lay down as a Principle sufficient to overthrow all the Author's Hypothesis this plain Proposition which being in it self so evident as not to need demonstration might be demanded as a Postulate and will be readily granted by all knowing Men viz. That all Bodies which tend to a Central Point as their place of rest must needs cast themselves into a Circular or Orbicular Figure And the Reason is plain and obvious because no natural Body in motion can stop till it comes at the place of Rest or as near it as possibly it can for the interposition of other Bodies that have their right to be before it Now since in a Circle or Orb all the points of the Circumference are equally distant from the Center Bodies which rest upon and are gathered about the Center must needs cast themselves into a round to be as near the place of rest as possibly they can From this true Position two undeniable Corollaries do result First That there can be no Vacuum or Place in the World altogether empty of some Body for Bodies tending towards a place of Rest must croud and touch one another contiguously for if any void Space should be betwixt them the succeeding Body would not be so near his Place as otherwise it might which is contrary to the Position laid down And then next that no Natural Body can shift or remove its place but that in exchange another must immediately possess it else there must needs be a Void in the Universe contrary to the Principle of Nature Not but that there are small and imperceptible Interstices more or less in all Bodies occasioned by the sight and position of the variously figured Particles of which they are constituted these being absolutely necessary for the motions changes and alterations of Nature as Generation and Corruption Growth Vegetation Rarefaction and Condensation Compression Expansion and the like which cannot be performed without them but that there should be any considerable Space wholly void and destitute of some body is inconsistent with the order and oeconomy of the World the being of Matter and the Idea of its Creator And thus the debate of Philosophers about the being or not being of a Vacuum may be easily reconciled and both may be in the right and both may be in the wrong according to the different Sense they spake in Now since Gravity is that Principle which gives natural Bodies their tendency towards the Center and yet seems not essential to the pure and abstract notion of matter of which they consist it would be worth the while to find out what Gravity truly is To guide us therefore into this Enquiry we are to conceive that the great Abyss of Matter which made the Chaos was no more but a Mass and Croud or aggregate of infinite Numbers of Atoms jumbled together in that vast Expanse without any property or quality but that of shape and figure according to the Opinion of the Ancient and Modern Corpuscularian Philosophers And that there being great variety amongst those indivisible Atoms as to their shape and figure some Globular some Angular and those of many different kinds whilst reeling in the dark and encountering one another fortuitously too if Naturalists be in the right according as the several Figures were fitted for union and coalition they combined and incorporated one with another some into a more close and compact some into a more lax and fluid concretion and divided themselves into several distinct and homogeneous Bodies Some of these Bodies then that consisted of more Atoms and parts of Matter closely compacted together and therefore taking up a less space since the bounds of the Expanse were not to be enlarged nor contracted but all filled did as they must needs do possess the middle part or center leaving the rest of the Expanse to be filled with the other Homogeneous Bodies according to the texture of the several constituent Particles which was either more close or loose as their Figures did suffer them to unite so that the Bodies that were of the most lax and open Concretion possest themselves of the Place most remote from the middle which is the circumference and the utmost limit of the Sphere or Vortex and the others in order filled up the intermedial Spaces betwixt the Center and that These distinct and homogeneous Bodies are those which are called the first perceptible Elements of Nature and by reason of the quantity of Matter they contain their solidity or fluidity challenging the Places that they possess in the Universe by what cause soever they are removed or displaced they naturally tend to the same again because there is no other Place for them all being full of the other Bodies which will not make room for them nor incorporate with them And this is that which is called Gravity and Levity according to which the Elementary Bodies possest themselves of their several Places in the Universe though indeed all affect to be as near the Center or Point of rest as they can from which they stir not unless the danger of a Vacuum or some other external Force or Violence compel them so to do According to this Philosophy if no other Power but that of Nature were concerned in framing of the Universe those great Bodies which we call the Elements though indeed they be not purely so must needs have subsisted in this Order First The Earth being the most weighty as consisting of most solid and compact Matter must have been as now it is the Basis and Foundation of all then the Water as coming nearest to it in consistence must have succeeded in place after it the Air then the Ether and last of all the Fire if any such Element exist separate from the rest to limit and circumscribe this World And since all these being in their proper Places according to the Laws of Nature and Gravity they must have rested and continued in that posture no Earth then could have been seen being covered and surrounded by the Orb of Water and the Superior Orbs being invisible to the Eye nothing must have appeared to the sight but a vast and spacious Globe of Water Now since we find it is otherwise and that the Earth is to be seen as well as the Water distinct and separate from it and both replenished with vast numbers of Beings animate and inanimate all harmoniously conspiring to the order and beauty of the whole Universe and to the mutual uses and advantages of each other which is far above the power of meer Matter to effect it must needs convince the most obstinate and prejudiced Materialist or Atheist that matter and nature are not eternal all-sufficient and independent but that they must derive their being and vertue from a Supream and Omnipotent Cause which hath brought Nature out of the Chaos of Matter and put all things into the decent state and order that we see them in and that this was so done in the beginning of Time when
A SUMMARY OF MATERIAL HEADS Which may be Enlarged and Improved into a Compleat ANSWER TO Dr. Burnet's Theory of the EARTH Digested into an ESSAY by a PENSIONER of the CHARTER-HOUSE Semper ego auditor tantum nunquamne reponam Juv. Cumâ—â—â—n Nullius 〈◊〉 jurare in verba Magistri Hor. LONDON Printed by T. B. and are to be Sold by the Book-sellers of London and Westminster 1696. To the RIGHT HONOURABLE The Governours of the Charter-House My Lords IT may seem Inconsistent with a Character Your Honours vouchsafe to bear That any who live under the Influence of Your Lordships special Care should be apprehensive of the Want of Protection And it would be so indeed My Lords did all keep within the Bounds and Precincts of the Liberties allotted them But since I have been so rash as to venture Abroad into the World it is from that Transcendent and more Extensive Character of Honour the Signature of Noble and Exalted Minds that displays it self in supporting the Weak and Defenceless and not from any Claim of Right arising from Promise or Stipulation That I can expect and do most humbly crave Your Lordships favourable Protection in a little Ramble that now I have made to the Press Had the Excursion been greater My Lords it is probable my Confidence would have been more Excusable and a fuller grown and more bulky Book would have born a truer Proportion to the Ambition I had of having brought a more Earlier Offering of Duty and Gratitude to Your Honours It was what I intended My Lords and should have performed had not my Design for want of kinder Nursing Fathers bin starv'd into this scanty and lank Essay Nevertheless I am inclin'd to think My Lords That the Bulk alone will be no Hinderance to its Acceptance nor to the Grant of that Favour which is humbly su'd for at Your Lordships Hands since if I be not very much impos'd upon little as it is it may do some Good in the World It is therefore in hopes of Your Honours Countenance and Approbation That with so short a Weapon I have engaged a Mighty and well Appointed Adversary The Attempt I confess seems rash My Lords but cannot think it will be look'd upon as Dishonourable since my Dagger is no Stiletto is neither poison'd nor rusty nor is it wrap'd up and hid within a treacherous Sleeve To such as may think it a little too sharp and keen I have this to say My Lords That it is the more like for that to do Execution and to prevent more trifling and fooling of Sophisters and Theorists with a Matter that is too serious to allow it or to admit of a dallying and perfunctory Dispatch And that it was an honest Concern for so good a Cause as that of Truth and Religion with a zealous Endeavour to undeceive if possible a licentious and prophane Age of a most dangerous Error into which many for no other Reason but that it is A la Mode are capriciously fond of being deluded that hath in a great Measure given it the Edge Were I to alledge other Personal and more particular Reasons for the Thing My Lords I should be blinder than indeed I am and that 's what no Man living can be if I mistook the proper Judges to whom I ought to Appeal But then again I should be rasher too My Lords than is fit for a Man in better Circumstances than I am in to be if by a Message from the Press I summon'd in Witnesses and an Audience to the Tryal It is too great a Trouble for Your Lordships at present That the Author with his little Naked Book is laid at Your Honours Feet humbly begging from your Acceptance and Protection a Covering for both against the foul Weather of Censure and Malice If this great Honour be to be obtain'd My Lords I shall then rest secure in the Confidence of being reputed to be what really and with all Submission I am My Lords Your Lorships most Dutiful And Obliged Servant and Votary ARCHIBALD LOVELL Brother and Pensioner of the Charter-House Charter-House June 16th 1696. A SUMMARY OF MATERIAL HEADS Which may be Enlarged and Improved into a Compleat ANSWER TO Dr. Burnet's Theory of the EARTH THE Learned Author of this Sacred Theory of the Earth Dr. Thomas Burnet Master of the Charter-House who allows the World to have been drowned by Water is pleased to object against the manner of the Deluge as it is related by Moses and his Reason for so doing in short is the difficulty of finding so much Water in the Universe as might effect so great and stupendious a Work for having by the help of Messenius calculated the proportion of the Water necessary to drown the Earth and rais'd the Flood to that pitch which Moses says the Waters did arise to above the Tops of the highest Mountains Though he doth acknowledge that there is as much Water at least to be seen on the surface of this our Globe as there is dry Land yet he concludes that it would require Eight Oceans as big as the present to perform the Work in the manner Moses says it was done And since so great a quantity of Water cannot be found in this World nor in probability borrowed from any where else it could not be had without the expence of Two great Miracles the one in creating so much Water as would be fit to do the business the other in annihilating the same after the Work was over so that since Deus natura nihil frustra faciunt if any other way or expedient can be found it is vain and unreasonable to have recourse to Miracles and this I take to be the strength of all the Reason and Argument that he has to object against the truth of Moses's Relation Now since the Author confesseth that there is as much Water as dry Land in the World I think one may venture to say that Intelligendo facit ut nihil intelligat he cannot see the Wood for Trees and that as much more would make it all Water for Two halves makes a whole So that were I not confined to the brevity of an Essay I should spend a little time to make it plainly appear that the Author has made an inauspicious Blunder in the beginning of his Work and indeed a greater Bull than the honest Irish-Man was laugh'd at for when he said They had broken his Stick into Three Halves for here the Author has broken a Whole into Ten Halves the Earth and the Ocean being already Two Halves he adds Eight Oceans more to make the Ocean half as big as the dry Land half which in all makes Ten Halves and all this performed by meer natural Philosophy without the help of Magick or Mathematicks But at present I shall proceed to shew how without a Miracle Water enough may be had in the World to bring a Flood upon the Earth and drown it in the manner Moses has related it To this purpose I shall
natural sort of Distillation which may be well illustrated by the ordinary Process of Distilling which doth exactly imitate the same Of this we have daily Instances but because they are so common but slightly observed as when Vapours and Exhalations attracted and raised by the heat of the Sun in the Day time fall again by Night in Dews But this is far more remarkable in the Instance of Water-Spouts And since that does conduce so much to the Illustration of what I am about and that I my self have seen one at Sea I will describe it with as much Plainness and Exactness as possibly I can Being at Sea and sailing between the Tropics in or about the 15 th or 16 th Degree of Northern Latitude one Morning when the Weather was very fair the Air serene not troubled with the least Cloud or Shadow of Meteor and the Sun shone very hot about Ten a Clock in the Morning a Sea-man at work on the out-side of the Ship alarm'd us with a Cry of a Spout a Spout the Curiosity of seeing this invited me as it did others to come upon the Quarter-Deck there I saw to the Larboard within about half a League distance from the Ship in the middle of the Ocean that then look'd as smooth as a Looking-Glass a Circle of Water which appeared not to be a quarter of a Mile in Diameter much differing from the rest of the Sea for the Water therein did goggle and wamble much faster and higher than any Copper or Caldron full of Water could have proportionably done over the intense Heat of an open Fire From this boiling Water there arose Steams as thick as the Smoak of a Brew-house or Glass-house but pure and white like that of the cleanest Wood or like thick and white Fogs that gather about the Tops of Trees in an Autumn Morning this Steam ascended impetuously as in a natural Alembeck consisting of two Pillars of a black Cloud which terminated above in a Point like a Cone wherein was a small Opening through which the Sun peeped and darted down his Rays upon the Circle of the Water underneath the thick sides of that Cloudy Alembeck or Cone which widened towards the Basis but reacht not the Surface of the Water by some little distance hindering the Sun-beams from being dispersed any where else so that in the space of Half an Hour after this first appear'd the whole Hemisphere was overcast with black thick and low hanging Clouds which soon bursting the Windows of Heaven were opened and poured down such a prodigious quantity of Rain in whole Cataracts as forced us all under Decks and this Rain lasted as I do remember near a third part of the time longer than the Clouds were a gathering in the manner aforesaid I had the Curiosity to taste a little of the Rain Water that I might know whether or no in so swift a Distillation it could be wholly purified from its Saltness and when I found an odd taste but what I could not call a brackishness in it the Master of the Ship rectified a mistake which otherwise I might have fallen into by telling me that since I had the Water out of the Ship 's Bucket that oddness of taste proceeded from the Pitch and Far of the Ropes from which it had drop'd but that the Water was sweet and fresh Now since subsistente causa subsistit effectus had this Distillation continued or been often repeated or had several other Spouts of the same kind happened in different Horrisons at the same time as what can be said to the contrary but that they might I dare be bold to affirm That in less time than Forty Days and Forty Nights which is the space assigned by Moses for the Encrease of the Waters to compleat the Flood the Waters would have prevailed and mounted as high above the Tops of the highest Mountains as Moses says they did nay more should the same cause be employed and continued a sufficient Space of Time it 's more than probable that not only the Water and Air might be blended and mixt together but that these two making then a Body still thicker than that of the Orbs above them by the same Operation the Ether and all the rest might be involved in the same Confusion and the whole World be turned into one Immense Globe of Water having the Earth as a Core remaining in the middle And that if a proper Menstruum were applied to dissolve it as such may be had in nature and who knows but that the Salt of the Ocean being then separated from it's Mixtion with the purer Elementary Water whose Globular Particles muffled and blunted the Edge of it's sharp Angels might prove such a Solvent Which then precipitating into the bottom might with it's sharp and aculiated Points exert its Corrosive Virtue open and attenuate the Solid Body of the Earth the Earth also might be reduced into its Original and Constituent Atoms whereby the World would again return to the old Chaos or Thales Melesius's First Principle of Water The Prophet Elijah it seems was not Ignorant of this Philosophy when after God Almighty had made him the instrument of the Miraculous Vindication of his own Glory and Worship from the Idolatry and False Worship of the Priests of Baal he had promised King Ahab Rain the Israelites having had none for three Years before he sat down upon the Top of Mount Carmel ordering his Servant to go seven times and look toward the Sea and to bring him word back what he observ'd there this his Servant having done and after the seventh time bringing his Master the News that he saw a Cloud rising from the Sea no bigger than a Mans Hand the Prophet thereupon sent to the King advising him to hasten home least he should be stop'd by the Rain which accordingly ensued immediately after now this having been observed in the Mediterranean where Spouts frequently happen and so like in all Circumstances to that which I observed in the Ocean they were both of them no doubt the effects of the same natural and ordinary Causes acting by the Will of God in an extraordinary Manner There have been several particular and local Floods and Inundations in the World as the Ogygian and other Floods of the Ancients taken Notice of by our Author in his Theory of the Earth and in most Countries there are daily Instances of Land Floods and Inundations Now since in all such Inundations the Waters of the Sea are not diminished but rather increased the Water-Mark being carried further up and the Tides swelling higher upon the Shore the Rivers overflow their Banks and the low Grounds ly drowned under Water if Dr. Burnet since he allows no Miracle of a New Creation of Waters nor that they can be borrowed from any Neighbouring or Superior Orb for which I quarrel not with him can shew any rational Way besides what I have now alledged how Waters can be had to cause those Inundations
which frequently happen he shall be more than a Philosopher erit mihi magnus Apollo at such Times the Water appears Turgid and Flatuous as Impregnated with some Extraneous Body and the Air Thick Raw and Squalid So that Men covet a Close Room where they may enjoy a corrected Air as the Fish skulk to the bottom to be refreshed by a purer and untroubled Water which shews That both then are unduly mixed for the common uses those Elements are intended for and therefore since plus and minus non variant Speciem the same Causes which serve pro tanto may serve pro toto since no Man can deny but that they Exist in the World nor no Christian doubt but that God Almighty if he please may Employ and set them at Work and Moses no where says That the Earth was drowned with Salt Water So that I think if the Author do but make a Serious Reflection upon the Reasons now given he cannot but be ashamed of his blunder as to the quantity of the Water necessary for the Flood and much more of his reason and manner of making it and confidence in maintaining the same When in his reply to Mr. Warren one of his Answerers he says he believes the Truth of his Hypothesis as much as any thing of that Nature can be believed for since the System of Moses which is as agreeable to Natural Reason as any thing can be is a Thing of the same Nature and as firmly believed by all who own the Scriptures to be the Word of God as any Article of our Creed He must either renounce this Faith of his or by keeping it be an Infidel It 's time now that we consider what Expedient our Author hath taken to find out Water enough to drown the World without any necessity of Miracle and without any respect to the Relation of Moses and this we find he has done by making a New Genesis new modelling the Fabrick of the World and Ordering the State of Nature by turning one Chaos into another and indeed a better into a worse For when he stuffs his Chaos with Ponderous and Earthy Parts Watry Parts Light and Unctious Parts c. which are compleat and perfect Natural Beings consisting of Matter and Form in the Language of the Schools He represents to us a Chaotick State of Nature jumbled into Disorder and Confusion and not a True and Original Chaos which was no more but what the Poet says rudis indigestaque moles bare and indigested Matter void of all Form but susceptible of any that it should please an Almighty Creator to stamp upon it And nevertheless in purging and digesting this his Chaos such as 't is into a Frame and State of Nature he observes a Method that turns all topsie turvie and quite inverts the very Order that the Laws of Natural Motion and Gravity and his own Principles require For contrary to that Principle of Gravity upon which he lays so much stress in building us a World out of a Natural Chaos he observes a very preposterous Method and makes that which should be the Roof the Foundation This he exposes to open View in the Scheme he gives us of the World as thus He places the lightest of all the Elements instead of the heaviest in the Foundation and makes the Fire to be the Centre of our Globe But for what reason he does do so unless it be the kindness he has for Sea-Cole for the good Services they may have done him I cannot imagin Next to that he places a Lay or Orb of Earth over that a Lay of Water and over all another Lay or Orb of Earth for a crust and covering stratum super stratum as the Physicians use to prescribe These as he says continued in this State for a long while till at length this upper crust and covering of Earth growing old and crazy chopt and decay'd did in the days of Noah break to pieces and fall into the Water underneath where it was soak't in a Deluge and thereby the Face of the World was Altered and Changed from what it was before to what we see it at present For the Surface of the Earth which before was even and smooth was as he would have us believe by this disruption made Rough and Rugged Mountains and Vallies Hills and Dales steep Rocks and Precipices which never were before then appearing and the Waters that had formerly lain hid under Ground became an open Sea consisting of a Spacious Ocean and Various Bays Creeks Gulfs Inlets and Lakes as now it shews it self My Answer now in short to all this is That there is not One Word of it True nor indeed Possible in Nature that it can be True even granting the Authors Hypothesis could consist with the Laws of Natural Motion and Gravity as from what hath been said before may be demonstrated it cannot because according to that undeniable Principle which I laid down in the beginning and which the Author cannot reject That all Bodies which rest upon a Center must of Necessity cast themselves into an Orbicular or Circular Figure That there is no Vacuum and that no Body in this Globe or Sphere can move out of its Place but it must succeed into the Place and Room of that Body which did dispossess it the Expulsed into the Place of the Intruder If the Crust of Earth which the Author will have to have been the Circumference of this Globe did break and fall down the Orb of Water underneath being then dispossest by the Earth so falling in must needs mount and succeed into the Place of the Earth filling all the Space which that Orb had abandon'd before so that the Earth must for ever lye soust in it's own Pickel impossible to be retrived again into dry-Land unless by a Miracle as great as any that he would avoid that is God Almighty's anihilating all the Water diminishing the Extent and Compass of the Globe and altering the whole Frame of Nature How deep the Earth would then be under Water it is not easie to be determined since as the Learned Dr. Beaumont justly complains the Author has assigned no proportion to his several Orbs but if the Proportion mark'd in his Scheme be exactly measured with relation to the Globe of this our World the Waters then over the Earth must have been of a prodigious Depth For in measuring the Scheme he gives us of the Globe we find that the Orb and upper Crust of the Earth takes up one fifth Part of the Semidiameter of the whole so that the Semidiameter of the World being Three Thousand Five Hundred Miles the fifth Part of that which is Seven Hundred Miles and makes the Thickness of that Superior Orb falling into the Water underneath the Water mounting into the Place of it must needs fill all that Space of the Globe which the Earth had forsaken But being tho' much of the same Dimension as to it 's Depth and Thickness an inferior
Orb rising and making a larger Circle it would not indeed be of the same Depth when Circumferential as when it was Intermedial yet I think I may venture to say without being too exact in computation it would still have been near five hundred Miles in Depth and that 's Water enough you 'l say to bob for Griggs in But if we take an estimate of the same Depth from his Doctrine we shall find a vast odds and disproportion in the Matter As thus In the Sacred Theory of the Earth the Author Affirms the Ocean where it is deepest not to exceed two Miles in Depth so that it being by him confessed that the Sea lies now in a shelving Bed that obliquely descends from the sides to the middle where it makes a kind of obtuse Angle at the bottom were the sides Perpendicular and the Water every where equally deep then this Depth of Sea must be lessened by one half and consequently be but one Mile in Depth And then again did this encompass the whole inferior Orb of Earth as it did when it was the Abyss before the Disruption according to his Hypothesis whereas now it does but Encompass one half of it it must suffer the Diminution of another half of the Depth and so the inferior Orb of Water or the Abyss could not be above half a Mile Deep Which if Extended Round the Exterior Surface of the Earth must needs make but a very thin ring of Water Now tho' the Disproportion of seven hundred Miles the Depth of the Abyss according to his Scheme to one half Mile be somewhat odd and strange yet it seems almost as strange that the Author should make the Mountains so High and at the same Time the Waters so shallow When according to his Doctrine the Height of the one depends upon the Depth of the other For Explanation sake Let us consider in what Manner he produces Hills and Mountains He supposes then before the Disruption that the Convex Surface of the Superior Orb of the Earth being Smooth Uniform and Equal was as High as the Tops of the Highest Mountains now are and that upon the Disruption the Parcels and Fragments of broken Earth sinking and falling down left some Parts remaining which made the Tops of Mountains the Highest whereof are not above six Miles High Now let us grant which indeed cannot nor ought not to be granted to a Natural Philosopher that upon the Disruption when all the Parts of the Superior Orb of the Earth were Loose and at Liberty some Peake or other should miraculously for naturally it could not hover and hang suspended in the Air or float upon the Water till the falling Fragments should likewise miraculously or by Violence since naturally they could not deviate from the Streight and Perpendicular Lines which guided them towards the Center and Edg and Side inobliquely to make a Pedestal or Support for the remaining Top of the Mountain Yet seeing the broken Parts of the Crust of Earth could fall no lower than the Depth of the Water which was to receive them could allow of and that being but half a Mile Deep they could sink no lower and consequently the Top of the Mountain from which they fell could be no more than half a Mile in Height and so we have the Mountains six Miles High dwindled into Mole Hills of half a Mile Height But should we grant what he says That the Tops of the Highest Mountains are six Miles High then the Waters of the Abyss into which the Fragments fell to suit with that Height must needs be six Miles Deep and consequently by the rule of Proportion above-mention'd the Sea in the Deepest Place four and twenty Miles Deep and the Sea-shore twenty four Miles distant from the Bottom of the Abyss Which would make it as High again as the Earth was before it's Disruption Let us now consider a little from the Dimensions he gives to his Orbs and the Height and Depth of Mountains Vallies and Sea what the Extent and Dimension of the World must be according to his Schemes and Doctrine If we Measure then his Schemes of the Globe we shall find that the two Superior Orbs of the Earth and Water make together two Fifths of the Semidiameter of the whole and as it has been necessarily inferr'd from his Doctrine these two making but half a Mile each that is both together one Mile the other three Fifths can amount to no more than to three half Miles and altogether but to two Miles and one Half which being the Semidiameter of the Globe the whole Diameter can extend to no more than five Miles and consequently the whole World to no more than fifteen Miles in Circumference This is such a little Button of a World that were it to be cut out into Commons it would hardly suffice either as to Quantity or Quality to make competent Shares for all the Pensioners in the Charter-House if he Thought of them when he made it But let us again take it in the Largest Extent that his Doctrine can stretch it to and that is the Mountains being six Miles High and consequently the Water without which they could not be so six Miles Deep then the two Orbs of Earth and Water which make two Fifths of the Semidiameter of the Globe being twelve Miles in Depth the other three Fifths must be Eighteen Miles more and so the Semidiameter being in all thirty Miles the whole Diameter must be Sixty which makes the Globe Nine-score Miles in Circuit This indeed is a Size somewhat more befitting an Orbis terrarum universus and looks like a World of another Mans making tho' after all if Reason can draw necessary Consequences from the Premises of Scheme and Doctrine both are the Workmanship of One and the same Hand I can hardly believe a non cogitarâm will pass among Criticks for a satisfactory Excuse for so many Slips Blunders and Bevewes in a Matter of so great Importance and therefore 't is like the Author himself on some good Friend for him may hit on some expedient and new Way to save Bacon and probably by turning the Sacred Theory into a Romance alledge that the Author meant not the Round World which God made for Man and his fellow Creatures to dwell in but a World of his own Creation contrived to please Children of all Sorts and curry Favour with some new fangled Patron by such an Ingenious Tryal of Skill If so the Author might have conceived and brought forth as many such Worlds as he pleased and given them to whom he had thought fit without the least Trouble and Molestation from any that I know of had he let Moses and the Holy Scripture alone But since he has struck so bold a Blow at the Credit and Authority of both these and consequently of Religion and the Rule of Faith and Manners I think no Honest Man will deny but that he hath given sufficient Provocation to all and even the Weakest