and prest down So that unless this our Planet be surrounded quite about with other Planets no force can make it extend into an oblong but it will as I said extend into an equal Circumference And if they be so placed round about then all the Planets must be equally oblong on their pressing side yet none of them do appear unto us in an oblong but in a round form And further he himself acknowledges the Planets all to lie one above another and so they can only press one another into a round Circumference as I said before We find yet no cause for an oblong form And how knows our Theorist of what matter the other Planets are composed whether they all proceeded from such fluid Masses as ours did and setled all alike at the same time and whether their outward Circumference be of Air or Fire And if they be then those outward parts would yield one to another and stretch out very far before they came to operate upon the more solid body of the Earth Many more are the difficulties which would arise from this his Planets pressing one upon another but I will not trouble my head to object any further than only to shew him that this his Planets Pressing one upon another cannot possibly cause an oblong form in this our Earth it can only force it into a flat Circumference XII But I will pass from this to another matter in his New-found World which he hath made void of Fountains or any other means to water and refresh it and hath brought in a new invention of Rivers towards the Poles caused by vapours descending from the superiour Region and running towards the Torrid Zone by degrees branching themselves out with several as it were Veins and thus to afford moisture to all the parts of his New Earth I observe that he mentions several Pools and Lakes made by these Rivers as they run Southward for so he describes them and sets them forth in a Map pag. 231. I have now a great difficulty which I desire him to resolve me in How these hollows for Lakes and Channels for so great Rivers as they must needs be when one River divides it self as it goes into so many parts towards the Torrid Zone I say how these Hollows and Channels came to be in his perfect spherical World For I hope he will not desert his own Principle That all fluid Bodies being congeled or concreted rest in the same form as they were in before concretion Who then made these Channels for the Rivers to run in or Hollows for his Lakes to settle in Truly this doth not seem to me coherent with his new form of Earth for the vapours coming down from above upon his new Earth supposing it to be perfect spherical must needs either disperse abroad or sink equally in all places where they fall and can have no descent to carry them any way and thus cannot make up so great a body as we suppose his Rivers must be towards the North where they fall Nor will I allow any declivity from his Poles towards the Torrid Zone having shewed him already that it is impossible by his Principles to shape his Earth into an oblong form but all must be spherical Besides when Rivers run in a Channel they never part but meeting with some obstruction of higher ground that forces them to divide and then his Rivers dividing into so many several parts plainly shews his Earth hath many Hilly obstructions which force them to divide into several branches And this business of Rivers will wholly destroy this new Fabrick of the Earth for there can be no running of water where the Earth by reason of its spherical form can have no Channels to receive the Rivers nor any declivity or sinking ground to convey them from the place they were in If he answers to the business of Channels That though there were none at the first framing of his new Earth yet the falling of those vapours which arose in the South and came flying into the North and there descended might in time work down Channels into it and so make a Current for Rivers to run in I grant a strong fall of water continuing in one place might make the earth sink into a hole and so flow over the parts adjoyning but I cannot see any cause that should make those vapours descend any otherwise than in mists and foggs upon the Earth for there being no fierce winds to drive them in his temperate air they must needs fall as they rise universally and gently scarce sensible in one place more than another and thus falling equally upon the spherical ground would water all the Earth alike and make no Channels in it to convey them into the Southern parts there being as I said before no declivity to help them forward towards the South Moreover Channels are not made but by great falls of water when it descends from much the higher ground into the lower and with such little banks of earth on each side keeping it in as forceth the current to carry the earth away before it And I pray whither should this earth be conveyed in his Spherical World So that of necessity the mists as I said falling gently upon such a perfect round must equally distend themselves into all parts alike and sink into the ground rather than make a current to get away But suppose a Current might be made by gentle falls in a very long time yet how should all Mankind and all Beasts live without Water during the time of making so great Channels for such mighty Rivers as to convey Water enough to disperse it self into several Veins for many thousand miles till they reached the Southern parts and make new Channels still by the way as it runs to water the whole Earth There is much more untouched than I have handled which I leave unto others my old Head being wearied with following him thus far XIII I shall conclude all with that which our Theorist concludes his Preface with viz. His sincere intention of his Theory was To justifie the Doctrines of the universal Deluge and of Paradise and protect them from the Cavils of those that are no well-wishers to Sacred History and how that upon this account he may well expect fair usage and acceptance with all that are well disposed And truly for my part could I find but the least appearance of sincere intention in him or that he had any way cleared these Doctrines I should upon either account have pass'd over in silence any or all his extravagancies But in my poor judgment he hath neither shewed sincerity of intention nor cleared any Doctrine of Scripture For he hath not handled the Scripture sincerely in any one place of moment but in some places flatly contradicts them as I have shewed Others he hath wrested and turned from their own plain and easie understanding obscuring all and forcing from them a most remote and difficult sense far different from the common understanding of all Learned and Sober Men And talks in so high a strain of the Key that he has brought into the World to open Mens Understandings for many dark and obscure places in Scripture making them facile and easie to common sense as if his Key were the very Key of David applied by all unto our Saviour himself And as for his explaining the Doctrines of the Universal Deluge and of Paradise I pray you let us a little consider each one apart XIV And first for the Deluge I do not know any one Doctrine of moment in the Old Testament that seems to me more easie than that of the Deluge which Moses hath described so exactly and plainly as 't is fitted for any vulgar capacity But by our Theorists Interpretation it is made most obscure and difficult and set forth in such Romantick terms that it is ridiculous to understanding Men and not intelligible to the Vulgar XV. As for the Doctrine of Paradise I confess I do not know a more dark and difficult matter in all the Scripture and I must needs say with S. Austin it is ab hominum cognitione remotissimum But terrestrem esse Paradisum seems to me certissimum There is nothing more remote from the knowledg of Men than the particular place of Paradise yet that there was such a particular place is evident by that particular description which Moses gives of it speaking of several Rivers that branched out from that of Paradise Whereas our Theorist in flat contradiction to Moses makes Paradise to be the whole Antediluvian Earth which he saith was Paradisiacal all over and would needs have Adam to be placed at first towards the Southern Pole and from thence to be driven towards the Northern dividing his Antediluvian Earth into two habitable parts by the Torrid Zone but doth not tell us how he was conveyed through that scorching Region Nor can I understand why he should be put to so long a Journey and so dangerous a Passage when according to him the Earth was as much Paradisiacal on one side of the Torrid Zone as the other And therefore concerning these two Doctrines of the Deluge and Paradise he hath made that of the Deluge much more difficult and that of Paradise he hath left if not more yet full as unintelligible and less credible because less agreeing with Scripture XVI I could enlarge much more upon either of these two Subjects but my business is not to say any thing of my own but to shew in a short and compendious way the absurdity and audacity of this Man who so confidently sets himself to oppose the whole World being so besotted with his own vain and heathenish Opinions and not resting satisfied with Moses's History of the Creation nor with his plain and easie description of the Deluge pretending forsooth the Sincerity of his Intention whereas it is in reality the Pride and Vanity he takes in his own Philosophical Invention FINIS ERRATA Page 16. line 3. for First read Fifth and at the bottom insert the word The. p. 84. l. 1. for pleased r. pleases p. 86. l. 13. for Highest r. Highness p. 116. l. 11. for it r. its p. 126. l. 13. for Wills r. Wits p. 127. l. 20. for Penman r. Penmen p. 136. l. 12. leave out the word of p. 155. l. 20. insert the word and after the word brake
Then v. 27. When he prepared the heavens I was there when he set a compass upon the face of the Deep or Abyss When he established the Clouds above when he strengthned the fountains of the Abyss Here is mention made of the Abyss and of the Fountains of the Abyss And who can question but that the Fountains of the Abyss here are the same with the Fountains of the Abyss which Moses mentions and were broke open as he tells us at the Deluge Let us observe therefore what form Wisdom gives to this Abyss and consequently to the Mosaical and here seem to be two expressions that determine the form of it v. 28. He strengthened the Fountains of the Abyss that is the cover of those Fountains for the Fountains could be strengthened no other way than by making a strong cover or Arch over them And that Arch is express'd more fully and distinctly in the foregoing verse When he prepared the Heavens I was there when he set a compass on the Face of the Abyss we render it Compass the world signifies a Circle or Circumference or an Orb or Sphere So there was in the beginning of the World a Sphere Orb or Arch set round about the Abyss according to the Testimony of Wisdom who was then present Thus far our Theorist And in this last part he faith very true that in the beginning the form of the Abyss was in a Circle or Circumference for it encompassed the Earth round about But our Theorist would have the Earth to encompass the Abyss round about and the Abyss included within the Earth which is clean contrary to Moses Gen. 1. 9. where God said Let the Waters under the Heavens be gathered together unto one place and let the dry Land appear In which words you may observe two things First that next unto the Firmament or the Heaven were placed the Waters for v. 7. it is said God made the Firmament and divided the Waters which were under the Firmament from the Waters which were above the Firmament So that the Firmament was in the middle of the Waters Water above and Water below it But our Theorist in his new World makes the Earth to divide the Waters for all the Abyss was encompassed by the Earth clean contrary to Moses The second thing I desire you to take notice of is that when the Waters thus encompassed the Earth God said Let them be gathered together unto one place and let the dry Land appear So that until this Command of Gods of gathering the Waters together unto one place no dry Land appeared but all was covered with Water But our Theorist clean contrary orders his matters so that dry Land only appeared in a perfect Arch round about the Waters and no Water at all appeared And thus you see how rarely he hath interpreted this compass of the Abyss mentioned here in the Proverbs His following interpretation of v. 28. is as rare He strengthened the Fountains of the Abyss That is according to Wisdom he made them run with a strong Current or to abound with Water as Wisdom expresseth it v. 24. I was brought forth when there were no Fountains abounding with Water But our Theorist in his new Earth will have no Fountains at all abounding or flowing with Water no Fountains at all but saith that the Fountains could be strengthened no other way than by making a strong cover or Arch over them and that Arch was the whole Earth which had not one Fountain in it abounding with Water So that he makes the Fountains of the Abyss to be only the Abyss without any Fountains appearing and the strengthening of the Fountains of the Deep must be to make no Fountains at all of the Deep You see now how little this place of the Proverbs is to his purpose but rather quite contrary to his new Spherical Earth where he would have neither Mountains Hills nor Sea whereas in this Chapter v. 25. there are both Mountains and Hills plainly declared Wisdom saying Before the Mountains were settled before the Hills was I brought forth And again v. 29. when I gave to the Sea his Decree that the Waters should not pass his Commandment when he appointed the Foundation of the Earth Here you see Mountains Hills and a Sea confined to its bounds at the very beginning of the World when the Foundations of the Earth were first settled All which is as he saies a remarkable passage indeed to confute his new-found World far from confirming it XXII There is another Scripture also which our Theorist makes use of to prove that the Earth was above and the Waters all contained in it and brings for this Psal. 24. 1. The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein v. 2. For he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods So our Translation hath it upon the Seas But the Word in the Original is Al which signifies as well near or by as upon as you will find it Psal. 1. 3. where it is said of the Righteous he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water Here the same word Al is put for by or near the Rivers of Water which Psal. 24. is translated upon And thus it is interpreted by several Authors He hath founded it juxta by the seas and established it by the floods But perchance our Translators might have regard to another thing in this expression upon the Seas because the Earth hath very great hollows and Caverns in it full of Water from the Sea over which the Earth doth stand and so may be said to be founded upon the Seas the Waters of the Sea passing under the Earth and runing through it to the tops of the Mountains and there springing forth with great Fountains run down the Valleys as it is exprest Psal. 104. 8. where it is said of the-Waters they go up by the mountains they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them And so Psal. 33. 7. 't is said He layeth up the depth in store-houses in those great hollows under the Earth from whence Fountains arise to water it all over And in these Store-houses also he reserved Waters to overflow the whole Earth at the Deluge when the Fountains of this great Deep were broke open and made to run in that excessive manner as together with the forty daies Rain caused an universal Deluge XXIII Another place he makes use of is Psal. 136. 4. where David speaking of the Wonders of God saith To him who alone doth great Wonders for his mercy endureth for ever And then v. 6. To him that stretcheth out the earth above the waters This David recounts as a great wonder for the Waters by their natural situation should be above the Earth and were so at the first Creation the Abyss or great deep encompassing the Earth round But God gathered all the Waters together and made the dry Land
this particular description of Moses which is so plain as I do not know how he could speak plainer telling us how the Deluge was caused this Man hath the confidence to make a very different relation of it Job 28. God asks him a question Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth Declare if thou hast understanding So I may well say to this Man Where wast thou when I brought a Deluge upon the Earth Declare if thou hast understanding Sure this Man was not then in being and therefore can discover no more unto us of that Deluge but what he received from others And I desire to know of him whether any of the Antients except the fabulous Heathens have delivered unto him any different narration from Moses concerning this Deluge the Christians sure have no other nor had the fews any other before them who are the men most likely to retain such a Tradition written or unwritten for Abraham had Sem the Son of Noah to instruct him in all things during his whole life of a hundred and seventy years Sem dying after Abraham as all conclude by a just computation Is it not then a strange thing that this Fraction of the Earth being the principal Cause given by this Man for the Deluge and without which there could be none as he affirms I say again Is it not very strange that Sem should not relate so wonderful a matter to Abraham unto whom doubtless he delivered the narration of the Flood with all its circumstances The other Sons of Noah Ham and Japhet lived also many years after the Flood and it is as strange that none of them should mention it to their Posterity and so it might have been conveyed unto Heathens also Yet no man in the World hitherto hath uttered one syllable of it And therefore I think I may safely affirm and he will be very well pleased with it if I say no Author in the World ever understood the Deluge or related it in such a manner as he hath found out and consequently may challenge to himself the glory of it if it be true but must bear the shame also if it be false But if you will have patience I will tell you in short the whole substance of this Deluge as he sets it forth XV. First he presupposes the World to have been before the Deluge of a smooth uniform surface of Earth as I shall shew hereafter without any Sea appearing but all the Sea was enclosed within a compass of Earth round about it and this Earth inhabited by all Mankind whose wickedness grew to be so great that God resolved to destroy them all except Noah and his Family who found favour with him And God foreseeing that the people of the World would grow so wicked as to deserve a destruction he so fashioned this World as at sixteen hundred years after the Creation it should in an instant fall all to pieces of it self And in this he admires God's great Wisdom but 't is his own invention setting it forth by the comparison of an Artists making a Clock with so rare an invention as not onely to strike at every hour but exactly at the end of a hundred hours it would all of it self fly asunder and break which would be far more admirable faith he than onely to make it so as to strike at each hour But now I pray you observe the rare Invention whereby this was effected This Earth at first you must suppose was a very Paradise but in process of time the Sun with its mighty heat so parched and filled it with chops and chauns which descended very far into the Earth and prepared it for a rupture and so heated the Waters within the Earth as it made them boil and send forth such violent furious vapours that the whole body of the Earty by their strugling to get forth was put into a terrible Earthquake and at length broke out in that raging manner as shattered this lower World to pieces which falling into that gulf of Water underneath great bodies of Earth tumbling down at once into it did so force the Waters up as to mount even to the very Heavens and so down again And by this means the Waters being cast up into the Air in several places one after another as the Earth tumbled down covered the Earth part after part as he supposes and thus made a Deluge for so he would fain have it Is not this a rare Romantick way and far exceeds all that ever hath been written of Sir Amadis de Gaule or the Knight of the Burning Pestle XVI Before I proceed farther I shall make some Remarks upon this his rare Invention First this whole body of the Earth like a vast great Pitcher was heating by the Sun sixteen hundred years together a wonderful thing One would have thought the Sun in six hundred years time or a thousand at most would have tried the uttermost of its strength and have set this Pitcher a boiling I pray you how thick was this Earth that it could heat the Waters under it He supposes a mile at least and yet in the hottest part of the World that we can now find do but make a Vault in the Earth twenty yards deep we shall find the Earth rather cold than hot and 't will yield a refreshment to any one that goes into it And sure our Torrid Zone is as hot as the Temperate Regions were in his fine World How then came his fine Earth to break into so many parts For we find when fumes or vapours are in the Earth and cause an Earthquake by their struggling mightily to get forth as soon as they have made a breach in one place to get out the struggling ceaseth and the Vapours come out in a Whirlwind Hurricane or some such thing And therefore had his Earth broken in some few places towards the Torrid Zone where it was most likely to break being thereabouts much more parched and chopt than in other parts methinks those vapours going forth at liberty his great Pitcher should cease from it boiling fury and the remaining body of the Earth might still have continued its dainty spherical form For certainly those parts under the Torrid Zone and nearit would have been more chopt and made ready for a breach in the first six hundred years than the Northern parts in the whole sixteen hundred especially considering the Earth as he would have it was set in that posture to the Sun and was so unfufferably hot thereabouts as no man living could endure it For so he sets it forth when he comes to treat of Paradise and dividing the World into two Hemispheres by the Torrid Zone and that men could not pass from one to the other by reason of the excessive heat Wherefore as I said it must needs be that this part must break many hundred years before the Northern part and the vapours got out the struggling and breaking of the Earth
should cease But he will say The Water coming out from thence might overflow all the Earth especially there being also great Rains at the same time To this I Answer according to his own Rule in his first Book Chap. 2. That all the Vapours in the upper Region condensed and become solid Water do not make up the hundredth part of what it was before To this he adds another Reason there an Experiment made by a Cubical Vessel set forth to receive the Rain in four and twenty hours the Waters received do not make up an inch and an half and then computes how much Water forty days rain would cause all which he concludes would amount to very little towards the Deluge for which he requires eight Oceans If this were so little as he would have it he must have all the rest from his Sea under the Earth But then he comes upon us with his Romantick flying Rivers as he expresseth it pag. 75. which like the great Dragon in the Apocalyps with their wonderful tails swept away a great part of Mankind Yet the greater part for ought I know might still remain and escape the Deluge For I would ask him how far these flying Rivers could reach We find when a mighty stone dashes into the Water the greatest part of the Water which is raised by it flies upward though some may rise obliquely on either side Let us now consider when two or three Mountains or half a dozen fall into his Gulf at once they might raise the Water oblikely a great way on either side I pray you how far Shall I yield unto him a hundred miles or five hundred miles sure I yield a great way yet this would come very far short of the Northern Poles And thus many men might have escaped the Deluge and been saved from it as well as Noah with his Ark. So that this Deluge would have been but a partial Deluge over a small part of the Earth a thing which he mightily argues against in the first Book of his Theory Chap. 3. for as I shewed before the Earth must needs break in those parts next the Torrid Zone several hundred years before the Northern And thus the greater part of his habitable World would have escaped the Deluge Again I pray you consider what Moses saith of the Flood and this Man urges also upon other occasions when it seems to serve his turn as when he argues against the Creation of new Waters for that would make a sudden rise of Water against which he urges the words of Moses who saith That the Flood increased by degrees till at length it lifted up the Ark above the Earth and carried it upon the face of the Waters and so decreased by degrees but now the case is altered and the Waters must dash up and turnble down on a sudden Is this increasing by degrees forty days or forty hours when the Water could not be four minutes in dashing up and so tumbling down again And thus he doth in several places of his Theory now Pro and then Con. XVII And now comes a thing very admirable He endeavours to screw out the ground of this Romantick Rupture from those few words of Moses The Fountains of the great Deep were broke open Mark you saith he Here Moses first speaks of breaking open From whence he concludes a great breach And of what The Fountains of the great Deep And this great Deep he supposes was all included within the Earth and had no Fountain at all issuing out for he allows no Fountains in his new Earth and therefore by Fountains you must conceive Moses doth not mean such flowing Fountains as we have but the breaking or cleaving the Earth asunder when the Water with the Vapours forced its way out But all this fansie of his is quite spoiled by himself he giving us a Rule and a true one Page 82. That Moses relating unto us the Deluge as an Historiographer ought to use common words and such as may express his meaning to the people to whom he delivered this relation Surely then the people who knew no other Fountains but such as usually we have flowing with Water must needs understand the like unto them and not such Fractions and breaches of the Earth as they never heard of before nor any man ever called Fountains Then he makes another Observation That Moses useth here the word great Abyss mentioned Gen. 1. 2. and not the common word for the Sea But I shall shew him that Moses doth call the same Abyss the Sea For Gen. 1. 9. those Waters which covered the Earth ver 2. were gathered together into one place and ver 10. God called those waters Seas And so we find that the Fountains of the great Deep and the Fountains of the Sea are both one and the same in the first Chapter of Genesis and therefore we in our Earth understand them so Moses calls them Fountains of the great Deep or Fountains of the Sea and by Fountains of the Sea we understand those that run from the Sea which were broken up whether Literally or Metaphoricaly as he pleases that is broken up and enlarged that they might flow in great abundance All this proves nothing to us nor to any man that hath not his head already filled with such a vain fansie as the rupture of the whole Earth But passing over all this let us now consider whether this be the Deluge that Moses meant XVIII He saith the Flood was forty days upon the Earth and the waters increased and bare up the Ark and it was lift up above the earth Here we have an increase of the Waters forty days by the flowing of the Fountains from the great Deep and the Windows of Heaven being opened both in the same day But in his description of the Flood he puts the Rain forty days before any breach of the Earth And when the Earth brake what became of the Ark Moses saith it was born up and lift above the Earth by the Waters prevailing but in his description the Earth must first break under the Ark and so the Ark necessarily must fall along with it into the Waters which were under the Earth And this he would have to be the same with lifting up above the Earth But poor Noah with his Sons and Daughters found it otherwise and surely were mightily amazed to find themselves so much deceived in God's Promise having taken so great pains to make an Ark to save them by swimming upon the Waters yet were now tumbled headlong down Ark and all into the Abyss A rare way of lifting up Then another great part of the Earth falling into the Abyss flounced the Waters up with a mighty force even unto the Heavens and made there as it were a flying River as his own words express it in the end of the sixth Chapter And so one piece of the Earth after another falling down into the Abyss there was such a commotion and tempest raised
day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly Men. But this they may be sure of that as by the Word of God they were warned then of the Deluge which came upon ungodly Men So now we give you warning that by the same Word of God this World at our Saviours coming shall be destroyed by Fire not only the Earth but the Heavens also shall melt with fervent Heat This is the plain and full meaning of St. Peter's words and this indeed is obvious to any understanding Person at first sight And this is St. Peter's business here to set forth Gods Judgments upon Sin and not the diversity of the old Heavens or Earth from the present for here is nothing mentioning any such diversity or opposition in the former Earth to the present Earth no more than in the former Heavens to the present Heavens where he would have a perfect Antithesis forsooth and a direct opposition between the former Heavens and Earth and the present Heavens and Earth Now let us hear St. Peter's words in the Original Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are willingly or wilfully ignorant that the Heavens were that is Created of old and the Earth situated out of the Water and by the Water but the present Heavens and Earth by the same Word are kept in store against the day of Judgment He doth not say here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This might be an Antithesis but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Heavens were Created of old by the word of God and so sure were the present Heavens And for the Earth he saith it was situated out of the Water and by the Water He doth not say the Heavens and the Earth were both so situated but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a participle of the Feminine Gender and Singular number agreeing with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Earth whereas had he meant the Heavens also were so situated he should have used another Gender and the Plural number so that this situation belongs only to the Earth Then follows But the present Heavens and Earth are by the same Word kept in store reserved unto Fire What opposition is here The Heavens and the Earth were Created of old by God But the present Heavens and Earth are by God reserved unto Fire Here is no diversity or opposition experst betwixt the old Heavens and Earth and the new Heavens and Earth but only the diversity or opposition between the two Judgments the one was only of the Earth by Water and the other is to be of both Heavens and Earth by Fire Not one word here of a disposition in the old Heavens to Water and the present Heavens to Fire nor any disposition in the Earth to the one of old or to the other now but that the former Earth was situated out of and by Water and is now reserved unto Fire Let our Theorist if he can shew me how the Heavens or how the Earth is now disposed for Fire I see not a word in St. Peter signifying any such thing tho he with his wonted confidence doth affirm it pag. 233 and say that St. Peter doth formally and expresly tells us that the old Heavens or the Antediluvian Heavens had a different constitution from ours and particularly that they were composed or constituted of Water and in the margin sets down 2 Epist. Pet. 3. 5. Now to say that a thing is formally and expresly told us sure you will expect to find that thing in the same formal or very words I pray you now look back upon the very words and see if you can find any such thing there Are there any such particular words there as he affirms that the Heavens of old were composed or constituted of Water Nor of the Earth is it said that it was composed of Water but that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies as well and as usually situated or settled and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often taken for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of And so the sense runs thus The Earth placed out of the Water and by or in the Water which cannot relate to the Heavens for then the participle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should as I said have been in the Plural number Nor can it be truly said that the Heavens are situated out of the Water and by the Water whatever may be said of the Firmament But he doth not use the word Firmament here but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Heavens which were of old Created by God in the Plural number all the Heavens the highest as well as the lowest VI. S. Peter having thus express'd the diversity of the Judgments he goes on and infers from the former Judgment that as they found by experience That the word of God threatening them with a Deluge came really to pass and all perished So the word of God now threatening them with a Conflagration will assuredly consume them This seventh Verse is a consequence inferred from the first and sixth Verses which were the Antecedent and the fifth Verse is so far from being Superfluous or Redundant as our Theorist would have it that from thence the Apostle takes the Rise of his Argument and begins That by the word of God the Heavens were of old and the Earth standing out of the Water and in the Water Whereby that is by which Waters the World of the ungodly that then was being overflowed with Water perished The Earth standing out of the Water and by the Water those Waters commanded by the word of God overflowed the Earth with the ungodly The Waters which were before miraculously restrained by the Word of God beingnow let loose by the same Word overflowed the world and would do so again were they not restrain'd for there the same disposition or rather situation of the Earth now as was of old but the Word Will or Promise of God is now otherwise than it was of old Whereof I shall speak more by and by The word of God goes along in all this Discourse and is set forth as the only cause of the Deluge of old and the Conflagration to come Which follows in the seventh verse But the Heavens and the Earth which are now by the same Word are kept in store by no disposition nor any natural cause preparing them for it reserved unto Fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly Men. For their sakes this Judgment is to be then brought upon the Heavens as well as the Earth And so there will be a total end of this World and then will follow as it is v. 13. according to Gods promise new Heavens and a new Earth whether literally or figuratively this Epistle doth not declare Let this Theorist with his strange Confidence declare what he pleases I am ready to declare my Ignorance herein But these Scoffers as they were willingly ignorant and forgetful how the
layeth up the depth in store-houses Which seems to express that which I said before That the Waters were partly above the Earth and partly below the Earth as in a Store-house But though the Waters stood as he saith on an heap above yet God set them a bound that they may not pass over and that they turn not again to cover the Earth Which Jeremiah expresseth also Chap. 5. v. 22. Fear ye not me saith the Lord Will ye not tremble at my Presence which have placed the sand for a bound of the Sea by a perpetual Decree that it cannot pass it and though the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it This passage also of Jeremiah is very remarkable Will ye not tremble at my Presence who have placed the Sea in that wonderful manner as it hourly threatens you with an overwhelming destruction and would certainly confound you did not I restrain it and keep it back by a perpetual Decree And whereas our Philosopher saith that God hath set Rocks Hills and Mountains and decreed those for bounds to the Sea I desire him to take notice that here Jeremiah speaks not of any such bounds but the Sand only where the Waves roar and toss themselves yet cannot pass over it because of God's Decree He gives that as a reason for their restraint from overflowing the lower ground and not the highest of the Land above which the Sea can as easily pass over as the lower Sands were it not kept in by Gods Decree For as I said before this great Abyss did once cover the whole Earth before God gathered it together and there setled it by a Decree and might as well again cover it were there no Decree to hinder it Now Davids expression and Jeremiahs also were very vain if the Sea as this Man would have it were so much below the Earth that it did not need any restraint from God to keep it from overflowing and therefore let the Waves roar and toss themselves never so much yet without any Decree of God it is impossible they should overflow the Earth and men need not at all tremble at Gods Presence in that regard but may sleep secure from any danger of a Deluge Which Blasphemy I hope he will not presume to speak or think And if to avoid this Blasphemy he should say that Gods threatning was not in vain because by his Omnipotent Power he could take away all those bounds of the Sea Rocks Hills and Mountains And what then he hath brought the ground level to such a place as Jeremiah spoke of before yet there Jeremiah saith the Waters were not able to overflow it But he will farther extend God's Omnipotent Power to raise the Waters tho they are below the Earth and make them come like flying Rivers such as he mentions in his Deluge and overflow the Land Mark you now This Man would not allow God to do the least Miracle to make good the common interpretation of Moses's words no by no means he must not alter the course of Nature and therefore he hath taken so great pains to invent his Fraction to save God from doing a Miracle But now God must do Miracle upon Miracle pull down Mountains and raise up the Waters and make them come flying as I said over the Earth if he will destroy these obstinate Jews So that the whole fabrick of his Design and Fraction is wholly spoiled And the Jews being assured by this Philosopher that God would not do such Miracles to destroy them were safe enough and Jeremiah's or rather Gods threats would still be in vain And thus by avoiding one Rock he falls upon another and a greater Incidit in Scyllam X. And so let us return to Moses who saith the Waters first covered all the Earth and then that God gathered them together in one place where they might lie together as a swelling Mountain for as David expresseth it Psal. 33.7 He gathereth the waters together as an heap He layeth up the depth in store-houses This Opinion then of the Seas being higher than the Earth is no such old and foolish Opinion as he expresseth it for we shall not take his Ipse dixit for any Confutation though ever so magisterially spoken And if he argues against this That the Land and Sea make up one entire Globe and therefore the Sea must not swell out so far as to spoil the fashion of it Sure the swelling of high Mountains so far above the Valleys quite spoils the spherical form of his whole Globe let the Seas swell or no. But by what doth he find us necessarily obliged to confess the Earth and Sea to be in such a perfect Globe as we may not allow the Sea to swell above the Earth Perchance he will say all must run in an equal line round about the Centre How then doth the Earth it self run in so unequal a line as from the highest Mountain to the lowest Valley And the Mountains for ought I know might have been as high again and yet the whole Globe subsist in the same place that it doth Again If every thing must lie in an even line how comes the Sea in its deepest Channel to lie so much below the Mountains or any thing at all below them the Earth being so much a heavier body than it and the Earth according to its gravity should lie so much below the Sea and that encompass it round about as it did at the first Creation Wherefore his Philosophical Suppositions and Reasons signifie little Gods Creation and appointment are according to his own Will and pleasure and every Element sinks and rises and keeps that station he hath appointed for it And if he comes now to confute me with his Mathematical Instruments and pretends to shew me that the Sea is not higher than the Earth by standing on the shore and taking a level I shall not at all hearken unto him for tho by his Instrument no considerable rise of the Sea may be discerned in one short view yet in many thousand miles a very great rising may be discovered when he comes into the main Ocean and therefore I shall desire him to assure me that he hath walked with his Instrument upon the grand Sea and taken an exact level from England to America and that in a most perfect absolute calm for the least commotion of the Sea will spoil his measuring and so go on into the other Ocean beyond America and take the level likewise of that Sea A hard task I lay upon him but yet very necessary seeing he goes about to confute me and Scripture too with his Mathematical Instrument and therefore it is no wonder if I require him to walk upon the Sea being in a perfect Mathematical level Nor is this rise of the Sea a vain and useless thing but kept up by God in this form by his perpetual Decree for the use and benefit of