which proceeded from their opening For as Moses had ascrib'd the Deluge to the opening of these two so when it was to cease he saith these two were shut up as they were really put into such a condition both of them that they could not continue the Deluge any longer nor over be the occasion of a second and therefore in that sence and as to that effect were for ever shut up Some may possibly make that also an Objection against us that Moses mentions and supposes the Mountains at the Deluge for he saith the waters reached fifteen Cubits above the tops of them whereas we suppose the Ante-diluvian Earth to have had a plain and uniform surface without any inequality of Hills and Valleys But this is easily answer'd 't was in the height of the Deluge that Moses mention'd the Mountains and we suppose them to have risen then or more towards the beginning of it when the Earth was broke and these Mountains continuing still upon the face of the Earth Moses might very well take them for a standard to measure and express to Posterity the height of the waters though they were not upon the Earth when the Deluge begun Neither is there any mention made as is observ'd by some of Mountains in Scripture or of Rain till the time of the Deluge We have now finisht our account of Noah's Flood both generally and particularly and I have not wittingly omitted or conceal'd any difficulty that occur'd to me either from the History or from abstract reason Our Theory so far as I know hath the consent and authority of both And how far it agrees and is demonstrable from natural observation or from the form and Phaenomena of this Earth as it lies at present shall be the subject of the remaining part of this First Book In the mean time I do not know any thing more to be added in this part unless it be to conclude with an Advertisement to prevent any mistake or misconstruction as if this Theory by explaining the Deluge in a natural way in a great measure or by natural causes did detract from the power of God by which that great judgment was brought upon the World in a Providential and miraculous manner To satisfie all reasonable and intelligent persons in this particular I answer and declare first That we are far from excluding Divine Providence either ordinary or extraordinary from the causes and conduct of the Deluge I know a Sparrow doth not fall to the ground without the will of our Heavenly Father much less doth the great World fall in pieces without his good pleasure and superintendency In him all things live move and have their being Things that have Life and Thought have it from him he is the Fountain of both Things that have motion only without Thought have it also from him And what hath only naked Being without Thought or Motion owe still that Being to him And these are not only deriv'd from God at first but every moment continued and conserv'd by him So intimate and universal is the dependance of all things upon the Divine Will and Power In the second place they are guilty in my Judgment of a great Error or indiscretion that oppose the course of Nature to Providence St. Paul says Act. 14. 17. God hath not left us without witness in that he gives us Rain from Heaven yet Rains proceed from natural causes and fall upon the Sea as well as upon the Land In like manner our Saviour makes those things instances of Divine Providence which yet come to pass in an ordinary course of Nature In that part of his excellent Sermon upon the Mount that concerns Providence He bids them Consider the Lilies how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these He bids them also consider the Ravens they neither sow nor reap neither have they Store-house nor Barn and God feedeth them The Lilies grow and the Ravens are fed according to the ordinary course of Nature and yet they are justly made arguments of Providence by our Saviour nor are these things less Providential because constant and regular on the contrary such a disposition or establishment of second causes as will in the best order and for a long succession produce the most regular effects assisted only with the ordinary concourse of the first cause is a greater argument of wisdom and contrivance than such a disposition of causes as will not in so good an order or for so long a time produce regular effects without an extraordinary concourse and interposition of the First cause This I think is clear to every man's judgment We think him a better Artist that makes a Clock that strikes regularly at every hour from the Springs and Wheels which he puts in the work than he that hath so made his Clock that he must put his finger to it every hour to make it strike And if one should contrive a piece of Clock-work so that it should beat all the hours and make all its motions regularly for such a time and that time being come upon a signal given or a Spring toucht it should of its own accord fall all to pieces would not this be look'd upon as a piece of greater Art than if the Workman came at that time prefixt and with a great Hammer beat it into pieces I use these comparisons to convince us that it is no detraction from Divine Providence that the course of Nature is exact and regular and that even in its greatest changes and revolutions it should still conspire and be prepar'd to answer the ends and purposes of the Divine Will in reference to the Moral World This seems to me to â—e the great Art of Divine Providence so to adjust the two Worlds Humane and Natural Material and Intellectual as seeing thorough the possibilities and futuritions of each according to the first state and circumstances he puts them under they should all along correspond and fit one another and especially in their great Crises and Periods Thirdly Besides the ordinary Providence of God in the ordinary course of Nature there is doubtless an extraordinary Providence that doth attend the greater Scenes and the greater revolutions of Nature This methinks besides all other proof from the Effects is very rational and necessary in it self for it would be a limitation of the Divine Power and Will so to be bound up to second causes as never to use upon occasion an extraordinary influence or direction And 't is manifest taking any Systeme of Natural causes if the best possible that there may be more and greater things done if to this upon certain occasions you joyn an extraordinary conduct And as we have taken notice before that there was an extraordinary Providence in the formation or composition of the first Earth so I believe there was also in the dissolution of it And I think it had been
impossible for the Ark to have liv'd upon the raging Abyss or for Noah and his Family to have been preserv'd if there had not been a miraculous hand of Providence to take care of them But 't is hard to separate and distinguish an ordinary and extraordinary Providence in all cases and to mark just how far one goes and where the other begins And writing a Theory of the Deluge here as we do we were to exhibit a Series of causes whereby it might be made intelligible or to shew the proximate Natural Causes of it wherein we follow the example both of Moses and S. Peter and with the same veneration of the Divine Power and Wisdom in the government of Nature by a constant ordinary Providence and an occasional extraordinary So much for the Theory of the Deluge and the second Section of this Discourse CHAP. IX The Second Part of this Discourse proving the same Theory from the Effects and present form of the Earth First by a general Scheme of what is most remarkable in this Globe and then by a more particular Induction beginning with an Account of Subterraneous Cavities and Subterraneous Waters WE have now finisht our explication of the Universal Deluge and given an account not only of the possibility of it but so far as our knowledge can reach of its Causes and of that form and structure of the Earth whereby the Old World was subject to that sort of Fate We have not beg'd any Principles or Suppositions for the proof of this but taking that common ground which both Moses and all Antiquity presents to us viz. That this Earth rose from a Chaos We have from that deduc'd by an easie train of consequences what the first Form of it would be and from that Form as from a nearer ground we have by a second train of consequences made it appear that at some time or other that first Earth would be subject to a dissolution and by that dissolution to a Deluge And thus far we have proceeded only by the intuition of Causes as is most proper to a Theory but for the satisfaction of those that require more sensible arguments and to compleat our proofs on either hand we will now argue from the Effects and from the present state of Nature and the present form of the Earth prove that it hath been broken and undergone such a dissolution as we have already describ'd and made the immediate occasion of the Deluge And that we may do this more perspicuously and distinctly we will lay down this Proposition to be prov'd viz. That the present form and structure of the Earth both as to the surface and as to the Interiour parts of it so far as they are known and accessible to us doth exactly answer to our Theory concerning the form and dissolution of the first Earth and cannot be explain'd upon any other Hypothesis yet known Oratours and Philosophers treat Nature after a very different manner Those represent her with all her graces and ornaments and if there be any thing that is not capable of that they dissemble it or pass it over slightly But Philosophers view Nature with a more impartial eye and without favour or prejudice give a just and free account how they find all the parts of the Universe some more some less perfect And as to this Earth in particular if I was to describe it as an Oratour I would suppose it a beautiful and regular Globe and not only so but that the whole Universe was made for its sake that it was the darling and favourite of Heaven that the Sun shin'd only to give it light to ripen its Fruit and make fresh its Flowers and that the great Concave of the Firmament and all the Stars in their several Orbs were design'd only for a spangled Cabinet to keep this Jewel in This Idea I would give of it as an Oratour But a Philosopher that overheard me would either think me in jest or very injudicious if I took the Earth for a body so regular in it self or so considerable if compar'd with the rest of the Universe This he would say is to make the great World like one of the Heathen Temples a beautiful and magnificent structure and of the richest materials yet built only for a little brute Idol a Dog or a Crocodile or some deformed Creature plac'd in a corner of it We must therefore be impartial where the Truth requires it and describe the Earth as it is really in it self and though it be handsome and regular enough to the eye in certain parts of it single tracts and single Regions yet if we consider the whole surface of it or the whole Exteriour Region 't is as a broken and confus'd heap of bodies plac'd in no order to one another nor with any correspondency or regularity of parts And such a body as the Moon appears to us when 't is look'd upon with a good Glass rude and ragged as it is also represented in the modern Maps of the Moon such a thing would the Earth appear if it was seen from the Moon They are both in my judgment the image or picture of a great Ruine and have the true aspect of a World lying in its rubbish Our Earth is first divided into Sea and Land without any regularity in the portions either of the one or the other In the Sea lie the Islands scatter'd like limbs torn from the rest of the body great Rocks stand rear'd up in the waters The Promontories and Capes shoot into the Sea and the Sinus's and Creeks on the other hand run as much into the Land and these without any order or uniformity Upon the other part of our Globe stand great heaps of Earth or stone which we call Mountains and if these were all plac'd together they would take up a very considerable part of the dry Land In the rest of it are lesser Hills Valleys Plains Lakes and Marishes Sands and Desarts c. and these also without any regular disposition Then the inside of the Earth or inward parts of it are generally broken or hollow especially about the Mountains and high Lands as also towards the shores of the Sea and among the Rocks How many Holes and Caverns and strange Subterraneous passages do we see in many Countries and how many more may we easily imagine that are unknown and unaccessible to us This is the pourtraicture of our Earth drawn without flattery and as oddly as it looks it will not be at all surprising to one that hath consider'd the foregoing Theory For 't is manifest enough that upon the dissolution of the first Earth and its fall into the Abyss this very face and posture of things which we have now describ'd or something extremely like it would immediately result The Sea would be open'd and the face of the Globe would be divided into Land and Water And according as the fragments fell some would make Islands or Rocks in the Sea others would
thus much may suffice for a summary Explication of the causes of the Sea-chanel and Islands according to our Hypothesis CHAP. XI Concerning the Mountains of the Earth their greatness and irregular Form their Situation Causes and Origin WE have been in the hollows of the Earth and the Chambers of the Deep amongst the damps and steams of those lower Regions let us now go air our selves on the tops of the Mountains where we shall have a more free and large Horizon and quite another face of things will present it self to our observation The greatest objects of Nature are methinks the most pleasing to behold and next to the great Concave of the Heavens and those boundless Regions where the Stars inhabit there is nothing that I look upon with more plaesure than the wide Sea and the Mountains of the Earth There is something august and stately in the Air of these things that inspires the mind with great thoughts and passions We do naturally upon such occasions think of God and his greatness and whatsoever hath but the shadow and appearance of INFINITE as all things have that are too big for our comprehension they fill and over-bear the mind with their Excess and cast it into a pleasing kind of stupor and admiration And yet these Mountains we are speaking of to confess the truth are nothing but great ruines but such as show a certain magnificence in Nature as from old Temples and broken Amphitheaters of the Romans we collect the greatness of that people But the grandeur of a Nation is less sensible to those that never see the remains and monuments they have left and those who never see the mountainous parts of the Earth scarce ever reflect upon the causes of them or what power in Nature could be sufficient to produce them The truth is the generality of people have not sence and curiosity enough to raise a question concerning these things or concerning the Original of them You may tell them that Mountains grow out of the Earth like Fuzz-balls or that there are Monsters under ground that throw up Mountains as Moles do Mole-hills they will scarce raise one objection against your doctrine or if you would appear more Learned tell them that the Earth is a great Animal and these are Wens that grow upon its body This would pass current for Philosophy so much is the World drown'd in stupidity and sensual pleasures and so little inquisitive into the works of God and Nature There is nothing doth more awaken our thoughts or excite our minds to enquire into the causes of such things than the actual view of them as I have had experience my self when it was my fortune to cross the Alps and Appennine Mountains for the sight of those wild vast and indigested heaps of Stones and Earth did so deeply strike my fancy that I was not easie till I could give my self some tolerable account how that confusion came in Nature 'T is true the height of Mountains compar'd with the Diameter of the Earth is not considerable but the extent of them and the ground they stand upon bears a considerable proportion to the surface of the Earth and if from Europe we may take our measures for the rest I easily believe that the Mountains do at least take up the tenth part of the dry Land The Geographers are not very careful to describe or note in their Charts the multitude or situation of Mountains They mark the bounds of Countries the site of Cities and Towns and the course of Rivers because these are things of chief use to civil affairs and commerce and that they design to serve and not Philosophy or Natural History But Cluverius in his description of Ancient Germany Switzerland and Italy hath given Maps of those Countries more approaching to the natural face of them and we have drawn at the end of this Chapter such a Map of either Hemisphere without marking Countries or Towns or any such artificial things distinguishing only Land and Sea Islands and Continents Mountains and not Mountains and 't is very useful to imagine the Earth in this manner and to look often upon such bare draughts as shew us Nature undrest for then we are best able to judge what her true shapes and proportions are 'T is certain that we naturally imagine the surface of the Earth much more regular than it is for unless we be in some Mountainous parts there seldom occur any great inequalities within so much compass of ground as we can at once reach with our Eye and to conceive the rest we multiply the same Iden and extend it to those parts of the Earth that we do not see and so fansie the whole Globe much more smooth and uniform than it is But suppose a man was carri'd asleep out of a Plain Country amongst the Alps and left there upon the top of one of the highest Mountains when he wak'd and look'd about him he would think himself in an inchanted Country or carri'd into another World every thing would appear to him so different to what he had ever seen or imagin'd before To see on every hand of him a multitude of vast bodies thrown together in confusion as those Mountains are Rocks standing naked round about him and the hollow Valleys gaping under him and at his feet it may be an heap of frozen Snow in the midst of Summer He would hear the thunder come from below and see the black Clouds hanging beneath him Upon such a prospect it would not be easie to him to perswade himself that he was still upon the same Earth but if he did he would be convinc'd at least that there are some Regions of it strangely rude and ruine-like and very different from what he had ever thought of before But the Inhabitants of these wild places are even with us for those that live amongst the Alps and the great Mountains think that all the rest of the Earth is like their Country all broken into Mountains and Valleys and Precipices They never see other and most people think of nothing but what they have seen at one time or another These Alps we are speaking of are the greatest range of Mountains in Europe and 't is prodigious to see and to consider of what extent these heaps of Stones and Rubbish are one way they overspread Savoy and Dauphiné and reach through France to the Pyrenean Mountains and so to the Ocean The other way they run along the skirts of Germany through Stiria Pannonia and Dalmatia as far as Thrace and the Black Sea Then backwards they cover Switzerland and the parts adjacent and that branch of them which we call the Appennines strikes through Italy and is as it were the back-bone of that Country This must needs be a large space of ground which they stand upon Yet 't is not this part of Europe only that is laden with Mountains the Northern part is as rough and rude in the face of the Country as in
infer and conclude that the Civil World then as well as the Natural had a very different face and aspect from what it hath now for of these Heads Food and Cloathing Building and Traffick with that train of Arts Trades and Manufactures that attend them the Civil Order of things is in a great measure constituted and compounded These make the business of life the several occupations of Men the noise and hurry of the World These fill our Cities and our Fairs and our Havens and Ports yet all these fine things are but the effects of indigency and necessitousness and were for the most part needless and unknown in that first state of Nature The Ancients have told us the same things in effect but telling us them without their grounds which they themselves did not know they lookt like Poetical stories and pleasant fictions and with most Men past for no better We have shewn them in another light with their Reasons and Causes deduc'd from the state of the Natural World which is the Basis upon which they stand and this doth not only give them a just and full credibility but also lays a foundation for after-thoughts and further deductions when they meet with minds dispos'd to pursue Speculations of this Nature As for Laws Government natural Religion Military and Judicial affaiâ—â— with all their Equipage which make an higher order of things in the Civil and Moral World to calculate these upon the grounds given would be more difficult and more uncertain neither do they at all belong to the present Theory But from what we have already observ'd we may be able to make a better judgment of those Traditional accounts which the Ancients have left us concerning these things in the early Ages of the World and the Primitive state of Nature No doubt in these as in all other particulars there was a great easiness and simplicity in comparison of what is now we are in a more pompous forc'd and artificial method which partly the change of Nature and partly the Vices and Vanities of Men have introduc'd and establisht But these things with many more ought to be the subject of a Philosophick History of the World which we mention'd before This is a short and general Scheme of the Primaeval World compar'd with the Modern yet these things did not equally run through all the parts and Ages of it there was a declension and degeneracy both Natural and Moral by degrees and especially towards the latter end but the principal form of Nature remaining till the Deluge and the dissolution of that Heavens and Earth till then also this Civil frame of things would stand in a great measure And though such a state of Nature and of Mankind when 't is propos'd crudely and without its grounds appear fabulous or imaginary yet 't is really in it self a state not only possible but more easie and natural than what the World is in at present And if one of the old Ante-diluvian Patriarchs should rise from the dead he would be more surpris'd to see our World in that posture it is than we can be by the story and description of his As an Indian hath more reason to wonder at the European modes than we have to wonder at their plain manner of living 'T is we that have left the tract of Nature that are wrought and screw'd up into artifices that have disguis'd our selves and 't is in our World that the Scenes are chang'd and become more strange and Fantastical I will conclude this Discourse with an easie remark and without any particular Application of it 'T is a strange power that custom hath upon weak and little Spirits whose thoughts reach no further than their Senses and what they have seen and been us'd to they make the Standard and Measure of Nature of Reason and of all Decorum Neither are there any sort of Men more positive and tenacicus of their petty opinions than they are nor more censorious even to bitterness and malice And 't is generally so that those that have the least evidence for the truth of their beloved opinions are most peevish and impatient in the defence of them This sort of Men are the last that will be made Wise Men if ever they be for they have the worst of diseases that accompany ignorance and do not so much as know themselves to be sick CHAP. VII The place of Paradise cannot be determin'd from the Theory only nor from Scripture only What the sence of Antiquity was concerning it both as to the Iews and Heathens and especially as to the Christian Fathers That they generally plac'd it out of this Continent in the Southern Hemisphere WE have now prepar'd our work for the last finishing stroaks describ'd the first Earth and compar'd it with the present and not only the two Earths but in a good measure the whole State and Oeconomy of those two Worlds It remains only to determine the place of Paradise in that Primaeval Earth I say in that Primaeval Earth for we have driven the point so far already that the seat of it could not be in the present Earth whose Form Site and Air are so dispos'd as could not consist with the first and most indispensable properties of Paradise And accordingly we see with what ill success our modern Authors have rang'd over the Earth to find a fit spot of ground to plant Paradise in some would set it on the top of an high Mountain that it might have good Air and fair weather as being above the Clouds and the middle Region but then they were at a loss for Water which made a great part of the pleasure and beauty of that place Others therefore would seat it in a Plain or in a River-Island that they might have Water enough but then it would be subject to the injuries of the Air and foul weather at the seasons of the Year from which both Reason and all Authority have exempted Paradise 'T is like seeking a perfect beauty in a mortal Body there are so many things requir'd to it as to complexion Features Proportions and Air that they never meet all together in one person neither can all the properties of a Terrestrial Paradise ever meet together in one place though never so well chosen in this present Earth But in the Primaeval Earth which we have describ'd 't is easie to find a Seat that had all those beauties and conveniences We have every where through the temperate Climates a clear and constant Air a fruitful Soil pleasant Waters and all the general characters of Paradise so that the trouble will be rather in that competition what part of Region to pitch upon in particular But to come as near it as we can we must remember in the first place how that Earth was divided into two Hemispheres distant and separated from one another not by an imaginary line but by a real boundary that could not be past so as the first inquiry will
intelligent Being I say some measures be taken to determine the primary Motions upon which the rest depend and to put them in a way that leads to the formation of a World The mass must be divided into Regions and Centers fixt and Motions appropriated to them and it must be consider'd of what magnitude the first Bodies or the first divisions of Matter should be and how mov'd Besides there must be a determinate proportion and certain degree of motion imprest upon the Universal Matter to qualifie it for the production of a World if the dose was either too strong or too weak the work would miscarry and nothing but infinite Wisdom could see thorough the effects of every proportion or every new degree of Motion and discern which was best for the beginning progress and perfection of a World So you see the Author of Nature is no way excluded or made useless by the Laws of Motion nor if Matter was promiscuously mov'd would these be sufficient causes of themselves to produce a World or that regular diversity of Bodies that compose it But 't is hard to satisfie Men against their inclinations or their interest And as the regularity of the Universe was always a great stumbling-stone to the Epicuraeans so they have endeavour'd to make shifts of all sorts to give an account and answer to it without recourse to an Intelligent Principle and for their last refuge they say That Chance might bring that to pass which Nature and Necessity could not do The Atoms might hit upon a lucky sett of Motions which though it were casual and fortuitous might happily lead them to the forming of a World A lucky hit indeed for Chance to frame a World But this is a meer shuffle and collusion for if there was nothing in Nature but Matter there could be no such thing as Chance all would be pure Mechanical Necessity and so this answer though it seem very different is the same in effect with the former and Epicurus with his Atomists are oblig'd to give a just mechanical account how all the parts of Nature the most compound and elaborate parts not excepted rise from their Atoms by pure necessity There could be no accidental concourse or coalition of them every step every motion every composition was fatal and necessary and therefore 't is nonsence for an Epicuraean to talk of Chance as Chance is oppos'd to Necessity and if they oppose it to Counsel and Wisdom 't is little better than non-sence to say the World and all its furniture rise by Chance in that notion of it But it will deserve our patience a little to give a more full and distinct answer to this seeing it reacheth all their pleas and evasions at once What proof or demonstration of Wisdom and Counsel can be given or can be desir'd that is not found in some part of the World Animate or Inanimate We know but a little portion of the Universe a meer point in comparison and a broken point too and yet in this broken point or some small parcels of it there is more of Art Counsel and Wisdom shown than in all the works of Men taken together or than in all our Artificial World In the construction of the Body of an Animal there is more of thought and contrivance more of exquisite invention and fit disposition of parts than is in all the Temples Palaces Ships Theaters or any other pieces of Architecture the World ever yet see And not Architecture only but all other Mechanism whatsoever Engines Clock-work or any other is not comparable to the Body of a living Creature Seeing then we acknowledge these artificial works wheresoever we meet with them to be the effects of Wit Understanding and Reason is it not manifest partiality or stupidity rather to deny the Works of Nature which excel these in all degrees to proceed from an Intelligent Principle Let them take any piece of Humane Art or any Machine fram'd by the Wit of Man and compare it with the Body of an Animal either for diversity and multiplicity of Workmanship or curiosity in the minute parts or just connexion and dependance of one thing upon another or fit subserviency to the ends propos'd of life motion use and ornament to the Creature and if in all these respects they find it superiour to any work of Humane production as they certainly must do why should it be thought to proceed from inferiour and senceless Causes ought we not in this as well as in other things to proportion the Causes to the Effect and to speak truth and bring in an honest Verdict for Nature as well as Art In the composition of a perfect Animal there are four several frames or compages joyn'd together The Natural Vital Animal and Genital Let them examine any one of these apart and try if they can find any thing defective or superfluous or any way inept for matter or form Let them view the whole Compages of the Bones and especially the admirable construction texture and disposition of the Muscles which are joyn'd with them for moving the Body or its parts Let them take an account of the little Pipes and Conduits for the Juices and the Liquors of their form and distribution Or let them take any single Organ to examine as the Eye or the Ear the Hand or the Heart In each of these they may discover such arguments of Wisdom and of Art as will either convince them or confound them though still they must leave greater undiscover'd We know little the insensible form and contexture of the parts of the Body nor the just method of their Action We know not yet the manner order and causes of the Motion of the Heart which is the chief Spring of the whole Machine and with how little exactness do we understand the Brain and the parts belonging to it Why of that temper and of that form How Motions are propagated there and how conserv'd How they answer the several operations of the Mind Why such little discomposures of it disturb our Senses and upon what little differences in this the great differences of Wits and Genius's depend Yet seeing in all these Organs whose make and manner of action we cannot discover we see however by the Effects that they are truly fitted for those offices to which Nature hath design'd them we ought in reason to admire that Art which we cannot penetrate At least we cannot but judge it a thing absurd that what we have not wit enough to find out or comprehend we should not allow to be an argument of wit and understanding in the Author or Inventor of it This would be against all Logick common Sense and common Decorum Neither do I think it possible to the mind of Man while we attend to evidence to believe that these and such like works of Nature came by Chance as they call it or without Providence forecast and Wisdom either in the first Causes or in the proximate in the design
speak more properly all necessity of existence Besides that we exist our selves notwithstanding the imperfection and insufficiency of our Nature is a just collateral proof of the existence of this Supream Being for such an effect as this cannot be without its Cause and it can have no other competent Cause but that we mention And as this Being is its own Origin so it must needs be capable of producing all Creatures for whatsoever is possible must be possible to it and that Creatures or finite Beings are possible we both see by experience and may also discern by Reason for those several degrees of perfection or limitations of it which we mention'd before are all consistent Notions and consequently make consistent Natures and such as may exist but contingently indeed and in dependance upon the first Cause Thus we are come at length to a fair resolution of that great Question Whence we are and how we continue in Being And this hath led us by an easie ascent to the Supreme Author of Nature and the â—irst Cause of all things and presents us also with such a Scheme and Draught of the Universe as is clear and rational every thing in its order and in its place according to the dignity of its Nature and the strength of its principles When the Mind hath rais'd it self into this view of a Being infinitely perfect 't is in a Region of Light hath a free prospect every way and sees all things from top to bottom as pervious and transparent Whereas without God and a First Cause there is nothing but darkness and confusion in the Mind and in Nature broken views of things short interrupted glimpses of Light nothing certain or demonstrative no Basis of Truth no extent of Thought no Science no Contemplation You will say it may be 'T is true something must be Eternal and of necessary existence but why may not Matter be this Eternal necessary Being Then our Souls and all other Intellectual things must be parts and parcels of Matter and what pretensions can Matter have to those properties and perfections that we find in our Souls how limited soever much less to necessary existence and those perfections that are the foundation of it What exists Eternally and from it self its existence must flow immediately from its essence as its cause reason or ground for as Existence hath always something antecedent to it in order of Nature so that which is antecedent to it must infer it by a necessary connexion and so may be call'd the cause ground or reason of it And nothing can be such a ground but what is a perfection nor every perfection neither it must be Sovereign and Infinite perfection for from what else can necessary existence flow or be inferr'd Besides if that Being was not infinitely perfect there might be another Being more powerful than it and consequently able to oppose and hinder its Existence and what may be hinder'd is contingent and arbitrary Now Matter is so far from being a Nature infinitely perfect that it hath no perfection at all but that of bare substance neither Life Sense Will or Understanding nor so much as Motion from it self as we have show'd before And therefore this brute inactive mass which is but as it were the Drudge of Nature can have no right or title to that Sovereign prerogative of Self existence We noted before as a thing agreed upon That something or other must needs be Eternal For if ever there was a time or state when there was no Being there never could be any Seeing Nothing could not produce Something Therefore 't is undeniably true on all hands That there was some Being from Eternity Now according to our understandings Truth is Eternal therefore say we some intellect or Intelligent Being So also the reasons of Goodness and Iustice appear to us Eternal and therefore some Good and Just Being is Eternal Thus much is plain that these perfections which bear the signatures of Eternity upon them are things that have no relation to Matter but relate immediately to an Intellectual Being therefore some such Being to whom they originally belong must be that Eternal Besides We cannot possibly but judge such a Being more perfect than Matter Now every Nature the more perfect it is the more remote it is from Nothing and the more remote it is from Nothing the more it approaches to necessity of existence and consequently to Eternal Existence Thus we have made a short Survey so far as the bounds of a Chapter would permit of those evidences and assurances which we have from abstract Reason and the External World that there is an Author of Nature and That a Being infinitely perfect which we call God We may add to these in the last place that universal consent of Mankind or natural instinct of Religion which we see more or less throughout all Nations Barbarous or Civil For though this Argument 't is true be more disputable than the rest yet having set down just grounds already from whence this Natural Judgment or perswasion might spring we have more reason to impute it to some of those and their insensible influence upon the Mind than to the artifices of Men or to make it a weakness prejudice or errour of our Nature That there is such a propension in Humane Nature seems to be very plain at least so far as to move us to implore and have recourse to invisible Powers in our extremities Prayer is natural in certain cases and we do at the meer motion of our natural Spirit and indeliberately invoke God and Heaven either in case of extreme danger to help and assist us or in case of injustice and oppression to relieve or avenge us or in case of false accusation to vindicate our innocency and generally in all cases desperate and remediless as to Humane Power we seem to appeal and address our selves to something higher And this we do by a sudden impulse of Nature without reflexion or deliberation Besides as witnesses of our Faith and Veracity we use to invoke the Gods or Superiour Powers by way of imprecation upon our selves if we be false and perjur'd and this hath been us'd in most Nations and Ages if not in all These things also argue that there is a Natural Conscience in Man and a distinction of moral Good and Evil and that we look upon those invisible Powers as the Guardians of Vertue and Honesty There are also few or no People upon the Earth but have something of External Religion true or false and either of them is an argument of this natural anticipation or that they have an opinion that there is something above them and above visible Nature though what that something was they seldom were able to make a good judgment But to pursue this Argument particularly would require an Historical deduction of Times and Places which is not suitable to our present design To conclude this Chapter and this Subject If we set Religion apart
the proud yea and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of Hosts that it shall leave them neither root nor branch And that nature her self and the Earth shall suffer in that fire the Prophet Zephany tells us c. 3. 8. All the Earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousie Lastly This consumption of the Earth by fire even to the foundations of it is exprest livelily by Moses in his Song Deut. 32. 22. A fire is kindled in my anger and shall burn unto the lowest Hell and shall consume the Earth with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the Mountains If we reflect upon these Witnesses and especially the first and last Moses and S. Peter at what a great distance of time they writ their Prophecies and yet how well they agree we must needs conclude that they were acted by the same Spirit and a Spirit that see thorough all the Ages of the World from the beginning to the end These Sacred Writers were so remote in time from one another that they could not confer together nor conspire either in a false testimony or to make the same prediction But being under one common influence and inspiration which is always consistent with it self they have dictated the same things tho' at two thousand years distance sometimes from one another This besides many other considerations makes their authority incontestable And upon the whole account you see that the doctrine of the future Conflagration of the World having run through all Ages and Nations is by the joynt consent of the Prophets and Apostles adopted into the Christian Faith CHAP. IV. Concerning the time of the Conflagration and the end of the World What the Astronomers say upon this Subject and upon what they ground their Calculations The true notion of the Great Year or of the Platonick Year stated and explained HAVING in this First Section laid a sure foundation as to the Subject of our Discourse the truth and certainty of the Conflagration whereof we are to treat we will now proceed to enquire after the Time Causes and Manner of it We are naturally more inquisitive after the End of the World and the Time of that Fatal Revolution than after the Causes of it For these we know are irresistible whensoever they come and therefore we are only sollicitous that they should not overtake us or our near posterity The Romans thought they had the fates of their Empire in the Books of the Sibyls which were kept by the Magistrates as a Sacred Treasure We have also our Prophetical Books more sacred and more infallible than theirs which contain the fate of all the Kingdoms of the Earth and of that glorious Kingdom that is to succeed And of all futurities there is none can be of such importance to be enquired after as this last scene and close of all humane affairs If I thought it possible to determine the time of the Conflagration from the bare intuition of Natural Causes I would not treat of it in this place but reserve it to the last after we had brought into view all those Causes weigh'd their force and examin'd how and when they would concur to produce this great effect But I am satisfied that the excitation and concourse of those Causes does not depend upon Nature only and tho' the Causes may be sufficient when all united yet the union of them at such a time and in such a manner I look upon as the effect of a particular Providence and therefore no foresight of ours or inspection into Nature can discover to us the time of this conjuncture This method therefore of Prediction from Natural Causes being laid aside as impracticable all other methods may be treated of in this place as being independent upon any thing that is to follow in the Treatise and it will be an ease to the Argument to discharge it of this part and clear the way by degrees to the principal point which is the Causes and Manner of the Conflagration Some have thought it a kind of impiety in a Christian to enquire after the End of the World because of that check which our Saviour gave his Disciples when after his Resurrection enquiring of him about the time of his Kingdom He answer'd It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power And before his death when he was discoursing of the Consummation of all things He told them expresly that tho' there should be such and such previous Signs as he had mention'd yet Of that day and hour knoweth no man No not the Angels that are in Heaven but my Father only Be it so that the Disciples deserv'd a reprimand for desiring to know by a particular revelation from our Saviour the state of future times when many other things were more necessary for their instruction and for their ministery Be it also admitted that the Angels at that distance of time could not see thorow all events to the End of the World it does not at all follow from thence that they do not know it now when in the course of Sixteen Hundred Years many things are come to pass that may be marks and directions to them to make a judgment of what remains and of the last period of all things However there will be no danger in our enquiries about this matter seeing they are not so much to discover the certainty as the uncertainty of that period as to humane knowledge Let us therefore consider what methods have been used by those that have been curious and busie to measure the duration of the World The Stoicks tell us When the Sun and the Stars have drunk up the Sea then the Earth shall be burnt A very fair Prophecy but how long will they be a drinking For unless we can determine that we cannot determine when this combustion will begin Many of the Ancients thought that the Stars were nourish'd by the vapours of the Ocean and of the moist Earth and when that nourishment was spent being of a fiery nature they would prey upon the Body of the Earth it self and consume that after they had consum'd the Water This is old-fashion'd Philosophy and now that the nature of those Bodies is better known will scarce pass for currant 'T is true we must expect some dispositions towards the combustion of the World from a great drought and desiccation of the Earth But this helps us nothing on our way for the question still returns When will this immoderate drought or dryness happen and that 's us ill to resolve as the former Therefore as I said before I have no hopes of deciding the question by Physiology or Natural Causes let us then look up from the Earth to the Heavens To the Astronomers and the Prophets These think they can define the age and duration of the World The one
answer to that difficulty Two suppos'd causes of the Conflagration by the Sun 's drawing nearer to the Earth or the Earth's throwing out the central fire examin'd and rejected WE have now made our way clear to the principal point The Causes of the Conflagration How the Heavens and the Earth will be set on fire what materials are prepar'd or what train of Causes for that purpose The Ancients who have kept us company pretty well thus far here quite desert us They deal more in Conclusions than Causes as is usual in all Traditional Learning And the Stoicks themselves who inculcate so much the doctrine of the Conflagration and make the strength of it such as to dissolve the Earth into a fiery Chaos are yet very short and superficial in their explications how this shall come to pass The latent seeds of fire they say shall every where be let loose and the Element will prevail over all the rest and transform every thing into its own nature But these are general things that give little satisfaction to inquisitive Persons Neither do the modern Authors that treat of the same subject relieve us in this particular They are willing to suppose the Conflagration a superficial effect that so they may excuse themselves the trouble of enquiring after causes 'T is no doubt in a sort supernatural and so the Deluge was yet Moses sets down the Causes of the Deluge the rains from above and the disruption of the Abyss So there must be treasures of fire provided against that day by whose eruption this second Deluge will be brought upon the Earth To state the case fairly we must first represent the difficulty of setting the Earth on Fire Tie the knot before we loose it that so we may the better judge whether the Causes that shall be brought into view may be sufficient to overcome so great opposition The difficulty no doubt will be chiefly from the great quantity of Water that is about our Globe whereby Nature seems to have made provision against any invasion by Fire and secur'd us from that enemy more than any other We see half of the Surface of the Earth cover'd with the Seas whose Chanel is of a vast depth and capacity Besides innumerable Rivers great and small that water the face of the dry Land and drench it with perpetual moisture Then within the bowels of the Earth there are Store-houses of subterraneous Waters which are as a reserve in case the Ocean and the Rivers should be overcome Neither is Water our only security for the hard Rocks and stony Mountains which no Fire can bite upon are set in long ranges upon the Continents and Islands and must needs give a stop to the progress of that furious Enemy in case he should attack us Lastly The Earth it self is not combustible in all its parts 'T is not every Soyl that is fit fewel for the Fire Clay and Mire and such like Soyls will rather choak and stifle it than help it on its way By these means one would think the Body of the Earth secur'd and tho' there may be partial fires or inuâ—â—lations of fire here and there in particular regions yet there cannot be an Universal Fire throughout the Earth At least one would hope for a safe retreat towards the Poles where there is nothing but Snow and Ice and bitter cold These regions sure are in no danger to be burnt whatsoever becomes of the other climates of the Earth This being the state and condition of the present Earth one would not imagine by these preparations 't was ever intended that it should perish by an Universal Fire But such is often the method of Providence that the exteriour face of things looks one way and the design lies another till at length touching a Spring as it were at a certain time all those affairs change posture and aspect and shew us which way Providence inclines We must therefore suppose before the Conflagration begins there will be dispositions and preparatives suitable to so great a work and all antiquity sacred and prophane does so far concur with us as to admit and suppose that a great drought will precede and an extraordinary heat and driness of the Air to usher in this fiery doom And these being things which often happen in a course of Nature we cannot disallow such easie preparations when Providence intends so great a consequence The Heavens will be shut up and the Clouds yield no rain and by this with an immoderate heat in the Air the Springs of Water will become dry the Earth chap'd and parch'd and the Woods and Trees made ready fewel for the Fire We have instances in History that there have been droughts and heats of this Nature to that degree that the Woods and Forests have taken fire and the outward Turf and Surface of the Earth without any other cause than the driness of the Season and the vehemency of the Sun And which is more considerable the Springs and Fountains being dry'd up the greater Rivers have been sensibly lessen'd and the lesser quite emptied and exhal'd These things which happen frequently in particular Countreys and Climates may at an appointed time by the disposition of Providence be more universal throughout the Earth and have the same effects every where that we see by experience they have had in certain places And by this means we may conceive it as feisible to set the whole Earth on fire in some little space of time as to burn up this or that Countrey after a great drought But I mean this with exception still to the main Body of the Sea which will indeed receive a greater diminution from these Causes than we easily imagine but the final consumption of it will depend upon other reasons whereof we must give an account in the following Chapters As to the Mountains and Rocks their lofty heads will sink when the Earthquakes begin to roar at the beginning of the Conflagration as we shall see hereafter And as to the Earth it self 't is true there are several sorts of Earth that are not proper fewel for fire but those Soils that are not so immediately as clayey Soils and such like may by the strength of Fire be converted into Brick or Stone or Earthen Metal and so melted down and vitrified For in conclusion there is no Terrestrial Body that does not finally yield to the force of Fire and may either be converted into flame incorporated fire or into a liquor more ardent than either of them Lastly As to the Polar Regions which you think will be a safe retreat and inaccessible to the fire 'T is true unless Providence hath laid subterraneous treasures of fire there unknown to us those parts of the Earth will be the last consum'd But it is to be observ'd that the cold of those regions proceeds from the length of their Winter and their distance from the Sun when he is beyond the Aequator and both these causes will be
question is not at present about the existence of this fire but the eruption of it and the effect of that Eruption which cannot be in my judgment such a Conflagration as is describ'd in Scripture This Central Fire must be enclos'd in a shell of great strength and firmness for being of it self the lightest and most active of all Bodies it would not be detained in that lowest prison without a strong guard upon it 'T is true we can make no certain judgment of what thickness this shell is but if we suppose this fire to have a twentieth part of the semidiameter of the Earth on either side the centre for its sphere which seems to be a fair allowance there would still remain nineteen parts for our safeguard and security And these nineteen parts of the semidiameter of the Earth will make 3268 miles for a partition-wall betwixt us and this Central Fire Who wou'd be afraid of an Enemy lock'd up in so strong a prison But you 'l say it may be tho' the Central Fire at the beginning of the World might have no more room or space than what is mentioned yet being of that activity that it is and corrosive nature it may in the space of some thousands of years have eaten deep into the sides of its prison and so come nearer to the surface of the Earth by some hundreds or thousands of miles than it was at first This would be a material exception if it could be made out But what Phaenomenon is there in Nature that proves this How does it appear by any observation that the Central Fire gains ground upon us Or is increased in quantity or come nearer to the surface of the Earth I know nothing that can be offered in proof of this and if there be no appearance of a change nor any sensible effect of it 't is an argument there is none or none considerable If the quantity of that fire was considerably increas'd it must needs besides other effects have made the Body of the Earth considerably lighter The Earth having by this conversion of its own substance into fire lost so much of its heaviest matter and got so much of the lightest and most active Element in stead of it and in both these respects its gravity would be manifestly lessen'd Which if it really was in any considerable degree it would discover it self by some change either as to the motion of the Earth or as to its place or station in the Heavens But there being no external change observable in this or any other respect 't is reasonable to presume that there is no considerable inward change or no great consumption of its inward parts and substance and consequently no great increase of the Central Fire But if we should admit both an encrease and eruption of this fire it would not have that effect which is pretended It might cause some confusion and disorder in those parts of the Earth where it broke out but it would not make an universal Conflagration such as is represented to us in Scripture Let us suppose the Earth to be open or burst in any place under the Pole for instance or under the Aequator and let it gape as low as the Central Fire At this chasm or rupture we suppose the fire would gush out and what then would be the consequence of this when it came to the surface of the Earth It would either be dissipated and lost in the air or fly still higher towards the Heavens in a mass of flame But what execution in the mean time would it do upon the Body of the Earth 'T is but like a flash of lightning or a flame issuing out of a pit that dies presently Besides this Central Fire is of that subtilty and tenuity that it is not able to inflame gross Bodies no morethan those Meteors we call Lambent Fires inflame the bodies to which they stick Lastly in explaining the manner of the Conflagration we must have regard principally to Scripture for the explications given there are more to the purpose than all that the Philosophers have said upon that subject Now as we noted before 't is manifest in Scripture that after the Conflagration there will be a Restauration New Heavens and a New Earth 'T is the express doctrine of S. Peter besides other Prophets We must therefore suppose the Earth reduc'd to such a Chaos by this last fire as will lay the foundation of a new World Which can never be if the inward frame of it be broke the Central Fire exhausted and the exterior region suck'd into those central vacuities This must needs make it lose its former poise and libration and it will thereupon be thrown into some other part of the Universe as the useless shell of a broken Granado or as a dead carkass and unprofitable matter These reasons may be sufficient why we should not depend upon those pretended causes of the Conflagration The Suns advance towards the Earth or such a rupture of the Earth as will let out the Central Fire These Causes I hope will appear superfluous when we shall have given an account of the Conflagration without them But young Philosophers like young Soldiers think they are never sufficiently armed and often take more weapons than they can make use of when they come to fight Not that we altogether reject the influence of the Sun or of the Central Fire especially the latter For in that great estuation of Nature the Body of the Earth will be much open'd and relaxated and when the pores are enlarg'd the steams of that fire will sweat out more plentifully into all its parts but still without any rupture in the vessels or in the skin And whereas these Authors suppose the very Veins burst and the vital blood to gush out as at openflood gates we only allow a more copious perspiration and think that sufficient for all purposes in this case CHAP. VII The true bounds of the Last Fire and how far it is fatal The natural Causes and Materials of it cast into three ranks First such as are exterior and visible upon the Earth where the Volcano's of the Earth and their effects are consider'd Secondly such materials as are within the Earth Thirdly such as are in the Air. AS we have in the preceding Chapter laid aside those Causes of the Conflagration which we thought too great and cumbersome so now we must in like manner examine the Effect and reduce that to its just measures and proportions that there may be nothing lest superfluous on either side Then by comparing the real powers with the work they are to do boâ—h being stated within their due bounds we may the better judge how they are proportion'd to one another We noted before that the Conflagration had nothing to do with the Stars and superiour Heavens but was wholly confin'd to this Sublunary World And this Deluge of Fire will have much what the same bounds that the Deluge of
Water had formerly This is according to St. Peter's doctrine for he makes the same parts of the Universe to be the subject of both namely the inferiour Heavens and the Earth The Heavens and the Earth which were then perish'd in a Deluge of Water But the Heavens and the Earth that are now are reserv'd to fire The present Heavens and Earth are substituted in the place of those that perish'd at the Deluge and these are to be over-run and destroy'd by fire as those were by water So that the Apostle takes the same Regions and the same space and compass for the one as for the other and makes their fate different according to their different constitution and the different order of Providence This is the sence St. Austin gives us of the Apostle's words and these are the bounds he sets to the last Fire whereof a modern Commentator is so well assur'd that he says They neither understand Divinity nor Philosophy that would make the Conflagration reach above the Elementary Heavens Let these be then its limits upwards the Clouds Air and Atmosphere of the Earth But the question seems more doubtful How far it will extend downwards into the bowels of the Earth I answer still to the same depth that the Waters of the Deluge reach'd To the lowest Abysses and the deepest Caverns within the ground And seeing no Caverns are deeper or lower at least according to our Theory than the bottom of the great Ocean to that depth I suppose the rage of this fire will peneâ—rate and devour all before it And therefore we must not imagine that only the outward turf and habitable surface of the Earth will be put into a flame and laid wast the whole exteriour region of the Earth to the depth of the deepest part of the Sea will suffer in this Fire and suffer to that degree as to be melted down and the frame of it dissolv'd For we are not to conceive that the Earth will be only scorcht or charkt in the last Fire there will be a sort of liquefaction and dissolution it will become a molten Sea mingled with fire according to the expression of Scripture And this dissolution may reasonably be suppos'd to reach as low as the Earth hath any hollownesses or can give 〈◊〉 to smoke and flame Wherefore taking these for the bounds and limits of the last great Fire the next thing to be enquir'd into are the Natural Causes of it How this strange fate will seize upon the Sublunary World and with an irresistible fury subdue all things to it self But when I say Natural Causes I would not be so understood as if I thought the Conflagration was a pure Natural Fatality as the Stoicks seem to do No 't is a mixt Fatality The Causes indeed are Natural but the administration of them is from an higher hand Fire is the Instrument or the executive power and hath no more force given it than what it hath naturally but the concurrence of these Causes or of these fiery powers at such a time and in such a manner and the conduct of them to carry on and compleat the whole work without cessation or interruption that I look upon as more than what material Nature could effect of it self or than could be brought to pass by such a government of matter as is the bare result of its own laws and determinations When a Ship fails gently before the Wind the Mariners may stand idle but to guide her in a storm all hands must be at work There are rules and measures to be observ'd even in these tumults and desolations of Nature in destroying a World as well as in making one and therefore in both it is reasonable to suppose a more than ordinary Providence to superintend the work Let us not therefore be too positive or presumptuous in our conjectures about these things for if there be an invisible hand Divine or Angelical that touches the Springs and Wheels it will not be easie for us to determine with certainty the order of their motions However 't is our duty to search into the ways and works of God as far as we can And we may without offence look into the Magazines of Nature see what provisions are made and what preparations for this great Day and in what method 't is most likely the design will be executed But before we proceed to mark out Materials for this Fire give me leave to observe one condition or property in the Form of this present Earth that makes it capable of Inflammation 'T is the manner of its construction in an hollow eavernous form By reason whereof containing much Air in its cavities and having many inlets and outlets 't is in most places capable of ventilation pervious and passable to the Winds and consequently to the Fire Those that have read the former part of this Theory know how the Earth came into this hollow and broken form from what causes and at what time namely at the Universal Deluge when there was a disruption of the exteriour Earth that fell into the Abyss and so for a time was overflow'd with Water These Ruines recover'd from the Water we inhabit and these Ruines only will be burnt up For being not only unequal in their Surface but also hollow loose and incompact within as ruines use to be they are made thereâ— by capable of a second fate by inflammation Thereby I say they are made combustible for if the exteriour Regions of this Earth were as close and compact in all their parts as we have reason to believe the interiour Regions of it to be the Fire could have little power over it nor ever reduce it to such a state as is requir'd in a compleat Conflagration such as ours is to be This being admitted that the Exteriour Region of the Earth stands hollow as a well set Fire to receive Air freely into its parts and hath issues for smoke and flame It remains to enquire what fewel or Materials Nature hath fitted to kindle this Pile and to continue it on Fire till it be consum'd or in plain words What are the Natural Causes and preparatives for a Conflagration The first and most obvious preparations that we see in Nature for this effect are the Burning Mountains or Volcano's of the Earth These are lesser Essays or preludes to the general Fire set on purpose by Providence to keep us awake and to mind us continually and forewarn us of what we are to expect at last The Earth you see is already kindled blow but the Coal and propagate the Fire and the work will go on Tophet is prepar'd of old and when the Day of Doom is come and the Date of the World expir'd the breath of the Lord shall make it burn But besides these Burning Mountains there are Lakes of pitch and brimstone and oily Liquors disperst in several parts of the Earth These are in enrage the Fire as it goes and to fortifie
and forerunners of the last day as they usually are of all great changes and calamities The destruction of Ierusalem was a type of the destruction of the World and the Evangelists always mention Earth-quakes amongst the ominous Prodigies that were to attend it But these Earth-quakes we are speaking of at present are but the beginnings of sorrow and not to be compar'd with those that will follow afterwards when Nature is convulst in her last agony just as the flames are seizing on her Of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter These changes will happen as to the matter and form of the Earth before it is attack'd by the last fire There will be also another change as to the situation of it for that will be rectified and the Earth restor'd to the posture it had at first namely of a right aspect and conversion to the Sun But because I cannot determine at what time this restitution will be whether at the beginning middle or end of the Conflagration I will not presume to lay any stress upon it Plato seems to have imputed the Conflagration to this only which is so far true that the Revolution call'd The Great Year is this very Revolution or the return of the Earth and the Heavens to their first posture But tho' this may be contemporary with the last fire or some way concomitant yet it does not follow that it is the cause of it much less the only cause It may be an occasion of making the fire reach more easily towards the Poles when by this change of situation their long Nights and long Winters shall be taken away These new dispositions in our Earth which we expect before that great day may be look'd upon as extraordinary but not as Miraculous because they may proceed from Natural Causes But now in the last place we are to consider miraculous causes What influence they may have or what part they may bear in this great revolution of Nature By miraculous causes we understand either God's immediate Omnipotency or the Ministry of Angels and what may be perform'd by the latter is very improperly and undecently thrown upon the former 'T is a great step to Omnipotency and 't is hard to define what Miracles on this side Creation require an infinite power We are sure that the Angels are Ministring Spirits and ten thousand times ten thousand stand about the Throne of the Almighty to receive his commands and execute his judgments That perfect knowledge they have of the powers of nature and of conducting those powers to the best advantage by adjusting causes in a fit subordination one to another makes them capable of performing not only things far above our force but even above our imagination Besides they have a radical inherent power belonging to the excellency of their nature of determining the motions of matter within a far greater sphere than humane Souls can pretend to We can only command our spirits and determine their motions within the compass of our own Bodies but their activity and empire is of far greater extent and the outward World is much more subject to their dominion than to ours From these considerations it is reasonable to conclude that the generality of miracles may be and are perform'd by Angels It being less decorous to employ a Sovereign power where a subaltern is sufficient and when we hastily cast things upon God for quick dispatch we consult our own ease more than the honouor of our Maker I take it for granted here that what is done by an Angelical hand is truly providential and of divine administration and also justly bears the character of a miracle Whatsoever may be done by pure material causes or humane strength we account Natural and whatsoever is above these we call supernatural and miraculous Now what is supernatural and miraculous is either the effect of an Angelical power or of a Sovereign and Infinite power And we ought not to confound these two no more than Natural and Supernatural for there is a greater difference betwixt the highest Angelical power and Omnipotency than betwixt an Humane power and Angelical Therefore as the first Rule concerning miracles is this That we must not flie to miracles where Man and Nature are sufficient so the second Rule is this that we must not flie to a sovereign infinite power where an Angelical is sufficient And the reason in both Rules is the same namely because it argues a defect of Wisdom in all Oeconomiles to employ more and greater means than are sufficient Now to make application of this to our present purpose I think it reasonable and also sufficient to admit the ministery of Angels in the future Conflagration of the World If Nature will not lay violent hands upon her self or is not sufficient to work her own destruction Let us allow Destroying Angels to interest themselves in the work as the Executioners of the Divine Justice and Vengeance upon a degenerate World We have examples of this so frequently in Sacred History how the Angels have executed God's Judgments upon a Nation or a People that it cannot seem new or strange that in this last judgment which by all the Prophets is represented as the Great Day of the Lord the day of his Wrath and of his Fury the same Angels should bear their parts and conclude the last scene of that Tragedy which they had acted in all along We read of the Destroying Angel in Aegypt of Angels that presided at the destruction of Sodom which was a Type of the future destrution of the World Iude 7. and of Angels that will accompany our Saviour when he comes in flames of Fire Not we suppose to be Spectators only but Actors and Superintendants in this great Catastrophe This ministery of Angels may be either in ordering and conducting such Natural Causes as we have already given an account of or in adding new ones if occasion be I mean encreasing the quantity of Fire or of fiery materials in and about the Earth So as that Element shall be more abundant and more predominant and overbear all opposition that either Water or any other Body can make against it It is not material whether of these two Suppositions we follow provided we allow that the Conflagration is a work of Providence and not a pure Natural Fatality If it be necessary that there should be an augmentation made of Fiery Matter 't is not hard to conceive how that may be done either from the Heavens or from the Earth The Prophets sometimes speak of multiplying or strengthning the Light of the Sun and it may as easily be conceiv'd of his heat as of his light as if the Vial that was to be pour'd upon it and gave it a power to scorch men with fire had something of a Natural sence as well as Moral But there is another stream of Ethereal matter that flows from the Heavens and recruits the Central Fire with continual supplies
attested or admit an effect whereof they cannot see any possible causes And so having stated and propos'd the whole difficulty and try'd all ways offer'd by others and found them ineffectual let us now apply our selves by degrees to unty the knot The excessive quantity of water is the great difficulty and the removal of it afterwards Those eight Oceans lay heavy upon my thoughts and I cast about every way to find an expedient or to find some way whereby the same effect might be brought to pass with less Water and in such a manner that that Water might afterwards conveniently be discharg'd The first thought that came into my mind upon that occasion was concerning the form of the Earth which I imagin'd might possibly at that time be different from what it is at present and come nearer to plainness and equality in the surface of it and so might the more easily be overflow'd and the Deluge perform'd with less water This opinion concerning the plainness of the first Earth I also found in Antiquity mention'd and refer'd to by several Interpreters in their Commentaries upon Genesis either upon occasion of the Deluge or of that Fountain which is said Gen. 2. 6. to have watered the face of the whole Earth And a late eminent person the honour of his profession for Integrity and Learning in his discourse concerning the Origination of mankind hath made a like judgment of the State of the Earth before the Deluge that the face of it was more smooth and regular than it is now But yet upon second thoughts I easily see that this alone would not be sufficient to explain the Deluge nor to give an account of the present from of the Earth unequal and Mountainous as it is 'T is true this would give a great advantage to the waters and the Rains that fell for forty days together would have a great power over the Earth being plain and smooth but how would these waters be dispos'd of when the Deluge ceas'd or how could it ever cease Besides what means the disruption of the great Deep or the great Abysse or what answers to it upon this supposition This was assuredly of no less consideration than the Rains nay I believe the Rains were but preparatory in some measure and that the violence and consummation of the Deluge depended upon the disruption of the great Abysse Therefore I saw it necessary to my first thought concerning the smoothness and plainness of the Ante-diluvian Earth to add a second concerning the disruption and dissolution of it for as it often happens in Earthquakes when the exteriour Earth is burst asunder and a great Flood of waters issues out according to the quantity and force of them an Inundation is made in those parts more or less so I thought if that Abysse lay under ground and round the Earth and we should suppose the Earth in this manner to be broken in several places at once and as it were a general dissolution made we might suppose that to make a general Deluge as well as a particular dissolution often makes a particular But I will not anticipate here the explication we intend to give of the universal Deluge in the following Chapters only by this previous intimation we may gather some hopes it may be that the matter is not so desperate as the former representation might possibly make us fansie it Give me leave to add farther in this place that it hath been observ'd by several from the contemplation of Mountains and Rocks and Precipices of the Chanel of the Sea and of Islands and of Subterraneous Caverns that the surface of the Earth or the exteriour Region which we inhabit hath been broke and the parts of it dislocated And one might instance more particularly in several parcels of Nature that retain still the evident marks of fraction and ruine and by their present form and posture show that they have been once in another state and situation one to another We shall have occasion hereafter to give an account of these Phaenomena from which several have rightly argu'd and concluded some general rupture or ruine in the superficial parts of the Earth But this ruine it is true they have imagin'd and explain'd several ways some thinking that it was made the third day after the foundation of the Earth when they suppose the Chanel of the Sea to have been form'd and Mountains and Caverns at the same time by a violent depression of some parts of the Earth and an extrusion and elevation of others to make them room Others suppose it to have come not all at once but by degrees at several times and in several Ages from particular and accidental causes as the Earth falling in upon Fires under ground or water eating away the lower parts or Vapours and Exhalations breaking out and tearing the Earth 'T is true I am not of their opinion in either of these Explications and we shall show at large hereafter when we have propos'd and stated our own Theory how incompetent such causes are to bring the Earth into that form and condition we now find it in But in the mean time we may so far make use of these Opinions in general as not to be startled at this Doctrine concerning the breaking or dissolution of the exteriour Earth for in all Ages the face of Nature hath provok'd men to think of and observe such a thing And who can do otherwise to see the Elements displac'd and disorder'd as they seem to lie at present the heaviest and grossest bodies in the highest places and the liquid and volatile kept below an huge mass of Stone or Rock rear'd into the Air and the water creeping at its feet whereas this is the more light and active body and by the law of Nature should take place of Rocks and Stones So we see by the like disorder the Air thrown down into Dungeons of the Earth and the Earth got up among the Clouds for there are the tops of the Mountains and under their roots in Holes and Caverns the Air is often detain'd By what regular action of Nature can we suppose things first produc'd in this posture and form not to mention how broke and torn the inward substance of the Earth is which of it self is an uniform mass close and compact but in the condition we see it it lies hollow in many places with great vacuities intercepted betwixt the portions of it a thing which we see happens in all ruines more or less especially when the parts of the ruines are great and inflexible Then what can have more the figure and meen of a ruine than Crags and Rocks and Cliffs whether upon the Sea shore or upon the sides of Mountains what can be more apparently broke than they are and those lesser Rocks or great bulky Stones that lie often scatter'd near the feet of the other whether in the Sea or upon the Land are they not manifest fragments and pieces of those greater
Globe in a Spherical convexity so that if all the Mountains and Hills were scal'd and the Earth made even the Waters would not overflow its smooth surface much less could they overflow it in the form that it is now in where the Shores are higher than the Sea the Inland parts than the Shores and the Mountains still far above all So as no disruption of the Sea could make an universal Deluge by reason of its situation But besides that the quantity of Water contain'd in the Sea is no way sufficient to make a Deluge in the present form of the Earth for we have shewn before Chap. 2. that Eight such Oceans as ours would be little enough for that purpose Then as to the expressions of Moses concerning this Abysse if he had meant the Sea by it and that the Deluge was made by the disruption of the Sea why did he not say so There is no mention of the Sea in all the History of the Deluge Moses had mention'd the Sea before Gen. 1. 10. and us'd a word that was common and known to signifie the Sea And if he had a mind to express the same thing here why should he not use the same word and the same term In an Historical relation we use terms that are most proper and best known but instead of that he useth the same term here that he did Gen. 1. 2. when he saith Darkness was upon the face of the Abysse or of the Deep as we render it there the Abysse was open or cover'd with darkness only namely before the exterior Earth was form'd Here the same Abysse is mention'd again but cover'd by the formation of the Earth upon it and the covering of this Abysse was broken or cloven asunder and the Waters gusht out that made the Deluge This I am sure is the most natural interpretation or signification of this word according as it is us'd in Moses's writings Furthermore we must observe what Moses saith concerning this Abysse and whether that will agree with the Sea or no he saith the Fountains of the great Abysse were broken open now if by the great Abysse you understand the Sea how are its Fountains broken open To break open a Fountain is to break open the ground that covers it and what ground covers the Sea So that upon all considerations either of the word that Moses here useth Tehom-Rabba or of the thing affirmed concerning it breaking open its Fountains or of the effect following the breaking open its Fountains drowning of the Earth from all these heads it is manifest that the Sea cannot be understood by the great Abysse whose disruption was the cause of the Deluge And as the Mosaical Abysse cannot be the Sea so neither can it be those Subterraneous waters that are disperst in the Cells and Caverns of the Earth for as they are now lodg'd within the Earth they are not one Abysse but several Cisterns and Receptacles of water in several places especially under the roots of Mountains and Hills separate one from another sometimes by whole Regions and Countries interpos'd Besides what Fountains if they were broken up could let out this water or bring it upon the face of the Earth When we sink a Mine or dig a Well the waters when uncover'd do not leap out of their places out of those Cavities or at least do not flow upon the Earth 'T is not as if you openâ—d a Vein where the Bloud spirts out and riseth higher than its Source but as when you take off the cover of a Vessel the water doth not fly out for that So if we should imagine all the Subterraneous Caverns of the Earth uncover'd and the waters laid bare there they would lie unmov'd in their beds if the Earth did not fall into them to force them up Furthermore if these waters were any way extracted and laid upon the surface of the ground nothing would be gain'd as to the Deluge by that for as much water would run into these holes again when the Deluge begun to rise so that this would be but an useless labour and turn to no account And lastly These waters are no way sufficient for quantity to answer to the Mosaical Abyss or to be the principal cause of the Deluge as that was Now seeing neither the Sea as it is at present nor the Subterraneous Waters as they are at present can answer to the Mosaical Abysse we are sure there is nothing in this present Earth that can answer to it Let us then on the other hand compare it with that Subterraneous Abyss which we have found in the Ante-diluvian Earth represented 5 Fig. 2. and examine their characters and correspondency First Moses's Abyss was cover'd and Subterraneous for the Fountains of it are said to have been cloven or burst open then it was vast and capacious and thirdly it was so dispos'd as to be capable of a disruption that would cause an universal Deluge to the Earth Our Ante-diluvian Abyss answers truly to all these characters 't was in the womb of the Earth the Earth was founded upon those Waters as the Psalmist saith or they were enclos'd within the Earth as in a Bag. Then for the capacity of it it contained both all the Waters now in the Ocean and all those that are dispers'd in the Caverns of the Earth And lastly it is manifest its situation was such that upon a disruption or dissolution of the Earth which cover'd it an universal Deluge would arise Seeing then this answers the description and all the properties of the Mosaical Abysse and nothing else will how can we in reason judge it otherwise than the same and the very thing intended and propos'd in the History of Noah's Deluge under the name of Tehom-Rabba or the great Abyss at whose disruption the World was over-flow'd And as we do not think it an unhappy discovery to have found out with a moral certainty the feat of the Mosaical Abyss which hath been almost as much sought for and as much in vain as the seat of Paradise so this gives us a great assurance that the Theory we have given of a general Deluge is not a meer Idea but is to be appropriated to the Deluge of Noah as a true explication of it And to proceed now from Moses to other Divine Writers That our Description is a reality both as to the Ante-diluvian Earth and as to the Deluge we may further be convinc'd from S. Peter's discourse concerning those two things S. Peter saith that the constitution of the Ante-diluvian Earth was such in reference to the Waters that by reason of that it was obnoxious to a Deluge we say these Waters were the great Abysse it stood upon by reason whereof that World was really expos'd to a Deluge and overwhelm'd in it upon the disruption of this Abyss as Moses witnesses 'T is true S. Peter doth not specifie what those waters were nor mention either the Sea or the Abyss but seeing
Moses tells us that it was by the waters of the Abyss that the Earth was overwhelm'd S. Peter's waters must be understood of the same Abyss because he supposeth them the cause of the same Deluge And I think the Apostle's discourse there cannot receive a better illustration than from Moses's History of the Deluge Moses distinguishes the Causes of the Flood into those that belong to the Heavens and those that belong to the Earth the Rains and the Abyss S. Peter also distinguisheth the causes of the Deluge into the constitution of the Heavens in reference to its waters and the constitution of the Earth in reference to its waters and no doubt they both aim at the same causes as they refer to the same effect only Moses mentions the immediate Causes the Rains and the Waters of the Abyss and S. Peter mentions the more remote and fundamental causes that constitution of the Heavens and that constitution of the Earth in reference to their respective Waters which made that world obnoxious to a Deluge And these two speaking of Noah's Deluge and agreeing thus with one another and both with us or with the Theory which we have given of a General Deluge we may safely conclude that it is no imaginary Idea but a true account of that Ancient Flood whereof Moses hath left us the History And seeing the right understanding of the Mosaical Abysse is sufficient alone to prove all we have deliver'd concerning the Deluge as also concerning the frame of the Ante-diluvian Earth give me leave to take notice here of some other places of Scripture which we mention'd before that seem manifestly to describe this fame form of the Abyss with the Earth above it Psal. 24. 2. He founded the Earth upon the Seas and establish'd it upon the Floods and Psal. 136. 6. He stretched out the Earth above the Waters Now this Foundation of the Earth upon the Waters or extension of it above the Waters doth most aptly agree to that structure and situation of the Abyss and the Ante-diluvian Earth which we have assign'd them and which we have before describ'd but very improperly and forc'dly to the present form of the Earth and the Waters In that second place of the Psalmist the word may be render'd either he stretch'd as we read it or he fixt and consolidated the Earth above the Waters as the Vulgate and Septuagint translate it For 't is from the same word with that which is used for the Firmament Gen. 1. So that as the Firmament was extended over and around the Earth so was the Earth extended over and about the Waters in that first constitution of things and I remember some of the Ancients use this very comparison of the Firmament and Earth to express the situation of the Paradisiacal Earth in reference to the Sea or Abysse There is another remarkable place in the Psalms to shew the disposition of the Waters in the first Earth Psal. 33. 7. He gathereth the Waters of the Sea as in a Bag he layeth up the Abysses in store-houses This answers very fitly and naturally to the place and disposition of the Abysse which it had before the Deluge inclos'd within the vault of the Earth as in a Bag or in a Store house I know very well what I render here in a Bag is render'd in the English as an heap but that translation of the word seems to be grounded on the old Error that the Sea is higher than the Land and so doth not make a true sence Neither are the two parts of the Verse so well suited and consequent one to another if the first express an high situation of the Waters and the second a low one And accordingly the Vulgate Septuagint and Oriental Versions and Paraphrase as also Symmachus St. Ierome and Basil render it as we do here in a Bag or by terms equivalent To these passages of the Psalmist concerning the form of the Abysse and the first Earth give me leave to add this general remark that they are commonly ushered in or followed with something of Admiration in the Prophet We observ'd before that the formation of the first Earth after such a wonderful manner being a piece of Divine Architecture when it was spoken of in Scripture it was usually ascrib'd to a particular Providence and accordingly we see in these places now mention'd that it is still made the object of praise and admiration In that 136 Psalm 't is reckon'd among the wonders of God Vers. 4 5 6 Give praise to him who alone doth great wonders To him that by wisdom made the Heavens To him that stretched out the Earth above the Waters And in like manner in that 33 Psalm 't is joyn'd with the forming of the Heavens and made the subject of the Divine Power and Wisdom Vers. 6 7 8 9. By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Host of them by the breath of his mouth He gathereth the Waters of the Sea together as in a Bag he layeth up the Abysse in Store-houses Let all the Earth fear the Lord Let all the Inhabitants of the World stand in awe of him For he spake and it was he commanded and it stood fast Namely all things stood in that wonderful posture in which the Word of his Power and Wisdom had establisht them David often made the works of Nature and the External World the matter of his Meditations and of his praises and Philosophical Devotions reflecting sometimes upon the present form of the World and sometimes upon the primitive form of it And though Poetical expressions as the Psalms are seldom are so determinate and distinct but that they may be interpreted more than one way yet I think it cannot but be acknowledg'd that those expressions and passages that we have instanc'd in are more fairly and aptly understood of the Ancient form of the Sea or the Abysse as it was enclos'd within the Earth than of the present form of it in an open Chanel There are also in the Book of Iob many noble reflections upon the works of Nature and upon the formation of the Earth and the Abysse whereof that in Chap. 26. 7. He stretcheth out the North over the Empty places and hangeth the Earth upon nothing seems to parallel the expression of David He stretched out the Earth upon the Waters for the word we render the empty place is TOHU which is appli'd to the Chaos and the first Abysse Gen. 1. 2. and the hanging the Earth upon nothing is much more wonderful if it be understood of the first habitable Earth that hung over the Waters sustain'd by nothing but its own peculiar form and the libration of its parts than if it be understood of the present Earth and the whole body of it for if it be in its Center or proper place whither should it sink further or whither should it go But this passage together with the foregoing and following Verses requires a
make Mountains or Plains upon the Land and the Earth would generally be full of Caverns and hollownesse especially in the Mountainous parts of it And we see the resemblance and imitation of this in lesser ruines when a Mountain sinks and falls into Subterraneous water or which is more obvious when the Arch of a Bridge is broken and falls into the water if the water under it be not so deep as to overflow and cover all its parts you may see there the image of all these things in little Continents and Islands and Rocks under water And in the parts that stand above the water you see Mountains and Precipices and Plains and most of the varieties that we see and admire in the parts of the Earth What need we then seek any further for the Explication of these things Let us suppose this Arch of the Bridge as the great Arch of the Earth which once it had and the water under it as the Abyss and the parts of this ruine to represent the parts of the Earth There will be scarce any difference but of lesser and greater the same things appearing in both But we have naturally that weakness or prejudice that we think great things are not to be explain'd from easie and familiar instances We think there must be something difficult and operose in the explication of them or else we are not satisfied whether it is that we are asham'd to see our ignorance and admiration to have been so groundless or whether we fancy there must be a proportion between the difficulty of the explication and the greatness of the thing explain'd but that is a very false Judgment for let things be never so great if they be simple their explication must be simple and easie And on the contrary some things that are mean common and ordinary may depend upon causes very difficult to find out for the difficulty of explaining an effect doth not depend upon its greatness or littleness but upon the simplicity or composition of its causes And the effects and Phaenomena we are here to explain though great yet depending upon causes very simple you must not wonder if the Explication when found out be familiar and very intelligible And this is so intelligible and so easily deducible from the forementioned causes that a Man born blind or brought up all his life in a Cave that had never seen the face of the Earth nor ever heard any description of it more than that it was a great Globe having this Theory propos'd to him or being instructed what the form of the first Earth was how it stood over the waters and then how it was broke and fell into them he would easily of his own accord foretel what changes would arise upon this dissolution and what the new form of the Earth would be As in the first place he would tell you that this second Earth would be distinguish'd and checker'd into Land and Water for the Orb which fell being greater than the circumference it fell upon all the fragments could not fall flat and lie drown'd under water and those that stood above would make the dry Land or habitable part of the Earth Then in the second place he would plainly discern that these fragments that made the dry Land could not lie all plain and smooth and equal but some would be higher and some lower some in one posture and some in another and consequently would make Mountains Hills Valleys and Plains and all other varieties we have in the situation of the parts of the Earth And lastly a blind man would easily divine that such a great ruine could not happen but there would be a great many holes and cavities amongst the parts of it a great many intervals and empty places in the rubbish as I may so say for this we see happens in all ruines more or less and where the fragments are great and hard 't is not possible they should be so adjusted in their fall but that they would lie hollow in many places and many unfill'd spaces would be intercepted amongst them some gaping in the surface of the Earth and others hid within so as this would give occasion to all sorts of fractures and cavities either in the skin of the Earth or within its body And these Cavities that I may add that in the last place would be often fill'd with Subterraneous waters at least at such a depth for the foundations of the Earth standing now within the waters so high as those waters reach'd they would more or less propagate themselves every way Thus far our Blind man could tell us what the New World would be or the form of the Earth upon the great dissolution and we find his reasonings and inferences very true these are the chief lineaments and features of our Earth which appear indeed very irregular and very inaccountable when they are lookt upon naked in themselves but if we look upon them through this Theory we see as in a glass all the reasons and causes of them There are different Genius's of Men and different conceptions and every one is to be allow'd their liberty as to things of this nature I confess for my own part when I observe how easily and naturally this Hypothesis doth apply it self to the general face of this Earth hits and falls in so luckily and surprizingly with all the odd postures of iâ—s parts I cannot without violence bear off my mind from fully assenting to it And the more odd and extravagant as I may so say and the more diversify'd the effects and appearances are to which an Hypothesis is to be apply'd if it answers them all and with exactness it comes the nearer to a moral certitude and infallibility As a Lock that consists of a great deal of workmanship many Wards and many odd pieces and contrivances if you find a Key that answers to them all and opens it readily 't is a thousand to one that 't is the true Key and was made for that purpose An eminent Philosopher of this Age Monsteur des Cartes hath made use of the like Hypothesis to explain the irregular form of the present Earth though he never dream'd of the Deluge nor thought that first Orb built over the Abyss to have been any more than a transient crust and not a real habitable World that lasted for more than sixteen hundred years as we suppose it to have been And though he hath in my opinion in the formation of that first Orb and upon the dissolution of it committed some great oversights whereof we have given an account in the Latin Treatise however he saw a necessity of such a thing and of the disruption of it to bring the Earth into that form and posture wherein we now find it Thus far we have spoken in general concerning the agreement and congruity of our supposition with the present face of the Earth and the easie account it gives of the causes of it And
of things would arise and a new Deluge for that part of the Earth Such removes and interchanges I believe would often happen in the first Ages after the Flood as we see in all other ruines there happen lesser and secondary ruines after the first till the parts be so well pois'd and setled that without some violence they scarce change their posture any more But to return to our Earthquakes and to give an instance or two of their extent and violence Pliny mentions one in the Reign of Tiberius Caesar that struck down Twelve Cities of Asia in one night And Fournier gives us an account of one in Peru that reacht three hundred leagues along the Sea-shore and seventy leagues inland and level'd the Mountains all along as it went threw down the Cities turn'd the Rivers out of their Chanels and made an universal havock and confusion And all this he saith was done within the space of seven or eight minutes There must be dreadful Vaults and Mines under that Continent that gave passage to the Vapours and liberty to play for nine hundred miles in length and above two hundred in breadth Asia also hath been very subject to these desolations by Earthquakes and many parts in Europe as Greece Italy and others The truth is our Cities are built upon ruines and our Fields and Countries stand upon broken Arches and Vaults and so does the greatest part of the outward frame of the Earth and therefore it is no wonder if it be often shaken there being quantities of Exhalations within these Mines or Cavernous passages that are capable of rarefaction and inflammation and upon such occasions requiring more room they shake or break the ground that covers them And thus much concerning Earthquakes A second observation that argues the hollowness of the Earth is the communication of the Seas and Lakes under ground The Caspian and Mediterranean Seas and several Lakes receive into them great Rivers and yet have no visible out let These must have Subterraneous out-lets by which they empty themselves otherwise they would redound and overflow the brims of their Vessel The Mediterranean is most remarkable in this kind because 't is observ'd that at one end the great Ocean flows into it through the straits of Gibralter with a sensible current and towards the other end about Constantinople the Pontus flows down into it with a stream so strong that Vessels have much ado to stem it and yet it neither hath any visible evacuation or out-let nor over-flows its banks And besides that it is thus fed at either end it is sed by the navel too as I may so say it sucks in by their Chanels several Rivers into its belly whereof the Nile is one very great and considerable These things have made it a great Problem What becomes of the water of the Mediterranean Sea And for my part I think the solution is very easie namely that it is discharg'd by Subterraneous passages or convey'd by Chanels under the ground into the Ocean And this manner of discharge or conveyance is not peculiar to the Mediterranean but is common to it with the Caspian Sea and other Seas and Lakes that receive great Rivers into them and have no visible issue I know there have been propos'd several other ways to answer this difficulty concerning the eâ—flux or consumption of the waters of the Mediterranean some have suppos'd a double current in the strait of Gibralter one that carry'd the water in and another that brought it out like the Arteries and Veins in our Body the one exporting our bloud from the heart and the other re-importing it So they suppos'd one current upon the surface which carry'd the water into the Mediterranean and under it at a certain depth a counter-current which brought the water back into the Ocean But this hath neither proof nor foundation for unless it was included in pipes as our bloud is or consisted of liquors very different these cross currents would mingle and destroy one another Others are of opinion that all the water that flows into the Mediterranean or a quantity equal to it is consum'd in Exhalations every day This seems to be a bolder supposition than the other for if so much be consum'd in Vapours and Exhalations every day as flows into this Sea what if this Sea had an out-let and discharg'd by that every day as much as it receiv'd in a few days the Vapours would have consum'd all the rest and yet we see many Lakes that have as free an out-let as an in-let and are not consum'd or sensibly diminisht by the Vapours Besides This Reason is a Summer-reason and would pass very ill in Winter when the heat of the Sun is much less powerful At least there would be a very sensible difference betwixt the height of the waters in Summer and Winter if so much was consum'd every day as this Explication supposeth And the truth is this want of a visible out-let is not a property belonging only to the Mediterranean Sea as we noted before but is also in other Seas and great Lakes some lying in one Climate and some in another where there is no reason to suppose such excessive Exhalations and though 't is true some Rivers in Africk and in others parts of the Earth are thus exhal'd and dry'd up without ever flowing into the Sea as were all the Rivers in the first Earth yet this is where the sands and parch'd ground suck up a great part of them the heat of the Climate being excessively strong and the Chanel of the River growing shallower by degrees and it may be divided into lesser branches and rivulets which are causes that take no place here And therefore we must return to our first reason which is universal for all seasons of the Year and all Climates and seeing we are assur'd that there are Subterraneous Chanels and passages for Rivers often fall into the ground and sometimes rise again and sometimes never return why should we doubt to ascribe this effect to so obvious a cause Nay I believe the very Ocean doth evacuate it self by Subterraneous out-lets for considering what a prodigious mass of water falls into it every day from the wide mouths of all the Rivers of the Earth it must have out-lets proportionable and those Syrtes or great Whirlpools that are constant in certain parts or Sinus's of the Sea as upon the Coast of Norway and of Italy arise probably from Subterraneous out-lets in those places whereby the water sinks and turns and draws into it whatsoever comes within such a compass and if there was no issue at the bottom though it might by contrary currents turn things round within in its Sphere yet there is no reason from that why it should suck them down to the bottom Neither does it seem improbable that the currents of the Sea are from these in-draughts and that there is always a submarine in-let in some part of them to make a circulation of
the Waters But thus much for the Subterraneous communication of Seas and Lakes And thus much in general concerning Subterraneous Cavities and concerning the hollow and broken frame of the Earth If I had now Magick enough to show you at one view all the inside of the Earth which we have imperfectly describ'd if we could go under the roots of the Mountains and into the sides of the broken rocks or could dive into the Earth with one of those Rivers that sink under ground and follow its course and all its windings till it rise again or led us to the Sea we should have a much stronger and more effectual Idea of the broken form of the Earth than any we can excite by these faint descriptions collected from Reason The Ancients I remember us'd to represent these hollow Caves and Subterraneous Regions in the nature of a World under-ground and suppos'd it inhabited by the Nymphs especially the Nymphs of the waters and the Sea-Goddesses so Orpheus sung of old and in imitation of him Virgil hath made a description of those Regions feigning the Nymph Cyrene to send for her son to come down to her and make her a visit in those shades where mortals were not admitted Duc age duc ad nos fas illi limina Divûm Tangere ait Simul alta jubet discedere latè Flumina quà juvenis gressus inferret at illum Curvata in montis faciem circumstitit unda AccepÃtque sinu vasto misÃtque sub amnem Iámque domum â—mirans Genetricis humida regna Speluncisque lacos clausos lucósque sonantes Ibat ingenti motu stupâ—factus aquarum Omnia sub magnâ labentia slumina terrâ Spectabat diversa locis PhasÃmque Licúmque c. Et Thalami matris pendentia pumice tecta c. Come lead the Youth below bring him to me The Gods are pleas'd our Mansions he should see Streight she commands the floods to make him way They open their wide bosom and obey Soft is the path and easie is his tread A watry Arch hends o'er his dewy head And as he goes he wonders and looks round To see this new-found Kingdom under ground The silent Lakes in hollow Caves he sees And on their banks an echoing grove of Trees The fall of waters 'mongst the Rocks below He hears and sees the Rivers how they flow All the great Rivers of the Earth are there Prepar'd as in a womb by Nature's care Last to his mother's bed-chamber he 's brought Where the high roof with Pumice-stone is wrought c. If we now could open the Earth as this Nymph did the Water and go down into the bosom of it see all the dark Chambers and Apartments there how ill contriv'd and how ill kept so many holes and corners some fill'd with smoak and fire some with water and some with vapours and mouldy Air how like a ruine it lies gaping and torn in the parts of it we should not easily believe that God created it into this form immediately out of nothing It would have cost no more to have made things in better order nay it had been more easie and more simple and accordingly we are assured that all things were made at first in Beauty and proportion And if we consider Nature and the manner of the first formation of the Earth 't is evident that there could be no such holes and Caverns nor broken pieces made then in the body of it for the grosser parts of the Chaos falling down towards the Center they would there compose a mass of Earth uniform and compact the water swimming above it and this first mass under the water could have no Caverns or vacuities in it for if it had had any the Earthy parts while the mass was liquid or semi-liquid would have sunk into them and fill'd them up expelling the Air or Water that was there And when afterwards there came to be a crust or new Earth form'd upon the face of the Waters there could be no Cavities no dens no fragments in it no more than in the other And for the same general reason that is passing from a liquid form into a concrete or solid leasurely and by degrees it would flow and settle together in an entire mass There being nothing broken nor any thing hard to bear the parts off from one another or to intercept any empty spaces between them 'T is manifest then that the Earth could not be in this Cavernous form originally by any work of Nature nor by any immediate action of God seeing there is neither use nor beauty in this kind of construction Do we not then as reasonably as aptly ascribe it to that desolation that was brought upon the Earth in the general Deluge When its outward frame was dissolv'd and fell into the great Abyss How easily doth this answer all that we have observ'd concerning the Subterraneous Regions That hollow and broken posture of things under ground all those Caves and holes and blind recesses that are otherwise so inaccountable say but that they are a Ruine and you have in one word explain'd them all For there is no sort of Cavities interior or exterior great or little open or shut wet or dry of what form or fashion soever but we might reasonably expect them in a ruine of that nature And as for the Subterraneous waters seeing the Earth fell into the Abyss the pillars and foundations of the present exteriour Earth must stand immers'd in water and therefore at such a depth from the surface every where there must be water found if the soil be of a nature to admit it 'T is true all Subterraneous waters do not proceed from this original for many of them are the effects of Rains and melted Snows sunk into the Earth but that in digging any where you constantly come to water at length even in the most solid ground this cannot proceed from these Rains or Snows but must come from below and from a cause as general as the effect is which can be no other in my judgment than this that the roots of the exteriour Earth stand within the old Abyss whereof as a great part lies open in the Sea so the rest lies hid and cover'd among the fragments of the Earth sometimes dispers'd and only moistning the parts as our bloud lies in the flesh and in the habit of the body sometimes in greater or lesser masses as the bloud in our Vessels And this I take to be the true account of Subterraneous waters as distinguish'd from Fountains and Rivers and from the matter and causes of them Thus much we have spoke to give a general Idea of the inward parts of the Earth and an easie Explication of them by our Hypothesis which whether it be true or no if you compare it impartially with Nature you will confess at least that all these things are just in such a form and posture as if it was true CHAP. X. Concerning the Chanel of the
constant Laws of Nature do certainly bring all liquors into that form And a Chaos is not call'd so from any confusion or brokenness in the form of it but from a confusion and mixture of all sorts of ingredients in the composition of it So we have already produc'd in the precedent Chapters a double argument that the Earth was not originally in this form both because it rise from a Châ—os which could not of it self or by any immediate concretion settle into a form of this nature as hath been shown in the Fourth and Fifth Chapters as also because if it had been originally made thus it could never have undergone a Deluge as hath been provâ—d in the Second and Third Chapters If this be then a secondary and succedaneous form the great question is from what causes it arises Some have thought that Mountains and all other irregularities in the Earth have rise from Earthquakes and such like causes others have thought that they came from the universal Deluge yet not from any dissolution of the Earth that was then but only from the great agitation of the waters which broke the ground into this rude and unequal form Both these causes seem to me very incompetent and insufficient Earthquakes seldom make Mountains they often take them away and sink them down into the Caverns that lie under them Besides Earthquakes are not in all Countries and Climates as Mountains are for as we have observ'd more than once there is neither Island that is original nor Continent any where in the Earth in what Latitude soever but hath Mountains and Rocks in it And lastly what probability is there or how is it credible that those vast tracts of Land which we see fill'd with Mountains both in Europe Asia and Africa were rais'd by Earthquakes or any eruptions from below In what Age of the World was this done and why not continu'd As for the Deluge which they alledge as another cause I doubt not but Mountains were made in the time of the general Deluge that great change and transformation of the Earth happen'd then but not from such causes as are pretended that is the bare rolling and agitation of the waters For if the Earth was smooth and plain before the Flood as they seem to suppose as well as we do the waters could have little or no power over a smooth surface to tear it any way in pieces no more than they do a meadow or low ground when they lie upon it for that which makes Torrents and Land-floods violent is their fall from the Mountains and high Lands which our Earth is now full of but if the Rain fell upon even and level ground it would only sadden and compress it there is no possibility how it should raise Mountains in it And if we could imagine an universal Deluge as the Earth is now constituted it would rather throw down the Hills and Mountains than raise new ones or by beating down their tops and loose parts help to fill the Valleys and bring the Earth nearer to evenness and plainness Seeing then there are no hopes of explaining the Origin of Mountains either from particular Earthquakes or from the general Deluge according to the common notion and Explication of it these not being causes answerable to such vast effects Let us try our Hypothesis again which hath made us a Chanel large enough for the Sea and room for all subterraneous Cavities and I think will find us materials enough to raise all the Mountains of the Earth We suppose the great Arch or circumference of the first Earth to have fallen into the Abyss at the Deluge and seeing that was large than the surface it fell upon 't is absolutely certain that it could not all fall flat or lie under the water Now as all those parts that stood above the water made dry Land or the present habitable Earth so such parts of the dry Land as stood higher than the rest made Hills and Mountains and this is the first and general account of them and of all the inequalities of the Earth But to consider these things a little more particularly There is a double cause and necessity of Mountains first this now mention'd because the exteriour Orb of the Earth was greater than the interiour which it fell upon and therefore it could not all fall flat and secondly because this exteriour Orb did not fall so flat and large as it might or did not cover all the bottom of the Abyss as it was very capable to do but as we shewed before in explaining the Chanel of the Ocean it left a gaping in the middle or an Abyss-chanel as I should call it and the broader this Abyss-chanel was the more Mountains there would be upon the dry Land for there would be more Earth or more of the falling Orb left and less room to place it in and therefore it must stand more in heaps In what parts of the Earth these heaps would lie and in what particular manner it cannot be expected that we should tell but all that we have hitherto observ'd concerning Mountains how strange soever and otherwise unaccountable may easily be explain'd and deduc'd from this original we shall not wonder at their greatness and vastness seeing they are the ruines of a broken World and they would take up more or less of the dry Land according as the Ocean took up more or less space of our Globe Then as to their figure and form whether External or Internal 't is just such as answers our expectation and no more than what the Hypothesis leads us to For you would easily believe that these heaps would be irregular in all manner of ways whether consider'd apart or in their situation to one another And they would lie commonly in Clusters and in Ridges for those are two of the most general postures of the parts of a ruine when they fall inwards Lastly We cannot wonder that Mountains should be generally hollow For great bodies falling together in confusion or bearing and leaning against one another must needs make a great many hollownesses in them and by their unequal Applications empty spaces will be intercepted We see also from the same reason why mountainous Countries are subject to Earthquakes and why Mountains often sink and fall down into the Caverns that lie under them their joynts and props being decayed and worn they become unable to bear their weight And all these properties you see hang upon one and the same string and are just consequences from our supposition concerning the dissolution of the first Earth And there is no surer mark of a good Hypothesis than when it doth not only hit luckily in one or two particulars but answers all that it is to be apply'd to and is adequate to Nature in her whole extent But to speak the Truth this Theory is something more than a bare Hypothesis because we are assur'd that the general ground that we go upon is true namely
Theological and we will try them both for our satisfaction Of Philosophers none was more concern'd to give an account of such things than Epicurus both because he acknowledged the Origin of the Earth to have been from a Chaos and also admitted no causes to act in Nature but Matter and Motion Yet all the account we have from the Epicureans of the form of the Earth and the great inequalities that are in it is so slight and trivial that methinks it doth not deserve the name of a Philosophical Explication They say that the Earth and Water were mix'd at first or rather the Earth was above the Water and as the Earth was condens'd by the heat of the Sun and the Winds the Water was squeez'd out in certain places which either it found hollow or made so and so was the Chanel of the Sea made Then as for Mountains while some parts of the Earth shrunk and sunk in this manner others would not sink and these standing still while the others fell lower made the Mountains How the subterraneous Cavities were made according to them I do not find This is all the Account that Monsieur Gassendi who seems to have made it his business as well as his pleasure to embellish that Philosophy can help us to out of the Epicurean Authors how the Earth came into this form and he that can content himself with this is in my mind of an humour very easie to be pleas'd Do the Sun and the Wind use to squeaze pools of Water out of the Earth and that in such a quantity as to make an Ocean They dry the Earth and the Waters too and rarifie them into vapours but I never knew them to be the causes of pressing Water out of the Earth by condensation Could they compress the Earth any otherwise than by drying it and making it hard and in proportion as it was more dry would it not the more imbibe and suck up the Water and how were the great Mountains of the Earth made in the North and in the South where the influence of the Sun is not great What sunk the Earth there and made the flesh start from the bones But 't is no wonder that Epicurus should give such a mean account of the Origin of the Earth and the form of its parts who did not so much as understand the general Figure of the Body of it that it was in some manner Spherical or that the Heavens encompast it round One must have a blind love for that Philosophy and for the conclusions it drives at not to see its lameness and defects in those first and fundamental parts Aristotle though he was not concern'd to give an account how the Earth came into this present form as he suppos'd it Eternal yet upon another consideration he seems oblig'd to give some reason how the Elements came into this disorder seeing he supposeth that according to the order of Nature the Water should lie above the Earth in a Sphere as the Air doth above the Water and his Fire above the Air. This he toucheth upon in his Meteors but so gently and fearfully as if he was handling hot coals He saith the Sea is to be consider'd as the Element or body of Waters that belongs to this Earth and that these Waters change places and the Sea is some Ages in one part of the Globe and some Ages in another but that this is at such great distances of time that there can be no memory or record of it And he seems willing to suppose that the Water was once all over the Earth but that it drid up in certain places and continuing in others it there made the Sea What a miserable account is this As to his change or removal of the Sea-chanel in several Ages as it is without all proof or probability if he mean it of the Chanel of the great Ocean so 't is nothing to the purpose here for the question is not why the Chanel of the Sea is in such a part of the Earth rather than in another but why there is any such prodigious Cavity in or upon the Earth any where And if we take his supposition that the Element of Water was once higher than the Earth and lay in a Sphere about it then let him tell us in plain terms how the Earth got above or how the Cavity of the Ocean was made and how the the Mountains rise for this Elementary Earth which lay under the Water was I suppose equal and smooth when it lay there and what reason was there that the Waters should be dri'd in one part of it more than another if they were every where of an equal depth and the ground equal under them It was not the Climates made any distinction for there is Sea towards the Poles as well as under the Aequator but suppose they were dri'd up in certain places that would make no Mountains no more than there are Mountains in our dri'd Marches And the places where they were not dri'd would not therefore become as deep and hollow as the Sea chanel and tear the Earth and Rocks in pieces If you should say that this very Elementary Earth as it lay under the Waters was unequal and was so originally form'd into Mountains and Valleys and great Cavities besides that the supposition is altogether irrational in it self you must suppose a prodigious mass of Water to cover such an Earth as much as we found requisite for the vulgar Deluge namely eight Oceans and what then is become of the other seven Upon the whole I do not see that either in Epicurus's way who seems to suppose that the Waters were at first within the Earth nor in Aristotle's way who seems to suppose them upon the Earth any rational or tolerable account can be given of the present form of the Earth Wherefore some modern Authors dissatisfied as very well they might be with these Explications given us by the Ancients concerning the form of the Earth have pitch'd upon other causes more true indeed in their kind and in their degree but that â—all as much short of those effects to which they would apply them They say that all the irregularities of the body of the Earth have risen from Earthquakes in particular places and from Torrents and Inundations and from eruptions of Fire or such like causes whereof we see some instances more or less every Age And these have made that havock upon the face of the Earth and turn'd things up-side down raising the Earth in some places and making great Cavities or Chasms in others so as to have brought it at length into that torn broken and disorderly form in which we now see it These Authors do so far agree with us as to acknowledge that the present irregular form of the Earth must have proceeded from ruines and dissolutions of one sort or other but these ruines they make to have been partial only in this or in that Country by piece-meal and
it lay under the Water was a solid uniform mass compact and close united in its parts as we have shewn before upon several occasions no Mines or hollow Vaults for the Vapours to be lodg'd in no Store-houses of Fire nothing that could make Earthquakes nor any sort of ruines or eruptions These are Engines that cannot play but in an Earth already broken hollow and cavernous Therefore the Authors of this opinion do in effect beg the question they assign such causes of the present form of the Earth as could not take place nor have any activity until the Earth was in this form These causes may contribute something to increase the rudeness and inequalities of the Earth in certain places but they could not be the original causes of it And that not only because of their disproportion to such effects but also because of their incapacity or non-existence at that time when these effects were to be wrought Thus much concerning the Philosophical opinions or the natural Causes that have been assign'd for the irregular form of this present Earth Let us now consider the Theological opinions how Mountains were made at first and the wonderful Chanel of the Sea And these Authors say God Almighty made them immediately when he made the World and so dispatcht the business in a few words This is a short account indeed but we must take heed that we do not derogate from the perfection of God by ascribing all things promiscuously to his immediate action I have often suggested that the first order of things is regular and simple according as the Divine Nature is and continues so till there is some degeneracy in the moral World I have also noted upon several occasions especially in the Lat. Treat Cap. II. the deformity and incommodiousness of the present Earth and from these two considerations we may reasonably infer that the present state of the Earth was not Original but is a state of subjection to Vanity wherein it must continue till the redemption and restitution of all things But besides this general consideration there are many others both Natural and Theological against this opinion which the Authors of it I believe will find unanswerable As first S. Peter's distinction betwixt the present Earth and the Ante-diluvian and that in opposition to certain profane persons who seem to have been of the same opinion with these Authors namely That the Heavens and the Earth were the same now that they had been from the beginning and that there had been no change in Nature either of late or in former Ages These S. Peter confutes and upbraids them with ignorance or forgetfulness of the change that was brought upon Nature at the Deluge or that the Ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth were of a different form and constitution from the present whereby that World was obnoxious to a Deluge of Water as the present is to a Deluge of Fire Let these Authors put themselves in the place of those Objectors and see what answer they can make to the Apostle whom I leave to dispute the case with them I hope they will not treat this Epistle of S. Peter's so rudely as Didymus Alexandrinus did an ancient Christian and one of S. Ierom's Masters he was of the same opinion with these Theological Authors and so fierce in it that seeing S. Peter's doctrine here to be contrary he said this Epistle of S. Peter's was corrupted and was not to be receiv'd into the Canon And all this because it taught that the Heavens and the Earth had chang'd their form and would do so again at the Conflagration so as the same World would be Tâ—iform in success of time We acknowledge his Exposition of S. Peter's words to be very true but what he makes an argument of the corruption of this Epistle is rather in my mind a peculiar argument of its Divine Inspiration In the second place these Writers dash upon the old rock the impossibility of explaining the Deluge if there were Mountains from the beginning and the Earth then in the same form as it is in now Thirdly They make the state of Paradise as unintelligible as that of the Deluge For those properties that are assign'd to Paradise by the Ancients are inconsistent with the present form of the Earth As will appear in the Second Book Lastly They must answer and give an account of all those marks which we have observ'd in Nature both in this Chapter and the Ninth Tenth and Eleventh of fractions ruines and dissolutions that have been on the Earth and which we have shown to be inexplicable unless we admit that the Earth was once in another form These arguments being premis'd let us now bring their opinion close to the Test and see in what manner these Mountains must have been made according to them and how the Chanel of the Sea and all other Cavities of the Earth Let us to this purpose consider the Earth again in that transient incompleat form which it had when the Abyss encompast the whole body of it we both agree that the Earth was once in this state and they say that it came immediately out of this state into its present form there being made by a supernatural Power a great Chanel or Ditch in one part of it which drew off the Waters from the rest and the Earth which was squeez'd and forc'd out of this Ditch made the Mountains So there is the Chanel of the Sea made and the Mountains of the Earth how the subterraneous Cavities were made according to these Authors I do not well know This I confess seems to me a very gross thought and a way of working very un-God-like but however let 's have patience to examine it And in the first place if the Mountains were taken out of the Chanel of the Sea then they are equal to it and would fill it up if they were thrown in again But these proportions upon examination will not agree for though the Mountains of the Earth be very great yet they do not equal by much the great Ocean The Ocean extends to half the surface of the Earth and if you suppose the greatest depth of the Ocean to answer the height of the greatest Mountains and the middle depth to the middle sort of Mountains the Mountains ought to cover all the dry Land to make them answer to all the capacity of the Ocean whereas we suppos'd them upon a reasonable computation to cover but the tenth part of the dry Land and consequently neither they nor the Sea-chanel could have been produc'd in this manner because of their great disproportion to one another And the same thing appears if we compare the Mountains with the Abyss which cover'd the Earth before this Chanel was made for this Chanel being made great enough to contain all the Abyss the Mountains taken out of it must also be equal to all the Abyss but the aggregate of the Mountains will not answer this by many degrees
some other Country of Asia the Earth being now as it was then This offends as much in the defect as the other in the excess For it is not any single Region of the Earth that can be Paradisiacal unless all Nature conspire and a certain Order of things proper and peculiar for that state Nor is it of less importance to find out this peculiar Order of things than to find out the particular seat of Paradise but rather pre-requisite to it We will endeavour therefore to discover and determine both so far as a Theory can go beginning with that which is more general 'T is certain there were some qualities and conditions of Paradise that were not meerly Topical but common to all the rest of the Earth at that time and these we must consider in the first place examine what they were and upon what they depended History both Sacred and Profane must tell us what they were and our Theory must shew us upon what causes they depended I had once I confess propos'd to my self another method independent upon History or Effects I thought to have continued the description of the Primitive or Ante-diluvian Earth from the contemplation of its causes only and then left it to the judgment of others to determine whether that was not the Earth where the Golden Age was past and where Paradise stood For I had observ'd three conditions or characters of it which I thought were sufficient to answer all that we knew concerning that first state of things viz. The regularity of its surface The situation or posture of its Body to the Sun and the Figure of it From these three general causes I thought might be deducâ—d all the chief differences of that Earth from the present and particularly those that made it more capable of being Paradisiacal But upon second thoughts I judg'd it more useful and expedient to lay aside the Causes at present and begin with the Effects that we might have some sensible matter to work upon Bare Idea's of things are lookt upon as Romantick till Effects be propos'd whereof they are to give an account 'T is that makes us value the Causes when necessity puts us upon enquiry after them and the reasons of things are very acceptable when they ease the mind anxious and at a loss how to understand Nature without their help We will therefore without more ado premise those things that have been taken notice of as extraordinary and peculiar to the first Ages of the World and to Paradise and which neither do nor can obtain in the present Earth whereof the first is a perpetual Spring or Equinox The second the Long aevity of Animals and the third Their production out of the Earth and the great fertility of the soil in all other things These difficulties guard the way to Paradise like the flaming Sword and must be remov'd before we can enter these are general Preliminaries which we must explain before we proceed to enquire after the particular place of this Garden of Pleasure The Ancients have taken notice of all these in the first Ages of the World or in their Golden Age as they call it and I do not doubt but what they ascrib'd to the Golden Age was more remarkably true of Paradise yet was not so peculiar to it but that it did in a good measure extend to other parts of the Earth at that time And 't is manifest that their Golden Age was contemporary with our Paradise for they make it begin immediately after the production and inhabitation of the Earth which They as well as Moses raise from the Chaos and to degenerate by degrees till the Deluge when the World ended and begun again That this parallel may the better appear we may observe that as we say that the whole Earth was in some sence Paradisiacal in the first Ages of the World and that there was besides one Region or Portion of it that was peculiarly so and bore the denomination of Paradise So the Ancients besides their Golden Age which was common to all the Earth noted some parts of it that were more Golden if I may so say than the rest and which did more particularly answer to Paradise as their Elysian Fields Fortunate Islands Gardens of Hesperides Alcinous c. these had a double portion of pleasantness and besides the advantages which they had common with the rest of the Earth at that time had something proper and singular which gave them a distinct consideration and character from the rest Having made this observation let us proceed and see what Antiquity saith concerning that first and Paradisiacal state of things upon those three Heads forementioned First That there was a perpetual Spring and constant serenity of the Air This is often repeated by the Ancient Poets in their description of the Golden Age Non alios primâ crescentis origine mundi Illuxisse dies aliumve habuisse tenorem Crediderim Ver illud erat Ver magnus agebat Orbis hybernis parcebant flatibus Euri. Such days the new-born Earth enjoy'd of old And the calm Heavens in this same tenour rowl'd All the great World had then one constant Spring No cold East-winds such as our Winters bring For I interpret this in the same sence with Ovid's Verses of the Golden Age Ver erat Aeternum placidÃque tepentibus auris Mulcebant Zephyri natos sine semine flores The Spring was constant and soft Winds that blew Rais'd without Seed Flow'rs always sweet and new And then upon the expiration of the Golden Age He says Iupiter antiqui contraxit tempora Veris c. When Jove begun to reign he chang'd the Year And for one Spring four Seasons made appear The Ancients suppos'd that in the reign of Saturn who was an Ante-diluvian God as I may so call him Time flow'd with a more even motion and there was no diversity of Seasons in the Year but Iupiter they say first introduc'd that when he came to manage affairs This is exprest after their way who seldom give any severe and Philosophical accounts of the changes of Nature And as they suppos'd this perpetual Spring in the Golden Age so they did also in their particular Elysiums as I could shew largely from their Authors if it would not multiply Citations too much 'T is true their Elysiums respected the New Heavens and New Earth to come rather than the past but they are both fram'd upon the same model and have common properties The Christian Authors have no less celebrated the perpetual Spring and Serenity of the Heavens in Paradise such expressions or descriptions you will find in Iustin Martyr S. Basil Damascen Isidore Hispalensis and others insomuch that Bellarmine I remember reflecting upon those Characters of Paradise which many of the Fathers have given in these respects saith Such things could not be unless the Sun had then another course from what he hath now or which is more easie the Earth another situation
Which conjecture will hereafter appear to have been well-grounded In the mean time let us see the Christian Poetry upon this subject as we have seen the Roman upon the other Alcimus Avitus hath thus describ'd Paradise in his Notes upon Genesis Non hîc alterni succedit temporis unquam Bruma nec aestivi redeunt post frigora Soles Hîc Ver assiduum Coeli clementia servat Turbidus Auster abest sempérque sub aere sudo Nubila diffugiunt jugi cessura sereno Nec poscit Natura loci quos non habet imbres Sed contenta suo dotantur germina rore Perpetuò viret omne solum terraeque benignae Blanda nitet facies Stant semper collibus herbae Arboribúsque comae c. No change of Seasons or excess was there No Winter chill'd nor Summer scorch'd the Air But with a constant Spring Nature was fresh and fair Rough Winds or Rains that Region never knew Water'd with Rivers and the morning Dew The Heav'ns still clear the Fields still green and gay No Clouds above nor on the Earth decay Trees kept their leaves and verdure all the Year And Fruits were never out of Season there And as the Christian Authors so likewise the Iewish have spoken of Paradise in the same manner they tell us also that the days there were always of the same length throughout the whole Year and that made them fancy Paradise to lie under the Aequinoctial as we shall see in its due place 'T is true we do not find these things mention'd expresly in the Sacred Writings but the Effects that flow'd from them are recorded there and we may reasonably suppose providence to have foreseen that when those Effects came to be scan'd and narrowly lookt into they would lead us to a diâ—covery of the Causes and particularly of this great and general Cause that perpetual Aequinox and unity of seasons in the Year till the Deluge The Longaevity of the Ante-diluvians cannot be explain'd upon any other supposition as we shall have occasion to show hereafter and that you know is recorded carefully in Scripture As also that there was no Rainbow before the Flood which goes upon the same ground that there was no variety of Seasons nor any Rain And this by many is thought to be understood by Moses his words Gen. 2. 5 6. which he speaks of the first and Paradisiacal Earth Lastly Seeing the Earth then brought forth the principles of life and all living Creatures Man excepted according to Moses Gen. 1. 24. we must suppose that the state of the Heavens was such as favour'd these Conceptions and Births which could not possibly be brought to perfection as the Seasons of the Year are at present The first time that we have mention made in Scripture of Summer and Winter and the differences of Seasons is at the ending of the Deluge Gen. 8. 22. Hence forward all the days of the Earth Seed-time and Harvest Heat and Cold Summer and Winter Day and Night shall not cease 'T is true these words are so lax that they may be understood either of a new course of Nature then instituted or of an old one restor'd but seeing it doth appear from other arguments and considerations that there was at that time a new course of Nature constituted it is more reasonable to interpret the words in that sence which as it is agreeable to truth according to Reason and Antiquity so it renders that remark of Moses of far greater importance if it be understood as an indication of a new order then setled in Nature which should continue thenceforwards so long as the Earth endur'd Nor do I at all wonder that such things should not be expresly and positively declar'd in Scripture for Natural Mysteries in the Holy Writings as well as Prophetical are many times on set purpose incompleatly deliver'd so as to awaken and excite our thoughts rather than fully resolve them This being often more suitable to the designs of Providence in the government of the World But thus much for this first common or general Character of the Golden Age and of Paradise a perpetual Serenity and perpetual Aequinox The second Character is the Longaevity of Men and as is probable of all other Animals in proportion This methinks is as strange and surprising as the other and I know no difference betwixt the Ante-diluvian World and the present so apt to affect us if we reflect upon it as this wonderful disproportion in the Ages of Men Our fore-fathers and their Posterity They liv'd seven eight nine hundred Years and upwards and 't is a wonder now if a Man live to one hundred Our Oakes do not last so long as their Bodies did Stone and Iron would scarce out-wear them And this property of the first Ages or their Inhabitants how strange soever is well attested and beyond all exception having the joynt consent of Sacred and Profane History The Scripture sets down the precise Age of a sâ—ries of Ante diluvian Patriarchs and by that measures the time from the beginning of the World to the Deluge so as all Sacred Chronology stand upon that bottom Yet I know some have thought this so improbable and incongruous a thing that to save the credit of Moses and the Sacred History they interpret these years of Lunar years or months and so the Ages of these Patriarchs are reduc'd to much what the same measure with the common life of man at this time It may be observ'd in this as in many other instances that for want of a Theory to make things credible and intelligibile men of wit and parts have often deprest the sence of Scripture and that not out of any ill will to Scripture or Religion but because they could not otherwise upon the stock of their notions give themselves a rational account of things recorded there But I hope when we come to explain the Causes of this Longaevity we shall shew that it is altogethâ—r us strange a thing that Men should have such short lives as they have now as that they had such long lives in the first Ages of the World In the mean time there are a great many collateral reasons to assure us that Lunar years cannot be here understood by Moses for all Antiquity gives the same account of those first Ages of the World and of the first Men that they were extremely long-liv'd We meet with it generally in the description of the Golden Age and not only so but in their Topical Paradises also they always suppos'd a great vivacity or longaevity in those that enjoy'd them And Iosephus speaking upon this subject saith the Authors of all the learned Nations Greeks or Barbarians bear witness to Moses's doctrine in this particular And in the Mosaical History it self there are several circumstances and marks that discover plainly that the years of the Patriarchs cannot be understood of Lunar years as we shall have occasion to show in another place We proceed in the mean time
same World that our first fore-fathers did nor scarce to be the same race of Men. Our life now is so short and vain as if we came into the World only to see it and leave it by that time we begin to understand our selves a little and to know where we are and how to act our part we must leave the stage and give place to others as meer Novices as we were our selves at our first entrance And this short life is imploy'd in a great measure to preserve our selves from necessity or diseases or injuries of the Air or other inconveniencies to make one Man easie ten must work and do drudgery The Body takes up so much time we have little leisure for Contemplation or to cultivate the mind The Earth doth not yield us food but with much labour and industry and what was her free-will offering before or an easie liberality can scarce now be extorted from her Neither are the Heavens more favourable sometimes in one extreme sometimes in another The Air often impure or infectious and for a great part of the year Nature her self seems to be sick or dead To this vanity the external Creation is made subject as well as Mankind and so must continue till the restitution of all things Can we imagine in those happy Times and Places we are treating of that things stood in this same posture are these the fruits of the Golden Age and of Paradise or consistent with their happiness And the remedies of these evils must be so universal you cannot give them to one place or Region of the Earth but all must participate For these are things that flow from the course of the Heavens or such general Causes as extend at once to all Nature If there was a perpetual Spring and perpetual Aequinox in Paradise there was at the same time a perpetual Aequinox all the Earth over unless you place Paradise in the middle of the Torrid Zone So also the long-lives of the Ante-diluvians was an universal Effect and must have had an universal Cause 'T is true in some single parts or Regions of the present Earth the Inhabitants live generally longer than in others but do not approach in any measure the Age of their Ante-diluvian fore-fathers and that degree of longaevity which they have above the rest they owe to the calmness and tranquility of their Heavens and Air which is but an imperfect participation of that cause which was once Universal and had its effect throughout the whole Earth And as to the fertility of this Earth though in some spots it be eminently more fruitful than in others and more delicious yet that of the first Earth was a fertility of another kind being spontaneous and extending to the production of Animals which cannot be without a favourable concourse from the Heavens also Thus much in general We will now go over those three forementioned Characters more distinctly to show by their unsuitableness to the present state of Nature that neither the whole Earth as it is now nor any part of it could be Paradisiacal The perpetual Spring which belong'd to the Golden Age and to Paradise is an happiness this present Earth cannot pretend to nor is capable of unless we could transfer the Sun from the Ecliptick to the Aequator or which is as easie perswade the Earth to change its posture to the Sun If Archimedes had found a place to plant his Machines in for removing of the Earth all that I should have desir'd of him would have been only to have given it an heave at one end and set it a little to rights again with the Sun that we might have enjoy'd the comfort of a perpetual Spring which we have lost by its dislocation ever since the Deluge And there being nothing more indispensably necessary to a Paradisiacal state than this unity and equality of Seasons where that cannot be 't is in vain to seek for the rest of Paradise The spontaneous fruitfulness of the ground was a thing peculiar to the primigenial soil which was so temper'd as made it more luxuriant at that time than it could ever be afterwards and as that rich temperament was spent so by degrees it grew less fertile The Origin or production of Animals out of the Earth depended not only upon this vital constitution of the soil at first but also upon such a posture and aspect of the Heavens as favour'd or at least permitted Nature to make her best works out of this prepar'd matter and better than could be made in that manner after the Flood Noah we see had orders given him to preserve the Races of living Creatures in his Ark when the Old World was destroy'd which is an argument to me that Providence foresaw that the Earth would not be capable to produce them under its new form and that not only for want of fitness in the soil but because of the diversity of Seasons which were then to take place whereby Nature would be disturb'd in her work and the subject to be wrought upon would not continue long enough in the same due temper But this part of the second Character concerning the Original of Animals deserves to be further examin'd and explain'd The first principles of Life must be tender and ductile that they may yield to all the motions and gentle touches of Nature otherwise it is not possible that they should be wrought with that curiosity and drawn into all those little fine threds and textures that we see and admire in some parts of the Bodies of Animals And as the matter must be so constituted at first so it must be kept in a due temper till the work be finisht without any excess of heat or cold and accordingly we see that Nature hath made provision in all sorts of Creatures whether Oviparous or Viviparous that the first rudiments of Life should be preserv'd from all injuries of the Air and kept in a moderate warmth Eggs are enclos'd in a Shell or Film and must be cherish'd with an equal gentle heat to begin formation and continue it otherwise the work miscarries And in Viviparous Creatures the materials of life are safely lodg'd in the Females womb and conserv'd in a fit temperature 'twixt heat and cold while the Causes that Providence hath imploy'd are busie at work fashioning and placing and joyning the parts in that due order which so wonderful a Fabrick requires Let us now compare these things with the birth of Animals in the new-made World when they first rose out of the Earth to see what provision could be made there for their safety and nourishment while they were a making and when newly made And though we take all advantages we can and suppose both the Heavens and the Earth favourable a fit soil and a warm and constant temper of the Air all will be little enough to make this way of production feasible or probable But if we suppose there was then the same inconstancy of the Heavens
Oeconomy of it we have all the evidence and ground that can be in arguing from things visible to things invisible that there is an Author of Nature Superiour both to Humane Power and Humane Wisdom Before we proceed to give any further proofs or discoveries of the Author of Nature let us reflect a little upon those we have already insisted upon which have been taken wholly from the Material World and from the common course of Nature The very existence of Matter is a proof of a Deity for the Idea of it hath no connexion with existence as we shall show hereafter however we will take leave now to set it down with the rest in order as they follow one another 1. The existence of Matter 2. The Motion of Matter 3. The just quantity and degree of that Motion 4. The first form of the Universe upon Motion imprest both as to the Divisions of Matter and the Leading Motions 5. The Laws for communication and regulation of that Motion 6. The regular effects of it especially in the Animate World 7. The Oeconomy of Nature and fit Subordination of one part of the World to another The five first of these Heads are prerequisites and preparatives to the formation of a World and the two last are as the image and character of its Maker of his Power Goodness and Wisdom imprest upon it Every one of them might well deserve a Chapter to it self if the subject was to be treated on at large but this is only an occasional dissertation to state the Powers of Matter lest they should be thought boundless and the Author of Nature unnecessary as the Epicuraeans pretend but notwithstanding their vain confidence and credulity I defie them or any man else to make sence of the Material World without placing a God at the Center of it To these considerations taken wholly from the Corporeal World give me leave to add one of a mixt nature concerning the Union of our Soul and Body This strange effect if rightly understood doth as truly discover the Author of Nature as many Effects that are accounted more Supernatural The Incarnation as I may so say of a Spiritual Substance is to me a kind of standing miracle That there should be such an union and connexion reciprocally betwixt the motions of the Body and the actions and passions of the Soul betwixt a substance Intellectual and a parcel of organiz'd Matter can be no effect of either of those substances being wholly distinct in themselves and remote in their natures from one another For instance When my Finger is cut or when 't is burnt that my Soul thereupon should feel such a smart and violent pain is no consequence of Nature or does not follow from any connexion there is betwixt the Motion or Division of that piece of Matter I call my Finger and the passion of that Spirit I call my Soul for these are two distinct Essences and in themselves independent upon one another as much as the Sun and my Body are independent and there is no more reason in strict Nature or in the essential chain of Causes and Effects that my Soul should suffer or be affected with this Motion in the Finger than that the Sun should be affected with it nay there is less reason if less can be for the Sun being Corporeal as the finger is there is some remote possibility that there might be communication of Motion betwixt them but Motion cannot beget a thought or a passion by its own force Motion can beget nothing but Motion and if it should produce a thought the Effect would be more noble than the Cause Wherefore this Union is not by any necessity of Nature but only from a positive Institution or Decree establisht by the Author of Nature that there should be such a communication betwixt these two substances for a time viz. during the Vitality of the Body 'T is true indeed if Thought Apprehension and Reason was nothing but Corporeal Motion this Argument would be of no force but to suppose this is to admit an absurdity to cure a difficulty to make a Thought out of a local Motion is like making a God out of a Stock or a Stone for these two are as remote in their Nature and have as different Idea's in the Mind as any two disparate things we can propose or conceive Number and Colour a Triangle and Vertue Free-will and a Pyramid are not more unlike more distant or of more different forms than Thought and local Motion Motion is nothing but a Bodies changing its place and situation amongst other Bodies and what affinity or resemblance hath that to a Thought How is that like to Pain or to a doubt of the Mind to Hope or to Desire to the Idea of God to any act of the Will or Understanding as judging consenting reasoning remembring or any other These are things of several orders that have no similitude nor any mixture of one another And as this is the nature of Motion so on the other hand in a Thought there are two things Consciousness and a â—epresentation Consciousness is in all Thoughts indifferently whether distinct or confus'd for no Man thinks but he is conscious that he thinks nor perceives any thing but he is conscious that he perceives it there is also in a Thought especially if it be distinct a representation 't is the image of that we think upon and makes its Object present to the Mind Now what hath local Motion to do with either of these two Consciousness or Representativeness How doth it include either of them or hold them any way affixt to its Nature I think one may with as good sence and reason ask of what colour a Thought is green or scarlet as what sort of Motion it is for Motion of what sort soever can never be conscious not represent things as our Thoughts do I have noted thus much in general only to show the different nature of Motion and Cogitation that we may be the more sensible that they have no mutual connexion in us nor in any other Creature from their essence or essential properties but by a supervenient power from the Author of Nature who hath thus united the Soul and the Body in their operations We have hitherto only consider'd the ordinary course of Nature and what indications and proofs of its Author that affords us There is another remarkable Head of Arguments from effects extraordinary and supernatural such as Miracles Prophecies Inspirations Prodigies Apparitions Witchcraft Sorceries c. These at one step lead us to something above Nature and this is the shortest way and the most popular several Arguments are suited to several tempers and God hath not left himself without a proper witness to every temper that is not wilfully blind Of these witnesses we now speak of the most considerable are Miracles and the most considerable Records of them are the Books of Scripture which if we consider only as an History and
He truly supposes the Celestial Bodies and the Inhabitants of them much more considerable than we are and reckons up only Terrestrial things as put in subjection to Man Can we then be so fond as to imagine all the Corporeal Universe made for our use 'T is not the Millioneth part of it that is known to us much less useful We can neither reach with our Eye nor our imagination those Armies of Stars that lie far and deep in the boundless Heavens If we take a good Glass we discover innumerably more Stars in the Firmament than we can with our single Eye and yet if you take a second Glass better than the first that carries the sight to a greater distance you see more still lying beyond the other and a third Glass that pierceth further still makes new discoveries of Stars and so forwards indefinitely and inexhaustedly for any thing we know according to the immensity of the Divine Nature and Power Who can reckon up the Stars of the Galaxy or direct us in the use of them And can we believe that those and all the rest were made for us Of those few Stars that we enjoy or that are visible to the Eye there is not a tenth part that is really useful to Man and no doubt if the principal end of them had been our pleasure or conveniency they would have been put in some better order in respect of the Earth They lie carelesly scatter'd as if they had been sown in the Heaven like Seed by handfuls and not by a skilful hand neither What a beautiful Hemisphere they would have made if they had been plac'd in rank and order if they had been all dispos'd into regular figures and the little ones set with due regard to the greater then all finisht and made up into one fair piece or great Composition according to the rules of Art and Symmetry What a surprizing beauty this would have been to the Inhabitants of the Earth What a lovely Roof to our little World This indeed might have given one some Temptation to have thought that they had been all made for us but lest any such vain imagination should now enter into our thoughts Providence besides more important Reasons seems on purpose to have left them under that negligence or disorder which they appear in to us The second part of this opinion supposeth this Planet where we live to be the only habitable part of the Universe and this is a natural consequence of the former If all things were made to serve us why should any more be made than what is useful to us But 't is only our ignorance of the System of the World and of the grandeur of the Works of God that betrays us to such narrow thoughts If we do but consider what this Earth is both for littleness and deformity and what its Inhabitants are we shall not be apt to think that this miserable Atome hath ingross'd and exhausted all the Divine Favours and all the riches of his goodness and of his Providence But we will not inlarge upon this part of the opinion lest it should carry us too far from the subject and it will fall of its own accord with the former Upon the whole we may conclude that it was only the Sublunary World that was made for the sake of Man and not the Great Creation either Material or Intellectual and we cannot admit or affirm any more without manifest injury depression and misrepresentation of Providence as we may be easily convinc'd from these four Heads The Meanness of Man and of this Earth The Excellency of other Beings The Immensity of the Universe and The infinite perfection of the first Cause Which I leave to your further Meditation and pass on to the second rule concerning Natural Providence In the second place then if we would have a fair view and right apprehensions of Natural Providence we must not cut the chains of it too short by having recourse without necessity either to the First Cause in explaining the Origins of things or to Miracles in explaining particular effects This I say breaks the chains of Natural Providence when it is done without necessity that is when things are otherwise ntelligible from Second Causes Neither is any thing gain'd by it to God Almighty for 't is but as the Proverb says to rob Peter to pay Paul to take so much from his ordinary Providence and place it to his extraordinary When a new Religion is brought into the World 't is very reasonable and decorous that it should be usher'd in with Miracles as both the Iewish and Christian were but afterwards things return into their Chanel and do not change or overflow again but upon extraordinary occasions or revolutions The power Extraordinary of God is to be accounted very Sacred not to be touch'd or expos'd for our pleasure or conveniency but I am afraid we often make use of it only to conceal our own ignorance or to save us the trouble of inquiring into Natural Causes Men are generally unwilling to appear ignorant especially those that make profession of knowledge and when they have not skill enough to explain some particular effect in a way of Reason they throw it upon the First Cause as able to bear all and so placing it to that account they excuse themselves and save their credit for all Men are equally wise if you take away Second Causes as we are all of the same colour if you take away the Light But to state this matter and see the ground of this rule more distinctly we must observe and consider that The Course of Nature is truly the Will of God and as I may so say his first Will from which we are not to recede but upon clear evidence and necessity And as in matter of Religion we are to follow the known reveal'd Will of God and not to trust to every impulse or motion of Enthusiasm as coming from the Divine Spirit unless there be evident marks that it is Supernatural and cannot come from our own So neither are we without necessity to quit the known and ordinary Will and Power of God establisht in the course of Nature and fly to Supernatural Causes or his extraordinary Will for this is a kind of Enthusiasm or Fanaticism as well as the other And no doubt that great prodigality and waste of Miracles which some make is no way to the honour of God or Religion 'T is true the other extream is worse than this for to deny all Miracles is in effect to deny all reveal'd Religion therefore due measures are to be taken betwixt these two so as neither to make the Divine Power too mean and cheap nor the Power of Nature illimited and all-sufficient In the Third place To make the Scenes of Natural Providence considerable and the knowledge of them satisfactory to the Mind we must take a true Philosophy or the true principles that govern Nature which are Geometrical and
shall be distinguish'd in Glory from the rest of Mankind We are sensible MADAM from Your Great Example that Piety and Vertue seated upon a Throne draw many to imitation whom ill Principles or the course of the World might have led another way These are the best as well as easiest Victories that are gain'd without Contest And as Princes are the Vicegerents of God upon Earth so when their Majesty is in Conjunction with Goodness it hath a double Character of Divinity upon it and we owe them a double Tribute of Fear and Love Which with constant Prayers for Your MAJESTIES present and future Happiness shall be always Dutifully paid by Your MAJESTY'S Most Humble and most Obedient Subject T. BVRNET PREFACE TO THE READER I HAVE not much to say to the Reader in this Preface to the Third Part of the Theory seeing it treats upon a Subject own'd by all and out of dispute The Conflagration of the World The question will be only about the bounds and limits of the Conflagration the Causes and the Manner of it These I have fix'd according to the truest measures I could take from Scripture and from Nature I differ I believe from the common Sentiment in this that in following S. Peter's Philosophy I suppose that the burning of the Earth will be a true Liquefaction or dissolution of it as to the exteriour Region And that this lays a foundation for New Heavens and a New Earth which seems to me as plain a doctrine in Christian Religion as the Conflagration it self I have endeavour'd to propose an intelligible way whereby the Earth may be consum'd by Fire But if any one can propose another more probable and more consistent I will be the First Man that shall give him thanks for his discovery He that loves Truth for its own sake is willing to receive it from any hand as he that truly loves his Country is glad of a Victory over the Enemy whether himself or any other has the glory of it I need not repeat here what I have already said upon several occasions That 't is the substance of this Theory whether in this part or in other parts that I mainly regard and depend upon Being willing to suppose that many single explications and particularities may be rectified upon further thoughts and clearer light I know our best writings in this life are but Essays which we leave to Posterity to review and correct As to the Style I always endeavour to express my self in a plain and perspicuous manner that the Reader may not lose time nor wait too long to know my meaning To give an Attendant quick dispatch is a civility whether you do his business or no. I would not willingly give any one the trouble of reading a period twice over to know the sence of it lest when he comes to know it he should not think it a recompence for his pains Whereas on the contrary if you are easie to your Reader he will certainly make you an allowance for it in his censure You must not think it strange however that the Author sometimes in meditating upon this subject is warm in his thoughts and expressions For to see a World perishing in Flames Rocks melting the Earth trembling and an Host of Angels in the clouds one must be very much a Stoick to be a cold and unconcerned Spectator of all this And when we are mov'd our selves our words will have a tincture of those passions which we feel Besides in moral reflections which are design'd for use there must be some heat as well as dry reason to inspire this cold clod of clay this dull body of Earth which we carry about with us and you must soften and pierce that crust before you can come at the Soul But especially when things future are to be represented you cannot use too strong Colours if you would give them life and make them appear present to the mind Farewel CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS THE THIRD BOOK CHAP. I. THE Introduction with the Contents and Order of this Treatise CHAP. II. The true state of the Question is propos'd 'T is the general doctrine of the Ancients That the present World or the present Frame of Nature is mutable and perishable To which the Sacred Books agree And natural Reason can alledge nothing against it CHAP. III. That the World will be destroy'd by Fire is the doctrine of the Ancients especially if the Stoicks That the same doctrine is more ancient than the Greeks and deriv'd from the Barbarick Philosophy and That probably from Noah the Father of all Traditionary Learning The same doctrine expresly authoriz'd by Revelation and inroll'd into the Sacred Canon CHAP. IV. Concerning the Time of the Conflagration and the End of the World What the Astronomers say upon this Subject and upon what they ground their Calculations The true notion of the Great Year or of the Platonick Year stated and explain'd CHAP. V. Concerning Prophecies that determine the End of the World Of what order soever Prophane or Sacred Iewish or Christian. That no certain judgment can be made from any of them at what distance we are from the Conflagration CHAP. VI. Concerning the Causes of the Conflagration The difficulty of conceiving how this Earth can be set on fire With a general answer to that difficulty Two suppos'd Causes of the Conflagration by the Sun 's drawing nearer to the Earth or the Earth's throwing out the Central Fire examin'd and rejected CHAP. VII The true bounds of the last Fire and how far it is Fatal The natural Causes and Materials of it cast into three ranks First such as are Exteriour and visible upon Earth Where the Volcano's of this Earth and their Effects are consider'd Secondly such Materials as are within the Earth Thirdly such as are in the Air. CHAP. VIII Some new dispositions towards the Conflagration as to the Matter Form and Situation of the Earth Concerning miraculous Causes and how far the ministry of Angels may be engag'd in this work CHAP. IX How the Sea will be diminish'd and consum'd How the Rocks and Mountains will be thrown down and melted and the whole exteriour Frame of the Earth dissolv'd into a Deluge of Fire CHAP. X. Concerning the beginning and progress of the Conflagration what part of the Earth will first be burnt The manner of the future destruction of Rome according to the Prophetical indications The last state and consummation of the general Fire CHAP. XI An Account of these Extraordinary Phaenomena and Wonders in Nature that according to Scripture will precede the coming of Christ and the Conflagration of the World CHAP. XII An imperfect description of the coming of our Saviâ—ur and of the World on fire The Conclusion THE FOURTH BOOK CHAP. I. THE Introduction That the World will not be annihilated in the last fire That we are to expect according to Scripture and the Christian Doctrine New Heavens and a New Earth when these are dissolv'd or burnt up CHAP.
This may be encreas'd and strengthned and its effects convey'd throughout the whole Body of the Earth But if an augmentation is to be made of Terrestrial Fire or of such terrestrial principles as contain it most as Sulphur Oyl and such like I am apt to believe these will encrease of their own accord upon a general drought and desiccation of the Earth For I am far from the opinion of some Chymists that think these principles immutable and incapable of diminution or augmentation I willingly admit that all such particles may be broken and disfigur'd and thereby lose their proper and specifick virtue and new ones may be generated to supply the places of the former Which supplies or new productions being made in a less or greater measure according to the general dispositions of Nature when Nature is heightned into a kind of Feaver and Ebullition of all her juices and humours as she will be at that time we must expect that more parts than ordinary should be made inflammable and those that are inflam'd should become more violent Under these circumstances when all Causes lean that way a little help from a superior power will have a great effect and make a great change in the state of the World And as to the power of Angels I am of opinion that it is very great as to the Changes and Modifications of Natural Bodies that they can dissolve a Marble as easily as we can crumble Earth and Moulds or fix any liquor in a moment into a substance as hard as Crystal That they can either make flames more vehement and irresistible to all sorts of Bodies or as harmless as Lambent Fires and as soft as Oyl We see an instance of this last in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery Furnace where the three Children walk'd unconcern'd in the midst of the Flames under the charge and protection of an Angel And the same Angel if he had pleas'd could have made the same Furnace seven times hotter than the wrath of the Tyrant had made it We will therefore leave it to their ministery to manage this great Furnace when the Heavens and the Earth are on Fire To conserve encrease direct or temper the flames according to instructions given them as they are to be Tutelary or Destroying Neither let any body think it a diminution of Providence to put things into the hands of Angels 'T is the true rule and method of it For to employ an Almighty power where it is not necessary is to debase 〈◊〉 and give it a task fit for lower Beings Some think it devotion and piety to have recourse immediately to the arm of God to salve all things This may be done sometimes with a good intention but commonly with little judgment God is as jealous of the glory of his Wisdom as of his Power and Wisdom consists in the conduct and subordination of several causes to bring our purposes to effect but what is dispatched by an immediate Supreme Power leaves no room for the exercise of Wisdom To conclude this point which I have touch'd upon more than once We must not be partial to any of God's Attributes and Providence being a complexion of many Power Wisdom Justice and Goodness when we give due place and honour to all these then we most honour DIVINE PROVIDENCE CHAP. IX How the Sea will be diminish'd and consum'd How the Rocks and Mountains will be thrown down and melted and the whole exteriour frame of the Earth dissolv'd into a Deluge of Fire WE have now taken a view of the Causes of the Conflagration both ordinary and extraordinary It remains to consider the manner of it How these Causes will operate and bring to pass an effect so great and so prodigious We took notice before that the grand obstruction would be from the Sea and from the Mountains we must therefore take these to task in the first place and if we can remove them out of our way or overcome what resistance and opposition they are capable to make the rest of the work will not be uneasie to us The Ocean indeed is a vast Body of Waters and we must use all our art and skill to dry it up or consume it in a good measure before we can compass our design I remember the advice a Philosopher gave Amasis King of Egypt when he had a command sent him from the King of Aethiopia That he should drink up the Sea Amasis being very anxious and sollicitous what answer he should make to this strange command the Philosopher Bias advis'd him to make this round answer to the King That he was ready to perform his command and to drink up the Sea provided he would stop the rivers from flowing into his cup while he was drinking This answer baffled the King for he could not stop the rivers but this we must do or we shall never be able to drink up the Sea or burn up the Earth Neither will this be so impossible as it seems at first sight if we reflect upon those preparations we have made towards it by a general drought all over the Earth This we suppose will precede â—he Conflagration and by drying up the Fountains and Rivers which daily feed the Sea will by degrees starve that Monster or reduce it to such a degree of weakness that it shall not be able to make any great resistance More than half an Ocean of Water flows into the Sea every day from the Rivers of the Earth if you take them all together This I speak upon a moderate computation Aristotle says the Rivers carry more water into the Sea in the space of a year thâ—n would equal in bulk the whole Globe of the Earth Nay some have ventur'd to affirm this of one single River The Volga that runs into the Caspian Sea 'T is a great River indeed and hath seventy mouths and so it had need have to disgorge a mass of Water equal to the Body of the Earth in a years time But we need not take such high measures There are at least an hundred great Rivers that flow into the Sea from several parts of the Earth Islands and Continents besides several thousands of lesser ones Let us suppose these all together to pour as much water into the Sea-chanel every day as is equal to half the Ocean And we shall be easily convinc'd of the reasonableness of this supposition if we do but examine the daily expence of one River and by that make an estimate of the rest This we find calculated to our hands in the River Po in Italy a River of much what the same bigness with our Thames and disburthens it self into the Gulph of Venice Baptista Riccioli hath computed how much water this River discharges in an hour viz. 18000000. cubical paces of Water and consequently 432000000. in a day which is scarce credible to those that do not distinctly compute it Suppose then an hundred Rivers as great as this or greater to fall into the Sea from
The Chanel of the Sea fill'd with a mass of fluid fire and the same fire overflowing all the Globe and covering the whole Earth as the Deluge or the first Abyss Then will the Triumphal Songs and Hallelujah's be sung for the Victories of the Lamb over all his Enemies and over Nature it self Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty Iust and true are thy ways thou King of Saints Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorisie thy name for thou only art holy for all nations shall come and worship before thee for thy judgments are made manifest CHAP. XI An account of those extraordinary Phaenomena and Wonders in Nature that according to Scripture will precede the coming of Christ and the Conflagration of the World IF we reflect upon the History of Burning Mountains we cannot but observe that before their Eruptions there are usually some changes in the Earth or in the Air in the Sea or in the Sun it self as signs and forerunners of the ensuing storm We may then easily conclude that when the last great Storm is a coming and all the Volcano's of the Earth ready to burst and the frame of the World to be dissolv'd there will be prevlous signs in the Heavens and on the Earth to introduce this Tragical fate Nature cannot come to that extremity without some symptomes of her illness nor die silently without pangs or complaint But we are naturally heavy of belief as to Futurities and can scarce fancy any other Scenes or other state of Nature than what is present and continually before our eyes we will therefore to cure our unbelief take Scripture for our guide and keep within the limits of its Predictions The Scripture plainly tells us of Signs or Prodigies that will precede the coming of our Saviour and the end of the World both in the Heavens and on the Earth The Sun Moon and Stars will be disturb'd in their motion or aspect The Earth and the Sea will roar and tremble and the Mountains fall at his Presence These things both the Prophets and Evangelists have told us But what we do not understand we are flow to believe and therefore those that cannot apprehend how such Changes should come to pass in the Natural World chuse rather to allegorize all these expressions of Scripture and to make them signifie no more than political changes of Governments and Empires and the great confusions that will be amongst the People and Princes of the Earth towards the end of the World So that darkning of the Sun shaking of the Earth and such like phrases of Scripture according to these Interpreters are to be understood only in a moral sence And they think they have a warrant for this interpretation from the Prophetick style of the Old Testament where the destruction of Cities and Empires and great Princes is often describ'd by such Figures taken from the Natural World So much is true indeed as to the phrase of the old Prophets in some places but I take the true reason and design of that to be a typical adumbration of what was intended should literally come to pass in the great and universal destruction of the World whereof these partial destructions were only shadows and prefigurations But to determine this case Let us take the known and approved rule for interpreting Scripture Not to recede from the literal sence without necessity or where the nature of the subject will admit of a literal interpretation Now as to those cases in the Old Testament History and matter of fact do show that they did not come to pass literally therefore must not be so understood But as for those that concern the end of the World as they cannot be determin'd in that way seeing they are yet future So neither is there any Natural repugnancy or improbability that they should come literally to pass On the contrary from the intuition of that state of Nature one would rather conclude the probability or necessity of them That there may and must be such disorders in the external World before the general dissolution Besides If we admit Prodigies in any case or Providential indications of God's judgments to come there can be no case suppos'd wherein it will be more reasonable or proper to admit them than when they are to be the Messengers of an universal Vengeance and Destruction Let us therefore consider what signs Scripture hath taken notice of as destin'd to appear at that time to publish as it were and proclaim the approaching end of the World and how far they will admit of a natural explication according to those grounds we have already given in explaining the causes and manner of the Conflagration These Signs are chiefly Earth-quakes and extraordinary commotions of the Seas Then the darkness or bloudy colour of the Sun and Moon The shaking of the Powers of Heaven the fulgurations of the Air and the falling of Stars As to Earth-quakes we have upon several occasions shown that these will necessarily be multiplied towards the end of the World when by an excess of drought and heat exhalations will more abound within the Earth and from the same causes their inflammation also will be more frequent than in the ordinary state of Nature And as all Bodies when dry'd become more porous and full of Vacuities so the Body of the Earth will be at that time And the Mines or Cavities wherein the fumes and exhalations lodge will accordingly be of greater extent open into one another and continued through long tracts and regions By which means when an Earth-quake comes as the shock will be more strong and violent so it may reach to a vast compass of ground and whole Islands or Continents be shaken at once when these trains have taken fire The effects also of such concussions will not only affect Mankind but all the Elements and the Inhabitants of them I do not wonder therefore that frequent and great Earth-quakes should be made a sign of an approaching Conflagration and the highest expressions of the Prophets concerning the Day of the Lord may be understood in a literal sence if they be finally referr'd to the general destruction of the World and not terminated solely upon those particular Countries or People to whom they are at first directed Hear what Ezekiel says upon this subject For in my Iealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken surely in that Day there shall be a great shaking in the Land of Israel So that the Fishes of the Sea and the Fowls of the Heaven and the Beasts of the Field and all creeping things that creep upon the Earth and all the Men that are upon the face of the Earth shall shake at my presence and the Mountains shall be thrown down and the sâ—eep places shall fall and every wall shaâ—l fall to the ground And I will rain an over-flowing rain and great hail-stones fire and brimstone The Prophet Isaias describes these judgments in terms
as high and relating to the Natural World The Windows from on high are open and the foundations of the Earth do shake The Earth is utterly broken down the Earth is clean dissolv'd the Earth is moved exceedingly The Earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard and shall be removed like a Cottage and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it and it shall fall and not rise again To restrain all these things to Iudaea as their adequate and final object is to force both the words and the sence Here are manifest allusions and foot-steps of the destruction of the World and the dissolution of the Earth partly as it was in the Deluge and partly as it will be in its last ruine torn broken aâ—d shatter'd But most Men have fallen into that errour To fancy both the destructions of the World by Water and by Fire quiet noiseless things executed without any ruines or ruptures in Nature That the Deluge was but a great Pool of still Waters made by the rains and inundation of the Sea and the Conflagration will be only a superficial scorching of the Earth with a running fire These are false Idea's and unsuitable to Scripture for as the Deluge is there represented a Disruption of the Abyss and consequently of the then habitable Earth so the future combustion of it according to the representations of Scripture is to be usher'd in and accompanied with all sorts of violent impressions upon Nature and the chief instrument of these violences will be Earth-quakes These will tear the Body of the Earth and shake its foundations rend the Rocks and pull down the tall Mountains sometimes overturn and sometimes swallow up Towns and Cities disturb and disorder the Elements and make a general confusion in Nature Next to Earth-quakes we may consider the roarings of a troubled Sea This is another sign of a dying World S. Luke hath set down a great many of them together Let us hear his words And there shall be signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars and upon the Earth distress of Nations with perplexity The Sea and the Waves roaring Mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth for the powers of Heaven shall be shaken And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory c. As some would allegorize these Signs which we noted before so others would confine them to the destruction of Ierusalem But 't is plain by this coming of the Son of man in the clouds and the redemption of the faithful and at the same time the sound of the last trumpet which all relate to the end of the World that something further is intended than the destruction of Ierusalem And though there were Prodigies at the destruction of that City and State yet not of this force nor with these circumstances 'T is true those partial destructions and calamities as we observ'd before of Babylon Ierusalem and the Roman Empire being types of an universal and final destruction of all Godâ—s Enemies have in the pictures of them some of the same strokes to show they are all from the same hand decreed by the same wisdom foretold by the same Spirit and the same power and Providence that have already wrought the one will also work the other in due time the former being still pledges as well as prefigurations of the latter Let us then proceed in our explication of this sign The roaring of the Sea and the Waves applying it to the end of the World I do not look upon this ominous noise of the Sea as the effect of a tempest for then it would not strike such a terror into the Inhabitants of the Earth nor make them apprehensive of some great evil coming upon the World as this will do what proceeds from visible causes and such as may happen in a common course of Nature does not so much amaze us nor affright us Therefore 't is more likely these disturbances of the Sea proceed from below partly by sympathy and revulsions from the Land by Earth-quakes there and exhausting the subterraneous cavities of Waters which will draw again from the Seas what supplies they can And partly by Earth-quakes in the very Sea it self with exhalations and fiery Eruptions from the bottom of it Things indeed that happen at other times more or less but at this conjuncture all causes conspiring they will break out with more violence and put the whole Body of the Waters into a tumultuary motion I do not see any occasion at this time for high Winds neither can think a superficial agitation of the Waves would answer this Phaenomenon but 't is rather from Contorsions in the bowels of the Ocean which make it roar as it were for pain Some Causes impelling the Waters one way and some another make intestine struglings and contrary motions from whence proceed unusual noises and such a troubled state of the Waters as does not only make the Sea innavigable but also strikes terror into all the Maritime Inhabitants that live within the view or sound of it So much for the Earth and the Sea The face of the Heavens also will be chang'd in divers respects The Sun and the Moon darkned or of a bloudy or pale countenance The Celestial Powers shaken and the Stars unsetled in their Orbs. As to the Sun and Moon their obscuration or change of colour is no more than what happens commonly before the Eruption of a fiery Mountain Dion Cassius you see hath taken notice of it in that Eruption of Aetna which he describes and others upon the like occasions in Vesuvius And 't is a thing of easie explication for according as the Atmosphere is more or less clear or turbid the Luminaries are more or less conspicuous and according to the nature of those fumes or exhalations that swim in the Air the face of the Sun is discolour'd sometimes one way sometimes another You see in an ordinary Experiment when we look upon one another through the fumes of Sulphur we appear pale like so many Ghosts and in some foggy days the Sun hangs in the Firmament as a lump of Bloud And botlâ— the Sun and Moon at their rising when their light comes to us through the thick vapours of the Earth are red and fiery These are not changes wrought in the substance of the Luminaries but in the modifications of their light as it flows to us For colours are but Light in a sort of disguise as it passes through Mediums of diffâ—rent qualities it takes different forms but the matter is still the same and returns to its simplicity when it comes again into a pure air Now the air may be changed and corrupted to a great degree tho' there appear no visible change to our eye This is manifest from infectious airs and the changes of the air before storms and rains which we feel
of Parts and a Fitness to answer fully and clearly all the Phaenomend to which it is to be apply'd We think our Hypothesis does not want any of these Characters As to the First we take but one single Postulatum for the whole Theory and thaâ— an easie one warranted both by Scripture and Antiquity Namely That this Earth rise at first from a Chaos As to the second Union of Parts The whole Theory is but one Series of Causes and Effects from that first Chaos Besides you can scarce admit any one part of it first last or intermediate but you must in consequence of that admit all the rest Grant me but that the Deluge is truly explain'd and I 'le desire no more for proof of all the Theory Or if you begin at the other end and grant the New Heavens and New Earth after the Conflagration you will be led back again to the first Heavens and first Earth that were before the Flood For St. Iohn says that New Earth was without a Sea Apoc. 21. 1. And it was a Renovation or Restitution to some former state of things there was therefore some former Earth without a Sea which not being the present Earth it must be the Ante diluvian Besides both St. Iohn and the Prophet Isaias have represented the New Heavens and New Earth as Paradisiâ—cal According as is prov'd Book the 4th chap. 2. And having told us the form of the New future Earth that it will have no Sea it is a reasonable inference that there was no Sea in the Paradisiâ—cal Earth However from the form of this Future Earth which St. Iohn represents to us we may at least conclude That an Earth without a Sea is no Chimaera or impossibility but rather a fit seat and habitation for the Just and the Innocent Thus you see the parts of the Theory link and hold fast one another according to the second character And as to the third of being 〈◊〉 to the Phaenomena we must refer that to the next head of Proofs It may be tâ—â—ly said that bare coherence and union of parts is not a sufficient proof The parts of a â—able or Romance may hang aptly together and yet have no truth in them This is enough indeed to give the title of a just Composition to any work but not of a true one till it appear that the conclusions and expâ—tations are grounded upon good natural evidence or upon good Divine authority We must therefore proceed now to the third thing to be consider'd in a Theory What its Proofs are or the grounds upon which it stands whether Sacred or Natural According to Natural evidence things are proved from their Causes or their Effects And we think we have this double order of proofs for the truth of our Hypothesis As to the method of Causes we proceed from what is more simple to what is more compound and build all upon one foundation Go but to the Head of the Theory and you will see the Causes lying in a train before you from first to last And tho' you did not know the Natural History of the World past or future you might by intuition foretell it as to the grand revolutions and successive faces of Nature through a long series of Ages If we have given a true account of the motions of the Chaos we have also truly form'd the first habitable Earth And if that be truly form'd we have thereby given a true account of the state of Paradise and of all that depends upon it And not of that only but also of the universal Deluge Both these we have shewn in their causes The one from the Form of that Earth and the other from the Fall of it into the Abyss And tho' we had not been made acquainted with these things by Antiquity we might in contemplation of the Causes have truly conceiv'd them as properties or incidents to the First Earth But as to the Deluge I do not say that we might have calculated the Time manner and other circumstances of it These things were regulated by Providence in subordination to the Moral World But that there would be at one time or oâ—her a disruption of that Earth or of the Great Abyss and in consequence of it an universal Deluge So far I think the light of a Theory might carry us Furthermore In consequence of this disruption of the Primeval Earth at the Deluge the present Earth was made hollow and cavernous and by that means due preparations being used capable of Combustion or of perishing by an universal Fire Yet to speak ingenuously This is as hard a step to be made in vertue of Natural causes as any in the whole Theory But in recompence of that defect the Conflagration is so plainly and literally taught us in Scripture and avow'd by Antiquity that it can fall under no dispute as to the thing it self And as to a capacity or disposition to it in the present Earth that I think is sufficiently made out Then the Conflagration admitted in that way it is explain'd in the Third Book The Earth you see is by that fire reduc'd to a second Chaos A Chaos truly so call'd And from that as from the First arises another Creation or New Heavens and a New Earth By the same causes and in the same form with the Paradisiacal This is the Renovation of the World The Restitution of all things mentioned both by Scripture and Antiquity And by the Prophet Isaiah St. Peter and St. Iohn call'd the New Heaven and New Earth With this as the last period and most glorious Scene of all humane affairs our Theory concludes as to this method of Causes whereof we are now speaking I say here it ends as to the method of Causes For tho' we pursue the Earth still further even to its last Dissolution which is call'd the Consummation of all things yet all that we have superadded upon that occasion is but Problematical and may without prejudice to the Theory be argued and disputed on either hand I do not know but that our conjectures there may be well grounded but however not springing so directly from the same root or at least not by ways so clear and visible I leave that part undecided Especially seeing we pretend to write no more than the Theory of the Earth and therefore as we begin no higher than the Chaos so we are not obliged to go any further than to the last state of a Terrestrial consistency which is that of the New Heavens and the New Earth This is the first natural proof From the order of Causes The second is fâ—om the consideration of Effects Namely of such effects as are already in being And therefore this proof can extend only to that part of the Theory that explains the present and past form and Phaenomena of the Earth What is Future must be left to a further trial when the things come to pass and present themselves to be examin'd and compar'd