six Days work to be of the very same and no larger extent than those are and leave the whole to the Judgment of the Reader There shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation For this they willingly are ignorant of that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished But the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the 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 In the day of God the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat Nevertheless we according to his promise look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thine hands They shall perish but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed I have now finish'd all those Arguments which to me are fully satisfactory and I think prove beyond rational contradiction That not the vast Universe but the Earth alone with its dependencies are the proper subject of the Six Days Creation And that the Mosaick History is not a Nice Exact and Philosophick account of the several steps and operations of the whole but such an Historical Relation of each Mutation of the Chaos each successive day as the Journal of a Person on the Face of the Earth all that while would naturally have contained The sum of all is this 1. The very Words and Coherence of Moses himself require such a Construction 2. The Words of Creating Making or Framing things here us'd are commonly of no larger importance than this Proposition allows 3. The World or Heaven and Earth the objects of this Creation are alike frequently restrain'd to the sublunary World the Air and Earth 4. The Chaos that known fund and seminary of the Six Days Creation extended no farther 5. On the contrary supposition the time of the Creation of each Body is extremely disproportionate to the work it self 6. On the same supposition there is an intolerable disorder disproportion and confusion in the works themselves 7. The sinal cause of the six days Creation is the advantage of Mankind the Inhabitant of the Earth 8. Neither the intention of the Author nor the capacity of the Readers require or could bear any other account of the origin of things 9. Lastly Neither the Deluge nor Conflagration whose extent appears commensurate to that of this Creation are of any larger compass than is here assign'd Upon this view of the whole matter give me leave to say That to make the Universal Frame of Nature concern'd in the particular Fates and Revolutions of our Earth is at this time of day to demonstrate either very mean thoughts of the Ends of the Divine Workmanship and of the Essects thereof in the World or else very proud and extravagant conceits of our own worth and dignity and at best argues a narrow ignoble and unphilosophical Soul 'T is much such another Wise and Rational Notion as it would be to suppose that the whole Terraqueous Globe with all its parts and dependencies all its furniture and productions was alike concern'd in the Fates and Revolutions pardon the expressions of one single Fly or Worm belonging to it And we may e'en as fairly allow the intire dependence of this sublunary World on the fortune of such a single animalculum That on its peeping into the World the whole Earth must arise out of nothing to afford it a resting place while it was growing and continued in its prime all things below must spring and flourish rejoyce and look gay on its decay all things must put on a mournful countenance and on its destruction Universal Nature here beneath must expire together and return to its primitive nothing This representation will I imagine seem bold and extravagant But 't will be hard to prove it so And I may appeal to Astronomy whether the Earth can be shewn to bear as considerable a proportion to the Universe as such a poor animalculum does certainly bear to it I would not by this or any thing else I have heretofore said in this Discourse be so far mistaken as to be believ'd prone to depretiate and and debase Mankind or to put a slight on all those Works of Nature and Providence which are subservient to it Neither do I deny that in some sense all the Visible World Heaven and Earth are ordain'd for our use and advantage I fully believe that we are the Creatures of God of whom he has a tender regard and over whom he exercises a constant a special Care and Providence As I look upon the Souls of Men in their proper and primitive perfection when they came out of their Maker's Hands to be Noble to be Glorious to be Exalted Beings and perhaps in capacities or faculties in dignity or happiness not inferior to some of the Angelick Orders so I also most undoubtedly believe what our Saviour affirms of good mens state hereafter that they shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to the Angels and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children of God himself While I am perswaded that the Creation of Man was not effected without the concurrence and joint consultation of the Blessed Trinity Nor his Redemption without the Acceptance of the Father the Sacrifice and Death of the Son in his Humane Nature and the Sanctification and Operation of the Holy Spirit While I am perswaded that the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has ever since the Fall of Adam been sollicitous about our Reconciliation to God and made it his constant business even before as well as since his Incarnation to mediate for us and take care of our eternal happiness While I believe that by the new Covenant Good Men even in this Imperfect state are esteem'd Heirs of God joint-Heirs with Christ and denominated the Brethren and Friends of their Glorious Redeemer While I do not doubt but our Humane Nature is now in the Person of our Blessed Saviour in Heaven and there on account of the Hypostatical Union with the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as a reward of that Obedience and Suffering it underwent for us on Earth advanc'd above the most exalted Intellectual Orders at the Right Hand of the Majesty on High
While I expect the same Person in the Glory of the Father coming to Judge the World in Righteousness and Mankind after that final doom to be partaker of everlasting Joy or Misery according to their behaviour here on Earth While I say I believe all this as I most sincerely do I can be under no temptation of looking with contempt upon or of entertaining a mean opinion of Mankind or of those Systems of Nature and Providence relating to it Yet all this notwithstanding I think that Opinion I am now exposing deserves no other Character than I have before given of it Tho' I look upon Mankind as one Species of very Noble and Glorious Creatures yet I suppose it but One and that there may be Millions of others at the least not inferior to him Tho' I believe Humane Nature when Innocent and Perfect at that height of Purity and Felicity which it once had and by the Christian Dispensation may be again advanc'd to as so considerable and exalted a Species of Beings yet withal I look upon it at present as under a very different Character We are all now in a deprav'd a sinful and so in a low a miserable state We have by our own wilful Rebellion and Disobedience made it necessary for God to place us in a short a vicious in an uneasie and vexatious World where at present we are under a sort of confinement in a place of Trial and Probation and through a doleful Wilderness must make our way to the Land of Canaan Quisque suos patimur manes We here feel the sad effects and punishments of former Sins We are left to struggle with great difficulties abide many assaults and undergo severe Agonies e're we must expect to recover our native dignity to retrieve our ancient felicity again Exinde per amplum Mittimur Elysium reduces laeta arva tenemus As flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God so that Kingdom is not of this World I see no reason to esteem the present condition of Mortality as at all considerable in it self tho' in its consequences it extremely be so in comparison of the past and future periods of our Beings and therefore without believing the Earth one of the greatest or noblest Globes in the World I can suppose it a very proper and suitable habitation for us at present Most wisely contriv'd as it certainly is and its Funiture peculiarly and wonderfully adapted to our needs capacities and operations I acknowledge that Providence has so constituted our Earth that we receive some advantages from all and very great ones from some other parts of the external and visible World All which were in the Original Creation of things both foreseen and foredesign'd by God and so may not improperly be so far said to have been made for our use and appointed to serve our necessities I do not think that those Systems of the Universe we here speak of are ever a whit the less useful to us or the benefits we reap from them ever the less in themselves or less worthy of our notice and observation our admiration and gratitude to God because they also are subservient to other noble purposes and are by Divine Providence made use of in several great designs over and above those advantages we are able to take notice of or can our selves enjoy from them I cannot imagine that God is peculiarly fond of any particular parts of the Material Creation or any more a Respecter of some inanimate Bodies than of Persons He no doubt equally makes use of them all according to their several kinds and capacities in the service of the various species of Intelligent Creatures and in the bringing about the great Periods of Nature and the Decrees of Heaven which as they are in great measure unknown to us so may they regard Rational Beings very different and remote from us and our concerns If we duly reflect on the Infinite Nature and unlimited Perfections of the Divine Being the Creator and Original of all things as well as on the number vastness and glory of those his works which are within our view we shall see reason to confess there may be millions of Nobler Intellectual Beings interposed between Man and God And the whole World might be more reasonably suppos'd made at the Creation and for the sole use of any one species of those than of Mankind If therefore we be unwilling to be our selves excluded from a share in the intentions and designs of Heaven let us not exclude any other rational Creatures from the same but be willing to suppose as this Earth was form'd in six days for the sake of Man so were the rest of the Heavenly Bodies form'd at other proper times for the sake of other of God's Creatures for whom Providence ought to be allow'd to have taken a proportionable Care and made a suitable provision as we our selves find has been done with regard to us and our affairs Let us learn humble and modest sentiments of our selves from the contemplation of the immensity of the Works of God in the World Which useful Lesson the Holy Psalmist would by his own example teach us With whose Natural and Pious Reflection in this very case I shall conclude this whole discourse When I consider thy Heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained Lord what is Man that thou art mindful of him And the Son of Man that thou visitest him O Lord our Lord How excellent is thy name in all the Earth POSTULATA 1. THE Obvious or Literal Sense of Scripture is the True and Real one where no evident Reason can be given to the contrary II. That which is clearly accountable in a natural way is not without reason to be ascrib'd to a Miraculous Power III. What Ancient Tradition asserts of the constitution of Nature or of the Origin and Primitive States of the World is to be allow'd for True where 't is fully agreeable to Scripture Reason and Philosophy A NEW THEORY OF THE EARTH BOOK I. LEMMATA I. ALL Bodies will persevere for ever in that state whether of Rest or Motion in which they once are if no other force or impediment act upon them or suffer by them II. All Motion is of it self rectilinear and with the same constant uniform Celerity if no other external Cause disturb it Corollary 1. 'T is evident from these two Propositions that Matter is intirely a passive Substance Coroll 2. No Spontaneous Motion or Action can be the effect of meer Matter Coroll 3. The Soul of Man whose least Power seems to be that of Spontaneous Motion is incorporeal which is also a necessary consequence of the first Corollary for if Matter be perfectly a passive Thing the Soul which is so active a Being cannot be material Coroll 4. The Bruit Creatures giving all possible Demonstrations of Spontaneous Motion and of a principle of Action cannot reasonably be suppos'd
is now well known those affections ought to be ascrib'd to the Earth because every thing as to sensible appearance is in the same condition as from the Annual and Diurnal Motions of the Sun were they real must and would obtain The Sun is said to be turned into Darkness and the Moon into Blood when without any alteration in themselves they appear of a dark or bloody Countenance to the Inhabitants of the Earth Nay which is most of all to our present purpose God is then said to make all things new and to create a new Heaven and a new Earth when he so changes the Constitution and State of our Earth as to render thereby this whole Sublunary World very different from and much excelling that which formerly appear'd In all which and innumerable other instances 't is plain and evident that the Holy Writers do not consider merely how things are in themselves but how they are to us not what is their proper nature but visible appearance in the World But here lest this Doctrine should be abus'd I must interpose this necessary caution That such a liberty is neither by other Authors nor the Sacred Penmen taken on all occasions or in every case but peculiarly when the sublimity of the Matter the capacities of the People the more easie instilling useful principles into Men or some other weighty reason requires such an accommodation 'T is chiefly with regard to the Spiritual Nature and sublime way of operation in God or such Physical and Philosophick Truths as relate to distant invisible or inaccessible bodies the absolute Essence or Affections whereof were not explicable to the vulgar in a plain and natural manner In which cases this Liberty in the Interpretation of Scripture is with the greatest Justice to be allow'd But 't were thence very unreasonable to extend it to all others or indeed to any where the same or as good reasons were not assignable He who should argue that because the Literal sense of Scripture about the Corporeal Members and Humane Passions of the Divine Nature is not to be strictly urg'd that therefore when he is call'd a Spirit and represented as the Rewarder of Good and the Punisher of Bad men those Expressions are no more to be depended on or he who should infer that because the First and Fourth Days Works the Origin of Light and the making of the Heavenly Bodies must not be strictly literal that therefore neither in the Mosaick Creation ought the other four to be any more esteemed so He I say that should thus argue or infer would be very unfair and unreasonable because he would assert that in one case without ground which on peculiar and weighty ones alone was allow'd in another Thus those things that are ascrib'd to God which evidently agree to his Nature and Idea are surely to be literally understood tho' the other which are repugnant thereto be not And in like manner 't is but just to believe that so much of the Mosaick Creation as related directly to the Earth and its appurtenances and so came at once within the comprehension of the History and of the capacities of the Readers ought literally to be Interpreted tho' some things extraneous to the Formation of the Earth and beyond the notice of the People be to be taken in a different acceptation Tho' the common use of Tropes and Figures make our Speech very often not to be literal yet generally we can understand one another very well without danger of deception or of turning plain Sentences into Allegorical Discourses in our Conversation one with another And 't is evident that the Holy Books ought not to be tormented or eluded as to their obvious sense on every occasion under pretence that some particular Texts are to be construed another way That SACRED RULE ought for ever RELIGIOUSLY to be observed That we never forsake the plain obvious easie and natural sense unless where the nature of the thing it self parallel places or evident reason afford a solid and sufficient ground for so doing Now this being presuppos'd I shall leave it to the impartial Reader to judge after the perusal of this whole discourse whether I have not substantial reasons for the present Exposition and whether therefore any one ought to blame my receding from the Letter in this single case or imagine that I give a just handle thereby to others to Allegorize this History of the Creation or any other parts of Scripture And I must here own and profess That tho' I think in case the common Translation be receiv'd there is an absolute necessity of receding from the Letter in the point before us and that this Venerable and Sacred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or history of the Creation is otherwise in the highest degree strange and unaccountable to the free Reason of Mankind yet I am fully of opinion that generally the difficulties occurring in the Sacred Books are to be clear'd not by a greater receding from but a closer adhering to the obvious and most natural Interpretation of the Periods therein contain'd And that the general nature of the Scripture Stile every where duely observ'd and consider'd several great scruples with relation to the Actions and Providence of God and other things contain'd in those Books would be taken away if we might be allow'd to recede a little from the receiv'd opinions of men and Placits of Systematical Authors on no other condition than that for a recompence we keep so much the closer to the Oracles of God and the obvious and literal Interpretation of them and explain the Bible no otherwise than the plain words themselves would appear most naturally to intend to any disinterested and unconcern'd Person Of which many instances might easily be given were this a proper place for it But I must leave this digression and return to what I before propos'd in the 4. Last place viz. To Assign some Reasons why in a History of the Origin of our Earth these remote and distant Bodies come to be taken notice of tho' their own proper formation did not at all belong to it Now tho' many might easily be alledg'd for this procedure yet I shall include the main I intend here to insist on in the two following 1. The Advantage of the Jews or securing them from the Adoration of the Host of Heaven could not otherwise have been provided for Now as the foundation of such Idolatry is taken away by their being included in this History which imply'd them to be such dependent and created Beings as could have no influence of their own but what were deriv'd from God and consequently were subject to his disposal and government which affirm'd them to be by Him plac'd in the Firmament and there subjected to such Motions Rules and Laws by which they became advantageous and serviceable to the World So had they been taken no notice of they would have seem'd exempted Bodies and when all Worship of Terrestrial things
of the Sun Moon and numberless Systems of Stars has only a poor single part allotted to it Must the expanding the Air between the Earth and the Clouds be thought to equal the disposal of all those Coelestial Bodies into their several Regions and the producing a few Fish and Fowl be a weightier concern and require more time than the replenishing all the other habitable Worlds with Beings suitable to their several Constitutions Will a wise Builder bestow twice as much time in decking and adorning of one Bycloset of inferior use and that only to some of the meanest Servants too as of the Royal Palace with all its stately Rooms and Apartments intended for the King himself and his Courtiers Should we hear of such strange Actions and disproportionate Procedure among Men we should not be able to induce our selves to give credit thereto But it seems Suppositions ten thousand times more disproportionate and unaccountable when ascrib'd to God Almighty are easily believ'd So far can Ignorance Prejudice and a misunderstanding of the Sacred Volumes carry the Faith nay the Zeal of Men and to such a mean Opinion of the most glorious and perfect of Beings are we thereby reduc'd that as if we were not content to think him such a one as our selves but intended to depress him below the very meanest of us we venture with confidence and eagerness to ascribe to him that disproportionate unequal and unaccountable disposal of the Works of Creation which the simplest Artificer could not bear the Imputation of It must here be confess'd That such Notions of the Mosaick Creation as I now oppose having begun or at least been chiefly establish'd and propagated when the Aristotelean Philosophy and Ptolomaick Astronomy were believ'd those who have embrac'd them till this Age were less absurd and nearer to some tolerable degree of probability For so long as the Earth with its adjoyning Elements was suppos'd the Center and Basis of all the World while the distance of the Heavenly Bodies was believ'd to be comparatively to what we now find very small and inconsiderable and all their Motions perform'd about us their proper and immovable Center while the whole Series of Spheres above tho' the several distinct ones mov'd the contrary way by their own peculiar Motions was in twenty four hours constantly hurried from East to West by the Primum Mobile on purpose to cause Day and Night to us below while Comets were esteem'd Exhalations from the Stars and sent only at certain Seasons to affright Mankind with their fiery Tails and then to be dissipated and vanish into Vapours again while the Sun and Stars in the Opinion of the Philosophers themselves were nourish'd by the Steams from our Earth and while the last named were either stuck in one Spherical Superficies as the fix'd Stars or fastned in their Solid Orbs like a Nail in a Cartwheel as the Planets and no other use imagin'd but to twinkle to us in Winter Evenings and by their Aspects to forebode what little Changes of Weather or other Accidents were to be expected below while no other habitable World was dream'd of than this Globe of Earth no other Animals once conjectur'd at besides those on the face thereof while Mankind was look'd on as the sole Lord of the Creation and Him for whose sake all other Creatures in the World were made and while 't was commonly granted that as all things the visible Heavens and Earth with their intire Furniture began with him so at the Conclusion of his Succession or the period of Humane Generations here must they for ever cease and be annihilated While all this I say was the current Philosophy 't is not very surprizing that the Mosaick History we are now upon was understood in the Vulgar Sense and seem'd not wholly disagreeable to the presumed Frame of Nature and 't was not hard to believe that this Earth and its Inhabitants in the Opinion of the World the main and principal concern of all and that to whose uses every thing else intirely serv'd had the principal care bestow'd upon it both in its Original Creation and its subsequent Changes and Revolutions But tho' such a Scheme and such an Apprehension were passable enough in the days of our Forefathers 't is by no means so now Those greater degrees of Knowledge which the Providence of God has in this Age afforded us make such Opinions intolerable in the present which were not so in the past Centuries 'T is now evident That every one of the Planets as well as that on which we live must have a right in its proportion to share in the care of Heaven and had therefore in all probability a suitable space or number of Days allow'd to its proper Formation much what the same Separations of Parts Digestions and Collections being no doubt to be suppos'd in the Original Formation of any other as in that particular Planet with which Moses was concern'd And if one or two on account of their smallness might be finish'd in less the rest on account of their bigness from a parity of Reason would take up much more than that six days time which was spent in our Earth's Formation And let the Reader judge if it be so impossible to reduce the Planets alone within the fourth days Work how much more so it will be in case we allow degrees of impossibilities to reduce thither that vast noble and useful Body the Fountain of our Light and Heat the Sun and still in a prodigious degree more so to include the immense and numberless Systems of the fixt Stars among whom when the Sun is but one and perhaps no bigger than the rest and consequently to have in reason but an equal portion of time with them allotted for its Origination It must tho' above Sixty thousand times as big as the Earth while the Earth takes up four intire ones be thrust into the Corner of a single Day Corner did I say rather Minute nay Moment of a Day and 't is uncertain whether even that pittance of time can fairly and separately be allow'd to it So that one need not fear to assert That he who should affirm the Divine Power to have spent four entire Days in the Formation of a Fly or Worm nay of a single Plant or Herb and but one in the Formation of the Terraqueous Globe with all its Parts Regions and Furniture would be less unreasonable than some Expositors now are and more observe Decorum Fitness Agreement and Proportion than they do in the Vulgar Interpretations of the Mosaick Creation And I need not be afraid to call all that Astronomy and Philosophy are Masters of to attest the fairness of such a Comparison And can any one who is sensible of this and entertains no other than great and worthy Thoughts of his Alwise Creator embrace so fond and so strange an Opinion And if the Reader will pardon a short Digression and give me leave to speak a great Truth
sole use of a few fallen and rebellious Creatures which were to live for a little while upon one of the most inconsiderable of them To create an innumerable multitude of Suns and Planets and place them at prodigious distances from us and from one another the greatest part of which were never seen till the late invention of the Telescope and of such as are visible the Sun excepted the single Moon as despicable a Body as it is in comparison to the most of the others is much more beneficial to us than they all put together for the meer convenience of one little Earth If 't is Wise and Rational to make the Sun more than Sixty thousand times as big as that Globe it was to serve only that it might be plac'd above Fifty millions of Miles off for in a nearer position it would have scorch'd and burnt instead of warm'd and invigorated the Earth when a small Fiery Ball plac'd near us would have done as well To make a vast number of Planets every way as capable of Creatures of their own only for the sake of us on Earth that we might in the night time view and calculate their positions and motions To place five secondary Planets about Saturn and four about Jupiter that after for more than Five thousand years no one had dream'd of their Existence ' a few Astronomers might with their Glasses peep at them and observe their periods To appoint the orbit of one of the primary Planets Mercury so near the Sun that not one in a hundred ever gets a distinct view of him all his Life To move the Comets in orbits so extremely large and elliptical or oblong that by their distance from the Planetary Regions most part of each revolution they should be so little observable that the World were just ending before they could be known to be other than Masses of Vapours soon conjoin'd and as soon dissipated again and now not visible the hundredth or perhaps thousandth part of their periods To make all this immense frame of the Heavenly Systems so Glorious August and Magnificent and so deserving of our Contemplation and yet withal to frame our Eyes and Sensations in that manner as to be uncapable to discern or imagine any thing thereof in comparison so that had not Astronomical observation rectify'd our mistakes we must have thought the whole World not near so big as one of its least bodies really is and all this without any farther prospect or nobler design than the single Use and Advantage of Mankind If I say all this be the effect of Ineffable Wisdom and Contrivance and worthy to be believed of the All-wise God 't is scarce possible to suppose in the Material World at least what will not be equally so And such strange and astonishing incongruities which among poor Mortals would unquestionably argue the most extravagant degree of folly in the Deity Blessed for evermore must be Arguments of unbounded Perfection and Effluxes of Infinite Reason Wisdom and Prudence Certainly one ought to be very well ascertain'd of the sense of Scripture before from thence one venture to assert such unreasonable opinions Nay even tho' the Sense of Scripture seem'd exceeding favourable to any Scheme of this Nature yet in that case a considering Person would chuse rather honestly to own his Ignorance and confess he did not understand the matter than be positive in that which is so plainly repugnant to the Divine Perfections And this to digress a little is methinks the only safe and rational way of procedure in those cases where we cannot reconcile the Divine Attributes the Phaenomena of the World or the Reason of our own Minds to the Revealed Word of God viz. In the first place carefully to consider the Texts concern'd and whether they are not misapply'd if on such a consideration we cannot find them to be so and that without a forc'd unnatural and violent sense be put upon plain words the difficulties still appear insuperable 't is then our Duty and our Wisdom to imitate the Jews in that admirable and pious Proverb in these cases Cùm Elias venerit solvet Nodos To sit down and rest satisfied with this expectation That when the Divine Wisdom sees it a fit time all will be assoil'd and every one of the Knots of Scripture and of Providence unty'd To stay with patience for those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peculiar seasons which with regard both to the improvement of Knowledge and unvailing of Mysteries no less than the fulfilling Decrees the Father has put in his own power And as the Old Jews should in vain have attempted the intire understanding of their own Ceremonial Law till the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the coming of Christ so I believe we must not expect the clearing of every Text of Scripture and of every secret of Providence till the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the time appointed of the Father Till then we ought not where insuperable difficulties occur by a bold determination to run counter to God either in his Word whether engraven on our Minds or written in the Bible or his Works visible in the World 'T is hard to say whether those dishonour God most who embrace Doctrines suppos'd deducible from Scripture tho' plainly absurd and unreasonable in themselves or those who venture to deny or at least wrest and prevaricate with the obvious meaning of such Texts whence those Doctrines us'd to be infer'd Both these methods of procedure are bold and dangerous Effects of our own Pride and too high an opinion of our proper apprehensions and abilities and of sad consequence to our selves to others and to Divine Revelation There is a third or middle way which tho' an instance of real self-denial we both may and ought to take Let God be true but every man a liar Our Understandings are finite our Capacities small our Sphere of Knowledge not great We depend on God Almighty as to what we know as well as what we have or what we are 'T is possible it may not yet be the proper season for unravelling the Mystery and so the requisite helps not yet afforded our own unskilfulness or prejudices some false notions or precarious Hypotheses we have embrac'd our misunderstanding the nature of the Scripture Stile a mistake of a Copy the ignorance of the various stages and periods of the World to which the particulars belong with many other such circumstances may justly be supposed the occasions of our difficulties without calling in question either the truth of our humane faculties the Attributes of God the Phoenomena of Nature or the genuine sense of the Holy Scriptures And truly were I asked in such a case how I could satisfie my self or resolve the point I could not more properly answer than by alluding to the Jewish Proverb before-mention'd and alledging that Cùm Messias venerit Solvet Nodum till which time I might desire leave to defer my farther answer And here from a general View
of what has been said on these three last Arguments we cannot but observe into what Erroneous Extremes Good Men have been betray'd with relation to several main difficulties occurring in the Sacred Writings While from a profound respect to the revealed Word of God the most were willing to lay aside the use of their own Reason and others from a no less veneration for the Divine Attributes and regard to those common notions which God had implanted in their Souls were willing to indulge too great a liberty in the Interpretation of Scripture The former being generally Pious and Devout Souls but little vers'd in contemplation or the improvements of natural knowledge were dispos'd to receive all that a Vulgar and Religious tho' less Wary and Prudent Exposition should recommend to their Assent The latter having added to their Piety and Vertue a careful enquiry into Nature and a freer exercise of their Humane Faculties and observing how heavy imputations some common Interpretations laid on the Divine Majesty how disagreeable they were to External Nature as well as the Reason of Mankind were carried too far on the other hand and when the latter were secur'd were not proportionably solicitous about the former I mean so that nothing but what Reason the Attributes of God and the System of the World allow'd were admitted these did not take a proportionable care that the natural sense of Scripture were equally provided for What I would here further observe is the equal Condition and Deserts but the unequal Reputation and Fate these two sorts of Men have generally met with in the Christian World Their Characters to me seem so correspondent and their contrary Mistakes so equally wide from Truth equally derogatory to the Honour of God and yet equally proceeding from a Religious Principle a desire to secure the Interest of Divine Revelation that to me they seem to deserve the same Respect and Commendation for their sincere Endeavours and pious Intentions the same Pity and Pardon for their Errors and Mistakes But it has happen'd much otherwise for by reason of the little Leisure and Abilities of the generality of Teachers to cultivate their own Reason or make any successful enquiries into the Natural World the former sort being in themselves most numerous and as must needs happen having the most part of Christian People on their side did with Zeal and Earnestness decry the latter and tho' themselves on one side did as highly Dishonour the Sacred Oracles as the other on the opposite yet they vehemently laid that Imputation on the latter and decry'd them as secret Underminers of that Word of God they pretended more rationally to explain 'T were easy to give Examples in this case but I shall content my self with one concerning those very Histories of the Creation and Deluge which I am to explain in the following Theory 'T is well known what great and hitherto insuperable Difficulties these Histories have involv'd in them to the general view of Mankind and how much still greater and still more insuperable those Difficulties appear'd to Philosophick Enquirer's who came more nicely to consider them and compare what was asserted in the Holy Scriptures with the true Frame and System of External Nature The consideration of these things so affected a great and good Man that he resolv'd on a noble Attempt and undertook to clear those Points and shew that the temporary Origin of the World from a Chaos and a Universal Deluge were rational and accountable Theorems and thereby take away that Blot and Obstacle which the seeming impossibility of these things laid in the way of ill-disposed Persons In which matters he employ'd his utmost skill in the best System of Philosophy then known in the World his most diligent researches into the sacred and prophane Accounts relating to those anciently more known Phaenomena of Nature together with such other helps as his own excellent Abilities could afford him and that as to several main and principal strokes to very great Satisfaction and to the very remarkable Illustration of the Holy Scriptures But in the Prosecution of this Scheme being so vast so noble so uniform so coherent and withal so new and surprizing it at last appear'd that such his Theory would not in several Particulars accord with the letter of Scripture This unhappy dissonancy the Theorist was soon sensible of and no doubt not a little concern'd about In which streight seeing no possible way of securing the main Points without so unpleasing a Concession instead of resolving to rest satisfied in the natural Sense of Scripture and acquiescing in the Divine Revelation till farther means of clearing the whole should offer themselves which I think is a good Man's Duty in such cases he ventur'd to suppose that the Sacred Books were not always to be so literally and naturally understood as was generally believ'd hitherto He alledg'd That considering the mean Capacities of the Jews which were not capable of such Points of Philosophick Truths considering the most ancient way of conveying or rather of concealing sublime Theorems by Parables Fables and Hieroglyphicks considering the Scripture Stile in some other cases very much different from the present plain and explicit way of Discourse and nearer a-kin to that most ancient Method considering the main end of the Holy Writings the benefit of the Moral World seem'd not to require a strict adherence to truth in every circumstance relating to the Natural nay rather enforc'd a receeding from it in some cases considering lastly That all Ages had in vain endeavoured to clear these Points according to the strictness of the most obvious Sense and that the greater Improvements in Philosophy seem'd but to render them still more unaccountable considering I say all these things He suppos'd that the Holy Writers only secur'd the Fundamental and General Verities involving the rest under and explaining the whole by a way of speaking which was Mystical and Mythological rather popular than true and fitted more to the needs of Men than to the reality of Things This is I think a fair and full Account of the Opinion and a genuine Explication of the occasion of this unhappy Slip of our late Excellent Theorist and such an one I acknowledge 't is as in it self has no solid or necessary Foundation is of ill consequence to the Authority of the Holy Scriptures and dishonourable both to their Penmen and chiefly to their Principal Inditer the Blessed Spirit of God In which Censure if the Learned Author think me too free or too severe he will I hope see reason to excuse and not to be displeas'd with me when I have own'd as I must ingenuously do That in accusing him I condemn my self for I my self in great measure have thought the same things For I cannot but with the Theorist confess That the Difficulties in the Vulgar Expositions were so great such absurd Incongruities ascrib'd to God by them the true System of the World did so disagree and increase
intire Bodies of all Plants and Animals 't is by no means hard to conceive that he might Create them in what degree of Maturity and Perfection he pleas'd without any manner of infringement of the Order of Nature then to be establish'd And if we have reason to believe that the Bodies of bruit Creatures were created in parvo in a small State such as we now call Seeds and so requir'd a proper Generation i. e. Nutrition and Augmentation of parts as the Mosaick History plainly describes them and had it not done so we could not with any certainty have asserted it We have sure equal reason to believe from the description of the same Author in this other case that the Bodies of our First Parents were Originally created in their Mature Bulk and State of Manhood so as immediately to be capable of the same Operations which at any time afterward they might be thought to be This Miraculous Origination of the Bodies of our First Parents is therefore very rationally ascribed to the Finger of God by Moses And we may justly believe that the Blessed Trinity as 't is represented in the Sacred History was peculiarly concern'd in the Production of that Being which was to bear the Image of God and be made capable of some degree of his Immortality And then as to the Soul of Man 't is certainly a very distinct Being from and one very much advanced above the Body and therefore if we were forc'd to introduce a Divine Power in the Formation of the latter we can do no less than that in the Creation and Infusion of the former And indeed the Dignity and Faculties of the Human Soul are so vastly exalted above all the Material or merely Animal Creation that its Original must be deriv'd from the immediate Finger of God in a manner still more peculiar and Divine than all the rest That nearer resemblance of the Spiritual Nature Immortal Condition Active Powers and Free Rational and Moral Operations of the Divine Being it self which the Souls of men were to bear about them did but require some peculiar and extraordinary Conduct in their first Existence after-after-Union with Matter and Introduction into the Corporeal World Agreeably whereto we may easily observe a signal distinction in the Sacred History between the formation of all other Animals and the Creation of Man In the former case 't is only said Let the waters bring forth the moving creature that hath life Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind But of the latter the entire Trinity consult And God said Let Us make man in our image after our likeness And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. As therefore the several parts of the Mosaick Creation before-mention'd are not to be mechanically attempted but look'd upon as the effects of the Extraordinary and Miraculous Power and Providence of God so more especially the Formation of the Body of Man in its mature state and most of all the primary Creation and after-Infusion of the Rational Human Soul is to be wholly ascrib'd to the same wonderful Interposition and Efficiency of the Supreme Being the Creator of all things God blessed for evermore All which taken together and duly considered is I think a sufficient and satisfactory Account of the Proposition before us and attributes as much to the Miraculous and Immediate Hand of God as either Tradition Reason or Scripture require in the present Case III. The Days of Creation and that of Rest had their beginning in the Evening III. This has been already accounted for and need not here be repeated Corollary 1. This Phaenomenon in some measure confirms our Hypothesis that the Primitive Days of the World were Years also For otherwise the space of one single short Night seems too inconsiderable to have been taken such notice of in this History and then and ever after made the first half of the Natural Day But if it were equal to half a Year it was too considerable to be omitted and its memory was very justly preserv'd in succeeding Ages Corollary 2. We may here begin to take notice of the Regularity and Methodicalness of this History of the Creation Which tho' it principally intends the giving an account of the Visible Parts of the World and how the state of Nature in each Period appeared in the Day time yet Omits not the foregoing Night which is very Mechanical and Natural For in the preceding Night all things were so prepar'd and dispos'd that the Work of each Day might upon its appearance display it self might be exhibited not in its unseen beginnings or secret Workings not in its praevious Causes and gradual Procedure which was not the Design of this History but in that more distinct and perfect condition in which things would in the Day time appear to the view of a Spectator and under which chiefly they were to be discribed and recorded in this History IV. At the time immediately preceding the Six Days Creation the Face of the Abyss or superior Regions of the Chaos were involv'd in a Thick Darkness IV. If we consider what has been already said of the Nature of a Comet or peculiarly of that Atmosphere which has been before shewn to have been the ancient Chaos we ought to represent it to our selves as containing a Central Solid Hot Body of about 7000 or 8000 Miles in Diameter and besides that a vastly large fluid heterogeneous Mass or congeries of Bodies in a very rare seperate and expanded condition whose Diameter were twelve or perhaps fifteen times as long as that of the central Solid or about 100000 Miles which is the Atmosphere or Chaos now to be consider'd In which we must remember was contain'd both a smaller quantity of dry solid or earthy Parts with a still much smaller of Aery and Watery and a much larger quantity of dense and heavy Fluids of which the main bulk of the Atmosphere was compos'd all confusedly mix'd blended and jumbled together In which state the Theorist's First Figure excepting the omission of the Central Solid will well enough represent it and in which state we accordingly delineate it in the following Figure But upon the change of the Comet 's Orbit from Elliptical to Circular the Commencing of the Mosaick Creation and the Influence of the Divine Spirit all things would begin to take their own places and each species of Bodies rank themselves into that order which according to the law of specifick gravity were due to them By which method the Mass of dense Fluids which compos'd the main bulk of the intire Chaos being heavier than the Masses of Earth Water and Air would sink downwards with the greatest force and velocity and elevate those Masses inclosed among them upwards Which procedure must therefore distinguish the Chaos or Atmosphere into two very different and
replenish'd with those first Pairs which by the Benediction they straightway receiv'd were enabled to become the original of all of the same Kinds which ever were to be the Inhabitants of those Regions afterwards Which time and procedure is no less agreeable to the State of the World in our Hypothesis than 't is to the express Affirmations of Moses who makes Fish and Fowl the sole Product of the fifth Day or Year of the Creation X. The Sixth Day 's Work was the Production of all the Terrestrial or Dry-land Animals and that in a different manner For the Brute Beasts were produc'd out of the Earth as the Fish and Fowl had been before out of the Waters but after that the Body of Adam was form'd of the Dust of the Ground who by the Breath of Life breath'd into him in a peculiar manner became a Living Soul Some time after which on the same day he was cast into a deep Sleep and Eve was form'd out of a Rib taken from his side Together with several other things of which a more particular account has been already given on another occasion X. The Earth being now grown more Solid Compact and Dry its Surface distinguish'd into Sea and Dry-land each of which were stor'd in some sort with Inhabitants and Vegetables the Air being fully clear and fit for Respiration and the other Dispositions of External Nature being equally subservient to this as well as it had been before to the last day's Productions 't was a proper Season for the Generation of the Dry-land Animals and the Introduction of the noblest of them Man which accordingly were the first Works on this sixth Day or Year of the Creation Any more particular account of which or of the following Works is not so directly the design of this Theory and so shall not be here farther insisted on We may only take notice of two things the one is the peculiar Manner the other the peculiar Time for the Creation of Man As to the former Tho' 't is granted that all the other Day 's Works mention'd by Moses were brought to pass in a natural way by proper and suitable Instruments and a mechanical Process as we have seen through the whole Series of the foregoing Creation yet 't is evident as has been already observ'd That an immediate and miraculous Power was exercis'd in the formation of the Body and Infusion of the Soul of Man as well as in some other particular Cases belonging to this Origin of Things In plain terms I take it to be evident That that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Blessed Mediator who was afterward very frequently conversant on Earth appear'd in a humane Form to the Patriarchs gave the Law in a visible Glory and with an audible Voice on Mount Sinai guided the Israelites personally in a Pillar of Fire and of a Cloud through the Wilderness inhabited between the Cherubins in the Holy of Holies and took the peculiar Stile Titles Attributes Adoration and incommunicable Name of the God of Israel and at last was Incarnate liv'd a true Man amongst us died for us and ascended into Heaven makes still Intercession for us with the Father and will come to Judge the World in Righteousness at the last Day That this very same Divine Person was actually and visibly in a humane Shape conversant on Earth and was truly and really employ'd in this Creation of the World and particularly in this peculiar Formation of Man so frequently ascribed to him in the Holy Scriptures It being both unfit and impossible for the Divine Nature it self or at least that of the Father to be so much and in such a manner concern'd with the Corporeal World and the sinful Race of Mankind as we find here and every where this Divine Person our Blessed Mediator to have been as the Texts quoted a little above compar'd together do I think fully prove Seeing therefore our Saviour Christ God-man was personally present and actually employ'd in this Primitive Creation of the World Seeing Man was to be a Creature intirely different from all the rest a Being compounded of a Spiritual and Immortal Soul and of a Material and Corruptible Body Seeing in both these he was to be made in the likeness of that Divine Person who created him and be constituted his Deputy and Vicegerent among the Creatures here below 't was but reasonable there should be as great a distinction in his Original as was to be in his Nature and Faculties his Office and Dignity his Capacities and Happiness from the other parts of the visible Creation and by consequence that peculiar Interposition of God himself in the Formation of the Body and Infusion of the Soul of our first Parents so particularly observable in the Mosaick History is both very agreeable to the Nature of things very suitable to the Wisdom of God and very reconcilable to the most Philosophick Accounts of this Origin of the World and withal a remarkable token of the Dignity of Human Nature of the distinction between his Soul and Body and of the great Condescension and Love of God towards us and so the most highly worthy of our consideration Neither is the other circumstance the peculiar Time of the Creation of Man to be pass'd over without a proper Reflection on it 'T were easy to shew That none of the preceding Days were in any degree so fit for nay most of them not capable of this Creation and Introduction of Man But upon this sixth Period when every thing which could be subservient to him and advance his felicity was compleated he who was to be the Lord of All and for whose sake the whole was fram'd was brought into the World When the Light had been penetrating into and clarifying this dark and thick Atmosphere for more than five compleat Years together when the Air was freed from its numberless Vapours and become pure clear and fit for his Respiration when the Waters as well superior as interior were so dispos'd as to minister to his necessities by Mists and Dews from the Heavens and by Springs and Rivers from the Earth when the Surface of the Earth was become dry and solid for his support and was cover'd over with Trees Shrubs Plants Herbs Grass and Flowers for his Sustenance and Delight when the glorious Firmament of Heaven and the beautiful System of the Sun Moon and Stars were visible and conspicuous to him the Objects of his Contemplation the Distinguishers of his Seasons by whose powerful Influences the Earth was invigorated and the World rendred a fruitful and useful a lightsome and pleasant Habitation to him when lastly all sorts of Animals in the Seas in the Air or on the Earth were so dispos'd as to attend benefit and please him one way or other when I say all these things were by the Care Beneficence and Providence of God prepar'd for the entertainment of this principal Guest then
in the least favour that ungrounded and pernicious opinion of the Equivocal or Spontaneous Generation of any of them XXIV The Constitution of Man in his Primitive State was very different from that ever since the Fall not only as to the Temper and Perfections of his Soul but as to the Nature and Disposition of his Body also XXIV The Book of Genesis affords us so short a History of this Primitive Stage of the World and of the Constitution of Man therein and all other accounts are so inconsiderable in this respect that a particular account of all things relating to this Proposition is by no means to be expected 'T is in general sufficient that we have from Sacred and Prophane Authority evinc'd the state of External Nature to have been mighty different from the present and that consequently the State of Man even on Philosophical Considerations ought to be suppos'd equally different from the present also And 't is so highly unreasonable from meer observations made now to pass a Censure on what was done then and from the Frail Imperfect Sinful and Miserable Condition of Humane Nature in our Days to judge of the same in its State of Innocence Perfection and Felicity or from the Circumstances it is in at present to determine those it must at that time have been in that nothing can be more so We might almost as well Argue that Angels Eat and Drink Sleep and Wake Work and Rest because We do so or that the Infant in the Womb Sees and Hears Talks and Discourses Reads and Writes because afterward He commonly does the same things as that because We have need of Cloathing to cover our Shame and have Inflexible Robust and in a certain time Corruptible Temperaments of Body therefore so had our Primitive Parents in the State of Innocency But to speak somewhat more distinctly to those two particulars included under this Proposition 1. That in the actions relating to the propagation of the Species there should be no sense of Shame and consequently no occasion for covering such parts as were therein concern'd is by no means strange in a state of Innocence where there was no inclination to any sinful kind or degree of Application and where all such inferior Appetites were in compleat subjection to the Superior the Reason and Conscience of Man 'T is rather an evident Token of our Guilt a demonstration of the disorder and pollution of our Nature and Faculties now that what in permitted circumstances is innocent and natural in it self nay necessary for the propagation of the Species and the preservation of Mankind should make us blush 'T is a plain note of the vileness of our present state a mark of the baseness of our condition now that what God and Nature have ordain'd for the continuation of the World should yet inevitably seem to have something of Indecency and Turpitude adhering to it So far that meer bashfulness and modesty oblige us to conceal and pass over in silence all that belongs thereto It indeed might more reasonably be made a query why the Covering our Nakedness has been so general and is so necessary now as it has justly by all Ages and Nations been esteem'd than why it was otherwise in this Primitive state of the World 2. That the use of one sort of Food that of the Tree of Life might be capable of fixing and setling the temper of a humane Body of rendring it so lasting that while its Earthly condition was to continue it might never be dissolv'd and that the use of a contrary sort of Food That of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil might be capable of so far corrupting and disordering the same that it would become subject to Sickness Misery and Dissolution in a shorter space is I think even by what we at present see by no means incredible We cannot but observe how great a change a course of Diet moderate wholesome and agreeable will make in our present temperament for the better and on the contrary how far an intemperate and immoderate indulgence of our Appetites either as to the kinds or quantities of our Meats and Drinks tho' but for a few Weeks or Months will do the same for the worse even to the spoiling and destroying of a very good habit of Body to the depriving men of their healths nay frequently of their Lives too by a violent Disease If we therefore to take the narrowest Supposition imagine the eating of that pernicious and forbidden Fruit to have been confin'd to one Day or Year of this Primitive State which yet there is no necessity of doing 't will be no harsh or incredible supposal especially if we consider what has been said of the present State of Things and how much more the temper of our first Parents Bodies and the particular Food on which they fed might be peculiarly fitted for the same purposes that the intemperate Indulgence of a very pestilent course of Diet for so many Months together might break and pervert the well temper'd Constitutions of our first Parents might render their Bodies liable to such Distempers as in length of time would dissolve and entirely overthrow them or in other words would render Mankind sickly miserable and mortal Creatures for ever after Which is I think enough to clear the Proposition before us so far as a bare Physical Theory is concern'd therein XXV The Female was then very different from what she is now particularly she was in a state of greater Equality with the Male and little more subject to Sorrow in the Propagation of Posterity than he XXV That the original State and Circumstances of the Female should be as they are here represented is so far from being strange that the contrary ones of that Sex at present were not the occasion thereof known might much more justly appear so For granting the Equality of Humane Souls in themselves 't is not very easy to give a good reason why that part which one half of Mankind was to bear in the Propagation of it should subject it to such a low Condition great weakness of Nature and those severe Pains and Agonies which did not at all affect the other as God and Nature have at present made unavoidable And as to the change of her Name after the Fall from Adamah and Isschah to Eve which latter seems to denote her Capacity then attain'd of becoming the Mother of all those Generations of Mankind which were afterward to live on the Face of the Earth it may probably intimate to omit any other Observations that might be made on it some change in the Method or Circumstances concerning Humane Generation And if we consider that Adam and his Wife were no inconsiderable time in Paradise together even after the Blessing of Increase and Multiply before their Fall and carefully consider the Texts quoted in the Margin we shall perhaps believe 't is no improbable conjecture XXVI The other Terrestrial Animals
thy hand They shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them And I saw the Souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God and which had not worshipped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished This is the first resurrection Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power But they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years c. But so much has been said on this head to omit others by the Theorist that I shall refer the Reader thither for the other Testimonies of the Holy Scriptures and the unanimous consent of the most Primitive Fathers Both which he at large and to excellent purpose some particulars excepted has insisted on XCVI The state of Nature during the Millennium will be very different from that at present and more agreeable to the Antediluvian Primitive and Paradisiacal ones Whom the heavens must receive until the time of the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began See more in the Theory Book 4. Chap. 9. and in the proofs of the former Proposition XCVII The Earth in the Millennium will be without a Sea or any large receptacle fill'd with mighty collections and quantities of Waters 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 XCVIII The Earth in the Millennium will have no succession of Light and Darkness Day and Night but a perpetual Day The gates of the new Jerusalem shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there And there shall be no night there XCIX The state of the Millennium will not stand in need of and so probably will be without the light and presence of the Sun and Moon And the City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it And they need no candle neither light of the sun C. At the conclusion of the Millennium the Final Judgment and Consummation of all things The Earth will desert its present Seat and Station in the World and be no longer found among the Planetary Chrous I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away and there was found no place for them BOOK IV. SOLUTIONS OR An Account of the foregoing Phaenomena from the Principles of Philosophy already laid down CHAP. 1. A Solution of the Phaenomena relating to the Mosaick Creation and the original Constitution of the Earth I. All those particular small Bodies of which our habitable Earth is now compos'd were originally in a mixed confused fluid and uncertain Condition without any order or regularilty It was an Earth without form and void had darkness spread over the face of its Abyss and in reality was what it has been ever stil'd A perfect Chaos I. THIS has been already sufficiently accounted for and need not be here again insisted on II. The Formation of this Earth or the Change of that Chaos into an habitable World was not a meer result from any necessary Laws of Mechanism independently on the Divine Power but was the proper effect of the Influence and Interposition and all along under the peculiar Care and Providence of God II. 'T is not very easy I confess in such mighty Turns and Changes of the World exactly to determine how far and in what particulars a supernatural or miraculous Interposition of the Divine Power is concern'd and how far the Laws of Nature or Mechanical Powers ought to be extended Nay indeed 't is difficult enough in several instances to determine what is the effect of a natural and ordinary and what of a supernatural and extraordinary Providence 'T is now evident That Gravity the most mechanical Affection of Bodies and which seems most natural depends entirely on the constant and efficacious and if you will the supernatural and miraculous Influence of Almighty God And I do not know whether the falling of a Stone to the Earth ought not more truly to be esteem'd a supernatural Effect or a Miracle than what we with the greatest surprize should so stile its remaining pendulous in the open Air since the former requires an active Influence in the first Cause while the latter supposes Non-annihilation only But besides this Tho' we were able exactly to distinguish in general the ordinary Concurrence of God from his extraordinary yet would the task before us be still sufciently difficult For those Events or Actions are in Holy Scripture attributed immediately to the Power and Providence of God which yet were to all outward appearance according to the constant course of things and would abstractedly from such Affirmations of the Holy Books have been esteem'd no more miraculous than the other common Effects of Nature or usual Accidents of Humane Affairs as those who have carefully consider'd these matters especially the Historical and Prophetical Parts of the Old Testament must be oblig'd to confess Neither is it unreasonable that all things should in that manner be ascribed to the Supream Being on several accounts 'T is from him every thing is ultimately deriv'd He conserves the Natures and continues the Powers of every Creature He not only at first produc'd but perpetually disposes and makes use of the whole Creation and every part thereof as the Instruments of his Providence He foresaw and foreadapted the intire Frame He determin'd his Co-operation or Permission to every Action He so order'd and appointed the whole System with every individual Branch of it as to Time Place Proportion and all other Circumstances that nothing should happen unseasonably unfitly disproportionately or otherwise than the Junctures of Affairs the demerits of his reasonable Creatures and the wise Intentions of his Providence did require In fine he so previously adjusted and contemper'd the Moral and Natural World to one another that the Marks and Tokens of his Providence should be in all Ages legible and conspicuous whatsoever the visible secondary Causes or Occasions might be Seeing then this is the true state of the Case and that consequently Almighty God has so constituted the World that no Body can tell wherein it differs from one where all were solely brought to pass by a miraculous Power 't is by no means untrue or improper in the Holy Books to refer all those things which bare Humane Authors would derive from
second Causes the constant Course of Nature and the Circumstances of Humane Affairs to the first Cause the ultimate Spring and Original of all and to call Mens Thoughts which are too apt to terminate there from the apparent occasions to the invisible God the Creator Governor and Disposer of the whole and the sole Object of their Regard and Adoration This is I say a very proper and reasonable procedure this is usually observ'd by the Sacred Penmen who are thereby peculiarly distinguish'd from Prophane Authors and this is of the highest advantage in Morality But then it must be withal acknowledg'd That this creates great difficulties in the present Case and makes it very hard in a Philosophick Attempt of this nature to distinguish between those parts of the Mosaick Creation which are Mechanically to be accounted for and those in which the miraculous Energy of God Almighty interpos'd it self which yet if ever is certainly to be allow'd in this case where a new World was to be form'd and a wild Chaos reduc'd into a regular beautiful and permanent System This being said in general to bespeak the Reader 's Candor in the present Case and to forewarn him not to fear the most Mechanical and Philosophick Account of this Creation as if thereby the Holy Scriptures were superseded or the Divine Power and Providence excluded I come directly to the Point before us and shall endeavour to determine what are the Instances of the extraordinary Power and Interposition of God in this whole Affair That as we shall presently see how Orderly Methodical and Regular this Formation was so we may before-hand be duly sensible how Supernatural Providential and Divine it was also and so as well like Christians contemplate and adore the Omnipotent Creator in his Miraculous as we like Philosophers shall attempt to consider and remark his Vicegerent Nature in her Mechanical Operations therein For notwithstanding what has been above insisted on touching the frequency and propriety of ascribing the Effects of Nature to the Divine Power the former being indeed nothing but the latter acting according to fixt and certain Laws yet because more has been commonly and may justly be suppos'd the importance of the Texts of Scripture hereto relating because the Finger of God or his supernatural Efficiency is if ever to be reasonably expected in the Origin of Things and that in a peculiar and remarkable manner because some things done in this Creation are beyond the power of Philosophy and Mechanism and no otherwise accountable but by the Infinite Power of God himself because the days of Creation are signally distinguish'd from those following in which God is said to have rested when yet his ordinary Concurrence and the Course of Nature was continued without Interruption and must therefore be reckon'd such on which he truly exerted a Power different from the other On all these accounts I freely and in earnest allow and believe That there was a peculiar Power and extraordinary Providence exercis'd by the great Creator of all in this Primitive Origin of the Sublunary World or Formation of the Earth which we are going to account for The particular instances I shall give of the same without presuming to exclude all others are these following 1. The Creation of the matter of the Universe and particularly of that of the Earth out of nothing was without doubt originally the alone and immediate Work of God Almighty Nature let what will be meant by that Name could have no hand in this from whence at the utmost she can but date her own Birth The production of a real Being out of nothing or to speak more properly the primary bringing any real thing into Being is in the Opinion of all Men the Effect of no less than an Infinite and Omnipotent Deity I have already owned this to be the import of the first words of this Creation we are now upon In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth And I think 't is here no improper place to declare my Opinion That considering the Idea and Nature of God includes Active Power Infinite Perfection with Necessity and so Eternity of Existence when the Idea and Nature of matter supposes intire Inactivity no positive Perfection and a bare Possibility or Capacity of Existence 't is as absurd and unreasonable to attribute Eternity and Necessity of Existence to the latter as 't is rational and natural to ascribe those Perfections with a Power of Creation to the former The very Being and Nature as well as the Properties and Powers of Matter being most justly and most philosophically to be referr'd to the Author of all the Almighty Creator And altho' our imagination a poor finite limited and imperfect Faculty be unable to have a positive Idea of the manner of the Production of a real Being at first as indeed 't were sufficiently strange if so confin'd a Power of so imperfect a Creature should adequately reach the highest point of Omnipotence it self yet seeing the Absurdities following the Eternity and Self-subsistence of Matter on the other side are so enormous and the certainty of the proper Creation of Spiritual Beings nobler than Matter such as the Souls of Men are as great as 't is utterly incredible they should have been ab aeterno too for I take it to be demonstrable that Souls are immaterial I think 't is far more reasonable to rest satisfied with our former Assertion That God did truly bring Matter into being at first than its Eternity suppos'd to make only the Modification and Management thereof the Province of the Almighty And consequently the first instance of a Divine Efficiency with relation to the Subject we are now upon and the highest of all other was the original Production of the Matter of which the Earth was to consist or the proper Creation of those inferior Heavens and of that Earth which were to be the sole Object of the Divine Operations in the six days Work This particular I confess does not so properly belong to our present business the Formation of the Chaos into a habitable World but could not well be omitted either consider'd in it self as it bears so peculiar a Relation to our present purpose or with respect to that misconstruction I might with some Readers have otherwise been liable to But I proceed 2. The changing of the Course and Orbit of the Chaos into that of a Planet to omit the former Annual and subsequent Diurnal Revolutions which tho' equally from God yet do not so fully belong to this place or the placing of the Earth in its primitive Circular Orbit at its proper distance therein to revolve about the Sun was either an instance of the immediate Power or at least of the peculiar Providence of God For if we should suppose as 't is possible to do that God did not by a miraculous Operation remove the Chaos or Comet from its very Eccentrick Ellipsis to that Circle in which it now