Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	call_v	river_n	sea_n	5,770	4	6.4355	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57681	The Abyssinian philosophy confuted, or, Tellvris theoria neither sacred not agreeable to reason being for the most part a translation of Petrus Ramazzini, Of the wonderful springs of Modena : illustrated with many curious remarks and experiments by the author and translator : to which is added a new hypothesis deduced from Scripture and the observation of nature : with an addition of some miscellany experiments / by Robert St. Clair ...; Defontium Mutinènsium admiranda scaturgine tractatus physico-hydrostaticis. English	Ramazzini, Bernardino, 1633-1714.; St. Clair, Robert N.	1697 (1697)	Wing R199; ESTC R3670	79,203	302

at that time and who disputed with St. Paul at Athens Acts 17. 18. Or else such as pretended to give an account of the first Formation of all things without taking notice of the Power of God in it which was or among the Greek Philosophers in those times now this is the fault the Theois guilty of in the account Creation all the Six days Works are in Scripture said to be performed by the Word or Power of God but in the Theory all is said to be carried on by the Laws of Gravitation without any mention made of the Power of God which is the very thing that is ●ere condemned by the Apostle and ●herefore what the Theory thinks ●o make most for it militates most against it This Charge is justify'd from the Theories own words Tell. The. ch 6. I have followed the most common Laws of Gravitation and Levity and by their guidance alone we have seen the Promogenial Mass after one or two alterations and an unconstant shape to have come into that stable form of the Earth built upon the Waters that was to continue for some Ages Seeing therefore the Theorist has willingly left out any mention of the Power of God in his whole Theory contrary to the Tenour of the Scriptures which ascribes all the Works both of Creation and Providence to the Wisdom and Power of God he may be said to be willingly ignorant of both and to have written rather like a Disciple of Orpheus than a Disciple of Moses And yet his Laws of Gravitation if rightly considered will not answer the Phaenomena of the Creation for the World was then but a making and might be then compar'd to the Materials of a Clock before an Ingenious Artisicer which could never point out the Hours and Strike imitate the motions of the Sun and Moon as some are made to do till the Artificer had first made the several Wheels c. in due proportion and fitted them together and last of all put a Spring or Motion to them which I judge to have been compleated about that time when he said all was very good which Motion has been continued ever since except when he hath been pleased by his Finger to put a stop to some of the Wheels as he did when the Sun and Moon stood still or to make them run backward as he did when the Shadow went back on the Dial of Ahaz or to accelerate their Motions more than ordinary among which may be reckon'd this of the Deluge of which and the Creation 't is as easie for the Theorist to give an account as if he had been one God Almighty's Counsel at that time One might think that the sense of our natural blindness even in things that most concern our selves and that we have daily in our hands might give a check to this presumption but vain Man would be wise Beside this Achillean Argument and Foundation of the Theory from which ●he Author hopes never to be beat he has others which at the first view ●nd as he is pleas'd to explain them ●eem to favour his Cause very much yet after examination will be found to make no more for him than the former One is taken from Psal. 24. 2. For he hath founded it upon the Sea and establisht it upon the Floods or upon the Rivers What could one think of more favourable for the Theory than this But if we compare this with other places of Scripture it will not be found to make for his purpose for example Psal. 2. ver 3. And he shall be like a Tree planted upon the Rivers no body I believe will make a Philo●ophical Argument of this to prove that Trees in David's time were planted upon the surface of Rivers but contenting himself with the scope of the Psalmist which is to hold forth by this Simile the flourishing condition of the Righteous will never once call it in question if Trees did grow on the surface of Rivers and take it for granted that by upon the Psalmist meant upon the Banks of Rivers in which sense we say Lands lye upon such Seas as they are adjacent to and Houses or Cities seated upon the Banks of Rivers to stand upon the Rivers For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the original imports this and in this sense may be explain'd Prov. 6. 27. When he set a compass upon the Face of the deep of which the Theorist says If I rightly understand the matter this is the place of the Earth firmly encompassing the Abyss and what else can be understood by this Girth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with which God is said to have encompass'd the Abyss what is there in the present form of the Earth that can answer it or to the Bounds or Globe which he hath put about the Sea Yes the Theorist might have found another meaning in Iob 38. Who hath shut up the Sea with doors c. ver 11. And set Bars and Doors and said hitherto shalt thou come and no farther and here shall the pride of thy Waves be stay'd these Bars or Bounds are by all judged to be the Sea shore by which God hath limited the Sea that it shall no more return to overflow the Earth as it did before as in Psal. 104 9. Thou hast set bounds that they pass not over that they turn not again to cover the Earth And in the common way of speaking among our Hydrographers this Bounds is called a Girth so they call the Coast round about England the Girth of England Since the Theorist contrary to his own position will adduce Scripture to prove his Philosophical Paradoxes by the same liberty we from ver 5. of this Psalm Who hath laid the Foundation of the Earth that it should not be removed for ever Infer that the Theorists Foundation is none of God's making since it is suppos'd by him to have been removed by falling under the Abyss whereas before it was above it And may not we infer from God's challenge to Iob ch 38. ver 4. Where wast thou when I laid the Foundation of the Earth Declare if thou hast understanding v. 6. Whereupon are the Foundations thereof fastened the very thing the Theorist pretends to tell and to which Iob whom without disparagement to the Theorist we may imagine both a better Man and a Philosopher than he answers chap. 42. ver 3. Therefore have I utter'd that I understood not things too wonderful for me which I knew not may not we I say infer that the Theorist is very presumptuous in thus taking up the Argument against God Almighty And may not we without breach of respect say Theorice quid animum minorem aeternis consilijs Fatigas This is the Philosophy the Apostle Paul bids us beware of Col. 2. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceits which will be very clear if we consider that the Hypothetical was at that time the Philosophy in vogue among the Grecians to whom

some Alteration should appear in these Fountains But the Beds of Clay which divide the impure from the most pure VVaters as most strong Fences do hinder the Rain VVaters from being mix'd with these subterraneous VVaters And Plato thought that a clayie Ground was the last Bounds of digging in the search of VVell-waters obliging every one to dig to the Chalk and if there was no VVater found in that Depth he suffer'd as much to be taken from the Neighbours as they had need of to which Pliny subscribes saying That when Potters Clay appears there is no more hopes of getting Water nor need Men dig longer which yet agrees not with what is observed here As I have deduc'd the Original of this VVater from the Sea so I do not deny that many Fountains owe their Originals to Rains and melted Snow yet with this difference that the Fountains which have their Spring from the Sea by hidden Passages continue perpetual but those which rise from Showers and temporary Springs at some time of the year are diminished and quite dry up as happens in great Droughts such as Baccius mentions to have been Anno 1556. in which not only all the Fountains but also great Rivers dried up The Countrey on this and the other side of the Po did experience such a Season almost for two Years together viz. in 1687. and 88 in which time the Lands were unpleasant because of the Drought and VVells were digg'd in other places but to no purpose yet little alteration was to be observed in these our Fountains nor yet in the moistest Season of all which made the Year 1690. fatal for Dearness of Provision and Epidemick Diseases so that these our Fountains seem to be of the same nature with that Fountain in Tyanus consecrated to Iupiter of which Philostratus says That it suffer'd neither Increase nor Decrease and therefore by the Natives is called Vnquenchable Or like the VVell of Aesculapius which as Aelius Aristides a most famous Orator relates was a VVell of Pergamus a City of Asia of such a nature that it was always full to the brim and how much soever was drawn from it it never decreas'd Neither have we Reason only to think that many Fountains take their Original from the Sea but also many Lakes communicate with it The Lake of the Vulsinians whose Depth is not yet found out for discovering of which I have seen between Narthana and Bisentina Ropes let down for some Hundreds of Fathoms but in vain This Lake I say both Summer and VVinter discharges it self by the River Martha perpetnally into the Tyrrhenian Sea neither does it receive any Rivers and the Mountains which encompass it are never white with Snow Beside in the same Lake when the Air was very calm and the surface of the VVater was smooth I observed often intestine Motions like Currents in the Ocean which was known by the Fishermens Nets which being sunk under Water were snatcht violently from their hands an evident Proof of some hidden Commerce with the Sea Iulius Obsequens in his Book of Prodigies relates That the Lake Albinus in the Consulate of Valerius and M. Valerius was suddenly raised up when no Rain fell from Heaven neither could there be known any Cause of so sudden a swelling I cannot be ignorant that the Original of Fountains and Rivers from the Sea is called in question Gaspar Bartholinus who follows the glorious Footsteps of his Ancestors Printed a Treatise at Hafnia wherein he endeavours to prove that Opinion to be absurd which deduces the Original of Fountains and Rivers from the Sea so that all Fountains as well temporary as perpetual according to him owe their Original to Rain Suppose as he ingeniously endeavours to prove that for maintaining the Perpetuity of the Fountains in a dry Season a Collection of the Water of the precedent Rains in some Receptacle within the Cavity of the Mountains is sufficient But truly I cannot see how in some Fountains their Regularity and equal flowing can hold out for so long a time as is observ'd in ours for so many Ages seeing in whatever Season either dry or moist there appears no sign of Increase or Decrease But Scaliger answers to those things which use to be objected against the Opinion of the Original of the Fountains and Rivers from the Sea in opposition to Cardan saying There is no reason why the Sea-water before it come to the Mountains does not break out every where in these words But O Cardan he whom in the 2d of Genesis the Divine Man says to have finisht all things was so good an Architect so wise a Water-Bailif that Julius Frontinus is nothing to him He therefore did so skilfully join the Pipes of his Aqueducts and fit them for bearing the Burthen as to free you from this fear But truly this Difficulty which is objected about the sufficient strength of the subterraneous Passages gives no less trouble excepting the greater distance to the Asserters of the other Opinion who attribute the Original of Fountains and Rivers to Rains But how Water is furnisht to the Fountains from the Sea which being heavy of its own nature must flow back into the Sea from whence it came making as it were a Circle is not agreed upon among those who admit the Original of Fountains to be from the Sea as may be seen in Gaspar Schottus who rehearses many Opinions of the Ancients and Moderns and examines them So true is it what Aristotle says That 't was an old Doubt why seeing so great a quantity of Water runs to the Sea it does not thereupon become bigger Some think that the Sea-water ascends above its own Original by the attractive force of the Earth some by shaking and the Sea-tide some by force of the inclosed Spirit which drives up the Water to the top of the highest Mountains others do attribute it to the Pressure of the Air which by perpetually breaking down the Surface lifts the VVater up on high some recur to the Divine Providence There are others who say That the Sea-water flows with a natural Motion whether from the bottom of the Sea or the sides to the Springs of Fountains plac'd in the most high Mountains because the Sea is higher than the Earth as the same Schottus thinks But I like better the Opinion of Des Cartes of which was also our Countrey-man Falloppius who thinks that the Sea-water by reason of the subterraneous Heat is raised in form of a Vapor to the highest Mountains and there by reason of the ambient Rocks condens'd into Water as is usual in Chymical Distillations so that the Mountains are like Heads of the Alembicks by the Cold of which the exalted Vapors are condensed into Water which afterwards breaks out into Springs Iulius Caesar Recupitus tells in his History of the burning of Vesuvius that at the same time it did send forth two Streams one of Fire towards the shoar another of Water on the other

the World these Waters had flown as they do now the force of the water would easily have thrown off that weight as it happens sometime when the boring is delay'd Then one will say When and how had this admirable Source its Original To this I may answer That there are no Monuments of this nor can it be absolutely known when these waters began to flow yet 't is certain that this Accumulation of the Ground hath not happen'd but after great Land-Floods they leaving a great deal of Mud here otherwise as I was saying the force of the water would have thrown off the weight Therefore I am inclin'd to believe that after the Plain was thus rais'd some new ways were open'd by a great Earthquake so that the waters might flow from the Cistern placed in the adjacent Mountains which receives them by a continal evaporation from the Sea and so might flow from that sandy Ground and so to have kept their Course for many Ages before the wit of Man reach'd hither and open'd the Veins of the Earth with the Auger as with a Launce And 't is known by many Observations that some Fountains die by Earthquakes and some rise as Ovid says Lib. 15. Met. Hic fontes natura novos emisit illic Clausit antiquis tam multa tremoribus orbis Flumina prosiliunt aut excaecata residunt In English thus Here Nature in her Changes manifold Sends forth new Fountains there shuts up the old Streams with impetuous Earthquakes heretofore Have broken forth and sunk or run no more CHAP. VI. The Progress and End of these Waters is enquired into and a Reason is given of those things which are observ'd in the digging of the Wells 'T IS worth the Enquiry What is the Progress of these our waters that flow under ground and whether they go But here I stick and there is no place but for Conjecture I have often enquir'd of the Undertakers Whether they felt the Auger to be carried by Violence to any side but I could understand nothing certain of them But seeing the length of this Source is far greater than its breadth I think it more agreeable to truth that these waters flow from East to VVest according to the lenghth of the Aemilian way which Tract of Ground is six Mile long and but four broad as far as I have had occasion to observe but when it has pass'd the way we may judge that either 't is sunk into these Wells of the Earth or by secret turnings and windings falls into the Sea according to the Laws by which the water circulates in the Body of the Earth which we read described by Ecclesiastes in these words All Rivers enter into the Sea yet it does not overflow the Rivers return to the place from whence they came thither they return again And the Heathen Poets as Lucretius in these Verses Lib. 1. Debet ut in mare de terris venit humor aquai In terr as itidem manare ex aequore salso As Rivers run from Earth and fill the Main So some through secret Pores retur● again But also is proved by the most grave and modern VVriters with many Reasons as Arias Montanus Varenius Vossius Becher and many others whom the most famous Lanzon Physician of Ferrara cites in his Animadversions full of variety It may be doubted and that not without reason whether the course of these waters must be for ever And truly seeing from the times of the Roman Common-wealth even to this Age there hath been so great an accumulation of the Earth as well in the City as in the adjacent Lands and in the Channels of Rivers there is no place left of doubting but the course of these Fountains will at length cease the Causes continuing the same to wit while the next Rivers take away with them the spoil of the Mountains and therewith cover the Plains that lie under Therefore as these Fountains for a far better use did rise many Feet above the Surface of the Earth but now rarely reaches its Surface so we must think that the time will come in which these waters must stand in their VVells having no descent by which to run down And these Changes which succeed in great length of time and without a VVitness if we consider the present state of things hardly deserve Credit yet the thing it self speaks that they have truly happened and will still follow But because to use Aristotile's words the things are done in great length of time in respect of our Life they are hid from us and the ruine of all Nations does happen before the change of these things is told from the beginning to the end But this is the common Fate of Cities that are plac'd in the Plains that after many Ages they are almost half buried or as the Egyptian Priest in Plato says of the Cities of Greece are carried by the force of the Rivers into the Sea though on the other hand Towns which are plac'd on the tops of the mountains their Foundations being par'd do tell the Injuries of Time A sure Proof that there is nothing constant and firm in this world but that we must look for the City that is on high and is to continue for ever But why these Fountains seeing they are supposed to take their Original from the Sea have no ebbing or flowing as some Fountains of which Writers take notice as is that which Pliny the Younger mentions in the Land of Como which ebbs and flows three times in a Day I think this to happen because water is furnisht to these Fountains from the Sea by the Ascent of Vapors which evaporation though it be not always equal because of the subterraneous Fires sometimes weaker sometimes stronger yet 't is enough if it be such as is sufficient to keep the Cistern full always to the same height on which depends the Equality of Flux of these our Fountains for so many Ages whatever come of the water that sometimes overflows and is dispersed another way But why some Fountains at certain times flow and at other times ebb many Causes are brought of which I mean those which draw their Source from the Sea the Cause is the ebbing and flowing of the Sea by force of which it comes to pass that as the Sea ebbs and flows these Fountains are sometimes observed full and sometimes empty We said that in the Winter-time a great Heat was perceiv'd in these Fountains and in the Summer time a great Cold as appears also by the The● mometer let down to several Depths and the Table before marked shews Which Observations seem not a little to favour the Defenders of an Antiperistasis and so much the rather that these Observations were not made in a Mountanous but in a Champion Countrey For I do not think it safe to try it in Mines and the Caverns of the Mountains because of the Metallick Exhalations and divers Salts and kinds of Marcasites with which they are