and catch bold of the flame lengthning it to two or three handfuls By these Descriptions this Damp should seem to be but Gunpowder in a vapour and to partake the Sulphur Nitre and Bitumen as the Learned Dr. Plot well proves in his Natural History of Staffordshire C. 3. § 47. to which I refer the Reader But for the accension of it whether it ever takes fire of it self I am in some doubt Mr. Iessop deâ—ies it of those of Hasleberg and Wingersworth and how far those Relators that affirm it are to be credited I know not If in this particular I were satisfied I should readily accord with the Doctor That our Earthquakes in England and any others that have but one single Pulse owe their Original to the kindling and explosion of Fire-damps You will say That fire is the cause of Thunder we readily grant because we see it plentifully discharged out of the Clouds but what reason have we to think so of this sort of Earthquakes where we see no lightning or eruption of fire at all What becomes of the inclosed flame In answer hereto I demand what becomes of it in the open Air It diffuses it self through the Caverns of the Earth till the deflagration be made and is there dissipated and dissolved into Fume and Ashes It breaks not forth I conceive because by reason of the depth of the Caverns wherein it is lodged it is not able to overcome the resistance of the incumbent Earth but is forced Quà data porta ruere to make its way where it finds easiest passage through the strait Cuniculi of the Earth as in a Gun the inflamed Powder though if it were at liberty and found equal resistance on every side it would spread equally every way yet by reason of the strength and firmness of the Mettal it cannot tear the Barrel in pieces and so break out but is compelled to fly out at the muzzel where it finds an open though strait passage For the force of flame though very great is not infinite It may be further objected We hear not of any eruption of fire at Port-Royal or elsewhere in this Island and yet the Earth open'd and the roofs of the Caverns fell in therefore fire could not be the cause of this Earthquake for if it had at those apertures and rifts of the ground it must needs have issued forth and appeared abroad To which I answer That the Vaults and Cavities wherein the inflamed Matter was imprisoned and the explosion made lay deep in the Earth and were covered with a thick and impenetrable Coat of hard stone or other solid matter which the fire could not tear but that above this coat there were other superficial hollows in a more loose and crumbling Earth which being not able to sustain the shock and hold out against the impetuous agitations of the Earthquake the roofs might yield open and subside as we hear they did and give way to the Sea to rush in and surmount them You will reply This may be a tolerable account of our English Earthquakes which are finished at one explosion but what shall we say to those of Iamaica which like a Tempest of Thunder and Lightning in the Clouds have as we learn by this Relation several Paroxysms or Explosions and yet no discharging of fire To which I answer That I conceive the Caverns of the Earth wherein the inflamed Damps are contained are much larger there then ours in England and the force of the fire joyned with the elatery of the Air being exceeding great may of a sudden heave up the Earth yet not so far as to rend it in â—under and make its way out but is forced to seek passage where it finds least resistance through the lateral Cuniculi So the main Cavern being in a great measure emptied and the exteriour parts of the extended matter within cooling and shrinking the Earth may subside again and reduce the Cavern to its former dimensions Yet possibly there may not be a perfect defiagration and extinction of the fire and so new Damps ascending out of the Earth and by degrees filling the Cavern there may succeed a second inflamation and explosion and so a third and fourth till the steams be quite burnt up and consumed But in this I confess I do not satisfie my self They who have a more comprehensive knowledge of all the Phoenomena may give a better account But as for those Earthquakes that are occasioned by the burnings of Vulcano's they are I conceive of a different nature For in them the fire burns continually and is never totally extinct only after the great eruptions in which besides smoke and fire there is an ejection of abundance of Ashes Sand Earth Stones and in some floods of melted Materials the raging is for a time qualified but the fire still continuing and by degrees increasing in the combustible matter it finds in the hollows of the Mountains at last swells to that excess that it melts down Metals and Minerals where it meets with them causing them to boil with great fury and extending it self beyond the dimensions of the Cavities wherein it is contained causes great succussions and tremblings of the Earth and huge eruptions of smoke and casts out such quantities of Ashes Sand and Stones as we just now mentioned and after much thunder and roaring by the allision and repercussion of the flame against and from the sides of the Caverns and the ebullition and volutation of the melted Materials it forces out that boiling matter either at the old mouths or at new ones which it opens where the incumbent Earth is more thin and yielding And if any water enters those Caverns it mightily encreaseth the raging of the Mountain For the fire suddenly dissolving the water into vapour expands it to a vast dimension and by the help thereof throws up Earth Sand Stâ—nes and whatever it meets with How great the force of water converted into vapour is I have sometimes experimented by inadvertently casting a Bullet in a wet mold the melted Lead being no sooner poured in but it was cast out again with violence by the particles of water adhering to the mold suddenly converted into vapour by the heat of the Metal Secondly The People of this Plantation being generally so ungodly and debauched in their lives this Earthquake may well be esteemed by this Gentleman the Minister of Port-Royal a Judgment of God upon them For though it may be a servile complaint and popular mistake that the former imes were better than these and that the World doth daily degenerate and grow worse and worse Aet as parentum pejor avis tulit hos nequiores mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorem For had this been true Vice would long before this time have come to the height and greatest possible excess and this Complaint hath been made as well in the best as worst of times Though I say this be partly an errour yet I do verily believe that there
the middle of the Earth which could not be meant saith he of the Sepulchre because that was hewen out of a Rock in its Superficies 3. It is a received Opinion among the Divines of the Church of Rome that Hell is about the Center of the Earth insomuch as some of them have been solicitous to demonstrate that there is room enough to receive all the Damned by giving us the Dimensions thereof Neither is it repugnant to the History of the Creation in Genesis For tho' indeed Moses doth mention only Water and Earth as the component parts of this Body yet doth he not assert that the Earth is a simple uniform homogeneous Body as neither do we when we say Vpon the face of the earth or the like For the Earth we see is a Mass made up of a multitude of different Species of Bodies Metals Minerals Stones and other Fossils Sand Clay Marle Chalk c. which do all agree in that they are consistent and solid more or less and are in that respect contradistinguished to Water and together compound one Mass which we call Earth Whether the interior parts of the Earth be made up of so great a variety of different Bodies is to us altogether unknown For tho' it be observed by Colliers that the Beds of Coals lie one way and do always dip towards the East let them go never so deep so that would it quit cost and were it not for the Water they say they might pursue the Bed of Coals to the very Center of the Earth the Coals never failing or coming to an end that way yet that is but a rash and ungrounded Conjecture For what is the depth of the profoundest Mines were they a Mile deep to the Semidiameter of the Earth not as one to four thousand Comparing this Observation of Dipping with my Notes about other Mines I find that the Veins or Beds of all generally run East and West and dip towards the East Of which what Account or Reason can we give but the motion of the Earth from West to East I know some say that the Veins for Example of Tin and Silver dip to the North tho' they confess they run East and West which is a thing I cannot understand the Veins of those Metals being narrow things Sir Tho. Willoughby in his fore-mentioned Letter writes thus I have talked with some of my Colliers about the lying of the Coal and find that generally the Basset end as they call it lies West and runs deeper toward the East allowing about twenty Yards in length to gain one in depth but sometimes they decline a little from this posture for mine lie almost South-West and North-East They always sink to the East more or less There may therefore for ought we know be Fire about the Center of the Earth as well as any other Body if it can find a Pabulum or Fuel there to maintain it And why may it not since the Fires in those subterraneous Caverns of Aetna Vesuvius Stromboli Hecla and other burning Mountains or Vulcano's have found wherewith to feed them for Thousands of Years And as there are at some tho' uncertain Periods of Time violent Eruptions of Fire from the Craters of those Mountains and mighty Streams of melted Materials poured forth from thence so why may not this Central Fire in the Earth if any such there be receiving accidentally extraordinary supplies of convenient Fuel either from some inflammable Matter within or from without rend the thick exterior Cortex which imprisons it or finding some Vents and Issues break forth and overflow the whole Superficies of the Earth and burn up all things This is not impossible and we have seen some Phaenomena in Nature which bid fair towards a Probability of it For what should be the reason of new Stars appearing and disappearing again as that noted one in Cassiopeia which at first shone with as great a lustre as Venus and then by degrees diminishing after some two Years vanish'd quite away but that by great supplies of combustible Matter the internal Fire suddenly increasing in quantity and force either found or made its way through the Cracks or Vents of the Maculae which inclosed it and in an instant as it were overflowed the whole surface of the Star whence proceeded that illustrious Light which afterwards again gradually decayed its supply failing Whereas other newly appearing Stars which either have a constant supply of Matter or where the Fire hath quite dissolved the Maculae and made them comply with its motion have endured for a long time as that which now shines in the Neck of Cygnus which appears and disappears at certain Intervals But because it is not demonstrable that there is any such Central Fire in the Earth I propose the eruption thereof rather as a possible than probable means of a Conflagration and proceed to the last means whereby it may naturally be effected and that is SECT IV. The Fourth Natural Cause of the World's Dissolution the Earth's Dryness and Inflammability IV. THE Dryness and Inflammability of the Earth under the Torrid Zone with the eruption of the Vulcano's to set it on fire Those that hold the Inclination of the Equator to the Ecliptick daily to diminish so that after the Revolutions of some Ages they will jump and consent tell us that the Sun-beams lying perpendicularly and constantly on the parts under the Equator the Ground thereabout must needs be extremely parch'd and rendred apt for Inflammation But for my part I own no such Decrement of Inclination And the best Mathematicians of our Age deny that there hath been any since the eldest Observations that are come down to us For tho' indeed Ptolomy and Hipparchus do make it more than we find it by above twenty Minutes yet that Difference is not so considerable but that it may well be imputed to the Difference of Instruments or Observations in point of Exactness So that not having decreased for Eighteen hundred Years past there is not the least ground for Conjecture that it will alter in Eighteen hundred Years to come should the World last so long And yet if there were such a Diminution it would not conduce much so far as I can see to the bringing on of a Conflagration For tho' the Earth would be extremely dried and perchance thereby rendred more inflammable yet the Air being by the same Heat as much rarified would contain but few nitrous Particles and so be inept to maintain the Fire which we see cannot live without them It being much deaded by the Sun shining upon it and burning very remisly in Summer time and hot Weather For this reason in Southern Countries in extraordinary hot Seasons the Air scarce sufficeth for Respiration To the clearing up of this let us a little consider what Fire is It seems to consist of three different sorts of parts 1. An extremely thin and subtil Body whose Particles are in a very vehement and rapid motion 2.
delight him But 2ly we find in the Earth not only Stones formed in imitation of Shells but real Shells Teeth and Bones of Fishes or Bodies so like them that they are not to be distinguished by Figure Texture Colour Weight or any other Accident Now what greater Argument can the Atheist desire to prove that the Shells of Fishes were never designed by any provident Efficient for their Defence or their Bones for the sustaining of their Bodies but that the Fish and Shell containing it and the Bones sustaining it did casually concur than that there should be real Shells produced without any Fish in them and that in dry places where no Fish ever did or could breed or indeed live and real Fish-bones where there never was nor could be any Fish Doth it not than concern a Divine to be acquainted with this Objection against the Bodies of Animals being the effects of Counsel and Design and provided with an answer to it For my part I must needs confess that this Argument weighs so with me whether from that innate Prolepsis my self and I think most other Men have of the Prudence of Nature in all its Operations or from mine own observing that in all other things it acts for ends that it is alone sufficient to preponderate all the Arguments against the contrary Opinions though I acknowledge them to be of great force and hard to be answered and to incline or rather constrain me to allow that these Bodies were either real Bones and Shells of Fishes or owe their Figure to them I cannot to use the Words of F. Columna prevail with my self to believe that Nature ever made Teeth without a Iaw or Shells without an Animal Inhabitant or single Bones no not in their own proper Element much less in a strange one Who even of the Vulgar beholding any considerable part of an Animal which he sees not the use of is not apt presently to ask what it serves for as by that innate Prolepsis I mentioned before presuming it was â—ot made in vain but for some end and use Suppose any of us should find in the Earth the compleat Skeleton of a Man he must be as credulous as the Atheist if he could believe that it grew there of it self and never had relation to any Man's Body Why then should we tbink that the entire Skeletons of Fishes found sometimes in the Earth had no other Original nor ever were any part of living Fishes 2ly If we chuse and embrace the contrary Opinion viz. That these Bodies were the real Shells and Bones of Fishes or owe their Figures to them we shall find that this also is urged with many and almost unsuperable Difficulties the principal of which I have already produced and shall here omit repeating only two that refer to Divinity 1. These Bodies being found dispersed all over the Earth they of the contrary Opinion demand how they come there If it be answered That they were brought in by the general Deluge in contradiction thereto they argue thus If these Stones were found scattered singly and indifferently all the Earth over there might be indeed some reason to imagine that they were brought in by the Floud but being found in some particular places only either lying thick in great Beds of Sand and Gravel or amassed together in huge Lumps by a stony Cement such Beds must in all likelihood have been the effect of those Animals breeding there for a considerable time whereas the Floud continued upon the Earth but ten Months during half which time it 's not likely that the Mountains were covered and yet there are found of these Bodies upon very high Mountains not excepting the Appenine and Alps themselves Whence they conclude that they were neither brought in by the Floud nor bred during the Floud bâ—t some other way produced For if they were the Shells of Fishes or their Bones the Water must needs have covered the whole Earth even the Mountains themselves for a â—uch longer time than is consistent with the Scripture-History of the Floud and therefore we must seek some other original of these Bodies If we stick to the Letter of the Scripture-History of the Creation that the Creation of Fishes succeeded the Separation of Land and Sea and that the six days wherein the World was created were six natural Days and no more it is very difficult to return a satisfactory Answer to this Objection I shall therefore only add a conjecture of my own and that is That possibly at the first Creation the whole Earth was not all at once uncovered but only those parts whereabout Adam and the other Animals were created and the rest gradually afterwards perchance not in many Years during which time these Shell-fish might breed abundantly all the Sea over the bottom whereof being elevated and made dry Land the Beds of Shell-fish must necessarily be raised together with it 2. It will hence follow that many Species of Animals have been lost out of the World which Philosophers and Divines are unwilling to admit esteeming the Destruction of any one Species a dismembring of the Vniverse and rendring the World imperfect Whereas they think the Divine Providence is especially concerned and solicitous to secure and preserve the Works of the Creation And truly so it is as appears in that it was so careful to lodge all Land-Animals in the Ark at the time of the general Deluge and in that of all Animals recorded in Natural Histories we cannot say that there hath been any one Species lost no not of the most infirm and most exposed to injury and ravine Moreover it is likely that as there neither is nor can be any new Species of Animal produced all proceeding from Seeds at first created so Providence without which one individual Sparrow falls not to the Ground doth in that manner watch over all that are created that an entire Species shall not be lost or destroyed by any Accident Now I say if these Bodies were sometimes the Shells and Bones of Fish it will thence follow that many Species have been lost out of the World as for example those Ophiomorphous ones whose Shells are now called Cornua Ammonis of which there are many Species none whereof at this day appear in our or other Seas so far as I have hitherto seen heard or read To which I have nothing to reply but that there may be some of them remaining some where or other in the Seas though as yet they have not come to my Knowledge For though they may have perished or by some Accident been destroyed out of our Seas yet the Race of them may be preserved and continued still in others So though Wolves and Bevers which we are well assured were sometimes native of England have been here utterly destroyed and extirpated out of this Island yet there remain plenty of them still in other Countrys By what hath been said concerning the nature and original of Stones I hope it may appear
Objection concerning an Under-current at the Proponâ—is The Streights of Gibralter and the Baltick Sound proposed and replied to 81 82 83 84. Concerning the breaking up of the Fountains of the Great Deep and how the Waters might be made to 〈◊〉 84 15. The inferiour Circulation and perpetual Motion of the Water disapproved 86 c. That the Continents and Islands are so equally dispersed all the World over as to counterballance one another so that the Centers of Motion Gravity and Magnitude concur in one 87 88. An occasional Discourse concerning the Original of Fountains 89 90 c. to 116. That the Preponderancy of the Earth and the Waters lying on an heap in the opposite Hemisphere cannot be the cause of the Waters ascent in Springs proved 86 88 89. That Rains and Snow may suffice to feed the Springs and do feed the ordinary ones proved 89 90 91. That the Rain-water sinks down and makes its way into the Earth more than ten or twenty or forty or even an hundred Foot proved by many Arguments and Experiments 92. 93 94 c. Mr. Halley's Opinion That Springs and Rivers owe their Original to Vapours condensed on the sides of the Mountains and not unto Rain propounded and approved in great part as to hot Countries tho' Rains even there not wholly excluded p. 98 99 c. but disallowed as to the more temperate and cold ones yet even there the Vapours granted to have a good interest in their production 101 102 c. to 116. Observations communicated by Dr. Tancr Robinson concerning the Original of Fountains Dropping Trees c. in confirmation in part of Mr. Halley's Opinion 110 111. An Experiment of mine own in confirmation of the Histories of Dropping or Fountain-trees 113. Inferences upon the supposition of the Rivers pouring into the Sea half an Ocean of Water daily 117 118 c. The most probable Causes of the Deluge viz. the emotion of the Center of the Earth or an extraordinary deprâ—ssion of the Superficies of the Sea 121 122 123. Chap. III. Of the Effects of the Deluge in general p. 125. 126. Chap. IV. Of formed Stones Sea-shells and other Marine or Marine-like Bodies found at great distance from the Shores supposed to have been brought in by the Deluge p. 127. Wherein is treated at large concerning the Nature and Original of these Bodies and that great Question Whether they were originally the real Shells and Bones of Fishes or Stones cast in such Molds or Whether they be primitive Productions of Nature in imitation only of such Shells and Bones not owing their Figure to them largely discussed the Arguments on both sides produced and weighed 127 128 c. to 162. Chap. V. That there have been great Changes made in the superficial part of the Earth since the General Deluge and by what means 163 c. As for instance The Submersion of the great Island of Atlantis 163. The breaking off Sicily from Italy Ceylon from India Sumatra from Malacca 164 of Britain from France proved out of Verstegan 165 of Barbary from Spain of Asia from Thrace 166 167. The raising up of new Islands 167 168. The atteration of the skirts of the Sea instances whereof are 1. The Dutch Netherlands proved out of Verstegan by sufficient Arguments to have been anciently covered by the Sea 2. The great level of the Fens running through Holland in Lincolnshire the Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire and Marshland in Norfolk 3. The Craux in Provence in France 4. The whole Land of Aegypt 5. Probably all China with many others briefly mentioned 168 169 c. to 174. The Submersion of the Land by the Irruptions and Inundations of the Sea Several instances thereof 175 176 177. Changes by the encroachments of the Sea undermining the Shores and washing them away and again letting the Earth so washed away to settle not far from the Shores and so raise up Islands 178 179. Changes by the depression and sinking of the Mountains the Earth being washed down by shots of Rain Rivers and subterraneous Waters These so great and considerable as to endanger in conclusion the submersion of the whole dry Land unless some stop be put p. 179 180 181. Changes made by Earth-quakes of which many instances out of Strabo Pliny and others are produced 181 182 c. A particular Narrative and Account of the late terrible Earthquake in Jamaica with Remarks and Observations Natural and Moral upon it 186 187 c. to 194. An occasional Discourse concerning the Nature Causes and Differences of Earthquakes 194 195 c. to 206. A particular Account of the late remarkable and far-extended Earthquake which happened here with us in England and in other parts of Europe upon Septemb. 8. 1692. 209 210 c. to 216. Of extraordinary Floods caused by long continuing Showers or violent Storms and Shots of Rain 221 222 c. Of boisterous and violent Winds and Hurricans what Interest they have in the Changes wrought in the Earth 225 226 227 228. That the Earth doth not proceed so fast towards â— general Inundation and Submersion by Water as the force and agency of all these Causes seem to require 229. DISCOURSE III. Of the Future Dissolution of the World and the General Conslagration THE Introduction being a Discourse concerning Prophesie 231 232 c. Chap. I. The Division of the Words 2 Peter 3. 1. and the Doctrine contained in them with the Heads of the following Discourse viz. I. Testimonies concerning the Dissolution 1. Of the Holy Scriptures 2. Of ancient Christian Writers 3. Of Heathen Philosophers and Sages II. Seven Questions concerning the Dissolution of the World proposed Chap. II. The Testimonies of Scripture concerning the Dissolution of the World And Dr. Hammond's Expositions referring the most of them to the Destruction of the City and Temple of Jerusalem and the Period of the Jewish State and Polity considered and pleaded for 240 241 c. to 258. Chap. III. Testimonies of the Ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church concerning the Dissolution of the World 258 259 c. to 264. Chap. IV. The Testimonies of some Heathen Philosophers and other Writers concerning the Dissolution the Epicureans 264 the Stoicks 265 c. who held certain Periods of Inâ—â—olation and Conflagrations 267 268. That this Opinion of a 〈◊〉 Conflagration was of far greater Antiquity then that Sect proved 272. Chap. V. The first Question concerning the World's Dissolution Whether there be any thing in Nature that may probably cause or argue a Future Dissolution Four probable means propounded and discussed 277. Sect. 1. The first is the probability of the Waters naturally returning to overflow and cover the Earth 277. The old Argument from the World's Dissolution taken from us daily consenescency and decay rejected 278. The necessity of such a prevailing of the Waters daily upon the dry Land till at last it proceed to a total submersion of it in the course of Nature as things now stand unless
loss of a multitude I might say infinity of them which seems not agreeable to the Wisdom and Providence of Nature For supposing every Male hath in him all the Animalcules that he shall or may eject they may for ought I know amount to millions of millions and so the greatest part of them must needs be lost Nay if we take but one Coit there must in uniparous Creatures at least abundance be lost But if we suppose the Foetus to be originally in the Egg it is not so For the Eggs of all sorts of Creatures are so proportioned to the nature of the Animals the time that they live the time and number of their gestations and the number they bring forth at all times that they will much about suffice for the time the Creatures are fit to breed and nourish their young so that they may if need be be all brought forth and come to perfection The End of the first Discourse DISCOURSE II. Of the general Deluge in the Days of NOAH its Causes and Effects I Proceed now to say something concerning the General Deluge in the days of Noah which was also a matter of Ancient Tradition I shall not enlarge much upon it so as to take in all that might be said but confine my self to Three Heads 1. I shall confirm the Truth of the History of the Deluge recorded in the Scripture by the Testimonies of some ancient Heathen Writers 2. I shall consider the Natural Causes or Means whereby it was effected 3. I shall enquire concerning the Consequences of it what considerable effects it had upon the Earth CHAP. I. Testimonies of Ancient Heathen Writers concerning the Deluge FIrst then I shall produce some Testimonies of Ancient Heathen Writers concerning the Deluge The first shall be that of Berosus recorded by Iosephus in the fifth Chapter of his first Book of Iewish Antiquities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That is Berosus the Chaldaean relating the Story of the Deluge writes thus It is reported that there is some part of the Vessel the Ark still remaining at the Mountain of the Gordyaeans and that certain Persons scraping off the Bitumen or Pitch carry it away and that men make use of it for Amulets to drive away Diseases A second Testimony the same Iosephus affords us in the same place and that is of Nicolaus Damascenus who saith he gives us the History of the Ark and Deluge in these words About Minyas in Armenia there is a great Mountain called Baris to which it is reported that many flying in the time of the Deluge were saved and that a certain person was carried thither in an Ark which rested on the top of it the reliques of the Timber whereof were preserved there a long time Besides these Iosephus tells us in the same place that Hieronymus the Egyptian who wrote the Phoenician Antiquities and Mnaseas and many others whose words he alledges not make mention of the Flood Eusebius superadds two Testimonies more The one of Melon to this effect There departed from Armenia at the time of the Deluge a certain man who together with his Sons had been saved who being cast out of his House and Possessions was driven away by the Natives This man passing over the intermediate Region came into the mountainous part of Syria that was then desolate This Testimony makes the Deluge Topical and not to have reached Armenia The other is of Abydenus an ancient Writer set down by Eusebius Praepar Evangel lib. 9. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. After whom others reigned and then Siâ—ithrus so he calls Noah To whom Saturn foretold that there should be a great Flood of Waters upon the fifteenth Day of the Month Desius and commanded him to hide all Writings or whatever was committed to writing in Heliopolis of the Sypparians Which so soon as Sisithrus had performed he presently sailed away to Armenia where what God had predicted to him immediately came to pass or came upon him The third day after the Waters ceased he sent forth Birds that he might try whether they could espy any Land uncovered of Water But they finding nothing but Sea and not knowing whither to betake themselves returned back to Sisithrus In like manner after some days he sent out others with like success But being sent out the third time they returned with their feet fouled with Mud. Then the Gods caught up Sisithrus from among Men but the Ship remained in Armenia and its Wood afforded the Inhabitants Amâ—lets to chase away many Diseases These Histories accord with the Scripture as to the main of the being of a 〈…〉 Noah escaping out of it only 〈…〉 the Truth by the admixture 〈…〉 â—abulous stuff 〈…〉 first Book against Iulian to 〈◊〉 Deluge alledges a passage out of Alexander Polyhistor Plato himself saith he gives us an obscure intimation of the Deluge in his Timaeus bringing in a certain Egyptian Priest who related to Solon out of the Sacred Books of the Egyptians that before the particular Deluges known and celebrated by the Grecians there was of old an exceeding great Inundation of Waters and devastation of the Earth which seems to be no other than Noah's Flood Plutarch in his Book De Solertia Animalium â—tells us That those who have written of Deucalion's Flood report that there was a Dove sent out of the Ark by Deucalion which returning again into the Ark was a sign of the continuance of the Flood but flying quite away and not returning any more was a sign of Serenity and that the Earth was drained Indeed Ovid and other Mythologists make Deucalion's Flood to have been universal and it 's clear by the Description Ovid gives of it that he meant the general Deluge in the days of Noah And that by Deucalion the Ancients together with Ovid understood Noah Kircher in his Arca Noae doth well make out First For that the Poet Apollonius makes him the Son of Prometheus in his third Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where Prometheus the Son of Iapetus begat the Renowned Deucalion 2. Berosus affirms Noah to have been a Scythian And Lucian in his Book De Dea Syria tells us that many make Deucalion to have been so too 3. The Scripture testifies that Men were generally very corrupt and wicked in the days of Noah And Andro Teius a very ancient Writer testifies that in Deucalion's time there was a great abundance of wicked Men which made it necessary for God to destroy Mankind 4. The Scripture saith that Noah was a Just Man and Perfect in his Generation And Ovid saith of Deucalion that Non illo mâ—lior quisquam nec amantior aequi Vir fuit aut illâ Pyrrhâ uxore ejus reverentior ulla Deorum And a little after Innocuos ambos cultores numinis ambos 5. Apollonius saith of Deucalion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He first ruled over Men. Which may very well be attributed to Noah the Father and Restorer of
Mankind whose right the Kingdom was 6. The sending out of a Dove to try whether the Waters were abated and the Flood gone off is we have seen by Plutarch attributed to Deucalion 7. Lucian in his Timon and in his Book De Dea Syria sets forth the Particulars of Deucalion's after the Example of Noah's Flood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Deucalion was the only Man that was left for a second Generation for his Prudence and Piety sake And he was saved in this manner He made a great Ark and got aboard it with his Wife and Children And to him came Swine and Horses and Lions and Serpents and all other living Creatures which the Earth maintains according to their kinds by pairs and he received them all and they hurt him not for there was by Divine Instinct a great friendship among them and they sailed together in the Ark so long as the Waters prevailed And in his Timon he saith That Noah laid up in the Ark plenty of all Provisions for their sustenance TAB I. pag 69 The two ancient Apamian Coyns taken out of Octav. Falconieri de Nummo Apamensi Deucalionaei Diluvij typum exhibente 8 â—â— Romae By the Greek inscriptions they were stamp under Philippus Marcus Aurelius Alexander and Septimius Severus Howbeit I do not deny that there was such a particular Flood in Thessaly as they call Deucalion's which happened Seven Hundred and Seventy Years or thereabouts after the general Deluge I acknowiedge also a more ancient Flood in Attica in the time of Ogyges about Two hundred and thirty years before Deucalion's by which the Countrey was so marred that it lay waste and uncultivated without Inhabitants for almost Two hundred years CHAP. II. Of the Causes of the Deluge WHat were the instrumental Causes or Means of the Flood Whether was it effected by natural or supernatural Means only Whether was God no further concerned in it than in so ordering second Causes at first as of themselves necessarily to bring it in at such a time First Those that hold this Deluge was altogether miraculous and that God Almighty created Waters on purpose to serve this occasion and when they had done their work destroyed them again dispatcht the Business and loose or cut the Knot in a few words And yet this Hypothesis is not so absurd and precarious as at first sight it may seem to be For the World being already full there needed not nor indeed could be any Creation of Water out of nothing but only a Transmutation of some other Body into Water Now if we grant all Natural Bodies even the Elements themselves to be mutually transmutable as few Men doubt and some think they can demonstrate why might not the Divine Power and Providence bring together at that time such natural Agents as might change the Air or Aether or both together into Water and so supply what was wanting in Rains and extraordinary Eruptions of Springs To them that argue the Improbability of such a change from the great quantity of Air requisite to the making of a little Water it may be answered That if Air and all Bodies commixt with it were together changed into Water they must needs make a bulk of Water of equal quantity with themselves unless we will grant a Peripatetical Condensation and Rarefaction and hold that the same Matter may have sometimes a greater sometimes a lesser quantity or extension This Cause the conversion of Air into Water the Learned Jesuite Athanasius Kircher in his Book De Arca Noae alledges as the undoubted instrumental Cause or Means of the Deluge in these words Dico totum illud aereum spatium usque ad supremam regionem aeris praepotentis Dei virtute in aquas per inexplicabilem nubium coacervatarum multitudinem quâ replebatur conversam esse cujus ubertas tanta fuit ut Aer supremus cum inferiori in Oceanum commutatus videri potuerit non naturae viribus sed illius cujus voluntati imperio cuncta subsunt That is I affirm That all that Aereal space that reaches up to the supreme Region of the Air was by the power of the Omnipolent God and instrumentality of an inexplicable multitude of Clouds amassed together wherewith it was filled changed into Water so that the upper and lower Air might seem to be 〈◊〉 into an Ocean not by the strength of Naâ—â—â—e but of him to whose Will and 〈◊〉 all things are subject And he is so confident that this Deluge in which the 〈…〉 raised fifteen Cubits above the highest by Mountains was not nor could be effected by natural Causes but by the right hand of the most High God only that he saith No Man can deny it but he who doth not penetrate how far the power of Nature can extend and where it is limited To conclude this Hypothesis hath the Suffrages of most Learned Men. But because the Scripture assigning the Causes or Means of the Inundation makes no mention of any conversion of Air into Water but only of the breaking up the Fountains of the Great Deep and the opening of the Windows of Heaven I suppose those Causes may be sufficient to work the Effect and that we need not have recourse to such an Assistance As for those that make the Deluge Topical and restrain it to a narrow compass of Land their Opinion is I think sufficiently confuted by a late ingenious Author to whom therefore I refer the Reader I shall not undertake the Defence or Confutation of those or any other Hypothesis only tell you which at present seems to me most probable and that is theirs who for a partial cause of the Deluge assign either a change of the Center of the Earth or a violent depression of the Surface of the Ocean and a forcing the Waters up from the subterraneous Abyss through the Channels of the Fountains that were then broken up and opened First then let us consider what Causes the Scripture assigns of the Flood and they are two 1. The breaking up the Fountains of the great Deep 2. The opening of the Windows of Heaven I shall first treat of this last By the opening of the Windows of Heaven is I suppose to be understood the causing of all the Water that was suspended in the Air to descend down in Rain upon the Earth the effect hereof here mentioned being a long continuing Rain of Forty days And that these Treasuries of the Air will afford no small quantity of Water may be made appear both by Scripture and Reason 1. By Scripture which opposes the Waters that are above the Heavens or Firmament to those that are under them which if they were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in some measure equal it would never do Gen. 1. 6. God is said to make a Firmament in the midst of the Waters and to divide the Waters which were under the Firmament from the Waters which were above the Firmament And this was the work of a whole
solving this Phaenomenon and that is by supposing that the Divine Power might at that time by the instrumentality of some natural Agent to us at present unknown so depress the Surface of the Ocean as to force the Waters of the Abyss through the forementioned Channels and Apertures and so make them a partial and concurrent Cause of the Deluge That there are at some times in the course of Nature extraordinary pressures upon the Surface of the Sea which force the Water outwards upon the Shores to a great height is evident We had upon our Coasts the last Year an extraordinary Tide wherein the Water rose so high as to overflow all the Sea-Banks drown multitudes of Cattel and fill the lower Rooms of the Houses of many Villages that stood near the Sea so that the Inhabitants to save themselves were â—orced to get up into the upper Rooms and Garrets of their Houses Now how this could be effected but by an unusual pressure upon the Superficies of the Ocean I cannot well conceive In like manner that the Divine Providence might at the time of the Deluge so order and dispose second Causes as to make so strong a pressure upon the face of the Waters as to force them up to a height sufficient to overflow the Earth is no way unreasonable to believe These Hypotheses I propose as seeming to me at present most facile and consonant to Scripture without any concern for either of them and therefore am not solicitous to gather together and heap up Arguments to confirm them or to answer Objections that may be made against them being as ready to relinquish them upon better information as I was to admit and entertain them CHAP. III. Of the Effects of the Deluge I Come now to the Third Particular proposed that is To Enquire concerning the Consequents of the Deluge What considerable Effects it had upon the Earth and and its Inhabitants It had doubtless very great in changing the Superficies of the dry Land In some places adding to the Sea in some taking from it making Islands of Peninsulae and joining others to the Continent altering the Beds of Rivers throwing up lesser Hills and washing away others c. The most remarkable Effects it 's likely were in the skirts of the Continents because the Motion of the Water was there most violent Athanasius Kircher gives us a Map and Description of the World after the Flood shewing what Changes were made therein by it or upon occasion of it afterward as he fansies or conjectures But because I do not love to trouble the Reader with uncertain Conjectures I shall content my self to have said in general that it may rationally be supposed there were then great Mutations and Alterations made in the superficial part of the Earth but what they were though we may guess yet can we have no certain knowledge of and for Particulars refer the Curious to him One malignant effect it had upon Mankind and probably upon other Animals too in shortning their Age or the duration of their lives which I have touched before and shewn that this diminution of Age is to be attributed either to the change of the Temperature of the Air as to Salubrity or Equality sudden and frequent changes of Weather having a very bad influence upon the Age of Man in abbreviating of it as I could easily prove or else to the deteriority of the Diet or to both these Causes But how the Flood should induce or occasion such a change in the Air and productions of the Earth I do not comprehend CHAP. IV. Of formed Stones Sea-shells and other Marine-like Bodies found at great distances from the Shores supposed to have been brought in by the Deluge ANother supposed Effect of the Flood was a bringing up out of the Sea and scattering all the Earth over an innumerable multitude of Shells and Shell-fish there being of these shell-like Bodies not only on lower Grounds and Hillocks but upon the highest Mountains the Appennine and Alps themselves A supposed Effect I say because it is not yet agreed among the Learned whether these Bodies formerly called petrified Shells but now a-days passing by the name of formed Stones be original Productions of Nature formed in imitation of the Shells of Fishes or the real Shells themselves either remaining still entire and uncorrupt or petrified and turned into Stone or at least Stones cast in some Animal Mold Both parts have strong Arguments and Patrons I shall not balance Authorities but only consider and weigh Arguments Those for the latter part wherewith I shall begin are First Because it seems contrary to that great Wisdom of Nature which is observable in all its Works and Productions to design every thing to a determinate end and for the attaining that end make use of such ways as are most aggreeable to Man's reason that these prettily shaped Bodies should have all those curious Figures and Contrivances which many of them are formed and adorned with generated or wrought by a Plastic Vertue for no higher end than only to exhibite such a form This is Mr. Hook's Argumentation To which Dr. Plot answers That the end of such Productions is to beautifie the World with those Varieties and that this is no more repugnant to the Prudence of Nature than is the production of most Flowers Tulips Anemones c. of which we know as little use of as of formed Stones But hereto we may reply That Flowers are for the Ornament of a Body that hath some degree of life in it a Vegetaâ—ive Soul whereby it performs the actions of Nutrition Auction and Generation which it is reasonable should be so beautified And Secondly Flowers serve to embrace and cherish the Fruit while it is yet tender and to desend it from the injuries of Sun and Weather especially for the protection and security of the Apices which are no idle or useless part but contain the Masculine Sperm and serve to give fecundity to the Seed Thirdly Though formed Stones may be useful to Man in Medicine yet Flowers afford us abundantly more uses both in Meat and Medicine Yet I must not dissemble that there is a Phaenomenon in Nature which doth somewhat puzzle me to reconcile with the prudence observable in all its works and seems strongly to prove that Nature doth sometimes ludere and delineate Figures for no other end but for the Ornament of some Stones and to entertain and gratifie our Curiosity or exercise our Wits That is those elegant Impressions of the Leaves of Plants upon Cole-state the knowledge whereof I must confess my self to owe to my Learned and Ingenious Friend Mr. Edward Lloyd of Oxford who observed of it in some Cole-pits in the way from Wychester in Glocestershire to Bristol and afterwards communicated to me a Sample of it That which he found was marked with the Leaves of two or three kinds of Ferns and of Harts-tongue He told me also that Mr. Woodward a Londoner shewed him
very good Draughts of the common female Fern naturally formed in Cole which himself found in Mendip Hills and added That he had found in the same Pits Draughts of the common Cinquefoil Clover-grass and Strawberries But these Figures are more diligently to be observed and considered Secondly There are found in the Earth at great distance from the Sea real Shells unpetrified and uncorrupted of the exact Figure and Consistency of the present natural Sea-shells and in all their parts like them and that not only in the lower Grounds and Hillocks near the Sea but in Mountains of a considerable height and distant from the Sea Christianus Mentzelius in his Discourse concerning the Bononian Phosphorus gives us a Relation of many Beds of them found mingled with Sand in the upper part of a high Mountain not far from Bologna in Italy His words are these Non procul monte Paterno dicto lapidis Bononiensis patria unico forte milliari Italico distanti loci nomen excidit memoriâ ingens mons imminet praeruptus à violentia torrentium aquarum quas imbres frequentes ex viciâ—is montibus confluentes efficiunt atque insignes terrarum moles ab isto monte prosternunt ac dejiciunt In hac montis raina superiore in parte visuntur multae strages seriésve ex testis conchyliorum omnis generis plurimâ arenâ interjectâ instar strati super stratum ut chymicorum vulgus loquitur Est enim inter hasce testarum conchyliorum strages seriésve arena ad crassitiem ulnae ultra interposita Erant autem testae variorum â—â—â—chyliorum omnes ab invicem distinctae nec 〈◊〉 lapidi impactae adeò ut separatim 〈◊〉 manibus tractari dignosci potuerint 〈◊〉 hoc arena pura nullo limo lutóve inter mixâ—a quae concâ—hyliâ—rum testas conservaverat 〈◊〉 multa secula integras Interea verò diuturnitate temporis omnâ—s istae testae erant in albissimâ—m calcem facilè resolubiles Not far from the Mountain called â—aterno where the Bononian Stoâ—e is gotten about an Italian Mile distant the name or the place is slipt out of my memory is a huge hanging Mountain broken by the violence of the Torrents caused by the confluence of Waters descending from the Neighbouring Mountains after frequent showers throwing down great heaps of Earth from it In the upper part of this broken Mountain are seen many Beds or Floors of all kind of Sea-shells much Sand interposing between Bed and Bed after the manner of stratum super stratum or Layer upon Layer as the Chymists phrase it The Beds of Sand interceding between these Rows of Shells were a yard thick or more These Shells were all distinct or separate one from another and not stuck in any one stone or cemented together so that they might be singly and separately viewed and handled with ones Hands The Cause whereof was their being lodged in a pure Sand not intermixt with any Mud or Clay which kept the Shells entire for many Ages Yet were all these Shells by reason of the length of time they had lain there easily resoluble into a purely white Calx or Ash. Fabius Columna also observes that in the tophaceous Hills and Cliffs about Andria in Apulia there are found various sorts of Sea-shells both broken and whole uncorrupt and that have undergone no change And Ovid in Metam lib. 15. Et procul à pelago Conchae jacuere marinae I am also informed by my learned and worthy Friend Dr. Tancred Robinson That Signior Settali shewed him in his Museum at Milan many Turbens Echini Pearl shells one with a Pearl in it Pectunculi and several other perfect shells which he himself found in the Mountains near Genoa and afterwards my said Friend took notice also of several Beds of them himself as he passed over Mount Cenis above fifty Leagues distant from the Sea he assures me that many of the great Stones about the Buildings of London are full of shells and pieces of them Moreover my fore-mentioned Friend Mr. Lloyd sent me perfect Escallop and Sea-Urchin shells exactly resembling the like Sea-shells both for figure colour weight and consistency which he himself gathered up near Oxford And hath lately sent me word That he found at a place called Rungewell-Hill in Surrey at a Village called Hedley three Miles South of Epsham at least Twenty Miles distant from the Sea some fossil Oysters which by the confession of Dr. Lyster himself were indeed true Oyster-shells not petrified nor much decayed Nay so like they were to Oysters newly taken out of the Sea that a certain Person seeing of them mistook them for such and opened one of them expecting to find a living fish therein Now that Nature should form real shells without any design of covering an Animal is indeed so contrary to that innate Prolepsis we have of the Prudence of Nature that is the Author of Nature that without doing some Violence to our Faculties we can hardly prevail with our selves to believe it and gives great countenance to the Atheists Assertion That things were made or did exist by chance without counsel or direction to any end Add hereto Thirdly That there are other Bodies besides shells found in the Earth resembling the Teeth and Bones of some Fishes which are so manifestly the very things they are thought only to resemble that it might be esteemed obstinacy in any Man that hath viewed and considered them to deny it Such are the Glossopetrae dag up in Malta in such abundance that you may buy them by measure and not by tale and also the Vertebres of Thornbacks and other Cartilagineous Fishes there found and sold for Stones among the Glossopetrae which have no greater dissimilitude to the Teeth of a living Shark and Vertebres of a Thoruback then lying so long in the Earth as they must needs have done will necessarily induce Mr. Doody has in his custody a petrify'd lump of Fishes on some of which the Scales themselves still remain And if the very inspection of these Bodies is not enough to convince any Man that they are no Stones but real Teeth and Bones Fabius Columna proves it by several strong Arguments â— Those things which have a woody bony or fleshy nature by burning are changed first into a Coal before they go into a Calx or Ashes but those which are of a tophaceous or stony substance go not first into a Coal but burn immediately into a Calx or Lime unless by some vitreous or metallick mixture they be melted Now these Teeth being burnt pass presently into a Coal but the tophous substance adhering to them doth not so whence it is clear that they are of an osseous and no stony nature Next he shews That they do not shoot into this form after the manner of Salts or Crystal which I shall have occasion further to treat of by and by Then he proves it from the Axiom Natura nihil facit frustra Nature makes nothing in vain But
To omit the whole Land of Egypt which probably was covered originally with the Sea and raised up by the mud and silt brought down by the Nile in its Annual Floods subsiding there as I shall have occasion to shew afterwards Moreover Varenius rationally conjectures that all China or a great part of it was originally thus raised up and atterrated having been anciently covered with the Sea for that that great and impetuous River called the Yellow or Saffron River coming out of Tartary and very often though not at anniversary seasons overflowing the Countrey of China is said to contain in it so much Earth and Sand as make up a third part of its Waters The evenness and level Superficies of this whole Country of China render this Conjecture the more probable In fine the like Atterrations appear to have been made about the Mouths of Indus and Ganges in the East-Indies and the River de la Plata in America and the Rhodanus in France and doubtless most other great Rivers throughout the whole World To all which if we add the spatious Plains that are on each side most great Rivers from their Mouths many Miles up their Channels as may be observed in the Thames and Trent in England which probably were at first Sinuses of the Sea landed up by Earth brought down from the Mountains and upper Grounds in times of Floods it will appear that in this respect there hath been a very great Change made in the Terraqueous Globe the dry Land much enlarged and the Sea straitned and cut short But you will say Hath there been no compensation made for all this Hath not the Sea other-where gained as much as it hath lost about the Mouths of the Rivers If not then the Sea will in time be so far landed up or straitned till it be compelled to return again and overflow the whole Earth To which I answer That where the shores are Earthy or Argillaceous or Gravelly or made of any crumbling and friable matter the Sea doth undermine and subvert them and gain upon the Land which I could prove by many Instances some of which I shall afterward touch But whether the Sea doth in these places gain proportionably to what it loses in the fore-mentioned according to the Vulgar Proverb is to me some what questionable To proceed now to discourse a little concerning the Changes that have been made by the Irruptions and Inundations of the Sea or by its undermining and washing away the shores That there have been of old great Floods and much Land laid under Water by Inundations of the Sea is clear many such being recorded in History The most ancient of all next to the general Deluge in the days of Noah viz. that of Ogyges King of Boetia or rather Attica seems to have been of this nature So doth that of a great part of Achaia in Peloponnesus wherein the Cities of Bura and Helice were overwhelmed and laid under Water Cambden out of Gyraldus reports That anciently a great part of Pembrokeshire ran out in the form of a Promontory towards Ireland as appears by that Speech of King William Rufus That he could easily with his Ships make a Bridge over the Sea so that he might pass on foot from thence to Ireland This Tract of Ground being all buried in deep Sands during the Reign of King Henry the Second was by the violence of a mighty storm so far uncovered that many stumps of great Trees appeared fastned in the Earth Ictúsque securium tanquam hesterni saith Giraldus and the strokes of the Axes in them as if they had been cut but yesterday ut non littus jam sed lucus esse videretur mirandis rerum mutationibus so that now it made shew of a Wood rather than of a Strand such is the wonderful Change of all things In the time of King Henry the First of England there happened a mighty Inundation in Flanders whereby a great part of the Country was irrecoverably lost and many of the poor distressed People being bereft of their Habitation came into England where the King in compassion of their Condition and also considering that they might be beneficial to his Subjects by instructing them in the Art of Clothing first placed them about Carlisle in the North and after removed them into South-Wales where their Posterity hath ever since remained In the Year 1446. there perished 10000 People by the breaking in of the Sea at Dordrecht in Holland and thereabouts and about Dullart in Friesland and in Zealand above 100000 were lost and two or three hundred Villages drowned some of their Steeples and Towers when the Tide is out still appearing above water Mr. Carew of Antony in his Survey of Cornwal affirmeth That the Sea hath ravened from that Shire the whole County of Lioness And that such a County there was he very sufficiently proves by many strong Reasons Camden in his Britannia reports out of ancient Records That upon the Kentish Coast not far from Thanet is a sandy dangerous place which the Inhabitants call Goodwyns Sands where an Island being the Patrimony of Earl Goodwyn was swallowed up in the Year 1097. But the greatest Change of this kind that ever was made if it be true was the submersion of the vast Island o◠Atlantis whereof we have already spoken As for the Changes that have been made by undermining and washing away the shores they have been partly the diminishing of the Land and partly the raising up of several Islands not far from the shores So the Baltick Sea hath invaded the shores of Pomerania and destroyed a famous Mart-town called Vineta So the ancient Borough of Donewich in Suffolk is almost quite eaten away and ruined by the Encroachments of the Sea And it is said that the Ocean hath cut off twenty Miles from the North part of the Island of Ceylan in India so that it is much less at this day than formerly it was And many the like Examples there are And for the raising up of Islands near the shore very likely it is that the Sea continually preying upon the shore and washing away abundance of Earth from thence cannot carry it far to any great distance from the shores but lets it fall by little and little in their Neighbourhood which subsiding or settling continually for some Ages at last the heaps ascend up to the very Superficies of the Water and become Islands Hence in the middle of the Ocean there are no Islands or but a very few because those parts are too remote from the shores for any Earth washed from thence to be carried thither and if it were yet the Sea thereabout is too deep to have any heap raised in it so high besides the motions of the Water in those depths were there Earth enough would overthrow any heap before it could be advanced any thing near the top But all Islands in general a very few excepted are about the shores or not far from the shores
and that the Sea daily encroached upon them That they had Accounts from several parts of those Islands of Mischâ—eâ—s done by the Earthquake From St. Anns they heard of above 1000 Acres of Woodland changed into Sea carrying with it whole Plantations And lastly That he was told by some that they still heard bellowings and noises in the Mountains which made them very apprehensive of an eruption of Fire which if so he feared might be more destructive then the Earthquake But I think causlesly for I never heard or read of any great destruction of Men made by any eruptions of Fire even out of burning Mountains 4. The Account he gives of his own unexpected and strange preservation take his own words After I had been at Church reading Prayers which I did every day since I was Rector of the Place to keep up some shew of Religion and was gone to a place hard by the Church where the Merchants meet and where the President of the Council was who came into my Company and engaged me to take a Glass of Wormwood Wine as a whet before dinner he being my very great Friend I staid with him upon which he lighted a Pipe of Tobacco which he was pretty long in taking and not being willing to leave him before it was out this detained me from going to dinner to one Captain Ruden's whither I was invited whose House upon the first concussion sunk first into the Earth and then into the Sea with his Wife and Family and some that were come to dine with him Had I been there I had been lost But to return to the President and his Pipe of Tobacco before that was out I found the ground rowling and moving under my feet upon which I said to him Lord Sir what is this He replyed very composedly being a very grave Man It is an Earthquake be not afraid it will soon be over but it increased c. Then he relates how he went to his own Lodging and found all things in order there nothing stirred out of its place and going into his Balcony to view the Street he saw never a House down there nor the ground so much a crackt And that after he had prayed 〈…〉 People at their earnest request and 〈◊〉 them some serious Exhortations to Repâ—ntance in which Exercises he spent near an hour and half there came some Merchants of the place to him desiring him to go aboard some Ship in the Harbour and refresh himself telling him that they had gotten a Boat to carry him off Whom he accompanâ—ed and passing over the tops of some Houses which lay levelled with the Surface of the Water got first into a Canoe and then into a â—ong Boat which put him-on board a Ship 5. The last thing I shall take notice of in these Letters shall be the influence and effect this Judgment had upon the Remainder of the People to bring them to a sence of their Sins and Repentance for them and to resolve upon and begin a Reformation and Amendment of their Lives It is a true saying Vexatio dat intellectum In their affliction they will seek me early The pious inclination of the People appeared in that they were so glad to see their Minister in the midst of this Disaster and so earnest with him to come down and pray with them when they saw him in the Balcony before-mentioned and that when he came down into the Street every one laid hold on his Cloaths and embraced him so that with their fear and kindness he was almost stifled And that not only at the instant of the Distress but afterwards when he went a-shore to bury the Dead and pray with the Sick and baptize the Children and preach among them the People were over-joyed to see him and wept bitterly when he preached to them Fear is a more powerful Passion then Love and whatever creates terrour is a more effectual Curb to restrain and rule Men as well as Children then any Favours or Benefits the most powerful Motives of Love and Affection For though the Bonds of Love are called the Cords of a Man and are indeed very strong ones to rational and ingenuous Persons yet the greatest part of Mankind are so far degenerated that they have broken these bonds and cast these cords from them and upon trial one shall find little of Gratitude or Ingenuity among them I shall add one or two Remarks upon the precedent Paper First It is very remarkable that the day when all this befel Port-Royal and the whole Island of Iamaica was very clear not affording the least suspicion of any evil so that the Inhabitants had no warning at all of it but were surprised of a sudden without time sufficient to escape and save themselves For in the short space of three Minutes the Town was shaken and shattered to pieces and sunk into and covered for the greatest part by the Sea In which respect this Judgment resembled those on the Old World and on Sodom which the Scripture tells us were to the People involved in them sudden and unexpected as also the second coming of Christ and future Dissolution of the World by Fire is predicted to be That the Cause of Earthquakes is the same with that of Thunder I doubt not and most learned Men are agreed that is Exhalations or Steams set on fire the one in the Clouds the other in the Caverns of the Earth which is sufficiently proved from the great deflagrations and â—ruptions of Vulcano's or burning Mountains they being always either preceded or attended by Earthquakes and Earthquakes even here in England being as far as I can understand for the most part accompanied with a noise But now of what nature this steam is that is thus inflamed and what causes the accension I must confess my self not to be yet fully satisfied That it is at least partly Sulphureous is certain and well proved by Dr. Lister from the Sulphureous stink of waters smelt before and of the very Air it self after them That it conceives fire of its self and is not kindled after the manner of Gunpowder by the touch of fire is as clear there being no fire praeexisting in the Clouds but how it should kindle unless by a colluctation of parts after the manner of fermentations I cannot conceive And if so then the steam must be a dissimilar Body composed of parts of different Natures else would there be no colluctation and consequently no accension the parts friendly conspiring and agreeing in the same motion I am not ignorant that water either in the gross body or in vapour may and doth so far work upon some solid Bodies as for example Quicklime Hay in a Mow the Pyrites or Firestone c. as to cause an incalescency and even an accension but still this is by the discord or contrariety of the parts of water or vapour and those of the forementioned Bodies meeting and strugling together So in Tempests of Thunder and
Mutations are made in the upper or superficial Region of the Earth the parts thereof seeming to tend to a greater quiet and settlement Besides the Superficies of the Sea notwithstanding the overwhelming and submersion of Islands and the straitning of it about the Outlets of Rivers and the Earth it washes from the shores subsiding and elevating the bottom seems not to be raised higher nor spread further or bear any greater proportion to that of the Land then it did a thousand years ago So have I finished my second Discourse concerning the Deluge and its Effects and the Mutations that have been since made in the Earth and their Causes DISCOURSE III. OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE WORLD THE INTRODUCTION TO THE Third Discourse THERE is implanted in the Nature of Man a great desire and curiosity of fore-knowing future Events and what shall befal themselves their Relations and Dependents in time to come the Fates of Kingdoms and Commonwealths especially the Periodical Mutations and final Catastrophe of the World Hence in ancient times Divination was made a Science or Mystery and many Nations had their Colledges or Societies of Wise-men Magicians Astrologers and Sooth-sayers as for example the Egyptians Babylonians and Romans Hence the Vulgar are very prone to consult Diviners and Fortune-tellers To gratifie in some measure this Curiosity and that his People might not in any Priviledge be inferiour to the Nations about them it pleased God besides the standing Oracle of Vrim not only upon special occasions to raise up among the Iews extraordinary Prophets by immediate Mission but also to settle a constant Order and Succession of them for the maintenance and upholding whereof there were Colledges and Seminaries instituted for the educating and fitting young Men for the Prophetick Function These were the Sons of the Prophets of whom we find so frequent mention in Scripture Moreover it pleased God so far to condescend to the weakness of the Iews that in the Infancy of their State he permitted them to consult his Prophets concerning ordinary accidents of life and affairs of small moment As we see Saul did Samuel about the loss of his Fathers Asses which it 's not likely he would have done had it not been usual and customary so to do In the latter times of that State we read of no consulting of Prophets upon such occasions At last also by their own confession the Spirit of Prophecy was quite taken away and nothing left them but a Vocal Oracle which they called Bath col i. e. the Daughter of a Voice or the Daughter of Thunder a Voice out of a Voice This Dr. Light foot thinks to have been a meer Fancy or Imposture Quae de Bath Kol referunt Iudaei ignoscant illi mihi si ego partim pro fabulis habeam Iuduicis partim pro praestigis Diabolicis What the Iews report concerning Bath Kol I beg their pardon if I esteem them no other then either Jewish Fables or Diabolical Illusions It is a Tradition among them that after the death of the last Prophets Haggai Zachary and Malachy the Holy Spirit departed from Israel But why I beseech you was Prophecy withdrawn if Coelestial Oracles were to be continued Why was Vrim and Thummim taken away or rather not restored by their own confession after the Babylonish Captivity It were strange indeed that God taking away his ordinary Oracles from a People should bestow upon them one more or equally noble and that after they were extremely degenerated and fallen into all manner of Impiety Superstition and Heresy c. And a little after if I may freely speak what I think those innumerable Stories which every where occur in the Jewish Writings concerning Bath Kol are to be reduced to two Heads viz. 1. The most of them are meer Fables invented in honour of this or that Rabbin or to gain credit to some History 2. The rest meer Magical and Diabolical Illusions c. In the Primitive Churches of Christians planted by the Apostles there was also an Order of Prophets 1 Cor. 12. 28. God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets c. This Spirit of Prophecy was an extraordinary and temporary Gift as were the Gifts of Healing and Speaking with Tongues continuing not long after the Death of the Apostles and Consignation of the Canon of Scripture So that now we have no means left us of coming to the knowledge of future Events but the Prophecies contained in the Writings of the Holy Penmen of Scripture which we must search diligently consider attentively and compare together if we desire to understand any thing of what shall befal the Christian Church or State in time to come This Text which I have made choice of for my Subject is part of a Prophecy concerning the greatest of all Events the Dissolution of the World 2 PETER iii. 11. Seeing then all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness CHAP. 1. The Division of the Words and Doctrine contained in them with the Heads of the following Discourse THESE Words contain in them two Parts 1. An Antecedent or Doctrine All these things shall be dissolved 2. A Consequent or Inference thereupon What manner of persons ought we to be The Doctrine here only briefly hinted or summarily proposed is laid down more fully in the precedent Verse But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up These words are by the generality of Interpreters Ancient and Modern understood of the final destruction or dissolution of Heaven and Earth in which sense I shall choose rather to accept them at present than with the Reverend and Learned Dr. Hammond and some few others to stem the Tide of Expositors and apply them to the destruction of Ierusalem and the Jewish Polity I say then That this World and all things therein contained shall one day be dissolved and destroyed by Fire By World in this Proposition We and by Heaven and Earth in this place the most rational Interpreters of Scripture do understand only the whole Compages of this sublunary World and all the Creatures that are in it all that was destroyed by the Flood in the days of Noah and now secured from perishing so again that I may borrow Dr. Hammond's words in his Annotations on this place And again the word Heavens saith he being an Equivocal word is used either for the superiour Heavens whether Empyreal or Ethereal or for the sublunary Heavens the Air as the word World is either the whole Compages of the superiour and inferiour World as the Author of the Book De Mundo ascribed falsly to Aristotle defines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Systeme or Compages of Heaven and Earth and the Beings therein contained or
But to the Waves give way the Moon her Course shall bend Cross to her Brothers and disdaining still to drive Her Chariot wheel athwart the heavenly Oâ—b shall strive To rule the day this Frame to discord bent The Worlds Peace shall disturb and all in sunder rent This Dissolution of the World they held should be by Water and by Fire alternately at certain periods but especially by Fire which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stoicks say that the cause of the destruction of the World is the irresistible force of Fire that is in things which in long periods of time consumes and dissolves all things into it self Euseb. Praep. l. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The most ancient of that Sect held That at certain vast Periods of time all things were rarified into Air being resolved into an Ethereal Fire This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Stoicks we find mentioned by many both Christian and Heathen Writers as besides the fore-quoted Minutius Felix Iustin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus in 5. Strom. Plutarch Seneca and others The time of this Conflagration Seneca determines not but saith only it shall be when God pleases 3 Quaest. nat cap. 20. 8. Cùm Deo visum vetera finire ordiri meliora When it shall seem good to God to put an end to old things and to begin better Some there be who tell us of the Annus Platonicus or magnus by which they understand such a period of time as in which all the heavenly Bodies shall be restored to the same site and distance they were once in in respect of one another As supposing that all the Seven Planets were at the moment of Creation in the first degree of Aries till they come all to â—e in the same degree again all that space of 〈◊〉 is called the Great Year Annus magnus In this Year they tell us that the height of Summer is the Conflagration and the depth of Winter the Inundation and some Astrologers have been so 〈◊〉 as to assign the time both of the Inundation and Conflagration Seneca 3 Quest. Nat. cap. 20. Berosus qui Belum interpretaius est dicit cursu ista syderum fieri adeo quidem assirmat ut conflagrationi atque diluvio tempus asâ—ignet Arsura â—nim terrena contendit quando omnia sydera in Cancro convenerint inundationem futuram quando eadem syderum turba in Capricorno convenerit Berosus who interpreted Belus saith That those things come to pass according to the course of the Stars and he so confidently affirms it that he assigns the time both for the Conflagration and Inundation For that all earthly Bodies will be burnt up when all the Stars shall meet in Cancer and the Inundation will fall out when the same shall be in conjunction in Capricorn Concerning the manner of this Conflagration they held it should be sudden Senec. Natura subitò ad ruinam toto impeturuit licet ad originem parcè utatur viribus dispensetque se incrementis fallacibus Momento fit cinis diu sylva c. Nature doth suddenly and with all its force rush on to ruin though to the rise and formation of things it useth its strength sparingly dispensing its influence and causing them to grow by insensible degrees a Wood is long in growing up but reduced to Ashes almost in a moment And some of them were so absurd as to think that the Stars should justle and be dashed one against another Senec. lib. de consolatione ad Marciam Cùm tempus advenerit quo se mundus revoâ—aturus extinguat viribus ista se suis caedent sydeâ—â—â—yderilus incurrent omni flagrante materia uno igne quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet ardebit When the time shall come that the World again to restore and renew it self shall perish these things shall batter and mall themselves by their own strength the Stars shall run or fall foul upon one another and all the matter flaming whatsoever now according to its settled order and disposition shines shall then burn in one fire Here by the way we may with Dr. More Souls Immortality lib. 3. cap. 18. take notice how coursly not to say ridiculously the Stoicks Philosophize when they are turned out of their Road-way of Moral Sentences and pretend to give an account of the Nature of Things For what Errours can be more gross than they entertain of God of the Soul and of the Stars they making the two former Corporeal Substances and feeding the latter with the vapours of the Earth affirming that the Sun sups the Water of the great Ocean to quench his Thirst but that the Moon drinks off the lesser Rivers and Brooks which is as true as that the Ass drank up the Moon Such conceits are more sit for Anacreon in a drunken Fit to stumble upon who to invite his Companions to Tiple composed that Catch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sea drinks up the Vapours And the Sun the Sea then to be either found out or owned by a serious Philosopher And yet Seneca mightily triumphs in this Notion of foddering the Stars with the thick Fogs of the Earth and declares his Opinion with no mean Strains of Eloquence c. As for the extent of this Conflagration they held that not only the Heavens should be burnt but that the Gods themselves should not escape Scot-free So Seneca Resoluto mundo Diis in unum confusis When the World shall be dissolved and the Gods confounded and blended together into one And again Atque omnes pariter Deos Perdet nox aliqua Chaos And in like manner a certain Night and Chaos shall destroy all the Gods Is not this wise Philosophy If their Morality were no better than their Physicks their Wise man they boast of might be so denominated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they of Gotham But let us look a little further and we shall find that the Stoicks were not the first Authors of this Opinion of the Conflagration but that it was of far greater Antiquity than that Sect. Others of the more ancient Philosophers having entertained it viz. Empedocles as Clemens Alexandrinus testifies in his 5 Strom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there shall sometime be a change of the World into the nature or substance of Fire 2. Heraclitus as the same Clemens shews at large out of him in the same place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And Laertius in the Life of Heraclitus He taught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there is but one World and that it was generated out of Fire and again burnt up or turned into Fire at certain periods alternately throughout all Ages I might add to these the Ancient Greek Poets Sophocles and Diphilus as we find them quoâ—ed by Iustin Martyr and Clemens Alexandrinus Neither yet were these the first Inventers and Broachers of this Opinion but they received it by Tradition from their Forefathers and look'd
That not far from Ligorn he himself had observed a whole City under Water that had been in former times drown'd by the Inundation of the Sea And over against Puteoli in the Sinus of Baia he tells us That in the bottom of the Sea there are not only Houses but the Traces and Footsteps of the Streets of some City manifestly discernable And in the County of Suffolk almost the whole Town of Donewich with the adjacent Lands hath been undermined and devoured by the Sea This washing away of the Shores is I conceive in great measure to be attributed to the forementioned streightning and cutting short of the Sea by the Earth and Siâ—t that in the times of Floods are brought down into it by the Rivers For the Vulgar have a Proverbial Tradition That what the Sea loses in one place it gains in another And both tâ—gether do very handsomly make out and explâ—in how the Earth in a natural way may be reduced to its primitive state in the Creation when the Waters covered the Land But this according to the 〈◊〉 proceedings of Nature would not come to pass in many Ages I might say in Ages of Ages Nay some think that those vast Ridges and Chains of Mountains which run through the middle of the Continents are by reason of their great height weight and solidity too great a Morsel ever to be devoured by the Jaws of the Sea But whether they be or not I need not dispute though I incline to the Negative because this is not the dissolution the Apostle here speaks of which must be by Fire But I must not here dissemble an Objection I see may be made and that is That the Superficies of the Earth is so far from being depressed that it is continually elevated For in ancient Buildings we see the Earth raised high above the foot of them So the Pantheon at Rome which was at first ascended up to by many eight Steps is now descended down to by as many The Basis and whole Pedestal of Trajan's Pillar there was buried in the Earth Dr. Tancred Robinson in the year 1683. observ'd in some places the Walls of old Rome to lye Thirty and Forty Foot under Ground so that he thinks the greater part of the Remains of that famous Ancient City is still buried and undiscovered the prodigious heaps of Ruins and Rubbish inclosed within the Vineyards and Gardens being not half dig'd up or search't as they might be the tops of Pillars peeping up and down And in our own Country we find many Ancient Roman Pavements at some depth under Ground My Learned and Ingenious Friend Mr. Edward Loyd not long since inform'd of one that himself had seen buried deep in the Church-yard at Wychester in Glocestershire Nay the Earth in time will grow over and bury the Bodies of great Timber Trees that have been â—allen and lye long upon it which is made one great reasâ—n that such great numbers even whâ—â— Woods of Subterraneous Trees are frequently met with and dug up at vast depths in the Spanish and Dutch Netherlands as well as in many places of this Island of Great Britain To which I answer as to Buildings 1. The Ruins and Rubbish of the Cities wherein they stood might be conceived to bury them as deep as they now lye under ground And by this means it's likely the Roman Pavements we find might come to be covered to that height we mentioned For that the places where they occur were anciently Roman Towns subverted and ruined may easily be proved as particularly in this we mention'd from the Termination Chesâ—er whatever Town or Village hath that addition to its Name having been anciently a Roman Town or Camp Chester seeming to be nothing but Castra 2. It is to be consider'd That weighty Buildings do in time overcome the resistance of the Foundation unless it be a solid Rock and sink into the ground Nay the very soft Water lying long upon the bottoms of the Sea or Pools doth so compress and sadden them by its weight that the very Roads that are continually beaten with Horses and Carriages are not so firm and sad And in the Sea the nearer you dig to the Low Water-Mark still the sadder and firmer it is and it 's probable still the further the sadder which seems to be confirmed by the strong fixing of Anchors This firmness of the Sand by the weight of the incumbent Water the People inhabiting near the Sea are so sensible of that I have seen them boldly ride through the Water cross a Channel three Miles broad before the Tide was out when in some places it reacht to the Horses Belly A semblance whereof we have in Ponds which being newly digg'd the Water that runs into them sinks soon into the Earth and they become dry again till after some time by often filling the Earth becomes so solid through the weight of the Water that they leak no more but hold Water up to the brink Wittie Scarborough Spaw p. 86. What force a gentle if continual pressure hath we may understand also by the Roots of Trees which we see will sometimes pierce through the Chinks of Stone Walls and in time make great Cracks and Rifts in them nay will get under their very Foundations The tender Roots of Herbs overcome the resistance of the ground and make their way through Clay or Gravel By the by we may here take Notice that one reason why plowing harrowing siâ—ting or any comminution of the Earth renders it more fruitful is because the Roots of Grass Corn and other Herbs can with more facility creep abroad and multiply their Fibres in the light and loose Earth That the rotting of Grass and other Herbs upon the ground may in some places raise the Superficies of it I will not deny that 〈◊〉 â—n Gardens and Enclosures where the Ground is rank and no Cattel are admitted 〈◊〉 eat off the Fog or long Grass but elsewhere the raising of the Superficies of the Faith is very little and inconsiderable and none at all unless in level Grounds which have but little declivity For otherwise the Soyl would by this time have come to be of a very great depth which we find to be but shallow Nor do I think that so much as the Trunks of fall'n Trees are by this means covered but rather that they sink by their own weight in time overcoming the resistance of the Earth which without much difficulty yields being soaked and softned by the Rains insinuating into it and keeping it continually most in Winter-time But if these Buildings be situate in Valleys it is clear that the Earth brought down from the Mountains by Rain may serve to land them up Again the Superficies of the Earth may be raised near the Sea Coast by the continual blowing up of Sand by the Winds This happens often in Norfolk and in Cornwall where I observed a fair Church viz. that of the Parish called Lalant which is the Mother
a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into mind Isa. 66. 22. As the new Heavens and new Earth which I shall make shall remain before me To which places the Apostle Peter seems to refer in those words 2 Pet. 3. 13. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness This new Heaven and new Earth we have also mentioned Rev. 12. 1. And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away and there was no more Sea These places I confess may admit of an Answer or Solution by those who are of a contrary Opinion and are answered by Doctor Hakewil yet all together especially being back'd by ancient Tradition amount to a high degree of probability I omit that place Rom. 8. 21 22. The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God tho' it be accounted the strongest proof of our Opinion because of the obscurity and ambiguity thereof 2. For Antiquity I have already given many Testimonies of the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church and could if need were produce many more the whole stream of them running this way And tho' Dr. Hakewill saith That if we look back to higher times before S. Hierome we shall not easily find any one who maintained the World's Renovation yet hath he but two Testimonies to alledge for its Abolition the one out of Hilary upon the Psalms and the other out of Clemens his Recognitions To this Restitution of the World after the Conflagration many also of the Heathen Philosophers bear witness whose Testimonies Mr. Burnet hath exhibited in his Theory of the Earth lib. 4. cap. 5. Of the Stoicks Chrysippus de Providentia speaking of the Renovation of the World saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We after death certain Periods of time being come about shall be restored to the form we now have To Chrysippus Stobaeus adds Zeno and Cleanthes and comprehends together with Men all natural things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zeno and Cleanthes and Chrysippus were of Opinion That the Nature or Substance of Things changes into Fire as it were into a Seed and out of this again such a World or Frame of Things is effected as was before This Revolution of Nature â—ntoninus in his Meditations often calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Periodical Regeneration of all things And Origen against Celsus â—aith of the Stoicks in general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stoicks say That at certain Periods of time there is a Conflagration of the Vniverse and after that a Restitution thereof having exactly the same Disposition and Furniture the former World had More to the like purpose concerning the Stoicks we have in Eusebius out of Numenius Nature faith he returns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Resurrection which makes the Great Year wherein there is again a restitution made from it self alone to it self For returning according to the order wherein it began first to frame and dispose things as reason would it again observes the same Oeconomy or Administration the like Periods returning etâ—rnally without ceasing He that desires more Authorities of the Heathen Philosophers and Poets in consirmation of the World's Restitution after the Conflagration may consult the same Mr. Burnet in the place forequoted where he also shews that this Doctrine of the Mundane Periods was received by the Grecians from the Nations they call barbarous Pythagoras saith Porphyry brought it first into Greece and Origen witnesseth of the Egyptian Wise Men that it was delivered by them Laertius out of Theopompus relates That the Persian Magi had the same Tradition and Berosus saith that the Chaldeans also In fine among all the barbarous Nations who had among them any Person or Sect and Order of Men noted for Wisdom or Philosophy this Tradition was current The Reader may consult the Book we refer to where is a notable passage taken out of Plutarch's Tractate Di Iside Osiride concerning a War between Oromazes and Arimanius somewhat parallel to that mentioned in the Revelation between Michael and the Dragon 3. The Restitution of the World seems more consonant to Reason than its Abolition For if the World were to be annihilated what needed a Conflagration Fire doth not destroy or bring things to nothing but only separate their parts The World cannot be abolished by it and therefore had better been annihilated without it Wherefore the Scripture mentioning no other Dissolution than is to be effected by the Instrumentality of Fire its clear we are not to understand any utter Abolition or Annihilation of the World but only a Mutation and Renovation by those phrases of perishing passing away dissolving â—eing no more c. They are to be no more in that state and condition they are now in 2. There must be a material Heaven and a material Hell left A place for the glorified Bodies of the Blessed to inhabit and converse in and a place for the Bodies of the Damned a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Prison for them to be shut up in Now if the place of the Blessed be an Empyreal Heaven far above these visible Heavens as Divines generally hold and the place of the Damned be beneath about the middle of the Earth as is the Opinion of the School-men and the Church of Rome and as the name Inferi imports and as the ancient Heathen described their Tartarus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then when all the intermediate Bodies shall be annihilated what a strange Universe shall we have Consisting of an immense Ring of Matter having in the middle a vast vacuity or space void of all Body save only one small point for an infernal Dungeon Those that are of this Opinion have too narrow and mean thoughts of the Greatness I had almost said Immensity of the Universe the glorious and magnisick Products of the Creator's Almighty Power and are too partial to themselves to think the whole World was created for no other end but to be serviceable to Mankind But of this I have said somewhat in a former Discourse and therefore shall not at present enlarge upon it But let us hear what they have to say for the Abolition Their first and most weighty Argument is taken from the End of the World's Creation which was partly and chieâ—ly the Glory of the Creater and partly the use of Man the Lord Depâ—ty as it were or Viceroy thereof Now for the Glory of the Creator it being by the admirable Frame of the World manifested unto Man Man being removed out of the World and no Creature being capable of such a Manifestation besides him we cannot imagine to what purpose the Frame itself should be left and restored to a more perfect Estate The other End being for Man's Vse either to supply his
be over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the whole earth Parallel whereto are Matth. 24. 42. and Mark 13. 33 35. That it shall come is certain when it shall come is uncertain and it every day draws nearer and nearer therefore it is not wisdom to remove the evil day far from us and as in reference to the day of Death it is an usual and prudent advice so to live every day as if it were our last day or at least as we would not be afraid to do should it be so because we are sure that one day will be our last and for ought we know the present may be it so likewise it is rational Counsel in respect of the End of the World so to prepare our selves for it by a holy Conversation that we may get above the terror and dread which will otherwise attend the apprehension of the approach of it and that we may be provided against the worst that may follow and be secure come what can come Secondly It concerns us should it be a thousand Years to come Because then is the general Resurrection both of the just and unjust Acts 24. 15. and the general Judgment When we must all appear before the dreadful tribunal of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2. Cor. 5. 10. which Rom. 2. 5. is called the revelation of the righteous judgment of God Who will render to every man according to his deeds c. Upon this account I say it concerns us much how we have our Conversation here First As we hope to be acquitted at that day and to enter into those new Heavens in which dwells righteousness Holiness is a necessary condition and antecedent to happiness Necessary I say 1. By God's appointment Heb. 12. 14. Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Rom. 6. 22. Have your fruit unto holiness and the end eternal life Psal. 50. ult To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God Eternal Life is the Gift of God He is not obliged to bestow it upon any Man He may make what Condition he pleases for the obtaining of it No Man hath any Right to it No Man can lay any claim to it but from this Donation and from the performance of these Conditions Rev. 22. 14. Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city For without are dogs and whoremongers and sorcerers c. All the Right they have depends upon God's Promise which is conditionate and accrues to them by the performance of the Condition which is the doing of his Commandments 2 Necessary not only by God's appointment but in the very nature of the thing Holiness is the very quality and complexion of Heaven No Man without it is qualified to be a subject of that Kingdom For thereinto nothing that is impure or unclean can enter Revel 21. 27. And there shall in no wise enter into it the New Jerusalem any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination In this new Heaven dwelleth righteousness 2 Pet. 3. 15. Therefore 1 John 3. 3. Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure Heaven would naturally spue out and eject a wicked Person as one heterogeneous to it Heaven and Hell are not more distant in Place than they are in Nature There is not more antipathy between fire and water between light and darkness between streight and crooked neither are they more incompatible or do more naturally resist and expel one another than holiness which is the quality of Heaven and wickedness which is the disposition and temper of Hell Some do think Heaven to be rather a state than a place and that he that is partaker of the Divine Nature hath Heaven within him This is true but this is not all The whole Notion of Heaven comprehends both a state and a place A Man must be in a heavenly state before the local Heaven can receive him or he brook it Heaven without him would be no Heaven to the Man who hath not Heaven within him A wicked Person could find no business or employment in Heaven nothing to satisfie his corrupt and depraved affections inclinations and appetites He would there meet with no suitable company no persons whose conversation he could take any delight and complacency in but rather hate and abhor For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness or what communion hath light with darkness 2 Cor. 6. 14. Like naturally loves like and unites with it and doth refuse resist and hate that which is unlike it For every thing is made to love itself and consequently whatsoever resembles and comes near it and is as it were a replication of it and to hate the contrary As therefore we would be glad to be Partakers of the blessedness of the local Heaven so let us endeavour to get into our Minds and Spirits the qualities and conditions of Heaven that so we may be fit Subjects for that Kingdom sit Companions for that Society This is the time allotted us to purifie our selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God There is no invention in the Grave whither we are going Eccles. 9. 10. Vpon this moment depends eternity As the tree falls so it it lies Eccles. And as Death leaves so will Judgment find us Quando isthinc excessum fuerit nullus jam locus poenitentiae est Hîc vita aut amittitur aut tenetur Hîc saluti aeternae cultu Dei fructu fidei providetur Cyprian Serm. de Immortal After we shall depart hence there remains no more place for repentance Eternal life is here either lost or won Here provision is made for everlasting salvation by the worship of God and fruit of faith We must work while it is day the night of death cometh wherein no man can work John 9. 4. And therefore the time our Bodies shall rest in the Grave should it be a thousand Years will little avail us for if the Soul be mean while awake the certain and dreadful expectation of the Sentence of Condemnation to an eternal Hell at the Day of Judgment will be little less afflictive than the Torments thereof themselves I might add by way of Digression that Sin and Wickedness is naturally productive of Hell in the Soul A wicked Man carries Hell in his Breast Sin necessarily infers Misery It is contrary to the nature of the Soul and whatsoever is so must needs be grievous Diversion and Non-Attention to his Condition is the wicked Man's only Security I have heard it often from a great Divine in