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
God himself says I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things Where the objects of the Divine Creation being not real and substantial Beings could not be capable of a proper production out of nothing Which also is the case in the verse immediately following Let righteousness spring up together I the Lord have created it Thus also says God by the same Prophet I create new Heavens and a new Earth which tho' the very case before us yet would odly enough be expounded of an annihilation of the World and a reproduction of it again But what comes still more home to our purpose is that in the very History of the Creation it self the word Create as well as Make is us'd in the sense we contend for the very same things being ascrib'd to the Creating and Making Power of God which are also describ'd as the regular offspring of the Earth and Seas God created great Whales and every living Creature that moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind And 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 So that when the words made use of in the History of the Creation are there and every where taken promiscuously when some of them are by the confession of all of no larger importance than the Proposition before us will admit and when lastly that word of which the greatest doubt can arise has been prov'd not only in other Texts of Scripture but in the very History of which we are treating to be of no more determinate signification than the rest and alike capable of the sense we here put upon it I think 't is a clear Case that if no Argument can be drawn from such words for yet neither can there justly be any against that Proposition we are now upon III. Those synonymous Phrases The World or the Heavens and the Earth under which the Object of the six days Creation is comprehended every where in Scripture do not always denote the whole System of Beings no nor any great and general Portion of them but are in the Sacred Stile frequently if not mostly to be restrained to the terraqueous Globe with its dependances and consequently both may and if the subject matter require it ought to be understood in such a restrained sense and no other That by these Phrases the Mosaick Creation or six days work is usually understood is evident every where in Scripture as the following Texts will easily evince God who made the World and all things therein The Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was in the World and the World was made by Him and the World knew Him not Hence those frequent expressions From the Foundation of the World from the Beginning of the World from the Creation of the World and before the World was which tho' capable of including more must yet be allow'd to have generally a peculiar nay sometimes a sole regard to the six days work particularly stil'd by St. Mark The Beginning of the Creation which God created In the same manner and with the like frequency the other Phrase Heaven and Earth denote the same six days work also Thus the Heavens and the Earth were finished and all the Host of them These are the Generations of the Heavens and of the Earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the Earth and the Heavens In six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day which being so express I shall not need to look out for any other parallel places And that both the World and Heaven and Earth signify the terraqueous Globe alone with its Air or Atmosphere and other Appurtenances without including the whole Universe nay or Solar System also which yet I do not deny sometimes to be comprehended therein the following Texts will sufficiently shew Our Lord says of the Woman who poured the Oyntment on him Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole World there shall also this which this Woman hath done be told for a memorial of her His Charge and Commission to his Apostles was Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature The Tempter came to Jesus and shew'd him all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them In all which places no other than the habitable Earth can be understood and 't is still so frequent and natural for Men to use this manner of Speech in the same restrained Sense to this very day that one may the less wonder at the Sacred Stile in this Case But this word the World having not so much difficulty in it nor being so much stood upon as those which follow the Heavens and the Earth I shall no longer insist upon it but proceed And here when the World as a totum integrale is divided into its two contradistinct Parts the Heavens and the Earth it will be said That by such a Phrase or Enumeration of the Parts of the Universe no less can be meant than the whole World in the largest acceptation or however more must be intended than the bare Earth which is but one Member or Branch and so certainly less than that whole of which it is a part In answer whereto I freely confess That the Heavens and the Earth do not seldom denote the intire Universe an instance of which the first words of Genesis have already afforded us but that they always do so I have reason to deny As the Signification of the Earth is known and capable of no Ambiguity so 't is quite otherwise in the word Heaven which in common use and the sacred Authors sometimes refers to the Seat of the Blessed or the third Heaven sometimes to the place of the Sun Moon and Stars and otherwhiles is no farther to be extended than the Clouds or the open Expansum about the Earth where the Air Atmosphere Meteors Clouds and Volatils have their abode Instances of the two former Significations were it pertinent to my present purpose might easily be produc'd but that not being so I shall wave the same and only prove the third and last Signification namely That by the Heavens is frequently understood nothing more than the Atmosphere of the Earth with its appendant or contained Bodies Thus 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 Which place is so express and in the very History it self which we
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
days Works given an account of in the same chapter In the Beginning God Created the Heaven and the Earth says the Scripture which is as I take it a Preface or Introduction to the following account and may be thus paraphras'd Altho' that History of the Origin of the World which shall now be given you do not extend any farther as will appear presently than that Earth we live upon with those Bodies which peculiarly belong to it and so the rest of the Universe be not at all directly concern'd therein and altho ' the same History will not reach to the Creation of the matter but only Production of the form and disposition of the Earth it self Yet to prevent any misunderstanding and obviate any ill effects of a perfect silence touching these things I am oblig'd by the Divine Command to assure you That the Original of all Beings whatsoever was primarily owing to that same God of Israel whose Works I am going to relate and that not only this Earth and all its Bodies but the vast Frame of Universal Nature was by him at first Created out of Nothing and dispos'd into those several Systems which now are extant and make up what in the largest sense is stil'd Heaven and Earth or the whole Word This sense of the Words is allow'd by our late Excellent Commentatour the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Ely whose Sentiments cannot but be justly valued by all who are conversant in his Expositions of the Holy Scriptures and is I think clearly confirm'd by the following words And the Earth was without Form and Void and Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep and the Spirit of God moved on the Face of the Waters Where 't is clear that as soon as the Holy Writer descends to the Description of the Chaos and the commencing of the Six Days Creation he mentions not a word of any Production out of Nothing before suppos'd and asserted to have been past and done In the Beginning he omits and thereby evidently excludes that Heaven or those Superior Systems of the World already spoken of from any place therein and by the whole coherence plainly confines the Narration following to the Earth alone with its dependencies Moses does not say as the common Expositors do That just at the commencing of the Six Days Work the Earth and all the rest of the World was originally produc'd But that When God had formerly created all the World which is usually distinguish'd into the Heaven and the Earth the latter of these the consideration whereof was alone pertinent to the present design at the time preceding the Six Days Work was in a Wild Irregular and Dark condition or such a perfect Chaos as nothing but the Power of God and his Spirit 's moving on and influencing the same could ever have reduc'd into a habitable World This is a very easie and natural account of this matter and I think the most obvious and genuine signification of the words themselves And were not Mens Minds too much prejudic'd with other apprehensions this alone might be sufficient to limit their thoughts and prevent their Enquiries after any Creation of Bodies out of nothing in the Six Days Work and their stretching the same beyond the Earth either to the whole System of things as the most do or indeed to the Solar System with which others are more modestly contented in the case Which two things once granted me the Propoposition we are now upon would soon be establish'd and little farther labour become necessary But that I may give all possible satisfaction and lay this Foundation firm on which my Account of the Mosaick Creation is intirely superstructed I shall more at large prove the same Truths craving the Pardon of those Readers who are already satisfy'd in these matters if I shall seem to them to insist too long on a plain case as perhaps they may and that I think very justly esteem this to be And indeed The prejudices of Men are here so great their fears of a Philosophical Hypothesis so rooted the attempts hitherto made have been so unsuccessful and besides the Honour of God in his Holy Word is so much concern'd and the usual Expositions of this History of the Origin of Things is so poor so jejune so unbecoming the Penman much more the primary Author of the same that a large and full Discourse is but necessary and tho' it should prove somewhat prolix will be 't is hop'd not improper but as well serviceable to Religion as to Philosophy by rescuing this Ancient Venerable and Sacred Account of the Origin of things from such false and unwary Glosses as have been and still are put upon it as have rendred it in the opinion of too many an uncouth and incredible System nay somewhat below some of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the imperfect Traditions of the Heathen World enabled them to describe To proceed therefore in the arguments before us I affirm II. That the words here us'd of Creating Making or Framing of things on which the main stress is laid in the stile of Scripture are frequently of no larger importance than the Proposition we are upon does allow and signifie no more than the ordering disposing changing or new modelling those Creatures which existed already into a different and sometimes perhaps a better and more useful state than they were in before I do not say this is the utmost or only importance of these words I have already allow'd that Creating in the first words of Genesis includes Producing out of nothing and I add that in our common Creed wherein we profess our Faith in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth the words are agreeably to the extent of the Divine Power and the nature of that profession to be taken in the same large and comprehensive sense and the like is to be said of many other places of the Holy Scripture But then I observe withal that the other more narrow and limited sense is very common and familiar in the Holy Writings and therefore where the subject matter and coherence requires it as I think 't will be evident it does in the present case these words both may and ought to be taken in the same acceptation This signification of the two latter words Make and Frame will I suppose be granted me by all and that the same is as true of the other Create the following Texts will sufficiently evince and from the promiscuous use of them all and others of a like importance might however be very fairly suppos'd If says Moses the Lord make a new thing or Create a Creature and the Earth open her Mouth and swallow them up Where none can imagine any thing produc'd out of nothing but only such an unusual and miraculous disposal of things as would at once demonstrate God's Vengeance against the Wicked and his absolute Command over all Creatures Thus
was demonstrated by this account of their Original to be foolish and absurd that of the Celestial Bodies would seem thereby to be permitted at least if not patroniz'd and recommended to ' em For when as we have before observ'd 't was impossible for the Jews to know the real state of the case and to apprehend that they were vastly remote from and so no way belonging to this Earth or its Formation there was no other way to apply a fitting remedy to that prevailing custom of Worshiping the Host of Heaven so particularly caution'd by Moses but to condescend to the Capacities of the People and supposing them Light and Fiery Globes pendulous in the Air and revolving just beyond or among the Clouds to recount their respective as well as the real Formation of the other parts of the visible World and assign them their proper place and distinct period in the Six days work as well as any other more directly concern'd therein The Sun Moon and Stars were such noble and glorious Bodies and so visible so remarkable so useful parts of the World and the Heathen Nations so generally doted on the Worship of them that had they been intirely omitted in this particular account of the Origin of things there would have been the most eminent danger of this kind of Idolatry among the Jews and the seeming approbation of that practice to which they were so prone before from the silence of their great Lawgiver in his Creation of the World might probably have defy'd all dissuasions and been the most fatal encouragement to them to so vile a Worship that were easie to be imagin'd Any particular declaration of the reasons of such omission from the real Distance Magnitude Motions and Designs of the said Bodies and how improperly they could be reduc'd within the said narration the only precaution supposable in the case being more likely to discredit the whole Book than overcome their prejudices than give them a true and just Idea of the matter it self and so obviate their false reasonings and practices thereupon in the foremention'd Idolatry So that 't was absolutely necessary to include the Heavenly Bodies in the Mosaick Creation in order to prevent Idolatry among the Jews which seems to have been a principal aim not only of recording this whole Narration but of the intire Mosaick Dispensation and therefore was in the first place by all means to be consider'd 2. The peculiar Nature and Circumstances of this History of the Creation necessarily require the mention of the Heavenly Bodies as well as of any other parts of the Visible World And 't is this mistake that has hitherto hindred any rational account thereof that men have either suppos'd it a Real and Philosophical relation of the proper Creation of all things or a meer Mythological and Mysterious Reduction of the visible parts of it to six periods or divisions under which mighty Mysteries were suppos'd to be hid and by which the foundation of a seventh-day Sabbath was to be laid among the Jews Now tho' somewhat of truth I believe be contained in each of these different notions yet I think 't is undeniable that they are neither of them to be acquiesced in and by no means give a satisfactory account of the compleat Nature and Kind of this History That alone to which all its particulars exactly answer and which is as Literal and Philosophical as the capacities of the Jews could expect or reach and did require is An Historical Journalor Diary of the Mutations of the Chaos and of the visible Works of each Day such an one as an honest and observing Spectator on the Earth would have made and recorded nay and believ'd to be in all cases the truth and reality of the things themselves Now that this Idea alone fits this Sacred History might easily be made out by the consideration of the particulars related and of those omitted with all the other circumstances thereof by no means corresponding to any other Hypothesis but most exactly to this before us without the least force offer'd to the Nature and System of the World to the Divine Perfections or the Free Reason of Mankind and exactly suitable to the Stile of the Holy Books in the mention of the Phaenomena of the Natural World in other places Which being suppos'd and by that time this Dissertation is consider'd throughout I hope 't will appear no precarious supposition 't is evident that both the appearance of Light and of the Bodies themselves the Sun Moon and Stars the things we are now enquiring about must as certainly come within such a Journal and make as remarkable Turns and Changes in the World as far as this Spectator could judge as any other within the intire six days could possibly do The appearance of Light to him who never before is suppos'd to have seen such a thing and was till then incompass'd with the thickest Darkness and the plain view of the Heavenly Bodies themselves to him who before had no manner of notion of 'em especially when he had no possible means of distinguishing them from Light and Fiery Balls situate with and pertaining to the Clouds must as certainly have inferr'd a new Creation and under such a notion have been recorded in their due place in the Journal before-mention'd as any other whatsoever and their order position and uses would naturally be recounted no otherwise than we now find them in the Mosaick Creation From which consideration I think 't is not at all surprizing that these parts of the Visible World how remote and seperate soever they be from our Earth in themselves are yet included in this History before us and have their distinct periods in the six days work tho' at the same time the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it self do properly relate to the formation of the Sublunary World only IV. I prove that the History before us extends not beyond the Earth and its Appendages because that confused Mass or rude heap of Heterogeneous matter which we call the Chaos whence all the several parts were deriv'd extended no farther It will here I suppose be allow'd me that the ancient Chaos so famous among the old Philosophers and so evidently refer'd to by Moses was the intire and single source or promptuary of the six days productions and that consequently nothing ought to be esteem'd a part of that Creation but what in its Rudiments and Principles was so of the Chaos also and this Postulatum is so agreeable to Moses as well as all the antient accounts of the Chaos and I think so suitable to the sentiments of most men that I shall without farther proof suppose it granted and betake my self immediately to the other branch of the argument and endeavour to evince that the Chaos was so far from comprehending the intire matter of the Universe nay or of the Solar System that it reach'd not so far as the Moon nor indeed any farther than that Terraqueous Globe we
also be own'd if it were supposable a sign or effect of a like Imperfection in God Thus for instance we certainly gather that God cannot be properly pleas'd or delighted in the misery and torment of his Creatures where yet the Justice and Wisdom of his Government require him severely to punish 'em Because we cannot but esteem it an odious Vice and base Imperfection in a Judge on Earth in like cases to be so affected and whether we will or no we look upon it as an instance of cruelty and barbarity of disposition to rellish and taste a sweetness in the Cries and Groans of condemned and dying Malefactors In like manner we justly conclude God cannot Impose on Innocent Creatures no not by such Wiles Stratagems or other methods of Collusion wherein yet direct and downright Falsehood were avoided because we find a spontaneous aversion and indignation arises in our minds when such Tricks and Shams are discovered among Men. And by the same way and equal force of reasoning may we collect that God cannot in the formation or disposition of things no more than in other cases act absurdly or disagreeably to Reason disproportionately or unsuitably to the nature of things immethodically without rule and order or foolishly without drift and design according as an impartial and considering Man who were duly acquainted with the System of Nature would judge and determine in the case And consequently 'T is a dishonourable reflection on God to ascribe to him those things which to the free Faculties of Mankind would amongst us be look'd on as marks of unskilfulness imprudence or folly in parallel cases and for which meer Men could not escape the most severe and indecorous imputations Put the case that I should chance to observe a certain Master-builder in his parcelling out the several distinct Tasks of the Under-workmen and apportioning the time he would allow to the finishing of the whole and that I perceiv'd 9 parts of 10 were to be done in one day but the other single part had a month's space assigned to it and yet 9 parts of 10 of the intire number of Workmen were to club together for that Work to be done in the month while only every tenth man were permitted to assist at the days task Were it possible to suppose such a case on Earth I need not inform you what opinion the Spectator would have of the Abilities or Prudence of the Architect Or Put the case that an ordinary Husbandman who had two Plots of Ground the one of a score feet in circumference not very promising or capable of Cultivation above others the other of a thousand Acres of good Land and very fit for Tillage or Improvement should spend four or five days every Week about his little spot of Indifferent Ground and allot no more than the remaining one or two for the Care and Management of the other spacious Field 'T is easie to imagine under what Notion and Character the Plowman would pass in the World Or lastly Suppose one should light upon an Historian who undertook to give a compleat and full Account of some large and spacious Country with the many Noble Kingdoms Principalities Lordships and Governments therein contain'd and upon perusal nothing was to be found mention'd in any particular manner but a certain little and remote Island so inconsiderable that the generality of the Inhabitants of the Main Land never heard so much as its name which indeed was describ'd carefully and its several circumstances diligently accounted for But as to the rest there appear'd no more than at the conclusion of a Chapter two or three names of its principal Divisions and some advantages which one or two of their Maritime Towns afforded this small Island and then all was concluded Now he that should take this for a just and adequate History of the whole and earnestly contend for the Compleatness and Perfection of the Work would be certainly taken for a strange person or rather would be thought in Jest and to design the real exposing of the folly and ridiculousness of the Publisher thereof These familiar instances amongst Men shew what unbrib'd and untainted Nature instantaneously pronounces in such cases and thereby directs us what we ought to judge in parallel ones in which God himself is directly interested Where the change of the Person is so far from altering that it exceedingly confirms these dictates of Right Reason and makes those suppositions which were harsh and incredible with regard to Men to become intolerable and impious when apply'd to the Deity Whatsoever bears the characters of Truth Justice Order Wisdom and Contrivance which I cannot but expect from good and skilful Men I undoubtedly require and believe of the Divine Majesty without the least hesitation in the highest degree and supreamest measure imaginable But whatsoever looks like Falseness Injustice Confusion Folly and a Wild Disproportion or Precipitancy among Men and which I am difficultly induc'd to imagine of a frail and imperfect Creature like my self I am much more hardly persuaded or rather find it impossible to believe of God Those very faculties by which I am enabled to distinguish and pass a Sentence in these matters are deriv'd from God and a part of the Divine Image on the Soul of Man and shall I so odly make use of them that what I could not be brought to credit of any one of my Neighbours it were so uncouth absurd and preposterous I freely admit and contend for when ascrib'd to my Creator The Mind of Man if it have leave to reflect freely can no more acquiesce in any Scheme of the Works of God where nothing of Forecast Order Decorum and Wisdom is conspicuous where every period appears puzling immethodical disproportionate and ill dispos'd such is that of the vulgar Idea of the Mosaick Creation as will be prov'd presently than it can believe contradictions or that God is an Infinitely Wise and Perfect Being indeed but yet at the same time acting what in the common sense of Mankind argues the greatest folly and imperfection which intirely and with plenary satisfaction to do is certainly impossible There is somewhat in the Humane Soul that has too quick a sense of the decency and fitness of things and withal too deep a veneration for the Adorable Majesty of God to be easie under tho' it may be overborn with such Notions It cannot be willing to believe that of its Wise and Glorious Creator which for another to believe of it self would be esteem'd as an high indignity 'T is true there is so great a difference between the compass of the Divine and the streightness of Humane Knowledge between the State of Creatures and of the Creator Blessed for evermore there may be such an incapacity in us to reach or unfathomable yet wise reasons for God to hide some things from us not to insist on the Divine Prerogative which frees him from the obligation of giving an account of every thing to any
this extraordinary acceleration of natural causes to be tho' not impossible nor were there any intimation or necessity of its interposition from the Sacred History very improbable neither yet in the present case groundless unnecessary perplexing of the cause and by no means a sufficient solution in the present Affair Which being therefore thus answer'd the Argument remains in full force and the length of the days assign'd by the vulgar Hypothesis appears wholly disproportionate to the Works done therein of which farther notice will be taken hereafter 2. When the Works of each of the other Days are single distinct and of a sort the third Day has two quite different nay incompatible ones assigned to it This is plain from the History where the division of the Waters from the Earth or the distinction of the Terraqueous Globe into Seas and dry Land the first work on this Day is succeeded by that of the production of the intire Vegetable Kingdom contrary to the perpetual Tenor of the other periods of the Creation How this comes about or is accountable in the vulgar Scheme I know not and I believe the reason thereof is very little enquir'd into and less understood But because this whole difficulty will be urg'd against the shortness of days in the Vulgar Hypothesis and clear'd in Ours at their proper places hereafter I shall wave the farther insisting upon it here and proceed 3. But principally the Earth with its Furniture how inconsiderable a body soever it is takes up four intire days at least of those six which were allotted to the whole Creation when the Sun Moon and Stars those vastly greater and more considerable Bodies are crowded into one single day together Now in order to our passing a rational judgment in this matter I shall take leave to represent to the Reader 's view a short comparison or parallel between the Earth on one side and the rest of the World on the other and see what resemblance correspondence and proportion there is between the former and the latter either in its several parts or the whole taken together and this shall be done on such certain and undoubted grounds and principles as the late vast advancement of Natural Knowledge has afforded us and will be more at large explain'd in the following Pages This Earth then on which we live though it be in diameter more than 8000 miles and so a vast Globe if compar'd with those Bodies we daily see imagine and converse withal is yet one of the lesser of the primary Planets and with Jupiter Mars and the other her fellows revolves round the great Center of our System the Sun in a years time 'T is an Opake and Dark Body as they all are and in common with them borrows its light and heat from that glorious Body which we just now observ'd to obtain the center of their Orbits without which it as well as the intire Chorus of the other Planets must be soon reduc'd all to one dark heap of matter far beyond the description of the old caliginous and unprofitable Chaos and in no capacity of ever emerging out of that horrid and frightful state In dignity i four Earth expect not to come the last yet is she so exceeded in all things that might seem Characters thereof by several of the rest that there can be no manner of claim to the first Place If she have a secondary Planet the Moon for her attendant tho in truth she is at least as serviceable to that Planet as that Planet is to her Jupiter has certainly four and some good Glasses have discover'd five about Saturn who however is not wholly destitute as all Astronomers confess The density and place of the Earth is pretty near the middle of the Planets and as she exceeds and is higher than some so is she exceeded by and lower than others in those respects Her own Secondary Planet the Moon has an Air much more homogeneous pure and transparent than she at present enjoys and in all probability free from Winds Clouds Storms Tempests Thunder Lightning and such other irregular and pernicious Effects which render our Atmosphere so contagious and pestilent to the Inhabitants of the Earth In which circumstances the generality of the other Planets imitate the Moon and render our miserable Condition the more remarkable and sensible as appearing thereby almost singular Our days and nights are longer than those of some and shorter than those of others of the Planets The figure of the Earth is nearly sphaerical as is that also of the other Heavenly Bodies its surface unequal with Mountains and Valleys as well as that of the rest especially the Moon 's appears to be Only 't is observable that the last though much less in bigness has her Mountains higher than we on Earth The Sea and Land Mountains and Valleys and other such corresponding Phaenomena of the Moon shew that that small Planet is not nearer our Earth in place than in quality and disposition also If we compute the true magnitude or quantity of matter in the Earth it will appear that she is not the 60th part so big as Jupiter nor the 30th as Saturn nor the 60000th as the Sun So that she is very inconsiderable if compar'd with the rest of the Solar Vortex only but if with the intire Universe or Systems of the fixt Stars in the elegancy of the Prophetick Expressions as a drop of a Bucket as the small dust of the Balance yea less than nothing and vanity Insomuch that to all those remote Systems of the Heavenly Bodies this Earth with all its fellow Planets are no more visible than those which 't is probable revolve about any of them are to us in these our Planetary Regions And as we usually little think of those invisible Globes so any of their Inhabitants never once imagine that there is such a Planet as ours about which we make such a mighty stir in the whole World As to the main use of this Earth 't is to afford habitation to a sinful and lapsed Race of Creatures of small Abilities or Capacities at present but of great Vices and Wickedness and is esteemed as far as appears in its present constitution so peculiarly and solely sit for them that when they are gone or their Dispositions and Faculties reform'd and improv'd a better scence of Nature a new Heaven and a new Earth is to be introduc'd for such better and more noble Creatures The Old one which now obtains being it seems only a sort of Prison or Confinement which is to be our Lot whilst we are sinful and miserable but no longer And is this the only Darling of Nature the prime Object of the Creation and Providence of God Can such a Globe's original nay of the external and visible Parts of it only claim four parts of six of that entire space which the Wisdom of God allotted for the Formation of all things in the whole World while the Origin
Original 2. Bodies Unlike in Nature have a like Original 3. Bodies most considerable in themselves have the most inconsiderable accounts given of them 4. No Bodies but the Earth have either time for or particulars of the formation of the several parts assign'd 5. The Light appears before its Cause and Fountain the Sun was made 6. The Excavation of the Channel of the Ocean and the Elevation of the Mountains is unnatural and indecent Of each of which I shall say but a word or two and then as briefly argue from them 1. Bodies Alike in nature have an unlike Original Our Earth is one of the Planets and in all reason belonging to their formation yet is she the Subject of the Second Third Fifth and Sixth days works while the rest are included in the Fourth Day 2. Bodies Unlike in nature have a like Original The Sun a glorious Body of Light with his Fellows the fixt Stars are join'd in the fourth day with the Opake and Dark Globes of the Planets 3. Bodies most considerable in themselves have the most inconsiderable accounts given of them This is very obvious in that mighty adoe about our poor Earth while the vastly greater and nobler Bodies of the Sun and Stars are scarce taken any notice of And how disproportionate such a procedure is the comparison already made of the Earth on one side with the rest of the World on the other does more than sufficiently demonstrate 4. No Bodies but the Earth have either time for or particulars of the formation of the several parts assign'd For when four days are wholly taken up with the particulars relating to our Earth the division of its Aerial from its Earthly Waters the distinguishing the latter from the dry Land and draining 'em into the Channels of the Seas the growth of Plants generation of Fish Fowl and Terrestrial Animals and at last the Creation of Man with several circumstances relating to him and the other Creatures not a syllable as to the particulars of the rest of the World Light is only commanded to shine on the First Day and the Heavenly Bodies made on the Fourth and there 's all as to themselves which occurs here 5. The Light appears before the Creation of the Sun from whence it is deriv'd That being the Work of the First This of the Fourth Day Which how Philosophical and Accountable 't is let the Reader judge 6. The Excavation of the Channel of the Ocean and the Elevation of the Mountains is unnatural and indecent For when the Earth was at first even and cover'd with Waters Expositors imagine that God as it were digg'd a vast Channel for the Ocean and heav'd away the Earth and plac'd it on all parts of the Globe to make the Mountains Which how indecent it is I had rather leave to the judgment of the Reader than stand here to exaggerate especially where the naked representation of the thing it self is a sufficient exposing thereof to free Thinkers These obvious Remarks on the vulgar Scheme of the Mosaick Creation to omit the passing by of the intire invisible World whether within or without the surface of the Earth whether corporeal or spiritual are I think sufficient demonstrations that 't is a very distant one from the true nature of things and such as is both unworthy of the Writer and Author of the Sacred History Whoever will take the pains carefully to consider the System of Nature and compare it with these Remarks and the common Opinion of the proper Creation of all things in the six Days Works will not I believe be at a loss for Arguments to over-turn the old and to prove that a new Theory is to be enquir'd after and a narrower World to be expected in the First Chapter of Genesis than has generally been But Before I conclude this Head I must here observe that the consideration of these matters has had so great influence on our late most Excellent Commentator on Genesis that tho' he keep more strictly to the letter of Moses than others yet he finds occasion and room for these four great Concessions no less contrary to the vulgar than approaching to the present Account of the History of the Creation 1. He is willing to allow that Moses meddles not with the intire Universe but with the Planetary System only 2. He allows the Creation of the World to have been over before the six Days Work begins 3. He grants the same six Days Works to be the regular and orderly reduction of a confused Chaos into a habitable World without any strange Miracles in every part 4. He supposes that for a considerable time before the six Days Work began there were such preparatory agitations fermentations and separations or conjunctions of parts as disposed the whole to fall ino the succeeding method and introduce the six Days Productions following Which Concessions of so great a Man and excellent a Commentator as they argue his sense of the necessity of receding from the vulgar Hypothesis so they I confess lessen and diminish the difficulties in this History Lessen I say and diminish not take them away For besides the want of any foundation in Scripture as far as I see for the distinction between the fixt Stars and Planets the Arguments I have all along urged reach and are fram'd with regard to this limited Hypothesis also and with those yet to come are I think more than sufficient to my purpose still and will demonstrate the unaccountableness of the History of the Creation even on this tho' much more on the common Interpretation VII The Mosaick Creation does not extend beyond this Earth because the alone final cause of all therein contained is the advantage of Mankind the Inhabitant thereof Now that the final cause of all the particulars mention'd in the History before us is here rightly assign'd is not only visible in almost every verse of it and in the places of Scripture afterwards referring to the same thing but commonly acknowledg'd nay contended for by the Patrons of the vulgar account So that I shall here take it for granted But then as to the consequence that therefore the Creation is no farther to be extended or at least not so far as here it must otherwise be to the Sun and Planets nay with the most to the innumerable Systems of the fix'd Stars 't is to me so natural and necessary that methinks 't is perfectly needless to go about the proof of it That so vast and noble a System consisting of so many so remote so different and so glorious Bodies should be made only for the use of Man is so wild a Fancy that it deserves any other treatment sooner than a serious confutation And one may better think silently with ones self than with due deference and decency speak what naturally arises in ones Mind on this occasion If 't is an instance of or consistent with the Divine Wisdom to make thousands of glorious Bodies for the
them I cannot so easily tell Especially if it be consider'd That the Capacities of the Jews to whom Moses peculiarly wrote were very low and mean and their Improvements very small or rather none at all in Philosophick Matters 'T is not to be imagin'd that an intire Account of the Origine of the whole Frame of Nature the noblest and most sublime Theory the highest Philosopher could exercise his thoughts upon should be within the reach of the Jewish Apprehensions We do not find in our Learned and Inquisitive Age such a ready Comprehension and Reception of Truths in Philosophy among the generality of Men and 't is so lately that an easy Proposition of the Earth's Motions diurnal and annual rais'd a mighty Dust and was very difficultly embrac'd by even those who call'd themselves Philosophers that from such an instance we may easily imagine how any natural Notions relating to the Constitution and Original of all the Bodies in the Universe must have been entertain'd among the rude and illiterate Jews newly come from the Egyptian Bondage and destitute of the very first Elements of Natural Knowledge Every one in the History of the Bible may with ease observe That the Abilities and Studies of the Israelites as indeed 't is true of most of them to this day were of another Nature and Size than must here be suppos'd if we bring in all the World into the Mosaick Creation If an indifferent Stander by who had never read the first of Genesis were to judge what a sort of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were to be given to so Ignorant and Unskilful a Nation he could not with common Prudence suppose either that it ought to be perfectly Philosophical or include any more than the Senses and Capacities of the Jews could arrive at the Earth with its Appurtenances and the Heavens so far as they were plainly therewith concern'd Indeed not only the Jews but the generality of Mankind's Apprehensions always were and still are much too narrow for any noble Discoveries relating to Universal Nature and a Chapter about Algebra might almost as suitably to Reason be recommended to them as an Account of the true Origination of all the World Nay de facto it appears That Moses was so far from deeming his People capable of understanding the intire System of Bodies remote and distant that 't is clear he esteem'd it improper to say a word about the internal Constitution and Parts of our own Earth contenting himself with what the Surface afforded and what unavoidably came under the notice of their Senses as is too plain to be deni'd in the History before us And shall we after all this believe or imagine that 't was fit and proper nay or barely possible for Moses to give a full Account of the beginning of all the World And impress a just true and adequate Idea thereof on the Minds of the People I believe 't was so far from it that still after all the Accommodation to the Senses and Capacities of Men which he and the other Holy Writers use on such occasions yet the meer Observation of the Truth of things forc'd them sometimes to speak what the others were not able rightly to comprehend and they seem rather in Natural Truths to have gone too high than descended too low considering the gross Ignorance of their Readers in those Matters Those Expressions of Scripture concerning the roundness of the World the Earth's being founded on the Seas and established on the Floods a Compass or Orb being set on the Face of the Deep the stretching out the Earth above the Waters and its consisting out of the Water and in the Water of most of which we shall take notice hereafter Those Expressions I say are exactly accommodate to the real Constitution of the Earth as will appear in due place but were 't is plain very much mistaken afterward Men generally took the Earth to be round not as a Sphere but a Circle and suppos'd the Abyss on which 't was founded to be the Ocean or Great Sea on whose Surface in their Opinion it swam and which on every side encompass'd it as far as the very Firmament gave leave and the ends of the Heaven would permit That Continent we inhabit was taken for the whole World and its Middle or Center imagin'd by most to be near the place where himself dwelt The Horizon or Sea and the Firmament were believ'd to bound and terminate each other The Sun Moon and Stars were suppos'd at their descending below the Horizon to be immers'd in the Sea and at their ascending above it to emerge out of it again How ridiculous these Conceits are every one will easily judge who has but a small insight into the System of the World and how little they are countenanc'd by the Texts before referr'd to 't were easy to shew but 't is plain They were so apply'd and the particulars pretty handsomely adjusted to Mens own Fancies on these Hypotheses When therefore we observe the Expressions of Scripture about the Constitution of our own Earth to have been so miserably misunderstood and misapply'd we may easily collect what fate any Notions of a sublimer Nature concerning the Heavens and the whole System of Beings must have undergone amongst them If the Apostles in a more Learned Age had began their Preaching with the requiring Mens belief to the Motion of the Earth the being of Antipodes or any other such Paradox in Philosophy nay or given them a true and rational Scheme of the Origin of the Universe in all its Parts we may soon guess at the Reception they would have met with and at the Success of their Ministry This procedure could contribute nothing to their design neither could the People be made to understand and believe such strange Notions And as in this case every one will allow the Absurdity of such a method and never imagine it probable that the Apostles could make use of it so ought we by only changing the Scene to conclude à priori that 't is highly unlikely that Moses would take such a course and that unless the words of the History were too express and plain to be deny'd 't is extremely improbable so great a Lawgiver to go no farther would extend his Cosmogony beyond the ends of his Writing it and the Abilities of those who should read it or in other words 't is extreamly improbable that the Mosaick Creation is of any other Nature or Extent than the Proposition we are upon does assert IX Lastly I prove the Mosaick Creation extends no farther than this Earth and its Appendages because the Deluge and Conflagration whose Boundaries are the same with that of the Mosaick Creation extend no farther I shall here take it for granted That the limits here assign'd to the Deluge and Conflagration are just it being certain as to the former and I think more than probable as to the latter and only quote a place or two to prove the
six Days work to be of the very same and no larger extent than those are and leave the whole to the Judgment of the Reader There shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation For this they willingly are ignorant of that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished But the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up In the day of God the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat Nevertheless we according to his promise look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thine hands They shall perish but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed I have now finish'd all those Arguments which to me are fully satisfactory and I think prove beyond rational contradiction That not the vast Universe but the Earth alone with its dependencies are the proper subject of the Six Days Creation And that the Mosaick History is not a Nice Exact and Philosophick account of the several steps and operations of the whole but such an Historical Relation of each Mutation of the Chaos each successive day as the Journal of a Person on the Face of the Earth all that while would naturally have contained The sum of all is this 1. The very Words and Coherence of Moses himself require such a Construction 2. The Words of Creating Making or Framing things here us'd are commonly of no larger importance than this Proposition allows 3. The World or Heaven and Earth the objects of this Creation are alike frequently restrain'd to the sublunary World the Air and Earth 4. The Chaos that known fund and seminary of the Six Days Creation extended no farther 5. On the contrary supposition the time of the Creation of each Body is extremely disproportionate to the work it self 6. On the same supposition there is an intolerable disorder disproportion and confusion in the works themselves 7. The sinal cause of the six days Creation is the advantage of Mankind the Inhabitant of the Earth 8. Neither the intention of the Author nor the capacity of the Readers require or could bear any other account of the origin of things 9. Lastly Neither the Deluge nor Conflagration whose extent appears commensurate to that of this Creation are of any larger compass than is here assign'd Upon this view of the whole matter give me leave to say That to make the Universal Frame of Nature concern'd in the particular Fates and Revolutions of our Earth is at this time of day to demonstrate either very mean thoughts of the Ends of the Divine Workmanship and of the Essects thereof in the World or else very proud and extravagant conceits of our own worth and dignity and at best argues a narrow ignoble and unphilosophical Soul 'T is much such another Wise and Rational Notion as it would be to suppose that the whole Terraqueous Globe with all its parts and dependencies all its furniture and productions was alike concern'd in the Fates and Revolutions pardon the expressions of one single Fly or Worm belonging to it And we may e'en as fairly allow the intire dependence of this sublunary World on the fortune of such a single animalculum That on its peeping into the World the whole Earth must arise out of nothing to afford it a resting place while it was growing and continued in its prime all things below must spring and flourish rejoyce and look gay on its decay all things must put on a mournful countenance and on its destruction Universal Nature here beneath must expire together and return to its primitive nothing This representation will I imagine seem bold and extravagant But 't will be hard to prove it so And I may appeal to Astronomy whether the Earth can be shewn to bear as considerable a proportion to the Universe as such a poor animalculum does certainly bear to it I would not by this or any thing else I have heretofore said in this Discourse be so far mistaken as to be believ'd prone to depretiate and and debase Mankind or to put a slight on all those Works of Nature and Providence which are subservient to it Neither do I deny that in some sense all the Visible World Heaven and Earth are ordain'd for our use and advantage I fully believe that we are the Creatures of God of whom he has a tender regard and over whom he exercises a constant a special Care and Providence As I look upon the Souls of Men in their proper and primitive perfection when they came out of their Maker's Hands to be Noble to be Glorious to be Exalted Beings and perhaps in capacities or faculties in dignity or happiness not inferior to some of the Angelick Orders so I also most undoubtedly believe what our Saviour affirms of good mens state hereafter that they shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to the Angels and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children of God himself While I am perswaded that the Creation of Man was not effected without the concurrence and joint consultation of the Blessed Trinity Nor his Redemption without the Acceptance of the Father the Sacrifice and Death of the Son in his Humane Nature and the Sanctification and Operation of the Holy Spirit While I am perswaded that the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has ever since the Fall of Adam been sollicitous about our Reconciliation to God and made it his constant business even before as well as since his Incarnation to mediate for us and take care of our eternal happiness While I believe that by the new Covenant Good Men even in this Imperfect state are esteem'd Heirs of God joint-Heirs with Christ and denominated the Brethren and Friends of their Glorious Redeemer While I do not doubt but our Humane Nature is now in the Person of our Blessed Saviour in Heaven and there on account of the Hypostatical Union with the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as a reward of that Obedience and Suffering it underwent for us on Earth advanc'd above the most exalted Intellectual Orders at the Right Hand of the Majesty on High
Times of revolving being to each other as the Cubes of their middle distances from him 't is hence certain That as before the force of their Attraction or Impulse towards the Sun is in a duplicate Proportion of their distances reciprocally Coroll 4. The Case being the same as to the Circumjovials about Jupiter and the Circumsaturnals about Saturn this last Corollary belongs equally to them also But the Moon being a single Planet revolving about the Earth is incapable of giving evidence in her Case Coroll 5. As before the Law of Gravitation being demonstrated from the Planets revolving in Ellipses about the central Bodies in one of the Foci the Proportion between the periodical Times compar'd with the distances from the central Bodies was deducible à priori so vice versâ the periodical Times compar'd with the distances demonstrating the Law of Gravitation thence the necessily of the Planets Revolution in Ellipses about the central Bodies in one of the Foci is à priori demonstrated also Coroll 6. 'T is certain That the Annual Motion belongs to the Earth about the Sun not to the Sun about the Earth For when from the Moon 's Orbit and the Planet's Orbits and periodical Times 't is certain That the Law of Gravitation towards the Earth and towards the Sun is the same and by consequence all the periodical Times of Bodies revolving about each of them in the same Proportion to one another compar'd with their several Distances from each of them On Which Hypothesis this Proportion suits the Phaenomena of Nature the same must be the true one and to be fully acquiesc'd in Now 't is known That on the Hypothesis of the Earth's Annual Motion her periodical Time exactly suits and is so between that of Venus and Mars as the Proportion observ'd through the whole System and demonstrable à priori withal exactly requires but on the other Hypothesis 't is enormously different For when the Moon undoubtedly and on this Hypothesis the Sun also revolves about our Earth and when the distance of the Sun is to that of the Moon as about 10000 to 46 and the Moon 's periodical Time less than 28 days the periodical Time of the Sun is by the Rule of Three discoverable thus As the Cube of the Moon 's distance 46 equal to 97336 to the Cube of the Sun 's 10000 equal to 1000000000000. or almost as 1 to 10000000 so must the Square of the Moon 's periodical Time 28 Days equal to 784. be to the Square of the Sun 's periodical Time 7840000000 whose square Root 88204 are Days also equal to 242 Years So that on the Hypothesis of the Sun's Revolution about the Earth its periodical Time must undoubtedly be 242 Years which all Experience attests to be but a single one So that at length the Controversy between the Ptolemaick and Pythagorean Systems of the World is to a Demonstration determin'd and the Earth's Annual Motion for ever unquestionably establish'd Coroll 7. 'T is certain those Opake Masses which sometimes appear at the Sun are not Planets revolving at any the least distance from him but Spots or Maculae adhering to him for whereas they revolve but once in about twenty six Days on Calculation it will appear that a Planet near the Sun's Surface as these must be cannot have three hours allow'd for its periodical Revolution which being so different from the foremention'd space of twenty six days quite decides that Controversy and demonstrates those Masses to be real Maculae adhering to the Body of the Sun as is here asserted XXIV If a Planet describe an Ellipsis about its central Body in the Focus thereof it will move fastest when 't is nearest to and slowest when 't is farthest from the said central Body or Focus and agreeably in the intermediate places For seeing wheresoever the revolving Body is the Area is still proportionable to the time as was before shew'd and so in equal times always equal 't is evident by how much the Distance is less and the Line from the Focus is shorter by so much must the Bodies motion be the swifter to compensate the same and vice versâ by how much the former is longer by so much must the latter be slower to allow for it XXV If the Planet B describe an Ellipsis about the central Body in the Focus H as the Area describ'd by the Line B H will be exactly uniform and proportional to the time of Description so the Angular Motion or Velocity of the Line from the other Focus B I will be proportional to the time and uniform also tho' not so Exactly and Geometrically XXVI The Law of Gravitation already explain'd being suppos'd if one Planet describe an Ellipsis about the central Body in the Focus H and another describe a Circle about the same in its Center If the Semidiameter of the Circle be equal to H E the middle distance in the Ellipsis from the same Center or Focus their periodical Times of revolving will be the same and when the Distances are equal their Velocity will be so too Corollary Tho' therefore the Planets revolve in Ellipses of several Species yet their periodical Times may be as well compar'd with one another and with their distances from the central Bodies as if they all revolv'd in compleat Circles as was above done XXVII If a Body revolve about a central Body as about A in a Circle as B e E b and another revolve about the same in the Focus of its Ellipsis B H F G so that the Semediameter of the Circle were equal to the nearest distance in the Ellipsis AB the Velocity of the Body at the nearest Point of the Ellipsis will be greater than the Velocity of the Body in the Circle and will be to it in half the Proportion of the Latus rectum of the Ellipsis pq to the Diameter of the Circle eb or as that Line p q to a middle proportional between it self and e b. XXVIII If one Body revolve round a central Body in a Circle and another about the same in its Focus describe so very Eccentrical an Ellipsis that it may pass for a Parabola the Velocity of the Body moving along the Ellipsis will be to that of the Body moving in the Circle the Point in the Ellipsis being as far from the central Body as the Circumference of the Circle very nearly as ten to seven XXIX If a central Body have many Bodies revolving about it 't is perfectly indifferent in it self and with regard to the central Body in what Plains soever or which way in those Plains soever they all or any of them move Corollary Hence arises a convincing Argument of the Interposition of Council and Providence in the Constitution of our System in which all the Planets revolve the same way from West to East and that in Plains almost coincident with one another and with that of the Ecliptick as Mr. Bentley hath also observ'd XXX The
confused fluid mass or congeries of heterogeneous Bodies suppose it were a Comets Atmosphere or any other such like irregular compositum of mingled corpuscles in its formation were subject only to an Annual motion about the Sun without any Diurnal Rotation about an Axis of its own the Figure thereof would be that of a perfect Sphere as from the uniform force of Gravity and consequent equilibration of parts on all sides is easily demonstrable But if during its Formation it had a Diurnal Rotation about an Axis of its own the Figure thereof by reason of the great velocity and consequent conatus recedendi à centro motus diminishing the force of Gravity at the Equatorial parts would be that of an oblate Sphaeroid such as an Ellipsis revolving about its lesser Axis would generate LXVIII If a Planet consisted in great measure of an Abyss or Dense Internal Fluid and a Crust or Shell of Earth plac'd on its Surface tho' the Diurnal Rotation were not begun at the Formation thereof from a Chaos and so its original figure were Sphaerical yet upon the commencing of the said Diurnal Rotation it would degenerate immediately into that of an oblate Sphaeroid and retain it afterward as well as if it had put on the same at its primary formation Corollary When therefore the greater quickness of the vibrations of the same Pendulum and the greater gravitation of Bodies near the Poles than the Equator consequent thereupon demonstrate the former Regions of the Earth to be nearer its Center than the latter and that consequently the Figure is that of an Oblate Sphaeroid 't is evident that either the Diurnal Motion commenc'd before the Orginal of its present constitution or that its internal parts are in some degree Fluid and so were pliable and alterable on the after commencing of such Diurnal Rotation And this Corollary extends equally if not more to Jupiter whose Diurnal Rotation is quicker than our Earth's and by consequence its Figure farther from Sphaerical Thus by Mr. Newton's Calculation the Diameter of the Equator of the Earth is to the Axis thereof only as 692 to 689. But in Jupiter according to the same Mr. Newton's Calculation Corrected as about 8 to 7. Which is very considerable and sensible and accordingly attested to by the concurrent observstions of Cassini and Mr. Flamsteed LXIX If such an Upper Crust or Shell of Earth on the face of the Abyss were Fix'd and Consolidated before the Diurnal Rotation thereof commenc'd it would remain intire continued and united all the time of its Sphaerical Figure or all the time it had no other than an Annual revolution But by the beginning of the Diurnal Rotation which would make the surface of the Abyss and its sustained Orb of Earth put on the Figure of the Oblate Sphaeroid before-mention'd that Upper Orb must be stretch'd chap'd and crack'd and its parts divided by perpendicular Fissures For the Periphery of an Ellipsis being larger than that of a Circle where the Area is equal and the Superficies of a Sphaeroid generated by its circumvolution consequently larger than that of a Sphere generated by the like circumvolution of the Circle which is the present case that Orb of Earth 't is plain which exactly fitted and every way enclos'd the Abyss while it was a Sphere would be too little and straight for it when it after became a Sphaeroid and must therefore suffer such Breaches and Fissures as are here express'd LXX The state of Nature in a Planet constituted as above while it had only an Annual revolution would be as follows 1. By reason of the same face of the Planet's respecting continually the same Plaga of the Heavens or the same fixt Stars and its continual parallellism to it self all the apparent revolution of the Sun must depend on the Annual Motion and a Day and a Year be all one This is evident because as a Year is truly that space in which the Sun seemingly and the Earth really performs a single revolution round the Ecliptick so a Day is truly that space in which the Sun passes or appears to pass from any certain Semi-Meridian to the same again once Which spaces of time are here the very same and so the appellations themselves Year and Day may indifferently and promiscuously be appli'd thereto 2. The course of the Sun and Planets for the fixt Stars were then Fixt indeed having neither a Real nor Seeming motion must be contrary to what it has appear'd since Their Rising being then in the West and their Setting in the East Which from the way of the present Diurnal Rotation has since as all know been quite different 3. There must be a perpetual Equinox or equality of Day and Night through the whole Planet by reason of the Sun 's describing each revolution a great Circle about the same on which alone such an equality depends 4. The Ecliptick must supply the place of an Equator also and the Torrid Temperate and Frigid Zones be almost alike dispos'd with regard to that Circle as with us they are with regard to the real Equator 5. To such as liv'd under or near the said Ecliptick the Poles of the World or Ecliptick the only ones then in Being would be at the Horizon and so not elevated or depress'd to the Inhabitants there But upon the commencing of a quicker Diurnal Rotation the same way with the Annual The case would be in all these particulars quite different For 1. By reason of the quickness of the new Diurnal in comparison of the Ancient and Continued Annual Revolution Days and Years would be intirely distinct spaces of time The Sun returning to the same Semi-Meridian very often while from one Tropick to another and so to the same again he appear'd to have compleated his longer Annual period 2. By the Diurnal Rotation of the Planet from West to East the revolution of the Sun of the other Planets and of all the Heavenly Bodies would be from East to West and they would all Rise at the former and Set at the latter part of the Horizon 3. The perpetual Equinox would be confin'd to the Equatorial parts of the Planet and all other Countries would have longer Days in Summer and shorter in Winter as now obtains in the World When only March 10 and September 12 have Day and Night equal to each other through the whole Earth 4. The Ecliptick and Equator would be intirely different the latter a Real Circle or Line on the Planet equally distant from its own proper Poles The former confin'd to the Heavens and not with respect to the Planet easily to be taken notice of The Torrid Temperate and Frigid Zones would regard the new Equator and be from it distinguish'd and dispos'd almost in the same manner as before they were from the Ecliptick and that with greater niceness and more exact boundaries 5. The Poles of the World which before were to the Inhabitants at or near the ancient Ecliptick
said of the other Days works by recurring to the Divine miraculous Power which yet is here not only unnecessarily and without warrant from the Sacred History it self but sometimes very indecently done yet the numerous Works ascrib'd to the sixth Day plainly shew That a space much longer than we now call a Day must have been referr'd to in the Sacred History The business of the sixth Day includes evidently these following particulars 1. The Production of all the bruit dry-land Animals 2. The Consultation about and the actual Creation of the Body and Infusion of the Soul of Adam 3. The Charter or Donation of Dominion over all Creatures bestow'd on Adam 4. The Exercise of Part of that Dominion or the giving Names to all the dry-land Animals which sure suppos'd some acquir'd knowledge in Adam some Consideration of the Nature of each Species some skill in Language and the use of Words andwithal some proportionable Time for the gathering so great a number of Creatures together and for the distinct naming of every one 5. When on this review it appear'd that among all these Creatures there was not a Meet-help or suitable Companion for him God then cast him into a deep Sleep which 't is probable lasted more than a few minutes to deserve that Appellation took out one of his Ribs closed up the Flesh instead thereof and out of that Rib made the Woman 6. After this God brings this Woman to Adam he owns her Original gives her an agreeable Name takes her to Wife and they together receive that Benediction Increase and Multiply 7. God appoints them and their Fellow-Animals the Vegetables for Food and Sustenance All which to omit the Jews Tradition of the Fall of Man this sixth Day and such things presuppos'd thereto which must belong to it even by the Mosaick History it self put together is vastly more than is conceivable in the short space of one single Day in the vulgar Sense of it 'T is true God Almighty can do all things in what portions of Time he pleases But 't is also true as Bishop Patrick well observes in a like case that Man cannot He must have time allotted him in proportion to the business to be done or else 't is not to be expected of him And 't is plain That Adam and Eve were mainly concern'd in the latter Actions of this Day so that by a just and necessary consequence That Day in which they went through so many and different Scenes and perform'd so many Actions requiring at least no small part of a Year and that after themselves and all the dry-land Animals had been on the same Day produc'd was certainly such a Day as might be proportionate to such Operations and not shorter than a Year which the present Hypothesis allows in the case 7. If the History of the Fall of Man be either included in the sixth Day according to the Ancient Tradition of the Jews which I confess to be very improbable or belong to the seventh as might by coming as near as possible to such old Tradition more probably be allow'd On either of these Suppositions there is the greatest necessity imaginable of supposing such a Day much longer than is commonly done Which I think is of it self so plain that I need not aggravate the matter but leave it to the free Consideration of the Reader All which Arguments to me appear very satisfactory and evince that the first distinguishing and peculiar Character of such a primitive State of Nature as was before-mention'd did really belong to our Earth before the Fall and that then a Day and a Year were exactly one and the same space of Time 2. In the primitive State of the World the Sun and Planets rose in the West and set in the East contrary to what they have done ever since This may seem to have been the foundation of that Story in Herodotus who tells us That the Sun in the space of 10340 Years four times inverted his Course and rose in the West But what I mainly depend on is that Discourse in Plato who relating some very ancient Traditions about the primitive State of things and what a mighty and remarkable Change was effected by a certain mighty and remarkable Alteration in the Heavenly Motions which Alteration in general deserves also to be taken notice of as agreeing so well with the present Hypothesis the most surprizing and of the greatest consequence of all others and the cause of suitably surprizing and considerable Effects in the present State of Nature makes it to be this change of the Way or Course of the Heavenly Bodies which is the consequence of the present Assertion For this grand thing of which he had spoken so highly is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Motion of the Universe sometimes revolves the same way that it does now and sometimes the contrary way Which Testimony is very plain and full to our present purpose 3. In the primitive State of Nature there was a perpetual Equinox or Equality of Day and Night through the World This Phaenomenon or such Effects as in part suppose it is usually by the Christian Fathers applied to the Paradisiacal State and by the Ancient Heathens to the Golden Age or the Reign of Saturn coincident 't is probable at least in part thereto For they all with one consent deny that the Sun's Course was oblique from one Tropick to another or that the difference and inequality of Seasons which must have followed therefrom did belong to that first and most happy State of the World as may at large be seen the places quoted in the Margin too long here to Transcribe to which therefore I refer the Reader and proceed 4. In the primitive State of the World there was no Equator distinct from the Ecliptick all Motions were perform'd about one invariable Axis that of the latter for the Plains of the Planet's Orbits I consider as nearly coincident with that of the Ecliptick without the Obliquity of one Circle or Motion to another Tho' this be somewhat related to the former particular yet I shall distinctly quote a Testimony or two directly belonging hereto and not so properly reducible to the other The first is that of Anaxagoras who says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Stars in their primitive State revolv'd in a Tholiform manner insomuch that the Pole appear'd perpetually at the Vertex of the Earth Whose meaning tho' somewhat obscure seems to be That the Motion of the Heavens was originally about one Center or Axis that of the Ecliptick whose Pole was continually over against the same Point of the Earth which on the Hypothesis before us is true but in the present Frame of Nature impossible The next Author whom I shall produce is Plato who in the foremention'd Discourse about the Ancient and Modern States of the World says That in the former of them the Motion
Country and is suitable withal both to what the Jewish and Arabian Tradition before-mention'd assert and what the next Hypothesis requires V. The Primitive Ecliptick or its correspondent Circle on the Earth intersected the Present Tropick of Cancer at Paradise or at least at its Meridian When from the last Hypothesis but one it appears that the Primitive Ecliptick was a fixed Circle on the Earth as well as in the Heavens and must both equally divide the present Equator and touch the present Tropicks 't is proper to fix if possible the Point of Intersection with the Northern Tropick whereby the intire Circle may be still describ'd and its Original Situation determin'd Which is the attempt of this Hypothesis we are now upon and which I thus prove 1. Without this Hypothesis the before-mention'd Jewish and Arabian Tradition of the situation of Paradise under the Primitive Equinoctial is unaccountable and impossible to be true For Paradise being at the most southern Position supposable but just under the Tropick of Cancer it could no where be under the ancient Equinoctial or Ecliptick but at their mutual Intersection which must therefore have been as this Proposition asserts 2. The Production of Animals out of the Earth and Waters at or near Paradise seems to have requir'd all the heat possible in any part of the Earth which being to be found only under the Equinoctial confirms the last mention'd Argument and pleads for that situation of Paradise which is here assigned to it 3. And Principally This situation is determin'd by the coincidence of the Autumnal Equinox and the beginning of the Night or Sun-set at the Meridian of Paradise 'T is known that at Paradise or the place of the Creation of Man the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Natural Day commenc'd with the Sun-setting Six a Clock or coming on of the Night 'T is granted also that the beginning of the most Ancient Year which shall presently be prov'd to have been at the Autumnal Equinox was coincident with the beginning of the World or of the Mosaick Creation Which things compar'd together do determine the question we are upon It being impossible on the grounds here suppos'd that Sun-set and the Autumnal Equinox should be coincident to any but those in the Northern Hemisphere at the Point of Intersection of the Ancient Ecliptick and the present Tropick of Cancer or such as were under the same Meridian with them as any ordinary Astronomer will soon confess Which Argument is Decretory and fixes the place of Paradise to the greatest exactness and satisfaction Corollary 1. Hence a plain reason is given of the Days of Creation commencing at Evening which otherwise is a little strange It being but a necessary result of the time of the Year and Region of the Earth when and where the Creation began Coroll 2. As also why the Jewish Days especially their Sabbath-Days began at the same time ever since The Memory of the Days of Creation being thereby exactly preserv'd Coroll 3. As also why their Civil Years but especially their Sabbatical Years and Years of Jubilee even after their Months were reckon'd from the Vernal began at the Autumnal Equinox The memory of the Years of the Creation being thereby alike exactly preserv'd VI. The Patriarchal or most ancient Year mention'd in the Scripture began at the Autumnal Equinox The Reasons of this Assertion are these ensuing 1. The principal Head or Beginning of the Jewish Year in all Ages was the first Day of their Autumnal Month Tiâ—ri and was accordingly honour'd with an extraordinary Festival the Feast of Trumpets When the Head or Beginning of their Sacred Year the first of Nisan had no such solemnity annex'd to it As is known and confess'd by all 2. When God commanded the Jews on their coming out of Egypt to esteem the Month Nisan the First in their Year it seems plainly to imply that till then it had not been so esteemed by them The words are these The Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the Land of Egypt saying This Month shall be unto you the beginning of Months it shall be the first Month of the Year to you And this is strengthened by considering that tho' we here find an Original of the Sacred Year in the Spring yet we no where do of the Civil in Autumn Which therefore 't is very probable was the immemorial beginning of the Ancient Year long before the times of Moses 3. Whatever beginning of the Jewish Year there might be on other accounts 'T is confess'd by all That the beginning of the Sabbatical Years and Years of Jubilee by which in all probability the Primary Years of the World were commemorated and preserv'd was at the Autumnal Equinox Which is a very good Argument that those Ancient Years so commemorated and preserv'd began at the same time also 4. The Feast of Ingathering or of Tabernacles which was soon after the Autumnal Equinox is said to be in the End or after the Revolution of the Year Which is a peculiar confirmation of the Assertion we are now upon 5. Unless that Year at the Deluge commenc'd at the Autumnal Equinox we must says the Learned Lightfoot in his Scheme thereof suppose one Miracle more than either Scripture or Reason give us ground to think of and that is that the Waters should increase and lie at their height all the Heat of Summer and abate and decrease all the cold of Winter Which without Reason he supposes is not to be allow'd 6. What was alledg'd under the last Proposition is here to be consider'd That on this Hypothesis a clear Reason is given of the Nights preceding the Day in the History of the Creation and ever since among the Jews which otherwise is not so easily to be accounted for 7. The testimony of the Chaldee Paraphrast to which Josephus does fully agree is as express as possible upon 1 Kings 8. 2. where the words are In the Month Ethanim which is the seventh Month viz. as all confess from the Vernal Equinox upon which the Paraphrase is They call'd it of Old the First Month but now it is the Seventh Month Which may well counterpoise all that from some later Authors can be produc'd to the contrary So that upon the whole I may fairly conclude notwithstanding some small Objections which either lose their force on such Principles as are here laid down or will on other occasions be taken off That the most Ancient or Patriarchal Year began at the Autumnal Equinox VII The Original Orbits of the Planets and particularly of the Earth before the Deluge were perfect Circles This is in it self so easie and natural an Hypothesis that I might very justly take it for granted and make it a Postulatum And in case I could prove every thing to agree to and receive Light from the same and withal account for the present Eccentricity no man could fairly charge it with being a precarious or unreasonable
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
Month as even the Septuagint by their way of reckoning were oblig'd to express it nor the Seventeenth day of the same Month as the Hebrew Verity and Samaritan Pentateuch do rightly determine it but rather the Fifth of the same Month contrary to the Faith and Agreement of all Copies and Translations in the World So that upon the whole the intire force of this Reasoning and the conjoint Influence of the several ways by which this Hypothesis fixes the day of the Deluge so nicely conspires to confirm and give undoubted Attestation to the Hebrew Verity and consequently to destroy the Authority of the Samaritan and Septuagint so far as they contradict the same in the matters herein concern'd Coroll 7. Hence the Chronology of the Bible is establish'd and all the pretended immense numbers of Years which the Annals of some Nations recount are confuted For as the Year of the Deluge from the Hebrew Chronology given the Day of the beginning of the Deluge therein assign'd is fully attested to and determin'd on our Hypothesis from Astronomy so vice versâ the Day of the beginning of the Deluge from the same Sacred History given and within a Day or two confirm'd from Abydenus and Berosus corrected the number of Years thereby assign'd is at the same time establish'd also The Methods before-mention'd of fixing that Day not permitting the Addition or Subtraction of a few hundreds much less many thousands of Years to or from those Four thousand and forty four which the Holy Scriptures require us to account since that time Which therefore ought to be fully acquiesced in and all other wild and extravagant Numbers be utterly rejected Coroll 8. Hence upon supposition that the Comet was of any given Magnitude the height of the Tide or elevation of the Abyss with its incumbent Orb may be reduc'd to Calculation and its Quantity consider'd and compar'd with the Phaenomena depending on it Thus for instance if the Comet were half as big as the Earth which will hereafter appear not far from truth and consequently approach'd eight times as near as the Moon or Thirty thousand Miles off us at its nearest distance the elevation of the Abyss or the height of the Tide above its former Position must have been near eight Miles For the Moon elevates the Ocean about six Feet above its moderate State a Comet at the same distance half as big as the Earth which is Thirteen times as big as the Moon would elevate the same Thirteen times as high or Seventy eight Feet and at an eighth part of its distance Five hundred and twelve times as high as the last or Thirty nine thousand nine hundred and thirty six Feet which is very near the before-mentioned height of eight Miles Which Elevation of the Abyss seems very agreeable to the Phaenomena afterwards to be observ'd and so within a due Latitude establishes the foregoing Hypotheses of the nearness of the Comets approach and the consequent bigness of the Comet it self before-mention'd SCHOLIUM Having thus establish'd this main Proposition 't will here be proper to describe as near as the Phaenomena of Comets and of the Deluge afford us any guidance the particular Trajectory of the Comet or that part of it which could be concern'd with us and our lower Planetary Regions which accordingly in a mean between such as approach exceeding near to and such as remain at somewhat remoter distances from the Sun in their Perihelia and agreeably to that Historical Trajectory of the last famous Comet delineated by Mr. Newton I shall here attempt For tho' 't were folly to think of delineating the very same in which the Comet revolv'd yet we may easily come pretty near it we may give the Reader a clear and distinct Idea of the whole matter and enable him to judge of any particular consequences occasionally to be drawn therefrom Now verbal Descriptions in such cases being of small advantage compar'd to Schemes and Graphical Delineations I shall wave more words about it and exhibit an intire Figure of the whole to the view and consideration of the Reader From the careful Observation whereof the following inferences may be easily drawn Corollary 1. The Earth would twice pass quite through the Tail of the Comet the first time at the beginning of the Deluge and the second about Fifty three or fifty four Days after Their several Motions then bringing them to the Situation describ'd in the Figure Coroll 2. At the second passing by of the Comet before its cutting the Ecliptick in its Ascent from the Sun about Sixty two Days after the former passage the Moon which at the first was three Days past the New at this last time must have been within a day or two of its Quadrature past the like Conjunction Coroll 3. If at the first passing by of the Comet the Moon was a small matter nearer the Comet than the Earth had been just before she would be accelerated somewhat more than the Earth and by her Position at the second passage she would be a little more retarded than the Earth and upon the whole might afterward retain an equal Velocity with it as 't is certain she still does Coroll 4. That former superabundant Velocity would in the intermediate space cast the Moon farther off the Sun and thereby make it approach nearer the Earth at the Conjunction or New and recede farther from it at the Opposition or Full than it did before Which things being so it may deserve consideration whether the present Eccentricity of the Moon 's Orbit about the Earth might not without any change in its periodical Revolution be hence deriv'd And so Whether the Menstrual Course were not as truly circular before the Deluge as we have already shew'd the Annual to have been Especially when the Situation of the Moon 's Apogaeon was from the present Astronomical Tables somewhat near that place which according to such an Hypothesis and such a Trajectory of the Comet it ought to have been I mean the latter degrees of Cancer or the former of Leo. Coroll 5. 'T was almost the New Moon when the Comet 's Tail involv'd the Earth and the Moon the second time as the Position of the Earth in the Figure with the consideration of the place of the Moon then will easily shew BOOK III. PHAENOMENA CHAP. 1. Phaenomena relating to the Mosaick Creation and the Original Constitution of the Earth I. ALL those particular small Bodies of which our habitable Earth is now compos'd were originally in a mixed confused fluid and uncertain Condition without any order or regularity It was an Earth without form and void had darkness spread over the face of its Abyss and in reality was what it has been ever stil'd a perfect Chaos The Testimonies for this are so numerous and the Consent of all Authors Sacred and Prophane so unanimous that I need only refer the Reader to them for the undoubted Attestation of it II. The Formation of
this Earth or the Change of that Chaos into an habitable World was not a meer result from any necessary Laws of Mechanism independently on the Divine Power but was the proper effect of the Influence and Interposition and all along under the peculiar Care and Providence of God 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
creature waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God For the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope Because the creature it self also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travelleth in pain together until now XXVII The temper of the Air where our first Parents liv'd was warmer and the heat greater before the Fall than since This appears 1. From the heat requisite to the Production of Animals which must have been greater than we are since sensible of Of which the hot Wombs in which the Foetus in viviparous Animals do lye and the warm brooding of the Oviparous with the hatching of Eggs in Ovens are good evidence 2. From the nakedness of our first Parents 3. From that peculiarly warm cloathing they immediately stood in need of afterwards the Skins of Animals Unto Adam also after the Fall and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and cloathed them XXVIII Those Regions of the Earth where our first Parents were plac'd were productive of better and more useful Vegetables with less Labour and Tillage than since they have been The Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it before the Fall The Lord God said unto Adam after the Fall Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat the herb of the field In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground for out of it wast thou made XXIX The Primitive Earth was not equally Paradisiacal all over The Garden of Eden or Paradise being a peculiarly fruitful and happy soil and particularly furnish'd with the necessaries and delights of an innocent and blessed life above the other Regions of the Earth The Lord God planted a Garden Eastward in Eden and there he put the man whom he had formed And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil The Lord God sent the Man forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken So he drove out the man XXX The place of Paradise was where the united Rivers Tigris and Euphrates divided themselves into four streams Pison Gibon Tigris and Euphrates Of this see the fourth Hypothesis before laid down XXXI The Earth in its Primitive State had only an Annual Motion about the Sun But since it has a Diurnal Rotation upon its own Axis also Whereby a vast difference arises in the several States of the World Of this with all its consequents see the third Hypothesis before laid down XXXII Upon the first commencing of this Diurnal Rotation after the Fall its Axis was oblique to the plain of the Ecliptick as it still is Or in other words the present vicissitudes of Seasons Spring Summer Autumn and Winter arising from the Sun's access to and recess from the Tropicks have been ever since the Fall of Man God said on the fourth Day Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night which was their proper office till the Fall And let them be ever after for signs and for seasons and for days and years After the Flood While the Earth remaineth Seed-time and Harvest and Cold and Heat and Summer and Winter and Day and Night shall not cease Implying that tho' the Seasons as well as Night and Day had been during the Deluge scarcely distinguishable from one another yet the former as well as the latter distinction had been in nature before And surely the Spring Summer Autumn and Winter with their varieties of Cold and Heat Seed-time and Harvest were no more originally begun after the Deluge than the succession of Day and Night mention'd here together with them is by any suppos'd to have been But of this we have at large discours'd under the third Hypothesis foregoing already to which the Reader is farther referr'd for satisfaction CHAP. III. Phaenomena relating to the Antediluvian State of the Earth XXXIII THE Inhabitants of the Earth were before the Flood vastly more numerous than the present Earth either actually does or perhaps is capable to contain and supply In order to the proof of this Assertion I observe 1. That the Posterity of every one of the Antediluvians is to be suppos'd so much more numerous than of any since as their lives were longer This is but agreeable to the Sacred History in which we find two at sixty five and one at seventy years of Age to have begotten Children While the three Sons of Noah were not begotten till after their Father's five hundredth year When yet at the same time the several Children of the same Father appear to have succeeded as quickly one after another as they usually do at this day For as to Cain and Abel they appear to have been pretty near of an Age the World being at the death of the latter not without considerable numbers of People tho' their Father Adam was not then an hundred and thirty years old and so in probability contain'd many of the Posterity of both of them Which by the way fully establishes the early begetting of Children just now observ'd in the Antediluvian Patriarchs and if rightly consider'd overturns a main Argument for the Septuagint's Addition of so many Centenaries in the Generations Before and After the Deluge And as to the three Sons of Noah born after the five hundredth year of their Father's Life 't is evident that two of them at the least Japhet and Sem were born within two years one after another All which makes it highly reasonable to suppose that in the same proportion that the Lives of the Antediluvians were longer was their Posterity more numerous than that of the Postdiluvians 2. The Lives of the Antediluvians being pretty evenly prolong'd without that mighty inequality in the periods of humane Life which we now experience the proportion between the Lives of the Antediluvians and those of the Postdiluvians is to be taken as about nine hundred the middle period of their Lives to twenty two the middle period of ours Which is full forty to one And accordingly in any long space the Antediluvians must have forty times as numerous a Posterity as we usually allow with us for the same space on account thereof 3. On account of the Coexistence of so many of such Generations as are but successive with us we must allow the Antediluvian number of present Inhabitants to have been in half an
Arithmetical proportion of such their longer lives after the duration of the first Fathers is expir'd and a gradual decrease of the Ancient stock going off as well as a gradual increase of the New stock coming on to be allow'd for Till which time the proportion is not to be diminish'd So that on this account for the first nine hundred years of the World the number of Inhabitants on the Face of the Earth must be esteem'd forty times as great as in so long time are now derivable from a single Couple and afterwards twenty times so which Postulata suppos'd I shall propose a Calculation built upon certain matter of fact first how many they might have been by the Deluge and afterward another or two relying alike on Matter of fact how many 't is probable they really were and must have been at the same time 1. 'T is evident from the Sacred History and not to be denied by those who forsake the Hebrew Chronology themselves or who would lessen the numbers of the Antediluvians That in the space of about two hundred sixty six years the Posterity of Jacob alone by his Sons without the consideration of Dinah his Daughter amounted to six hundred thousand Males above the Age of Twenty all able to go forth to War Now by Mr. Graunts Observations on the Bills of Mortality it appears that about 34 100 are between the Ages of sixteen and fifty six Which may be near the proportion of the Males numbred to the intire number of them all So that as thirty four to an hundred by the Golden Rule must six hundred thousand be to the intire number of the Males of Israel at that time Which was therefore one Million seven hundred sixty four thousand and seven hundred To which add Females near 1 15 fewer as suppose to make the sum even one Million six hundred thirty five thousand three hundred the Total is three millions and three hundred thousand add forty three thousand for the Levites not included in the former accounts the intire Sum will at last amount to three millions and three hundred forty three thousand Souls Now if we suppose the increase of the Children of Israel to have been gradual and equal through the whole two hundred sixty six years it will appear that they doubled themselves every fourteen years at least which proportion if we should continue it through the entire hundred and fourteen Periods which the space from the Creation to the Deluge admits the product or number of People on the face of the Earth at the Deluge would be the hundredth and fourteenth place in a Geometrick double proportion or series of numbers two four eight sixteen c. where every succeeding one were double to that before it Which to how immense a Sum it would arise those who know any thing of the nature of Geometrick Progressions will easily pronounce and may be soon tried by any ordinary Arithmetician So that without allowing for the Longaevity and that Coexistence and more numerous Off-spring thereon depending without taking as advantagious an Hypothesis as one might precariously tho' possibly do in such a case If the Antediluvians had only multiplied as fast before as 't is certain the Israelites did since the Flood for the assigned term the numbers of Mankind actually Alive and Coexisting at the Deluge must have been not only more than the Earth now does or possibly could maintain but prodigiously more than the whole number of Mankind can be justly suppos'd ever since the Deluge nay indeed with any degree of likelihood ever since the Creation of the World On which account this Calculation must not be at all esteem'd a real one or to exhibit in any measure the just number of the Posterity of Adam alive at the Universal Deluge But it serves to shew how vastly numerous according to the regular method of humane Propagation the Off-spring of a single person may certainly be and this on a Calculation from undoubted matter of fact not from a meer possible Hypothesis according to which numbers prodigiously greater would still arise It demonstrates the probability if not certainty of Mankind's Original from a common head as well before as since the Deluge and that within a few Millenaries of years It lastly is more than sufficient to demonstrate the Proposition we are upon that the whole Earth must have been peopled long before the Flood and at its approach have contain'd vastly more in number than the present does or can do So that altho' I do not pretend to give a particular guess at the number of the Antediluvians thereby yet I thought it not improper to be here inserted Which first Computation being thus dispatch'd I come to the 2. which I take to be very probable and very rational and perhaps within certain limits to be admitted in the present case Namely That the Primary increase of Mankind after the Creation that the World might not be destitute of Inhabitants for many Ages was not at least considering their greater Longaevity less than that of the Israelites in Egypt before-mention'd But that afterwards which was the case of the Israelites also a much less proportion obtain'd Upon which fair and modest Postulata I shall demonstrate the truth of that proposition we are now upon In order to which I observe from Mr. Graunt that at this day the number of People does so increase that in two hundred and eighty years the Country doubles its People and the City of London much sooner Let us therefore suppose that after the first two hundred and sixty six years of the World the former of those proportions were observed and that must by all be own'd sufficiently fair and compute how many the number of People must on such a Calculation arise to before the Deluge When therefore after the first two hundred and sixty six years there was near five periods each of two hundred and eighty years if the Longaevity of the Antediluvians and the consequent Coexistence and more numerous posterity were excluded the number of the Inhabitants by the Deluge would amount to about thirty times the former sum of three millions three hundred forty three thousand or one hundred millions two hundred and ninety thousand of Souls But if we withal allow as we ought that this number is on account of Coexistence to be twenty times as great and on account of more numerous posterity forty times so which is on both accounts eight hundred times as great as the last mention'd the number of People at the Deluge will amount to eighty thousand two hundred and thirty two millions which number since the present Inhabitants of the Earth as some conjecture scarcely exceed three hundred and fifty millions is above two hundred and twenty nine times as great as the Earth now actually contains upon it and by consequence many more than at present it could contain and supply And this Hypothesis and Calculation are
second Causes the constant Course of Nature and the Circumstances of Humane Affairs to the first Cause the ultimate Spring and Original of all and to call Mens Thoughts which are too apt to terminate there from the apparent occasions to the invisible God the Creator Governor and Disposer of the whole and the sole Object of their Regard and Adoration This is I say a very proper and reasonable procedure this is usually observ'd by the Sacred Penmen who are thereby peculiarly distinguish'd from Prophane Authors and this is of the highest advantage in Morality But then it must be withal acknowledg'd That this creates great difficulties in the present Case and makes it very hard in a Philosophick Attempt of this nature to distinguish between those parts of the Mosaick Creation which are Mechanically to be accounted for and those in which the miraculous Energy of God Almighty interpos'd it self which yet if ever is certainly to be allow'd in this case where a new World was to be form'd and a wild Chaos reduc'd into a regular beautiful and permanent System This being said in general to bespeak the Reader 's Candor in the present Case and to forewarn him not to fear the most Mechanical and Philosophick Account of this Creation as if thereby the Holy Scriptures were superseded or the Divine Power and Providence excluded I come directly to the Point before us and shall endeavour to determine what are the Instances of the extraordinary Power and Interposition of God in this whole Affair That as we shall presently see how Orderly Methodical and Regular this Formation was so we may before-hand be duly sensible how Supernatural Providential and Divine it was also and so as well like Christians contemplate and adore the Omnipotent Creator in his Miraculous as we like Philosophers shall attempt to consider and remark his Vicegerent Nature in her Mechanical Operations therein For notwithstanding what has been above insisted on touching the frequency and propriety of ascribing the Effects of Nature to the Divine Power the former being indeed nothing but the latter acting according to fixt and certain Laws yet because more has been commonly and may justly be suppos'd the importance of the Texts of Scripture hereto relating because the Finger of God or his supernatural Efficiency is if ever to be reasonably expected in the Origin of Things and that in a peculiar and remarkable manner because some things done in this Creation are beyond the power of Philosophy and Mechanism and no otherwise accountable but by the Infinite Power of God himself because the days of Creation are signally distinguish'd from those following in which God is said to have rested when yet his ordinary Concurrence and the Course of Nature was continued without Interruption and must therefore be reckon'd such on which he truly exerted a Power different from the other On all these accounts I freely and in earnest allow and believe That there was a peculiar Power and extraordinary Providence exercis'd by the great Creator of all in this Primitive Origin of the Sublunary World or Formation of the Earth which we are going to account for The particular instances I shall give of the same without presuming to exclude all others are these following 1. The Creation of the matter of the Universe and particularly of that of the Earth out of nothing was without doubt originally the alone and immediate Work of God Almighty Nature let what will be meant by that Name could have no hand in this from whence at the utmost she can but date her own Birth The production of a real Being out of nothing or to speak more properly the primary bringing any real thing into Being is in the Opinion of all Men the Effect of no less than an Infinite and Omnipotent Deity I have already owned this to be the import of the first words of this Creation we are now upon In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth And I think 't is here no improper place to declare my Opinion That considering the Idea and Nature of God includes Active Power Infinite Perfection with Necessity and so Eternity of Existence when the Idea and Nature of matter supposes intire Inactivity no positive Perfection and a bare Possibility or Capacity of Existence 't is as absurd and unreasonable to attribute Eternity and Necessity of Existence to the latter as 't is rational and natural to ascribe those Perfections with a Power of Creation to the former The very Being and Nature as well as the Properties and Powers of Matter being most justly and most philosophically to be referr'd to the Author of all the Almighty Creator And altho' our imagination a poor finite limited and imperfect Faculty be unable to have a positive Idea of the manner of the Production of a real Being at first as indeed 't were sufficiently strange if so confin'd a Power of so imperfect a Creature should adequately reach the highest point of Omnipotence it self yet seeing the Absurdities following the Eternity and Self-subsistence of Matter on the other side are so enormous and the certainty of the proper Creation of Spiritual Beings nobler than Matter such as the Souls of Men are as great as 't is utterly incredible they should have been ab aeterno too for I take it to be demonstrable that Souls are immaterial I think 't is far more reasonable to rest satisfied with our former Assertion That God did truly bring Matter into being at first than its Eternity suppos'd to make only the Modification and Management thereof the Province of the Almighty And consequently the first instance of a Divine Efficiency with relation to the Subject we are now upon and the highest of all other was the original Production of the Matter of which the Earth was to consist or the proper Creation of those inferior Heavens and of that Earth which were to be the sole Object of the Divine Operations in the six days Work This particular I confess does not so properly belong to our present business the Formation of the Chaos into a habitable World but could not well be omitted either consider'd in it self as it bears so peculiar a Relation to our present purpose or with respect to that misconstruction I might with some Readers have otherwise been liable to But I proceed 2. The changing of the Course and Orbit of the Chaos into that of a Planet to omit the former Annual and subsequent Diurnal Revolutions which tho' equally from God yet do not so fully belong to this place or the placing of the Earth in its primitive Circular Orbit at its proper distance therein to revolve about the Sun was either an instance of the immediate Power or at least of the peculiar Providence of God For if we should suppose as 't is possible to do that God did not by a miraculous Operation remove the Chaos or Comet from its very Eccentrick Ellipsis to that Circle in which it now
intire Bodies of all Plants and Animals 't is by no means hard to conceive that he might Create them in what degree of Maturity and Perfection he pleas'd without any manner of infringement of the Order of Nature then to be establish'd And if we have reason to believe that the Bodies of bruit Creatures were created in parvo in a small State such as we now call Seeds and so requir'd a proper Generation i. e. Nutrition and Augmentation of parts as the Mosaick History plainly describes them and had it not done so we could not with any certainty have asserted it We have sure equal reason to believe from the description of the same Author in this other case that the Bodies of our First Parents were Originally created in their Mature Bulk and State of Manhood so as immediately to be capable of the same Operations which at any time afterward they might be thought to be This Miraculous Origination of the Bodies of our First Parents is therefore very rationally ascribed to the Finger of God by Moses And we may justly believe that the Blessed Trinity as 't is represented in the Sacred History was peculiarly concern'd in the Production of that Being which was to bear the Image of God and be made capable of some degree of his Immortality And then as to the Soul of Man 't is certainly a very distinct Being from and one very much advanced above the Body and therefore if we were forc'd to introduce a Divine Power in the Formation of the latter we can do no less than that in the Creation and Infusion of the former And indeed the Dignity and Faculties of the Human Soul are so vastly exalted above all the Material or merely Animal Creation that its Original must be deriv'd from the immediate Finger of God in a manner still more peculiar and Divine than all the rest That nearer resemblance of the Spiritual Nature Immortal Condition Active Powers and Free Rational and Moral Operations of the Divine Being it self which the Souls of men were to bear about them did but require some peculiar and extraordinary Conduct in their first Existence after-Union with Matter and Introduction into the Corporeal World Agreeably whereto we may easily observe a signal distinction in the Sacred History between the formation of all other Animals and the Creation of Man In the former case 't is only said Let the waters bring forth the moving creature that hath life Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind But of the latter the entire Trinity consult And God said Let Us make man in our image after our likeness And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. As therefore the several parts of the Mosaick Creation before-mention'd are not to be mechanically attempted but look'd upon as the effects of the Extraordinary and Miraculous Power and Providence of God so more especially the Formation of the Body of Man in its mature state and most of all the primary Creation and after-Infusion of the Rational Human Soul is to be wholly ascrib'd to the same wonderful Interposition and Efficiency of the Supreme Being the Creator of all things God blessed for evermore All which taken together and duly considered is I think a sufficient and satisfactory Account of the Proposition before us and attributes as much to the Miraculous and Immediate Hand of God as either Tradition Reason or Scripture require in the present Case III. The Days of Creation and that of Rest had their beginning in the Evening III. This has been already accounted for and need not here be repeated Corollary 1. This Phaenomenon in some measure confirms our Hypothesis that the Primitive Days of the World were Years also For otherwise the space of one single short Night seems too inconsiderable to have been taken such notice of in this History and then and ever after made the first half of the Natural Day But if it were equal to half a Year it was too considerable to be omitted and its memory was very justly preserv'd in succeeding Ages Corollary 2. We may here begin to take notice of the Regularity and Methodicalness of this History of the Creation Which tho' it principally intends the giving an account of the Visible Parts of the World and how the state of Nature in each Period appeared in the Day time yet Omits not the foregoing Night which is very Mechanical and Natural For in the preceding Night all things were so prepar'd and dispos'd that the Work of each Day might upon its appearance display it self might be exhibited not in its unseen beginnings or secret Workings not in its praevious Causes and gradual Procedure which was not the Design of this History but in that more distinct and perfect condition in which things would in the Day time appear to the view of a Spectator and under which chiefly they were to be discribed and recorded in this History IV. At the time immediately preceding the Six Days Creation the Face of the Abyss or superior Regions of the Chaos were involv'd in a Thick Darkness IV. If we consider what has been already said of the Nature of a Comet or peculiarly of that Atmosphere which has been before shewn to have been the ancient Chaos we ought to represent it to our selves as containing a Central Solid Hot Body of about 7000 or 8000 Miles in Diameter and besides that a vastly large fluid heterogeneous Mass or congeries of Bodies in a very rare seperate and expanded condition whose Diameter were twelve or perhaps fifteen times as long as that of the central Solid or about 100000 Miles which is the Atmosphere or Chaos now to be consider'd In which we must remember was contain'd both a smaller quantity of dry solid or earthy Parts with a still much smaller of Aery and Watery and a much larger quantity of dense and heavy Fluids of which the main bulk of the Atmosphere was compos'd all confusedly mix'd blended and jumbled together In which state the Theorist's First Figure excepting the omission of the Central Solid will well enough represent it and in which state we accordingly delineate it in the following Figure But upon the change of the Comet 's Orbit from Elliptical to Circular the Commencing of the Mosaick Creation and the Influence of the Divine Spirit all things would begin to take their own places and each species of Bodies rank themselves into that order which according to the law of specifick gravity were due to them By which method the Mass of dense Fluids which compos'd the main bulk of the intire Chaos being heavier than the Masses of Earth Water and Air would sink downwards with the greatest force and velocity and elevate those Masses inclosed among them upwards Which procedure must therefore distinguish the Chaos or Atmosphere into two very different and
Dust would be the lowest and the Water swim uppermost on the surface of the other without mingling therewith yet will the latter immediately sink downwards and so throughly drench and satiate the said Mass before any will remain on the top that its proportion to that of the Solid parts will be very considerable Which being apply'd to the point before us will take away all imaginable difficulty in the case It being evident without this comparison that such Watery Particles as were already intermix'd with the others would remain where they were and with this equally so that the rest which were above the same upon the first subsidence of the Earthy Strata would penetrate pervade and saturate the same So that on this first Day or Year of the Creation the Earthy and Denser parts would take their places lowest on the surface of the great Abyss would settle in part into the same and compose an Orb of Earth and in its Interstices and little Cavities all such Watery Particles as were already in this Region or descended upon it before its consolidation would be enclos'd and that as far above the surface of the Abyss to which they would be contiguous as their quantity could enable them to reach On this first Day or Year also the upper Regions of the Chaos being now in some measure freed from those Earthy and Opake Masses which before excluded the same and caused the before-mention'd thick Darkness would in some degree admit the Rays of the Sun Now therefore that glorious Emanation Light the visible part of this days Work would begin to appear on the face of the Earth Now would It by the Annual Motion successively illuminate the several parts of it And now would it consequently cause that natural Distinction between Darkness and Light Night and Day round the whole Globe which was to be accounted for in this Proposition Which progress of the Chaos and state of Nature is well enough exhibited by the Theorist's third Figure which therefore is here delineated Corollary Hence we may observe the Justness of the Mosaick Creation and how fitly it begins at the Production of Light without taking notice of such prior conditions and such preparations of the Chaos which have been before explain'd and were in order of Nature previous to this days Work For this account reaching only to the Visible World and the Visible Effects in it and keeping still within the bounds of sense and of common observation could not better be accommodated to the truth of things and the capacities of all than by such a Procedure The Ancient condition of the Chaos in former Ages was no way here concern'd and so was intirely to be omitted The State of Darkness which immediately preceded the Six Days Work and which with relation thereto was necessary to be mention'd made a very proper introduction and so very fitly was to be hinted at by way of Preface thereto Both which cases are accordingly by Moses taken care of And so the first Period was the Production of Light the Admission of the Rays of the Sun and the Origin of Day and Night depending thereon as the Method and Decorum of things with the apprehensions of the People did both very naturally require For since in this Sacred History of the Origin of things not only the Visible World and the Visible parts of it were singly concern'd But principally the Effects to be enumerated were such as requir'd the Light and Heat of the Sun the one to be View'd the other to be Produced by and without the latter could no more have Been at all than been Conspicuous without the former 'T was very suitable and very natural in the first place to introduce the Cause or Instrument and afterwards in the succeeding Periods to recount the Effects thereof in the World First to acquaint us that the Light and Heat of the Sun were in some measure admitted into the upper Regions of the Chaos and then to relate those remarkable consequences thereof which the succeeding Periods of the Creation exhibited on the face of the Earth Which Order of Nature and Succession of Things is accordingly very prudently and fitly observ'd and kept pace with in this Sacred History VI. The visible part of the Second Day 's Work was the Elevation of the Air with all it s contained Vapours the spreading it for an Expansum above the Earth and the distinction thence arising of Superior and Inferior Waters The formet consisting of those Vapours rais'd and sustain'd by the Air The latter of such as either were inclos'd in the Pores Interstices and Bowels of the Earth or lay upon the Surface thereof VI. When at the Conclusion of the former Day the Heat of the Sun began considerably to penetrate the Superior Regions of the Chaos and the two different Orbs the Solider Earthy and the Fluider Aery Masses began to be pretty well distinguished the same things would proceed still on this succeeding Day The Lower Earthy Strata would be settling somewhat closer together the Watery parts would subside and saturate their inward Pores and Vacuities and the Atmosphere would free it self more and more from the heaviest and most Opake Corpuscles and thereby become in a greater degree tenuious pure and clear than before Whereupon by that time the Night or first half of this Second Day or Year was over and the Sun arose The Light and Heat of that Luminary would more freely and deeply penetrate the Atmosphere and become very sensible in these Upper or Aery Regions Which being suppos'd the proper Effect which were to be next expected must be that vast quantities of Vapours would be elevated into and there sustained by the now better purified Air while in the mean time all the Earthy Corpuscles which were uncapable of rarefaction and with them all such Watery Particles as were so near the Earth that the Sun's Power could not sufficiently reach them were still sinking downwards and increasing the crassitude and bulk of the Solid Earth and of its included Waters From all which 't is easie to account for the Particulars of this Day 's Work The Expansum or Firmament which was this day spread out above the Earth was plainly the Air now truly so called as being freed from most of its Earthy mixtures The Superior Waters All those which in the form of Vapour a half years heat of the Sun with the continual assistance of the Central Heat could elevate and the Air sustain The Inferior Waters those which were not elevated but remain'd below all that fell down with were enclosed in sunk into and if you will lay upon the Orb of Earth beneath And when it is particularly said by Moses that 't was this Expansum or Firmament which was to divide the Superior from the Inferior Waters that is exactly agreeable to the nature of things and suitable to this account It being the Air which truly and properly sustain'd all those Vapours as now it
does the Clouds above the Earth and was thereby the means of separating them from their Fellows in the Bowels or on the surface thereof Which state of the Chaos or Progress of the Creation is well represented in the Theorist's fourth Figure which here follows Corollary I. Hence appears a sufficient Reason why in this Six Days Creation one intire Day is allow'd to the Formation of the Air and the distinguishing the Vapours in the same from those beneath which has hitherto seem'd somewhat strange and disproportionate 'T is certain this Work requir'd as long a time and was of as great importance as any other whatsoever All that Water which the Earth was to have in its Air or upon its Surface till the Deluge being 't is probable intirely owing to this day's elevation of them For had they not been thus buoy'd up and sustain'd on high they must have sunk downward and so been inclosed in the Bowels of the Earth without possibility of redemption and have rendred the Antediluvian World more like to a dry and barren Wilderness than what it was to exceed a juicy fruitful and habitable Canaan Coroll 2. Hence arises a new confirmation that the Days of the Creation were Years also For seeing the quantity of Water which was preserv'd above ground and fill'd all the Seas before the Deluge was no greater than was this Second Day elevated into Vapour had this Day been no longer than one of ours at present the foremention'd quantity would have been so far from saturing the Earth supplying the Rivers and filling all the Seas that every day it would be wholly exhal'd afterwards and suffer the intire Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms to perish for want of moisture All which in the Hypothesis we here take is wholly avoided and a very fit and suitable proportion of Waters preserv'd above for all the necessities of the Earth with its Productions and Inhabitants And this consideration affords one very good reason why the commencing of the Diurnal Rotation was defer'd till after the Formation of the Earth was over there being an evident necessity thereof in order to the providing Water sufficient for the needs of those Creatures for whose sake the whole Creation was ordain'd and perform'd In which procedure plain tokens of the Divine Wisdom cannot but be very conspicuous and observable to us 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 VII In order to the Apprehending of the double operation of this Day we must call to mind what state the Orb of Earth was in by this time We have seen already that it had been setling together and fixing it self on the surface of the Abyss from the very beginning of the Creation and we ought to suppose that in the space of two years it was not only become wholly distinct from the Abyss below and the Atmosphere above it but that it was settled and consolidated together and its Strata grown firm and compacted We must farther observe that by reason of its Columns different Density and Specifick Gravity attested to à priori from the Chaos's and à posteriori from the internal Earth's Phaenomena it was setled into the Abyss in different degrees and thereby became of an unequal surface distinguish'd into Mountains Plains and Valleys Which things being suppos'd and consider'd the two Works of this Day or Year of the Creation which are of themselves very different will be easily understood and reconcil'd For when at Sun-set or the conclusion of the last Day we left the Air by half a Years Power of the Sun crowded with Vapours to a prodigious degree upon the coming on of this Third Day and in its Night or former half the said vast quantities of Vapours must needs descend and so by degrees must leave the Air pretty free and take their places on the Surface of the Earth altering thereby their own denomination and becoming of Upper or Coelestial Lower or Terrestrial Waters Indeed if we do but allow the effect to be in any measure answerable to the time we shall grant that in the half year of Night which is the former part of this Third Period of the Creation the main Body of the Vapours must have not only descended down upon the Earth but by reason of the inequality of its Surface and the Solidity withal have run down from the higher and more extant parts by the Declivities and Hollows into the lowest Valleys and most depressed Regions of all must in these places have compos'd Seas and Lakes every where throughout the Surface of the Earth and so by that time the light appear'd and the Sun 's rising began the latter part of this Day the intire face of the Globe which was just before cover'd as it were with the descending Waters must be distinguish'd into overflow'd Valleys and extant Continents into Seas and Dry-land that very Work of this Day we were in the first place to enquire about The waters under the heavens were now gathered together into their respective and distinct places and the dry land appear'd and became fit for the Production of the Vegetable Kingdom Which therefore most naturally leads us to the second branch of this Day 's Work For when this part hitherto was compleated on the Night or former half of this Day which the Absence of the Sun so long together rendred peculiarly and solely fit to permit and procure the descent of the Vapours and when at the same time the Dry Land was now distinguish'd from the Seas and just become in the utmost degree moist and juicy upon the Sun Rising or coming on of the Day-time 't was of all other the most fit and convenient Season for the Germination of the Seeds of Vegetables and the growth of Trees Shrubs Plants and Herbs out of the Earth The Soil Satur'd and Fatned by the foregoing half Year's descent of Vapours was now like the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that fruitful Seminary of the Vegetable and Animal productions of Primitive Nature so much celebrated by all Antiquity An intire half year of the Sun's presence together was a time as proper and as natural for such a purpose as could possibly be desir'd And when there was this half Year of Day to spare in this Period of the Creation after one Work was compleated and the same was so very fitly prepar'd and dispos'd for the production of Vegetables 't is no wonder that this above all the other Divisions has a double Task and that the Seas and Dry Land were distinguish'd and the Vegetables produc'd on the same Day or Year of the Creation according as from the Mosaick History the present Proposition asserts And if we allow for the defect of the inequalities of the
outward Surface too small to be therein consider'd and suppose the Atmosphere somewhat clearer than before the former figure will still serve well enough and represent the progress and state of the Earth at the conclusion of this Third Day Corollary 1. When according to our present accounts of these matters this is the only day of the Creation to which a double work and that the one quite different from the other ought to be ascrib'd and is ascrib'd by Moses The Night being peculiarly fit for the former and the Day for the latter operation which could happen on none of the other Periods This exactness of correspondence ought to be esteem'd an Evidence of the literal sense of the Writer and of his accommodation to the nature of things and a very considerable confirmation of those Hypotheses on which it so naturally depends Coroll 2. Hence arises a Confirmation of what was before asserted that the Antediluvian Earth had only lesser Lakes and Seas not a vast Ocean For when the quantity of Waters belonging to the Earth and Air at first was no more than was elevated in one half year and at once sust ain'd by the Air no one will imagine it sufficient to fill the intire Ocean alone if there had been neither lesser Seas nor Rivers to be supply'd therewith And so vice versa It having been prov'd by other Arguments that there was no Ocean but only lesser Seas before the Flood This Account which affords sufficient quantity of Water for the latter but not for the former is thereby not a little confirm'd Coroll 3. Tho' the Heat and Influence of the Sun was on this Third Day very great yet was his Body not yet Visible For since at his Rising the Earth and lowest Regions of the Air were very full of moisture while the higher Regions were very clear and bright the force of his heat would be so great as to elevate considerable quantities of Vapours on a sudden and thereby e're the lowest Air had deposited its Vapours and rendred it self transparent the Sun would anew hide himself in a thick Mist and so prevent his own becoming conspicuous which otherwise 't is not improbable he might this Day have been VIII The Fourth Day 's Work was the Placing the Heavenly Bodies Sun Moon and Stars in the Expansam 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 VIII Altho' the Light of the Sun penetrated the Atmosphere in some sort the first Day and in the succeeding ones had very considerable influence upon it yet is it by no means to be suppos'd that his Body was Visible all that while Tho' we every day enjoy much more Light and Heat from the Sun than the Primitive Earth could for a considerable space be suppos'd to have done yet 't is but sometimes that the Air is so clear as to render his Body discernible by us A very few Clouds or Vapours gather'd together in our Air are able we see to hinder such a prospect for Weeks if not Months together while yet at the same time we are sufficiently sensible of his Force and Influence in the constant productions of Nature Which things being duly consider'd and the vastness and density of the Upper Chaos allow'd for 't will be but reasonable to afford a great space even after the first penetration of Light for the intire clearing of the Atmosphere and the distinct view of the Sun's Body by a Spectator on the Surface of the Earth I suppose no one will think the two first Days or Years of the' Creation too long for such a work or if any one does the particular work and state of the Atmosphere on the second Day will prevent the most probable part of such a surmise and shew the impossibility of the Sun's Appearance at that time And the same reason will in a sufficient tho a less degree prevent any just Expectations on the third Day as was observ'd in the last Corollary But now upon the coming on of this fourth Day and the Sun's descent and abode below the Horizon for an intire half year those Vapours which were rais'd the day before must fall downwards and so before the approach of the Morning leave the Air in the greatest clearness and purity imaginable and permit the Moon first then the Stars and afterward upon the coming on of the Day the Sun himself most plainly to appear and be conspicuous on the Face of the Earth This fourth Day is therefore the very time when acording to this Account and the Sacred History both these Heavenly Bodies which were in being before but so as to be wholly Strangers to a Spectator on Earth were rendred visible and expos'd to the view of all who should be suppos'd to be there at the same time They now were in the Sacred Stile placed in the Firmament of Heaven gave Light upon the Earth began to rule plainly and visibly over the Day and over the Night and to divide the Light from the Darkness as ever since they have continued to do And now the inanimate World or the Earth Air Seas and all their Vegetable Productions are compleat and the Tradition of those Chineses who inhabit Formosa and other Islands appears well-grounded and exactly true who hold That the World when first created was without Form or Shape but by one of their Deities was brought to its full Perfection in four Years Which Progress of the Creation and State of Nature is exactly represented by the Theorist's fifth and last Figure which therefore here follows 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 IX The Terraqueous Globe being now become habitable both to the swimming and volatil Animals and the Air clear and so penetrable by that compleat Heat of the Sun which was requisite to the Generation of such Creatures 't is a very proper time for their Introduction Which was accordingly done upon this fifth Day or Year of the Creation Those Seeds or little Bodies of Fish and Fowl which were contain'd in the Water or moist fruitful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of kin to it were now expos'd to the kindly warmth of the Sun and the constant supply of a most gentle and equal Heat from beneath they were neither disturbed by the sudden alteration of the Temperature of the Air from the violence of Winds or by the Agitations of the Tide which was both very small in these small Seas and by reason of the absence of the Diurnal Rotation imperceptibly easy gentle and gradual these Seeds I say when invigorated with the Divine Benediction became now prolifick and in this fifth Day 's time a numerous Off-spring of the swimming and volatil Kinds arose whereby the two fluid Elements Water and Air became
replenish'd with those first Pairs which by the Benediction they straightway receiv'd were enabled to become the original of all of the same Kinds which ever were to be the Inhabitants of those Regions afterwards Which time and procedure is no less agreeable to the State of the World in our Hypothesis than 't is to the express Affirmations of Moses who makes Fish and Fowl the sole Product of the fifth Day or Year of the Creation X. The Sixth Day 's Work was the Production of all the Terrestrial or Dry-land Animals and that in a different manner For the Brute Beasts were produc'd out of the Earth as the Fish and Fowl had been before out of the Waters but after that the Body of Adam was form'd of the Dust of the Ground who by the Breath of Life breath'd into him in a peculiar manner became a Living Soul Some time after which on the same day he was cast into a deep Sleep and Eve was form'd out of a Rib taken from his side Together with several other things of which a more particular account has been already given on another occasion X. The Earth being now grown more Solid Compact and Dry its Surface distinguish'd into Sea and Dry-land each of which were stor'd in some sort with Inhabitants and Vegetables the Air being fully clear and fit for Respiration and the other Dispositions of External Nature being equally subservient to this as well as it had been before to the last day's Productions 't was a proper Season for the Generation of the Dry-land Animals and the Introduction of the noblest of them Man which accordingly were the first Works on this sixth Day or Year of the Creation Any more particular account of which or of the following Works is not so directly the design of this Theory and so shall not be here farther insisted on We may only take notice of two things the one is the peculiar Manner the other the peculiar Time for the Creation of Man As to the former Tho' 't is granted that all the other Day 's Works mention'd by Moses were brought to pass in a natural way by proper and suitable Instruments and a mechanical Process as we have seen through the whole Series of the foregoing Creation yet 't is evident as has been already observ'd That an immediate and miraculous Power was exercis'd in the formation of the Body and Infusion of the Soul of Man as well as in some other particular Cases belonging to this Origin of Things In plain terms I take it to be evident That that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Blessed Mediator who was afterward very frequently conversant on Earth appear'd in a humane Form to the Patriarchs gave the Law in a visible Glory and with an audible Voice on Mount Sinai guided the Israelites personally in a Pillar of Fire and of a Cloud through the Wilderness inhabited between the Cherubins in the Holy of Holies and took the peculiar Stile Titles Attributes Adoration and incommunicable Name of the God of Israel and at last was Incarnate liv'd a true Man amongst us died for us and ascended into Heaven makes still Intercession for us with the Father and will come to Judge the World in Righteousness at the last Day That this very same Divine Person was actually and visibly in a humane Shape conversant on Earth and was truly and really employ'd in this Creation of the World and particularly in this peculiar Formation of Man so frequently ascribed to him in the Holy Scriptures It being both unfit and impossible for the Divine Nature it self or at least that of the Father to be so much and in such a manner concern'd with the Corporeal World and the sinful Race of Mankind as we find here and every where this Divine Person our Blessed Mediator to have been as the Texts quoted a little above compar'd together do I think fully prove Seeing therefore our Saviour Christ God-man was personally present and actually employ'd in this Primitive Creation of the World Seeing Man was to be a Creature intirely different from all the rest a Being compounded of a Spiritual and Immortal Soul and of a Material and Corruptible Body Seeing in both these he was to be made in the likeness of that Divine Person who created him and be constituted his Deputy and Vicegerent among the Creatures here below 't was but reasonable there should be as great a distinction in his Original as was to be in his Nature and Faculties his Office and Dignity his Capacities and Happiness from the other parts of the visible Creation and by consequence that peculiar Interposition of God himself in the Formation of the Body and Infusion of the Soul of our first Parents so particularly observable in the Mosaick History is both very agreeable to the Nature of things very suitable to the Wisdom of God and very reconcilable to the most Philosophick Accounts of this Origin of the World and withal a remarkable token of the Dignity of Human Nature of the distinction between his Soul and Body and of the great Condescension and Love of God towards us and so the most highly worthy of our consideration Neither is the other circumstance the peculiar Time of the Creation of Man to be pass'd over without a proper Reflection on it 'T were easy to shew That none of the preceding Days were in any degree so fit for nay most of them not capable of this Creation and Introduction of Man But upon this sixth Period when every thing which could be subservient to him and advance his felicity was compleated he who was to be the Lord of All and for whose sake the whole was fram'd was brought into the World When the Light had been penetrating into and clarifying this dark and thick Atmosphere for more than five compleat Years together when the Air was freed from its numberless Vapours and become pure clear and fit for his Respiration when the Waters as well superior as interior were so dispos'd as to minister to his necessities by Mists and Dews from the Heavens and by Springs and Rivers from the Earth when the Surface of the Earth was become dry and solid for his support and was cover'd over with Trees Shrubs Plants Herbs Grass and Flowers for his Sustenance and Delight when the glorious Firmament of Heaven and the beautiful System of the Sun Moon and Stars were visible and conspicuous to him the Objects of his Contemplation the Distinguishers of his Seasons by whose powerful Influences the Earth was invigorated and the World rendred a fruitful and useful a lightsome and pleasant Habitation to him when lastly all sorts of Animals in the Seas in the Air or on the Earth were so dispos'd as to attend benefit and please him one way or other when I say all these things were by the Care Beneficence and Providence of God prepar'd for the entertainment of this principal Guest then
of Life and Health such a Change must have on the Person before-mention'd 't is not difficult to imagine And as easie on a like comparison of the Antediluvian AEther and the present Atmosphere to account for the Proposition before us and shew as well why men dye at all uncertain Periods of Years and have while they live a Precarious State of Health with frequent sicknesses as why none reach any whit near the long Ages of those that before the Deluge continued in Health and Security for near a thousand Years XLIII Tho' the Antediluvian Earth was not destitute of lesser Seas and Lakes every where dispers'd on the Surface thereof yet had it no Ocean or large receptacle of Waters separating one Continent from another and covering so large a portion of it as the present Earth has XLIII From the Original Formation of the Earth above describ'd and its unequal subsidence into the Abyss beneath while in the mean time vast quantities of Vapours were sustain'd above and afterwards let fall upon the Earth its Surface would be unequal its lowest Valleys fill'd with Water and a truly Terraqueous Globe would arise But these two plain Reasons may be assigned why any great Ocean were not to be expected at the same time 1. So Vast and Deep a Valley as the Ocean implies is not in reason to be deriv'd from such a regular formation of the Earth from a Chaos as we have above describ'd No good reason being assignable why in such a confused mixture as we call a Chaos the parts should be so strangely dispos'd that on one side all the Upper Orb for some scores of Degrees and some thousands of Miles together should be Denser and Heavier than the rest and by its sinking deepest into the Abyss produce the vast Channel of the Ocean while on another side the same Orb for as many Degrees and Miles should be universally Rare and Light enough to be very much extant and compose a mighty Continent as the case is in our present Earth Tho' the Atmosphere of a Comet be so truly Heterogeneous and it s Opake or Earthy Masses so unequally scatter'd abroad on the different sides thereof as even setting aside the inequality of the Density and Specifick Gravity of the several Columns might compose an Orb of different Thickness or Crassitude and so cause an unequal Orb on the Face of the Abyss like that we before suppos'd it originally to have been Yet so mighty an inequality as the present Division of the Earth into an Ocean and Continents must suppose is by no means to be allow'd in the Primitive Chaos nor would I suppose by any be asserted if the Generation of those grand Divisions of our Globe were otherwise accountable which on our Principles being so easily done as will soon appear no reason can plead here for their Primitive Introduction And sure those Agitation and Motions of Parts visible in some sort now in Comets Atmospheres and to be however granted in the digestion of its parts at first must sure mix and jumble the parts together to a degree sufficient to prevent so strange an inequality as the Original Existence of the Ocean and Continents must needs imply However 2. The quantity of Water preserv'd above ground was little or nothing more as we have shew'd than the Heat of the Sun and Central Solid was able to elevate and the Air at once to sustain during half a years space the day time of the second Period of the Creation Which how insufficient it must have been to the filling of the great Ocean is easily understood Which things consider'd the Absence of the Ocean as well as the Existence of Seas is very easily accountable in the Antediluvian World CHAP. IV. A Solution of the Phaenomena relating to the Universal Deluge and its Effects upon the Earth XLIV In the Seventeenth Century from the Creation there happen'd a most extraordinary and prodigious Deluge of Waters upon the Earth XLIV WHatever difficulties may hitherto have rendred this most Noted Catastrophe of the Old World that it was destroy'd by Waters very hard if not wholly inexplicable without an Omnipotent Power and Miraculous Interposition since the Theory of Comets with their Atmospheres and Tails is discover'd they must vanish of their own accord For if we consider that a Comet is no other than a Chaos including the very same Bodies and Parts of which our own Earth is compos'd that the outward Regions of its Atmosphere are plain Vapours or such a sort of Mist as we frequently see with us and the Tail a column of the same Vapours rarified and expanded to a greater degree as the Vapours which in the clearest Days or Nights our Air contains at present are and that withal such a Comet is capable of passing so close by the Body of the Earth as to involve it in its Atmosphere and Tail a considerable time and leave prodigious quantities of the same Condensed and Expanded Vapours upon its Surface we shall easily see that a Deluge of Waters is by no means an impossible thing and in particular that such an individual Deluge as to the Time Quantity and Circumstances which Moses describes is no more so but fully accountable that it might be nay almost demonstrable that it really was All which the Solutions following will I think give an easie and mechanical account of XLV This prodigious Deluge of Waters was mainly occasion'd by a most extraordinary and violent Rain for the space of forty Days and as many Nights without intermission XLV When the Earth passed clear through the Atmosphere and Tail of the Comet in which it would remain for about 10 or 12 hours as from the Velocity of the Earth and the Crassitude of the said Tail on Calculation does appear it must acquire from the violence of the Column of Vapours descend towards the Sun impeded by the Earth's Interposition and Reception of the same and from the Attractive Power of the Earth it self withal enforcing more to descend it must I say acquire upon its Surface immense quantities of the Vapours before mention'd A great part of which being in a very Rare and Expanded condition after their Primary Fall would be immediately mounted upward into the Air and afterward descend in violent and outragious Rains upon the Face of the Earth All those Vapours which were rarer and lighter than that Air which is immediately contiguous to the Earth must certainly ascend to such a height therein where its Density and Specifick Gravity were correspondent as far as that Croud of their fellow Vapours with which the Air was oppress'd would give leave And so afterwards as they cool'd thicken'd and collected together like our present Vapours must descend in most prodigious Showers of Rain for a long time afterwards and very naturally occasion that forty Days and forty Nights Rain mention'd in the Proposition before us XLVI This vast quantity of Waters was not deriv'd from the Earth or Seas
very first ceasing of the Rains from above and of the Waters from the Abyss beneath which permitted the least subsiding and diminution of the Deluge the Ark must immediately rest upon the ground and thereby secure it self from the impending Storms And that accordingly it did so at the time assign'd on the conclusion of the 150 days or the very same individual day when the Wind began is particularly and expresly observ'd and affirm'd by Moses Which being a very remarkable coincidence exactly agreeable to the present Hypothesis as well as to the Sacred History and of very considerable Importance I shall set down the words at large as follows The waters prevailed upon the Earth an hundred and fifty days viz. from the seventeenth of thesecond to the seventeenth of the seventh Month And God remembred Noah and every living thing and all the Cattel that was with him in the Ark And God made a wind to pass over the earth and the waters asswaged The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped and the rain from heaven was restrained And the waters returned from off the earth continually and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated And the ark rested in the seventh month on the seventeenth day of the month upon the mountains of Ararat Corollary Hence 't is obvious to remark the wonderful Providence of God for the Preservation of the Ark and the sole Remains of the old World therein contain'd in ordering all circumstances so that it was afloat just all the calm Season of the Deluge but as soon as ever any tempestuous Weather arose was safe landed on the top of Caucasus LVII This Deluge of Waters was universal in its extent and effect reaching to all the parts of the Earth and destroying all the Land-Animals on the intire Surface thereof those only excepted which were with Noah in the Ark. LVII This might justly have been made a Corollary of the next Proposition for if the Waters in any one Region much more a compleat Hemisphere exceeded the tops of the highest Mountains it would certainly diffuse it self and overflow the other also But being capable in the present Hypothesis of a separate Proof deserves a distinct Consideration Now of the several Causes of the Deluge those Vapours which were deriv'd from the Comet 's Tail both at the first and second passage of the Earth through the entire Column thereof by reason of the Earth's Mora or abiding therein about 12 hours or a semi-revolution and the fall of the Vapours on an entire Hemisphere at the same time would affect the whole Earth and though not exactly equally yet pretty universally make a Deluge in all the Regions of the Globe The subterraneous Waters being the proper effect of the weight of the other would also be as universal as they and that every where generally speaking in the same proportion 'T is true the Waters which were derived from the Atmosphere of the Comet the principal Source of the 40 days Rain were not wholly so universal as the former at first by reason of the shorter Mora or abiding of the Earth therein though even much above half of the Earth's entire surface would hence be immediately affected But if we consider the Velocity of the Earth's Diurnal Rotation and that the Mass of newly acquir'd Vapours was not at first partaker of the same but by degrees to receive the impression thereof we shall with ease apprehend that a few of the first Rotations would wind or wrap these as well as the other Vapours quite round the Earth and thereby cause a very equal distribution of them all in the Atmosphere and at last render the Rains very evenly Universal To which uniform distribution the Nature of the Air it self as at present it I suppose does might contribute Such an Elastical Fluid as the Air scarce suffering a lasting Density or Croud of Vapours in one Region without communicating some part to the others adjoining that so a kind of Equilibrium in the weight crassitude and density of its several Columns may be preserv'd through the whole So that at last the Deluge must have been Universal because every one of the Causes thereof appear to have been truly so LVIII The Waters at their utmost height were fifteen Cubits above the highest Mountains or three Miles at the least perpendicular above the common Surface of the Plains and Seas LVIII In order to make some estimate of the quantity of Water which this Hypothesis affords us let us suppose that the one half came from the Comet or the Rains and the other half from the Subterraneous Water Tho' 't is not impossible that much the greater part might arise from the latter Let us also suppose that the tenth part of the rest arose from the Tail of the Comet at both the times of its enclosing the Earth and the other nine from its Atmosphere tho' 't is possible that a much less proportion ought to be deriv'd from the former 'T is evident from the Velocity of Comets at the distance from the Sun here to be consider'd and the usual Crassitude or Diameter of the Tails thereof that the Earth would be near half a day or 12 hours each time within the limits thereof and by consequence that it would intercept and receive upon it self a Cylindrical Column of Vapour whose Basis were equal to that of a great Circle on the Earth and whose Altitude were about 750000 Miles If we therefore did but know the proper density of the Vapour compesing the Tail of the Comet or what proportion it bears to that of Water 't were easie to reduce this matter to Calculation and very nearly to determine the quantity enquired after That the Tail of a Comet especially at any considerable distance from the Comet it self is exceeding rare is evident by the vastness of its extent and the distinct appearance of the sixt Stars quite through the immense Crassitude of its entire Column Let us for computation's sake suppose that the Density of Water to that of this Expanded Column of Vapour is as 3400000 to one or which is all one since Water is to our Air in Density as 850 to one that the Density of our Air is to the Density of this Coulmn of Vapour as 4000 to one which degree of rareness if it be not enough at a great distance from the Comet as at the second passage yet I suppose may be more than sufficient at the very Region adjoining thereto as at the first passage and so upon the whole no unreasonable Hypothesis So that if we divide the Altitude of this Cylindrical Column of 750000 Miles or 3750000000 Feet by 3400000 37500 by 34 we shall have a Column of Water equal thereto By which Calculation the quantity of Water acquir'd at each time of the passage through the Tail would equal a Cylinder whose Basis were a great Circle on the Earth as above and whose
the doing of which will establish the truth of that Observation I am now upon beyond reasonable contradiction which I thus attempt At the Exodus of the Children of Israel out of Egypt the number of the men on foot besides children was about six hundred thousand More exactly a little above a year afterwards the number of the Males of Israel above twenty years old all that were able to go forth to war were besides the Levites Six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty Now the number of the years between these Accounts of the People and that towards the Conclusion of the Reign of David was about 472 or 473 as Chronologers very well know Say then by the Golden Rule if 360 Years double the People or produce 1200000 how many by a proportionable increase will 473 Years produce The Product whereof is 1576666 which therefore according to the foremention'd rate ought to be the number of the Israelites at the time when David numbred them 473 Years afterwards Now the number of the Israelites taken by Joab was expresly eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the Sword Besides which there were twelve Companies of 24000 men a-piece already numbred and enroll'd to wait by Turns on the King in the twelve Months of the Year Which are 288000. So that the Total of the Men of All Isreal was 1088000 or in a round number 1100000 Men as 't is expresly in the Book of Chronicles To which add the Men of Judah 470000. or including as usual the small Tribe of Benjamin which besides Levi came not into the former Sum about 500000. according to the express words of the Book of Samuel And so at last the Total Sum is 1600000 or more nicely 1588000 which is wonderfully near the former sum of 1576666 produc'd by the Arithmetical Calculation above and highly worthy of our regard and admiration 'T is true the Israelites rather decreas'd in the Wilderness and at the end of the first thirty eight or thirty nine years by reason of the cutting off the intire murmuring Generation e're the youngest of them were fifty nine years old were not quite so many as at the time of their first numbring when they came out of Egypt But then as this will be an excepted case and the remaining 434 years within a small matter will still answer the assigned Proportion so indeed this destruction was not greater than ought to be suppos'd oft-times to happen and such as both has formerly and does at this day frequently happen in the World on the allowance of which the Period of 360 Years was determined And therefore ought not to be distinctly consider'd in the present case We may therefore upon the whole matter very reasonably determine that excepting what disturbance extraordinary and uncommon Wars Famines Plagues and such other Merciless destroyers of Mankind have given thereto Mankind have generally increas'd in the same determinate Proportion and doubled themselves in three hunderd and sixty years for more than three thousand years from the Time of Moses till the present Age as was to be prov'd Which Observation thus establish'd what Light it might afford Ancient History and the Holy Scriptures as well as the present Theory 't is not my business here to enquire But I shall refer the same to the careful Consideration of the Reader FINIS Books Printed for Benj. 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Mat. xiii 35. xxiv 21. xxv 34. Luk. xi 50. Joh. xvii 5 24. Rom. i. 20. Eph. i. 4. Heb. iv 3. ix 26. 1 Pet. i. 20. Apoc xiii 8. xvii 8. Mark xiii 19. Gen. ii 1. ver 4. Command 4. Mat. xxvi 13. Mark xvi 15. Mat. iv 8. Gen. i. 7 8. Cap. xi 4. Deut ix 1. Mat. xxiv 30. xxvi 64. Ps. cxlviii 4. Mat. viii 20. xiii 32. Gen. i. 20. Gen.
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