Foundations and by time and weather too by which not only the Earth is washed away or blown off from the Stones but the very Stones and Rocks themselves corroded and dissolved as might easily be proved by Instances could I spare time to do it To sum up all relating to the Division and Disposition of the Water and Earth in brief 1. I say the Water being the lighter Element doth naturally occupy the upper place and stand above the Earth and so at first it did But now we see it doth not so the Earth being contrary to its nature forcibly elevated above it being as the Psalmist phraseth it founded above the Seas and established above the Floods and this because it was best it should be so as I shall clearly prove and deduce in particulars in another Discourse 2. The dry Land is not elevated only upon one side of the Globe for then had it had high Mountains in the middle of it with such vast empty Cavities within as must be equal to the whole Bulk raised up the Center of Magnitude must needs have been considerably distant from the Center of Gravity which would have caused a very great and inconvenient inequality in the Motion of the parts of the Earth but the Continents and Islands are so equally disperst all the Globe over as to counterballance one another so that the Centers of Magnitude and Gravity concur in one 3. The Continents are not of exactly equal and level Superficies or Convexity For then the Parts subject to the Course of the Sun called the Torrid Zone would have been as the Ancients fancied them unhabitable for Heat and Drought But there are huge Ridges and extended Chains of lofty Mountains directed for the most part to run East and West by which means they give free admittance and passage to the Vapours brought in by the Winds from the Atlantick and Pacifick Oceans but stop and inhibit their Excursions to the North and South either condensing them upon their sides into water by a kind of external Destillation or by streightening and constipating of them compelling them to gather into Drops and descend down in Rain These are great things and worthy the Care Direction and Disposal of the Great and Wise Creator and Governour of all things And we see they are accordingly excellently ordered and provided by him CHAP. IV. Of the Creation of Animals some Questions resolved AS to the first Creation of Animals I have already proposed two Opinions both consonant or reconcileable to the Scriptures 1. That God Almighty did at first create the Seeds of all Animals that is the Animals themselves in little and disperst them over the superficial part of the Land and water giving power to those Elements to hatch and bring them forth which when they had done and all the Animals of these created Seeds were produced and perfected there remained no more ability in them to bring forth any more but all the succeeding owe their Original to Generation 2. Because some will not admit that God at first created any thing imperfect we did propose that he might by his Almighty Power out of the Water and Earth make the first set of Animals in their full state and perfection as it is generally believed he did Adam and give to each Species a power by generation to propagate their like For his commanding the Waters and Earth to produce such and such living Creatures signifies that he did himself efficaciously form them out of the Earth and Water as when he saith Let there be light c. the meaning is not that he did permit or command something else besides himself to produce light but that he did by his own Almighty power effectually create it Indeed the Scripture doth in this manner interpret it self For whereas it is said verses 20. and 24. Let the waters bring forth c. and Let the earth bring forth the living creature c. in the next verses it follows And God created great whales and every living creature that moveth c. And God made the beast of teh earth c. But now there may a further Question or two be moved concerning the Creation of Animals 1. Whether God created at first a great number of every kind of Animal all the Earth over in their proper Places and Climates or only two of each Species a Male and a Female from which all the rest proceeded by generation This latter opinion I find embraced by some modern Philosophers and it may be made probable by several Arguments First from the Analogy to Mankind There being at first only one Man and one Woman created it is very likely there were no more of any other Creatures two being sufficient in a short time to stock the World Secondly Because at the time of the General Deluge there were only two of each kind of unclean Beasts preserved in the Ark and if two might then suffice why not as well at the first Creation And if there were no need of creating more what likelyhood that there were more created But the first Opinion That there were many at first created seems more consonant to Scripture which in the mention of the Creation of Aquatic Creatures useth the word Abundantly Gen. 1. 20. And God said Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven And in the next verse it is said That the waters did bring them forth abundantly So that at least of Birds and Fishes there were many individuals at first created As for Plants certain it is that they were created dispersedly all the world over they having no locomotive power but being fixt to a place and the Seeds of many of them being ponderous and not portable by winds or any other means and yet those of the same Species to be found in far distant places and on the tops of high Mountains as remote from each other as the Helvetick and Austrian Alps. 2. Concerning the Creation of Animals there may yet a further Question be moved viz. Whether all Animals that already have been or hereafter shall be were at first actually created by God or whether hath he given to each kind of Animal such a power of generation as to prepare matter and produce new individuals in their own bodies Some are of opinion that God did himself at first actually create all the individual Animals that ever were or ever shall be and that there is no such thing as any production of new ones For say they what were that but a creation of such individuals And what did God at the first Creation more then if this be true we see every day done that is produce a new Animal out of matter which it self prepares All the difference is the doing that in an instant which the Creature must take time to do For as for the preparation of matter that must be made fit be the
Courses and the swiftness of their Streams for a great part of the way is very considerable a constant declivity being necessary to their descent And therefore I can by no means assent to the Learned Doctor Plot if I understand him aright That the Valleys are as much below the Surface of the Sea as Mountains are above it For how then could Rivers descend down to the Sea through those Valleys the Sea would rather run into them and make Sinuses or else if they were enclosed the water would stagnate there and make Pools If this be done by way of Filtration which seems to be the most likely Means of raising the water I do not see but these Filters may suck up the whole Ocean and if Apertures and Outlets large enough were made pour it out upon the Earth in no long time But I cannot be fully reconciled to this Opinion though it hath great Advocates especially the fore-mentioned very Learned and Ingenious Person Dr. Robert Plot. I acknowledge Subterraneous waters I grant a Confluence and Communication of Seas by under-ground Channels and Passages I believe that wherever one shall dig as deep as the level of the Sea he shall seldom fail of water the water making its way through Sand and Gravel and Stones In like manner as it is observed of the River Seine that in Floud-times all the neighbouring Wells and Cellars are filled with water and when the River decreases and sinks again those waters also of the Wells and Cellars diminish and by degrees fall back into the River so that there are scarce any Wells or Fountains in the Plains near the River but their waters keep the level of the Rivers rising and falling with it But this inferiour constant Circulation and perpetual motion of water seems to me not yet sufficiently proved and made out I think that the Patrons and Abbettors of this Opinion have not satisfactorily demonstrated how it is or can be performed To what is offered concerning the Center of Gravity being nearer to our Continent by reason of the Preponderancy of the Earth and the Waters lying as it were on an heap in the other Hemisphere I answer 1. That in the present terraqueous Globe the New World which lyes between the two great Seas and almost opposite to our Continent doth in â—ome measure counterpoise the Old and take off a great part of the advantage which by reason of its Preponderancy it might otherwise have Moreover I am of Mr. Brierwood's Opinion that there may be and is a vast Continent toward the Southern Pole opposite to Europe and Asia to counterpoise them on that side nay I do verily believe that the Continents and Islands are so proportionably scattered and disposed all the World over as if not perfectly and exactly yet very nearly to counter-ballance one another so that the Globe cannot walter or reel towards any side and that the Center of the convex Superficies of the Sea is the true Center of the whole Terrestrial Sphere both of Motion and of Gravity I add also of Magnitude which is exceedingly convenient as well for the facility as the equability of the Earths diurnal Motion This Hypothesis of the Continents being disperst equally on all sides of the Globe makes these Centers concur in one point whatever cause we assign of the raising up the dry Land at first Whereas if we should suppose the dry Land to have been raised up by Earth-quakes only on one side of the Globe and to have cast off the water to the other and also that the water could find no way into the Caverns that were left within then the watery side must needs Preponderate the Land-side and bring the Center of Gravity nearer to its own Superficies and so raise the Land still a great deal higher and make a considerable distance between the Centers of Magnitude and of Gravity In our Hypothesis of the equal dispersion of the Continents and Islands no such thing would happen but each Continent taking it with all its internal Caverns whether lighter or heavier than its bulk in water that is whether the water did make its way into the Caverns thereof or did not for in the first case it would be heavier in the second lighter would have its counterpoise on the opposite side so that the Centers would still concur The case would be the same if the dry Land were discovered and the Mountains raised by the immediate application of the Divine Power 2. The Sea being no where above a German Mile deep for which we have good Authority in most places not half so much taking then as a middle term half a Mile Suppose it every where half a Mile deep the Earth below the Sea we have no reason to suppose of different Gravity what proportion hath this half Miles thickness of water to the whole Terraqueous Globe whose Semidiameter is by the account of Mathematicians Three thousand four hundred and forty Italian Miles What little advantage then can it have of the Earth opposite to it in point of Preponderancy 3. Granting the Center of Gravity should be nearer our Continent The Center being the lowest place and the Water a fluid Body unless stopped which it might indeed be if it were encompassed round with high Shores as high as the Mountains without any Breaks or Outlets in them where it found declivity it would descend as near as it could to it without any regard of the Earths Preponderancy And though we should grant that the driness of the Shores might stop it and cause it to lye on a heap yet would it run up the Channels of Rivers till it came as near as possible to the Center of Gravity Indeed the Rivers themselves could not descend but must run towards the middle of the Continent All this I think will follow from this Hypothesis by as good consequence as the waters being forced through the Subterraneous Channels out at the Springs Again I do not peremptorily affirm that all Fountains do proceed from Rain only I contend that Rain may suffice to feed them and that probably it doth feed ordinary Springs This the Ingenious French Author doth well demonstrate in the River Seine and I believe it is demonstrable in most other Rivers The little Brook that runs near my Dweling and hath its Head or Source not above four or five Miles off where there is no extraordinary eruption of water all along its Course receives small Rivulets on both sides which though they make a considerable Stream at five miles distance from the Fountain-head yet singly are so small that they may very well be conceived to drain down from the higher Grounds that lye about them And taking the whole together it is a very considerable length and breadth of Land that contributes to the maintenance of this little River So that it may easily be believed that all its water owes its original to Rain Especially if it be considered further that in Winter-time
day and consequently no inconsiderable thing By the Heavens or Firmament in this place is to be understood the inferiour Region of the Air wherein the Fowls fly who Gen. 1. 20. are said to fly above the Earth in the open Firmament of Heaven though elsewhere it be taken for the Celestial Regions wherein the Sun and Moon and Stars are placed 2. The same may be made appear by Reason grounded upon Experience I my self have observed a Thunder-Cloud in passage to have in less than two hours space powred down so much Water upon the Earth as besides what sunk into the parched and thirsty ground and filled all Ditches and Ponds caused a considerable Flood in the Rivers setting all the Meadows on flote And Dr. Wittie in his Scarborough Spaw tells us of great Spouts of Rain that ordinarily fall every year some time or other in Summer that set the whole Countrey in a Flood Now had this Cloud which might for ought I know have moved Forty miles forward stood still and emptied all its Water upon the same spot of Ground it first hung over what a sudden and incredible Deluge would it have made there and yet what depth or thickness of Vapours might remain uncondensed in the Air above this Cloud who knows Now it is to be considered that not only the Air upon the dry Land but also all that covers the whole Ocean is charged with Vapours which are nothing else but diffused Water all which was brought together by Winds or what others Means seem'd good to God and caused to destil down in Rain upon the Earth And you may easily guess that it was no small quantity of Water that was supplyed this way in that it sufficed for a Rain that lasted Forty natural days And that no ordinary Rain neither but Catarracts or Spouts of Water for so the Septuagint interprets the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Catarracts or Spouts of Heaven were opened I return now to the first Cause or Means of the Deluge assigned by the Scripture and that is the breaking up of all the Fountains of the great Deep By the great Deep in this place I suppose is to be understood the Subterraneous Waters which do and must necessarily communicate with the Sea For we see that the Caspian and some other Seas receive into themselves many great Rivers and yet have no visible Outlets and therefore by Subterraneous Passages must needs discharge their Waters into the Abyss of Waters under the Earth and by its intervention into the Ocean again That the Mediterranean Sea doth not as I sometimes thought communicate with the Ocean by any subterraneous Passages nor thereby impart any Water to it or receive any from it may be demonstrated from that the Superficies of it is lower than the Superficies of the Ocean as appears from the Waters running in at the Streights of Gibraltar for if there were any such Communications the Water keeping its Level the Mediterranean being the lowest must by those Passages receive Waters from the Ocean and not the Ocean which is as we have proved the highest from the Mediterranean But that it doth not receive any by Subterraneous Passages is most likely because it receives so much above Ground Hence it necessarily follows that the Mediterranean spends more in Vapour than it receives from the Rivers which is Mr. Halley's Conclusion though in some of his Premises or Hypotheses he is I think mistaken as 1. In that he numbers the Tyber amongst his nine great Rivers each of which may yield ten times as much Water as the Thames whereas I question whether that yields once so much and whereas he passes by all the rest of the Rivers as smaller than it there are two that I have seen in Italy it self whereof the one viz. the Arnus on which Florence and Pisa stand seemed to me not inferiour in bigness to the Tiber and the other viz. the Athesis on which Verona stands I could not guess to be less than twice as big 2. In that he thinks himself too liberal in allowing these nine Rivers to carry down each of them ten times so much Water as the Thames doth Whereas one of those nine and that none of the biggest neither viz. the River Po if Ricciolus his Hypotheses and Calculations be good affords more Water in an hour than Mr. Halley supposes the Thames to do in a day the hourly Effusions of the Po being rated at eighteen millions of Cubical Paces by Ricciolus whereas the daily ones of the Thames are computed to be no more than twenty five millions three hundred forty four thousand Cubical yards of Water by Mr. Halley but a Geometrical Pace contains five Feet i. e. 1 â—â— of a Yard Now if the Po pours so much Water hourly into the Sea what then must the Danow and the Nile do each of which cannot I guess be less than troble of the Po. Tanais Borysthenes and Rhodanus may equal if not exceed it Howbeit I cannot approve Ricciolus his Hypotheses judging them to be too excessive but do believe that as to the whole Mr. Halley comes nearer the truth Sure enough it is that in the Mediterranean the Receipts from the Rivers fall short of the Expence in Vapour though in part of it that is the Euxine the Receipts exceed as appears from that there is a constant Current sets outward from thence through the Thracian Bosphorus and Hellespont But though the Mediterranean doth indeed evaporate more than it receives from the Rivers yet I believe the Case is not the same with the Caspian Sea the Superficies whereof seems to me not to bear any greater proportion to the Waters of the Rivers that run into it than that of the Euxine doth to its which we have observed not to spend the whole Receipt in Vapour You 'l say Why then do not great Floods raise the Seas I answer as to the Caspian if it communicates with the Ocean whether the Rivers bring down more or less it s all one if more then the Water keeping its Level the Caspian raiseth the Ocean if less then the Ocean communicates to the Caspian and raises that But as to the Mediterranean we may say that when it receives more on the one side it receives less on the other the Floods and Ebbs of the Nilus and the other Rivers counterbalancing one another Besides by reason of the Snows lying upon the Mountains all Winter the greatest Floods of those great Rivers in Europe do not happen when the Mediterranean evaporates leà st in the Winter time but in the Spring You 'l demand further if the Mediterranean evaporates so much what becomes of all this Vapour I answer It is cast off upon the Mountains and on their sides and tops is condensed into Water and so returned again by the Rivers unto the Sea If you proceed to ask what becomes of the Surplusage of the Water which the Mediterranean receives from the Ocean and spends in vapour
out after great Rains which they call Gypsies which jet and spout up a great height Neither is this Eruption of Springs after long Rains proper and peculiar only to the Wolds of Yorkshire but common to other Countreys also as Dr. Childrey witnesseth in these words Sometimes there breaks out water in the manner of a sudden Land-flood out of certain Stones that are like Rocks standing aloft in open Fields near the rising of the River Kynet in Kent which is reputed by the Common People a fore-runner of Dearth That the sudden eruption of Springs in places where they use not always to run should be a sign of Dearth is no wonder For these unusual Eruptions which in Kent we call Nailbourns are caused by extream gluts of Rain or lasting wet Weather and never happen but in wet years witness the year 1648. when there were many of them and to our purpose very remarkable it was that in the year 1654. several Springs and Rivulets were quite dried up by reason of the precedent Drought which raged most in 1651 1652 and 1653. As the Head of the Stour that rises near Elham in Kent and runs through Canterbury was dry for some Miles space and the like happened to the Stream that crosseth the Road-way between Sittingburn and Canterbury at Ospring near Feversham which at other times ran with a plentiful Current but then wholly failed So we see that it is not infrequent for new Springs to break out in wet years and for old ones to fail in great Droughts And Strabo in his first Book out of Xanthus the Lydian tells us That in the time of Artaxerxes there was so great a Drought that Rivers and Lakes and Wells of water failed and were dried up I cannot here also forbear to add the probable account he Dr. Witty gives of the Supply of the Spring-well on the Castle-hill at Scarborough at which I confess I was somewhat puzzled This Well saith he though it be upon the top of the Rock not many yards deep and also upon the edge of the Cliff is doubtless supplied by secret Channels within the Ground that convey the Rain and Showers into it being placed on a dependent part of the Rock near unto which there are also Cellars under an old ruinated Chappel which after a great Rain are full of Water but are dried up in a long Drought As for what is said concerning the River Volgas pouring out so much water into the Caspian Sea as in a years time would make up a mass of water equal to the Globe of the Earth and of the hourly effusions of the River Po in Italy which Ricciolus hath computed to amount to 18000000 cubical Paces of water Whence a late learned Writer hath probably inferred that all the Rivers in the World together do daily discharge half an Ocean of waters into the Sea I must confess my self to be unsatisfied therewith I will not question their Calculations but I suspect they are out in their Hypotheses The Opinion of Mr. Edmund Halley that Springs and Rivers owe their Original to Vapours condensed on the sides of Mountains rather than unto Rains I acknowledge to be very ingenious grounded upon good Observations and worthy of its Author and I will not deny it to be in part true in those hot Countreys in the Torrid Zone and near it where by reason of the great Heats the Vapours are more copiously exhaled out of the Earth and its likely carried up high in the â—â—rm of Vapours The inferiour Aâ—r at least is so charged with them and by that means so very moist that in some places their Knives rust even in their Pockets and in the Night so very fresh and cold partly also by reason of the length of the Nights that exposing the Body to it causes Colds and Catarrhs and is very dangerous Whence also their Dews are so great as in good measure to recompence the want of Rain and serve for the nourishment of Plants as they do even in Spain it self I shall first of all propose this Opinion in the Words of the Author and then discourse a little upon it After he had enumerated many of the high Ridges and Tracts of Mountains in the four Quarters of the World he thus proceeds Each of which far surpass the usual height to which the Aqueous Vapours of themselves ascend and on the tops of which the Air is so cold and rarified as to retain but a small part of those Vapours that shall be brought thither by the Winds Those Vapours therefore that are raised copiously in the Sea and by the Winds are carried over the low Lands to those Ridges of Mountains are there compelled by the stream of the Air to mount up with it to the tops of the Mountains where the water presently precipitates gleeting down by the Crannies of the Stone and part of the Vapour entring into the Cavities of the Hills the water thereof gathers as in an Alembick into the Basons of Stone it finds which being once filled all the overpâ—us of water that comes thither runs over by the lowest place and breaking out by the sides of the Hills forms single Springs Many of these running down by the Valleys or Guts between the Ridges of the Hills and coming to unite form little Rivulets or Brooks Many of these again meeting in one common Valley and gaining the plain ground being grown less rapid become a River and many of these being united in one common Channel make such Streams as the Rhine the Rhosne and the Danube which latter one would hardly think the Collection of Water condensed out of Vapour unless we consider how vast a Tract of Ground that River drains and that it is the sum of all those Springs which break out on the South side of the Carpathian Mountains and on the North side of the immense Ridge of the Alps which is one continued Chain of Mountains from Switzerland to the Black Sea And it may almost pass for a Rule that the magnitude of a River or the quantity of water it evacuates is proportionable to the length and height of the Ridges from whence its Fountains arise Now this Theory of Springs is not a bare Hypothesis but founded on Experience which it was my luck to gain in my abode at St. Helena where in the night time on the tops of the Hills about Eight hundred yards above the Sea there was so strange a condensation or rather precipitation of the Vapours that it was a great impediment to my Celestial Observations for in the clear Sky the Dew would â—all â—o â—ait as to cover each half quarter of an hour my Glasses with little drops so that I was necessitated to wipe them off so often and my Paper on which I wrote my Observations would immediately be so wet with the Dew that it would not bear Ink by which it may be supposed how fast the water gathers in those mighty high Ridges I but
of the great Continents Which thing is especially to be remarked in all the great heaps or swarms of numerous Islands they being all near to the Continents those of the Aegean Sea to Europe and Asia the Hesperides to Africa and the Maldivae which are thought to amount to eleven thousand to India only the Flandricae or Azores seem to be situate in the middle of the Ocean between the Old and New World Besides these Changes about the Sea-coasts by the prevailing of the Land upon the Sea in some places and the Sea upon the Land in others the whole Continents seem to suffer a considerable mutation by the diminution and depression or sinking of the Mountains as I shall have occasion to shew afterward in the third Discourse Aelian in his eighth Book cap. 11. telleth us that not only the Mountain Aetna but Parnassus and Olympus did appear to be less and less to such as sailed at Sea the height thereof sinking Of this lowring and diminution of the Mountains I shall not say much in this place but taking it for granted at present only in brief intimate the Causes of it assigned by that learned Mathematician Iosephus Blaâ—canus which are partly Rain-water and partly Rivers which by continual fretting by little and little wash away and â—at out both the tops and sides and feet of Mountains and fill up the lower places of the Valleys making the one to encrease and the other to decrease whereby it appears saith Dr. Hakewil that what the Mountain loseth the Valley gains and consequently that in the whole Globe of the Earth nothing is lost but only removed from one place to another so that in process of time the highest Mountains may be humbled into Valleys and again which yet I will not allow him the lowest Valleys exaâ—â—ed into Mountains He proceeds Anaxagoras as Diogenes Laertius reports in his Life being demanded what he thought Whether the Mountains called Lapsaceni would in time be covered with Sea answered Yes unless time it self fail which answer of his seems to confirm the opinion of Blancanus De Mundi fabrica cap. 4. where he maintains That if the World should last long enough by reason of this continual decrease of the Mountains and the levelling of the Valleys the Earth would again be overslown with Waters as at first it was Beside these more eminent and remarkable Changes which in process of time after a long succession of many Ages threaten some great effect indeed no less then a reduction of the World to its primitive state before the separation of the Land and Water There have been many other lesser mutations made either by Earthquakes and Eructations of burning Mountains or by great Floods and Shots of Rain or by violent or tempestuous Winds and Hurricans some whereof are mentioned by Naturalists and Historians Strabo Pliny Seneca Ovid and others For Earthquakes Posidonius quoted by Strabo in his first Book writes That there was a City in Phoenicia situate above Sidon swallowed up by an Earthquake and that almost two thirds of Sidon it self fell therein though not suddenly and all at once so that there was no great destructioÌ„ or slaughter of men happened The same extended almost over all Syria though not violently and reached as far as some of the Cyclades Islands and Euboea where the Fountains of Arethusa in Chalcis were stopped up by it and after many days broke forth again at another source neither did it cease to shake the Island by parts till the Earth opening in the Field Lelantus vomited out of a River of fiery Clay The same Strabo tells us That Democles mentions huge Earthquakes of old in Lydia and Ionia extending as far as Troas by which many Villages were swallowed up and Sipylus overthrown when Tantalus reigned and great Lakes made of Fens And that Duris saith That the Rhagades Islands by Media were so called from the Lands about the Caspiae Portae being torn and broken by Earthquakes so that many Cities and Villages were overthrown and several Rivers received alterations And Demetrius Calatianus relating the Earthquakes that happened throughout Greece writes That a great part of the Lichades Islands and Cenaeus had been drowned thereby and that the hot Baths at Aedepsus and in Thermophylae having been stopt for three days slowed again and those of Aedepsus from new Sources That the Wall of Oreus on the Sea-side and seven hundred Houses were thrown down and a great part of Echinus and Heraclea Trachinia but the whole building of Phalarnus was overturned from the very Soil or Plain of it the like happened to the Larians and Larissâ—aus and that Scarphia was utterly demolished and subverted from the very foundations and not fewer then 1700 Persons over-whelmed and buried and more then half that number of the Thronii Pliny in his first Book chap. 84. tell us that in the Reign of Tiberius Caesar there happened an Earthquake the greatest that ever was in the memory of Man wherein twelve Cities of Asia were prostrated in one night But what is that to what St. Augustine writes Lib. 2. De Miraculis SS cap. 3. if that Book he his In famoso quodam terroe motu centum Libyae Vrbes corruisse That in a famous Earthquake an hundred Cities of Libya were demolished The City of Antioch where the Disciples of Christ were first called Christians with a great part of Asia bordering upon it was almost wholly subverted and swallowed up by an Earthquake in Trajan's time as Dion Cassius writes Trajan himself then wintering there The same City of Antioch in the time of Iustinian in the Year of our Lord 528. was again shaken with a terrible Earthquake wherein were overwhelmed and buried in the ruins of the Houses above 40000 of the â—itizens And lastly in the 61 Year after the last mentioned Earthquake being again shaken by a new one it lost 60000 of its Inhabitants Gregory the then Bishop being by the Divine Favour and in a manner miraculously preserved the House wherein he abode falling down presently after his going out of it Eusebius and Spartianus make mention of an Earthquake in the Emperour Adrian's time wherein Nicomedia and Nicaea of Bithynia and Nicopolis and Caesarea Cities of Palaestina were thrown down and ruined In the Year 1182. when Saladin set himself to overthrow the Kingdom of Ierusalem there happened an Earthquake in which Antiochia Laodicea Alapia Caesarea Emissa Tripolis and other famous Cities were almost wholly thrown down and destroyed To omit many that are recorded in ancient Histories and to come near to our times Aeneas Sylvius afterwards Pope by the Name of â—ius the Second in a Letter of his to the Emperour Frederick thus pitifully describes an Earthquake that fell out in his time Audies ex latore praesentium quà m mirabilia incredibilia damna fecerit Terraemotus in Reguo Apuliae nam multa oppida funditus corruerunt alia magna ex parte collapsa sunt Neapoli omnes fere
Architects it is manifest that the Mountains do by no means grow or encrease as some dream 5. Our Observation is proved from that Art which is now much practised of elevating and landing up depressed places by the Waters of Rivers and depressing the higher by running the Water over them The same things happen about the Sea for whereas the bottom of the Sea is more depressed than the Superficies of the Earth and all the great Rivers empty themselves into the Sea and bring in with them a great quantity of Earth and Sand there must needs be great Banks or Floors of Earth raised up about the Sea-shores near the mouths of Rivers whereby the Shores must necessarily be much promoted and carried forward into the Sea and so gain upon it and compel it to recede This may be proved first by the Authority of Aristotle lib. 1. Meteor cap. De permutatione terrae ac maris and that of the ancient Geographers and Historians To omit that Proof from Egypt Aristotle's second example of this landing up of the Sea is the Region of Ammonia whose Lower and Maritime place saith he it 's clear were by this landing up first made Pools and Fens and in process of time these Pools were dryed up and raised to be firm Land by Earth brought down A third example is that of the Maeotis palus whose skirts are so grown up by what the Rivers bring down that the Waters will not carry any thing so great Ships as they would have done sixty Years ago A fourth is the Thracian Bosphorus which for brevity's sake may be seen in him Add hereto in the fifth place the Testimony of Pliny who tells us that much new Land hath been added to the Earth not only brought in by the Rivers but deserted by the Sea So the Sea hath receded ten Miles from the Port of Ambracia and five from that of Athens and in several other places more or less What he adds out of Strabo concerning the River Pyramus is already entred 6. Neither are later and nearer Experiments wanting Of old time Ravenna stood upon the brâ—â—k of the Sea-shore which is now by reason of the landing up the Shallows â—ar distant from it The Sea washed the Walls of Padâ—â— which is now Twenty five Miles remote therefrom In fine our Rhene of Bolognâ— though it â—e but a small Torrent yet in a few Years since it hath been by an artificial Cut let into the Po it hath so filled it up and obstructed its Channel with Sand and Mud that it hath much endamaged the neighboaring Fields Seeing then by these various â—ggerations of Sand and Sâ—lt the Sea is daâ—â—y cut short and driven back and its Baâ—in or Râ—ceptable straitned and the bottom 〈…〉 it will necessarily come to pass 〈…〉 that it will begin to overflow as 〈…〉 in many places for example 〈…〉 and Holland Shoâ—es 〈…〉 â—orced to erect and 〈◊〉 loâ—g and high Banks and 〈…〉 of the Sea Therefore 〈…〉 manner that Earth which noâ— malces 〈…〉 Mountains being by the Water little by little brought down â—nto the 〈…〉 is the Cause why the Seu 〈…〉 â—â—erflows the 〈…〉 Globe of the Earth by the affusion of the Waters will be again rendred unhabitable as at first it was in the beginning of the World and the Earth and Water will return to their primitive state and figure in which they ought naturally to rest Hence we may deduce some Consectaries worthy to be known viz. That the World or at least the Earth was not endued with that Figure which we now see neither can the World endure for ever For if this mountainous Figure had been in it from Eternity all those protuberancies of the Mountains had been long since eaten away and wasted or consumed by the Waters Nor can this World be Eternal because as we have proved in process of time it will be reduceâ— to a perâ—ect rotundity and be overflown by the Sea whereupon it will become unâ—abitable and Mankind must necessarily perish Whereâ—ore unless that Deluge were prevented by the 〈◊〉 which the Holy Scriptures mention the World would 〈…〉 by Water Long after I had committed these 〈…〉 writing I met with Phiâ—o Iudâ—u◠〈◊〉 book De Mundeo wherein 〈◊〉 â—ouches this matter but obâ—cureâ— and in a very â—ew words Thus far Blancanus whose Sentiments and Observations concerning this matter thus punctually concurring and according with mine to my great wonder and satisfaction I could not but think that the Conclusion hath a high degree of probability Only he takes no notice that in compensation of what the Rivers gain from the Sea about their Outlets the Sea may gain from the Land by undermining and washing away the Shores that are not rocky as we see it doth in our own Country perhaps as much as it loses according to the Vulgar Proverb before remembred However all contributes towards the filling up of the Sea and bringing on an Inundation as I shall afterwards shew But it may be objected That if the Waters will thus naturally and necessarily in process of time again overflow and cover the Earth how can God's Promise and Covenant be made good Gen. 9. 11. That there should not any more be a Flood to destroy the Earth To which I answer 1. That though this would follow in a natural way yet the power of God may interpose to prevent it and so make good his Promise 2. Though it might come to pass in the Course of Nature yet would it be after so many Ages that it is not at all likely the World should last so long but the Conflagration or Destruction of it by Fire predicted by the Scriptures will certainly prevent it 3. Possibly there may be something in Nature which may obviate this Event though to us at present unknown which I am the more inclinable to believe because the Earth doth not hasten so fast towards it as some of the Ancients imagined and as the activity of such Causes might seem to require as I have already intimated Varenius in his Geography putting the Question Whether the Ocean may again come to cover all the Earth and make an Universal Deluge answers That we may conceive a way how this may naturally come to pass The manner thus Supposing that the Sea by its continual working doth undermine and wash away the Shores and Cliffs that are not rocky and carry the Earth thereof down towards the middle or deepest parts of its Channel and so by degrees fill it up By doing this perpetually it may in a long succession of Time carry all away and it self cover the whole Earth That it doth thus subvert and wash away the Shores in many places is in experience true About Dort in Holland and Dullart in Friesland and in Zealand many Villages some say Three hundred have been drown'd by the encroachments of the Sea as some of their Towers and Steeples still extant above the Waters do testifie On the Tuscan shore Kircher tells us
Church to St. Ives and above two Miles distant from the Sea almost covered with the Sand little being extant above it but the Steeple and Ridge of the Roof Nay a great part of St. Ives itself lies buâ—ied in the Sand and I was told there that in one Night there had been a whole Street of Houses so covered with Sand that in the Morning they were fain to dig their way out of their Houses through it All along the Western Shoar of Wales there are great Hills of Sand thus blown up by the Wind. We observed also upon the Coast of Flanders and Holland the like sandy Hills or Downs from which Westerly Winds drive the Sand a great way into the Country But there are not many places liable to this Accident viz. where the bottom of the Sea is sandy and where the Wind most frequently blows from off the Sea where the Wind sets from the Land toward the Sea this happens not where it is indifferent it must in reason carry off as much as it brings on unless other Causes hinder SECT II. The Second possible Cause of the World's Destruction in a Natural Way the Extinction of the Sun II. THE possibility of the Sun's extinction Of which Accident I shall give an Account in Dr. More 's words in the last Chapter of his Treatise of the Immortality of the Soul This saith he though it may seem a Panick Fear at first sight yet if the matter be throughly examined there will appear no contemptible Reasons that may induce Men to suspect that it may at last fall out there having been at certain times such near Offers in Nature towards this sad Accident already Pliny speaks of it as a thing not unfrequent that there should be Prodigiosi longiores Solis defectus qualis occiso Dictatore Caesare Antoniano bello totius anni pollore continuo Hist. Nat. lib. 2. cap. 30. Prodigious and lasting defects of the Sun such as happened when Caesar the Dictator was slain and in the War with Anthony when it was continually pale and gloomy for a whole Year The like happened in Iustinian's time as Cedrenus writes when for a whole Year together the Sun was of a very dim and duskish Hue as if he had been in a perpetual Eclipse And in the time of Irene the Empress it was so dark for seventeen days together that the Ships lost their way in the Sea and were ready to run one against another as Theophanes reports But the late accurate Discovery of the Spots of the Sun by Scheiner and the appearing and disappearing of Fixt Stars and Comets and the excursions of these last do argue it more than possible that after some vast Periods of Time the Sun may be so inextricably inveloped by the Maculae that he may quite lose his Light and then you may easily guess what would become of the Inhabitants of the Earth For without his vivisick heat neither could the Earth put forth any Vegetables for their sustenance neither if it could would they be able to bear the extremity of the Cold which must needs be more rigorous and that perpetually than it is now under the Poles in Winter time But this accident tho' it would indeed extinguish all Life yet being quite contrary to a Dissolution by Fire of which the Apostle speaks I shall pass it over without further consideration and proceed to a Third SECT III. The Third possible Cause of the World's Destruction The Eruption of the Central Fire III. THE Possibility of the Eruption of the Central Fire if any such there be inclosed in the Earth It is the Hypothesis of Monsieur des Cartes that the Earth was originally a Star or great Globe of Fire like the Sun or one of the Fixt Stars situate in the Center of a Vortex continually whirling round with it That by degrees it was covered over or incrustated with Maculae arising on its Surface like the Scum on a boyling Pot which still increasing and growing thicker and thicker the Star losing its light and activity and consequently the motion of the Celestial Vortex about it growing more weak languid and unable to resist the vigorous incroaehments of the neighbouring Vortex of the Sun it was at last drawn in and wholly absorpt by it and forced to comply with its motion and make one in the Quire of the Sun's Satellites This whole Hypothesis I do utterly disallow and reject Neither did the Author himself if we may believe him think it ture that the Earth was thus generated For he saith Quinimo ad res naturales meliùs explicandas earum causas altiùs hic repetam quà m ipsas unquam extitisse existimem Non enim dubium est quin mundus ab initio fuerit creatus cum omni sua perfectione ità ut in eo Sol Terra Luna Stellae extiterint Hoc fides Christiana nos docet hócque etiam ratio naturalis planè persuadet Attendendo enim ad immensam Dei potentiam non possumus existimare illum unquam quidquam fecisse quod non omnibus suis numeris fuerit absolutum That is Moreover for the better explicating of Natural Things I shall bring them from higher or more remote Causes than I think they ever had For there is no doubt but the World was originally created in its full perfection so that in it were contained both Sun and Moon and Earth and Stars c. For this the Christian Faith teacheth us and this also Natural Reason doth plainly persuade for attending to the immense Power of God we cannot think that he ever made any thing that was not complete in all points But thô he did not believe that the Earth was generated or formed according to his Hypothesis yet surely he was of Opinion that it is at present such a Body as he represented it after its perfect Formation viz. with a Fire in the middle and so many several Crusts or Coats inclosing it else would he have given us a mere Figment or Romance instead of a Body of Philosophy But tho' I do reject the Hypothesis yet the being of a Central Fire in the Earth is not so far as I understand any way repugnant to Reason or Scripture For first of all the Scripture represents Hell as a Lake of Fire Mark 9. 43 44 c. Revel 20. 10 14 15. and likewise as a low place beneath the Earth So Pslam 86. 13. and Deut. 32. 22. it is called the nethermost hell Prov. 15. 24. The way of life is above to the wise that he may depart from hell beneath 2. Many of the Ancients understand that Article of the Creed He descended into Hell of our Saviour's Descent into that local Hell beneath the Earth where he trimphed over the Devil and all the Powers of Darkness And particularly Irenaeus interprets that saying of our Saviour That the Son of man should be three days in the heart of the earth of his being three days in
the middle of the Earth which could not be meant saith he of the Sepulchre because that was hewen out of a Rock in its Superficies 3. It is a received Opinion among the Divines of the Church of Rome that Hell is about the Center of the Earth insomuch as some of them have been solicitous to demonstrate that there is room enough to receive all the Damned by giving us the Dimensions thereof Neither is it repugnant to the History of the Creation in Genesis For tho' indeed Moses doth mention only Water and Earth as the component parts of this Body yet doth he not assert that the Earth is a simple uniform homogeneous Body as neither do we when we say Vpon the face of the earth or the like For the Earth we see is a Mass made up of a multitude of different Species of Bodies Metals Minerals Stones and other Fossils Sand Clay Marle Chalk c. which do all agree in that they are consistent and solid more or less and are in that respect contradistinguished to Water and together compound one Mass which we call Earth Whether the interior parts of the Earth be made up of so great a variety of different Bodies is to us altogether unknown For tho' it be observed by Colliers that the Beds of Coals lie one way and do always dip towards the East let them go never so deep so that would it quit cost and were it not for the Water they say they might pursue the Bed of Coals to the very Center of the Earth the Coals never failing or coming to an end that way yet that is but a rash and ungrounded Conjecture For what is the depth of the profoundest Mines were they a Mile deep to the Semidiameter of the Earth not as one to four thousand Comparing this Observation of Dipping with my Notes about other Mines I find that the Veins or Beds of all generally run East and West and dip towards the East Of which what Account or Reason can we give but the motion of the Earth from West to East I know some say that the Veins for Example of Tin and Silver dip to the North tho' they confess they run East and West which is a thing I cannot understand the Veins of those Metals being narrow things Sir Tho. Willoughby in his fore-mentioned Letter writes thus I have talked with some of my Colliers about the lying of the Coal and find that generally the Basset end as they call it lies West and runs deeper toward the East allowing about twenty Yards in length to gain one in depth but sometimes they decline a little from this posture for mine lie almost South-West and North-East They always sink to the East more or less There may therefore for ought we know be Fire about the Center of the Earth as well as any other Body if it can find a Pabulum or Fuel there to maintain it And why may it not since the Fires in those subterraneous Caverns of Aetna Vesuvius Stromboli Hecla and other burning Mountains or Vulcano's have found wherewith to feed them for Thousands of Years And as there are at some tho' uncertain Periods of Time violent Eruptions of Fire from the Craters of those Mountains and mighty Streams of melted Materials poured forth from thence so why may not this Central Fire in the Earth if any such there be receiving accidentally extraordinary supplies of convenient Fuel either from some inflammable Matter within or from without rend the thick exterior Cortex which imprisons it or finding some Vents and Issues break forth and overflow the whole Superficies of the Earth and burn up all things This is not impossible and we have seen some Phaenomena in Nature which bid fair towards a Probability of it For what should be the reason of new Stars appearing and disappearing again as that noted one in Cassiopeia which at first shone with as great a lustre as Venus and then by degrees diminishing after some two Years vanish'd quite away but that by great supplies of combustible Matter the internal Fire suddenly increasing in quantity and force either found or made its way through the Cracks or Vents of the Maculae which inclosed it and in an instant as it were overflowed the whole surface of the Star whence proceeded that illustrious Light which afterwards again gradually decayed its supply failing Whereas other newly appearing Stars which either have a constant supply of Matter or where the Fire hath quite dissolved the Maculae and made them comply with its motion have endured for a long time as that which now shines in the Neck of Cygnus which appears and disappears at certain Intervals But because it is not demonstrable that there is any such Central Fire in the Earth I propose the eruption thereof rather as a possible than probable means of a Conflagration and proceed to the last means whereby it may naturally be effected and that is SECT IV. The Fourth Natural Cause of the World's Dissolution the Earth's Dryness and Inflammability IV. THE Dryness and Inflammability of the Earth under the Torrid Zone with the eruption of the Vulcano's to set it on fire Those that hold the Inclination of the Equator to the Ecliptick daily to diminish so that after the Revolutions of some Ages they will jump and consent tell us that the Sun-beams lying perpendicularly and constantly on the parts under the Equator the Ground thereabout must needs be extremely parch'd and rendred apt for Inflammation But for my part I own no such Decrement of Inclination And the best Mathematicians of our Age deny that there hath been any since the eldest Observations that are come down to us For tho' indeed Ptolomy and Hipparchus do make it more than we find it by above twenty Minutes yet that Difference is not so considerable but that it may well be imputed to the Difference of Instruments or Observations in point of Exactness So that not having decreased for Eighteen hundred Years past there is not the least ground for Conjecture that it will alter in Eighteen hundred Years to come should the World last so long And yet if there were such a Diminution it would not conduce much so far as I can see to the bringing on of a Conflagration For tho' the Earth would be extremely dried and perchance thereby rendred more inflammable yet the Air being by the same Heat as much rarified would contain but few nitrous Particles and so be inept to maintain the Fire which we see cannot live without them It being much deaded by the Sun shining upon it and burning very remisly in Summer time and hot Weather For this reason in Southern Countries in extraordinary hot Seasons the Air scarce sufficeth for Respiration To the clearing up of this let us a little consider what Fire is It seems to consist of three different sorts of parts 1. An extremely thin and subtil Body whose Particles are in a very vehement and rapid motion 2.
is at hand We see the Apostle labours to rectifie and for the future to prevent this Mistake so likewise the Apostle Peter in the 8th and 9th Verses of this Chapter And yet this Opinion had taken such deep root in them that it was not easie to be extirpated but continued for some Ages in the Church Indeed there are so many places in the New Testament which speak of the Coming of Christ as very near that if we should have lived in their time and understood them all as they did of his Coming to Judge the World we could hardly have avoided being of the same Opinion But if we apply them as Dr. Hammond doth to his Coming to take Vengeance on his Enemies then they do not hinder but that the Day of Judgment I mean the General Judgment may be far enough off So I leave this Question unresolved concluding that when that Day will come God only knows CHAP. X. How far this Conflagration shall extend 6. A Sixth Question is How far shall this Conflagration extend Whether to the Ethereal Heavens and all the Host of them Sun Moon and Stars or to the Aereal only I Answer If we follow Ancient Tradition not only the Earth but also the Heavens and heavenly Bodies will be involved in one common Fate as appears by those Verses quoted out of Lucretius Ovid Lucan c. Of Christians some exempt the Ethereal Region from this Destruction for the two following Reasons which I shall set down in Reuterus 's words 1. Because in this Chapter the Conflagration is compared to the Deluge in the time of Noah But the Deluge extended not to the upper Regions of the Air much less to the Heavens the Waters arising only fifteen Cubits above the tops of the Mountains if so much Therefore neither shall the Conflagration transcend that term So Beza upon 2 Pet. 3. 6. Tantum ascendet ille ignis quantum aqua altior supra omnes montes That fire shall ascend as high as the Waters stood above the Mountains This passage I do not find in the last Edition of his Notes The ordinary Gloss also upon these words 2 Thess. 1. 2. In flaming fire rendring vengeance saith Christum venturum praecedet ignis in mundo qui tantum ascendet quantum aqua in diluvio There shall a fire go before Christ when he comes which shall reach as high as did the Water in the Deluge And S. Augustine De Civit. Dei lib. 20. cap. 18. Petrus etiam commemorans factum ante diluvium videtur admonuisse quodammodo quatenus in fine hujus seculi istum mundum periturum esse credamus Peter also mentioning the Ancient Deluge seems in a manner to have advised us how far at the consummation of time we are to believe this World shall perish But this Argument is of no force because it is not the Apostle's design in that place to describe the limits of the Conflagration but only against Scoffers to shew that the World should one day perish by fire as it had of old been destroyed by Water 2. The second Reason is Because the Heavenly Bodies are not subject to Passion alteration or corruption They can contract no filth and so need no expurgation by fire To this we answer not in the words of Reuter but our own That it is an idle and ill grounded conceit of the Peripateticks That the Heavenly Bodies are of their own nature incorruptible and unalterable for on the contrary it is demonstrable that many of them are of the same nature with the Earth we live upon and the most pure as the Sun and probably too the fixt Stars suffer Alterations maculoe or opaque Concretions being commonly generated and dissolved in them And Comets frequently and sometimes New Stars appear in the Etherial Regions So that these Arguments are insufficient to exempt the Heavens from Dissolution and on the other side many places there are in Scripture which seem to subject them thereto As Psal. 102. 25 26. recited Hebr. 1. 10. which hath already often been quoted The Heavens are the Works of thy Hands They shall perish Matth. 24. 35. Heaven and Earth shall pass away Isa. 65. 17. 51. 6. The Heavens shall vanish away like smoke Yet am I not of opinion that the last Fire shall reach the Heavens They are too far distant from us to suffer by it nor indeed doth the Scripture affirm it but where it mentions the Dissolution of the Heavens it expresseth it by such Phrases as seem rather to intimate that it shall come to pass by a consenescency and decay than be effected by any sudden and violent means Psal. 102. 25 26. They all shall wax old as doth a Garment c. Though I confess nothing of Certainty can be gathered from such Expressions for we find the same used concerning the Earth Isa. 51. 6. The Heavens shall vanish away like smoke and the Earth shall wax old as doth a garment The heavenly Bodies are none of them uncorruptible and eternal but may in like manner as the Earth be consumed and destroyed at what times and by what means whether Fire or some other Element the Almighty hath decreed and ordered CHAP. XI Whether shall the Whole World be consumed and annihilated or only refined and purified THere remains now only the Seventh Question to be resolved Whether shall the World be wholly consumed burnt up and destroyed or annihilated or only refined purified or renewed To this I answer That the latter part seems to me more probable viz. That it shall not be destroyed and annihilated but only refined and purified I know what potent Adversaries I have in this case I need name no more than Gerard in his Common Places and Dr. Hakewil â—n his Apology and the Defence of it who contend earnestly for the Abolition or Annihâ—lation But yet upon the whole matter the Renovation or Restitution seems to me most probable as being most consonant to Scripture Reason and Antiquity The Scripture speaks of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Restitution Acts 3. 21. Whom the Heavens must contain until the time of the restitution of all things Speaking of our Saviour and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Regeneration of the World the very word the Stoicks and Pythagoreans use in this case Mat. 19. 28 29. Verily I say unto you That ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the Throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones c. Psal. 102. 26. As a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed Which words are again taken up and repeated Heb. 1. 12. Now it is one thing to be changed another to be annihilated and destroyed 1 Cor. 7. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fashion of this world passeth away As if he had said It shall be transfigured or its outward form changed not its matter or substance destroyed Isa. 65. 17. Behold I create new Heavens and