Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	darkness_n	light_n	shine_v	1,758	5	9.8256	5	true

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

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

distinct Regions The lower and larger whereof would be a collection or system of dense and heavy Fluids or a vast Abyss immediately encompassing the central solid Body The higher and lesser would be a collection or system of earthy watery and aery Parts confusedly mix'd together and encompassing the said Abyss in the same manner as that did the central Solid And this I take to be the state of Darkness which the Proposition we are upon mentions And that the Chaos particularly the Face or upper Regions of it were at this time in such a dark and caliginous Condition will easily appear For all those Opake or Earthy Corpuscles which before rov'd about the immense Regions of the Atmosphere and frequently even then obscur'd the Central Solid to any external Spectator were now crouded nearer together and instead of flying up and down in or possessing an Orb of 40000 or 50000 Miles in thickness were reduced to a narrower Sphere and confin'd within a space not perhaps in Diameter above the thousandth part of the former and must by consequence exclude the Rays of the Sun in anotherguess manner than before We cannot but observe in our present Air That the very same Vapours which when dissipated and scatter'd through the Atmosphere whose extent yet is not great freely admit the Rays of the Sun and afford us clear and lightsome days when they are collected into Clouds become opake Masses and are capable of obscuring the Sky and rendring it considerably dark to us In the same manner 't is easy to suppose that those Opake and Earthy Masses which in those vaster Regions would but in a less degree and in some places exclude the Beams of the Sun must when collected and crowded closer together on the surface of the Abyss exclude them in a degree vastly surpassing the former must occasion an entire darkness in all its Regions and particularly in those upper ones over which they were immediately collected And if from the former comparison we estimate how few Vapours collected into a Cloud with us will cause no inconsiderable degree of darkness and allow as is but reasonable a proportionably greater degree of darkness to a proportionably greater number of Earthy and Opake Corpuscles crowded to gether we shall not doubt but all manner of communication with the Heavenly Bodies and the External World must be intirely interrupted and the least imaginable Ray or Beam of Light from the Sun excluded not only from the lowest but even all excepting the very highest Regions of this superior Chaos Which state of Nature belonging to this time immediately preceding the Hexameron is not amiss represented by the Theorist's Second Figure which is accordingly here delineated V. The Visible part of the First Day 's Work was the Production of Light or its successive Appearance to all the parts of the Earth with the consequent distinction of Darkness and Light Night and Day upon the face of it V. If we remember in what state we left the Chaos in the last Proposition and suffer our thoughts to run naturally along with its succeeding mutations we shall find that the next thing to be here consider'd for the Subterraneous System of dense Fluids or the great Abyss not coming directly within the Design of Moses is not here to be particularly prosecuted any farther is the Separation of this Upper and Elementary Chaos or Congeries of Earthy Watery and Aery Corpusoles into two somewhat different Regions the one a Solid Orb of Earth with great quantities of Water in its Pores the other an Atmosphere in a peculiar sense or Mass of the lightest Earthy with the rest of the Watery and the Aery Particles still somewhat confusedly mixt together For since this Upper Chaos tho' in general much lighter than the Abyss beneath consisted of parts very Heterogeneous and of different specifick gravities the Earthy being heavier than the Watery and those yet heavier than the Aery Particles 't is evident that in the same manner as this whole mixed Mass was separated from the heavier Abyss beneath must it again separate and divide it self into two such general Orbs as were just now mention'd The former consisting of the denser and solider parts such as the Earthy Claiy Sandy Gravelly Stony Strata of the present Earth with so many of the Watery Particles as either being already in those Regions must be inclosed therein or could descend from above and have admittance into the Pores thereof The latter of the less Solid Lighter and Earthy with the rest of the Watery and the Aery Particles not yet sufficiently distinguish'd from each other This process will I suppose easily be allow'd excepting what relates to the enclosing of the Watery parts within the Earth with relation to which 't is commonly suppos'd that because Water is specifically lighter than Earth it must in the regular digestions of a Chaos take the Upper situation and cover that highest Orb as that would others of greater gravity than it self 'T is also commonly imagin'd that the Mosaick Cosmogony favours such an Hypothesis and supposes the Waters to have encompass'd the Globe and cover'd its surface till on the third day they were deriv'd into the Seas Now as I by no means apprehend any necessity of understanding the Mosaick Creation in this sense so I am very sure 't is contrary to a Philosophick account of the Formation of the Chaos unless one of these two things were certain Either that the quantity of Water were so much greater than that of Earth that all the Pores and Interstices of the latter could not contain it or else that it was generally elevated into the Air in the form of Vapour and sustained there while the Earth setled and consolidated together and did not till then descend and take its own proper place The former of which is neither reconcilable to the Mosaick Creation nor will be asserted by any who knows even since the Deluge how small the quantity of Fluids in comparison to that of the Solids is in the Earth on which we live And the latter is too much to be granted in the present case by any considering person who knows that a Comet 's Vapours constitute the main part of that Tail or Mist which is sometimes equal to a Cylinder whose Basis is 1000000 Miles in Diameter and its Altitude as far as from the Sun to the Earth or 54000000 Miles as it was in the last famous Comet in 1681. represented in Mr. Newton's own Scheme Let the rarity of the same be suppos'd as great as any Phaenomena shall require For to clear this matter by a familiar Instance or Experiment Take Sand or Dust and let them fall gently into a Vessel till it be near full Take afterwards some Water and pour it alike gently into the same Vessel And it will soon appear that notwithstanding the greater specifick gravity of the Dry and Earthy than of the Moist and Watery parts whence one might imagine that the Sand or

Dust would be the lowest and the Water swim uppermost on the surface of the other without mingling therewith yet will the latter immediately sink downwards and so throughly drench and satiate the said Mass before any will remain on the top that its proportion to that of the Solid parts will be very considerable Which being apply'd to the point before us will take away all imaginable difficulty in the case It being evident without this comparison that such Watery Particles as were already intermix'd with the others would remain where they were and with this equally so that the rest which were above the same upon the first subsidence of the Earthy Strata would penetrate pervade and saturate the same So that on this first Day or Year of the Creation the Earthy and Denser parts would take their places lowest on the surface of the great Abyss would settle in part into the same and compose an Orb of Earth and in its Interstices and little Cavities all such Watery Particles as were already in this Region or descended upon it before its consolidation would be enclos'd and that as far above the surface of the Abyss to which they would be contiguous as their quantity could enable them to reach On this first Day or Year also the upper Regions of the Chaos being now in some measure freed from those Earthy and Opake Masses which before excluded the same and caused the before-mention'd thick Darkness would in some degree admit the Rays of the Sun Now therefore that glorious Emanation Light the visible part of this days Work would begin to appear on the face of the Earth Now would It by the Annual Motion successively illuminate the several parts of it And now would it consequently cause that natural Distinction between Darkness and Light Night and Day round the whole Globe which was to be accounted for in this Proposition Which progress of the Chaos and state of Nature is well enough exhibited by the Theorist's third Figure which therefore is here delineated Corollary Hence we may observe the Justness of the Mosaick Creation and how fitly it begins at the Production of Light without taking notice of such prior conditions and such preparations of the Chaos which have been before explain'd and were in order of Nature previous to this days Work For this account reaching only to the Visible World and the Visible Effects in it and keeping still within the bounds of sense and of common observation could not better be accommodated to the truth of things and the capacities of all than by such a Procedure The Ancient condition of the Chaos in former Ages was no way here concern'd and so was intirely to be omitted The State of Darkness which immediately preceded the Six Days Work and which with relation thereto was necessary to be mention'd made a very proper introduction and so very fitly was to be hinted at by way of Preface thereto Both which cases are accordingly by Moses taken care of And so the first Period was the Production of Light the Admission of the Rays of the Sun and the Origin of Day and Night depending thereon as the Method and Decorum of things with the apprehensions of the People did both very naturally require For since in this Sacred History of the Origin of things not only the Visible World and the Visible parts of it were singly concern'd But principally the Effects to be enumerated were such as requir'd the Light and Heat of the Sun the one to be View'd the other to be Produced by and without the latter could no more have Been at all than been Conspicuous without the former 'T was very suitable and very natural in the first place to introduce the Cause or Instrument and afterwards in the succeeding Periods to recount the Effects thereof in the World First to acquaint us that the Light and Heat of the Sun were in some measure admitted into the upper Regions of the Chaos and then to relate those remarkable consequences thereof which the succeeding Periods of the Creation exhibited on the face of the Earth Which Order of Nature and Succession of Things is accordingly very prudently and fitly observ'd and kept pace with in this Sacred History VI. The visible part of the Second Day 's Work was the Elevation of the Air with all it s contained Vapours the spreading it for an Expansum above the Earth and the distinction thence arising of Superior and Inferior Waters The formet consisting of those Vapours rais'd and sustain'd by the Air The latter of such as either were inclos'd in the Pores Interstices and Bowels of the Earth or lay upon the Surface thereof VI. When at the Conclusion of the former Day the Heat of the Sun began considerably to penetrate the Superior Regions of the Chaos and the two different Orbs the Solider Earthy and the Fluider Aery Masses began to be pretty well distinguished the same things would proceed still on this succeeding Day The Lower Earthy Strata would be settling somewhat closer together the Watery parts would subside and saturate their inward Pores and Vacuities and the Atmosphere would free it self more and more from the heaviest and most Opake Corpuscles and thereby become in a greater degree tenuious pure and clear than before Whereupon by that time the Night or first half of this Second Day or Year was over and the Sun arose The Light and Heat of that Luminary would more freely and deeply penetrate the Atmosphere and become very sensible in these Upper or Aery Regions Which being suppos'd the proper Effect which were to be next expected must be that vast quantities of Vapours would be elevated into and there sustained by the now better purified Air while in the mean time all the Earthy Corpuscles which were uncapable of rarefaction and with them all such Watery Particles as were so near the Earth that the Sun's Power could not sufficiently reach them were still sinking downwards and increasing the crassitude and bulk of the Solid Earth and of its included Waters From all which 't is easie to account for the Particulars of this Day 's Work The Expansum or Firmament which was this day spread out above the Earth was plainly the Air now truly so called as being freed from most of its Earthy mixtures The Superior Waters All those which in the form of Vapour a half years heat of the Sun with the continual assistance of the Central Heat could elevate and the Air sustain The Inferior Waters those which were not elevated but remain'd below all that fell down with were enclosed in sunk into and if you will lay upon the Orb of Earth beneath And when it is particularly said by Moses that 't was this Expansum or Firmament which was to divide the Superior from the Inferior Waters that is exactly agreeable to the nature of things and suitable to this account It being the Air which truly and properly sustain'd all those Vapours as now it