come down so fast and in so great abundance as easily to have overpowered the thin Oily Scum on which they fell and being a little soaked in it and incorporate with it have weighed it down in Flakes to the bottom of the Waters upon the top of which it could no longer float as being overloaded with the heaviness of the imbodied Earth And truly the flowing of the Waters with a strong head now this way and their returning by and by with as much force the contrary way must needs put them into such restless agitations and cross commotions as would have much promoted the diving of the Flakes aforesaid Nor are we to measure the motion of the Chaotic Waters from the present great Seas For however they may be less discomposed by Tides yet nature then was in other circumstances according to the Theory than it is now and those Waters might be moved at another rate than these are For our present Earth was at that time all dispersed in the Air. And the thicker and fuller the Air was the stronger pressure would the Moon make upon that and that again upon the Superficies of the Waters and consequently the higher must the Tides rise and the more violent must they be And then the Theory makes another motion in the Chaotick Waters necessary namely A Defluxion of them from the Aequator towards the Sides or Poles of the liquid Globe in order to the forming it and consequently the Earth to be raised on it into an Oval Figure And this motion might create a new disturbance in that Element Yea not only so but it might moreover be fatal to the rise of the Earth For the watry Globe was to grow oblong by the slowing down of the Waters to the sides they are the words of the Theory and the disburthening the middle parts about the Aequator But then when these Waters did thus recede or discharge themselves from about the Aequator or middle of the Globe and flow down to the sides of it how easily might the Oily Matter have followed their course Yea perhaps how necessary was it for it to do so While the uppermost Waters thereabouts being most hurried and most at liberty would have fallen back and carried that away with them But then if the upper Waters thus drew off and the Oily substance slid away upon them what foundation could the Earth have had in those middle parts we speak of Especially if these Waters continued their course for any time as it was needful they should to bring about the effect mentioned For so vast a body of Waters as that of the Abyss could not by this means of a perfectly round be made into an oval or oblong Figure on a sudden 3. But in reference to this matter there is a Douâ—t made by the Theorist which must be considered and removed Otherwise most of what has been said touching the instability and fluctuation of these Waters will be vain and groundless The Doubt is Whether the Moon were then in our neighbourhood And truly I had almost said he might next have questioned whether the Sun were then in our Heaven there being in the Story of the Creation no better evidence for the one than for the other I confess the suggestion as wild as it is would have done the Arcadians a great kindness For they used to boast of what was always a Riddle and nonsense to the Wife their being more ancient than Iupiter and the Moon So says Ovid Ante Jovem Genitum Terras habuisse feruntur Arcades Lunâ Gens prior illa fuit But the service it might have done them as to this arrogant brag will by no means countervail that dammage which it does to the person who raises the Doubt For it involves him in the guilt of unhappy temerity towards the Holy Writings Yet the Theorist does not only start this Scruple but argues for it thus Her presence seems to have been less needful when there were no long Winter-nights nor the great Pool of the Sea to move or govern Too bold an affront to Scripture That says expresly That GOD made TWO great Lights and both upon the Fourth Day Gen. 1. 16. The Theorist suspects he made but One. And truly let him but allow Two to be made and the Moon of necessity must be come into our Neighbourhood because she alone could be a Great light in the neighbouring Heaven to make up the Sun Two There is no bringing any Star into the Number For though the smallest of them be a truer and greater Light than the Moon yet no one of them was ever a great Light in this lower World and GOD created more than Two such Besides Scripture says That when GOD made two great Lights he set them both of them both of them then on the same day in the Firmament of the Heaven to give light upon the Earth And must not both of them then be in our neighbourhood at that time And lastly It says That as GOD made the greater of these Lights to rule the Day so he made the lesser to rule the Night And when did the lesser begin to rule the Night Why just when the greater began to rule the Day For as to the Dates of those their respective Offices we find no difference Yet the Theorist declares That the presence of the Moon and consequently her rule then was not so needful because there were no long Winter-nights Whereas the Moon was no more made to shine only in long Winter-nights than the Sun was to shine only in long Summer-days And which is more as there were no long Winter-nights then so there were no short Summer ones neither So that set but the one against the other and the presence of the Moon may seem to have been as needful then in regard of the length of Nights as it is now Upon the whole matter therefore there are no good grounds for this piece of Scepticism And to what has been said concerning it we need add but this Whereas it is argued that there might be no Moon upon the account that there were no long Winter-nights nor great Pool of the Sea to move or govern we being assured that there was a Moon may much better invert the reason and retorting the force of the Argument conclude that there must be long Winter-nights and the great Pool of the Sea because that Planet was present to rule the one and also to move or govern the other Though Possibly the shutting her out of our neighbourhood might be warily done and with prospect of her malignant influence in the case before us namely That she might not incommode or hinder the rearing of the Earth upon the Waters of the Chaos For truly had she been so near a Neighbour at first as she is now she might have been an injurious one as to that Affair She might have kept those Waters in such Motions as would have dissipated their Oily Covering
and so have put by the Primitive Earth by marring the Basis whereon it should have stood Yet when all is said I would have this Exception lookt upon as propounded in way of Quaery Whether the unsettledness of the Chaotic Waters would not have hindred the Production of the first Earth rather than as a positively assertory Objection as if it must necessarily have done it 4. And here I cannot but remark the exceeding precariousness of the Theorist's Hypothesis in reference to the Chaos and the Formation of the Earth out of it For that that Mass which consisted of and was then first dissolved into the simplest elementary Bodies in the World should cast forth one Body I mean Liquor which in its purest na-natural state could contain so much Oiliness in it That this Oily matter should rise just when it did so as to be sit to receive the Earthly Particles in their fall out of the Air whereas had they come down sooner they had been drowned in the Water That this Oiliness should be of just such a quantity as was sufficient for use just enough that is to mix with those Particles and to make them into a good Soil whereas if it had been more it would have overflowed them and made the Earth useless as a greazy clod if less it would not have imbib'd them but they must have lien loose above in a fine and dry powder that would have rendred the Earth barren as an heap of Dust. That the Waters also should be of a due Proportion just sufficient that is to make a temporary Deluge and then to retire into the Deep and make a durable Sea whereas had there been much less the Earth upon its Disruption could not have been drowned and had there been much more it must have been quite swallowed up for ever That all these things should be thus is altogether precarious and not to be admitted but upon better evidence than on their behalf is given in For here any one will be of the Theorist's Judgment as he has declared it That things of moment such as he treats of are not to stand upon weak and tottering dubious and conjectural Grounds but to be founded upon SOME CLEAR AND INVINCIBLE EVIDENCE But then he who talks at this rate ought when he writes of such momentous things to make them out very clearly and evidently Else by what he says more in the same paragraph he proclaims himself guilty of a rash attempt even of tampering where he ought not to meddle and of striving to enter at that Door where GOD and Nature have both agreed to shut him out For did they think good to let him in it should be by such a way as is certain he tells us and wherein he should walk with the aforesaid evidence on his side Now this I say being his declared Judgment the Phaenomena's above-mentioned should have been more fully explained and made out and also more throughly confirmed and made good 5. But besides those there is another behind which if lookt into will not only be found as Precarious as any of the rest but also Vnphilosophical And that is The descent of the Terrestrial Particles out of the Air which constituted the Praediluvian Earth For of those particles the Theory will have that Earth to be made Which were a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or kind of excrementitious Sediment that the Body of the Air threw out when it purified it self But that such a prodigious quantity of gross and feculent substance should then lodge in that part of the Chaos which was so light and volatile at the same time as to mount above other Bodies and also keep it self upon the wing and play in open places might justly be questioned For if such a vast deal of drossy stuff were mixed with the Aereal matter then whatever natural disposition through levity it might have to mount up that one would think should have so pinioned its Wings as to have kept it down at least from rising very high and have been so heavy a clog upon it as to have spoiled its playing in open places at least its playing up so far as the Moon Yet that the Theory allows it to have done so is evident For it supposeth them to have showred down not only from the middle Regions but from the whole capacity or extent of those vast spaces betwixt the Moon and us A supposition that is not only precarious but also seems I say to be somewhat Vnphilosophical For though upon the Theory's account it was necessary these Particles should fill such vast spaces that so the Air might be able to contain enough of them and also have room enough wherein to move and by motion to purge it self and cast them out yet how will the Phaenomenon fall in with a smooth Philosophic Explication For in short either the Bounds of the Chaos and the Sphaere of its gravity as I may call it did extend as high as the Moon or they did not If they did not how came these Particles there Especially in such plenty as to descend from thence in showers Yea how could they come down at all Let Philosophy make it out In case the Bounds of the Chaos and the Sphere of its gravity did reach so high as the Moon then why did not she come tumbling down with those Particles or rather sooner than they as being much heavier Let Philosophy give an account of that For I think we have proved she was then in our neighbourhood though it seems there might be more reason for that Doubt than we were at first aware of 6. And as this Assertion is not very consistent with Philosophy in it self so in the Consequence of it it is against Scripture That assures us That Light was the Product of the first day And as it was made then so it was made visible in these inferiour Regions But this could not be in case the Earth were formed according to The Theory the Air would have been so full of terrestrial Dregs For it then contained enough of such Dregs to compose an Earthly Orb of above one and twenty Thousand Miles in Perimeter and of a depth or thickness we know not how great And such unspeakable measures of Earth in the Air must needs fill it with darkness yea with such a spissitude and opacity as would utterly have spoiled the Pellucidness of it for a considerable height above the Chaos at least For the coarsest and heaviest of the floating Particles setling continually towards the Chaos and the nearer they approached it drawing still into a narrower compass by reason the spaces out of which they descended were much larger than those into which they gathered the mighty throng of them they being crowded together as close as their gravity could squeez them in their fall would have made a Ring of such darkness about the Chaos as would have been like to that which once plagued Egypt It would have been palpable
the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he created and make it do service upon their authority For some of them bear us in hand that it denotes Creation in a rigorous sense that is the making of a thing out of nothing Agreeable to which is the holy Writer's notion of Creation where he says that things which are seen were not made of things that do appear Meaning as we read elsewhere that they were made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of nothing Which apply to the making of the Earth as we very well may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being the SPIRIT 's word concerning it and it could not possibly be made out of a Sun or Star as the new philosophy would have it For then say those Doctors a more proper word should have express'd its production viz 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which imports the making of a thing out of praeexistent matter Some slight ground for this seems to be laid in Scripture and that in Moses's Cosmopoeia too For it is said Gen. 2. 3. That GOD rested from all his work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he Created to make Where unless we allow a distinct signification to the two words implying that he made some things out of nothing and others out of prepared matter we must charge the HOLY GHOST with indecent Tautology Though if we consider again that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used promiscuously to express GOD's making of things ex praejacente materia out of extant matter as well as out of nothing and that in the very story of the Creation we may well suspect that there was too much niceness in the Masters rather than such respective significations to be strictly and continually appropriated to the words Only as many as did thus criticize have thereby fairly given their suffrage for that truth which we contend for That when GOD created the Earth according to Moses's narrative he educ'd it directly out of nothing And so it cannot have a fire at the Center of it because it issu'd forth into being in Des-Cartes's way 8. Being unawares fallen upon that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he created to make in reverence to the Seventy I cannot but take one short step out of the way to vindicate their translation of it They render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he began to make As if the work of Creation had not then been consummate But that could not be their meaning For whereas we read in the beginning of the Chapter the Heavens and the Earth and all the Host of them were finished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they rendred by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they were compleated They could only mean therefore that GOD rested from all his work which at any time in the six precedent days He had BEGVN to make And so their sense is sound and true though they keep not close to the â—â—teral strictness of the Original And that they thought the Creation was wholly perfected before the seventh day is apparent from that liberty they took in translating the beginning of the second verse of the same Chapter which perhaps is more culpable For whereas the Hebrew says GOD had ended his work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the seventh day departing quite from the proper signification of the word they render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the sixth day As if they feared they should offend by stretching the work of Creation too far in case they had turned it GOD had ended his work on the seventh day Here was more than abundans cautela too much caution used Especially if Aben Ezra's Maxime be authentic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The finishing of a work or consummation of it is not the work it self I have noted this the rather as containing in it a full consent with what has been said touching the Creation's being perfected in Six days For it makes it evident that the LXX Interpreters were throughly perswaded of this Truth And not only so but forward to assert and resolved to maintain it even to an over acted care and blameable Scrupulosity 9. And here it will not be amiss to reflect a little upon one notion of the Theory 's which countenances the late production of the Earth or its rising long after the World was made perhaps out of a Sun or Star as the Scheme in the English Theory before the Title Page plainly insinuates And that is The limiting of Moses's Story of the Creation to this lower World to the Earth that is to say and the Aereal Heavens and such things as were formed out of the Chaos Thus in one place it confines it First that must be noted that Moses did not describe the first production of matter and the rise of the universal World but the formation of our World that is of our Earth and our Heaven out of their Chaos And presently after But the Subject of Moses's Genesis is the Chaos and that most confus'd and Earthly and the things made out of this Chaos and related to it as a center those properly belong to the Mosaic World And by and by We may not surmise therefore that when we and our World was made entire nature must needs be made at the same time And then again Certain it is that Moses's World does not comprehend all the Regions of the Vniverse nor all the orders of things but those parts of Nature which could be made of the Earthly Chaos But then to say nothing of Light or the Vehicle of it neither of which were made out of the Chaos let me ask What did GOD mean when he said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LET THERE BE LIGHTS I do not ask what those Lights were that 's evident enough Nor where they were placed for they were far above the Aiery Heaven and so in the sense of the Theory could not belong to the Earthly World But the question is What ALMIGHTY GOD intended by LET THERE BE LIGHTS The Theory hints the meaning and effect thereof to be no more than that those heavenly parts of the Universe were then first made conspicuous or began to illighten the Earth and declares it demonstrable That Moses is so to be understood as he has limited him But then I must continue the enquiry What does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LET THERE BE signify in other places of the same Chapter where it occurrs so often why it infallibly implys the production of those things to which it does respectively relate It imports God's commanding or willing their existence and their immediate emergency into being in obedience to his powerful Will or Mandate This is obvious even to slightest notice Thus when GOD said Let there be light it follows immediately and there was Light When GOD said Let there be a firmament it follows and GOD made a Firmament When GOD said Let the waters be gathered together into one place that so there might be dry
land and Seas it follows It was so When GOD said Let the Earth bring forth Grass c. it follows and the Earth brought forth Grass c. When GOD said Let the Waters bring forth abundantly it follows the Waters brought forth abundantly When God said Let the Earth bring forth the living creature after his king and Cattel c. it follows And GOD made the Beast of the Earth after his kind and Cattel c. And when the Divine and Omnipotent Fiat did all-along carry such energy with it as thus to produce other things as in the series of the Story can it in reason be thought to do less when GOD pronounced LET THERE BE LIGHTS To make this one Fiat differ in sense from the rest would be to depart from the Rules of a just Exposition Yet unless we force such a difference into it it must signify more than the bare appearance of lights upon the clearing up of the Chaos and the Sky that is it must signify those lights were just then created And this is farther evident thus in that GOD takes notice express notice of the use of these Luminaries and therein particularly provides for the conspicuity and Radiancy of them Let them be FOR lights in the firmament of the Heaven to GIVE LIGHT VPON THE EARTH So that when he said LET THERE BE LIGHTS if he did not mean more than their becoming conspicâ—ous and shining out upon the Earth the two expressions must be perfectly tautological And yet if he intended any thing else what could it be but their Creation at that time Especially when it follows hereupon And GOD made two great lights and the Stars also And therefore that the work of Creation which Moses treats of reaches farther than what belongs to the Earthly World and resulted from the Chaos is not to be doubted For he does not only mention the making of the Lights in the Firmament things as different from the terrestrial World as they are distant from the same but describes them as fully in reation to their uses and ends and so seems to handle them as profesâ—edly as any piece of the lower Creation whatever In case it be objected that the Stars give little light upon the Earth which is a thing Moses ascribes to the Luminaries in Heaven I answer If they served not so eminently to that use yet to the other he mentions they were very serviceable and indispensibly necessary For how could time have been measured out and divided into Years and Months as it was in the First World without their help especially if there were no Moon And so I demand in the Second place What does Moses mean by the Host of the Heavens being finished Thus THE HEAVENS were FINISHED and all the HOST of them If he meant only the Host of the Heavens belonging to the Earth what was the Host of those Heavens As for the Air it helped to constitute them to make the very Heavens themselves As for Clouds Rain Hail Snow and the like Meteors there could be none says the Theory As for the Moon it might not then be in the Earth's Neighbourhood As for that watry exhalation which abounded in the aereal Heaven it was but one single thing and so answers not the import of the Word HOST it being of a plural signification And what other Host should belong to these Heavens except the Fowls but then though in Scripture they be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by the Septuagint and in the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Fowls of Heaven yet I do not remember that they are any where called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the HOST of Heaven That phrase in Holy Writ does usually I think continually referr either to the Angels or else to the Lights of Heaven And of the latter of those at least it must here be understood But then none of these Luminaries being formed out of the Chaos and all of them but one placed in remote or superiour Heavens hence it is evident that the Story of the Creation is not to be restrained to the Terrestrial World For that Moses did not only speak of them but of their being created then is manifest from the words before us The HEAVENS and the EARTH were FINISHED and all the HOST of THEM where if by the Earth and its Host being FINISHED We are to understand their being CREATED at that time as we certainly must then are we bound to understand that the Heavens and their Host were so too because the same thing is equally predicated of both It may be worth the while also to remark that Passage in the 148. Psalm Where the inspired Man desiring that GOD might be glorified by means of the Celestial Luminaries crys out Praise ye him sun and moon praise him all ye stars For he commanded and they were created Whence it is evident that when GOD commanded Let there be lights this was not a command whereby they appeared only but whereby they were created and the Moon with the rest was then commanded into being I might also make a Third demand What is meant by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 breath of life which GOD breathed into Man No less than his very Soul So says Buxtorf and others the Hebrews by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understand the rational and immortal Soul and therefore they swear by it And when GOD created man did he not create this Soul of his And so did not the work of Creation which Moses writes of comprehend more than those parts of Nature which were made of the Earthly Chaos It may be not will Platonists say at least this instance is no good Proof of it For GOD might not create the Souls of Adam and Eve just then but send them down from a state of Preexistence But then not to ingage in a new Controversie I reply in short If the humane Souls came into their Bodies out of a state of Preexistence then when they descended they were either pure from sin or they were not If they were not pure then how did GOD create Man in his own Image Gen. 1. 27. Or how did he make Adam uâ—right Eccles. 7. 29. Where the Rectitude spoken of must be of a moral nature because as the Context shows it is opposed to moral obliquity or perverseness If they were pure how could the infinitely gracious BEING whose name and so his nature is MERCIFUL who delighteth in mercy and whose mercy is over all his works deal so unkindly with his own most dear and spotless creatures as to thrust them down or suffer them to fall out of a state of Aethereal light and happiness into a state of darkness and stupid silence out of which according to Platonism they must come to be incarnate and so slide into a condition more forlorn still Truly if the goodness and wisdom of Heaven so decreed
and ordered things as that the Protoplast's and so their Childern's innocent and immaculate Spirits must be betrayed or precipitated into that state of inactivity which might last for millions of years of ages and then out of that squalid condition sink into a worse into one full of inexpressible imperfections miseries and dangers where innumerable multitudes lie under almost an inevitable necessity of falling into the torments of everlasting destruction if this I say be the result of Havens wise Councils and Decrees Preexistence will give no satisfaction to understanding Men and do as little honour to the Glorious GOD. It will rather be a Scandal than a Key to Providence Now that the Souls of the first Pair of Mankind did preexist it being improbable and that they should be ex traduce it being impossible what remains but that GOD created the Souls when he made the Bodies of those Persons And so the work of Creation of which Moses treats is so far from being limitable to the lower World or indeed to the higher material one either that it stretches out it self beyond them both even to the Spiritual one And the Host of the Heavens just now done with intimates as much Expositors conclude while they make it refer not only to the Lights but the Angels above And perhaps something of this Truth That Angels and Humane Souls came into being at the same time that the Earth did may be wrapt up in the Doctrine of the Mundane Egg. So Orpheus that anciâ—nt and famous Divine amongst the Heathens who according to At henagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is believed to Theologize more truly than the rest tells how 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a superimmense Egg being brought forth by Hercules that is I think by the Divine Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by attrition it brake into two parts of the upper part of which was made Heaven and of the lower part the Earth And then affirms that Heaven being mingled with Earth it produced both Women Men and Gods By which he might shadow out that the Intellectual or Spiritual World took its beginning with the Terrestrial one But if he meant that Souls or Spirits sprung up out of matter this will make the ancient Philosophy so very mean and gross as not to be at all regarded CHAP. V. 1. The Form of the Earth Excepted against from the want of Rivers 2. Notwithstanding the way devised to raise them there would have been none in due time 3. Whereupon Two great Inconveniences must have ensued 4. No Rivers could have been before the Flood 1. THE chief thing for Life is Water said the Son of Sirach It is necessary and useful upon numberless accounts So that that Hypothesis which implies the Earth was without â—â—rings and Rivers for many hundreds of Years maâ— justly be rejected And for this reason the supposed Form of the Earth cannot be maintained For according to that the Element of Water was fast shut up within the Exteriour Orb of the Earth and how could it issue forth from thence through so thick and solid a terrestrial Concretion For that being made after the manner abovesaid there could be no gaping chasms nor indeed little clefts or chinks in it whereat the imprison'd Waters might get out Or if there had been never such plenty of lesser cracks or larger rists in it yet the Water being settled in that place which was proper to its Nature there it would have staid by the innate Law or Principle of its Gravity Unless by Elastie Power Protrusion Rarefaction or the like it were forced thence there it would have made its perpetual aboad had the Earth been never so open oâ— pervious by reason of fissures or holes in the same 2. But therefore Exhalation is here made use of and as a proper Engin is set to do this mighty work of fetching up Rivers from the inaccessible Pit The operation in short was performed thus The heat of the Sun raising plenty of Vapours chiefly about the middle parts of the Earth out of the subterraneous Deep they finding most liberty and easiest progress toward North and South directed their motion towards the Poles of the Earth Where being condensed by the cold of those Regions into Rain they descended in constant and exuberant distillations And these Distillations were the Fountains that supplied the first World with Rivers running continually from the Polar to the 〈◊〉 parts of the Earth But according to this Hydrography I shall endeavour first to make it out that there could be no Rivers in due time and secondly that there could be none at all And as for Springs the Hypothesis does not pretend to any First It would have kept Rivers too long out of being For according to that Philosophy we have now to do with the new made Earth was composed of nothing but Dust and an Oily liquor And it being of such a Composition and of a vast thickness it must needs be a considerable time before the Sun could penetrate into the Abyis under it and draw up vapours from thence if it could do it at all in so copious a manner Secondly The Air being at first quite empty of Vapours it would take a great quantity of them to make the Atmosphere of the Earth or to fill up that To which add that every part of the Earth about its Aequator being turned from the Sun every four and twenty hours as long as it was obverted to it many of those Vapours which were lifted up by day would fall down again by night in the same Latitude where they arose without being dispersed to the Polar Regions And thus the production of Rivers would have been something retarded again Thirdly The surface of the Earth being endued with a wonderful feracity it must immediately put forth in an inconceiveable plenty of all sorts of Vegetables which from luxuriant pullulations would strangely advance by most speedy and prodigious growths And this Superfetation of the virginal Soil proceeding from that extraordinary fruitfulness wherewith it was originally impregnated must farther hinder the early rise of Rivers Not so much by consuming the matter of them as another way For the Earth being thick beset with the flourishing apparatus or goodly Furniture of its own bringing forth such perhaps for abundance and excellency as never crowned the most fertil Country or fruitful season since though Dews or Rains fell without intermission yet the Waters would have stuck or hung so much amongst the rank and matted tufts of Grass Herbs Shrubs c. as not to have been able in a short space of time to have gotten into Streams and constituted Rivers of such a length as they must have been of Fourthly In case these Waters had met with no checks but had fallen immediately into such Bodies as would have forced their passage along in holding Currents yet then they must â—ave digged their own Chanels too being sure to find none till they made them But
thereof was laid and the morning Stars sang c. And therefore when the Theory would put a difference in respect of time betwixt the foregoing 4 5 and 6 th Verses and those last set down so as to make the Questions in the former Verses proceed upon the Form and construction oâ— the first Earth and those in the latter upon the demolition of that Earth the opening of the Abyâ—s and the present state of both what it says is gratis diâ—tum and the distinction groundless Yea it seems not only to be applied without grounds but with force and violence for the Context intimates no such matter but rather the contrary It runs on in a direct series of Queries without giving the least hint that any of the Particulars touching which they are made were of later date than others And that the first set of them relate to things as ancient as the Primitive Earth's Production the Theory owns and therefore why should not the other too To which add when the Sea brake forth at the time of the disruption it could not be said to issue as out of a Womb so properly as out of its House where it had dwelt above Sixteen hundred Years for a Womb is the place where a thing is conceived and brought into being which before was not But these Waters were preexistent to the inclosure of the Abyss the Womb which held them yea against the order of Nature they were contributive to the being of it as they were the basis whereon the First Earth was built So that the place of the Abyss falls in but ill with the notion of a Womb in reference to these Waters And consequently they could as ill be said to issue from thence as out of a Womb. And then the Darkness at the Disruption was not so thick nor so much a garment or swadling band to the Sea as darkness was at the Creation Yea the truth is it could then be no garment or swadling band at all for the Sea but only for the Flood For by that time the tumultuary Waters of the Deluge were quietly retired into the decreed place and became a Sea the Sky was cleared up and the darkness gone Nor could it so properly be said to be shut up with Doors and to have Bars set upon it then as to be infranchized or set at liberty For those Doors and Bars which shut it up and made it fast in a closer state before the Disruption were then all broken down and thrown open for ever and it was put into a condition of far greater freedom than it formerly had its present settlement being perfectly a state of enlargement to it But now turn the words to the sense of the Old Hypothesis and besides that they keep time exactly with the Context how patly do they fall in with it For when on the First Day GOD together with the Earth made the Water of the Sea as it brake forth into being as if it had issued out of a Womb indeed because it just then gushed out of the Womb of nothing into Existence and as he then made the Cloud the garment thereof and thick darkness a swadling band for it in a fuller sense for darkness was then upon the face of the deep Gen. 1. 1. and that darkness for certain most thick there being then neither Sun nor Light so on the Third Day when he brake up Chanels for it he might well call them His decreed place and declare that he had beset it with Bars and Doors because by his command the Waters were gathered off the surface of the Earth where was their first and naturâ—â— situation and shut up in such Receptacles and with such a confinement as they would never have withdrawn into of themselves but would always have remained in their original diffusion over the whole Terrestrial Globe And that this shutting up of the Sea in its decreed place was a thing done in the beginning and not at the time of the Flood is evident Prov. 8. 29. where GOD's giving his Decree to the Sea that it should not pass his commandment and his appointing the foundations of the Earth are made to be Sâ—nchronals But from the last Verse of the Quotation Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther and here shall thy proud waves be stayed an objection is raised against the usual exposition of the Place For that sentence shews saith the Theory that it cannot be understood of the first disposiâ—ion of the Waters as they were before the Flood for their proud waves broke those bounds whatsoever they were when they overâ—lowed the Earth in the Deluge I answer If they did so yet that argues not but the words may speak the disposition of the Waters before the Flood according to the common interpretation of them for that Inundation was by GOD's special appointment And when he assigned to the Waters the place of their abode he did not intend to fortifie them in it against his own Omnipotence or to devest himself of his Sovereign Prerogative of calling them forth when he pleased And when they passed the bounds he set them so long as they did it not by any force of their own but meerly by his powerful order or providential act this their Eruption and spreading Overflow cannot be lookt upon as a breach of that Law or those Limits he prescribed them It was only the marvellous effect of an extraordinary Cause and a particular Exception of GOD's own making to the general and standing Rule of his Providence Just as Enoch's or Elijah's Translation was to the universal and irrevocable Sentence of Death That may be one answer in defence of the ancient Hypothesis But then to the Theorist I may give in this for another The proud Waves of the Sea did never pass their bounds to make the Deluge The great Deep or the Fountains then broken up had no relation to the Sea I confess this implies that the Flood is to be explained by a new Hypothesis but if we can but bring in such a one as may be as justifiable as the Theory's is which we shall endeavour to do we need not concern our selves farther about it The last place is Prov. 8. 27 28. When he prepared the Heavens I was there when he set a compass upon the face of the Deep when he established the Clouds above when he strengthned the fountains of the Abyss Whence is inferred So there was in the beginning of the World a Sphere Orb or Arch set round the Abyss which is presumed to be no other than the first habitable Earth But this is a sense far fetcht to serve the turn of an Hypothesis when there is a nearer at hand will do much better For by the Compass set upon the face of the Depth is meant no more than those bounds wherewith GOD encompassed not the Theory's Abyss but the open Waters The HOLY GHOST who is the best Interpreter of his own Writings expounds it so
was built and the Ark prepared before the Flood But how cloud either be done without Iron Tools Some Barbarous people I have been told do strange Feats in way of Architecture by sharp stones But the Theory allows not so much as greater loose stones or rough Pâ—bbles in the primitive Earth So that if they had not Instruments of Iron the Men of that Age could never have compassed the Works aforesaid Yet all such Instruments are positively excluded by the Theory in these words Nor were there of old Instruments belonging to War or BVILDINGS Nor need we wonder there should not when there were no Materials whereof they could be made Nor could there be such Materials when the World afforded neither Mines nor Metals Nor could the World afford either of them when it was not possible the Earth should yield them And that it was not possible for the Earth to yield them the Theory again does implicitly affirm where it says that the first World was wholly artificial and that the furniture or provision of things which it had was not of such as were bred but of such as were made But the worst is still behind Tubal-Cain as Heaven assures us was an Instructer of every Artificer in Brass and Iron Gen. 4. 22. Yet the Theorist professeth and that in the second publication of his Hypothesis after he had time to consider well as for subterraneous things Metals and Minerals I believe they had none in the first Earth and the happier they no Gold nor Silver nor Courser Metalls But then how Tubal-Cain could learn his Trade himself and teach it unto others must be a Riddle too hard for Oedipus to untie Or else which is the very truth this Assertion of the Theory must be notoriously false and not only â—latly but loudly contradictory to the most express Word of the Infallible GOD. This alone should all that has been said besides fail is enough to blow up and finally to explode this New Hypothesis of the Earth's Formation I mean as it shews its great incongruity not only to Scripture but also to Philosophy For had the Earth been originally framed as that teacheth it was then grant there could have been a Metallic Region in that part of it under the Water yet that Metals or Matter for any one of them should ever have ascended through the Abyss into the upper Crust of the First Earth would have been utterly impossible And therefore that egregious Philosopher Des-Cartes makes this the reason why Metals are not found in all places of the Earth quia per aquas evehi non possunt because they cannot be carried or drawn up through the subterraneous Waters Princ. part 4. § 73. CHAP. XI 1. That there were open Seas before the Flood made evident from Scripture 2. Such Seas necessary then as Receptacles for Great Fishes 3. The Abyss being no fit place for them 4. A farther Confirmation of open Seas 5. An Objection against them answered 6. Another Objection answered 7. A Third answered 1. HE that from the Clifts about it or in sailing through it beholds and contemplates the Watry Ocean That views it so far as eyes and thoughts can reach in the stateliness of its Depth and wide Expansion That considers what vast and numberless Rivers it continually drinks up and yet is never the fuller for all these Accessions How far it extends its ceruleous Arms and how much it disgorges at Millions of Mouths and yet is never the emptier for all its profusions That sees its incessant and unwearied Motions and how it ebbs and flows with haughty and incontrollable Reciprocations That observes how it surges with every Wind and surlily swells upon every Storm and lifting up tumid scornful Waves foams as angry at its Disturbance That marks how it frets and rages in a Tempest and rolls it self up into liquid Mountains as if it thrâ—atned to mingle Floods with the Clouds or in a pang of Indignation to quâ—nch the Stars or wash down those Lights hanged out by Heaven He that gazeth on the spatious Seas or revolves such thoughts as these of it in his mind would be amazed to think that so immense an Element was once lockt up in a Vault under Ground and wonder where the Earth should have Cellerage to hold it He would scarce believe that so proud and strong and furious a Monster could be kept in Chains or was ever so tame as to be coop'd up contentedly in a subterraneous Cave He would hardly be perswaded that it could be made to hide its head in an hole beneath and to lie quiet and still in a nightsom Dungeon where for many Ages it never saw the Sun But how odd and uncoâ—th soever it may seem yet thus it was says this Hypothesis The same Primary Assertion of it that says The Exterior face of the first Earth was smooth and uniform without Mountains says also it was without a Sea All that prodigious Mass of Waters which Imagination as comprehensive as it is knows not well how to measure was once shut up in an invisible Cell and being clapt under Hatches lay incognito as long as the first World stood Not a Drop of it appeared all that while but what strained forth by evaporation or transpired through the Pores of the thick skin'd Earth when by the heat of the Sun it was put into a sweat As for the main Body of the Waters they lurked and hid themselves in a secret Groâ—â—o nor could they be brought to quit their latent Dwellings or to look forth of their close and dark Retirements till the Roof of their Lodgings fâ—ll in upon them and justled them out of their Mansions to make room for it self But against this there lies the usual Exception namely That it fights with the Holy Scripture For that informs us That when GOD made Adam he gave him Dominion over the fish of the Sea But according to this Assertion of the Theory Adam never saw the Sea nor one Fish in it all his life long though it lasted well nigh a thousand Years and so impossible it was that he should have or exercise such a Dominion And it is farther considerable That Adam's Dominion over the Sea was not only granted him by Patent from Heaven but moreover was part of GOD's Image which was stamped on him Whereinsoever the whole did consist this I say seems to have been part of the Impress For GOD said Let us make Man in our Image after our likeness and let him have dominion â—ver the fish of the sea Gen. 1. 26. And so to shut up the Sea within the Earth till the Flood is to deny to Men a part of that Empire wherewith their Maker was pleased to invest them and to deprive them of a piece of his glorious Image which he put upon them For none could share fully in the one or the other but they who lived after the general Deluge If it be said That Men
loss they would have been at for Pâ—ey how could they have seen to direct their Motions having no manner of Light at any time to guide them So that upon occasion they must have râ—n at tilt upon one another and being inclosed between two Earths would have been in danger of stranding themselves both above and below Secondly It would have been a place as close as it was dark And therefore what shift should they have made for Air I think I may say for Breath For as for Whales and other Fishes that have Lungs Pliny says It is fully resolved by all Writers that they breathe And his Opinion it is That all Water-creatures do the same after their manner In proof of which he offers several Arguments not to be despised As their Panting Yawning Hearing Smelling c. To which add their Dying upon being frozen up for any time Or if they be alive their greedy flying to any little hole made in the Ice whereat the Air enters But in the Abyss they could have had neither Air nor Breath and so for lack of the same must all have been smothered Lastly It would have been a place as Cold as it was dark and close For the same Cover of Earth of unknown thickness that would have hindred Light and Air from piercing into the Abyss must have kept out the Suns cherishing and benign Warmth too So that could they have struggled with and overcome the two first Inconveniences yet here they would have met with a Third insuperable Could they have lived without Light and Breath yet they could not have multiplied without the Influence of Heaven The want of that would have chil'd and quench'd the desires of Procreation in them and rendered them impotent that way Thus Winter we see is no season for Production of Fishes as being destitute of that quickning power and encouragement which the Presence of the Sun affords 4. Farther yet That there were Seas in the Beginning even on the Third Day we are taught Gen. 1. 10. GOD called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas And why should they not be such Seas as we have now For we have no more grounds to think or say That the Waters there mentioned were an invisible potential or proleptic Sea than we have to imagine or affirm that the dry Land there spoken of was an invisible potential or proleptic Earth And that there were open Seas then may be argued from the Waters we read of under the firmament Gen. 1. 6 7. And GOD said Let there be a firmament in the midst of the Waters and let it divide the waters from the waters And GOD made the firmament and divided THE WATERS WHICH WERE VNDER THE FIRMAMENT from the waters which were above the Firmament But had there been none but River-waters in the first World and not such an open and huge Collection of Waters as we now see the Firmament could not so properly have been said to divide the waters from the waters For then it must rather have been in the midst betwixt the Earth and the Waters and so must have divided the Earth from the Waters the Earth which was under the Firmament from the Waters above it For as for the River-waters they would have been too inconsiderable to have had the Partition made by the Firmament predicated of them in exclusion of the Earth or in preference to it It would have been as if the KING should have said Let a Wall be built betwixt the Thames and the Conduits of London to part them without taking any notice at all of the City which is infinitely more remarkable than the Conduits are But therefore the Theory presents us with a new Notion of the Firmament and makes it to be quite another thing than what it has always been said to be namely That Cortex or Outward Region of Earth spread and founded upon the Abyss And so the Waters of the Abyss under that Earth must be the Waters under the Firmament I cite but two Paragraphs to this purpose Any one at the first view might be able to guess that this exterior frame which GOD establisht upon the Abyss is to be understood by that Firmament which GOD is said to have establisht between the Waters below and above Gen. 1. 6. 7. And again As to the Firmament between the waters it was a remarkable Phaenomenon of the first Earth or rather the first habitable Orb it self which every way encompassed and shut up the Abyss and so divided the Waters above from those below But this truly is so far from giving any satisfaction that it will rather bring the whole Hypothesis to confusion I mean while thus it runs against Scripture again and that most directly and shamefully For the Firmamentum interaqueum Firmament that divided the Waters was so far from being a Frame or an Orb of Earth or the first habitable Earth that as the DIVINEST SPIRIT tells us it was that wherein the Fowls were to fly which yet were to fly above the Earth Gen. 1. 20. Yea in that very Verse it is said to be the Firmament of Heaven And by GOD himself is stiled Heaven GOD called the Firmament Heaven ver 8. Even that very Firmament which divided the Waters as we learn from the two foregoing Verses And therefore the waters under the Firmament in the seventh Verse are said in the ninth Verse to be the waters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Heavens I confess the Theorist twits us for understanding by the Firmament what we commonly do calling it an Vnphilosophic thing But I forbear to retort It is enough to shew that the advantage lies so much on our side and that the ingenious Philosopher is so utterly lost in his Notion And since to make the Earth before the Flood to be this Firmament is so impossible as being manifestly repugnant to the Truth of GOD what remains but that it should be that diaphanous Expansum stretched out betwixt us and the Clouds which as it is constituted of Air chiefly so it is the place wherein Fowls do fly according as Providence was pleased to appoint And to seal up this for a certain truth it is known that the Hebrews have no other word whereby to express Air but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heaven or Firmament Only whereas this Aereous Expansion extends from hence to the cloudy Regions where are the Wates above the Firmament and therefore are called Waters above the Heavens we must note that there is another Firmament mention'd by Moses I mean that Expanse of indefinite vastness wherein the Celestial Lights are fixed for as we read Gen. 1. 17. GOD set them in the Firmament of Heaven But then this Aereous space we speak of being the true Firmament this proves there were open Seas at first Else as was said before this Firmament must have divided the Waters from the Earth whose
or Humane Wisdom is interessed in the Affair That the Clouds were made that is and also are managed by a GOD whose Infinite Wisdom indu'd them with that Nature and placed them in that Order and put them in that capacity of serving us as they do So incomparably that is as no wit of Man can mend their Method For let the skilfullest I say chuse at what rate he would have his Grounds to be watered and then see if the Clouds commonly come not up to his Rules and exceed them too in what is fit to be done First We may be sure he would appoint the best kind of Water to be used And what Water so fit for all sorts of Plants as that which descends from the Clouds above For considering how it is raised by the exhalative influence of the Sun it can have nothing of saltness acrimony or deadness in it nor yet of starving thinness nor coldness neither but must be as light and unctuous and spirituous as that Element when simple can well be and by vertue of its sutable qualities and consistency be most proper for invigorating the Seminals of all things And then being drawn up from all parts of the Earth almost as simple as it seems to be there must needs be very great mixture in it I mean though it be all Water yet it must be a Compound of all Waters as it were as being an extract of all sorts of moisture that the Earth affords in its several Regions Whence it follows that all sorts of Plants must find something in it it being originally in part derived perhaps from the Countries in which they grow highly agreeable to themselves as consisting of Particles fit to enter them and easie to be turned into their substance Which being suckt up by them and drained by exquisite percolation through their fine digestive Pores immediately becomes Sap which is the Plantal Chyle or Blood for their nourishment and accretion Secondly Without question he would have these Waterings seasonably performed And here the Clouds are most kind to Vegetables again and by a regular method answer their necessities For they yield both former and latter Rains Such as may cherish them while they are young and make them grow and strengthen them as they grow and carry them on to perfection Whereas if all these Rains should fall at first the tender Springals would come to nothing as being surfeited with too much moisture and the principle of their Life irrecoverably chill'd if not extinguisht And if all should pour down upon them at last the Showres would be to no purpose For coming too late they would be in vain especially as to all Frugiferous things which being shrunk and stunted with immoderate exiccation would be unable to yield their kindly Products Thirdly We need not doubt but he would have his Grounds watered in a gentle manner And this I may say the Clouds do unimitably Sometimes with dewy Mists sometimes with greater sometimes with lesser commonly with soft and moderate Showres Whereas should they discharge themselves in extravagant quantities they would wash up the weaker and beat down the stronger Plants and by their too free and impetuous Defluxions be extreamly injurious if not fatal to both And can we think that what we have noted already should be done by meer accident That the Regions above which need them not but are rather clogged and cumbred with them should draw up such plenty of Waters for us who cannot possibly subsist without them and then send them down again of so elaborate a nature at so seasonable times and in so sutable measures and all by casual Oeconomy and the conduct of blind and incertain Chance Fourthly We may ground upon it that he would have these Waterings to be constant Not only for two or three Months or some few years but so long as he lives at least to name no longer period Nor are the Clouds deficient in this circumstance neither For as they have watered the Earth through all ages past so they will do the same indefatigably for the future even till the final Consummation of all things And though no one Sett of Clouds can ever be fixed or permanent they being perpetually flitting and volant yet as some fly from us others arise and so from new successions of them we have supplys of fresh Rain And therefore albeit they are passant things they leave very good and lasting effects of their transient fugitive presence with us And here the hand of Providence is visible again For put case that things by a fortuitous hit had fallen luckily at first into that convenient posture for Rain in which now they stand which would be most surprising to think yet that then they should persist of themselves so long and steddily and inalterably in the same is not to be imagined No where the Wheel of Order runs on in so even and withal in so laudable and holding a Course 't is a plain case that its Motions were derived from the impulse of Heaven and are maintained by the help of a Divine Influence or Providential Direction and Concurrence Fifthly We may reasonably conclude that he would appoint things to be watered intermittingly Lest too much driness together should injure them on the one side or too much moisture prejudice or bane them on the other Nor are the Clouds faulty in this piece of service but perform it as it were with a great deal of care and seeming Officiousness For when they have poured out their kindness liberally on the Earth they usually stop up their Bottles again and by suspending their effusions promote its fruitfulness as well as by sending them down upon it For as Rains that are new and fresh from above are most nourishing to Vegetables so their intermissive descents make them to be more nutritive still For then having drunk up and digested those that are past they become more receptive of them that succeed And so sucking in what is fit for their aliment with the more greediness they disperse and concoct it with the more ease and speed And truly in the alternate vicissitudes of wet and dry weather there is something at times most remarkably Providential For when we have had sore and tedious Rains for that very reason they should hold and increase because Nature is prepared and inabled thereunto by abundance of Vapours And when we have had a long and excessive drought for the same reason it should continue because Nature is sitted to carry it on the parched ground affording fewer Exhalations and there being a scarcity of matter out of which Rains should be made Yet as experience proves it happens not thus but on the contrary For when Nature's Disposition in the case does sensibly stand one way she is turned about and as it were against her seeming and set Inclinations led into another Which whispers and suggests to the thinking Man that she is certainly directed by an hand from above and in these
have hindred the same Waters from running back into it Not the Waters in the Bowels of the Earth for if they were there in such plenty as 't is confest there is room enough for them as to have been able to have made a much greater Flood than Noah's yet then against their nature they must have risen above their Source and being so risen they must have stood so long as the Flood lasted in a miraculous opposition to their own nature inclining them to retire from whence they came Not the Supercelestial Waters for then the breaking up of the Fountains of the great Deep and the opening of the Windows of Heaven must be one and the same thing Whereas by Moses they are very plainly and carefully distinguisht Not the inclosed Abyss for then besides that the whole Hypothesis so improbable must be allowed the forty days Rain would have been utterly needless Because then the falling of the Earth into the Abyss being the breaking up of the Fountains of the great Deep it must have fallen in the very first day that Noah went into the Ark because on that very day all the Fountains of the great Deep were broken up Gen. 7. 11. And if by the Earth's falling into the Abyss the World were drowned the first day that Noah entered the Ark as of necessity it must have been if the Earth were dissolved and fell that day to what purpose should it after that rain for forty days together And whereas it is said Gen. 8. 2. That the Fountains of the Deep were stopped the Earth broken down into the Abyss was never made up again nor the Abyss it self covered but remains still as open as ever To which Particular Heads let me add but one more which has a kind of general Relation to them all If either the open Sea or the Waters within the Earth or the Waters above the Heavens or the Abyss under the Earth had been the great Deep meant by Mosâ—s none of them had any true or proper Fountains in them And so what will become of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the Fountains of the great Deep But now supposing that the Caverns in the Mountains were this great Deep how surprizingly do all these things fall in with them For First They are called great Deeps by the HOLY GHOST as has been noted Psal. 78. Secondly They were capable of being cleaved or broke open as being fast shut up Thirdly They were able to afford a competent quantity of Water even as much as it was necessary they should yield Fourthly The Water that came forth of them could never return into them more Fifthly The breaking them up must be quite another thing than opening the Windows of Heaven Sixthly They might all be broke up the same day that Noah took into the Ark. Seventhly The Rain which fell in the forty days would still have been as needful as ever Eighthly They were stopped again as strictly and literally as they were broken up Lastly They were as true and distinct Fountains as any in the World So that if they were not the real Fountains of the Mosaic Tehom Rabbah one would think they might well have been so 5. But let us now pass as it is time we should to a Second Ground upon which we build the probability of our Hypothesis above specified namely That the Flood was but fifteen Cubits higher than the highest parts of the surface of the Earth And that Ground is this Supposing that to have been the true height of the Flood it will not only be possible but very easie to find Water enough for it without recourse to such Inventions as have been and justly may be disgustful not only to nice and squeamish but to the best and soundest Philosophic Judgments For thus in the First place we need not call in the Theory's assistance an Hypothesis how ingenious soever in the contrivance and contexture of it guilty of unjustifiable absurdities Nor Secondly need we fly to a New Creation of Water to gain a sufficient quantity of it An Expedient that sounds harshly in the Ears of many And that not only because they are of Opinion that GOD finisht the work of Creation in the first six days But because he has expresly declared That the true and only Causes of the Deluge were these Two The breaking up of all the Fountains of the great Deep and the opening of the Windows of Heaven To which may be added That the Creation of so vast a quantity of Water as should have surmounted the highest Hills would certainly have inferred either an enlargement of the whole Universe to receive it and so a Dislocation and consequently a disorder of its parts respectively or else a Penetration of the Dimensions of Bodies while so much new matter should have sprung into being more than ever existed and yet have been confined to the same space of aboad that was before fill'd up in its whole capacity Nor need we Thirdly to fetch Waters from the Supercelestial Regions Where if the Heavens be Fluid how could they have kept from falling down so long And if they be Solid how could they possibly have descended at last For in their descent they must have bored their way through several Orbs as hard as Crystal and how thick we know not Besides these Waters must have been lodg'd either below the Stars or above them If below them they would have hid them from our sight The Sun himself cannot be seen through a watry Cloud how much less the Stars through a watry Ocean Nor will it help to say the Element of Water above is more fine and transparent than the Waters below For were it as thin as an ordinary Mist still it would hide the Sun's Face from us though it might transmit his light In case they were plac'd above the Stars they must have been delug'd before the Earth could have been so as intercepting them in their fall Nor could they have slid off the Stars again dropping down to the Earth unless that were the Center of the Universe which is hard to prove yea most absurd to think Nor will it be necessary in the Fourth place to suppose the Mass of Air or greatest part of it was changed into Water to make the Deluge A change which some will by no means admit of as being not hitherto proved by Experiment Yet I cannot but own that the best Philosophers have thought it fecible and also believed it to be actually done The Egyptians conceived Manethus and Hecataeus both attest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Rains were made by the version of Air. Plato was of the same Opinion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Air being thickned and condensed made Clouds and Mists And so was Philo. For besides that he affirms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it varies and runs through all manner of mutations He says expresly in another Place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That Air being
cont Celsum lib. 6. d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Amator * In Amator * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apol. Socr. * Gen. 19. 24. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. de Mund. Opif. †Act. 7. 22. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cont. Cels. Lib. 3. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo in vit Mos. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. cont Cel. lib. 1. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id ib. a Theory pag. 288. * Lib. 1. chap. 5. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aelian Var. Hist. lib. 8. cap. 11. b Ecclus. 18. 1 c Gen 1. 12 13. a Quinimo etiam ad res naturales melius explicandas earum causas altius repetam quà m ipsas unquam extitisse existimem Non enim dubium est quin mundus ab initio fuerit creatus cum omni perfectione suâ ita ut in eo Sol Terra Luna Stellae extiterint Des Cart Princip par 3. sect 45. b Quodque fortè paradoxum multis videbitâ—r haec omnia ita se haberent in materia coelsli etiamsi nulla planè esset vis in Sole aliove astro circa quod gyratur adeo ut si corpus Solis nihil aliud esset quà m spatium vacuum nibilominus ejus lumen non quidem tam forte sed quantum ad reliqua non aliter quam nunc câ—rneremus saltem in circâ— o secundum quem materia â—oeli movetur Id. ib. sect 64. a St. Mat. 27. 45. Why it should be read over all the LAND that is Palestine as if the darkness had extended no farther may well be made a question when it is known that it reached into other Countries Dionysius to give one Instance observed it in Egypt being then an Heathen And is said by Suidas upon his observation of it thus to express himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Atlas Chin. part 2. pag. 46. †Reuchlin de Aâ—t Cabbal p. 9 c. * De Rep. Heb. * Nisi quis apud eos â—etatâ—â— Sacerdotalis ministerii i. e. triâ—â—simum annum impleverit nec principium Geneseos legere permittitâ—r a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Philo in lib. de Mund. Opif. Vid. Nicomach Gerasen Arithmet Theolog. lib. 2. Meâ—rs Dâ—â—â—r Pythag. * Orig. cont Câ—ls lib. 4. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Leg. Allegor lib. 1. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de Mund. Opif. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ib. c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. * Epist. ad Mich. Bulg Princip * Mor. Nevoch a Ex illo deâ—luxâ— aquarum ad la tera exoneratione partium mediarum circa Aequatorem Globus aqueâ—s deveniret aliquantulum oblongus Theor. pag. 198. a Theor. pag. 241. b Ibid. a Ego quidem in eâ sum sententiâ si in harum rerum de quibus agitur cognitionem aut aliarum quarumcâ—nqâ—e quae momenti sunt visum suerit Deo vel naturae ut pateret hominibus ratio perveniendi â—atio illa certa est in aliquâ clarâ inâ—ictâ evidentia âundatâ non conjecturalis varia dubia c. Lat. Theor. pag. 5. * Theor. pag. 54. †Theor. Pag. 60. * Theor. pag. 57. †Theor. pag. 243. ‖ Page 64. * Gen. 1. 1. †Theor. pag. 44. * Jer. 4. 23. a The Schemes of the Châ—os show it terrestrial throughout Theor. pag. 54 55 56 57. The Eâ—rth also formed out of it is represented without Fire at the Cenâ—er pag. 58. * Chap. 2. § 4. †Princip part 3. Art 45. a Attendendo enim ad immensam Dei potentiam non possumus exisiimare illum unquam quicquam fecisse quod non omnibus suis numeris fuerit absolutum Ubi supra b Ac etiam in terrâ— non tantum â—uerint semina plantarum sed ipse plantae nec Adam Eva nati sint infantes sed facti sint homines adulti Ibid. * Princip part 3. Art 155. †Dr. Mâ—re Epist. ad V. C. * Heb. 11. 3. †2 Maâ— 7. 28. * Ad Exod. cap. 12. v. 16. * Illud primâ— notandum est noâ— id agere Mosen ut primam materiâ—e productionem atque Vniversi Mundi ortum describeret sed mundi nostri scilicet telluris nostrae Coeli nostri è suo chao sormationem Theor. lib. 2. cap. 8. †Subjectum autem Geneseâ—s Mosaicae est Chaos conâ—usiâ—â—imum terresâ—re quâ—e ex hoc Chao eductasunt ad illud tanquam centrum referuntur â—a propriè spectant ad mundum Mosaicum ib. * Ne putemas itaque nobis nascentibus mundo nostro necesse esse ut tota natura eodem tempore nasâ—â—retur ib. †Pro certo explorato habeatur Mundum Mosaicum non omnes Vâ—iversi regiones neque omnes rerum ordines complecti sâ—d illas naturae partes quaeè Chao terrestri educi potuerunt ib. †Gen. 1. 14. * Diâ—i possunt tum nasci oriri eâ—e partes coelestes Vniversi cùm primum conspicueâ—rant â—tque dissâ—patâ caligine Châ—os nigri aeris eminusse ostentabant terris paulatim emicantes è tenebris quasi ab iisdem eodem Chao enatae â—uissent Neque aliter Cosmogoniam Mosaicam intelligendam esse si opus esset mâ— demonstrare posse existimo lib. 2. cap 7. †Gen. 1. 15. * The Moon is really a great light to the Earth though the light she transmits thither be borrowed of the Sun †Gen 2. 1. * Dan. 2. 38. * Gen. 2. 7. †Lexic in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Vsurpatur de homine tantùm animam hâ—jus ratione praeditam denotat Schind Lexic Pentag Pag. 1177. Dicitur propriè de anima hominis immortali quam Deus in illum insufflavit Prophet in Psal. 18. v. 16. †Exod. 34. 6. * Mic. 7. 18. †Psal. 145. 9. * Leg at pro Chrisâ—ian a Ecclus. 29. 21. * Page 206. * Theor. paâ— 227. * Page 227. * Instit. Astron de 〈◊〉 Glob c. 4. § 2. †Pag. 242. * 2 Pet. 2. 5. * Gen. 6. * Read 18th 19th and 20th pages of the Theory * Chap. 3. â—erses 5 6 7. †Theor. pâ—g 46. * Read the L. Bishop of Hereâ—ord's Aâ—imaâ— Sect. 1. almost throughout †Theor. p. 47 48. * Nullus enim Philosophorum sive veterum sivâ— recentiorum cujuscunque Sectae unquam aniâ—advertit aut â—x causarum contemplatione invenit primam telluris â—aciem â—uisse Paradisiacam Theor. p. 2. †Quibus temporis longinquitas mutata Naturae facies tantum obscuritatis attulisset ut nisi excitati ab historia saâ—ra de iis forsan nunquam cogitassemus Pag. 11â— * Page 276. †It will be found it may be upon a stricter Enquiry that in the present â—orm aâ—d constitution of the Earth there are certain marks or indications of its first State Theor. p. 8. * Theor. p. 86. * Page 86. a Iâ—id b Sin◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro utre non reperitur Vind. ver Heb. c Vter