arose in the South and came flying into the North and there descended might in time work down Channels into it and so make a Current for Rivers to run in I grant a strong fall of water continuing in one place might make the earth sink into a hole and so flow over the parts adjoyning but I cannot see any cause that should make those vapours descend any otherwise than in mists and foggs upon the Earth for there being no fierce winds to drive them in his temperate air they must needs fall as they rise universally and gently scarce sensible in one place more than another and thus falling equally upon the spherical ground would water all the Earth alike and make no Channels in it to convey them into the Southern parts there being as I said before no declivity to help them forward towards the South Moreover Channels are not made but by great falls of water when it descends from much the higher ground into the lower and with such little banks of earth on each side keeping it in as forceth the current to carry the earth away before it And I pray whither should this earth be conveyed in his Spherical World So that of necessity the mists as I said falling gently upon such a perfect round must equally distend themselves into all parts alike and sink into the ground rather than make a current to get away But suppose a Current might be made by gentle falls in a very long time yet how should all Mankind and all Beasts live without Water during the time of making so great Channels for such mighty Rivers as to convey Water enough to disperse it self into several Veins for many thousand miles till they reached the Southern parts and make new Channels still by the way as it runs to water the whole Earth There is much more untouched than I have handled which I leave unto others my old Head being wearied with following him thus far XIII I shall conclude all with that which our Theorist concludes his Preface with viz. His sincere intention of his Theory was To justifie the Doctrines of the universal Deluge and of Paradise and protect them from the Cavils of those that are no well-wishers to Sacred History and how that upon this account he may well expect fair usage and acceptance with all that are well disposed And truly for my part could I find but the least appearance of sincere intention in him or that he had any way cleared these Doctrines I should upon either account have pass'd over in silence any or all his extravagancies But in my poor judgment he hath neither shewed sincerity of intention nor cleared any Doctrine of Scripture For he hath not handled the Scripture sincerely in any one place of moment but in some places flatly contradicts them as I have shewed Others he hath wrested and turned from their own plain and easie understanding obscuring all and forcing from them a most remote and difficult sense far different from the common understanding of all Learned and Sober Men And talks in so high a strain of the Key that he has brought into the World to open Mens Understandings for many dark and obscure places in Scripture making them facile and easie to common sense as if his Key were the very Key of David applied by all unto our Saviour himself And as for his explaining the Doctrines of the Universal Deluge and of Paradise I pray you let us a little consider each one apart XIV And first for the Deluge I do not know any one Doctrine of moment in the Old Testament that seems to me more easie than that of the Deluge which Moses hath described so exactly and plainly as 't is fitted for any vulgar capacity But by our Theorists Interpretation it is made most obscure and difficult and set forth in such Romantick terms that it is ridiculous to understanding Men and not intelligible to the Vulgar XV. As for the Doctrine of Paradise I confess I do not know a more dark and difficult matter in all the Scripture and I must needs say with S. Austin it is ab hominum cognitione remotissimum But terrestrem esse Paradisum seems to me certissimum There is nothing more remote from the knowledg of Men than the particular place of Paradise yet that there was such a particular place is evident by that particular description which Moses gives of it speaking of several Rivers that branched out from that of Paradise Whereas our Theorist in flat contradiction to Moses makes Paradise to be the whole Antediluvian Earth which he saith was Paradisiacal all over and would needs have Adam to be placed at first towards the Southern Pole and from thence to be driven towards the Northern dividing his Antediluvian Earth into two habitable parts by the Torrid Zone but doth not tell us how he was conveyed through that scorching Region Nor can I understand why he should be put to so long a Journey and so dangerous a Passage when according to him the Earth was as much Paradisiacal on one side of the Torrid Zone as the other And therefore concerning these two Doctrines of the Deluge and Paradise he hath made that of the Deluge much more difficult and that of Paradise he hath left if not more yet full as unintelligible and less credible because less agreeing with Scripture XVI I could enlarge much more upon either of these two Subjects but my business is not to say any thing of my own but to shew in a short and compendious way the absurdity and audacity of this Man who so confidently sets himself to oppose the whole World being so besotted with his own vain and heathenish Opinions and not resting satisfied with Moses's History of the Creation nor with his plain and easie description of the Deluge pretending forsooth the Sincerity of his Intention whereas it is in reality the Pride and Vanity he takes in his own Philosophical Invention FINIS ERRATA Page 16. line 3. for First read Fifth and at the bottom insert the word The. p. 84. l. 1. for pleased r. pleases p. 86. l. 13. for Highest r. Highness p. 116. l. 11. for it r. its p. 126. l. 13. for Wills r. Wits p. 127. l. 20. for Penman r. Penmen p. 136. l. 12. leave out the word of p. 155. l. 20. insert the word and after the word brake