of the Prophetick numbers I mean the involving their Predictions in so much and no more obscurity as might conceal their meaning till their completion or till such time at least as the Divine Wisdom thought most proper for their manifestation in succeeding Ages So that this Argument demonstrates the present Exposition to afford a natural foundation of accounting for such ways of speaking in 〈◊〉 Holy Scriptures which otherwise are as t 〈…〉 casion and Original unaccountable and consequently proves it to be as truly agreeable to the Stile as the former did to the Letter thereof 3. The six Days of Creation and the seventh of Rest were by Divine Command to be in after Ages commemorated by Years as well as by Days and so in reason answered alike to both those denominations 'T is evident that the Works of the Creation were compleated in six Evenings and Mornings or six Revolutions of the Sun call'd Days and that the seventh was immediately set apart and sanctified as a Day of Rest and Memorial of the Creation just before compleated and 't is evident that this Sanctification of the seventh as well as the operations of the six foregoing belong'd to the Primitive state of the World before the Fall Now that we may know what sort of Days these were 't will be proper to enquire into the ensuing times and observe after the distinction of Days and Years undoubtedly obtain'd what constant Revolutions of six for Work and a seventh for Rest there appear or in what manner and by what spaces these Original ones were commemorated which will go a great way to clear the Point we are upon And here 't is evident that when God gave Laws to the Israelites he allow'd them six ordinary Days of Work and ordain'd the seventh for a Day of Rest or Sabbath in Imitation and Memory of His Working the first six and Resting or keeping a Sabbath on the Seventh Day at the Creation of the World This the Fourth Commandment so expresly asserts that 't is past possibility of question 'T is moreover evident that God upon the Children of Israels coming into the Land of Canaan ordained with reference as 't is reasonable to suppose to the same Primitive State of the World the six Days of Creation and the Sabbath That six Years they should Sow their Fields and six Years they should Prune their Vineyard and gather in the Fruits thereof But in the seventh Year should be a Sabbath of Rest unto the Land a Sabbath for the Lord They were neither to Sow their Field nor Prune their Vineyard Then was the Land to keep a Sabbath unto the Lord. So that if we can justly presume that the primary spaces of the World here refer'd to were proper Evenings and Mornings or Natural Days because they were represented and commemorated by six Proper and Natural Days of Work and the seventh of Rest I think 't is not unreasonable to conclude they were Proper and Natural Years also considering they appear to have been among the same People by the same Divine Appointment represented and commemorated by these six Proper and Natural Years of Work and the seventh of Rest also Nay if there be any advantage on the side of Natural Days from the expressness of the reference they had to the Primitive ones which the Fourth Commandment forces us to acknowledge there will appear in what follows somewhat that may justly be esteem'd favourable on the side of Years Besides the six Days for Work and the seventh for Rest the Jews were commanded on the same account as we may justly suppose to number from the Passover seven times seven Days or seven Weeks of Days and at the conclusion of them to observe a solemn Feast call'd the Feast of Weeks or of Sabbaths once every year In like manner besides the Yearly Sabbath as I may call it or the seventh Year of Rest and Release after the six Years of Work the Jews were commanded on the same account as we may justly suppose to number seven Sabbaths of Years seven times seven Years and at the conclusion thereof to celebrate the great Sabbatical Year the Year of Jubilee They were neither to Sow nor Reap nor Gather in the Grapes but esteem it Holy and suffer every one to return to his Possession again Where that which is remarkable is this that when the Sabbatical Days and Sabbatical Years equally return'd by perpetual revolutions immediately succeeding one another yet the case was not the same as to the Feast of Weeks at the end of seven times seven Days that following the Passover and not returning till the next Passover again and so was but once a Year Whereas its corresponding Solemnities the Jubilees or great Sabbatical Years at the end of seven times seven Years did as the former return by perpetual revolutions immediately succeeding one another for all future Generations All which duely consider'd I think upon the whole 't is but reasonable to conclude That seeing the Primitive spaces or periods of Work and Rest appear by Divine Appointment to have been commemorated among the Jews by Years as well as by Days the same Primitive spaces or periods were equally Days and Years also 4. The Works of the Creation by the Sacred History concurring with Ancient Tradition appear to have been leisurely regular and gradual without any precipitancy or acceleration by a Miraculous hand on every occasion Which is impossible to be suppos'd in those Days of twenty four short hours only but if they were as long as the present Hypothesis supposes they were truly agreeable and proportionable to the same productions Which consequence will be so easily allow'd me that I may venture to say That as certain as is the regular and gentle the natural and leisurely procedure of the Works of the Creation of which I know no good Reason from any Warrant sacred or prophane to make any question so certain is the Proposition we are now upon or so certainly the Primitive Days and Years were all one 5. Two such Works are by Moses ascrib'd to the third Day which if that were not longer than one of ours now are inconceiveable and incompatible On the former part of this Day the Waters of the Globe were to be drain'd off all the dry Lands into the Seas and on the same Day afterward all the Plants and Vegetables were to spring out of the Earth Now the Velocity of running Waters is not so great as in a part of one of our short Days to descend from the middle Regions of the dry Land into the Seas adjoyning to them nor if it were could the Land be dry enough in an instant for the Production of all those Plants and Vegetables which yet we are assur'd appear'd the same Day upon the face of it which Difficulties vanish if we allow the primitive Days to have been Years also as will more fully be made appear in due place 6. Whatever might possibly be
and not till then was Man created and introduc'd into the World Then and not before was He constituted the Lord and Governor of the whole and all things put in subjection under his feet In which intire procedure the Wisdom and Goodness of the Creator and the Dignity and Honour of his principal Creature here below are equally consulted and the greatest occasion imaginable given to our first Parents and all their Posterity of adoring and celebrating the Divine Bounty to them in the present and succeeding Ages Which naturally leads us to the next Proposition XI God having thus finish'd the Works of Creation Rested on the Seventh day from the same and Sanctified or set that Day apart for a Sabbath or Day of Rest to be then and afterward obsrev'd as a Memorial of his Creation of the World in the six foregoing and his resting or keeping a Sabbath on this Seventh day Which Sabbath was reviv'd or at least its Observation anew enforc'd on the Jews by the Fourth Commandment XI Nothing sure could be more sit and proper at this time than the praising and worshipping of that Powerful and Munificent Creator who in the foregoing six Days Productions had so operously and so liberally provided for the well-being and happiness of Mankind And seeing this intire Fabrick was design'd for the use and advantage of all succeeding Generations as well as the present it could not but be reasonable to perpetuate the Memory of this Creation and devote one Period in seven to the peculiar Worship and Service of that God who was both the Author of the Works themselves and of this Institution of the Sabbath to perpetuate the memory of such his six Days of Work and of this seventh of Rest to all future Generations What relates to the Fall of Adam and the intire Moral State of the World comes not within the compass of this Physical Theory and so notwithstanding it naturally enough belongs to this Day and might I imagine be shewn not to be so difficult as for want of a right understanding thereof 't is usually imagin'd to be and that without receding from the literal obvious and usual Sense of Scripture must be wholly omitted in this place XII There is a constant and vigorous Heat diffused from the Central towards the superficiary Parts of our Earth XII This has been already accounted for and need not here be resum'd Corollary From the consideration of the very long time that the Heat of a Comet 's central Solid may endure 't is easy to account for that otherwise strange Phaenomenon of some of those Bodies viz. That tho' the Tails of the Comets appear to be no other than Steams of Vapours rarified by the prodigious Heat acquir'd in their approaches to the Sun yet some at least of these Comets have no inconsiderable ones as they are descending towards the Sun long before they approach near enough to acquire new ones by a fresh Rarefaction of their Vapours in his Vicinity For since the prodigious Heat acquir'd at the last Perihelion must remain for so many thousands of Years tho' the Tail which the Sun 's own Heat rais'd at that time must have been either dispersed through the Ether or by its Gravitation return'd to its old place in the Atmosphere yet will there still remain a Tail and its Position will be no other than if the Sun 's own Heat had elevated the same For by what Heat soever the Vapours in a Comet 's Atmosphere become rarer than the Parts of the Solar Atmosphere in which they are or subject to the Power and Velocity of the Sun's Rays elevating the same a Tail must be as certainly produc'd as if the Sun 's own Heat were the occasion of it Which Observation rightly consider'd will afford light to the foremention'd Phaenomenon and will deserve the consideration of Astronomers to whom it is submitted XIII The habitable Earth is founded or situate on the Surface of the Waters or of a deep and vast Subterraneous Fluid XIII This has been sufficiently explain'd already and is observable in the foregoing Figures of the four latter periods of the Mosaick Creation XIV The interior or intire Constitution of the Earth is correspoudent to that of an Egg. XIV This is also very easily observable in the same Figures Where 1. the Central Solid is answerable to the Yolk which by its fiery Colour great Quantity and innermost Situation exactly represents the same Where 2. the great Abyss is analogous to the White whose Density Viscosity moderate Fluidity and middle Positition excellently express the like Qualities of the other Where 3. the upper Orb or habitable Earth corresponds to the Shell whose Lightness Tenuity Solidity little inequalities of Surface and uppermost Situation admirably agree to the same 'T is indeed possible to suppose that the Quantities specifick Gravities and Crassitudes of each Orb to instance in nothing else here may be in the Earth proportionable to their Analogous ones in an Egg but because the Similitude is so very obvious and full in the foregoing more certain respects and more than sufficient on those accounts to solve the present Phaenomenon and because a bare possibility or fancied probability cannot deserve any more nice consideration I forbear and look upon the Coincidences already observ'd not a little surprizing and remarkable XV. The Primitive Earth had Seas and Dry land distinguish'd from each other in great measure as the present and those situate in the same places generally as they still are XV. The former part of this has been already sufficiently explain'd and of the latter part there can then be no reason to make any question since the same Earth that was made at first does still as to its main parts remain as it was to this Day XVI The Primitive Earth had Springs Fountains Streams and Rivers in the same manner as the present and usually in or near the same places also XVI The Origin of Fountains and Rivers is undoubtedly either from Vapours descending from without the Surface of the Earth or from Steams elevated by the heat within And which way soever we chuse to solve the present 't will also serve to solve the Primitive Phaenomena here mention'd 'T is only to be observ'd That before the upper Earth was chap'd and broken at the commencing of the Diurnal Rotation and indeed before the Strata became so firmly consolidated as they afterward were the subterraneous Steams would arise and pass through the same more uniformly and more easily and so more equally dispense their Waters over every Part and Region of the Earth than afterward Corollary If therefore Dr. Woodward be right in asserting That the Cracks and Fissures which he calls perpendicular ones since the intire Consolidation of the Strata of the Earth are necessary to the Origin of Springs and I believe he may have good grounds for his Opinion from the Being of such Springs and Fountains after the
Systema Solare 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 M. A. Chaplain to the Right Reverend Father in God JOHN Lord Bishop of NORWICH and Fellow of Clare-Hall in Cambridge LONDON Printed by R. Roberts for Benj. Tooke at the Middle-Temple-Gate in Fleet-street MDCXCVI Summo Viro ISAACO NEWTON Apud Londinenses Societatis Regalis Apud Cantabrigienses suos Collegij S. S. Trinitatis Socio Dignissimo Mathesews Professori Lucasrano longè Celeberrimo necnon Regio Nummorum Cusorum Praefecto Reipublicae quoquò patet Literariae Ornamento Seculi Gentis Academiae egregio Decori Orbis Philosophici Delicijs Quirem praesertim Mathematicam eousque Excoluit Adauxit Dilatavit ut ipsam Physicam intra pomoeria sua complecti Mundi Systema conatu inaudito ditioni suae subjicere tandem aliquando audeat Quem Morum Candor Modestia Quem Sagax animus penetrans Quem assidui Labores indefessae Vigiliae Industria incredibilis promovendis verae ac solidae Sapientiae studijs unicè dicata Quem Rerum Divinarum Humanarumque hoc est Universae Philosophiae peritia planè singularis Quem demum PHILOSOPHIAE NATURALIS PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA auro contrà aestimanda mortalibus vix aut ne vix propalanda temerè Ultimae posteritati aeternùm Commendabunt Exiguum hocce Tentaminis Philosophici Spicilegium è Messe NEWTONIANA primitùs sublectum Subsidijs Consilijs Auspicijs potissimùm NEWTONIANIS acceptum uti par est referendum ratus Totum hoc qualecunque sit NEWTONI nomini in omne aevum perennaturo Nuncupandum in Grati Animi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Consecrandum censuit Gulielmus Whiston 17. Kal. Jun. A. D. 1696. A DISCOURSE Concerning the Nature Stile and Extent OF THE MOSAICK HISTORY OF THE CREATION IT being no inconsiderable part of the ensuing Theory to account for the Creation of the World agreeable to the description thereof in the Book of Genesis it cannot but be very necessaryin this place to discourse of the nature of that Sacred History the Stile in which it is Writ and how far it is to be Extended The misunderstanding of which points has been I think the principal occasion of those perplexities and contrarieties into which Men have run with relation to it while some have adher'd to the common and vulgar tho' less rational Exposition without any consideration of Nature Reason Philosophy or just Decorum in the several parts of it And others on the contrary have been so sensible of the wildness and unreasonableness of That that they have ventur'd to exclude it from any just sense at all asserting it to be a meer Popular Parabolick or Mythological relation in which the plain Letter is no more to be accounted for or believ'd than the fabulous representations of AEsop or at best than the mystical Parables of our Saviour Of what mischievous consequence this latter is commonly esteem'd I need not say a late excellent Author who thought it absolutely necessary to be introducd having felt reflections sufficiently severe and seen effects sufficiently mischievous of such an Interpretation And how unworthy of God how incoherent and absurd the former Exposition is in it self and must be esteem'd by free and inquisitive Thinkers 't is not difficult to make appear to any impartial Man and shall in this Discourse be particularly attempted Indeed I cannot but imagine that as those who plead for the Mythological sense do it only because they suppose it impossible to give a commodious and rational scheme of it on any other Hypothesis and therefore will easily and readily embrace any more literal Interpretation which shall agree to the Divine Attributes the Reason of their own Minds and the true System of the World so I think those who notwithstanding its apparent incongruities adhere to the vulgar Exposition will have great reason to encourage and rest satisfy'd in such an account as shall at once keep sufficiently close to the Letter of Moses and yet be far from allowing what contradicts the Divine Wisdom Common Reason or Philosophick Deductions to both which therefore I persuade my self this new attempt ought not to be unacceptable But because the principal difficulty is likely to arise from the prejudices and prepossessions of the latter and from the vulgar and common notions already fix'd in the Minds of most Men relating to this Mosaick Creation I shall in this place chiefly have a respect to them and endeavour to evince That the notions they have entertain'd of the Nature Stile and Extent of the Creation of the World in six days are false precarious and no less contrary to the Holy Scriptures themselves than to sound Reason and true Philosophy The Proposition therefore which shall be the subject of this Dissertation and includes the whole point before us shall be this The Mosaick Creation is not a Nice and Philosophical account of the Origin of All Things but an Historical and True Representation of the formation of our single Earth out of a confused Chaos and of the successive and visible changes thereof each day till it became the habitation of Mankind That this Proposition is exactly agreeable to that Account which in the following Theory is given of this Creation will be evident upon the perusal thereof and that the same Proposition is alike agreeable to the Design and Stile of the Sacred Penman in the first Chapter of Genesis is what I am now to make appear and that I shall endeavour to do by the following Arguments which tho' they might have been distinguish'd and suited to the several branches of this Assertion yet for ease I shall wave that niceness and set them down indifferently in that order they were put into by my own thoughts before I intended to adapt them to the just form of the foregoing Proposition Strength of Reasoning more than Exactness of Composure being the aim of the Author in this whole Theory And if he be found to go upon solid grounds he hopes the Reader will never the less embrace the Conclusions because of the inaccuracy of the Stile or harshness of the Periods which wholly to have avoided he freely owns would to him have been more tedious and operose than the Work it self and so he hopes 't will not be expected from him by the Inquisitive Reader Which Apology once for all he desires may be accepted and call'd to mind whenever as too frequently it will there shall be occasion in the following Pages 1. The very first words of Moses plainly imply that the Production of all the World out of nothing which we usually stile Creation was precedaneous to the Six
now Inhabit with such Bodies as are immediately contiguous and appertaining thereto Which I think the following arguments will sufficiently demonstrate 1. If we Appeal to External Nature and enquire what confused Masses or Chaos's either at present are or ever within the Annals of Time were extant in the Visible World we shall discover no footsteps of any such thing excepting what the Atmosphere of a Comet affords us If therefore without the allowance of precarious and fanciful Hypotheses relying on no known Phaenomena of Nature a Comet 's Atmosphere be the sole pretender if moreover the same Atmosphere gives a Just Adequate Primitive and Scriptural Idea of that ancient Chaos if it answers its particular Phnooemena recounted by Sacred or Prophane History if it prove a peculiarly fit Foundation of such an Earth as ours is and is extraordinarily adapted to suit and account for its present and past Phaenomena all which shall be prov'd hereafter I think we may cease our farther enquiries and with the highest reason and justice conclude That a Comet or more peculiarly the Atmosphere thereof was that very Chaos from whence that World arose whose Original is related in the Mosaick History And with equal reason and justice be satisfi'd which is but a certain consequent thereof that not the innumerable Systems of the fixt Stars not the narrower System of the Sun nay nor the Moon her self but our Earth alone was the proper subject of the Mosaick Creation Which conclusion will be farther establish'd by the coincidence of the several days works recounted by Moses with those Natural and Orderly Mutations which in the Digestion and Formation of a Planet from a Comet 's Atmosphere would Mechanically proceed as hereafter will appear 2. The Chaos mention'd by Moses is by him expresly call'd The Earth in contradistinction to The Heavens or the other Systems of the Universe and all its parts taken notice of in the Sacred History appear by the following Series of the Scriptures to belong to our Earth and no other The words of Moses are In the Beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters Where I think 't is plain as has been already observ'd that when the Author comes to the Chaos or Foundation of the six days work he excludes the Heavens from any share therein and calls the Chaos it self An Earth without form and void with Darkness upon the Face of its Abyss and this all ought to grant these being the very Words from which 't is concluded that the Heathen Chaos was no other than what Moses deriv'd the World from And that the Chaos is here confin'd to the Earth will be sure put past doubt by the latter part of this Argument which observes no other parts to be mention'd belonging thereto than such as the succeeding Series of the Holy Scriptures shews to have afterward belong'd to our Earth and no other viz. An Abyss or Deep and Waters Both of them frequently mention'd in the Holy Books and now actual parts of the present Globe as will appear hereafter So that when Moses calls his Chaos expresly the Earth when by the coherence of his discourse he excludes the Heavens taken in a large and proper sense from the same when lastly he mentions no other parts of this Chaos than such as afterward and at this day are parts of our Earth 'T is somewhat unaccountable and like a kind of fate upon Commentators that they should unanimously resolve to make this Chaos of so extravagant a compass as they too incongruously do and that they should agree in it so universally tho' without any warrant from nay contrary to the obvious sense of the Text it self and the plain drift coherence and description of Moses therein I know it will be said the First and Fourth days works the Origin of Light and of the Sun Moon and Stars necessitated such a supposition and gave just cause for the common Exposition Which as I believe to have been the true occasions of all such mistaken Glosses so I think them far from just and necessary ones and if what has been already said has clear'd those difficulties there can be no reason to reject the Cogency of the present Argument but a great deal to rest satisfi'd in it and to confess it no less unscriptural than 't is absurd to expect from this single Chaos a Sun Moon and Systems of fix'd Stars as hitherto the World has commonly done 3. The Mosaick and ancient Chaos could not include the Sun or fix'd Stars because just before the extraction of Light from it as 't is usually explain'd it was Dark and Caliginous which on such a supposition is not conceivable A strange Darkness this where more than ninety nine parts of an hundred whether we take in the intire System of the World or the Solar System only appear to be fiery Corpuscles and the very same from whence all the fix'd Stars or at least the Sun were constituted and are now the Fountain of all that Light and Heat which the World has ever since enjoy'd Let every unbiass'd person judge how Dark that Chaos could be where the Opake and Obscure parts were so perfectly inconsiderable in comparison of the Light the Active and the Fiery ones So that on this Hypothesis The state of the Chaos must have been exceeding Light Hot and Fiery before the first days work when it was on the contrary according to all Antiquity Sacred and Profane Dark and Caliginous 'T is true upon the separation of the particles of Light the business in this Hypothesis of the First Day the Chaos would become Obscure and Dark enough at the same time that the Sun or fix'd Stars were collecting their Masses so lately extracted and were growing Splendid and Glorious But this is to contradict the History according to which the Light on the First Day is consider'd with relation to the Chaos and its distinguishing Night and Day There not as it was collecting into Bodies of Light without it which rather must belong to the Fourth Days Work when by this account 't is evident that this day is the peculiar time for the most pitchy Darkness possible For when all the Light was just separated from the Chaos the most Caliginous Night must certainly ensue So that unless we can change the Order in Moses and prove that the Chaos before the First Days Work was all over Light and on the First Day cover'd with the Thickest Darkness we in vain pretend to justifie the vulgar opinion and include the Sun or fix'd Stars among the other Matter of the Chaos Besides when Heat is the main Instrument of Nature in all its separations of Parts and Productions of Bodies 't is sure a very improper season just then to extract the Light and Fiery Corpuscles out of the Chaos when
a plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there and accordingly there they built the Tower of Babel as you find in the following History Now Armenia on one of whose Mountains the Ark is commonly suppos'd to have rested is so far from the Eastern Point from Babylon that 't is somewhat towards the West as any Map of those Countries will easily shew But the Mountain here pitch'd upon Caucasus or Paropamisus being situate near to the East Point from Babylon is on that account peculiarly agreeable to the History of Moses of the Habitation of the first Fathers after the Flood and so to the Seat of the Ark thence to be determin'd 2. Notwithstanding we meet with few or no Colonies sent Eastward after the confusion of Tongues as we do into other quarters yet the Eastern Nations appear in the most Ancient Prophane Histories of the World to have been then the most numerous of all others On which account those Countries must have been first Peopled before the Descent of the Sons of Men to Babylon which the remoteness of Armenia is uncapable of but the Neighbourhood of Caucasus permits and naturally supposes It being probable that if the Sons of Noah for the first Century after the Flood dwelt upon or near that Mountain they would first send Colonies or leave a Company thereabouts which should stock those Eastern Countries adjoining before they spred themselves into the remoter parts of Asia Europe and Africa and vice versâ seeing they appear to have first Peopled those Regions 't is equally probable that they originally were situate at or near the same Regions i. e. at or near the Mountain here determin'd 3. The Testimony of Porcius Cato is express in the Point who affirms That two hundred and fifty years before Ninus the Earth was overflown with Waters and that In Scythiâ Sagâ renatum mortale Genus Mankind was renew'd or restor'd in that part of Scythia which is call'd Saga which Country says Sir Walter Raleigh is undoubtedly under the Mountain Paropamisus 4. The same Assertion is confirm'd by the Tradition of the Inhabitants who says Dr. Heylin aver That a large Vineyard in Margiana near the Foot of Mount Caucasus was of Noah's Plantation which may justly be set against any pretended Reliques or Tradition for Armenia and agreeing with the place determin'd by the other Arguments deserves justly to be preferr'd before them These are the Arguments which from Goropius Becanus Sir Walter Raleigh and Dr. Heylin make use of in the Case and which I think are very satisfactory But I shall add one more which they take no notice of but which I esteem so clear that it might almost alter the Denomination of the Proposition and give it a claim to a place among the foregoing Lemmata which I propose as certain not these Propositions which whatever degree of evidence they or any of them may have I yet chuse to propose under a softer Name and call them Hypotheses And the Argument is this 5. The Ark rested upon the highest Hill in all Asia nay at that time the highest Hill in the World but Paropamisus the true and most famous Caucasus in the old Authors is the highest Hill in all Asia nay was then of the whole World and is by consequence the very same on which the Ark rested Now in this Argument I suppose it will be allow'd me That Caucasus is the highest Mountain in Asia Sir Walter Raleigh says 't is undoubtedly so that it was the highest in the World also at that time will from the same Assertion be hereafter prov'd whatever pretence the Pike of Teneriff or any other may at present make All that therefore I am here to make out is That the Ark must have rested on the highest Mountain in the World which is easily done For the Waters covering the Tops of all the highest Hills on the Face of the Earth fifteen Cubits and yet the Ark resting the very first day of the abatement of the Waters above two Months before the Tops of other Mountains were seen as will be proved hereafter 'T is evident That not only the lower Hills of Armenia but all other in the World besides Caucasus were uncapable of receiving the Ark at the time assigned for its resting in the Sacred History and by consequence That and That only was the Mountain on which it rested If it be here objected That Ararat where the Ark rested is in Scripture taken for Armenia and by consequence it must be an Armenian Mountain which we are enquiring for In Answer I grant that Ararat is in Scripture taken for Armenia but I deny that all the Mountains of Ararat are included in that Country 'T is possible the Alps or Pyrenees might give or receive their Names to or from some small Country at which they rose or through which they passed but it would not from thence follow that all the Alps or Pyrenees belong'd to and were contain'd in such a Country 'T is usual for vast and long Ridges of Mountains to be call'd by one Name tho' they pass through and thereby belong to many and distant Regions which I take to be the present Case and that the intire Ridge of Mountains running West and East from Armenia to the Fountains of the Rivers Oxus and Indus call'd since by the general Name of Mount Taurus were anciently stil'd Ararat or the Mountains of Ararat To which the Mosaick History does well agree by using the plural number The Ark rested on the Mountains of Ararat i. e. on one of those Mountains or of that ridge or aggregate of Mountains going by the general Name it has at its Western rise and stil'd Ararat This is I think a fair and satisfactory Interpretation of the Mountains of Ararat and such an one as Bishop Patrick embraces tho' he be by no means partial to that Opinion I here defend thereby But if any be not yet satisfied of the truth of the Proposition we are upon they may consult the Authors abovemention'd who have more at large insisted on it and alledg'd other Arguments on the same account to which I shall therefore refer the Reader IX The Deluge began on the 17 th Day of the second Month from the Autumnal Equinox or on the 27 th Day of November in the Julian Stile extended backward in the 2365 th year of the Julian Period and in the 2349 th year before the Christian AEra In this account of the number of Years from the Deluge I follow the most Reverend and Learned Archbishop Usher's Chronology deriv'd from the Hebrew Verity without taking notice of what Years the Samaritan and Septuagint have added thereto they being as will hereafter appear added without reason and not at all to be consider'd Now that the number of Years assign'd by Archbishop Usher is rightly deduc'd from the Hebrew is I think notwithstanding the wide and manifold Mistakes of
by all and uncontroulable 't is esteemed fully satisfactory tho' not absolutely certain in common Cases And Lastly To come closer to the Point the knowledge of Causes is deduc'd from their Effects Thus all Natural Philosophy i. e. the knowledge of the Causes of the several visible Phaenomena of the World is solely deriv'd from those Effects or Phaenomena themselves their accurate Correspondence to and necessary dependance on certain supposed Causes and their insolubility on any other Hypotheses with the coincidence of the particular Calculations of the Quantities of Motion Velocity Periods and Species of Figures to be every where accounted for On the Universal Conspiration and Correspondence of which with the impossibility of producing an instance to the contrary depends what may be truly stil'd a Physical Demonstration I mean Then and only Then is a Physical Cause to be esteem'd Demonstrated when all the Phaenomena of the World may be certainly shewn to be just so and no otherwise as they necessarily would and must be on supposition thereof This last method is that which our best of Philosophers has taken in his Demonstration of the Universal Affection or Property of Bodies which he calls Mutual Attraction or Gravitation and which accordingly he has establish'd beyond possibility of Contradiction and this is the sole way of bringing natural Knowledge to perfection and extricating it from the little Hypotheses which in defect of true Science the World has till lately been forc'd to be contented with In the Point before us there are only three possible ways of proving the truth of the Assertion here laid down The first that of Propositions in mixt Mathematicks by Calculation of the Motion of some Comet as we do of Planets from the Astronomical Tables and thence demonstrating the certainty thereof But besides the improbability of this Comet 's having ever return'd since the Deluge 't is plain the defect of old Observations and the so late discovery of the Laws and Orbits of their Motions do render such a way of Probation at least at present impossible The second way of Probation is that of Historical Relation that at the Deluge a Comet did so pass by of which there is directly none in the present Case Nor seeing the possibility of the same was not known nor the thing visible to the Inhabitants that out-liv'd the Flood as will hereafter appear is this kind of Evidence to be at all expected But the third and last way possible is the Being of such plain and sensible Effects as must be undoubted consequents of such an Assertion and without the supposal thereof were perfectly unaccountable which is the very method of Probation I shall here use and do wholly depend upon There are several degrees of evidence and kinds of proofs very different from those made use of in the Mathematicks which yet are little less satisfactory to the minds of wise Men and leave little more room for doubting than they Several sorts of Propositions must be evinc'd by several sorts of Arguments and whatever possible and easy Assertion has all the proofs which its nature requires or could justly be expected upon supposal of its real Existence ought to be admitted for true and evident Thus in that sort of things we are now upon if a certain Cause be assign'd which being suppos'd would necessarily infer several plain and visible Effects and occasion several sensible Phaenomena 't is plain if those Effects and Phaenomena be upon Examination found to be correspondent and as they must and would be on the real being of such a Cause the existence of that Cause is prov'd And as where the Effects are few ordinary otherwise accountable and incapable of Reduction to Calculation or accuracy of correspondence in the just Quantity and Proportion necessary the proof is weak and only probable and as where several of the consequents of that Cause agree well enough yet some others disagree the disagreement of one or two is a stronger Objection against than the coincidence of the rest an evidence for the same and the proof none at all So on the other side where a Cause is assigned whose certain consequent Effects must be very many very surprizing otherwise unaccountable correspondent on the greatest niceness of Calculation in the particular Quantity and Proportion of every Effect and where withal no disagreeing Phaenomenon can be urg'd to the contrary the evidence hence deriv'd of the reality of the assigned Cause tho' of a different nature and if you will degree too from Demonstration is yet little less satisfactory to the minds of wise and considering Men than what is esteem'd more strictly so Thus for instance Astronomers at this day find little more Inclination or Reason to doubt of the Annual and Diurnal Motions of the Earth than of any strictly demonstrated Proposition and as much in a manner take it for granted in all their Reasonings as they do the Propositions in Euclid tho' the evidence for the same be in its kind different from and inferior to the other And thus as I have before observ'd Mr. Newton has given sufficient evidence of the Universal Law of Mutual Attraction and Gravitation of Bodies which accordingly there is no more occasion to doubt of than of those common matters of Fact or History of which no wise Man ever made any question And thus it is that I hope to evince the truth and reality of that Cause assigned in this Proposition viz. by proving that those visible Effects or Phaenomena relating to the Universal Deluge which are very many very surprizing hitherto unaccountable several of which are capable of Calculation as to the particular Time Quantity and Proportion of the respective particulars are every one so and no otherwise as on supposal of the assigned Cause they either certainly must or at least probably would have been And as upon a Demonstration of the disagreement of any one Phaenomenon which were a necessary consequence of the same I must own the falseness of the Proposition before us so I hope if the universality of Correspondence even to the exactness of Calculation in proper cases be establish'd and no contradictory instance can be produc'd it will be allow'd that I have sufficiently evinc'd the reality and in a proper Sense certainty of the same Assertion This then being premis'd 't is plain that every one of the particular Phaenomena of the Deluge afterward accounted for is a proper Argument of this Proposition and might justly claim a place here on that account But because such an Enumeration of them before-hand would prevent their own more peculiar place hereafter and disturb the propos'd method of the ensuing Theory I shall leave them to their proper places tho' with this Premonition That several of them do singly so exactly sit the otherwise unaccountable Phaenomena of Nature and of the Deluge and determine the time and circumstances of the latter so nicely that their separate evidence is considerable but when taken
the six foregoing and his Resting or keeping a Sabbath on this seventh day Which Sabbath was reviv'd or at least its Observation anew enforc'd on the Jews by the Fourth Commandment Thus the Heavens and the Earth were finished and all the host of them and on the seventh day God had ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made And God blessed the seventh day and sanctifyed it because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt do no manner of work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter nor thy man-servant nor thy maid-servant nor thy cattel nor the stranger which is within thy gates For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it XII There is a constant and vigorous heat diffused from the Central towards the Superficiary parts of our Earth Tho' I might bring several Arguments from Ancient Tradition the Opinion of great Philosophers and the present Observations of Nature for this Assertion yet I shall chuse here for brevities sake to depend wholly on the last evidence and refer the inquisitive Reader to what the Learned Dr. Woodward says in the present case which I take to be very satisfactory XIII The Habitable Earth is founded or situate on the Surface of the Waters or of a deep and vast Subterraneous fluid This Constitution of the Earth is a natural result from such a Chaos as we have already assign'd affords foundation for an easie account of the Origin of Mountains renders the Histories of the several states of the Earth and of the Universal Deluge very intelligible is as Philosophical and as agreeable to the common Phaenomena of Nature as any other without this supposition 't will be I believe impossible to explain what Antiquity Sacred and Prophane assures us of relating to the Earth and its great Catastrophes but this being allow'd 't will not be difficult to account for the same to the greatest degree of satisfaction as will appear in the progress of the present Theory And Lastly The same assertion is most exactly consonant to and confirm'd by the Holy Scriptures as the following Texts will fairly evince When the Lord prepared the heavens I was there When he set a compass Circle or Orb on the face of the deep When he established the clouds above when he strengthened the fountains of the deep When he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment when be appointed the foundations of the earth He hath founded the earth upon the seas and establish'd it upon the floods To him that stretched out the earth above the waters for his mercy endureth for ever 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 waters perished The fountains of the great deep were broken up The fountains of the deep were stopped XIV The interior or intire Constitution of the Earth is correspondent to that of an Egg. 'T is very well known that an Egg was the solemn and remarkable Symbol or Representation of the World among the most venerable Antiquity and that nothing was more celebrated than the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the most early Anthors which if extended beyond the Earth to the System of the Heavens is groundless and idle if referr'd to the Figure of the Earth is directly false and so is most reasonably to be understood of the intire and internal Constitution thereof XV. The Primi ive Earth had Seas and Dry-land distinguish'd from each other in great measure as the present and those situate in the same places generally as they still are This is put past doubt by part of the third the intire fifth and part of the sixth Day 's Works One half of the third being spent in distinguishing the Seas from the Dry-land the intire fifth in the Production of Fish and Fowl out of the Waters and in the assigning the Air to the latter sort and the Seas to the former for their respective Elements and on the sixth God bestows on Mankind the Dominion of the Inhabitants as well of the Seas as of the Dry-land All which can leave no doubt of the truth of the former part of this Assertion And that their Disposition was originally much what as it is at present appears both by the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates running then into the same Persian Sea that now they do And by the Observations of Dr. Woodward fully confirming the same XVI The Primitive Earth had Springs Fountains Streams and Rivers in the same manner as the present and usually in or near the same places also This is but a proper consequence of the Distinction of the Earth into Seas and Dry-land the latter being uninhabitable without them and such Vapours as are any way condensed into Water on the higher parts of the Dry-land naturally descending and hollowing themselves Channels till they fall into the Seas However the other direct proofs for both parts of the Assertion are sufficiently evident I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the earth was When there were no depths I was brought forth when there were no fountains abounding with water A river went out of Eden to water the garden and from thence it was parted and became into four heads Pison Gihon Tigris and Euphrates The two latter of which are well-known Rivers to this very day And the same thing is confirm'd by Dr. Woodward's Observations XVII The Primitive Earth was distinguish'd into Mountains Plains and Vallies in the same manner generally speaking and in the same places as the present This is a natural consequent of the two former The Caverns of the Seas with the extant Parts of the Dry-land being in effect great Vallies and Mountains and the Origin and Course of Rivers necessarily supposing the same For tho' the Earth in the Theorist's way were Oval which it is not 't is demonstrable there could be no such descent as the course of Rivers requires However the direct proofs are evident The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the Earth was Before the mountains were setled before the Hills was I brought forth While as yet he had not made the earth nor the fields nor the highest part of the dust of the world Art thou the first man that was born or
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 The Testimonies for this are so numerous and so express both in the Mosaick History it self in the other parts of Scripture relating thereto and in all Antiquity that I may refer the Reader to almost every place where this matter is spoken of without quoting here any particulars He who is at all acquainted with the Primitive Histories of this rising World whether Sacred or Prophane can have no reason to make any doubt of it III. The Days of the Creation and that of Rest had their beginning in the Evening The Evening and the Morning were the first Day And so of the rest afterward 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 Darkness was upon the face of the Deep To which Testimony the Prophane Traditions do fully agree as may be seen in the Authors before refer'd to V. The visible part of the first days 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 God said Let there be Light and there was Light And God saw the Light that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness And God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night And the Evening and the Morning was the first day VI. The visible part of the Second Days 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 former consisting of those Vapours rais'd and sustain'd by the Air the latter of such as either were enclosed in the Pores Interstices and Bowels of the Earth or lay upon the Surface thereof God said Let there be a firmament or Expansum in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament And it was so and God called the firmament Heaven And the Evening and the Morning were the second day VII The visible parts of the Third Day 's Works were two the former the Collection of the inferior Waters or such as were now under the Heaven into the Seas with the consequent appearance of the dry Land the latter the production of Vegetables out of that Ground so lately become dry God said Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas And God saw that it was good And God said Let the Earth bring forth grass the herb yielding seed and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind whose seed is in it self upon the earth and it was so And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in it self after his kind and God saw that it was good And the Evening and the Morning were the third day VIII The Fourth Day 's Work was the Placing the Heavenly Bodies Sun Moon and Stars in the Expansum or Firmament i. e. The rendring them Visible and Conspicuous on the Face of the Earth Together with their several Assignations to their respective Offices there God said Let there be lights in the Expansum or firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth and it was so And God made two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night he made the stars also And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness and God saw that it was good And the Evening and the Morning were the fourth day IX The Fifth Day 's Work was the Production of the Fish and Fowl out of the Waters with the Benediction bestow'd on them in order to their Propagation God said Let the Waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven And God created great Whales and every living creature that moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind and every winged fowl after his kind and God saw that it was good And God blessed them saying Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the Seas and let fowl multiply in the earth And the Evening and the Morning were the fifth day 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 Bruit 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 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 God said Let the Earth bring forth the living creature after his kind cattel and creeping thing and beast of the Earth after his kind and it was so And God made the beast of the earth after his kind and cattel after their kind and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind and God saw that it was good And God said Let us make man in Our Image after Our likeness and let them have dominion over the Fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattel and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth So God created Man in his own image in the image of God created he him Male and Female created he them c. Vid. ver 28 29 30 31. and Cap. 2. 7 15 c. XI God having thus finish'd the Works of Creation Rested on the Seventh day from the same and Sanctified or set that day apart for a Sabbath or day of Rest to be then and afterward observ'd as a Memorial of his Creation of the World in