A river went out from the place of Pleasure the force of the Hebrew word is out of Pleasure to water Paradise thence 't is divided into four heads in the Hebrew and from there that is already in Paradise 't is divided and is into four heads The sense is that out of the abundance and fertility of the Earth water sprung in four heads or great Rivers for 't is incongruous that one river divided into more should be said divided into heads but into branches or arms nor are there any where found appliably to Paradise four Rivers which can ever be conjectur'd to have flow'd from one head nor can any other place of Pleasure or a more fertile place then Paradise be imagin'd from whence this river should flow to water Paradise 4. And what is here call'd fertility and abundance is describ'd to have agreed to the whole Earth at that time it being said that a Fountain ascended out of the Earth watring the whole superficies of the Earth Where the native Text in stead of Fountain has a Vapour whereof the Book of Wisdome seems to speak when it saies that She cover'd the whole Earth as with a Mist and perhaps the Psalmist when after the forming of the Earth he subjoyns The Abysse is the vestment of its cloathing waters shall stand upon the Mountains 5. An example too of such like we have in some very hot and moist regions in one of the Canaries in the Island of Saint Thomas and some others that there issues a Vapour out of the Earth which being refrigerated with the shadow of the Trees descends in a Rain and feeds the Fountains and Rivers And it cannot be but out of the Earth yet moist by the power of the Sun for some time such a Vapour must issue and water the Earth and be deriv'd into Rivers 6. But now the enumeration of the Rivers makes the matter manifest for it takes the four greatest Rivers known to the Hebrews and which wash'd the whole world that they knew and saies that Paradise was watred by them But those that labour to derive these Names to other Rivers run into mere and incoherent Conjectures 7. The Scripture adds The Lord God took therefore the Man and put him in the Paradise of Pleasure that he should work and keep it The Hebrew word for he took is the same with that above when we spake of Adam's side and signifies the same as take in the largest sense nor in this place does it expresse any other thing then an application or conjunction of God to Adam and not a locall carrying as before 't is said of the word He brought But 't is said above to Adam that he should take the Earth for his matter to work on and fill it We have it therefore that the Garden which Adam was to cultivate and inhabite is the same which he was commanded to fill and subject and whereof 't is said that as yet there was not the Man to labour it but a Vapour ascended and watred its universall superficies Adde to these that the whole Earth was cursed that the whole before the curse was created for Adam and his Issue which in a Garden only could not have had room enough 8. Consider the honour of Husbandry both that of all the Mechanicks 't is the work that 's most proper to mankind and 't is a keeping or preserving of the Earth for the Earth grows better by cultivation but uncultivated it grows barren as it were perishes 9. Besides this precept God added another positive one for nourishing himself and a negative one for not killing himself by intemperancy CHAP. XII The History of ADAM'S FALL out of Genesis 1. THe divine Authour begins the following History saying Moreover the Serpent was more crafty then all the living Creatures of the Earth the word which corresponds to Serpent in the originall is deriv'd from a Verb which signifies to observe or to pry into secrets wherefore à priori it signifies an Observer a lier in wait and what in the Gospell the Tempter and where the Latine Interpreter puts all living Creatures the sacred Authour uses a very large word which comprehends Man too So that the sense may be the Tempter was craftier even then Man himself as also it appear'd by the event 2. He came therefore to the Woman and said Why has God commanded you c. in the originall letter even that God has said as if it should say was it not enough for God to have oblig'd you to keep his Garden but even must he not-permit you to eat To whom the Woman answer'd Yes we do eat of the rest but should we eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil we should die 'T is evident therefore this command was given by God not as out of power and prerogative but for the good of those to whom 't was given and Man is govern'd by God alwaies for the good of Man himself 3. The Tempter therefore reply's again You shall not die but you shall be like Gods the Analogy of the two Temptations is to be noted Say that these stones be made bread and He forbids you to Eat He has commanded his Angels concerning thee and Ye shall not die lastly All these will I give thee and Ye shall be like Gods 4. 'T is added The woman therefore saw that the Tree was good to eat and fair and delightfull to behold c. The Tree is put for the Apple or certainly in respect of the Apple these things agreed to it And whereas 't is said she saw the apple to be sweet to the tast or good for food as the originall reading has it it argues that the Woman too to some degree from the sight of Plants especially the earnest looking on them knew their natures And the Authour instead of this delightfull to behold has desir'd to look earnestly upon or to understand and the sense is that the Woman saw her Appetite so to have encreas'd that she could not turn away her Eyes Or else the word saw signifies consider'd and the sense will be She consider'd that the Apple was desirable for the Knowledge that would follow it upon the Tempter's words 5. The Woman therefore eat and gave too to the Man who was not deceiv'd that is did not eat upon a false perswasion but as 't is subjoyn'd obey'd the voice of his wife For alas he was effeminate and durst not through excesse of love oppose his Wife 6. 'T is collected out of the circumstances that the Tempter or lier-in-wait had observ'd the Woman absent from her Husband near the forbidden Tree at the hour when her Appetite to eat made way for his treacheries 7. But let us see the effect The sacred Text therefore saies that the eyes of them both were opened and they knew they were naked But 't is plain that not presently upon their eating but after some time suppose when by concoction the
whereof largely above Consisting therefore is refer'd to both though it be construed with the later 3. It saies then that the old world was overflow'd by these two waters whence 't is evident those are distinct waters which are here call'd the Cataracts of heaven from those call'd the fountains of the great abysse Now we find no more about Heaven after the Fourth Day but that a vapour ascended from the Earth to water the universall face of the Earth and that the Earth was cover'd with a Mist and as much concerning the Sea Iob speaking in the person of God when I put it on a Cloud for its vestment wrapt it in darknesse as in the cloaths of Infancy For these signifie that the Aire was thick and misty there sweating by the Suns force as it were a perpetuall watry humour out of the Earth whose thinner parts were of necessity continually rais'd up into Clouds which could not fall for a time whilst the Aire quite up to them was thick and as heavy as they but after the Earth being dry'd the Aire between the Earth and the Clouds became it self too more dry and subtile the terrestriall humidity being spent then at length with a mighty vehemence the long-treasur'd-up waters in the clouds descended in such abundance that the Fountains which broke out from the more eminent parts of the Earth were so over-charg'd they slit their channels and with open Torrents roul'd into the Rivers and they oreflowing their banks all at once into the Sea Thus therefore by the waters whereof the former Heavens consisted that is the midst between the Earth and the Stars and by which the Earth consisted viz. which lay hid in its bowels the whole Earth was o'reflow'd in the time of Noe. 4. And the History tells that the waters rose fifteen Cubits above the tops of the Mountains now 't is not incredible that some Men were so tall so that this quantity of water was altogether necessary nay if there had been strong Trees upon the highest Mountains which could have resisted the water this proportion of water had been lesse then needed 5. For since after the Deluge Og may seem to have been nine Cubits high before the Deluge 't is credible enough there were some near fifteen Though to perswade one's self there were ever Men of that vastness which is attributed to the Cyclops and certain Reliques found in the New World there needs a great faith for these stories depend on uncertain memories or on conjectures of Men talking according to likely-hood of old Bones 6. But to return to the abundance of the waters The severer Mathematicians now adaies do not believe any Mountain to be higher perpendicularly then one Italian mile nor need we believe the Mountains before the Floud were so high as they are now the vallies are hollowed deeper with continuall Rains If therefore fifteen Cubits be abated from the highest Mountains make account the water rose a Mile perpendicular about the Earth 7. Whence 't will be deduc'd that about an equall proportion of water out of the Clouds and out of the bowels of the Earth concurr'd to the Deluge for if a Pail set in the open Aire in a very violent rain will be fill'd a cubits height in an hour in fourty daies and fourty nights a continuall and vehement rain from all parts of the Heavens would o'reflow the whole Earth little lesse then a thousand Cubits high as much therefore or more water was to be strein'd out of the Earth that the Floud might rise to a thousand Paces high 8. Which to render credible reflect upon the artifice of Husbandmen not unusuall amongst us by which they draw some feets depth of water over their barrener grounds with the weight whereof the superficies of the Earth being loaded is press'd down constipated with the lower Earth so fills those hollownesses into which the Air 's entrance caus'd the barrennesse whereupon they are rendred fruitfull From which experiment 't is evident that a huge weight of water brought upon the Earth must compresse it strein out the water which was hid in it and represse its swelling and consequently constipate the Earth and force it into a lesser Circle Since therefore the power of the Deluge may easily be believ'd to have extended it self three miles perpendicular within the Earth for the Sea is judg'd so deep now in the deepest parts let the Earth but have contracted it self one sixth part of those three miles and you have water press'd out of its own bowels to cover it five hundred paces round about We have therefore a fit proportion of water for so great an effect if we can contrive whence so much water may have ascended into the Clouds 9. But if the little lesse then two thousand years space be reflected on in which the Sun rais'd up perpetuall vapours to the very Sphear of the Moon and perhaps higher and kept them there by reason of the continuall thicknesse of that Aire between the Earth and Heaven It will be easily credible that there were Clouds amass'd together enough to pour down fourty daies and nights violent Rain which we have said is sufficient for the effect CHAP. XVII Of the Cessation of the Deluge out of the same 1 THe inspired Writer prosecutes the abatement of the water which he divides into four parts to the resting of the Ark upon the mountains of Armenia a hundred and ten daies thence 'till the appearing of the mountains tops about seventy daies from those to the time when the superficies of the Earth shew'd it self and from thence to the intire drynesse almost as many daies as in he first part divided almost equally 2. The causes of so unequall decrease are two deduc'd from the letter a Wind which God rais'd and a motion of the water proceeding from the Wind. As for the Wind 't is clear when the Sun began now to shine bright the Clouds being dispers'd and there was nothing but water upon which it might act there could no other wind be rais'd then such as even now we experience in that vast Clime of the Pacifick and Atlantick Seas though we must needs think 't was far more both vehement and ample when there were no Shores at all whence Contrary winds might blow and contract its bounds 3. The first part therefore of the abatement was made by this Wind through the mediation of the Sun which turn'd the Waters into Wind and the Wind now dry'd dry'd the waters by adhesion as we see it does Linnen cloaths by carrying away with it the watry parts 4. And the Ark is believed to have rested upon the highest Mountain in those parts The Hebrews say that it sunk twelve Cubits into the water still therefore by this account the water was twelve Cubits above the neighbouring Mountains but these Cubits by reason of the former contraction of the Sphear of the waters were lesse in proportion then those whereof there were fifteen
out with violence they take the shortest line which upon the superficies of a Sphear is the Arch of the greatest Circle LESSON XI Of Earth-quakes and their Effects 1. BUt because we have said there are Caves under ground and both our experience of Pits sunk and many extraordinary effects demonstrate Fire water there too there must necessarily be notable effects of the vapours extracted out of the bowells of the Earth 2. If therefore out of some subterraneous humidbody vapours chance to be rais'd by a subterraneous fire too and they prove too bigg for their place 't is manifest that alwaies increasing and becoming condens'd by the continuall accesse of new vapours they 'l seek themselves a way out according to the force they have where ther 's the easiest passage If that chance to lead into any vast under-ground Cave the Earth will quake with a great impetus and groan but nothing will appear above ground 3. But if the easiest issue be towards the superficies of the Earth the vapour will burst out through it and if it be noxious to Beasts or Birds 't will bring either Death or a Disease along with it making with the eruption either a gaping Hollow or a Mountain according as the Earth either sinks or is sustain'd and as it were vaulted Sometimes 't will bury and swallow up Cities sometimes transport vast pieces of Earth and produce other effects whereof we find expresse memorialls in History 4. The Prognosticks of an Earth-quake they say are an infection of the Fountains with a sulphurious savour an unusuall calmnesse of the Air and Birds a swelling of the Sea without any apparent cause blackish streaks under the Sun of an unusuall length all if they are truly Prognosticks and not onely Accidents which sometimes and not for the most part happen are the effects of a spirituous Vapour bursting out from the bowells of the Earth 5. They are said to happen chiefly in the Spring and Autumn therefore if the opinion be true because the Superficies of the Earth being warm becomes slacker with the rain But I should rather believe it a chance that many should be recorded in Histories about these seasons for both Winter and Summer have felt their Earthquakes and in the Torrid Zone where they are most frequent the differences of Spring and Autumn from the other seasons are very inconsiderable 6. The Sea-shores are most subject to these motions because the subterranious flames and fumes receive no little nourishment from the Sea and the moisture which soaks into the Earth renders it very fit for breeding vapours LESSON XII Of the Meteors of the other parts of the World and especially of Comets 1. THese accidents of our Orbe and its parts which are usually call'd Meteors must necessarily be found too in the other bodies which we have said are enlightned by our Sun And that out of the nature of quantity and the mixture of Rare and Dense if they have their severall degrees and differences 2. Nor in these only but in whatever bodies besides wherein alterations are wrought by the operation of fire upon denser matter for the same reasons 3. 'T is evident too that our Sun cannot warm and enlighten all those bodies that reflect light to us for if it were as far distant from us as Astronomers suppose the Sphear of the Fixed stars 't would appear to us to be but of the sixth Magnitude and consequently it could not communicate to us any considerable either light or heat how much lesse in the situation where 't is could it reflect so far as to us a light of the first Magnitude from any Star so far distant 4. Adde to this that one that should collect from the proportion of the basis of a Cone to its Axis how much light the Sun could reflect to us from the eighth Sphear would find it absolutely invisible Besides the very Aire through which the light passes by little and little drinks up and extinguishes it whence in a thicker Aire it spreads it self a lesse way then in a rarer so that in so vast a journey 't would be utterly deaded and not seen 5. A Meteor of the Planets perceptible by us is a Comet which its very-little Parallaxis convinces to be sometimes sited above the Moon 6. That 't is not fire its constant figure its Tayle not oppos'd to its motion but to the Sun its lasting consistency its matter light and to be seen through and lastly its Motion more regular then we observe in fire largely convince farther that it has nothing of fire but the colour adde to this that Fromundus with his very eyes discern'd the Tayle of that Comet in the Year 1618 to consist of the reflection of the Sun 's light 7. Be it therefore A vapour which partly reflects the light of the Sun partly drinking it in either repells it back again to us by refraction from it self or letting it through by reflection from another body And its fore-part will be the Head it s hinder whether part or something only accessnry to it will be the Tayle 8. And since by this generation of a Comet any figure of its Beard any Motion any winding of its tayle but for the most part the opposition of its Tayle to the Sun and the lesser light of its Tayle then of its Head may be fairly solv'd this intire subject is clearly display'd 9. Out of the same principles may be deduc'd that fading Stars are Comets but so far off that the secundary or refracted light of their Tail by reason of the height either cannot be distinguisht from the body or cannot be extended to us because of its extreme faintnesse as also that its motion cannot be discern'd 10. Even these therefore witnesse that there are Meteors among the very fixed Stars and those so much the more constant and lasting as the bodies out of which they are extracted are larger LESSON XIII Of the Ebbing and Flovving of the Sea and its Accidents 1. SInce out of what has been said it appears that the gravity of the vapours and the straightnesse of their issue are the cause of the violent motion of the winds and that the heaviest vapours are extracted out of the Earth when 't is well moistned It becomes evident that where vapours are rais'd out of the Sea only they are lighter that if they be turn'd into winds without being straightned they will be calm ones And since in the great Pacifick Sea in the Indian Atlantick Ocean quite through the whole Torrid Zone there are vast waters consequently in some measure secure from the incursion of Shore-winds there must needs be light vapours rais'd up by the Sun through all that Tract which the Sun retiring must turn into winds taking that course which the Suns rarefaction of the aire makes most easie this all the year long consequently there must be a continuall East-wind 2. And because the Aire naturally moves in a Circle
Of The BEGINNING Of the WORLD Wherein 't is essay'd how subservient Philosophy is to Divinity Same AUTHOUR Cant. 1. Equitatui meo in curribus Pharaonis assimilavi te Amica mea Printed in the Year 1656. To the READER SInce Philosophy has then attain'd its Dignity when apply'd to Action it renders Man better that is more Man and Christians are initiated to this by Divinity this evidently is the highest pitch of Philosophy to wait on and be subservient to the Traditions deriv'd from God Wherefore I saw it absolutely necessary to fortify the Institutions I would recommend to Thee with a subsignation of Theology Nor was I long to seek whether I should first addresse my self For when after the Notions of Nature digested in common I had expos'd the same in a Collection of the World as it were in an Example by the same rule having exhibited the Action of Things like a sceleton in its Principles in the last Book of Metaphysick I saw my self oblig'd to vest It in the CREATION with the Nature due to It. And since in the ancient Theology we had this accurately decyphered beyond the Attempts of Philosophers but untraceable because the Paths of Nature were unknown It seem'd to me a more expresse Seal of Theologicall Approbation could not be desir'd then that the Institutions should carrie a Torch before the Mysteries of Genesis and from those so discover'd receive themselves with advantage the Glory and Splendor of Authority What more I essay'd thou seest the Issue which I wish may benefit Thee A Theologicall Appendix Of THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD CHAP. I. A Philosophicall discourse concerning the Creation of Heaven and Earth 1. SInce we find by universall experience without any exception that not only the Operations but even the very Subsistence of all bodily Substances is by continued steps brought from possibility to be in act nor can we doubt that the parts and the whole are of the same nature 't is evident the Beginning of the Universe it self if we suppose it manag'd according to the nature of Bodies must proceed by the same rule that from the nearest power and possibility in which it could be it has been rip'ned by degrees to this excellent beauty and did not by instantaneous Creation immediately start into perfection 2. Because therefore God subsists by the very necessity of Being it self and in Being it self there can be nothing of imperfection 't is clear that His ultimate intrinsecall formality and free act preexists before not only the existence but even the very essence of all and every Creature as much as whatever is most essentiall in Him 3. As also that this Being which they have receiv'd from God is the nature of the Creatures nor can they otherwise flow from God then according to their naturall condition Especially since God acts not to attain an end prefix'd to himself but this is His end if we may call any thing an end in respect of God that the Creatures should be so as in his Essence Science and Will He has predesin'd their determinate nature fixed and inviolably to be that the whole Universe might emane His most beautifull Image and in a manner a most adequate participation of Himself 4. So that all things that are to have their most connaturall quality as far as it can stand impartially with the perfection of their fellow bodies this is that which God will'd and what in effect he has brought to passe 5. Be this therefore firmly establisht that God not instantaneously but by a congruous disposition of diverse degrees brought up the world from its deepest possibility that is its simplest and fewest principles to its due perfection 6. Again because neither materia prima nor any other part of a Thing but only Physicall Compound is apt to receive Exiastence and of Physicall Compounds the most simple and as it were most poten tiall that is next above mere possibility are the Elements and something must of necessity have flow'd instantaneously from God It follows that some one or more of the Elements were by Creation call'd by God out of the common Abysse of nothingnesse 7. But not one only Element was created For since Motion does not follow out of the sole vertue of Creation nor could Motion be without Division nor Division without a Substantiall difference of the divider from the divided nor this be made even by Angelicall vertue without time it follows that more Elements were created immediately by God 8. Yet not all the four Since FIRE we call an Element that makes it self be seen which implyes Action but corporeall action is not without motion nor motion from pure Creation 9. But of the other three Elements no one could be conveniently omitted For EARTH and WATER are those we see mixt by Fire through the whole course of Nature and Fire is immediately generated and nourished by AIRE If any one therefore of these three had been wanting the matter had been unfit for Angelicall operation 10. Three Elements therefore were created nor those confus'd in a Chaos for such a confusion had not exhibited the most simple matter but a disorder'd multitude of mixt things since mixt things emerge from a mere confusion of the Elements 11. Earth therefore was the inmost as the densest and of constant nature Aire was the outmost as the most opposite to Earth the middle both Nature and Place water possess'd CHAP. II. An Explication of GENESIS concerning the same 1. LEt 's see now whether the Christians most ancient Theology deriv'd from the Hebrews speaks consonantly to this God saies it in the Beginning created the Heaven and the Earth The Beginning saies not so much a precedency to things that follow'd since it self was something of what was began as that nothing was before it Admirably therefore by this term 't is express'd that the Creation of Heaven and Earth was so instantaneous and in a manner before the rest that neither any Time interven'd nor was it self in Time It shews therefore that they were created out of nothing and that instantaneously and that the rest immediately follow'd out of these once put 2. Nor can it be doubted what it calles Heaven and Earth since the name of Earth is immediately us'd afterwards whence 't is evident that by the remaining name of Abysse is express'd what before was call'd Heaven otherwise the sacred Text is confused and imperfect 3. 'T is added that the Earth was void and empty according to the Hebrew expression solitude and emptinesse or rather of solitude and emptinesse for so the Hebrews often expresse their Adjectives The sense is clear that neither were there men upon the Earth whose properties are fellowship and conversation the privation whereof makes Solitude nor Plants and Animals which as bodies and utensils might fill the place and house of humane habitation 4. It follows that Darknesse was upon the face of the Abysse The word Abysse says a Gulph of waters whose bottom
is unknown or not reach'd and because the most simple manner of reaching is by Sight it properly signifies such a depth of water that Sight cannot reach its bottom Wherefore the sense is most easie that what it had formerly call'd Heaven was a vast diaphanous body upon which there was no Fire to enlighten it It affirms therefore directly that Fire was not created 5. But it subjoyns two parts of the Abysse whilst it says and the Spirit of the Lord was born upon the waters Clearly therefore it affirms three Elements EARTH WATER and AIRE were Created by God but not FIRE And that they were not confus'd is evident in that otherwise it had not been an Abysse that is a capacity of Light and a privation since by the commixtion of Earth the other Elements had been rendered opake Moreover the Spirits being born upon the waters denotes a distinction of Places between the other two Elements 6. But 't is observable that the word was born according to the force of the Originall term speciâ—ies that motion whereby Birds sustain themselves with open wings over their nests least they should crush their young ones and yet to defend them from the cold Whence a certain person amongst the Hebrews explicates it not weighing upon touching but not striking wherefore the Aire cover'd the water but press'd it not 'T is plain therefore that according to the propriety of the expression 't is specifi'd there was as yet no Gravitie and that the Aire is the first of the Elements whose property it is to have any heat in it 'T is evident therefore ther 's no gravitie in the Aire of its own nature and consequently that 't is not an intrinsecall Quality in the other Elements but is in them from the operation of Fire and the order of Agents CHAP. III. A Philosophicall discourse of the vvorks of the tvvo first daies 1. THe Matter of the World being Created it remains that we see what follow'd by the additional operation of Creatures And because the operation of Angels is no other then rarefaction nature wanted its naturall instrument viz. Fire for This we see principally made use of for almost all naturall effects especially the generation of Substances and This is not rais'd out of Water and Earth immediately without first becoming Aire it must be that the Angels or Angel whose task this was by rarefying the Aire rais'd a vast Fire 2. And since there are many sorts of Fire and that which far from the fiery body smoaks no longer but shoots out directly with pure rayes is by a speciall name call'd Light Light must needs have been made by the Angels through the rarefaction of pure Aire as from which no Smoak rises 3. Nor is it lesse certain this must be done in the very confines of Aire and water For since the Angels could not in an instant convert Aire into Light and a locall motion of the neighbouring bodies follows upon rarefaction the Aire must needs have been mov'd whilst 't was yet in the form of Aire and since motion cannot be without a plurality of Substances 't is plain that the Aire divided the water and consequently the first Fire was rais'd in the confines of both 4. Since therefore the Fire being rais'd of necessity acted upon the water it follows that the Waters being stir'd those particles to which the Fire stuck being rarer then the rest and coveting still a larger place by their own and the denser parts of the Water's motion must needs be thrust out into the Aire which is more yielding and those excluded be aggregated together specially towards the Light where by reason of the more vehement action there must needs be greatest abundance of them and more flowing from one side then another since naturall causes work not rigorously even the whole masse of Water and Earth adhering to it by little and little attain a motion towards the same Light so that successively and by parts it rol'd in a Circle and was enlightned having in some places Night in others Day 5. Besides another effect must evidently have follow'd from this production of Light viz. a vast abundance of Clouds be rais'd up into the Aire which by the circulation of the Light about the inferiour Globe must necessarily be remov'd a vast distance from the Globe it self and the Light Whence being no longer sensible of the Globe's attraction they could not by any order of Causes be remitted back towards the Globe Thus therefore ther 's a vast space establisht between the waters in the Globe whence the Clouds were extracted and between those very Clouds themselves which may keep them from one another separate for ever or at least till the end of the World CHAP. IV. An explication of Genesis concerning the same 1. WHat says Theology to this It says And God said Let there be Light and LIGHT was made Speech and command are address'd to another clearly therefore it reaches that by the intermediate operation of Angels Light was made 2. And it was made clearly shews that the making immediately and instantly began viz. that there was no delay in the intermediate Instrument wherefore that 't was an Incorporeall Substance which needed not be mov'd that it might move Moreover the word he said which implyes Knowledge declares it to have been an Intelligent Instrument 3. It adds And God saw the Light that it was good Goodnesse is perfection namely because the nature of the Elements by the addition of Fire was compleat and perfected therefore Light is said to be good Again because the rest of the Elements were passive and Light active therefore Light is call'd good or perfect for what has attain'd an aptitude to produce or make its like is esteem'd perfect in its kind 4. It follows And he divided the light from the darknesse c. 'T is plain this division was made not by Place but by Time since Day and Night are parts of Time and consequently that motion or the diurnall conversion was now begun which is declar'd by those words and he call'd the light Day and the darknesse Night For since as yet Man was not to whom words might be significant He call'd is as much as he establisht the Essence of Day and Night for a name or appellation denotes the essence or quiddity of the Thing nam'd 5. 'T is added and the Evening and the Morning was made one Day in the originall Text and the Evening was made and the Morning was made or the Evening was and the Morning was From which Phrase 't is understood that this motion had for its term whence the Evening and for its term whether the Morning and consequently that the motion was made in a Subject to which it agrees to have Evening and Morning that is in the Earth and that it was from West to East that is towards the Light 6. Again And God said let there be a FIRMAMENT in the midst of the Waters and let it
therefore Philosophy teaches that even that complexion of nature which rises from acquir'd habits and exercise is apt to be deriv'd to the Issue much more that which was by Nature planted in Adam would have pass'd into his Posterity His Children therefore had he not sin'd would have attain'd from their Origin a certain equability of Passions whereby they would have grown easily obedient to Reason or rather they would have had no passion more vehement then was just fit so that they would have felt no difficulty in following right Reason from which disposition he seems not to have St. Bernard been far of whom 't is wonderfully said that Adam in him had not sin'd 7. Whence the perverse motion of the will in our first Parents was apt to proceed only from extrinsecall sollicitation So we see in the answer of Eve that she was content with the command 'till the Devil proposing a shew of fallacious reason which she could not see through had fastened as it were her mind to the delectable form of the Apple before her by which fastening that naturall equality was corrupted which too in like manner happened to Adam through his amorous fixednesse to his wife as may be collected out of his words wherein ther 's no praising of God the giver but only a commemoration of the lovelinesse of the woman 'T is evident therefore that the naturall principles of motion and passion were corrupted in both our Parents and so in Generation an inequality was deriv'd to their issue not one equall to Theirs but one far greater it being now corrupted from the change of site to the Heavens and the quality of the Aire and Food and so irrecoverably their Posterity drew from the Womb of their Mother an Origin or inclination to sin 8. Which negation of equability because 't is in a subject to which an equality is due by its Creation attains the nature of a privation and because the guilt of Adam is in it or because we derive our Origin from him 't is therefore call'd ORIGINAL not formall SIN and because 't is impossible that Man infected with this can live without sin by the strength of nature without new Grace therefore Nature is call'd the Slave of Sin and given up into slavery to the Devil But whether Originall sin comprehends besides an indisposition of the sensitive Soul a privation of Charity consequent from it in the Issue because ther 's nothing offer'd out of our text spoken concerning that matter I leave to the curious 9. It suffices us that out of what has been said it may be understood how Originall Sin is singular in every one how 't is deriv'd by Generation and how it proceeds from the fault of another 10. Of these things that have been said I know not whether we have not in some measure an Example in Cain and Abel Cain being conceiv'd in Sin perhaps the very night after eating the forbidden fruit before God by punishment had provok'd them to Penance Abel in the time of Penance whence Cain contracted in the conception his Mothers envy against God Abel her humility and piety wherefore what our Interpreter renders I have possest a Man by God may be more truly translated I have loved a Man against God CHAP. XV. Of the Propagation of Mankind out of the same 1. AFter the Death of his Brother Cain departed into the barrener parts as appears from his Curse And this was the first occasion of filling the severall quarters of the Earth And he is said to have sojourn'd towards the East from Eden or rather towards the West for the originall letter has it he sat down in a strange Country before Eden that is he dwelt in a far Country before Eden that is to which the face of Eden is turn'd Adam and his Family being suppos'd to look after him when he went from them that is to the West or having Eden Eastward Now Eden seems to be call'd that Country in which Adam dwelt in memory of the Pleasure he had there 2. And the sacred Authour prosecutes the Generations of Cain to the seventh descent and tels us the Cities that were built and the Arts both for use and pleasure invented in them But how many years each generation contain'd he mentions not but 't is likely they were shorter then the generations assign'd to Seth whence in the time of Enos which extends to about a thousand years after the nativity of Henoch the first-born of Cain the children of Adam on Cain's side may have been exceedingly multiply'd and that hap'ned which is written that in his time The invocation of the name of the Lord was polluted viz. in most of the posterity of Seth and Adam through their Marriages with the daughters of Cain 3. For since the Sons of Seth and the rest that liv'd with Adam may seem to have follow'd a Pastorall life and to have liv'd temperately but the Daughters of Cain to have been delicate and luxurious there appears on the Male's side strength and virility and on the Female's abundance of Moisture figurable by heat whence 't is consonant that a vast and robust issue was born out of their conjunction And out of confidence of their great forces men are prone to fall to injuring and oppressing the weak whence Lamech call'd it a consolation to kill all man-kind according to the by-word that saies 'T is better to be alone then ill accompanied 4. But whether they were of a huge stature of body such as we call Giants appears not out of the sacred History where nothing else is said but that they were Oppressours Strong and such as got themselves a Name or fame CHAP. XVI Of the FLOUD out of the same 1. WHen therefore they were impenitent whilst Noe built the Ark to save the few just that is eight persons the waters began to poure down upon the Earth which Genesis describing saies thus Such a year moneth and day all the Fountains of the great Abysse were broken up and the Cataracts of Heaven were opened there was made a Rain upon the Earth fourty daies and fourty nights The originall text for were broken up has slit themselves and for Cataracts a word which signifies occult cavities from a word which imports as much as to ly in wait as if it would say that the Repositories of heaven wherein God had plac'd as it were waters in ambush were opened 2. To these is to be added that place in the Second of Peter wherein 't is said there was of old a Heaven and an Earth of waters and by waters consisting by the word of God by which that world then overflowâ—d with waters perished But it cannot be understood as if the Earth consisted of Water which is no where written but rather the contrary viz. that the Earth was created together with the Waters the sense therefore is that Heaven consists of waters the Earth by waters to wit mingled together by that mighty fire
before above the highest Mountains as also then those which the water had abated from the top of the highest Mountain to the top of that upon which the Ark rested wherefore to these Cubits about seventy daies are assign'd 5. From the discovery of the Mountain-tops to the appearing of the Earths superficies about fifty five daies more are counted both because every day the Sphear became more contracted and the Sun more ardent through the reflection from the higher parts of the Earth as also because the motion of the water now concurr'd whereof the divine Book says nothing but and the waters return'd from the Earth going and coming and again but the waters went and decreased There can be no doubt but this motion of the waters since it proceeded from the Wind which rose from the Sun follow'd principally Its course that is was from East to West and consequently that the water is said to have gone and come because the water which was mov'd under the Aequator farther off from the Aequator return'd by the force of gravity because the water was lower in those parts out of which it had been expuls'd by the Wind And this 'till the mountain tops appear'd was regular but afterwards by incountring the mountains and higher parts of the Earth this course of the water at least in those parts was interrupted 6. Whence ther 's no farther mention of it though its effect towards drying up the water began then to be greatest For by this flux of the water the Earth by degrees was heap'd up towards the mountains and there was a more ample Channell dig'd for the waters especially in that part which was to remain cover'd with them Whence the fourth book of Esdras witnesses that at the Creation of the World there remain'd only a seventh part cover'd with waters but now Cosmographers will have the Superficies to be half Sea 7. Moreover by this agitation if any Cave remain'd empty within the Earth there was a passage opened to it for the waters Whence it appears what became of such a mighty bulk of water for no little part of it was consum'd by the Sun in Wind and to condense the upper Aire to that proportion which was convenient for the nature of things another part was swallow'd up into the cavities of the Earth the rest having dig'd it self a vast Channell remain'd in that part of the Earth which we now call Sea 8. But I must not passe over this place without advising that the Cause of the flux and reflux of the Sea is clearly taught to proceed from the Wind as 't is explicated in Physicks the Scripture straight adding and the waters return'd from the Earth going and coming immediately after the bringing the Spirit upon the Earth But some may object that during the fourty daies rain there was no such wind and consequently no Flux of the Sea neither and because the Diurnall motion follows from that neither can there have been Daies and Nights 9. 'T is answer'd Such vast Clouds and Rain could not happen without Tempests and consequently since this Rain was regular a regular Wind too accompany'd it and this according to the course of the Sun since the greatest heat is not to be expected but under the Sun The Wind therefore was more vehement those fourty daies to roul about such a Masse of waters whence the equality of daies and nights may have been preserv'd either wholly or very near 'T is a sign too of a Wind that the Ark is said to be carry'd upon the waters and to have rested upon a Mountain whereas 't was made in a Vally 10. The sacred Historian seems to add two other causes of the decrease of the waters viz. the shutting up of the Fountains of the Abysse and of the Cataracts of Heaven or the prohibition of Rain from Heaven But this later cause is clearly an effect of the wind 's being calm'd and of the Clouds being all spent as already fallen down upon the Earth And the former is an effect of the drying of the Mountains for because the Mountains were dry'd vapours began to ascend into their tops which flow'd out in little channells and rivulets as before the Deluge whence it appears that their reading too who interpret it the fountains of the Abysse were reveal'd comes to the same thing CHAP. XVIII Of the Covenant made vvith NOE after the Floud out of the same 1. AT length Noe and his family being gone out of the Ark God made a Covenant with them that he would overwhelm the Earth no more with waters and plac'd for a sign of the Covenant His Bow in the Clouds And that the Rainbow is indeed a sign there shall be no Deluge at that time is evident from hence that unlesse the Sun shine otherwhere there appears no Rainbow 't is clear therefore that there is not enough Rain in the Clouds to o'rewhelm the Earth 2. But since these words were said to Noe who had already liv'd six hundred years if he had beheld the Rainbow so many years and afterwards experienc'd the Floud he could not but have wondred it should import such a signification We must say therefore that without doubt the Rainbow was never us'd to be seen before the Floud nor is it hard to render a reason on 't out of what has been said 3. For since Naturalists tell us a Rainbow is made out of a double or triple reflection or refraction of light in every drop of a light show'ry cloud whence proceeds this variety of colours and light so weak and scattered or the foresaid colours cannot reach our Eyes at such a distance unlesse the Aire be very clear and pure and through the humidity of the Earth joyn'd with heat a thick Aire inveloped the Earth all that time 'T was absolutely impossible a Rainbow should be seen 4. Besides it seems that for all the later years a great masse of Clouds must needs have so cover'd the face of the Heavens that the Sun was rather felt then seen as we find 't is for whole weeks sometimes together in Winter in those Northern Countries which yet are not excessively cold No wonder therefore the Rainbow had not shew'd it self before the Floud 5. Next 't is to be observ'd how God contracted the Age of men and with what he requited it Now 't is evident that the Earth by means of the Deluge became far colder and dryer That 't was colder after such a Masse of waters so long not only covering and compressing it but penetrating into its very bowells any one will believe 6. But that water should dry will perhaps hardlyer rellish but if we consider that sodden things are rendred dry through the extraction of their naturall moisture when they are too much boil'd if we reflect that Trees are thrown by Timber-men into water least their native moisture should exuberate into rottennesse and worms and after a convenient time they are taken out again dryer then at first