JOHN RAY F.R.S. Printed for J. Hinton at the King's Arms in Paternoster Row Miscellaneous Discourses Concerning the DISSOLUTION AND CHANGES OF THE WORLD WHEREIN The Primitive Chaos and Creation the General Deluge Fountains Formed Stones Sea-Shells found in the Earth Subterraneous Trees Mountains Earthquakes Vulcanoes the Universal Conflagration and Future State are largely Discussed and Examined By JOHN RAY Fellow of the ROYAL SOCIETY LONDON Printed for Samuel Smith at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church Yard 1692. TO THE Most Reverend FATHER in GOD JOHN Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan My Lord IT was no Interest or Expectation of mine that induced me to dedicate this Discourse to your Grace I am not so well conceited of my own performances as to think it merits to be inscribed to so great a Name much less that I should oblige your Lordship or indeed a far meaner person by such inscription My principal motive was that it would give me opportunity of congratulating with the sober part of this Nation your advancement to the Archiepiscopal Dignity and of acknowledging His Majesty's Wisdom in making choice of so fit a Person to fill that Chair endued with all Qualifications requisite for so high a Calling so able and skilful a Pilot to govern the Church and so prudent and faithful a Counsellor to serve himself But I will not enlarge in your just praises lest I should incur the unjust Censure or Suspicion of Flattery Give me leave only to add what I may without injury of Truth and I think also without violation of Modesty that your Grace's Election hath the concurrent Approbation and Applause of all good men that know you or have had a true Character of you which may serve to strengthen your Hands in the Management and Administration of so difficult a Province though you need no such Support as being sufficiently involved and armed by your Vertues and protected by the Almighty Power and Providence Those that are Good and Wise are pleased and satisfied when great Men are preferred to great Places and think it pity that Persons of large and publick Spirits should be confined to narrow Spheres of Action and want field to exercise and employ those rich Talents and Abilities wherewith they are endowed in doing all the Good they are thereby qualified and inclined to do My Lord I am sensible that the Present I make you is neither for Bulk nor Worth suitable to your Person and Greatness yet I hope you will favourably accept it being the best I have to offer and my boldness may pretend some excuse from ancient acquaintance and from my forwardness to embrace this opportunity of professing my name among those that honour you and of publishing my self My Lord Your Graces most devoted Servant and humble Orator John Ray. THE PREFACE VVERE it not customary and expected by the Reader this Discourse would need no Preface All that I shall premise shall be something by way of Apology or Excuse First For the two long Digressions I have made the one concerning the general Deluge in the days of Noah the other concerning the Primitive Chaos and Creation of the World My first Plea is their Affinity and near Relation to my Subject The future Dissolution of the World by fire inviting me to say something of the former Destruction of it by Water And the destruction being opposite to the formation I had as good a Pretence to discourse likewise concerning that My second excuse is their agreement with my Subject in being alike matters of Ancient Tradition Five matters of Ancient Tradition I have taken notice of and four of them by reason of their now-mentioned Relation one to another I have had a fair and inviting occasion to treat of in this Work They are 1. That the World was formed out of a Chaos by the Divine Wisdom and Power 2. That there was once an universal Flood of Waters in which all Mankind perished excepting some few that were saved in an Ark or Ship 3. That the World shall one day be dissolved by Fire 4. That there is a Heaven and an Hell a Tartarus and an Elysium and both eternal the one to reward good men and the other to punish wicked 5. Of which I have no occasion to treat That Bloody Sacrifices are to be offered for the Expiation of Sin It may be doubted whether these Traditions among the Heathen had their Original from some passages in Scripture as that of the Chaos from the second Verse of the first Chapter of Genesis And the Earth was Tohu vabohu which we render without form and void and that of the Deluge from the History of it in the seventh Chapter of the same and the future conflagration from several passages in the Prophets c. or were antecedent to the Scripture I rather think the latter because we find them among some Nations which it's likely never had understanding of the Scriptures nor indeed ever heard of them Secondly For Writing so much for which perchance some may censure me I am not ignorant that men as they are mutable so they love change and affect variety of Authors as well as Books Satiety even of the best things is apt to creep upon us He that writes much let him write never so well shall experience that his last Books though nothing inferiour to his first will not find equal acceptance But for mine own part though in general I may be thought to have written too much yet is it but little that I have written relating to Divinity Thirdly For being too hasty in huddling up and tumbling out Books Herein I confess I cannot acquit my self wholly from blame I know well that the longer a Book lies by me the perfecter it becomes Something occurs every day in reading or thinking either to add or to correct and alter for the better but should I defer the Edition till the Work were absolutely perfect I might wait all my life-time and leave it to be published by my Executors But I see that Posthumous Pieces generally prove inferiour to those put out by the Authors in their lives And perchance did the Reader know my Reasons for this speed which I think it not fit now to lay open he would judge them sufficient to excuse me However hasty and precipitate I am in writing my Books are but small so that if they be worthless the Purchase is not great nor the Expence of Time wasted in the perusal of them very considerable Yet is not the worth of a Book always answerable to its Bulk But on the contrary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is usually esteemed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One â—hing still remains to advertise the Reader of that is that upon second thoughts I do revoke what I have delivered as my Opinion or Suspicion concerning the Continuance of the Rain at the Time of the Deluge for one hundred and fifty dayes because it is
was a Dove sent out of the Ark by Deucalion which returning again into the Ark was a sign of the continuance of the Flood but flying quite away and not returning any more was a sign of Serenity and that the Earth was drained Indeed Ovid and other Mythologistâ— make Deucalion's Flood to have been universal and it 's clear by the Description Ovid gives of it that he meant the generaâ— Deluge in the days of Noah And that by Deucalion the Ancients together with Ovid understood Noah Kircher in his Arca Noâ— doth well make out First For that the Poeâ— Apollonius makes him the Son of Prometheus in his third Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where Prometheus the Son of Iapetus begaâ— the Renowned Deucalion 2. Berosus affirmâ— Noah to have been Scythian And Luciâ— in his Book De Dea Syria tells us thaâ— many make Deucalion to have been so too 3. The Scripture testifies that men were generally very corrupt and wicked in the days oâ— Noah And Andro Teius a very ancient Writer testifies that in Deucalion's time therâ— was a great abundance of wicked men which made it necessary for God to destroy Mankind 4. The Scripture saith that Noah was a Just Man and Perfect in his Generation And Ovid saith of Deucalion that Non illo melior quisquam nec amantior aequi Vir fuit aut illâ Pyrrhâ uxore ejus reverentior ulla Deorum And a little after Innocuos ambos cultores numinis ambos 5. Apollonius saith of Deucalion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first ruled over men Which may very well be attributed to Noah the Father and Restorer of Mankind whose right the Kingdom was 6. The sending out of a Dove to try whether the Waters were abated and the Flood gone off is we have seen by Putarch attributed to Deucalion 7. Lucian in his Timon and in his Book de Dea Syria sets forth the Particulars of Deucalion's after the example of Noah's Flood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Deucalion was the only man that was left for a second Generation for his Prudence and Piety sake And he was saved in this manner He made a great Ark and got aboard it with his Wife and Children And to him came Swine and Horses and Lions and Serpents and all other living Creatures which the Earth maintains according to their kindâ— by pairs and he received them all and they hurt him not for there was by Divine Instincâ— a great friendship among them and they sailed together in the Ark so long as the Wâ—ters prevailed And in his Timon he saith that Noah laid up in the Ark plenty of aâ— Provisions for their sustenance By all this it appears that the Notion oâ— a general Flood was every where currenâ— among the people especially in those Couâ—treys where the Ark rested and where Noaâ— afterward lived And hence it was that thâ— Apameans whether of Mesopotamia or Syriâ— or Bythinia for there were three Cities â— Name coined Moneys in honour of thâ— Emperours Septimius Severus and Philippâ— Arabs having on the Reverse the Figure â— an Ark with a Man and a Woman standinâ— before it and a Man and a Woman lookinâ— out of it and two Doves above it one flâ—ing with a Branch of a Tree in its Moutâ— another resting upon it The Figurâ— whereof and a Learned Discourse thereupoâ— out of Falconerius may be seen in Kircheâ— Arca Noae Which Moneys though theâ— were coined long after our Saviour's time anâ— the divulgation of the Scriptures yet beinâ— done by Ethnicks do shew that the Story â— the Deluge was known and famous anâ— generally credited among them as being near the place where Noah lived and conversed after the Flood Howbeit I do not deny that there was such a particular Flood in Thessaly as they call Deucalion's which happened Seven Hundred and Seventy Years or thereabouts after the general Deluge I acknowledge also a more ancient Flood in Attica in the time of Ogyges about Two Hundred and Thirty Years before Deucalion's by which the Countrey was so marred that it lay waste and uncultivated without Inhabitants for almost Two Hundred Years Other particular Deluges and Irruptions or Inundations of the Seas besides these we read of in Histories which I shall not stand to enumerate He that desires an Account of them may consult Sr. Walter Raleigh's History of the World p. 89. Howbeit the Consideration of them may be of use to us when we shall come to treat of the Effects of the Flood upon the Earth So I dismiss this first particular and proceed to the second What were the instrumental Causes or Means of the Flood Whether was it effected by natural or supernatural Means only Whether was God no further concerned in it than in so ordering second Causes at first as of themselves necessarily to bring it in at such a time First Those that hold this Deluge was altogether miraculous and that God Almighty created Waters on purpose to serve this occasion and when they had done their work destroyed them again dispatch the Business and loose or cut the Knot in a few words And yet this Hypothesis is not so absurd and precarious as at first sight it may seem to be For the World being already full there needed not nor indeed could be any Creation of Water out of nothing but only a Transmutation of some other body into Water Now if we grant all natural Bodies even the Elements themselves to be mutually transmutable as few men doubt and some think they can demonstrate why might not the Divine Power and Providence bring together at that time such natural Agents as might change the Air or Aether or both together into Water and so supply what was wanting in Rains and extraordinary Eruptions of Springs To them that argue the Improbability oâ— such a change from the great quantity oâ— Air requisite to the make of a little Water it may be answered That if Air and alâ—â— Bodies commixt with it were together changed into Water they must needs make a bulk of Water of equal quantity with themselves unless we will grant a Peripatetical Condensation and Rarefaction and hold that the same Matter may have sometimes a greater sometimes a lesser quantity or extension This Cause the conversion of Air into Water the Learned Jesuite Athanasius Kircher in his Book De Arca Nooe alledges as the undoubted instrumental Cause or Means of the Deluge in these words Dico totum illud aereum spatium usque ad supremam regionem aeris praepotentis Dei virtute in aquas per inexplicabilem nubium coacervatarum multitudinem quâ replebatur conversum esse cujus ubertas tanta fuit ut Aer supremus cum inferiori in Oceanum commutatus videri potuerit non naturae viribus sed illius cujus voluntati imperio cuncta subsunt That is I affirm That all that Aereal space that reaches up to the supreme Region of the Air was by the
Now iâ— seems clear to me that the Rain-water making its way through the Veins and Chinkâ— of the Rocks above it and yet but slowly by reason of the thickness of the Mountain and straitness of the passages supplieâ— that dropping all the year round at least this is much more rational than any different Hypothesis If the Water distills down faster in Winter-time and wet Weather than it doth in Summer which I forgot to ask the experiment would infallibly prove our Assertion In confirmation of this Argument Albertus Magnus as I find him quoted in Dr. Wittie's Scarborough Spaw tells us That at the bottom of a solid Rock One Hundred and Thirty Fathoms deep he saw drops of Water distilling from it in a rainy season Secondly It is well known and attested to me by the people at Buxton when I was there that out of the Mouth of the same Poole-hole after great and long continuing Rains a great Stream of Water did usually issue forth And I am sure it must make its way through a good thickness of Earth or Rocks before it could come in there Thirdly What becomes of all the Water that falls on Newmarket Heath and Gogmagog Hills I presume also Salisbury-Plain and the like Spungy Grounds all Winter long where we see very little run off any way It must needs sink into the Ground more than Ten Foot deep Fourthly Many Wells whose Springs lye at least Twenty Foot deep we find by experience do often fail in great Droughts in Summer time Fifthly In Coal Delfs and other Mines in wet Weather the Miners are many times drown'd out as they phrase it though no Water runs down into the Mouths of their Pits or Shafts Nay Dr. Wittie tells us in his Description of the Vertues of the Scarborough Spaw pag. 105. That after great Inundations of Rain the Miners find the Water frequently distilling through the solid Earth upon their Heads whereas iâ— Summer or dry Seasons they find no interruption from thence at all Further to confirm this Particular wrote to my Honoured Friend Sr. Thomâ—â— Willughby Baronet desiring him to examinâ— his Colliers concerning it and send me woâ— what report they make and from him received this account If there be Springs lyâ— before you come at the Coal they carry the Water away but if there be none it falls into the Works in greater or less quantity according as the Rains fall Which answer is so much the more considerable in that it gives me a further clear proof that Springs are fed by Rain water and not by any communications from the Sea their original being above the Beds of Coal they receiving the Rain-water into their Veins and deriving it all along to their Fountains or Eruptions above the Coals I might add out of him Fifthly pag. 85. That the Scarborough Spaw notwithstanding it breaks out of Ground within Three or Four Yards off the Foot of the Cliff which is near Forty Yards high and within a quarter of a Mile there is another Hill that is more than as high again as the Cliff and a descent all the way to the Cliff so as the Rain-water cannot lye long upon the Ground yet it is observable that after a long Rain the Water of the Spaw is altered in its taste and lessened in its operation whereas a rainy day or two will not sensibly hurt it And now I am transcribing out of this Author give me leave to add an Observation or two in confirmation of Rains being the Original of Springs The first is pag. 97. this In England in the years 1654 55 and 56. when our Climate was dryer than ever it had been mentioned to be in any Stories so as we had very little Rain in Summer or Snow in Winter most of our Springs were dried up such as in the Memory of the eldest men living had never wanted Water but were of those Springs we call fontes perennes or at least were esteemed so He instances also out of a parallel Story out of Heylin's Geography in the Description of Cyprus where the Author relates That in the days of Constantine the Great there was an exceeding long drought there so as in Thirty Six Years they had no Rain in so much as all the Springs and Torrents or Rivers were dried up so that the Inhabitants were forced to forsake the Island and to seek for new Habitations for want of fresh Water The Second is pag. 84. That in the Wolds or Downs of Yorkshire they have many Springs break out after great Rains which they call Gypsies Neither is this Eruption of Springs after long Rains proper and peculiar only to the Wolds of Yorkshire but common to otheâ— Countreys also as Dr Childrey witnessetâ— in these words Sometimes there breaks out Water in the manner of a sudden Land-flood out of certain Stones that are like Rocks standing aloft in open Fields near the rising of the River Kynet in Kent which is reputed by the Common people a fore-runner of Dearth That the suddeâ— eruption of Springs in places where they use not always to run should be a sign oâ— Dearth is no wonder For these unusuaâ— Eruptions which in Kent we call Nailbourns are caused by extreme gluts oâ— Rain or lasting wet weather and never happen but in wet years witness the year 1648. when there were many of them and to our purpose very remarkable it was that in the 1654. several Springs and Rivulets were quite dryed up by reason of the precedent Drought which raged most in 1651 1652 and 1653. As the Head of the Stour that rises near Elham in Kent and runs through Canterbury was dry for some Miles space and the like happened to the Stream that crosseth the Road-way between Sittingburn and Canterbury at Ospring near Feversham which at other times ran with a plentiful current but then wholly failed So we see that it is not infrequent for new Springs to break out in wet years and for old ones to fail in great Droughts I cannot also here forbear to add the probable account he gives of the Supply of the Spring-well on the Castle-hill at Scarborough at which I confess I was somewhat puzzled This Well saith he though it be upon the top of the Rock not many Yards deep and also upon the edge of the Cliff is doubtless supplied by secret Channels within the ground that convey the Rain and Showers into it being placed on a dependent part of the Rock near unto which there are also Cellars under an old ruinated Chappel which after a great Rain are full of Water but are dryed up in a long Drought As for what is said concerning the River Volgas pouring out so much Water into the Caspian Sea as in a years time would make up a mass of Water equal to the Globe of the Earth and of the hourly effusions of the River Po in Italy which Ricciolus hath computed to amount to 18000000. Cubical Paces of Water Whence a late Learned
or Gravel By the by we may here take notice that one reason why plowing harrowing sifting or any comminution of the Earth renders it more fruitful is because the Roots of Grass Corn and other Herbs can with more facility creep abroad and multiply their Fibres in the light and loose Earth That the rotting of Grass and other Herbs upon the ground may in some places raise the Superficies of it I will not deny thâ— is in Gardens and Enclosures where thâ— ground is rank and no Cattel are admitteâ— to eat off the Fogg or long Grass but elsewheâ— the raising of the Superficies of the Eartâ— is very little and inconsiderable and not at all unless in level grounds which haâ— but little declivity For otherwise the Soâ— would by this time have come to be of a verâ— great depth which we find to be but shalloâ— Nor do I think that so much as the Trunk of fall'n Trees are by this means covered but rather that they sink by their owâ— weight in time overcoming the resistance oâ— the Earth which without much difficultâ— yields being soaked and softned by thâ— Rains insinuating into it and keeping iâ— continually moist in Winter time But â— these Buildings be situate in Valleys it iâ— clear that the Earth brought down from thâ— Mountains by Rain may serve to land theâ— up Again the Superficies of the Earth may be raised near the Sea Coast by they continual blowing up of Sand by the Winds This happens often in Norfolk and in Cornwall where I observed a fair Church viz. that of the Parish called Lalant which is the Mother Church to St. Ives and above two Miles distant from the Sea almost covered with the Sand little being extant above it but the Steeple and ridge of the Roof Nay a great part of St. Ives it self lyes buried in â—he Sand and I was told there that in â—ne night there had been a whole Street of Houses so covered with Sand that in the morning they were fain to dig their way out of their houses through it All along the Western Shoar of Wales there are great Hills of Sand thus blown up by the Wind. We observed also upon the Coast of Flanders and Holland the like Sandy Hills or Downs But there are not many places liable to this Accident viz. where the bottom of the Sea is Sandy and where the Wind most frequently blows from off the Sea where the Wind sets from the Land toward the Sea this happens not where it is indifferent it must in reason carry off as much as it brings on unless other Causes hinder A Digression concerning the Dâ—luge in the Days of Noah BEfore I proceed to the Second Particâ—lar being as it were led and invite thereto by what hath been said I shall makâ— a Digression to discourse a little concerniâ— the general Deluge in the days of Noah â— shall not enlarge much upon it so as tâ— take in all that might be said but confirâ— my self to Three Heads 1. I shall confirâ— the Truth of the History of the Deluge recorded in the Scripture by the Testimonie of some ancient Heathen Writers 2. I shalâ— consider the Natural Causes or Means whereby it was effected 3. I shall enquire concerning the Consequents of it what considerable effects it had upon the Earth First then I shall produce some Testimonies of Ancient Heathen Writers concerning the Deluge The First shall be that of Berosus recorded by Josephus in the fifth Chapter of his first Book of Jewish Antiquities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That is Berosus the â—aldaean relating the Story of the Deluge â—ites thus It is reported that there is â—he part of the Vessel the Ark still reâ—ining at the Mountain of the Gordyaeans â—d that certain persons scraping off the Biâ—nen or Pitch carry it away and that â—n make use of it for Amulets to drive â—ay Diseases A Second Testimony the same Josephus â—ords us in the same place and that is of Niâ—aus Damascenus who saith he gives us â— History of the Ark and Deluge in â—se words About Minyas in Armenia there a great Mountain called Baris to which â—s reported that many flying in the time of Deluge were saved that a certain person â—s carried thither in an Ark which rested the top of it the reliques of the Timâ— whereof were preserved there a long â—e Besides these Josephus tells us in the â—e place that Hieronymus the Egyptian who â—ote the Phoenician Antiquities and Mnaâ—s and many others whose words he alâ—ges not make mention of the Flood Eusebius superadds two Testimonies more â—e one of Melon to this effect There deâ—ted from Armenia at the time of the Deâ—e a certain man who together with his â—ns had been saved who being cast out of his House and Possessions was driven awâ— by the Natives This man passing over tâ— intermediate Region came into the mouâ—tainous part of Syria that was then delate This Testimony makes the Deluâ— Topical and not to have reached â—menia The other is of Abydenus an ancient Wâ—ter in the same Eusebius Praepar Evang lib. 9. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. â—ter whom others reigned and then Sisithâ— so he calls Noah To whom Saturn foâ— told that there should be a great Flood Waters upon the Fifteenth Day of â— Month Desius and commanded him to hâ— all Writings or whatever was commiâ— to Writing in Heliopolis of the Syppariâ— Which Sisithrus as soon as he had perform presently sailed away to Armenia whâ— what God had predicted to him immeâ—ately came to pass or came upon hiâ— The third day after the Waters ceased sent forth Birds that he might try wheâ— they could espy any Land uncovered Water But they finding nothing but Sâ— and not knowing whither to betake theâ—selves returned back to Sisithrus In lâ— manner after some days he sent out othâ— with like success But being sent out the third time they returned with their feet fouled with Mud. Then the Gods caught up Sisithrus from among men But the Ship remained in Armenia and its Wood afforded the Inhabitants Amulets to chase away many Diseases These Histories accord with the Scripture as to the main of the being of a Flood and Noah escaping out of it only they adulterate the Truth by the admixture of a deal of fabulous stuff Cyril in his first Book against Julian to prove the Deluge alledges a passage out of Alexander Polyhistor Plato himself saith he gives us an obscure intimation of the Deluge in his Timaeus bringing in a certain Egyptian Priest who related to Silon out of the Sacred Books of the Egyptians that before the particular Deluges known and celebrated by the Grecians there was of old an exceeding great Inundation of Waters and devastation of the Earth which seems to be no other than Noah's Flood Plutarch in his Book De Solertia Animalium tells us That those who have written of Deucalion's Flood report that there
that so many Liquors impregnated with all sorts of Salts and Mineral Juices in all proportions having been at one time or other industriously or accidentally exposed to crystallize and let stand long in Vessels there should never have been found in them any such Concretions For if any had happened we should doubtless have heard of them and the Observers would have improved such an Experiment to the Production of the like Bodies at their pleasure So I have finished what I have to alledge in defence of the latter part That these formed Stones were sometimes the real Shells or Bones of Fishes I mean the figured part of them I proceed now to set down what may be objected against this Opinion or offered in assertion of the contrary viz. That these Bodies are primitive Productions of Nature in imitation of the Shells and Bones of Fishes Against the former Opinion we have been pleading for it may be objected That there follow such strange and seemingly absurd Consequences from it as are hardly reconcileable to Scripture or indeed to sober Reason as First That the Waters must have covered the whole Earth even the highest Mountains and that for a long time there being found of these Shells not only in the most mountainous parts of our Countrey but in the highest Mountains in Europe the Appennine and Alps themselves and that not only scattered but amassed in great lumps and lying thick in Beds of Sand as we have before shewn Now this could hardly be the effect of a short Deluge which if it had carried any Shell fish so high would in all likelihood have scattered them very thin These Beds and Lumps of them necessarily inferring that they must have bred there which is a work of time Now the general Deluge lasted in the whole but ten Months and it 's not likely the Tops of the Mountains were covered half that time Neither is it less repugnant to Reason than Scripture for if the Waters stood so high above the Earth for so long a time they must by reason of their Confluence be raised as high above the Sea too But what is now become of this huge Mass of Waters equal to six or seven Oceans May not the Stoicks here set in and help us out at a dead lift The Sun and Moon say they might possibly sup it all up Yea but we cannot allow time enough for that for according to the moderate Draughts they take now a-days one Ocean would suffice to water them many Ages unless perchance when they were young and hot they might need more drink But to be serious I have no way to answer this Objection but by denying that there are any Beds or great Lumps and Masses of these formed Stones to be found near the Tops of the Alps or other high Mountains but yet there might be some particular Shells scattered there by the general Deluge Another thing there is as difficult to give an account off as of the Shells getting up to the Tops of Mountains that is of those several Beds or Floors of Earth and Sand c. one above another which are observed in broken Mountains For one cannot easily imagine whence these Floors oâ— Beds in the manner of Strata super strata as the Chymists speak should come but from the Sediments of great Floods which how or whence they could bring so great a quantity of Earth down when there was but little Land above the Sea I cannot see And one would likewise be apt to think that such a Bed of Sands with plenty of Cockle-shells intermixt as we mentioned before in the Mountain near Bononia in Italy must have been sometimes the Bottom of the Sea But before one can give a right judgment of these things one must view the Mountains where such Layers and Beds of Earth and Shells are found for perchance they may not be elevated so high above the present Surface of the Sea as one would judge by the descriptions of them Secondly It would hence follow that many Species of Shell-fish are lost out of the World which Philosophers hitherto have been unwilling to admit esteeming the destruction of any one Species a dismembring of the Universe and rendring it imperfect whereas they think the Divine Providence is especially concerned to secure and preserve the Works of the Creation and that it is so appears in that it was so careful to lodge all Land-Animals in the Ark at the time of the general Deluge The Consequence is proved in that Among these petrified Shells there are many sorts observed which are not at this day that we know of any where to be found Such are a whole genus of Cornua Ammonis which some have supposed to be Nautili though to me they do not seem so to be but a different Genus by themselves of which there have not any been seen either cast a shore or raked out of the Sea at any time that ever I heard of Nay my very Learned and Honoured Friend Dr. Lister proceeds further and saith That when he particularly examined some of our English Shores for Shells as also the Fresh Waters and the Fields that he did never meet with any one of those Species of Shells found at Adderton in Yorkshire Wansford bridge in Northamptonshire and about Gunthorp and Beauvoir-Castle c. any where else but in their respective Quarries What can we say to this Why it is possible that many sorts of Shell-Fish may be lodged so deep in the Seas or on Rocks so remote from the Shores that they may never come to our sight Thirdly It follows also that there have been Shell fish in these cold Northern Seas of greater bulk and dimensions than any now living I do not say in these but in the most Southernly and Indian viz. Cornua Ammonis of two foot diameter and of thickness answerable To this I answer That there are no petrified Shells that do in bigness much exceed those of the natural Shell fish found in our Seas save the Cornua Ammonis only which I suspect to have never been nor had any relation to any Shells of Fishes or to imitate or resemble them at least some of them As for the Nautili they are much different from them For the Nautili at least all the Species of them known to us are as Dr. Plot well observes extravagantly broad at the mouth and have not more than two other small turns at the most whereas the turns of the Ophiomorphites are proportionable one to another and in number many times four or five and sometimes six if we may believe Aldrovand And there are Nautili lapidei which do as nearly resemble the Nautilus Shells as any other Cochlites do their respective prototypes As Mr. Lloyd assures me he had observed many in Museums And the Learned and Ingenious Mr. Richard Waller then Secretary to the Royal Society in a Letter to me dated Feb. 4. 87. writes That he had been lately at Keinsham in Sommersetshire
Heaven Let not then the presumption of a temporary Hell encourage thee to go on in sin for I fear such a Persuasion may have an ill influence on the manners of Men. Eternity is the very sting of Hell take that out and the Sinner will think it tractable enough The very thought of an eternal Hell intervening and it will often intrude it self strikes a cold damp to his very Heart in the midst of his Jollities end will much qualifie and allay all his Pleasures and Enjoyments Rid him of this fear and he will be apt to despise Hell and all its Torments be they never so grievous or lasting Take off this Bridle and as we hinted before he will rush into Sin as a Horse rusheth into the battel He will be ready thereupon thus to argue with himself What need I take so much pains to strive against Sin What need I swim against the Stream and resist the Tide and Eddy of my Passions my natural Appetites and Inclinations and the Solicitations of Company What need I maintain such a constant Watch and Ward against my spiritual Enemies the Devil the World and the Flesh If I fall into Hell at last that is no eternal State it lasteth but for a time and will come to an end I 'll venture it I hope I shall make a shift to rub through well enough Let me ask thee But how if thou shouldest find thy self mistaken If the Event ftustrate thy Hopes and fall out contrary to thy Expectation What a sad case wilt thou be in then How will the unexpectedness thereof double thy Misery Improvisa graviùs feriunt How wilt thou be strucken as it were with a Thunderbolt when the Almighty Judge shall fulminate against thee a dreadful indeed but by thee formerly undreaded Sentence adjudging thee to endless Punishments How wilt thou damn thine own Credulity who by a groundless Belief of a temporary Hell hast precipitated thy self into an eternal which otherwise thou mightest possibly have avoided Well but suppose there be some shadow of hope of the determination of the punishments of the Damned It is by all acknowledged to be a great piece of folly to leave matters of the highest moment and which most nearly concern us at uncertainties and a point of Wisdom to secure the main chance and to be provided against the worst that can come An eternal Heaven or state of compleat happiness is the main chance and is not to come into any competition or so much as to be put into the ballance against a few short transient sordid loathed and for the most part upon their own account repented pleasures To secure to our selves an interest in such a state is our greatest wisdom And as for being provided against the worst that may or can come What can be worse than an eternal Hell which there is I do not say a possibility but the greatest probability imaginable that it will be our portion if we persist in impenitency and dye in our sins But suppose the best should happen that we can hope or conceive that Hell should last only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Ages of Ages and at last determine do we think this a small matter If we do it is for want of consideration and experience of acute pains Should any of us be under the sense and suffering of a raging Paroxysm of the Stone or Gout or Collick I doubt not but rather than endure it for ten thousand years he would willingly part with all his expectation of a blessed estate after that term were expired yea and his being to boot But what are any of these pains to the torments and perpessions of Hell or the duration of ten thousand years to those Ages of Ages If thou makest light of all this and nothing can restrain thee from sin but the eternity of punishment thou art bound to thank God who hath used this only effectual means threatning an eternal Hell And it ill becomes thee to complain of his rigour and severity who wouldest have made so pernicious an use of his lenity and goodness But thou who hast entertained such an Opinion and abusest it to encourage thy self to go on in thy sins though others should escape with a temporary punishment surely thou hast no reason to expect any milder doom than to be sentenced to an eternal Vpon a Review of the Precedent Discourse some Things thought fit to be Added and Amended Pag. 51. Lin. 29. Add WHich is made one great Reason that such great Numbers even whole Woods of subterraneous Trees are frequently met with and dug up at vast Depths in the Spanish and Dutch Netherlands as well as in many places of this Island of Great Britan. Page 70. Those Words nay this latter the Mediterranean receives also abundance of Water from the great Ocean running in at the Streights of Gibraltar and therefore by subterraneous Passages must needs discharge their Waters into the Abyss of Waters under the Earth and by its intervention into the Ocean again were written without due Consideration in compliance with the common Opinion before I had seen Mr. Halley's Estimate of the Quantity of Vapour raised out of the Sea by the warmth of the Sun c. which upon second Thoughts I find reason to revoke For that the Mediterranean Sea doth not communicate with the Ocean by any subterraneous Passages nor thereby impart any Water to it or receive any from it may be demonstrated from that the Superficies of it is lower than the Superficies of the Ocean as appears from the Waters running in at the Streights of Gibraltar for if there were any such Communications the Water keeping its Level the Mediterranean being the lowest must by those Passages receive Waters from the Ocean and not the Ocean which is as we have proved the highest from the Mediterranean Hence it necessarily follows that the Mediterranean spends more in Vapour than it receives from the Rivers which is Mr. Halley's Conclusion tho in some of his Premises or Hypotheses he is I think mistaken as 1. In that he enumerates the Tyber amongst his nine great Rivers each of which may yield ten times as much Water as the Thames whereas I question whether that yields once so much and whereas he passes by all the rest of the Rivers as smaller than it there are two that I have seen in Italy it self whereof the one viz. the Arnus on which Florence and Pisa stand seemed to me not inferiour in bigness to the Tiber and the other viz. the Athesis on which Verona stands I could not guess to be less than twice as big 2. In that he thinks himself too liberal in allowing these nine Rivers to carry down each of them ten times so much Water as the Thames doth Whereas one of those nine and that none of the biggest neither viz. the River Po if Ricciolus his Hypotheses and Calculations be good affords more Water in an hour than Mr. Halley supposes the