Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	matter_n	motion_n	several_a	2,741	5	9.2481	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65672	A new theory of the earth, from its original to the consummation of all things wherein the creation of the world in six days, the universal deluge, and the general conflagration, as laid down in the Holy Scriptures, are shewn to be perfectly agreeable to reason and philosophy : with a large introductory discourse concerning the genuine nature, stile, and extent of the Mosaick history of the creation / by William Whiston ...	Whiston, William, 1667-1752.	1696 (1696)	Wing W1696; ESTC R20397	280,059	488

by all and uncontroulable 't is esteemed fully satisfactory tho' not absolutely certain in common Cases And Lastly To come closer to the Point the knowledge of Causes is deduc'd from their Effects Thus all Natural Philosophy i. e. the knowledge of the Causes of the several visible Phaenomena of the World is solely deriv'd from those Effects or Phaenomena themselves their accurate Correspondence to and necessary dependance on certain supposed Causes and their insolubility on any other Hypotheses with the coincidence of the particular Calculations of the Quantities of Motion Velocity Periods and Species of Figures to be every where accounted for On the Universal Conspiration and Correspondence of which with the impossibility of producing an instance to the contrary depends what may be truly stil'd a Physical Demonstration I mean Then and only Then is a Physical Cause to be esteem'd Demonstrated when all the Phaenomena of the World may be certainly shewn to be just so and no otherwise as they necessarily would and must be on supposition thereof This last method is that which our best of Philosophers has taken in his Demonstration of the Universal Affection or Property of Bodies which he calls Mutual Attraction or Gravitation and which accordingly he has establish'd beyond possibility of Contradiction and this is the sole way of bringing natural Knowledge to perfection and extricating it from the little Hypotheses which in defect of true Science the World has till lately been forc'd to be contented with In the Point before us there are only three possible ways of proving the truth of the Assertion here laid down The first that of Propositions in mixt Mathematicks by Calculation of the Motion of some Comet as we do of Planets from the Astronomical Tables and thence demonstrating the certainty thereof But besides the improbability of this Comet 's having ever return'd since the Deluge 't is plain the defect of old Observations and the so late discovery of the Laws and Orbits of their Motions do render such a way of Probation at least at present impossible The second way of Probation is that of Historical Relation that at the Deluge a Comet did so pass by of which there is directly none in the present Case Nor seeing the possibility of the same was not known nor the thing visible to the Inhabitants that out-liv'd the Flood as will hereafter appear is this kind of Evidence to be at all expected But the third and last way possible is the Being of such plain and sensible Effects as must be undoubted consequents of such an Assertion and without the supposal thereof were perfectly unaccountable which is the very method of Probation I shall here use and do wholly depend upon There are several degrees of evidence and kinds of proofs very different from those made use of in the Mathematicks which yet are little less satisfactory to the minds of wise Men and leave little more room for doubting than they Several sorts of Propositions must be evinc'd by several sorts of Arguments and whatever possible and easy Assertion has all the proofs which its nature requires or could justly be expected upon supposal of its real Existence ought to be admitted for true and evident Thus in that sort of things we are now upon if a certain Cause be assign'd which being suppos'd would necessarily infer several plain and visible Effects and occasion several sensible Phaenomena 't is plain if those Effects and Phaenomena be upon Examination found to be correspondent and as they must and would be on the real being of such a Cause the existence of that Cause is prov'd And as where the Effects are few ordinary otherwise accountable and incapable of Reduction to Calculation or accuracy of correspondence in the just Quantity and Proportion necessary the proof is weak and only probable and as where several of the consequents of that Cause agree well enough yet some others disagree the disagreement of one or two is a stronger Objection against than the coincidence of the rest an evidence for the same and the proof none at all So on the other side where a Cause is assigned whose certain consequent Effects must be very many very surprizing otherwise unaccountable correspondent on the greatest niceness of Calculation in the particular Quantity and Proportion of every Effect and where withal no disagreeing Phaenomenon can be urg'd to the contrary the evidence hence deriv'd of the reality of the assigned Cause tho' of a different nature and if you will degree too from Demonstration is yet little less satisfactory to the minds of wise and considering Men than what is esteem'd more strictly so Thus for instance Astronomers at this day find little more Inclination or Reason to doubt of the Annual and Diurnal Motions of the Earth than of any strictly demonstrated Proposition and as much in a manner take it for granted in all their Reasonings as they do the Propositions in Euclid tho' the evidence for the same be in its kind different from and inferior to the other And thus as I have before observ'd Mr. Newton has given sufficient evidence of the Universal Law of Mutual Attraction and Gravitation of Bodies which accordingly there is no more occasion to doubt of than of those common matters of Fact or History of which no wise Man ever made any question And thus it is that I hope to evince the truth and reality of that Cause assigned in this Proposition viz. by proving that those visible Effects or Phaenomena relating to the Universal Deluge which are very many very surprizing hitherto unaccountable several of which are capable of Calculation as to the particular Time Quantity and Proportion of the respective particulars are every one so and no otherwise as on supposal of the assigned Cause they either certainly must or at least probably would have been And as upon a Demonstration of the disagreement of any one Phaenomenon which were a necessary consequence of the same I must own the falseness of the Proposition before us so I hope if the universality of Correspondence even to the exactness of Calculation in proper cases be establish'd and no contradictory instance can be produc'd it will be allow'd that I have sufficiently evinc'd the reality and in a proper Sense certainty of the same Assertion This then being premis'd 't is plain that every one of the particular Phaenomena of the Deluge afterward accounted for is a proper Argument of this Proposition and might justly claim a place here on that account But because such an Enumeration of them before-hand would prevent their own more peculiar place hereafter and disturb the propos'd method of the ensuing Theory I shall leave them to their proper places tho' with this Premonition That several of them do singly so exactly sit the otherwise unaccountable Phaenomena of Nature and of the Deluge and determine the time and circumstances of the latter so nicely that their separate evidence is considerable but when taken

on this occasion I cannot but observe That 't is not the genuine Contents of the Holy Books themselves but such unwary Interpretations of them as these which have mainly contributed to their contempt and been but too Instrumental to make 'em appear Absurd and Irrational to the Free Reason of Mankind For when Men found that the Scriptures according to the Universal Sense of Expositors ascribed such things to God as their plainest reason could not think compatible to a Wise Man much less to the All-wise God they were under a shrewd Temptation of thinking very meanly of the Bible it self and by degrees of rejecting it and therewith all Divine Revelation to the Sons of Men. How fatally this Malady hath spread of late especially I need not say and tho' I fully believe the main stroke or step as to the generality be Vicious Dispositions and a Debauched Temper yet how far such Ill-contriv'd Unskilful and Unphilosophical Interpretations or rather Misrepresentations of Scripture particularly relating to the Material World of which we are now speaking may have contributed to so fatal and pernicious an effect deserves the most serious and sober consideration This Mischief is not to be remedied nor the Veneration due to the Sacred Volumes retriev'd by an obstinate maintaining such strange opinions as those here refer'd to by patronizing the same with Divine Authority and then making vehement Invectives against such as many unskilful yet good men are ready to do whose only fault is this that they can no more be induc'd to believe what is plainly unworthy of and unsuitable to the Divine Perfections than what is evidently contradictory to Divine Revelation Wise Men would rather set themselves carefully to compare Nature with Scripture and make a free Enquiry into the certain Phaenomena of the one and the genuin Sense of the other which if Expositors would do 't were not hard to demonstrate in several such cases that the latter is so far from opposing the truths deducible from the former or the common notions of Mankind that 't is in the greatest harmony therewith and in those cases where the thing mention'd is within the sphere of human Knowledge no less accountable to the reason than enforc'd on the belief of Mankind And I persuade my self if there were a careful collection made of the Ancient knots and difficulties in the several parts of the Bible with relation to such points as we are upon or any others of a different nature and how very many of them as preludes and pledges of the rest are now intirely clear'd or might easily be so it would more contribute to the recovery of the Ancient Honour and due Esteem of the Sacred Scriptures than all the most Zealous and general Harangues from some popular Topicks either for them or against their Contemners the loose Deists and pretended Socinians of this Age. For my own part I cannot but profess that tho' I be very nice and tender in the reasonableness of my Faith and desirous to admit nothing but what agrees to the Divine Attributes the common notions of our Souls and the Phaenomena of Nature yet upon an Impartial Enquiry into some of the most perplexing difficulties occurring there I have obtain'd so great a Measure of satisfaction about them that my scruples now intirely cease and I cannot doubt either of the Truth or Divine Authority of the Scriptures I do not mean that all the difficulties are in particular vanish'd and perfectly clear'd to me That is what is scarce to be hop'd for in this World But I have so frequently met with fewer difficulties in the consideration of the Books themselves than in the common Interpretations and those very Comments which ought to assoil 'em And in so many and those most remarkable Points of all have met with such clear and plenary tho' unexpected satisfaction that I have all imaginable reason to believe the rest equally capable of the same and to remain constant in this assurance That 't is the ignorant or foolish Expositions of Men not the natural and genuine Sense of the Words themselves that makes us imagine Scripture Reason and the Nature of Things irreconcileable or contradictory to one another And I hope the instances he will meet with in the following Theory will go a great way to persuade the unbyass'd Reader of the same Truth and to convince him that greater satisfaction is to be look'd for from the view of God's own Books of Nature and Scripture than those of any Men whatsoever Whatever incompetent Judges may say nothing will so much tend to the vindication and honour of reveal'd Religion as free enquiries into and a solid acquaintance with not ingenious and precarious Hypotheses but true and demonstrable principles of Philosophy with the History of Nature and with such ancient Traditions as in all probability were deriv'd from Noab and by him from the more Ancient Fathers of the World From which mediums what surprizing and unhop'd for light may be given to some famous portions of the Holy Scriptures the following Pages will 't is hop'd afford some convincing Instances and prove sufficient to take away mens ungrounded Fears and Apprehensions in such matters And by the Divine Blessing appear a seasonable Attestation to the Certainty and Authority of those Lively Oracles on which our Happiness in this and the next World does so vastly depend But I must leave this digression and proceed VI. The Vulgar Scheme of the Mosaick Creation besides the disproportion as to time represents all things from first to last so disorderly confusedly and unphilosophically that 't is intirely disagreeable to the Wisdom and Perfection of God And here I might justly Appeal to the Conscience of every careful Reader even tho' his Knowledge of the true System of the World were not great whether the vulgar account has not ever seem'd strange and surprizing to him But if he were one Philosophically dispos'd and allow'd himself a free consideration of it whether it has not ever been the most perplexing thing to his thoughts that could be imagin'd 'T is well known how far this matter has been carried by Wise and Good Men even to the taking away the literal and the resolving the whole into a Popular Moral or Parabolick sense And under what notion this History on the same account has appear'd to others of no less free but less Religious Dispositions and Thoughts I need not say What is indeed matter of doubt and perplexity to pious men being unquestionably to the Loose and Profane the Subject of Mirth and Drollery and the sure encouragement to Atheism and Impiety But I shall not content my self with this general reflection but instead of prosecuting such a Discourse any father shall assign such particular instances of the irregular and unbecoming procedure in the vulgar Scheme of the Creation as are plainly disagreeable to the Divine Wisdom and unsuitable to the nature of things 1. Bodies Alike in Nature have here an unlike

was involv'd in Darkness or excluded all advantages from him and thereby enduring a continual Night so far as natural Causes are here to be consider'd And that this Retardation of the Earth's Diurnal Rotation even without a recurring to the miraculous Power of its first Author is accountable from that passing by of a Comet which we assign for the occasision of the Conflagration is very easie and obvious For in case its Ascent and Passage by be on the East side or before the Earth and in case it approach so near as to rub against it 't is evident such an Impulse is contrary to the course of the Diurnal Rotation and is therefore capable the Proportions of every thing being adjusted by-Divine Providence of putting such a stop to the same as is necessary to the present Phaenomenon and so may put a Period to that constant Succession of Light and Darkness Day and Night which has obtain'd ever since the Fall of Man and withal distinguish the Surface of the Earth into two quite different and contrary Hemispheres near the Vertex of one of which the Sun it self and near that of the other its opposite Point in the Heavens will be always situate Corollary Seeing such a rub of the Comet wou'd affect the Annual Motion of the Earth as well as the Diurnal 't is possible it might retard the former as well as the latter and reduce the Elliptical Course and Orbit of the Earth to its ancient Circular one again XCIX The State of the Millennium will not stand in need of and so probably will be without the Light and Presence of the Sun and Moon XCIX Seeing the Earth wou'd be on the foregoing Supposition distinguish'd into two quite different Hemispheres the one of which wou'd be wholly destitute of the Light and presence of the Sun and as far as appears by St. John supply'd by a Supernatural Light fixt and permanent above its Horizon 't is clear that the first Branch of this Proposition is accountable thereby as far as this Physical Theory is concern'd therein And as to the Moon seeing 't was only a signal and peculiar Providence that caus'd her equal acceleration and consequent accompanying the Earth at the former passing by of the Comet and that no such Providence is again to be expected 't is evident that that Rub or Stoppage of the Earth's Annual Motion which retards the same and does not retard the Moon 's also will separate these Planets and procure their Orbits Courses and Periods to be quite different from one another's ever after according to the greatest rigour of the present Proposition C. At the Conclusion of the Millennium the Final Judgment and the Consummation of all things the Earth will desert its present Seat and Station in the World and be no longer found among the Planetary Chorus C. If any Comet instead of passing by or gently rubbing the Earth hit directly against it in its Course either towards or from the Sun it must desert its ancient Station and move in a quite different Elliptick Orbit and so of a Planet become again a Comet for the future Ages of the World COROLLARIES FROM THE WHOLE I. SEing the new and solid Improvements of Philosophy do all along give so rational Accounts of those Ancient Theorems which have been propagated down from the eldest Ages without being then either understood or intelligible to their Propagators 't is reasonable to trust and rely on such Ancient Traditions not only Sacred but prophane also in these or any other paralled Cases they being in all probability the most valuable Remains and most venerable Truths which the primitive Parents of the World deliver'd down to their Posterity in succeeding Generations II. Seeing most of these Ancient Theorems are very much beyond the distinct Knowledge of those who deliver them contrary to the common Opinion of Mankind judging usually by sensible Appearances and in themselves considering the low State of Natural Knowledge at the same times were highly improbable if not utterly incredible to inquisitive Minds and indeed several of them relating to the Chaos the Creation the primary Constitution and State of the World and the Deluge it self impossible to be discover'd without Supernatural Revelation and yet seeing after all they do now appear as agreeable to Reason and the most solid Mechanical Philosophy as any new Discoveries built on the exactest Observations of present Nature whatsoever 'T is apparent that these Ancient Accounts especially those contain'd in the Holy Scriptures were not originally deriv'd from the Natural Skill and Observation of the first Authors or any other meerly Humane Means but from the immediate and Supernatural Revelation of God Almighty who was therefore much more conversant with Mankind in the first than he has been in these last Ages of the World as the Old Testament-History assures us III. The Measure of our present Knowledge ought not to be esteem'd the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Test of Truth or to be oppos'd to the Accounts receiv'd from Profane Antiquity much less to the inspir'd Writings For notwithstanding that several Particulars relating to the Eldest Condition of the World and its great Catastrophe's examin'd and compar'd with so much Philosophy as was till lately known were plainly unaccountable and naturally speaking impossible yet we see now Nature is more fully more certainly and more substantially understood that the same things approve themselves to be plain easie and rational IV. 'T is therefore Folly in the highest degree to reject the Truth or Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures because we cannot give our Minds particular Satisfaction as to the manner nay or even possibility of some things therein asserted Since we have seen so many of those things which seem'd the most incredible in the whole Bible and gave the greatest Scruple and Scandal to Philosophick Minds so fully and particularly attested and next to demonstrated from certain Principles of Astronomy and Natural Knowledge 't is but reasonable to expect in due time a like Solution of the other Difficulties 'T is but just sure to depend upon the Veracity of those Holy Writers in other Assertions whose Fidelity is so intirely establish'd in these hitherto equally unaccountable ones V. The Obvious Plain or Literal Sense of the Sacred Scriptures ought not without great Reason to be eluded or laid aside Several of those very Places which seem'd very much to require the same hitherto appearing now to the minutest Circumstances true and rational according to the strictest and most Literal Interpretations of them VI. We may be under an Obligation to believe such things on the Authority of the Holy Scriptures as are properly Mysteries that is though not really Contradictory yet plainly Unaccountable to our present degree of Knowledge and Reason Thus the Sacred Histories of the Original Constitution and great Catastrophe's of the World have been in the past Ages the Objects of the Faith of Jews and Christians though the Divine Providence

the former pretty well agreed upon among the latest Chronologers and capable of a much more satisfactory Proof than from so great Differences before thereto relating one would be ready to imagine as upon a little enquiry I easily found Indeed the Archbishop has made the matter so plain that one cannot but wonder how former Chronologers came so strangely to be mistaken and 't is perhaps one of the most difficult things to give a good account of that is readily to be pitch'd upon I once intended to have here not only given the Canon of the several Periods but confirm'd the same from the Scripture and answer'd the principal Objections made against any parts thereof as well from the said Archbishop's incomparable tho' imperfect Chronologia Sacra as from such other Observations as having been since made especially by the very Learned Sir John Marsham who has intirely and evidently clear'd what the Archbishop principally labour'd at without success the Chronology in the Book of Judges give farther light and strength to the same Accounts But this would perhaps be too much like a Digression and somewhat foreign to my main Design so I forbear and only set down the Chronological Canon according to which I reckon from the Creation to the present time as follows I. From the beginning of the Mosaick Creation till the Creation of Adam 291 2 Days to a Month till the Deluge Y. M. D. 0005 06 11 II. From the Creation of Adam till the day when the Earth began to be clear of the Waters or the Autumnal Equinox in the Year of the Deluge 1656 05 14 III. From the Autumnal Equinox in the Year of the Deluge till the departure of Abraham out of Haran 301 2 Days to a Month since the Deluge 0426 06 15 IV. From Abraham's departure out of Haran till the Exodus of the Children of Israel out of Egypt 0430 00 00 V. From the Exodus of the Children of Israel out of Egypt till the Foundation of Solomon's Temple 0479 00 17 VI. From the Foundation of Solomon's Temple till its Conflagration 0424 03 08 VII From the Conflagration of Solomon's Temple till the Kalends of January which began the Christian AEra 0587 04 25 VIII From the beginning of the Christian AEra till this Autumnal Equinox Anno Domini 1696. 1695 08 26 Sum of all 5705 00 00 From the first day of the Deluge till the 28 th of October in this same Year 1696. 4044 00 00 This Canon agrees with the Archbishop's in every thing but that for exactness I make use of Tropical or natural Solar Years instead of Julian ones to which accordingly I proportion the Months and Days I add those five Months fourteen Days which his Hypothesis forc'd him without ground to omit between the Creation and the Deluge and I give the primitive Years of the Creation their place which having been taken for short Days of twenty four Hours long were not hitherto suppos'd to deserve the same All which being observ'd I refer the Reader who desires farther satisfaction to the Archbishop himself where he may find the particulars of the several Periods clear'd to him X. A Comet descending in the Plain of the Ecliptick towards its Perihelion on the first Day of the Deluge past just before the Body of our Earth That such a Position of a Comet 's Orbit and such a passing by as is here suppos'd are in themselves possible and agreeable to the Phaenomena of Nature All competent Judges who are acquainted with the new and wonderful Discoveries in Astronomy according to the Lemmata hereto relating must freely grant But that it really did so at the time here specified is what I am now to prove 'T is true when upon a meer Supposition of such a passing by of a Comet I had in my own mind observ'd the Phaenomena relating to the Deluge to answer to admiration I was not a little surpriz'd and pleas'd at such a Discovery It gave me no small Satisfaction to see that upon a possible and easy Hypothesis I could give so clear an Account of those things which had hitherto prov'd so hard not to say inexplicable and could shew the exact coincidence of the particulars with the Sacred History and the Phaenomena of Nature I thought to be able to proceed so far was not only more than had been yet done more than was generally expected ever would be done but abundantly sufficient to the best of purposes to clear the Holy Scriptures from the Imputations of ill-disposed Men and demonstrate the Account of the Deluge to be in every part neither impossible nor unphilosophical But proceeding in some farther Thoughts and Calculations on the said Hypothesis I to my exceeding great Content and Admiration found all things to correspond so strangely and the time of the Year by several concurring ways so exactly fix'd agreeably to the Sacred History thereby that as I saw abundant Reason my self to rest satisfi'd of the reality as well as probability of what I before barely suppos'd so I thought the producing the Particulars I had discover'd might afford evidence to the minds of others and go a great way to the intire establishing the certainty of that of whose great probability the Correspondence of the several Phaenomena of the Deluge had before afforded sufficient satisfaction But before I come to the Arguments to be here made use of themselves give me leave by way of Preparation to shew what sort of evidence such Assertions as this before us when good and valid are capable of and how great or satisfactory it may be in any other and so may be expected to be in the present Case 'T is evident That all Truths are not capable of the same degree of evidence or manner of Probation First Notions are known by Intuition or so quick and clear a Perception that we scarce observe any Deduction or Ratiocination at all in our Assent to them Some principal Metaphysical Truths have so near a Connexion with these that the manner of reasoning or inferring is scarce to be trac'd or describ'd a few obvious and quick Reflections enforcing our hearty acquiescence Among which the best of Metaphysicians Mr. Lock in his Essay of Humane Understanding very rightly placesthe Being of God Purely Mathematical Propositions are demonstrated by a chain of deductions each of which is certain and unquestionable So that on a clear view of the truth and connexion of each Link or Member of the intire Argumentation the Evidence may still be look'd on as infallible Propositions in mixt Mathematicks as in Opticks Geography and Astronomy depending partly on abstract Mathematick Demonstrations and partly on the Observations of the Phaenomena of Nature tho' not arriving to the strict infallibility of the evidence with the former sort are yet justly in most cases allow'd to be truly certain and indubitable History is all that we commonly can have for matters of fact past and gone and where 't is agreed upon