by Thomas Burnet

Thomas Burnet's The Sacred Theory of the Earth *(joined 1726 English edition, two volumes) constructs a rational-mechanical sacred history of the world from primordial chaos through the Flood, paradise, future conflagration, a renewed earth, and final consummation. The second volume also preserves the review, replies to Erasmus Warren, a short consideration of his defence, and later reflections.

This is early modern Christian natural philosophy and scriptural cosmology, not modern geology, astronomy, earth science, or a consensus theological account. Burnet combines Genesis, classical philosophy, conjectural mechanics, providence, and polemic; his physical claims and chronology are historically important but scientifically obsolete.

This joined text-only reader preserves both prefaces; Books I–IV; 23 chapter headings in Volume I and 40 across Volume II's books and supplements; conclusions, review, Warren controversies, bookseller advertisement, reflections, 38 source footnotes, Latin and Greek passages, and final devotional matter. Inline page markers and figure captions remain. The 23-image layer and duplicate contents are excluded; Gutenberg's note records that footnotes were collected at each volume's end.

Volume I

Preface to the Reader

Having given an Account of this whole Work in the first Chapter, and of the Method of either Book, whereof this Volume consists, in their proper Places, there remains not much to be said here to the Reader. This Theory of the Earth may be called Sacred, because it is not the common Physiology of the Earth, or of the Bodies that compose it, but respects only the great Turns of Fate, and the Revolutions of our natural World; such as are taken notice of in the Sacred Writings, and are truly the Hinges upon which the Providence of this Earth moves; or whereby it opens and shuts the several successive Scenes whereof it is made up. This English Edition is the xviiisame in Substance with the Latin, though, I confess, ’tis not so properly a Translation, as a new Composition upon the same Ground, there being several additional Chapters in it, and several new-moulded.

As every Science requires a peculiar Genius, so likewise there is a Genius peculiarly improper for every one: And as to Philosophy, which is the Contemplation of the Works of Nature, and the Providence that governs them, there is no Temper or Genius, in my Mind, so improper for it, as that which we call a mean and narrow Spirit; and which the Greeks call Littleness of Soul. This is a Defect in the first Make of some Mens Minds, which can scarce ever be corrected afterwards, either by Learning or Age. And as Souls that are made little and incapacious cannot enlarge their Thoughts to take in any great Compass of Times or Things; so what is beyond their Compass, or above their Reach, they are apt to look upon as fantastical, or at least would willingly have it pass for such in the World. Now as there is nothing so great, so large, so immense, as the Works of Nature, and the Methods of Providence, Men of this Complexion must needs be very unfit for the Contemplation of them. Who would set a purblind Man at the Top of the Mast to discover Land? Or upon an high Tower to draw a Landskip of the Country round about? For the same Reason, short-sighted Minds are unfit to make Philosophers, whose proper Business xixit is to discover and describe in comprehensive Theories the Phænomena of the World, and the Causes of them.

This Original Disease of the Mind is seldom cur’d by Learning, which cures many others; like a Fault in the first Stamina of the Body, it cannot easily be rectified afterwards. ’Tis a great Mistake to think that every sort of Learning makes a Man a competent Judge of Natural Speculations: We see unhappy Examples to the contrary amongst the Christian Fathers, and particularly in St. Austin, who was unquestionably a Man of Parts and Learning; but interposing in a Controversy where his Talent did not lie, shew’d his Zeal against the Antipodes to very ill purpose, though he drew his Reasons partly from Scripture. And if within a few Years, or in the next Generation, it should prove as certain and demonstrable that the Earth is mov’d, as it is now, that there are Antipodes; those that have been zealous against it, and engag’d the Scripture in the Controversy, would have the same Reason to repent of their Forwardness, that St. Austin would have now, if he was alive. ’Tis a dangerous thing to engage the Authority of Scripture in Disputes about the Natural World, in Opposition to Reason; lest Time, which brings all Things to Light, should discover that to be evidently false which we had made Scripture to assert: And I remember St. Austin, in his Exposition upon Genesis, hath laid down a Rule to this very purpose, though he had the xxUnhappiness, it seems, not to follow it always himself. The Reason also, which he gives there for his Rule, is very good and substantial: For, saith he^[1]^, if the Unbelievers or Philosophers shall certainly know us to be mistaken, and to err in those things that concern the Natural World, and see that we alledge our (Sacred) Books for such vain Opinions, how shall they believe those same Books when they tell them of the Resurrection of the Dead, and the World to come, if they find them to be fallaciously writ in such things as lie within their certain Knowledge?

We are not to suppose that any Truth concerning the Natural World can be an Enemy to Religion; for Truth cannot be an Enemy to Truth, God is not divided against himself; and therefore we ought not upon that Account to condemn or censure what we have not examin’d or cannot disprove; as those, that are of this narrow Spirit we are speaking of, are very apt to do. Let every thing be try’d and examin’d in the first Place, whether it be True or False; and if it be found false, ’tis then to be consider’d whether it be such a xxiFalsity as is prejudicial to Religion or no. But for every new Theory that is propos’d, to be alarm’d, as if all Religion was falling about our Ears, is to make the World suspect that we are very ill assur’d of the Foundation it stands upon. Besides, do not all Men complain, even these as well as others, of the great ignorance of Mankind? how little we know, and how much is still unknown? and can we ever know more, unless something new be discover’d? It cannot be old when it comes first to light, when first invented, and first propos’d. If a Prince should complain of the Poorness of his Exchequer, and the Scarcity of Money in his Kingdom, would he be angry with his Merchants, if they brought him home a Cargo of good Bullion, or a Mass of Gold out of a foreign Country? and give this Reason only for it, He would have no new Silver; neither should any be current in his Dominions but what had his own Stamp and Image upon it: How should this Prince or his People grow rich? To complain of Want, and yet refuse all offers of a Supply, looks very sullen, or very fantastical.

I might mention also upon this occasion another Genius and Disposition in Men, which often makes them improper for Philosophical Contemplations; not so much, it may be, from the Narrowness of their Spirit and Understanding, as because they will not take Time to extend them. I mean Men of Wit and Parts, but of short Thoughts and little Meditation, xxiiand that are apt to distrust every Thing for a Fancy or Fiction that is not the Dictate of Sense, or made out immediately to their Senses. Men of this Humour and Character call such Theories as these philosophick Romances, and think themselves witty in the Expression; they allow them to be pretty Amusements of the Mind, but without Truth or Reality. I am afraid if an Angel should write the Theory of the Earth, they would pass the same Judgment upon it; where there is Variety of Parts in a due Contexture, with something of surprizing Aptness in the Harmony and Correspondency of them, this they call a Romance; but such Romances must all Theories of Nature and of Providence be, and must have every Part of that Character with Advantage, if they be well represented. There is in them, as I may so say, a Plot or Mystery pursued thro’ the whole Work, and certain grand Issues or Events upon which the rest depend, or to which they are subordinate; but these Things we do not make or contrive our selves, but find and discover them, being made already by the great Author and Governor of the Universe: And when they are clearly discover’d, well digested, and well reason’d in every Part, there is, methinks, more of Beauty in such a Theory, at least a more masculine Beauty, than in any Poem or Romance; and that solid Truth that is at the Bottom gives a Satisfaction to the Mind, that it can never have from any Fiction how artificial soever it be.

xxiiiTo enter no further upon this Matter, ’tis enough to observe, that when we make Judgments and Censures upon general Presumptions and Prejudices, they are made rather from the Temper and Model of our own Spirits, than from Reason; and therefore, if we would neither impose upon our selves, nor others, we must lay aside that lazy and fallacious Method of censuring by the Lump, and must bring things close to the Test of True or False, to explicit Proof and Evidence; and whosoever makes such Objections against an Hypothesis, hath a Right to be heard, let his Temper and Genius be what it will. Neither do we intend that any thing we have said here should be understood in another Sense.

To conclude, This Theory being writ with a sincere Intention to justify the Doctrines of the Universal Deluge, and of a Paradisiacal State, and protect them from the Cavils of those that are no Well-wishers to sacred History, upon that Account it may reasonably expect fair Usage and Acceptance with all that are well-dispos’d; and it will also be, I think, a great Satisfaction to them to see those Pieces of most ancient History, which have been chiefly preserv’d in Scripture, confirm’d anew, and by another Light, that of Nature and Philosophy; and also freed from those Misconceptions or Misrepresentations, which made them sit uneasie upon the Spirits even of the best Men that took Time to think. Lastly, In things purely speculative, as these are, and no xxivIngredients of our Faith, it is free to differ from one another in our Opinions and Sentiments; and so I remember St. Austin hath observ’d upon this very Subject of Paradise; wherefore as we desire to give no Offence our selves, so neither shall we take any at the Difference of Judgment in others; provided this Liberty be mutual, and that we all agree to study Peace, Truth, and a good Life.

THE THEORY OF THE EARTH. BOOK I. Concerning the Deluge, and the Dissolution of the Earth

CHAP. I. The Introduction

An Account of the whole Work; of the Extent and general Order of it.

Since I was first inclin’d to the Contemplation of Nature, and took Pleasure to trace out the Causes of Effects, and the Dependance of one thing upon another in the visible Creation, I 2had always, methought, a particular Curiosity to look back into the Sources and Original of Things; and to view in my Mind, so far as I was able, the Beginning and Progress of a Rising World.

And after some Essays of this Nature, and as I thought, not unsuccessful, I carried on my Enquiries further, to try whether this Rising World, when form’d and finish’d, would continue always the same; in the same Form, Structure, and Consistency; or what Changes it would successively undergo, by the continued Action of the same Causes that first produc’d it; and, lastly, what would be its final Period and Consummation. This whole Series and Compass of Things taken together, I call’d a Course of Nature, or, a System of Natural Providence; and thought there was nothing belonging to the external World more fit, or more worthy our Study and Meditation, nor any thing that would conduce more to discover the Ways of Divine Providence, and to shew us the Grounds of all true Knowledge concerning Nature. And therefore, to clear up the several Parts of this Theory, I was willing to lay aside a great many other Speculations, and all those dry Subtilties with which the Schools and the Books of Philosophers are usually fill’d.

But when we speak of a Rising World, and the Contemplation of it, we do not mean this, of the Great Universe; for who can describe the Original of that vast Frame? But we speak 3of the Sublunary World, this Earth, and its Dependencies, which rose out of a Chaos about Six Thousand Years ago. And seeing it hath fallen to our Lot to act upon this Stage, to have our present Home and Residence here, it seems most reasonable, and the Place design’d by Providence, where we should first employ our Thoughts, to understand the Works of God and Nature. We have accordingly therefore design’d in this Work to give an Account of the Original of the Earth, and of all the great and general Changes that it hath already undergone, or is hence forwards to undergo, till the Consummation of all things. For if from those Principles we have here taken, and that Theory we have begun in these two first Books, we can deduce with Success and Clearness the Origin of the Earth, and those States of it that are already past; following the same Thread, and by the Conduct of the same Theory, we will pursue its Fate and History thro’ future Ages, and mark all the great Changes and Conversions that attend it while Day and Night shall last; that is, so long as it continues an Earth.

By the States of the Earth that are already past, we understand chiefly Paradise and the Deluge; Names well known, and as little known in their Nature. By the future States we understand the Conflagration, and what new Order of Nature may follow upon that, ’till the whole Circle of Time and Providence be compleated. As to the first and past States of the Earth, we shall have little help from the Ancients, 4or from any of the Philosophers, for the Discovery or Description of them: We must often tread unbeaten Paths, and make a Way where we do not find one; but it shall be always with a Light in our Hand, that we may see our Steps, and that those that follow us may not follow us blindly. There is no Sect of Philosophers that I know of, that ever gave an Account of the Universal Deluge, or discover’d, from the Contemplation of the Earth, that there had been such a Thing already in Nature. ’Tis true, they often talk of an Alternation of Deluges and Conflagrations in this Earth, but they speak of them as Things to come; at least, they give no Proof or Argument of any that hath already destroyed the World. As to Paradise, it seems to be represented to us by the Golden Age; whereof the Ancients tell many Stories, sometimes very luxuriant, and sometimes very defective: For they did not so well understand the Difference betwixt the new-made Earth and the present, as to see what were the just Grounds of the Golden Age, or of Paradise; though they had many broken Notions concerning those Things, as to the Conflagration in particular. This hath always been reckon’d one amongst the Opinions, or Dogmata of the Stoicks, That the World was to be destroyed by Fire, and their Books are full of this Notion; but yet they do not tell us the Causes of the Conflagration, nor what Preparations there are in Nature, or will be, towards that great Change. And we may generally observe this of the Ancients, 5that their Learning or Philosophy consisted more in Conclusions, than in Demonstrations; they had many Truths among them, whereof they did not know themselves the Premises or the Proofs: Which is an Argument to me, that the Knowledge they had, was not a Thing of their own Invention, or which they came to by fair Reasoning and Observations upon Nature, but was delivered to them from others by Tradition and ancient Fame, sometimes more publick, sometimes more secret: These Conclusions they kept in Mind, and communicated to those of their School, or Sect, or Posterity, without knowing, for the most part, the just Grounds and Reasons of them.

’Tis the Sacred Writings of Scripture that are the best Monuments of Antiquity, and to those we are chiefly beholden for the History of the first Ages, whether Natural History or Civil. ’Tis true, the Poets, who were the most ancient Writers among the Greeks, and serv’d them both for Historians, Divines, and Philosophers, have delivered some Things concerning the first Ages of the World, that have a fair resemblance of Truth, and some Affinity with those Accounts that are given of the same Things by Sacred Authors, and these may be of Use in due Time and Place; but yet, lest any thing fabulous should be mix’d with them, as commonly there is, we will never depend wholly upon their Credit, nor assert any Thing upon the Authority of the Ancients which is not first prov’d by natural Reason, or warranted by Scripture.

6It seems to me very reasonable to believe that besides the Precepts of Religion, which are the principal Subject and Design of the Books of Holy Scripture, there may be providentially conserved in them the Memory of Things and Times so remote, as could not be retrieved, either by History, or by the Light of Nature; and yet were of great Importance to be known, both for their own Excellency, and also to rectify the Knowledge of Men in other Things consequential to them: Such Points may be, Our great Epocha, or the Age of the Earth, The Origination of Mankind, The First and Paradisiacal State, The Destruction of the old World by an Universal Deluge, The Longevity of its Inhabitants, The manner of their Preservation, and of their Peopling the second Earth; and lastly, The Fate and Changes it is to undergo. These I always look’d upon as the Seeds of great Knowledge, or Heads of Theories fix’d on Purpose to give us Aim and Direction how to pursue the rest that depend upon them. But these Heads, you see, are of a mix’d Order, and we propose to our selves in this Work only such as belong to the natural World, upon which I believe the Trains of Providence are generally laid; and we must first consider, how God hath order’d Nature, and then, how the Occonomy of the Intellectual World is adapted to it; for of these two Parts consist the full System of Providence. In the mean Time, what Subject can be more worthy the Thoughts of any serious Person, than to view and consider the 7Rise and Fall, and all the Revolutions, not of a Monarchy or an Empire, of the Grecian or Roman State, but of an entire World?

The Obscurity of these Things, and their Remoteness from common Knowledge, will be made an Argument by some, why we should not undertake them; and by others, it may be, the very same Thing will be made an Argument why we should. For my Part I think There is nothing so secret that shall not be brought to Light, within the Compass of our World; for we are not to understand that of the whole Universe, nor of all Eternity, our Capacities do not extend so far; but whatsoever concerns this Sublunary World in the whole Extent of its Duration, from the Chaos to the last Period, this I believe Providence hath made us capable to understand, and will in its due Time make it known. All I say, betwixt the first Chaos and the last Completion of Time and all Things temporary, this was given to the Disquisitions of Men: On either Hand is Eternity, before the World and after, which is without our reach: But that little spot of Ground that lies betwixt those two great Oceans, this we are to cultivate, this we are Masters of, herein we are to exercise our Thoughts, to understand and lay open the Treasures of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness hid in this part of Nature and of Providence.

As for the Difficulty or Obscurity of an Argument, that does but add to the Pleasure of contesting with it, when there are Hopes of Victory; and Success does more than recompense 8all the Pains. For there is no sort of Joy more grateful to the Mind of Man, than that which ariseth from the Invention of Truth; especially when ’tis hard to come by. Every Man hath a Delight suited to his Genius, and as there is Pleasure in the right Exercise of any Faculty, so especially in that of Right-Reasoning; which is still the greater, by how much the Consequences are more clear, and the Chains of them more long: There is no Chace so pleasant, methinks, as to drive a Thought, by good Conduct, from one end of the World to the other; and never to lose Sight of it till it fall into Eternity, where all things are lost, as to our Knowledge.

This Theory being chiefly Philosophical, Reason is to be our first Guide; and where that falls short, or any other just Occasion offers it self, we may receive further Light and Confirmation from the Sacred Writings. Both these are to be look’d upon as of Divine Original, God is the Author of both; he that made the Scripture made also our Faculties, and ’twere a Reflection upon the Divine Veracity for the one or the other to be false when rightly used. We must therefore be careful and tender of opposing these to one another, because that is, in effect, to oppose God to himself. As for Antiquity and the Testimonies of the Ancients, we only make general Reflections upon them, for Illustration rather than Proof of what we propose; not thinking it proper for an English Treatise to multiply Citations out of Greek or Latin Authors.

9I am very sensible it will be much our Interest, that the Reader of this Theory should be of an ingenuous and unprejudiced Temper, neither does it so much require Book-learning and Scholarship, as good natural Sense to distinguish True and False, and to discern what is well prov’d, and what is not. It often happens that Scholastick Education, like a Trade, does so fix a Man in a particular Way, that he is not fit to judge of any thing that lies out of that Way; and so his Learning becomes a Clog to his natural Parts, and makes him more indocile, and more incapable of new Thoughts and new Improvements, than those that have only the Talents of Nature. As Matters of Exercise had rather take a Scholar that never learn’d before, than one that hath had a bad Master; so generally one would rather chuse a Reader without Art, than one ill instructed with Learning, but opinionative, and without Judgment; yet it is not necessary they should want either, and Learning well plac’d strengthens all the Powers of the Mind. To conclude, just Reasoning and a generous Love of Truth, whether with or without Erudition, is that which makes us most competent Judges what is true. And further than this, in the Perusal and Examination of this Work, as to the Author, as much Candor as you please; but as to the Theory, we require nothing but Attention and Impartiality.

Chap. II

A general Account of Noah’s Flood; a Computation what Quantity of Water would be necessary for the making of it; that the common Opinion and Explication of that Flood is not intelligible.

’Tis now more than five Thousand Years since our World was made, and tho’ it would be a great Pleasure to the Mind, to recollect and view at this Distance those first Scenes of Nature; what the Face of the Earth was, when fresh and new, and how Things differ’d from the State we now find them in, the Speculation is so remote, that it seems to be hopeless, and beyond the reach of human Wit. We are almost the last Posterity of the first Men, and fallen into the dying Age of the Worlds; by what Footsteps, or by what Guide can we trace back our Way to those first Ages, and the first Order of Things? And yet, methinks, it is reasonable to believe, that Divine Providence, which sees at once throughout all the Ages and Orders of the World, should not be willing to keep Mankind finally and fatally ignorant of that part of Nature, and of the Universe, which is properly their Task and Province to manage and understand. We are the Inhabitants of the Earth, the Lords and Masters of it; and we are endow’d with Reason and Understanding; doth it not then properly belong 11to us to examine and unfold the Works of God in this part of the Universe, which is fallen to our Lot, which is our Heritage and Habitation? And it will be found, it may be, upon a stricter Enquiry, that in the present Form and Constitution of the Earth, there are certain Marks and Indications of its first State; with which if we compare those Things that are recorded in Sacred History, concerning the first Chaos, Paradise, and an Universal Deluge, we may discover, by the help of those Lights, what the Earth was in its first Original, and what Changes have since succeeded in it.

And tho’ we shall give a full Account of the Origin of the Earth in this Treatise, yet that which we have propos’d particularly for the Title and Subject of it, is to give an Account of the primæval Paradise, and of the Universal Deluge, those being the two most important things that are explained by the Theory we propose. And I must beg leave in treating of these two, to change the Order, and treat first of the Deluge, and then of Paradise: For though the State of Paradise doth precede that of the Flood in Sacred History, and in the Nature of the Thing, yet the Explication of both will be more sensible and more effectual, if we begin with the Deluge; there being more Observations and Effects, and those better known to us that may be referr’d to this, than to the other; and the Deluge being once truly explain’d, we shall from thence know the Form and Quality of the Ante-diluvian Earth. Let 12us then proceed to the Explication of that great and fatal Inundation, whose History is well known; and according to Moses, the best of Historians, in a few Words is this——

Sixteen Hundred and odd Years after the Earth was made, and inhabited, it was over-flowed and destroyed in a Deluge of Water. Not a Deluge that was National only, or over-run some particular Country or Region, as Judea or Greece, or any other, but it over-spread the Face of the Whole Earth, from Pole to Pole, and from East to West, and that in such Excess, that the Floods over-reacht the tops of the highest Mountains; the Rains descending after an unusual Manner, and the Fountains of the Great Deep being broke open; so as a general Destruction and Devastation was brought upon the Earth, and all Things in it, Mankind and other living Creatures; excepting only Noah and his Family, who by a special Providence of God was preserved in a certain Ark, or Vessel made like a Ship, and such kinds of living Creatures as he took in to him. After these Waters had rag’d for some time on the Earth, they began to lessen and shrink, and the great Waves and Fluctuations of this Deep or Abyss being quieted by degrees, the Waters retir’d into their Channels and Caverns within the Earth; and the Mountains and Fields began to appear, and the whole habitable Earth in that Form and Shape wherein we now see it. Then the World began again, and from that little Remnant preserv’d in the 13Ark, the present Race of Mankind, and of Animals, in the known Parts of the Earth, were propagated. Thus perish’d the Old World, and the present arose from the Ruins and Remains of it.

This is a short Story of the greatest Thing that ever yet hap’ned in the World, the greatest Revolution and the greatest Change in Nature; and if we come to reflect seriously upon it, we shall find it extreamly difficult, if not impossible, to give an Account of the Waters that compos’d this Deluge, whence they came, or whither they went. If it had been only the Inundation of a Country, or of a Province, or of the greatest part of a Continent, some proportionable Causes perhaps might have been found out; but a Deluge overflowing the whole Earth, the whole Circuit and whole Extent of it, burying all in Water, even the greatest Mountains in any known Parts of the Universe, to find Water sufficient for this Effect, as it is generally explained and understood, I think is impossible. And that we may the better judge of the whole matter, let us first compute, how much Water would be requisite for such a Deluge; or to lay the Earth, consider’d in its present Form, and the highest Mountains, under Water. Then let us consider whether such a Quantity of Water can be had out of all the Stores that we know in Nature: And from these two, we will take our Ground and Rise, and begin to reflect, whether the World hath not been hitherto mistaken in the common Opinion and Explication of the general Deluge.

To discover how much Water would be requisite 14to make this Deluge, we must first suppose enough to cover the plain Surface of the Earth, the Fields and lower Grounds; then we must heap up so much more upon this, as will reach above the tops of the highest Mountains; so as drawing a Circle over the tops of the highest Mountains quite round the Earth, suppose from Pole to Pole, and another to meet it round the middle of the Earth, all that Space, or Capacity, contain’d within these Circles, is to be fill’d up with Water. This I confess will make a prodigious Mass of Water, and it looks frightfully to the Imagination; ’tis huge and great, but ’tis extravagantly so, as a great Monster: It doth not look like the Work of God or Nature: However let’s compute a little more particularly how much this will amount to, or how many Oceans of Water would be necessary to compose this great Ocean rowling in the Air, without Bounds or Banks.

If all the Mountains were pared off the Earth, and so the Surface of it lay even, or in an equal Convexity every where, with the Surface of the Sea, from this Surface of the Sea, let us suppose that the height of the Mountains may be a Mile and a half; or that we may not seem at all to favour our own Opinion or Calculation, let us take a Mile only for the perpendicular height of the Mountains. Let us on the other side suppose the Sea to cover half the Earth, as ’tis generally believ’d to do; and the common Depth of it, taking one Place with another, to be about a quarter of a Mile, or 250 Paces. I say, taking one 15Place with another, for though the middle Channel of the great Ocean be far deeper, we may observe, that there is commonly a Descent or Declivity from the Shore to the middle Part of the Channel, so that one comes by Degrees into the Depth of it; and those shory Parts are generally but some Fathoms deep. Besides, in Arms of the Sea, in Straits and among Islands, there is commonly no great Depth, and some Places are plain Shallows. So as upon a moderate Computation, one Place compar’d with another, we may take a quarter of a Mile, or about an hundred Fathoms, for the common Measure of the Depth of the Sea, if we were cast into a Channel of an equal Depth every where. This being suppos’d, there would need four Oceans to lie upon this Ocean, to raise it up to the top of the Mountains, or so high as the Waters of the Deluge rise; then four Oceans more to lie upon the Land, that the Water there might swell to the same height; which together make eight Oceans for the Proportion of the Water requir’d in the Deluge.

’Tis true, there would not be altogether so much Water required for the Land as for the Sea, to raise them to an equal height; because Mountains and Hills would fill up part of that Space upon the Land, and so make less Water requisite. But to compensate this, and confirm our Computation, we must consider in the first Place, that we have taken a much less height of the Mountains than is requisite, if we respect the Mediterraneous Mountains, or 16those that are at a great distance from the Sea; for their Height above the Surface of the Sea, computing the Declivity of the Land all along from the Mountains to the Sea-side (and that there is such a Declivity is manifest from the Course and Descent of the Rivers) is far greater than the Proportion we have taken: The height of Mountains is usually taken from the Foot of them, or from the next Plain, which if it be far from the Sea, we may reasonably allow as much for the Declension of the Land from that place to the Sea, as for the immediate Height of the Mountain: So, for Instance, the Mountains of the Moon in Africa, whence the Nile flows, and after a long Course falls into the Mediterranean Sea by Egypt, are so much higher than the Surface of that Sea, first, as the Ascent of the Land is from the Sea to the Foot of the Mountains, and then as the Height of the Mountains is from the bottom to the top: For both these are to be computed when you measure the Height of a Mountain, or of a mountainous Land, in respect of the Sea: And the Height of Mountains to the Sea being thus computed, there would be need of six or eight Oceans to raise the Sea alone as high as the highest Inland Mountains: And this is more than enough to compensate the less Quantity of Water that would be requisite upon the Land. Besides, we must consider the Regions of the Air upwards to be more capacious than a Region of the same Thickness in or near the Earth, so as if an Ocean pour’d upon 17the Surface of the dry Land, supposing it were all smooth, would rise to the Height of half a quarter of a Mile every where; the like Quantity of Water pour’d again at the Height of the Mountains would not have altogether the same effect, or would not there raise the Mass half a quarter of a Mile higher; for the Surfaces of a Globe, the farther they are from their Center, are the greater; and so accordingly the Regions that belong to them. And, lastly, we must consider, that there are some Countries or Valleys very low, and also many Caverns or Cavities within the Earth, all which in this Case were to be first fill’d with Water. These Things being compar’d and estimated, we shall find, that notwithstanding the Room that Hills and Mountains take up on the dry Land, there would be at least eight Oceans required, or a Quantity of Water eight times as great as the Ocean, to bring an Universal Deluge upon the Earth, as that Deluge is ordinarily understood and explained.

The Proportion of Water for the Deluge being thus stated, the next thing to be done, is to enquire where this Water is to be found; if any part of the Sublunary World will afford us so much: Eight Oceans floating in the Air make a great Bulk of Water, I do not know what possible Sources to draw it from. There are the Clouds above and the Deeps below, and in the Bowels of the Earth; and these are all the Stores we have for Water; and Moses directs us to no other for the Causes of the Deluge. The Fountains (he saith) of the 18great Abyss were broken up, or burst asunder, and the Rain descended for Forty Days, the Cataracts, or Floodgates of Heaven being opened. And in these two, no doubt, are contain’d the Causes of the great Deluge, as according to Moses, so also according to Reason and Necessity; for our World affords no other Treasures of Water. Let us therefore consider, how much this Rain of Forty Days might amount to, and how much might flow out of the Abyss, that so we may judge whether these two in conjunction would make up the eight Oceans which we want.

As for the Rains, they would not afford us one Ocean, nor half an Ocean, nor the tenth part of an Ocean, if we may trust to the Observations made by others concerning the Quantity of Water that falls in Rain. Mersennus gives us this Account of it, Cog. Phys. Mech. p. 221. “It appears by our Observations, that a Cubical Vessel of Brass, whereof we made use, is fill’d an Inch and an half in half an Hour’s Time; but because that sucks up nothing of the Moisture as the Earth doth, let us take an Inch for half an Hour’s Rain; whence it follows, that in the Space of Forty Days and Nights Rain, the Waters in the Deluge wou’d rise, at four Feet in 24 Hours, 160 Feet, if the Rains were constant and equal to ours, and that it rain’d at once throughout the Face of the whole Earth.” But the Rain of the Deluge, saith he, should have been 90 times greater than this, to cover, for Instance, the Mountains 19of Armenia, or to reach 15 Cubits above them. So that according to his Computation, the Forty Days Rain would supply little more than the hundredth Part of the Water requisite to make the Deluge. ’Tis true, he makes the Height of the Mountains higher than we do; but, however, if you temper the Calculation on all Sides as much as you please, the Water that came by this Rain would be a very inconsiderable part of what was necessary for a Deluge. If it rain’d Forty Days and Forty Nights throughout the Face of the whole Earth, in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere all at once, it might be sufficient to lay all the lower Grounds under Water, but it would signify very little as to the overflowing of the Mountains. Whence another Author upon the same Occasion hath this Passage, Auct. cat. in Gen. 7. 4. “If the Deluge had been made by Rains only, there would not have needed Forty Days, but Forty Years Rain to have brought it to pass.” And if we should suppose the whole middle Region condens’d into Water, it would not at all have been sufficient for this Effect, according to that Proportion some make betwixt Air and Water; for they say, Air turn’d into Water takes up a hundred times less Room than it did before. The Truth is, we may reasonably suppose, that all the Vapours of the middle Region were turn’d into Water in this Forty Days and Forty Nights Rain, if we admit, that this Rain was throughout the whole Earth at once, in either Hemisphere, in every Zone, in 20every Climate, in every Country, in every Province, in every Field; and yet we see what a small Proportion all this would amount to.

Having done then with these superior Regions, we are next to examine the inferior, and the Treasures of Water that may be had there. Moses tells us, that the Fountains of the great Abyss were broke open, or clove asunder, as the Word there us’d doth imply; and no doubt in this lay the great Mystery of the Deluge, as will appear when it comes to be rightly understood and explained; but we are here to consider what is generally understood by the great Abyss, in the common Explication of the Deluge; and ’tis commonly interpreted either to be the Sea, or subterraneous Waters hid in the Bowels of the Earth: These, they say, broke forth and rais’d the Waters, caus’d by the Rain, to such an Height, that together they over-flowed the highest Mountains. But whether, or how this could be deserves to be a little examined.

And in the first Place, the Sea is not higher than the Land, as some have formerly imagin’d, fancying the Sea stood, as it were, upon a heap, higher than the Shore; and at the Deluge a Relaxation being made, it overflow’d the Land. But this Conceit is so gross, and so much against Reason and Experience, that none I think of late have ventured to make use of it. And yet on the other Hand, if the Sea lie in an equal Convexity with the Land, or lower generally than the Shore, and much more than the Midland, as 21it is certainly known to do, what could the Sea contribute to the Deluge? It would keep its Channel, as it doth now, and take up the same Place: And so also the subterraneous Waters would lie quiet in their Cells. Whatsoever Fountains or Passages you suppose, these would not issue out upon the Earth, for Water doth not ascend, unless by Force. But let’s imagine then that Force us’d and apply’d, and the Waters both of the Sea and Caverns under Ground drawn out upon the Surface of the Earth, we shall not be any whit the nearer for this; for if you take these Waters out of their Places, those Places must be fill’d again with other Waters in the Deluge; so as this turns to no Account upon the whole. If you have two Vessels to fill, and you empty one to fill the other, you gain nothing by that, there still remains one Vessel empty, you cannot have these Waters both in the Sea and on the Land, both above Ground and under; nor can you suppose the Channel of the Sea would stand gaping without Water, when all the Earth was overflow’d, and the tops of the Mountains cover’d. And so for subterraneous Cavities, if you suppose the Water pumpt out, they would suck it in again when the Earth came to be laid under Water; so that upon the whole, if you thus understand the Abyss, or great Deep, and the breaking open its Fountains in this manner, it doth us no Service as to the Deluge, and where we expected greatest Supply, there we find none at all.

What shall we do then? Whither shall we 22go to find more than seven Oceans of Water that we still want? We have been above and below; we have drained the whole middle Region, and we have examined the Deeps of the Earth; they must want for themselves, they say, if they give us any; and, besides, if the Earth should disgorge all the Water that it hath in its Bowels, it would not amount to above half an Ocean, which would not at all answer our Occasions. Must we not then conclude, that the common Explication of the Deluge makes it impossible? There being no such Quantity of Water in Nature as they make requisite for an universal Deluge. Yet to give them all fair Play, having examined the Waters above the Earth or in the Air, the Waters upon the Earth, and the Waters under the Earth; let us also consider if there be not Waters above the Heavens, and if those might not be drawn down for the Deluge. Moses speaks of Waters above the Firmament, which though it be generally understood of the middle Region of the Air, yet some have thought those to be Waters plac’d above the highest Heavens, or Super-celestial Waters; and have been willing to make use of them for a Supply, when they could not find Materials enough under the Heavens to make up the great Mass of the Deluge. But the Heavens, above, where these Waters lay, are either solid or fluid; if solid, as Glass or Crystal, how could the Waters get through them to descend upon the Earth? If fluid, as the Air or Æther, how could the Waters rest upon them, 23for Water is heavier than Air or Æther? So that I am afraid, those pure Regions will prove no fit Place for that Element, upon any Account. But supposing these Waters there, how imaginary soever, and that they were brought down to drown the World in that vast Quantity that would be necessary, what became of them, when the Deluge ceased? Seven or eight Oceans of Water, with the Earth wrapt up in the middle of them, how did it ever get quit of them? How could they be dispos’d of when the Earth was to be dry’d, and the World renew’d? It would be a hard Task to lift them up again among the Spheres, and we have no Room for them here below. The Truth is, I mention this Opinion of the Heavenly Waters, because I would omit none that had ever been made use of, to make good the common Explication of the Deluge; but otherwise, I think, since the System of the World hath been better known, and the Nature of the Heavens, there are none that would seriously assert these Super-celestial Waters, or, at least, make use of them so extravagantly, as to bring them down hither for Causes of the Deluge.

We have now employ’d our last and utmost Endeavours to find out Waters for the vulgar Deluge, or for the Deluge as commonly understood; and you see with how little Success; we have left no Corner unsought, where there was any Appearance or Report of Water to be found, and yet we have not been able to collect the eighth part of what was necessary 24upon a moderate Account. May we not then with Assurance conclude, that the World hath taken wrong Measures hitherto, in their Notion and Explication of the general Deluge? They make it impossible and unintelligible upon a double Account, both in requiring more Water than can be found, and more than can be dispos’d of if it was found; or could any way be withdrawn from the Earth when the Deluge should cease. For if the Earth was encompass’d with eight Oceans of Water heapt one upon another, how these should retire into any Channels, or be drain’d off, or the Earth any way disengag’d from them, is not intelligible; and that in so short a time as some Months: For the Violence of the Deluge lasted but four or five Months, and in as many Months after the Earth was dry and habitable. So as upon the whole Enquiry, we can neither find Source nor Issue, Beginning nor Ending, for such an excessive Mass of Waters as the vulgar Deluge required; neither where to have them, nor if we had them, how to get quit of them. And I think Men cannot do a greater Injury or Injustice to Sacred History, than to give such Representations of things recorded there, as make them unintelligible and incredible; and on the other Hand, we cannot deserve better of Religion and Providence, than by giving such fair Accounts of all things proposed by them, or belonging to them, as may silence the Cavils of Atheists, satisfy the Inquisitive, and recommend them to the Belief and Acceptance of all reasonable Persons.

Chap. III

All Evasions answered; That there was no new Creation of Waters at the Deluge: And that it was not Particular or National, but extended throughout the whole Earth. A Prelude and Preparation to the true Account and Explication of it: The Method of the first Book.

Though in the preceding Chapter we may seem to have given a fair Trial to the common Opinion concerning the State of the Deluge, and might now proceed to Sentence of Condemnation: Yet having heard of another Plea, which some have us’d in its Behalf, and another way found out by recourse to the Supream Power, to supply all Defects, and to make the whole matter intelligible, we will proceed no farther ’till that be consider’d; being very willing to examine whatsoever may be offer’d, in that or any other way, for resolving that great Difficulty which we have proposed, concerning the Quantity of Water requisite for such a Deluge. And to this they say in short, that God Almighty created Waters on purpose to make the Deluge, and then annihilated them again when the Deluge was to cease; and this, in a few Words, is the whole account of the Business. This is to cut the Knot when we cannot loose it; they shew us the naked Arm of Omnipotency; such Arguments as these come like Lightning, one doth not know what Armour to put on against them, for they pierce the more, the more they are 26resisted: We will not therefore oppose any thing to them that is hard and stubborn, but by a soft Answer deaden their Force by degrees.

And I desire to mind those Persons, in the first Place, of what St. Austin hath said upon a like Occasion, speaking concerning those that disproved the Opinion of Waters above the Heavens (which we mention’d before) by natural Reasons. “We are not, saith he, to refute those Persons, by saying, that according to the Omnipotence of God, to whom all things, are possible, we ought to believe there are Waters there, as heavy as we know and feel them here below; for our Business is now to enquire according to his Scripture, how God hath constituted the Nature of Things, and not what he could do or work in these Things by a Miracle of Omnipotency.” I desire them to apply this to the present Argument for the first Answer.

Secondly, Let them consider, that Moses hath assign’d Causes of the Deluge; Forty Days Rain, and the Disruption of the Abyss; and speaks nothing of a new Creation of Water upon that Occasion. Those were Causes in Nature which Providence had then dispos’d for this extraordinary Effect, and those the Divine Historian refers us to, and not to any Productions out of nothing. Besides, Moses makes the Deluge increase by degrees with the Rain, and accordingly makes it cease by degrees, and that the Waters going and returning as the Waves and great Commotions of the 27Sea use to do, retir’d leisurely from the Face of the Earth, and settled at length in their Channels. Now this manner of the Beginning or Ceasing of the Deluge doth not at all agree with the instantaneous Actions of Creation and Annihilation.

Thirdly, Let them consider, that Saint Peter hath also assign’d Causes of the Deluge, 2 Pet. 3. 6. namely the particular Constitution of the Earth and Heavens before the Flood; by reason whereof, he saith, the World that was then perish’d in a Deluge of Water; and not by reason of a new Creation of Water. His Words are these: “The Heavens and the Earth were of old, consisting of Water, and by Water; whereby, or by reason whereof, the World that then was, being overflowed with Water, perished.”

Fourthly, They are to consider, that as we are not rashly to have recourse to the Divine Omnipotence upon any Account, so especially not for new Creations; and least of all for the Creation of new Matter. The Matter of the Universe was created many Ages before the Flood, and the Universe being full, if any more was created, then there must be as much annihilated at the same time to make Room for it; for Bodies cannot penetrate one another’s Dimensions, nor be two or more within one and the same Space. Then, on the other Hand, when the Deluge ceas’d, and these Waters were annihilated, so much other Matter must be created again to take up their Places. And methinks they make very bold with the Deity, when they make him 28do and undo, go forward and backwards by such countermarches and retractions, as we do not willingly impute to the Wisdom of God Almighty.

Lastly, I shall not think my Labour lost, if it be but acknowledg’d, that we have so far clear’d the Way in this Controversy, as to have brought it to this Issue; that either there must be new Waters created on purpose to make a Deluge, or there could be no Deluge as it is vulgarly explained; there not being Water sufficient in Nature to make a Deluge of that kind. This, I say, is a great step, and, I think, will satisfy all Parties, at least, all that are considerable; for those that have recourse to a new Creation of Waters, are of two sorts, either such as do it out of Laziness, and Ignorance, or such as do it out of Necessity, seeing they cannot be had otherwise; as for the first, they are not to be valued or gratified; and as for the second, I shall do a thing very acceptable to them, if I free them and the Argument from that Necessity; and shew a way of making the Deluge fairly intelligible, and accountable without the Creation of new Waters; which is the Design of this Treatise. For we do not tie this Knot with an Intention to puzzle and perplex the Argument finally with it; but the harder it is ty’d, we shall feel the Pleasure more sensibly when we come to loose it.

It may be, when they are beaten from this new Creation of Water, they will say, the Element of Air was chang’d into Water, and that was the great Store-house for the Deluge. Forty Days Rain we allow, as Moses does, but 29if they suppose any other Transelementation, it neither agrees with Moses’s Philosophy, nor St. Peter’s; for then the Opening of the Abyss was needless, and the Form and Constitution of the Antediluvian Heavens and Earth, which St. Peter refers the Deluge to, bore no part in the Work; it might have been made, in that way, indifferently under any Heavens, or Earth. Besides, they offend against St. Austin’s Rule in this Method too; for I look upon it as no less a Miracle to turn Air into Water, than to turn Water into Wine. Air, I say: For Vapours indeed are but Water made volatile; but pure Air is a Body of another Species, and cannot by any Compression or Condensation, so far as is yet known, be chang’d into Water. And lastly, if the whole Atmosphere was turn’d into Water, ’tis very probable it would make no more than 34 Foot or thereabouts; for so much Air or Vapours as is of the same weight with any certain Quantity of Water, ’tis likely, if it was chang’d into Water, would also be of the same Bulk with it, or not much more: Now according to the Doctrine of the Gravitation of the Atmosphere, ’tis found, that 34 Foot of Water does counterballance a proportionable Cylinder of Air reaching to the top of the Atmosphere; and consequently, if the whole Atmosphere was converted into Water, it would make no more than eleven or twelve Yards Water about the Earth; which the Cavities of the Earth would be able in a good measure to suck up, at least this is very inconsiderable as 30to our eight Oceans. And if you would change the higher Regions into Water too, what must supply the Place of that Air which you transform into Water, and bring down upon the Earth? There would be little left but Fire and Æther betwixt us and the Moon, and I am afraid it would endanger to suck down the Moon too after it. In a Word, such an Explication as this is both purely imaginary, and also very operose, and would affect a great part of the Universe; and after all, they would be as hard put to it to get rid of this Water, when the Deluge was to cease, as they were at first to procure it.

Having now examin’d and answered all the Pleas, from first to last, for the vulgar Deluge, or the old way of explaining it, we should proceed immediately to propose another Method, and another Ground for an universal Deluge, were it not that an Opinion hath been started by some of late, that would in effect supplant both these Methods, old and new, and take away in a great measure the Subject of the Question. Some Modern Authors observing what straits they have been put to in all Ages, to find out Water enough for Noah’s Flood, have ventur’d upon an Expedient more brisk and bold than any of the Ancients durst venture upon: They say, Noah’s Flood was not Universal, but a National Inundation, confin’d to Judea, and those Countries thereabouts; and consequently, there would not be so much Water necessary for the Cause of it, as we have prov’d to be necessary for an Universal Deluge of that kind. Their Inference 31is very true, they have avoided that Rock, but they run upon another no less dangerous; to avoid an Objection from Reason, they deny matter of Fact, and such matter of Fact as is well attested by History, both Sacred and Prophane. I believe the Authors that set up this Opinion were not themselves satisfy’d with it; but seeing insuperable Difficulties in the old Way, they are the more excusable in chusing, as they thought, of two Evils the less.

But the Choice, methinks, is as bad on this Hand, if all things be considered; Moses represents the Flood of Noah as an Overthrow and Destruction of the whole Earth; and who can imagine, that in sixteen or seventeen hundred Years time, (taking the lower Chronology) that the Earth had then stood, Mankind should be propagated no farther than Judea, or some neighbouring Countries thereabouts? After the Flood, when the World was renew’d again by eight Persons, they had made a far greater Progress in Asia, Europe, and Africa, within the same space of Years, and yet ’tis likely they were more fruitful in the first Ages of the World, than after the Flood; and they liv’d six, seven, eight, nine hundred Years a Piece, getting Sons and Daughters. Which Longevity of the first Inhabitants of the Earth seems to have been providentially design’d for the quicker Multiplication and Propagation of Mankind; and Mankind thereby would become so numerous within sixteen hundred Years, that there seems to me to be a greater Difficulty from the Multitude 32of the People that would be before the Flood, than from the want of People: For if we allow the first Couple at the End of one hundred Years, or of the first Century, to have left ten Pair of Breeders, which is no hard Supposition, there would arise from these, in fifteen hundred Years, a greater Number than the Earth was capable of; allowing every Pair to multiply in the same decuple Proportion the first Pair did. But because this would rise far beyond the Capacities of this Earth, let us suppose them to increase, in the following Centuries, in a quintuple Proportion only, or, if you will, only in a quadruple; and then the Table of the Multiplication of Mankind, from the Creation to the Flood, would stand thus;

This Product is too excessive high, if compar’d with the present number of Men upon the Face of the Earth, which, I think, is commonly estimated to be betwixt three and four hundred Millions; and yet this Proportion of their Increase seems to be low enough, if we take one Proportion for all the Centuries; for, in reality, 33the same Measure cannot run equally through all the Ages, but we have taken this as moderate and reasonable betwixt the highest and the lowest; but if we had taken only a tripple Proportion, it would have been sufficient (all things consider’d) for the Purpose. There are several other ways of computing this Number, and some more particular and exact than this is, but which way soever you try, you shall find the Product great enough for the Extent of this Earth; and if you follow the Septuagint Chronology, it will still be far higher. I have met with three or four different Calculations, in several Authors, of the Number of Mankind before the Flood, and never met with any yet, but what exceeded the Number of the People that are at present upon the Face of the Earth. So as it seems to me a very groundless and forc’d Conceit to imagine, that Judea only, and some Parts about it in Asia, were stor’d with People when the Deluge was brought upon the old World. Besides, if the Deluge was confin’d to those Countries, I do not see but the Borderers might have escap’d, shifting a little into the adjoining Places where the Deluge did not reach. But especially what needed so much ado to build an Ark to save Noah and his Family, if he might have sav’d himself and them, only by retiring into some neighbouring Country; as Lot and his Family sav’d themselves, by withdrawing from Sodom, when the City was to be destroyed? Had not this been a far easier thing, and more compendious, than the great Preparations he made of a 34large Vessel, with Rooms, for the Reception and Accommodation of Beasts and Birds? And now I mention Birds, why could not they at least have flown into the next dry Country? They might have pearch’d upon the Trees, and the tops of the Mountains by the way to have rested themselves if they were weary, for the Waters did not all of a sudden rise to the Mountains tops.

I cannot but look upon the Deluge as a much more considerable thing than these Authors wou’d represent it, and as a kind of Dissolution of Nature; Moses calls it a destroying of the Earth, as well as of Mankind, Gen. 6. 13. And the Bow was set in the Cloud to seal the Covenant, that he would destroy the Earth no more, Gen. 9. 11. or that there would be no more a Flood to destroy the Earth. And ’tis said, Verse 13. That the Covenant was made between God and the Earth, or this Frame of Nature, that it should perish no more by Water. And the Rain-Bow, which was a Token and Pledge of this Covenant, appears not only in Judea, or some other Asiatick Provinces, but to all the Regions of the Earth, who had an equal Share and Concern in it. Moses saith also, the Fountains of the great Abyss were burst asunder to make the Deluge; and what means this Abyss, and the bursting of it, if restrain’d to Judea, or some adjacent Countries? What Appearance is there of this Disruption there, more than in other Places? Furthermore, St. Peter plainly implies, 2 Epist. c. 5. 6. That the Antediluvian Heavens and Earth perished in the Deluge; 35and opposeth the present Earth and Heavens to them, as different and of another Constitution; and saith, that these shall perish by Fire, as the other perished by Water. So he compares the conflagration with the Deluge, as two general Dissolutions of Nature, and one may as well say, that the Conflagration shall be only National, and but two or three Countries burnt in that last Fire, as to say, that the Deluge was so. I confess that Discourse of St. Peter, concerning the several States of the World, would sufficiently convince me, if there was nothing else, That the Deluge was not a particular, or national Inundation, but a mundane Change, that extended to the whole Earth, and both to the (lower) Heavens and Earth.

All Antiquity, we know, hath spoke of these mundane Revolutions or Periods, that the World should be successively destroyed by Water and Fire; and I do not doubt, but that this Deluge of Noah’s, which Moses describes, was the first and leading Instance of this kind; and accordingly we see that after this Period, and after the Flood, the Blessing for Multiplication, and for replenishing the Earth with Inhabitants, was as solemnly pronounc’d by God Almighty, as at the first Creation of Man, Gen. 9. 1. with Gen. 1. 28. These Considerations, I think, might be sufficient to give us Assurance from Divine Writ of the Universality of the Deluge; and yet Moses affords us another Argument as demonstrative as any, when in the History of the Deluge, he saith, Gen. 7. 19. The Waters exceedingly prevail’d 36upon the Earth, and all the high Hills that were under the whole Heavens were covered. All the high Hills, he saith, under the whole Heavens, then quite round the Earth; and if the Mountains were covered quite round the Earth, sure the Plains could not scape. But to argue with them upon their own Grounds: Let us suppose only the Asiatick and Armenian Mountains covered with these Waters, this they cannot deny; then unless there was a Miracle to keep these Waters upon Heaps, they would flow throughout the Earth; for these Mountains are high enough to make them fall every way, and make them join with our Seas that environ the Continent. We cannot imagine Hills and Mountains of Water to have hung about Judea, as if they were congeal’d, or a Mass of Water to have stood upon the middle of the Earth like one great Drop, or a trembling Jelly, and all the Places about it dry and untouch’d. All liquid Bodies are diffusive; for their Parts being in Motion have no Tie or Connexion one with another, but glide and fall off any way, as Gravity and the Air presseth them; so the Surface of Water doth always conform into a Spherical Convexity with the rest of the Globe of the Earth, and every part of it falls as near to the Center as it can; wherefore when these Waters began to rise at first, long before they cou’d swell to the height of the Mountains, they would diffuse themselves every way, and thereupon all the Valleys and Plains, and lower Parts of the Earth would be filled throughout the 37whole Earth, before they cou’d rise to the Tops of the Mountains in any Part of it: And the Sea would be all raised to a considerable height before the Mountains could be covered. For let us suppose, as they do, that this Water fell not throughout the whole Earth, but in some particular Country, and there made first a great Lake; this Lake when it begun to swell would every way discharge it self by any Descents or Declivities of the Ground, and these Issues and Derivations being once made and supply’d with new Waters pushing them forwards, would continue their Course ’till they arrived at the Sea, just as other Rivers do; for these would be but so many Rivers rising out of this Lake, and would not be considerably deeper and higher at the Fountain than in their Progress or at the Sea, We may as well then expect that the Leman Lake, for instance, out of which the Rhone runs, should swell to the Tops of the Alps on the one Hand, and the Mountains of Switzerland and Burgundy on the other, and then stop, without overflowing the plainer Countries that lie beyond them; as to suppose that this Diluvian Lake should rise to the Mountains Tops in one Place, and not diffuse it self equally into all Countries about, and upon the Surface of the Sea; in Proportion to its Height and Depth in the Place where it first fell or stood.

Thus much for Sacred History. The Universality of the Deluge is also attested by Profane History; for the Fame of it is gone thro’ the Earth, 38and there are Records or Traditions concerning it, in all Parts of this and the new-found World. The Americans do acknowledge and speak of it in their Continent, as Acosta witnesseth, and Laet in their Histories of them. Mart. The Chineses have the Tradition of it, which is the farthest part of our Continent; and the nearer and Western part of Asia is acknowledg’d the proper Seat of it. Not to mention Deucalion’s Deluge in the European Parts, which seems to be the same under a disguise: So as you may trace the Deluge quite round the Globe in profane History; and, which is remarkable, every one of these People have a Tale to tell, some one way, some another, concerning the Restauration of Mankind; which is an Argument that they thought all Mankind destroy’d by that Deluge. In the old Dispute between the Scythians and the Ægyptians for Antiquity, which Justin mentions, they refer to a former Destruction of the World by Water or Fire, and argue, whether Nation first rose again, and was original to the other. So the Babylonians, Assyrians, Phœnicians and others, mention the Deluge in their Stories. And we cannot without offering Violence to all Records and Authority, Divine and Human, deny, that there hath been an universal Deluge upon the Earth; and if there was an universal Deluge, no question it was that of Noah’s, and that which Moses describ’d, and that which we treat of at present.

These Considerations, I think, are abundantly sufficient to silence that Opinion, concerning 39the Limitation and Restriction of the Deluge to a particular Country or Countries. It ought rather to be look’d upon as an Evasion indeed, than Opinion, seeing the Authors do not offer any positive Argument for the Proof of it, but depend only upon that negative Argument, That an universal Deluge is a Thing unintelligible. This Stumbling-stone we hope to take away for the future, and that Men shall not be put to that unhappy Choice, either to deny Matter of Fact well attested, or admit an Effect, whereof they cannot see any possible Causes. And so having stated and proposed the whole Difficulty, and try’d all ways offered by others, and found them ineffectual, let us now apply our selves by degrees, to untie the Knot.

The excessive Quantity of Water is the great Difficulty, and the Removal of it afterwards. Those eight Oceans lay heavy upon my thoughts, and I cast about every way, to find an Expedient, or to find some way, whereby the same Effect might be brought to pass with less Water, and in such a manner that that Water might afterwards conveniently be discharg’d. The first Thought that came into my Mind upon that Occasion, was concerning the Form of the Earth, which I imagin’d might possibly at that Time be different from what it is at present, and come nearer to Plainness and Equallity in the Surface of it, and so might the more easily be overflow’d, and the Deluge perform’d with less Water. This Opinion concerning the Plainness of the first Earth, I also found in Antiquity, 40mention’d and refer’d to by several Interpreters in their Commentaries upon Genesis, either upon Occasion of the Deluge, or of that Fountain which is said, Gen. 2. 6. to have watered the Face of the whole Earth: And a late eminent Person, the Honour of his Profession for Integrity and Learning, in his Discourse concerning the Origination of Mankind, hath made a like Judgment of the State of the Earth before the Deluge, that the Face of it was more smooth and regular than it is now. But yet upon second Thoughts, I easily see that this alone wou’d not be sufficient to explain the Deluge, nor to give an Account of the present Form of the Earth, unequal and mountainous as it is. ’Tis true this would give a great Advantage to the Waters, and the Rains that fell for Forty Days together would have a great Power over the Earth, being plain and smooth; but how would these Waters be dispos’d of when the Deluge ceas’d? Or how could it ever cease? Besides, what means the Disruption of the great Deep, or the great Abyss, or what answers to it upon this Supposition? This was assuredly of no less Consideration than the Rains; nay, I believe, the Rains were but preparatory in some measure, and that the Violence and Consummation of the Deluge depended upon the Disruption of the great Abyss. Therefore I saw it necessary, to my first Thought, concerning the Smoothness and Plainness of the Antediluvian Earth, to add a second, concerning the Disruption and Dissolution of it; for, as it often happens 41in Earthquakes, when the exterior Earth is burst asunder, and a great Flood of Waters issues out, according to the Quantity and Force of them, an Inundation is made in those Parts, more or less; so I thought, if that Abyss lay under Ground and round the Earth, and we should suppose the Earth in this manner to be broken in several Places at once, and as it were a general Dissolution made, we might suppose that to make a general Deluge, as well as a particular Dissolution often makes a particular. But I will not anticipate here the Explication we intend to give of the Universal Deluge in the following Chapters; only by this previous Intimation we may gather some Hopes, it may be, that the Matter is not so desperate as the former Representation might possibly make us fancy it.

Give me leave to add farther in this Place, that it hath been observ’d by several, from the Contemplation of Mountains and Rocks and Precipices, of the Channel of the Sea, and of Islands, and of Subterraneous Caverns, that the Surface of the Earth, or the exterior Region which we inhabit, hath been broke, and the parts of it dislocated: And one might instance more particularly in several Parcels of Nature, that retain still the evident Marks of Fraction and Ruin, and by their present Form and Posture shew, that they have been once in another State and Situation one to another. We shall have occasion hereafter to give an Account of these Phænomena, from which several have rightly argu’d, and concluded some general Rupture or Ruin in the 42superficial Parts of the Earth. But this Ruin, it is true, they have imagin’d and explain’d several ways, some thinking that it was made the third Day after the Foundation of the Earth; when they suppose the Channel of the Sea to have been form’d, and Mountains and Caverns at the same time, by a violent Depression of some Parts of the Earth, and an Extrusion and Elevation of others to make them Room. Others suppose it to have come not all at once, but by Degrees, at several Times, and in several Ages, from particular and accidental Causes, as the Earth falling in upon Fires under Ground, or Water eating away the lower parts, or Vapours and Exhalations breaking out and tearing the Earth. ’Tis true, I am not of their Opinion in either of these Explications; and we shall shew at large hereafter, when we have propos’d and stated our own Theory, how incompetent such Causes are, to bring the Earth into that Form and Condition we now find it in. But in the mean time, we may so far make use of these Opinions in general, as not to be startled at this Doctrine, concerning the Breaking or Dissolution of the Exterior Earth; for in all Ages the Face of Nature hath provok’d Men to think of and observe such a Thing. And who can do otherwise, to see the Elements displac’d and disorder’d, as they seem to lie at present; the heaviest and grossest Bodies in the highest Places, and the liquid and volatile kept below; an huge Mass of Stone or Rock rear’d into the Air, and the Water creeping 43at its Feet; whereas this is the more light and active Body, and by the Law of Nature should take Place of Rocks and Stones? So we see, by the like Disorder, the Air thrown down into Dungeons of the Earth, and the Earth got up among the Clouds; for there are the tops of the Mountains, and under their Roots in Holes and Caverns the Air is often detained. By what regular Action of Nature can we suppose things first produc’d in this Posture and Form? Not to mention how broke and torn the inward Substance of the Earth is, which of it self is an uniform Mass, close and compact; but in the Condition we see it, it lies hollow in many places, with great Vacuities intercepted betwixt the Portions of it; a Thing which we see happens in all Ruins more or less, especially when the Parts of the Ruins are great and inflexible. Then what can have more the Figure and Mien of a Ruin, than Crags, and Rocks, and Cliffs, whether upon the Sea-shore, or upon the Sides of Mountains? What can be more apparently broke, than they are? And those lesser Rocks, or great bulky Stones that lie often scatter’d near the Feet of the other, whether in the Sea, or upon the Land, are they not manifest Fragments and pieces of these greater Masses? Besides, the Posture of these Rocks, which is often leaning or recumbent, or prostrate, shews to the Eye, that they have had a Fall, or some kind of Dislocation from their natural Site. And the same thing may be observed in the Tracks and Regions of the Earth, 44which very seldom for ten Miles together have any regular Surface or Continuity one with another, but lie high and low, and are variously inclin’d sometimes one way, sometimes another, without any Rule or Order. Whereas I see no Reason but the Surface of the Land should be as regular as that of the Water in the first Production of it; and the Strata or Beds within lie as even. This I am sure of, that this Disposition of the Elements, and the Parts of the Earth, outward and inward, hath something irregular and unnatural in it, and manifestly shews us the Marks, or Footsteps of some kind of Ruin and Dissolution; which we shall shew you, in its due Place, happen’d in such a way, that at the same time a general Flood of Waters wou’d necessarily over-run the Face of the whole Earth. And by the same fatal Blow, the Earth fell out of that regular Form, wherein it was produc’d at first, into all these Irregularities which we see in its present Form and Composition; so that we shall give thereby a double Satisfaction to the Mind, both to shew it a fair and intelligible Account of the general Deluge, how the Waters came upon the Earth, and how they return’d into their Channels again, and left the Earth habitable; and likewise to shew it how the Mountains were brought forth, and the Channel of the Sea discover’d: How all those Inequalities came in the Body or Face of the Earth, and those empty Vaults and Caverns in its Bowels; which things are no less matter of Admiration than the Flood it self.

45But I must beg leave to draw a Curtain before the Work for a while, and to keep your Patience a little in suspence, till Materials are prepar’d, and all things ready to represent and explain what we have propos’d. Yet I hope, in the mean time, to entertain the Mind with Scenes no less pleasing, tho’ of quite another Face and Order; for we must now return to the Beginning of the World, and look upon the first Rudiments of Nature, and that dark but fruitful Womb, out of which all things sprang, I mean the Chaos: For this is the Matter which we must next work upon, and it will be no unpleasing thing to observe, how that rude Mass will shoot it self into several Forms one after another, ’till it comes at length to make an habitable World. The steady Hand of Providence, which keeps all things in Weight and Measure, being the invisible Guide of all its Motions. These Motions we must examine from first to last, to find out what was the Form of the Earth, and what was the Place or Situation of the Ocean, or the great Abyss, in that first State of Nature: Which two things being determined, we shall be able to make a certain Judgment, what kind of Dissolution that Earth was capable of, and whether from that Dissolution an Universal Deluge would follow, with all the Consequences of it.

In the mean time, for the Ease and Satisfaction of the Reader, we will here mark the Order and Distribution of the first Book, which we divide into three Sections; whereof the first is these three Chapters past: In the second Section 46we will shew, that the Earth before the Deluge was of a different Frame and Form from the present Earth; and particularly of such a form as made it subject to a Dissolution and to such a Dissolution, as did necessarily expose it to an Universal Deluge. And in this Place we shall apply our Discourse particularly to the Explication of Noah’s Flood, and that under all its Conditions, of the Height of the Waters, of their Universality, of the Destruction of the World by them, and of their retiring afterwards from the Earth; and this Section will consist of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Chapters. In the Third Section we prove the same Dissolution from the Effects and Consequences of it, or from the Contemplation of the present Face of the Earth: And here an Account is given of the Origin of Mountains, of subterraneous Waters and Caverns, of the great Channel of the Sea, and of the first Production of Islands; and those things are the Contents of the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Chapters. Then, in the last Chapter, we make a general Review of the whole Work, and a general Review of Nature; that by comparing them together, their full Agreement and Correspondency may appear. Here several collateral Arguments are given for Confirmation of the preceding Theory, and some Reflections are made upon the State of the other Planets compar’d with the Earth. And lastly, what Accounts soever have been given by others of the present Form and Irregularities 47of the Earth, are examin’d and shew’d insufficient. And this seemeth to be all that is requisite upon this Subject.

Chap. IV

That the Earth and Mankind had an Original, and were not from Eternity: Prov’d against Aristotle. The first Proposition of our Theory laid down, viz. That the Antediluvian Earth was of a different Form and Construction from the present. This is prov’d by Divine Authority, and from the Nature and Form of the Chaos, out of which the Earth was made.

We are now to enquire into the Original of the Earth, and in what Form it was built at first, that we may lay our Foundation for the following Theory deep and sure. It hath been the general Opinion and Content of the Learned of all Nations, that the Earth arose from a Chaos. This is attested by History, both Sacred and Profane; only Aristotle, whom so great a Part of the Christian World have made their Oracle or Idol, hath maintain’d the Eternity of the Earth, and the Eternity of Mankind; that the Earth and the World were from Everlasting, and in that very Form they are in now, with Men and Women and all living Creatures, Trees and Fruit, Metals and Minerals, and whatsoever is of natural Production. We say all these Things arose and 48had their first Existence or Production not six thousand Years ago: He saith, they have subsisted thus for ever, through an infinite Series of past Generations, and shall continue as long, without first or last: And if so, there was neither Chaos, nor any other Beginning to the Earth. This takes away the Subject of our Discourse, and therefore we must first remove this Stone out of the way, and prove that the Earth had an Original, and that from a Chaos, before we shew how it arose from a Chaos, and what was the first habitable Form that it settled into.

We are assur’d by Divine Authority, that the Earth and Mankind had a beginning: Moses saith, In the Beginning God made the Heavens and the Earth. Speaking it as of a certain Period or Term, from whence he counts the Age of the World. And the same Moses tells us, that Adam was the first Man, and Eve the first Woman, from whom sprung the Race of Mankind; and this within the Compass of Six Thousand Years. We are also assur’d from the Prophets, and our Christian Records, that the World shall have an End, and that by a general Conflagration, when all Mankind shall be destroyed, with the Form, and all the Furniture of the Earth. And as this proves the second Part of Aristotle’s Doctrine to be false immediately, so doth it the first, by a true Consequence; for what hath an End had a Beginning, what is not Immortal, was not Eternal: That which exists by the Strength of its own Nature at first, the same Nature will enable to exist for ever; and indeed 49what exists of it self, exists necessarily; and what exists necessarily, exists eternally.

Having this infallible Assurance of the Origin of the Earth and of Mankind from Scripture, we proceed to refute the same Doctrine of Aristotle’s by natural Reason. And we will first consider the Form of the Earth, and then Mankind; and shew, from plain Evidence and Observation, neither of them to have been Eternal. ’Tis natural to the Mind of Man to consider that which is compound, as having been once more simple; whether that Composition be a Mixture of many Ingredients, as most Terrestrial Bodies are, or whether it be Organical; but especially if it be Organical: For a Thing that consists of a multitude of Pieces aptly join’d, we cannot but conceive to have had those Pieces, at one time or another, put together. ’Twere hard to conceive an eternal Watch, whose Pieces were never separate one from another, nor ever in any other Form than that of a Watch. Or an eternal House, whose Materials were never asunder, but always in the Form of an House. And ’tis as hard to conceive an Eternal Earth, or an Eternal World: These are made up of more various Substances, more Ingredients, and into a far greater Composition; and the living Part of the World, Plants and Animals, have much more Variety of Parts and multifarious Construction, than any House, or any other artificial Thing: So that we are led as much by Nature and Necessity, to conceive this great Machine of the World, or of the Earth, to have been once in 50a State of greater Simplicity than now it is, as to conceive a Watch, an House, or any other Structure, to have been once in its first and simple Materials. This I speak without Reference to immediate Creation, for Aristotle did not own any such thing, and therefore the Argument stands good against him, upon those Grounds and Notions that he goes; yet I guess what Answer would be made by him or his Followers to this Argumentation: They would say, there is not the same Reason for Natural things, as for Artificial, though equally compounded. Artificial Things could not be from Eternity, because they suppose Man, by whose Art they were made, pre-existent to them; the Workman must be before the Work, and whatsoever hath any thing before it, is not Eternal. But may not the same thing be said of Natural things? Do not most of them require the Action of the Sun, and the Influence of the Heavens for their Production, and longer Preparations than any Artificial things do? Some Years or Ages would be necessary for the Concoction and Maturation of Metals and Minerals; Stones themselves, at least some sorts of them, were once Liquors, or fluid Masses; and all Vegetable Productions require the Heat of the Sun, to predispose and excite the Earth and the Seeds. Nay, according to Aristotle, ’tis not Man by himself that begets a Man, but the Sun is his Coadjutor. You see then ’twas as necessary that the Sun, that great Workman of Nature, should pre-exist to Natural things, produc’d in, or upon the Earth, as that Man should pre-exist 51to Artificial. So that the Earth, under that Form and Constitution it now hath, could no more be Eternal, than a Statue or Temple, or any Work of Art.

Besides, that Form, which the Earth is under at present, is in some sort preternatural, like a Statue made and broken again; and so hath still the less Appearance or Pretence of being Eternal. If the Elements had lain in that Order to one another, as Aristotle hath dispos’d them, and as seems to be their first Disposition; the Earth altogether in a Mass in the middle, or towards the Centre; then the Water in a Spherical Mass about that; the Air above the Water, and then a Sphere of Fire, as he fancied, in the highest Circle of the Air: If they had lain, I say, in this Posture, there might have been some Pretence that they had been Eternally so; because that might seem to be their Original Posture, in which Nature had first plac’d them. But the Form and Posture we find them in at present is very different, and according to his Doctrine must be look’d upon as unnatural and violent; and no violent State, by his own Maxim, can be perpetual, or can have been so.

But there is still a more pressing Consideration against this Opinion. If this present State and Form of the Earth had been from Eternity, it would have long ere this destroy’d itself, and chang’d itself: The Mountains sinking by degrees into the Valleys, and into the Sea, and the Waters rising above the Earth; which Form it would certainly have come into, sooner or later, and in 52it continu’d drowned and uninhabitable, for all succeeding Generations. For ’tis certain, that the Mountains and higher Parts of the Earth grow lesser and lesser from Age to Age; and that from many Causes, sometimes the Roots of them are weaken’d, and eaten by subterraneous Fires, and sometimes they are torn and tumbled down by Earthquakes, and fall into those Caverns that are under them; and tho’ those violent Causes are not constant, or universal, yet if the Earth had stood from Eternity, there is not a Mountain would have escaped this Fate in one Age or other. The Course of these Exhalations or Fires would have reach’d them all sooner or later, if thro’ infinite Ages they had stood exposed to them. But there are also other causes that consume them insensibly, and make them sink by degrees; and those are chiefly the Winds, Rains, and Storms, and Heat of the Sun without; and within, the soaking of Water and Springs, with Streams and Currents in their Veins and Crannies. These two sorts of Causes would certainly reduce all the Mountains of the Earth, in tract of Time, to Equality; or rather lay them all under Water: For whatsoever moulders, or is wash’d away from them, is carried down into the lower Grounds, and into the Sea, and nothing is ever brought back again by any Circulation: Their Losses are not repair’d, nor any proportionable Recruits made from any other parts of Nature. So as the higher parts of the Earth being continually spending, and the lower continually gaining, they must of necessity at length come to an Equality; 53and the Waters that lie in the lower parts and in the Channels, those Channels and Valleys being fill’d up with Earth, would be thrust out and rise every where upon the Surface of the Earth; which new Post, when they had once seiz’d on it, they would never quit nor would any thing be able to dispossess them; for ’tis their natural Place and Situation which they always tend to, and from which there is no Progress nor Regress in a Course of Nature. So that the Earth would have been, both now, and from innumerable Generations before this, all under Water and uninhabitable; if it had stood from Everlasting, and this Form of it had been its first Original Form.

Nor can he doubt of this Argumentation, that considers the Coherence of it, and will allow time enough for the Effect. I do not say the Earth would be reduc’d to this uninhabitable Form in ten thousand Years time, tho’ I believe it would: But take twenty, if you please, take an hundred thousand, take a million, ’tis all one, for you may take the one as easily as the other out of Eternity; and they make both equally against their Supposition. Nor is it any matter how little you suppose the mountains to decrease ’tis but taking more time, and the same Effect still follows. Let them but waste as much as a Grain of Mustard-Seed every Day, or a Foot in an Age, this would be more than enough in ten thousand Ages to consume the tallest Mountain upon Earth. The Air alone, and the little drops of Rain have defac’d the strongest and the proudest Monuments of the Greeks and Romans; and 54allow them but time enough, and they will of themselves beat down the Rocks into the Sea, and the Hills into the Valleys. But if we add to these all those other foremention’d Causes that work with more Violence, and the Weight of the Mountains themselves, which, upon any occasion offer’d, is ready to sink them lower, we shall shorten the Time and make the Effect more sure.

We need add no more here in particular against this Aristotelian Doctrine, that makes the present Form of the Earth to have been from Eternity; for the Truth is, this whole Book is one continued Argument against that opinion; shewing that it hath de facto chang’d its Form; both in that we have prov’d that it was not capable of an universal Deluge in this Form, and consequently was once under another; and also in that we shall prove at large hereafter throughout the Third and Fourth Sections, that it hath been broken and dissolv’d. We might also add one Consideration more, that if it had stood always under this Form, it would have been under Fire, if it had not been under Water; and the Conflagration, which it is to undergo, would have overtaken it long ere this. For St. Peter saith, The Heavens and the Earth that are now, as oppos’d to the Antediluvian, and consider’d in their present Form and Constitution, are fitted to be consumed by Fire. And whosoever understands the Progress and Revolutions of Nature, will see that neither the present Form of the Earth, nor its first Form, were permanent and immutable Forms, but transient and temporary by their own 55Frame and Constitution; which the Author of Nature, after certain Periods of Time, had design’d for Change and for Destruction.

Thus much for the Body of the Earth, that it could not have been from Eternity, as Aristotle pretended, in the Form it hath. Now let’s consider the Origination of Mankind; and that we shall find could much less be Eternal than the other; for whatsoever destroy’d the Form of the Earth, would also destroy Mankind; and besides, there are many particular Marks and Arguments, that the Generations of Men have not been from Everlasting. All History, and all Monuments of Antiquity, of what kind soever, are but of a few Thousand of Years date; we have still the Memory of the Golden Age, of the first State of Nature, and how Mortals liv’d then in Innocency and Simplicity. The Invention of Arts, even those that are necessary or useful to Human Life, hath been within the Knowledge of Men: How imperfect was the Geography of the Ancients, how imperfect their Knowledge of the Earth, how imperfect their Navigation? Can we imagine, if there had been Men from Everlasting, a Sea as now, and all materials for shipping as much as we have, that Men could have been so ignorant, both of the Land and of the Sea, as ’tis manifest they have been till of late Ages? They had very different Fancies concerning the Figure of the Earth. They knew no Land beyond our Continent, and that very imperfectly too; and the Torrid Zone they thought utterly uninhabitable. We think it strange, taking that short Date of 56the World, which we give it, that Men should not have made more Progress in the Knowledge of these Things; but how impossible is it then, if you suppose them to have been from Everlasting? They had the same Wit and Passions that we have, the same Motives that we have, can we then imagine, that neither the Ambition of Princes, nor Interest or Gain in private Persons, nor Curiosity and the Desire of Knowledge, nor the Glory of Discoveries, nor any other Passion or Consideration could ever move them in that endless time, to try their Fortunes upon the Sea, and know something more of the World they inhabited? Though you should suppose them generally stupid, which there is no Reason to do, yet in a Course of infinite Generations, there would be some great Genii, some extraordinary Persons that would attempt things above the rest. We have done more within the compass of our little World, which we can but count (as to this) from the general Deluge, than those Eternal Men had done in their innumerable Ages foregoing.

You will say it may be, they had not the Advantages and Opportunities for Navigation as we have, and for Discoveries; because the use of the Loadstone, and the Mariners needle was not then known. But that’s the Wonder, that either that Invention, or any other should not be brought to light till t’other Day, if the World had stood from Eternity. I say this or any other practical Invention; for such Things, when they are once found out and known, are not easily lost again, 57because they are of daily use. And ’tis in most other practical arts, as in Navigation, we generally know their original and History; who the Inventors, and by what degrees improv’d, and how few of them brought to any Perfection till of late Ages. All the Artificial and Mechanical World is in a manner new; and what you may call the Civil World too is in a great measure so. What relates to Government, and Laws; to Wars and Discipline; we can trace these things to their Origin, or very near it. The use of Money and of Coins, nay the Use of the very Elements; for they tell us of the first Invention of fire by Prometheus, and the employing of Wind or Water to turn the Mills, and grind their Corn was scarce known before the Romans, Plin. l. 7. c. 56. And that we may think nothing eternal here, they tell us the Ages and Genealogies of their very Gods. The measures of Time for the common uses of Life, the dividing it into Hours, with the Instruments for those Purposes, are not of an unknown Date: Even the Arts for preparing Food and Cloathing, Medicines and Medicaments, Building, Civil and Military, Letters and Writing, which are the Foundations of the World Civil: These, with all their Retinue of lesser Arts and Trades that belong to them, History and Tradition tell us when they had their Beginning, or were very imperfect; and how many of their Inventors and Inventresses were deify’d. The World hath not stood so long but we can still run it up to those artless Ages, when Mortals liv’d by plain Nature; when there was but 58one Trade in the World, one Calling, to look to their Flocks; and afterwards to till the Ground, when Nature grew less liberal: And may we not reasonably think this the Beginning of Mankind, or very near it? If Man be a Creature, both naturally sagacious to find out its own Conveniencies, and naturally sociable and inclin’d to live in a Community, a little Time would make them find out and furnish themselves with what was necessary in these two kinds, for the Conveniencies of single Life, and the Conveniencies of Societies; they would not have liv’d infinite Ages, unprovided of them. If you say Necessity is the Mother of Arts and Inventions, and there was no Necessity before, and therefore these things were so slowly invented; this is a good Answer upon our Supposition, that the World began but some Ages before these were found out, and was abundant with all Things at first; and Men not very numerous, and therefore were not put so much to the use of their Wits, to find out Ways for living commodiously. But this is no Answer upon their Supposition; for if the World was eternal and Men too, there were no first Ages, no new and fresh Earth; Men were never less numerous, nor the Earth more fruitful; and consequently there was never less Necessity at any time than is now. This also brings to Mind another Argument against this Opinion, (viz.) from the gradual Increase of Mankind. ’Tis certain the World was not so populous one or two thousand Years since, as it is now, seeing ’tis observ’d in particular Nations, 59that within the Space of two or three hundred Years, notwithstanding all Casualties, the Number of Men doubles. If then the Earth had stood from Everlasting, it had been overstock’d long ere this, and would not have been capable to contain its Inhabitants many Ages and Millions of Ages ago. Whereas we find the Earth is not yet sufficiently inhabited, and there is still Room for some Millions. And we must not fly to universal Deluges and Conflagrations to destroy Mankind; for besides that the Earth was not capable of a Deluge in this present Form, nor would have been in this Form after a Conflagration, Aristotle doth not admit of these universal Changes, nor any that hold the Form of the Earth to be eternal. But to return to our Arts and Inventions.

We have spoken of practical Arts and Inventions useful in human Life; then for Theoretical Learning and Sciences, there is nothing yet finish’d or compleat in these; and what is known hath been chiefly the Production of latter Ages. How little hath been discover’d till of late, either of our own Bodies, or of the Body of the Earth, and of the Functions or Motions of Nature in either? What more obvious, one would think, than the Circulation of the Blood? What can more excite our Curiosity than the flowing and ebbing of the Sea? Than the Nature of Metals and Minerals? These are either yet unknown, or were so at least till this last Age; which seems to me, to have made a greater Progress than all Ages before put together, since the beginning of 60the World. How unlikely is it then that these Ages were Eternal? That the Eternal Studies of our Fore-fathers could not effect so much as a few Years have done of late? And the whole Mass of Knowledge in this Earth doth not seem to be so great, but that a few Ages more, with two or three happy Genius’s in them, may bring to light all that we are capable to understand in this State of Mortality.

To these Arguments concerning the Novelty of the Earth, and the Origin of Mankind, I know there are some shuffling Excuses made, but they can have little Effect upon those Instances we have chosen. And I would ask those Eternalists one fair Question, What Mark is there that they could expect or desire of the Novelty of a World, that is not found in this? Or what Mark is there of Eternity that is found in this? If then their Opinion be without any positive Argument, and against all Appearances in Nature, it may be justly rejected as unreasonable upon all Accounts. ’Tis not the bold asserting of a Thing that makes it true, or that makes it credible against Evidence. If one should assert that such an one had liv’d from all Eternity, and I could bring Witnesses that knew him a Sucking-child, and others that remembred him a School-boy, I think it would be a fair Proof, that the Man was not Eternal. So if there be Evidence, either in Reason or History, that it is not very many Ages since Nature was in her Minority, as appears by all those Instances we have given above; some whereof trace her 61down to her very Infancy: This, I think, may be taken for a good Proof that she is not Eternal. And I do not doubt, but if the History of the World was writ Philosophically, giving an Account of the several States of Mankind in several Ages, and by what Steps or Degrees they came from their first Rudeness or Simplicity to that Order of Things, both Intellectual and Civil, which the World is advanc’d to at present, That alone would be a full Conviction, that the Earth and Mankind had a Beginning. As the Story of Rome, how it rose from a mean Original, by what degrees it increas’d, and how it chang’d its Form and Government till it came to its Greatness, doth satisfy us very well, that the Roman Empire was not Eternal.

Thus much concerning the Temporal Original of the Earth. We are now to consider the manner of it, and to shew how it rose from a Chaos. I do not remember that any of the Ancients that acknowledge the Earth to have had an Original, did deny that Original to have been from a Chaos. We are assur’d of both from the Authority of Moses, who saith, that in the Beginning the Earth was Tohu Bohu, without Form and Void; a fluid, dark, confus’d Mass, without Distinction of Elements; and made up of all Variety of Parts, but without Order, or any determinate Form; which is the true Description of a Chaos: And so it is understood by the general Consent of Interpreters both Hebrew and Christian. We need not therefore spend any time here to prove, that the Origin of the 62Earth was from a Chaos, seeing that it is agreed on by all that give it any Origin. But we will proceed immediately to examine into what Form it first rose when it came out of that Chaos; or what was the primæval Form of the Earth, that continued till the Deluge, and how the Deluge depended upon it, and upon its Dissolution.

And, that we may proceed in this Enquiry by such easy steps as any one may readily follow, we will divide it into Three Propositions, whereof the first is this in general; that the Form of the Antediluvian Earth, or of the Earth that rose first from the Chaos, was different from the Form of the present Earth. I say, different in general, without specifying yet what its particular Form was, which shall be exprest in the following Proposition.

This first Proposition we have in effect prov’d in the second Chapter; where we have shewn, that if the Earth had been always in this Form, it would not have been capable of a Deluge; seeing that could not have been effected without such an infinite Mass of Water as could neither be brought upon the Earth, nor afterward any way removed from it. But we will not content our selves with that Proof only, but will prove it also from the Nature of the Chaos, and the manifest Consequences of it. And because this is a leading Proposition, we think it not improper to prove it also from Divine Authority, there being a pregnant Passage to this Purpose in the Writings of St. Peter. Where treating of this very Subject, the Deluge, he manifestly puts a difference 63between the Antediluvian Earth and the present Earth, as to their Form and Constitution. The Discourse is in the second Epistle of St. Peter, the third Chapter, where certain Deists, as they seem to have been, laught at the Prophecy of the Day of Judgment, and of the Conflagration of the World, using this Argument against it, That since the Fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning. All External Nature hath continued the same without any remarkable Change or Alteration, and why should we believe, say they, there will be any? What Appearance, or what Foundation is there of such a Revolution, that all Nature will be dissolved, and the Heavens and the Earth consum’d with Fire, as your Prophecies pretend? So from the Permanency and Immutability of Nature hitherto, they argu’d its Permanency and Immutability for the future. To this the Apostle answers, that they are willing to forget, that the Heavens and the Earth of old had a particular Form and Constitution as to Water, by reason whereof the World, that then was, perish’d by a Deluge. And the Heavens and the Earth that are now, or since the Deluge, have a particular Constitution in reference to Fire, by reason whereof they are expos’d to another sort of Destruction or Dissolution, namely by Fire, or by an universal Conflagration. The Words of the Apostle, Chap. iii. v. 5, 6, 7. are these; For this they are willingly ignorant of, that by the Word of God the Heavens were of old, and the Earth, consisting of Water, and by Water; or (as we 64render it) standing out of the Water, and in the Water; wherein the World that then was, being overflow’d with Water, perish’d. But the Heavens and the Earth that are now, by the same Word are kept in store, reserv’d unto Fire against the Day of Judgment. We shall have occasion, it may be, hereafter to give a full Illustration of these Words; but at present we shall only take notice of this in general, that the Apostle here doth plainly intimate some difference that was between the old World and the present World, in their Form and Constitution; or betwixt the Antediluvian and the present Earth, by reason of which difference, that was subject to perish by a Deluge, as this is subject to perish by Conflagration. And as this is the general Air and Importance of this Discourse of the Apostle’s, which every one at first sight would discover; so we may in several particular ways prove from it our first Proposition, which now we must return to; (viz.) That the Form and Constitution of the Antediluvian Earth was different from that of the present Earth. This may be inferr’d from the Apostle’s Discourse, first, because he makes an opposition betwixt these two Earths, or these two natural Worlds; and that not only in respect of their Fate, the one perishing by Water, as the other will perish by Fire, but also in respect of their different Disposition and Constitution leading to this different Fate; for otherwise his fifth Verse is superfluous, and his Inference in the sixth ungrounded; you see he premiseth in the fifth 65Verse as the Ground of his Discourse, what the Constitution of the antediluvian Heavens and Earth was, and then infers from it in the sixth Verse, that they therefore perish’d in a Deluge of Water. Now if they had been the same with ours, there had neither been any Ground for making an Opposition betwixt them, nor any Ground of making a contrary Inference as to their Fate. Besides, in that he implies that the Constitution of the antediluvian Earth was such, as made it subject to a Deluge; he shews that it was different from the Constitution of the present Earth; for the Form of that is such, as makes it rather incapable of a Deluge, as we have shewn in the second Chapter. Then we are to observe further, that when he saith (v. 6.) that the first World perish’d in a Deluge, or was destroy’d by it; this is not to be understood of the animate World only, Men and living Creatures, but of the natural world, and the Frame of it; for he had describ’d it before by the Heavens and the Earth, which make the natural World. And the Objection of the Atheists, or Deists rather, which he was to answer, proceeded upon the natural World. And lastly, this perishing of the world in a Deluge is set against, or compar’d with the perishing of the World in the Conflagration, when the Frame of Nature will be dissolv’d. We must therefore, according to the Tenor of the Apostle’s arguing, suppose, that the natural World was destroy’d or perish’d in the Deluge; and seeing it did not perish as to Matter and Substance, it must be as to the Form, Frame and Composition of it, that it perish’d; 66and consequently, the present Earth is of another Form and Frame from what it had before the Deluge; which was the thing to be proved.

Lastly, Let us consider what it is the Apostle tells these Scoffers that they were ignorant of: Not that there was a Deluge, they could not be ignorant of that; nor doth he tell them that they were. But he tells them that they were ignorant that the Heavens and the Earth of old were so and so constituted, after a different manner than they are now, and that the State of Nature was chang’d at the Deluge; if they had known or attended to this, they had made no such Objection, nor us’d any such Argument as they did against the future Conflagration of the World. They pretended that there had been no Change in Nature since the beginning, and the Apostle in answer tells them, that they are willingly ignorant of the first Constitution of the Heavens, and the Earth, and of that Change and Dissolution that happen’d to them in the Deluge; and how the present Heavens and Earth have another Constitution, whereby in like manner they are expos’d, in God’s due time, to be consum’d or dissolv’d by Fire. This is the plain, easy and natural Import of the Apostle’s Discourse; thus all the Parts of it are coherent, and the Sense genuine and apposite, and this is a full Confirmation of our first and general Assertion, That the antediluvian Earth was of another Form from the present Earth. This hath been observ’d formerly by some of the Ancients from this Text, but that it hath not been generally observ’d, was partly because they had no Theory to back 67such an Interpretation, and make it intelligible; and partly because they did not observe, that the Apostle’s Discourse here was an Argumentation, and not a bare Affirmation, or simple Contradiction to those that rais’d the Scruple; ’tis an Answer upon a Ground taken, he premiseth, and then infers, in the fifth and sixth Verses, concerning the Deluge; and in the seventh, concerning the Conflagration. And when I had discover’d in my Thoughts from the Consideration of the Deluge, and other natural Reasons, that the Earth was certainly once in another Form, it was a great Assurance and Confirmation to me, when I reflected on this place of St. Peter’s; which seems to be so much directed and intended for the same purpose, or to teach us the same Conclusion, that though I design’d chiefly a Philosophical Theory of these Things, yet I should not have thought we had been just to Providence, if we had neglected to take Notice of this Passage and Sacred Evidence; which seems to have been left us on purpose to excite our Enquiries, and strengthen our Reasonings, concerning the first State of Things. Thus much from Divine Authority: We proceed now to prove the same Proposition from Reason and Philosophy, and the Contemplation of the Chaos, from whence the first Earth arose.

We need not upon this Occasion make a particular Description of the Chaos, but only consider it as a fluid Mass, or a Mass of all sorts of little Parts and Particles of Matter mix’d together, and floating in Confusion, one with another. ’Tis impossible that the Surface of this 68Mass should be of such a Form and Figure, as the Surface of our present Earth is: Or that any Concretion or consistent State which this Mass could flow into immediately, or first settle in, could be of such a Form and Figure as our present Earth. The first of these Assertions is of easy proof; for a fluid Body, we know, whether it be Water or any other Liquor, always casts it self into a smooth and spherical Surface; and if any Parts, by Chance, or by some Agitation, become higher than the rest, they do not continue so, but glide down again every way into the lower Places, till they all come to make a Surface of the same height, and of the same distance every where from the Center of their Gravity. A Mountain of Water is a thing impossible in Nature, and where there are no Mountains there are no Valleys. So also a Den or Cave within the Water, that hath no Walls but the liquid Element, is a Structure unknown to Art or Nature; all things there must be full within, and even and level without, unless some external Force keep them by Violence in another Posture. But is this the Form of our Earth, which is neither regularly made within nor without? The Surface and exterior Parts are broken into all sorts of Inequalities, Hills and Dales, Mountains and Valleys; and the plainer Tracts of it lie generally inclin’d or bending one way or other, sometimes upon an easy Descent, and other times with a more sensible and uneasy Steepness; and though the great Mountains of the Earth were taken all away, the remaining parts would be more unequal than the roughest Sea; whereas 69the Face of the Earth should resemble the Face of the calmest Sea, if it was still in the Form of its first Mass. But what shall we say then to the huge Mountains of the Earth, which lie sometimes in Lumps or Clusters heapt up by one another, sometimes extended in long Ridges or Chains, for many hundred Miles in length? And ’tis remarkable, that in every Continent, and in every ancient and original Island, there is either such a Cluster, or such a Chain of Mountains. And can there be any more palpable Demonstrations than these are, that the Surface of the Earth is not in the same Form that the Surface of the Chaos was, or that any fluid Mass can stand or hold it self in?

Then for the Form of the Earth within or under its Surface, ’tis no less impossible for the Chaos to imitate that; for ’tis full of Cavities and empty Places, of Dens and broken Holes, whereof some are open to the Air, and others cover’d and enclos’d wholly within the Ground. These are both of them unimitable in any liquid Substance, whose Parts will necessarily flow together into one continued Mass, and cannot be divided into Apartments and separate Rooms, nor have Vaults or Caverns made within it; the Walls would sink, and the Roof fall in: For liquid Bodies have nothing to sustain their Parts, nor any thing to cement them; they are all loose and incoherent, and in a perpetual Flux: Even an heap of Sand or fine Powder will suffer no Hollowness within them, though they be dry Substances, and though the Parts of them being rough will hang together a little and stand 70a little upon an Heap; but the Parts of Liquors being glib, and continually in motion, they fall off from one another, which way soever Gravity inclines them, and can neither have any Hills or Eminencies on their Surface, nor any Hollowness within their Substance.

You will acknowledge, it may be, that this is true, and that a liquid Mass or Chaos, while it was liquid, was incapable of either the outward or inward Form of the Earth; but when it came to a Concretion, to a State of Consistency and Firmness, then it might go, you’ll say, into any Form. No, not in its first Concretion, nor in its first State of Consistence; for that would be of the same Form that the Surface of it was when it was liquid, as Water when it congeals, the Surface of the Ice is smooth and level, as the Surface of the Water was before; so Metals, or any other Substances melted, or Liquors that of themselves grow stiff and harden, always settle into the same Form which they had when they were last liquid, and are always solid within, and smooth without, unless they be cast in a Mould, that hinders the Motion and Flux of the Parts. So that the first concrete State or consistent Surface of the Chaos must be of the same Form or Figure with the last liquid State it was in; for that is the Mould, as it were, upon which it is cast; as the Shell of an Egg is of a like Form with the Surface of the Liquor it lies upon. And therefore by Analogy with all other Liquors and Concretions, the Form of the Chaos, whether liquid or concrete, could not be the same with that of the present Earth, or 71like it: And consequently, that Form of the first or primogenial Earth which rose immediately out of the Chaos, was not the same, nor like to that of the present Earth; which was the first and preparatory Proposition we laid down to be prov’d. And this being prov’d by the Authority both of our Reason and our Religion, we will now proceed to the second which is more particular.

Chap. V

The Second Proposition is laid down, viz. That the Face of the Earth before the Deluge was smooth, regular, and uniform; without Mountains, and without a Sea. The Chaos out of which the World rose is fully examin’d, and all its Motions observ’d, and by what Steps it wrought it self into an habitable World. Some Things in Antiquity relating to the first State of the Earth are interpreted, and some Things in the Sacred Writings. The Divine Art and Geometry in the Construction of the first Earth is observ’d and celebrated.

We have seen it prov’d, in the foregoing Chapter, That the Form of the first or antediluvian Earth was not the same, nor like the Form of the present Earth. This is our first Discovery at a distance, but ’tis only general and negative, tells us what the Form of that Earth was not, but tells us not expresly what it was; that must be our next Enquiry, and advancing one step farther in our Theory, we lay down this second Proposition: That 72the Face of the Earth before the Deluge was smooth, regular, and uniform; without Mountains, and without a Sea. This is a bold Step, and carries us into another World, which we have never seen, nor ever yet heard any relation of; and a World, it seems, of very different Scenes and Prospects from ours, or from any thing we have yet known. An Earth without a Sea, and plain as the Elysian Fields; if you travel it all over, you will not meet with a Mountain or a Rock, yet well provided of all requisite things for an habitable World; and the same indeed with the Earth we still inhabit, only under another Form. And this is the great Thing that now comes into debate, the great Paradox which we offer to be examined, and which we affirm, That the Earth, in its first Rise and Formation from a Chaos, was of the Form here described, and so continued for many hundreds of Years.

To examine and prove this, we must return to the beginning of the World, and to that Chaos out of which the Earth and all sublunary things arose: ’Tis the Motions and Progress of this, which we must now consider, and what Form it settled into when it first became an habitable World.

Neither is it perhaps such an intricate Thing as we imagine at first Sight, to trace a Chaos into an habitable World; at least there is a particular Pleasure to see things in their Origin, and by what Degrees and successive Changes they rise into that Order and State we see them in afterwards, when compleated. I am 73sure, if ever we would view the Paths of Divine Wisdom, in the Works and in the Conduct of Nature, we must not only consider how Things are, but how they came to be so. ’Tis pleasant to look upon a Tree in the Summer, cover’d with its green Leaves, deckt with Blossoms, or laden with Fruit, and casting a pleasing Shade under its spreading Boughs; but to consider how this Tree with all its Furniture sprang from a little Seed; how Nature shap’d it, and fed it, in its Infancy and Growth; added new Parts, and still advanc’d it by little and little, ’till it came to this Greatness and Perfection: This, methinks, is another sort of Pleasure, more rational, less common, and which is properly the Contemplation of Divine Wisdom in the Works of Nature. So to view this Earth, and this sublunary World, as it is now complete, distinguish’d into the several Orders of Bodies of which it consists, every one perfect and admirable in its kind; this is truly delightful, and a very good Entertainment of the Mind: But to see all these in their first Seeds, as I may so say; to take in Pieces this Frame of Nature, and melt it down into its first Principles; and then to observe how the Divine Wisdom wrought all these Things out of Confusion into Order, and out of Simplicity into that beautiful Composition we now see them in; this, methinks, is another kind of Joy, which pierceth the Mind more deep, and is more satisfactory. And to give our selves and others this Satisfaction, we will first make a short Representation of the Chaos, and then shew, how, according to Laws establish’d in 74Nature by the Divine Power and Wisdom, it was wrought by degrees from one Form into another, ’till it settled at length into an habitable Earth; and that of such a Frame and Structure, as we have described in this second Proposition.

By the Chaos I understand the Matter of the Earth and Heavens, without Form or Order; reduc’d into a fluid Mass, wherein are the Materials and Ingredients of all Bodies, but mingled in Confusion one with another. As if you should suppose all sorts of Metals, Gold, Silver, Lead, &c. melted down together in a common Mass, and so mingled, that the Parts of no one Metal could be discern’d as distinct from the rest, this would be a little Metallick Chaos: Suppose then, the Elements thus mingled, Air, Water and Earth, which are the Principles of all Terrestrial Bodies; mingled, I say, without any Order of higher or lower, heavier or lighter, solid or volatile, in such a kind of confus’d Mass as is here represented in the first Scheme.

Book 1 Figure 1.

Let this then represent to us the Chaos; in which the first Change that we should imagine to happen would be this, that the heaviest and grossest Parts would sink down towards the middle of it, (for there we suppose the Center of its Gravity) and the rest would float above. These grosser Parts thus sunk down and compress’d more and more, would harden by degrees, and constitute the interiour Parts of the Earth: The rest of the Mass, which swims above, would be also divided by the same Principle of Gravity into two Orders of Bodies, the one liquid like 75Water, the other volatile like Air. For the more fine and active Parts disentangling themselves by degrees from the rest would mount above them; and having Motion enough to keep them upon the Wing, would play in those open Places where they constitute that Body we call Air. The other Parts being grosser than these, and having a more languid Motion, could not fly up separate from one another, as these did, but settled in a Mass together, under the Air, upon the Body of the Earth, composing not only Water strictly so called, but the whole Mass of Liquors, or liquid Bodies, belonging to the Earth. And these first Separations being thus made, the Body of the Chaos would stand in that Form which it is here represented in by the second Scheme.

Book 1 Figure 2.

The liquid Mass which encircled the Earth was not, as I noted before, the mere Element of Water, but a Collection of all Liquors that belong to the Earth: I mean of all that do originally belong to it. Now seeing there are two chief kinds of Terrestrial Liquors, those that are fat, oily and light; and those that are lean and more earthy, like common Water; which two are generally found in compound Liquors; we cannot doubt but there were of both sorts in this common Mass of Liquids. And it being well known, that these two kinds mix’d together, if left to themselves and the general Action of Nature, separate one from another when they come to settle, as in Cream and thin Milk, Oil and Water, and such like; we cannot but conclude, that the same Effect would follow 76here, and the more oily and light Part of this Mass would get above the other, and swim upon it. The whole Mass being divided into two lesser Masses, and so the Globe would stand as we see it in the third Figure.

Book 1 Figure 3.

Hitherto the Changes of the Chaos are easy and unquestionable, and would be dispatcht in a short time; we must now look over again these two great Masses of the Air and Water, and consider how their Impurities or grosser Parts would be dispos’d of; for we cannot imagine but they were both at first very muddy and impure: And as the Water would have its Sediment, which we are not here concern’d to look after, so the great Regions of the Air would certainly have their Sediment too; for the Air was as yet thick, gross and dark, there being an abundance of little Terrestrial Particles swimming in it still, after the grossest were sunk down; which, by their Heaviness and lumpish Figure, made their way more easily and speedily. The lesser and lighter which remain’d would sink too, but more slowly, and in a longer time; so as in their Descent they would meet with that oily Liquor upon the Face of the Deep, or upon the watery Mass, which would entangle and stop them from passing any further; whereupon mixing there with that unctuous Substance, they compos’d a certain Slime, or fat, soft, and light Earth, spread upon the Face of the Waters; as ’tis represented in the fourth Figure.

Book 1 Figure 4.

This thin and tender Orb of Earth increas’d still more and more, as the little earthy Parts that were detain’d in the Air could make their 77way to it. Some having a long Journey from the upper Regions, and others being very light would float up and down a good while, before they could wholly disengage themselves and descend. But this was the general Rendezvous, which sooner or later they all got to, and mingling more and more with that oily Liquor, they suckt it all up at length, and were wholly incorporate together, and so began to grow more stiff and firm, making both but one Substance, which was the first Concretion, or firm and consistent Substance that rose upon the Face of the Chaos. And the whole Globe stood in this Posture, as in Figure the fifth.

Book 1 Figure 5.

Book 1 Figure 6.

It may be, you will say, we take our Liberty, and our own time for the Separation of these two Liquors, the oily and the earthy, the lighter and the heavier; and suppose that 78done before the Air was clear’d of earthy Particles, that so they might be catcht and stopt there in their Descent. Whereas if all these Particles were fallen out of the Air before that Separation was made in the liquid Mass, they would fall down through the Water, as the first did, and so no Concretion would be made, nor any earthy Crust form’d upon the Face of the Waters, as we here suppose there was. ’Tis true, there could be no such Orb of Earth form’d there, if the Air was wholly purg’d of all its earthy Parts before the Mass of Liquids began to purify it self, and to separate the oily Parts from the more heavy: But this is an unreasonable and incredible Supposition, if we consider, the Mass of the Air was many thousand Times greater than the Water, and would in Proportion require a greater Time to be purify’d; the Particles that were in the Regions of the Air having a long way to come before they reach’d the watery Mass, and far longer than the oily Particles had to rise from any Part of that Mass to the Surface of it. Besides, we may suppose a great many degrees of Littleness and Lightness in these earthy Particles, so as many of them might float in the Air a good while, like Exhalations before they fell down. And lastly, We do not suppose the Separation of these two Liquors wholly made and finish’d before the Purgation of the Air began, tho’ we represent them so for Distinction sake: Let them begin to purify at the same time, if you please, these Parts rising upwards, and those falling downwards, they will meet in the middle, and 79unite and grow into one Body, as we have describ’d. And this Body or new Concretion would be increas’d daily, being fed and supply’d both from above and below; and having done growing, it would become more dry by degrees, and of a Temper of greater Consistency and Firmness, so as truly to resemble and be fit to make an habitable Earth, such as Nature intended it for.

But you will further object, it may be, that such an Effect as this would indeed be necessary in some Degree and Proportion, but not in such a Proportion, and in such Quantity, as would be sufficient to make this Crust or concrete Orb an habitable Earth. This I confess appear’d to me at first a real Difficulty, till I consider’d better the great disproportion there is betwixt the Regions of the Air and the Circumference of the Earth, or of that exterior Orb of the Earth, we are now a making; which being many thousand times less in Depth and Extent than the Regions of the Air, taken as high as the Moon, tho’ these earthy Particles we speak of were very thinly dispers’d thro’ those vast Tracks of the Air, when they came to be collected and amass’d together upon the Surface of a far lesser Sphere, they would constitute a Body of a very considerable Thickness and Solidity. We see the Earth sometimes cover’d with Snow two or three Feet deep, made up only of little Flakes or Pieces of Ice, which falling from the middle Region of the Air, and meeting with the Earth in their Descent, are there stop’d and heap’d up one upon another. But if we should suppose 80little Particles of Earth to shower down, not only from the middle Region, but from the whole Capacity and Extent of those vast Spaces that are betwixt us and the Moon, we could not imagine but these would constitute an Orb of Earth some thousands of times deeper than the greatest Snow; which being increas’d and swoln by that oily Liquor it fell into, and incorporated with, it would be thick, strong, and great enough in all respects to render it an habitable Earth.

We cannot doubt therefore but such a Body as this would be form’d, and would be sufficient in Quantity for an habitable Earth. Then for the Quality of it, it will answer all the Purposes of a Rising World. What can be a more proper Seminary for Plants and Animals, than a Soil of this Temper and Composition? A finer and lighter sort of Earth, mix’d with a benign Juice, easy and obedient to the Action of the Sun, or of what other Causes were employ’d by the Author of Nature, for the Production of Things in the new made Earth. What sort or disposition of matter could be more fit and ready to catch Life from Heaven, and to be drawn into all Forms than the Rudiments of Life, or the Bodies of living Creatures would require? What Soil more proper for Vegetation than this warm Moisture, which could have no Fault, unless it was too fertile and luxuriant? And that is no Fault neither at the beginning of a World. This I am sure of, that the Learned amongst the Ancients, both Greeks, Ægyptians, Phœnicians, and others, have described the 81primogenial Soil, Ἰλὺς πρωτογενὴς, or the Temper of the Earth, that was the first Subject for the Generation and Origin of Plants and Animals, after such a manner, as is truly express’d, and I think with Advantage, by this Draught of the primogenial Earth.

Thus much concerning the Matter of the first Earth. Let us reflect a little upon the Form of it also, whether external or internal; both whereof do manifestly shew themselves from the manner of its Production or Formation. As to the external Form, you see it is according to the Proposition we were to prove, smooth, regular and uniform, without Mountains; and without a Sea. And the Proof we have given of it is very easy: The Globe of the Earth could not possibly rise immediately from a Chaos into the irregular Form in which it is at present. The Chaos being a fluid Mass, which we know doth necessarily fall into a Spherical Surface, whose Parts are equi-distant from the Center, and consequently in an equal and even Convexity one with another. And seeing upon the Distinction of a Chaos and Separation into several Elementary Masses, the Water would naturally have a superiour Place to the Earth, ’tis manifest, that there could be no habitable Earth form’d out of the Chaos, unless by some Concretion upon the Face of the Water. Then lastly, seeing this concrete Orb of Earth upon the Face of the Water would be of the same Form with the Surface of the Water it was spread upon, there being no Causes, that 82we know of, to make any Inequality in it, we must conclude it equal and uniform, and without Mountains, as also without a Sea; for the Sea and all the Mass of Waters was enclos’d within this exterior Earth which had no other Basis or Foundation to rest upon.

The Contemplation of these things, and of this Posture of the Earth upon the Waters, doth so strongly bring to Mind certain Passages of Scripture, (which will recur in another Place) that we cannot, without Injury to Truth, pass them by here in silence. Passages that have such a manifest Resemblance and Agreement to this Form and Situation of the Earth, that they seem visibly to point at it: Such are those Expressions of the Psalmist, God hath founded the Earth upon the Seas. And in another Psalm, speaking of the Wisdom and Power of God in the Creation, he saith, To him who alone doth great wonders; to him that by Wisdom made the Heavens; to him that extended or stretched out the Earth above the Waters. What can be more plain or proper to denote that Form of the Earth that we have describ’d, and to express particularly the Inclosure of the Waters within the Earth, as we have represented them? He saith in another Place, By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made; he shut up the Waters of the Sea as in Bags, (for so the Word is to be render’d, and is render’d by all, except the English) and laid up the Abyss as in Store-houses. This, you see, is very conformable to that System of the Earth and Sea, which we have 83propos’d here. Yet there is something more express than all this, in that remarkable place in the Proverbs of Solomon, where Wisdom declaring her Antiquity and Existence before the Foundation of the Earth, amongst other things saith, Prov. viii. 27. When he prepared the Heavens, I was there: When he drew an Orb over the Surface of the Abyss; or when he set an Orb upon the Face of the Abyss. We render it in the English, a Compass, or Circle, but ’tis more truly render’d an Orb or Sphere; and what Orb or Spherical Body was this, which at the Formation of the Earth was built and plac’d round about the Abyss, but that wonderful Arch, whose Form and Production we have describ’d, encompassing the Mass of Waters, which in Scripture is often call’d the Abyss or Deep? [See Fig. 5. p. 78. This Orb is represented by the Circle 1. and the Abyss by the Region 2.] Lastly, This Scheme of the first Earth gives Light to that Place we mention’d before of St. Peter’s, where the first Earth is said to consist of Water, and by Water; and by reason thereof was obnoxious to a Deluge. The first Part of this Character is plain from the Description now given; and the second will appear in the following Chapter. In the mean time, concerning these Passages of Scripture, which we have cited, we may truly and modestly say, that though they would not, it may be, without a Theory premis’d, have been taken or interpreted in this Sense; yet this Theory being premis’d, I dare appeal to any unprejudic’d Person, if they have not a fairer and 84easier, a more full and more emphatical Sense, when apply’d to that Form of the Earth and Sea we are now speaking of, than to their present Form, or to any other we can imagine.

Thus much concerning the external Form of the first Earth. Let us now reflect a little upon the internal Form of it, which consists of several Regions, involving one another like Orbs about the same Center, or of the several Elements cast circularly about each other; as it appears in the fourth and fifth Figure. And as we have noted the external Form of this primæval Earth, to have been mark’d and celebrated in the Sacred Writings; so likewise in the Philosophy and Learning of the Ancients, there are several Remains and Indications of this internal Form and Composition of it. For ’tis observable, that the Ancients in treating of the Chaos, and in raising the World out of it, rang’d it into several Regions or Masses, as we have done; and in that Order successively, rising one from another, as if it was a Pedigree or Genealogy. And those Parts and Regions of Nature, into which the Chaos was by degrees divided, they signified commonly by dark and obscure Names; as the Night, Tartarus, Oceanus, and such like, which we have express’d in their plain and proper Terms. And whereas the Chaos, when it was first set on Work, ran all into Divisions and Separations of one Element from another, which afterwards were all in some Measure united and associated in this primogenial Earth; the Ancients accordingly made 85Contention the Principle that reign’d in the Chaos at first, and then Love: The one to express the Divisions, and the other the Union of all Parties in this middle and common Bond. These, and such like Notions, which we find in the Writings of the Ancients figuratively and darkly delivered, receive a clearer Light, when compar’d with this Theory of the Chaos; which representing every thing plainly, and in its natural Colours, is a Key to their Thoughts, and an Illustration of their obscurer Philosophy, concerning the original of the world; as we have shewn at large in the Latin Treatise, Lib. 2. chap. 7.

There is another Thing in Antiquity, relating to the Form and Construction of the Earth, which is very remarkable, and hath obtain’d throughout all learned Nations and Ages. And that is the Comparison or Resemblance of the Earth to an Egg. And this is not so much for its external Figure, tho’ that be true too, as for the inward Composition of it; consisting of several Orbs, one including another, and in that Order, as to answer the several Elementary Regions of which the new made Earth was constituted. For if we admit for the Yolk a Central Fire (which tho’ very reasonable, we had no occasion to take Notice of in our Theory of the Chaos) and suppose the Figure of the Earth Oval, and a little extended towards the Poles, (as probably it was, seeing the Vortex that contains it is so) those two Bodies do very naturally represent one another, as in this Scheme, which represents the interior Faces of both, a 86divided Egg, or Earth. Where, as the two inmost Regions (A, B,) represent the Yolk and the Membrane that lies next above it; so the exterior Region of the Earth (D) is as the Shell of the Egg, and the Abyss (C) under it as the White that lies under the Shell. And considering that this Notion of the Mundane Egg, or that the World was Oviform, hath been the Sense and Language of all Antiquity, Latins, Greeks, Persians, Ægyptians, and others, as we have shew’d elsewhere, [Tell. Theor. Sac. lib. 2. c. 10.] I thought it worthy our Notice in this Place; seeing it receives such a clear and easy Explication from that Origin and Fabrick we have given to the first Earth, and also reflects Light upon the Theory it self, and confirms it to be no Fiction: This Notion, which is a kind of Epitome, or Image of it, having been conserv’d in the most Ancient Learning.

87Thus much concerning the first Earth, its Production and Form; and concerning our second Proposition relating to it; which being prov’d by Reason, the Laws of Nature, and the Motions of the Chaos; then attested by Antiquity, both as to the Matter and Form of it; and confirm’d by Sacred Writers, we may take it now for a well establish’d Truth, and proceed upon this Supposition, That the antediluvian Earth was smooth and uniform, without Mountains or Sea, to the Explication of the Universal Deluge.

Give me leave only, before we proceed any further, to annex here a short Advertisement, concerning the Causes of this wonderful Structure of the first Earth. ’Tis true, we have propos’d the natural Causes of it, and I do not know wherein our Explication is false or defective; but in Things of this kind we may easily be too credulous. And this Structure is so marvellous, that it ought rather to be consider’d as a particular Effect of the Divine Art, than as the Work of Nature. The whole Globe of the Water vaulted over, and the exterior Earth hanging above the Deep, sustain’d by nothing but its own Measures and Manner of Construction: A Building without Foundation or Corner-stone. This seems to be a Piece of Divine Geometry or Architecture; and to this, I think, is to be referr’d that magnificent Challenge which God Almighty made to Job, Job xxxviii. 4, 5, 6, 7, &c. Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth? Declare if 88thou hast Understanding. Who hath laid the Measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the Line upon it? Whereupon are the Foundations thereof fastned? Or who laid the Corner-stone thereof? When the Morning Stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy. Moses also, when he had describ’d the Chaos, saith, The Spirit of God mov’d upon, or sat brooding upon, the Face of the Waters; without all doubt to produce some Effects there. And St. Peter, when he speaks of the Form of the antediluvian Earth, how it stood in reference to the Waters, adds, By the Word of God, Τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, or by the Wisdom of God it was made so. And this same Wisdom of God, in the Proverbs, as we observed before, takes Notice of this very piece of Work in the Formation of the Earth. When he set an Orb over the Face of the Deep, I was there. And lastly, the ancient Philosophers, or at least the best of them, to give them their due, always brought in Mens or Amor, Λόγος & Ἔρως, as a Supernatural Principle to unite and consociate the parts of the Chaos; which was first done in the Composition of this wonderful Arch of the Earth. Wherefore to the great Architect, who made the boundless Universe out of nothing, and form’d the Earth out of a Chaos, let the Praise of the whole Work, and particularly of this Masterpiece, for ever with all Honour be given.

Chap. VI

The Dissolution of the first Earth: The Deluge ensuing thereupon. And the Form of the present Earth rising from the Ruins of the first.

We have now brought to light the antediluvian Earth out of the dark Mass of the Chaos; and not only described the Surface of it, [See Fig. 5, & 6. pag. 78, & 87.] but laid open the inward parts, to shew in what Order its Regions lay. Let us now close it up, and represent the Earth entire, and in larger Propositions, more like an habitable World; as in this Figure, where you see the smooth Convex of the Earth, and may imagine the great Abyss spread under it; as at the Aperture, which two are to be the only Subject of our further Contemplation.

Book 1 Figure 7.

In this smooth Earth were the first Scenes of the World, and the first Generations of Mankind; it had the Beauty of Youth and blooming Nature, fresh and fruitful, and not a Wrinkle, Scar or Fracture in all its Body; no Rocks nor Mountains, no hollow Caves, nor gaping Channels, but even and uniform all over. And the Smoothness of the Earth made the Face of the Heavens so too; the Air was calm and serene; none of those tumultuary Motions and Conflicts of Vapours, which the Mountains and the Winds cause in ours: ’Twas suited to a golden Age, and to the first Innocency of Nature.

90All this you’ll say is well, we are got into a pleasant World indeed, but what’s this to the Purpose? What Appearance of a Deluge here, where there is not so much as a Sea, nor half so much Water as we have in this Earth? Or what Appearance of Mountains or Caverns, or other Irregularities of the Earth, where all is level and united: So that instead of loosing the Knot, this ties it the harder. You pretend to shew us how the Deluge was made, and you lock up all the Waters within the Womb of the Earth, and set Bars and Doors, and a Wall of impenetrable Strength and Thickness to keep them there. And you pretend to shew us the Original of Rocks and Mountains, and Caverns of the Earth, and bring us to a wide and endless Plain, smooth as the calm Sea.

This is all true, and yet we are not so far from the Sight and Discovery of those Things as you imagine; draw but the Curtain, and these Scenes will appear, or something very like ’em. We must remember that St. Peter told us, that the antediluvian Earth perished, or was demolished; and Moses saith, the great Abyss was broken open at the Deluge. Let us then suppose, that at a Time appointed by Divine Providence, and from Causes made ready to do that great Execution upon a sinful World, that this Abyss was open’d, or that the Frame of the Earth broke and fell down into the great Abyss. At this one stroke all Nature would be chang’d, and this single Action would have two great and visible Effects: The one 91Transient, and the other Permanent. First, an Universal Deluge would overflow all the Parts and Regions of the broken Earth during the great Commotion and Agitation of the Abyss, by the violent Fall of the Earth into it. This would be the first and unquestionable Effect of this Dissolution, and all that World would be destroy’d. Then when the Agitation of the Abyss was asswag’d, and the Waters by degrees were retir’d into their Channels, and the dry Land appear’d, you would see the true Image of the present Earth in the Ruins of the first. The Surface of the Globe would be divided into Land and Sea; the Land would consist of Plains and Valleys and Mountains, according as the Pieces of this Ruin were plac’d and dispos’d: Upon the Banks of the Sea would stand the Rocks, and near the Shore would be Islands, or lesser Fragments of Earth compass’d round by Water. Then as to subterraneous Waters, and all subterraneous Caverns and Hollownesses, upon this Supposition those things cou’d not be otherwise; for the Parts would fall hollow in many Places in this, as in all other Ruins: And seeing the Earth fell into this Abyss, the Waters at a certain Height would flow into all those hollow Places and Cavities; and wou’d also sink and insinuate into many Parts of the solid Earth. And though these subterraneous Vaults or Holes, whether dry or full of Water, would be more or less in all Places, where the Parts fell hollow; yet they would be found especially about the Roots of the Mountains, 92and the higher Parts of the Earth; for there the Sides bearing up one against the other, they could not lie so close at the Bottoms, but many Vacuities would be intercepted. Nor are there any other Inequalities or Irregularities observable in the present Form of the Earth; whether in the Surface of it, or interior Construction, whereof this Hypothesis doth give a ready, fair, and intelligible Account; and doth at one view represent them all to us, with their Causes, as in a Glass: And whether that Glass be true, and the Image answer to the Original, if you doubt of it, we will hereafter examine them Piece by Piece. But in the first Place, we must consider the general Deluge, how easily and truly this Supposition represents and explains it, and answers all the Properties and Conditions of it.

I think it will be easily allow’d, that such a Dissolution of the Earth as we have propos’d, and Fall of it into the Abyss, would certainly make an Universal Deluge; and effectually destroy the old World, which perish’d in it. But we have not yet particularly prov’d this Dissolution, and in what manner the Deluge follow’d upon it: And to assert things in gross never makes that firm Impression upon our Understandings, and upon our Belief, as to see them deduc’d with their Causes and Circumstances; and therefore we must endeavour to shew what Preparations there were in Nature for this great Dissolution, and after what manner it came to pass, and the Deluge in Consequence of it.

93We have noted before, that Moses imputed the Deluge to the Disruption of the Abyss; and St. Peter, to the particular Constitution of that Earth, which made it obnoxious to be absorpt in Water, so that our Explication so far is justified. But it was below the Dignity of those Sacred Pen-Men, or the Spirit of God that directed them, to shew us the Causes of this Disruption, or of this Absorption; this is left to the Enquiries of Men. For it was never the Design of Providence, to give such particular Explications of natural Things, as should make us idle, or the Use of Reason unnecessary; but on the contrary, by delivering great Conclusions to us to excite our Curiosity and Inquisitiveness after the Methods, by which such things were brought to pass: And it may be there is no greater Trial or Instance of natural Wisdom, than to find out the Channel, in which these great Revolutions of Nature, which we treat on, flow and succeed one another.

Let us therefore resume that System of the antediluvian Earth, which we have deduc’d from the Chaos, and which we find to answer St. Peter’s Description, and Moses’s Account of the Deluge. This Earth could not be obnoxious to a Deluge, as the Apostle supposeth it to have been, but by a Dissolution; for the Abyss was enclos’d within its Bowels. And Moses doth in effect tell us, there was such a Dissolution; when he saith, The Fountains of the great Abyss were broken open. For Fountains are broken open no otherwise 94than by breaking up the Ground that covers them. We must therefore here enquire in what Order, and from what Causes the Frame of this exterior Earth was dissolved, and then we shall soon see how, upon that Dissolution, the Deluge immediately prevail’d and overflow’d all the Parts of it.

I do not think it in the power of human Wit to determine how long this Frame would stand, how many Years, or how many Ages; but one would soon imagine, that this kind of Structure would not be perpetual, nor last indeed many thousands of Years, if one consider the Effect that the Heat of the Sun would have upon it, and the Waters under it; drying and parching the one, and rarefying the other into Vapours. For we must consider, that the Course of the Sun at that time, or the Posture of the Earth to the Sun, was such, that there was no Diversity or Alternation of Seasons in the Year, as there is now; by reason of which Alternation, our Earth is kept in an Equality of Temper, the contrary Seasons balancing one another; so as what Moisture the Heat of the Summer sucks out of the Earth, ’tis repaid in the Rains of the next Winter; and what Chaps were made in it, are fill’d up again, and the Earth reduc’d to its former Constitution. But if we should imagine a continual Summer, the Earth would proceed in Driness still more and more, and the Cracks would be wider, and pierce deeper into the Substance of it: And such a continual Summer there was, at least an Equality of Seasons 95in the antediluvian Earth, as shall be prov’d in the following Book, concerning Paradise. In the mean time, this being suppos’d, let us consider what Effect it would have upon this Arch of the exterior Earth, and the Waters under it.

We cannot believe, but that the Heat of the Sun, within the Space of some hundreds of Years, would have reduc’d this Earth to a considerable degree of Driness in certain Parts; and also have much rarefied and exhal’d the Waters beneath it: And considering the Structure of that Globe, the exterior Crust, and the Waters lying round under it, both expos’d to the Sun, we may fitly compare it to an Æolipile, or an hollow Sphere with Water in it, which the Heat of the Fire rarefies and turns into Vapours and Wind. The Sun here is as the Fire, and the exterior Earth is as the Shell of the Æolipile, and the Abyss as the water within it; now when the Heat of the Sun had pierced thro’ the Shell and reach’d the Waters, it began to rarefy them, and raise them into Vapours, which Rarefaction made them require more Space and Room than they needed before, while they lay close and quiet. And finding themselves pent in by the exterior Earth, they press’d with Violence against that Arch, to make it yield and give way to their Dilatation and Eruption. So we see all Vapours and Exhalations inclos’d within the Earth, and agitated there, strive to break out, and often shake the Ground with their Attempts to get loose. And in the Comparison we us’d of an Æolipile, if the Mouth of it 96be stop’d that gives the Vent, the Water rarefied will burst the Vessel with its Force: And the Resemblance of the Earth to an Egg, which we us’d before, holds also in this Respect; for when it heats before the Fire, the Moisture and Air within being rarefied, makes it often burst the Shell. And I do the more willingly mention this last Comparison, because I observe that some of the Ancients, when they speak of the Doctrine of the Mundane Egg, say, that after a certain Period of Time it was broken.

But there is yet another Thing to be considered in this Case; for as the Heat of the Sun gave Force to these Vapours more and more, and made them more strong and violent; so on the other Hand, it also weaken’d more and more the Arch of the Earth, that was to resist them; sucking out the Moisture that was the Cement of its parts, drying it immoderately, and chapping it in sundry Places. And there being no Winter then to close up and unite its Parts, and restore the Earth to its former Strength and Compactness, yet grew more and more dispos’d to a Dissolution. And at length, these Preparations in Nature being made on either side, the Force of the Vapours increas’d, and the Walls weaken’d which should have kept them in, when the appointed time was come, that All-wise Providence had design’d for the Punishment of a sinful World, the whole Fabrick brake, and the Frame of the Earth was torn in Pieces, as by an Earthquake; and those great Portions or Fragments, into which it was divided, 97fell down into the Abyss, some in one Posture, and some in another.

This is a short and general Account how we may conceive the Dissolution of the first Earth, and an Universal Deluge arising upon it. And this manner of Dissolution hath so many Examples in Nature every Age, that we need not insist farther upon the Explication of it. The generality of Earthquakes arise from like Causes, and often end in a like Effect, a partial Deluge or Inundation of the Place or Country where they happen; and of these we have seen some Instances even in our own Times: But whensoever it so happens that the Vapours and Exhalations shut up in the Caverns of the Earth by Rarefaction or Compression come to be straitned, they strive every way to set themselves at Liberty, and often break their Prison, or the Cover of the Earth that kept them in; which Earth upon that Disruption falls into the subterraneous Caverns that lie under it: And if it so happens that those Caverns are full of Water, as generally they are, if they be great or deep, that City or Tract of Land is drown’d. And also the Fall of such a Mass of Earth, with its Weight and Bulk, doth often force out the Water so impetuously, as to throw it upon all the Country round about. There are innumerable Examples in History (whereof we shall mention some hereafter) of Cities and Countries thus swallowed up, or overflow’d, by an Earthquake, and an Inundation arising upon it. And according to the manner of their Fall or Ruin, they either remain’d wholly 98under Water, and perpetually drown’d as Sodom and Gomorrha, Plato’s Atlantis, Bura and Helice, and other Cities and Regions in Greece and Asia; or they partly emerg’d, and became dry Land again; when (their Situation being pretty high) the Waters, after their violent Agitation was abated, retir’d into the lower Places, and into their Channels.

Now if we compare these Partial Dissolutions of the Earth with an Universal Dissolution, we may as easily conceive an Universal Deluge from an Universal Dissolution, as a Partial Deluge from a Partial. If we can conceive a City, a Country, an Island, a Continent thus absorpt and overflown; if we do but enlarge our Thought and Imagination a little, we may conceive it as well of the whole Earth. And it seems strange to me, that none of the Ancients should hit upon this way of explaining the Universal Deluge; there being such frequent Instances in all Ages and Countries of Inundations made in this manner, and never of any great Inundation made otherwise, unless in maritime Countries, by the Irruption of the Sea into Grounds that lie low. ’Tis true, they would not so easily imagine this Dissolution, because they did not understand the true Form of the antediluvian Earth; but, methinks, the Examination of the Deluge should have led them to the Discovery of that: For observing the Difficulty, or Impossibility of an Universal Deluge, without the Dissolution of the Earth; as also frequent Instances of these Dissolutions accompanied with Deluges, where 99the Ground was hollow, and had subterraneous Waters; this, methinks, should have prompted them to imagine, that those subterraneous Waters were universal at that time, or extended quite round the Earth; so as a Dissolution of the exterior Earth could not be made any where but it would fall into Waters, and be more or less overflow’d. And when they had once reach’d this Thought, they might conclude, both what the Form of the antediluvian Earth was, and that the Deluge came to pass by the Dissolution of it. But we reason with Ease about the finding out of Things, when they are once found out; and there is but a thin Paper-wall sometimes between the great Discoveries, and a perfect Ignorance of them. Let us proceed now to consider, whether this Supposition will answer all the Conditions of an Universal Deluge, and supply all the Defects which we found in other Explications.

The great Difficulty propos’d, was to find Water sufficient to make an Universal Deluge, reaching to the Tops of the Mountains; and yet that this Water should be transient, and after some time should so return into its Channels, that the dry Land would appear, and the Earth become again habitable. There was that double Impossibility in the common Opinion, that the Quantity of Water necessary for such a Deluge was no where to be found, or could no way be brought upon the Earth; and then if it was brought, cou’d no way be remov’d again. Our Explication quite takes off the Edge of this 100Objection; for, performing the same Effect with a far less Quantity of Water, ’tis both easy to be found, and easily remov’d when the Work is done. When the exterior Earth was broke, and fell into the Abyss, a good part of it was cover’d with Water, by the meer Depth of the Abyss it fell into, and those Parts of it that were higher than the Abyss was deep, and consequently would stand above it in a calm Water, were notwithstanding reach’d and overtop’d by the Waves, during the Agitation and violent Commotion of the Abyss. For it is not imaginable what the Commotion of the Abyss would be upon this Dissolution of the Earth, nor to what Height its Waves would be thrown, when those prodigious Fragments were tumbled down into it. Suppose a Stone of ten thousand Weight taken up into the Air a Mile or two, and then let fall into the middle of the Ocean, I do not believe but that the dashing of the Water upon that Impression would rise as high as a Mountain. But suppose a mighty Rock, or heap of Rocks to fall from that Height, or a great Island, or a Continent; these would expel the Waters out of their Places with such a Force and Violence, as to fling them among the highest Clouds.

’Tis incredible to what Height sometimes great Stones and Cinders will be thrown, at the Eruptions of fiery Mountains; and the Pressure of a great Mass of Earth falling into the Abyss, though it be a Force of another kind, could not but impel the Water with so much Strength, as would carry it up to a great Height in the Air; 101and to the top of any thing that lay in its way, any Eminency, high Fragment, or new Mountain: And then rolling back again, it would sweep down with it whatsoever it rush’d upon, Woods, Buildings, living Creatures, and carry them all headlong into the great Gulph. Sometimes a Mass of Water would be quite struck off and separate from the rest, and toss’d through the Air like a flying River; but the common Motion of the Waves was to climb up the Hills or inclin’d Fragments; and then return into the Valleys and Deeps again, with a perpetual Fluctuation going and coming, ascending and descending, ’till the Violence of them being spent by degrees, they settled at last in the Places allotted for them; where Bounds are set that they cannot pass over, that they return not again to cover the Earth, Psalm. civ. 6, 7, 8, 9.

Neither is it to be wondred, that the great Tumult of the Waters, and the Extremity of the Deluge lasted for some Months; for besides, that the first Shock and Commotion of the Abyss was extreamly violent, from the general Fall of the Earth, there were ever and anon some secondary Ruins; or some Parts of the great Ruin, that were not well settled, broke again, and made new Commotions: And ’twas a considerable Time before the great Fragments that fell, and their lesser Dependencies could be so adjusted and fitted, as to rest in a firm and immoveable Posture: For the Props and Stays whereby they lean’d one upon another, or upon the Bottom of the Abyss, often fail’d, either by the incumbent 102Weight, or the violent Impulses of the Water against them; and so renewed, or continued the Disorder and Confusion of the Abyss. Besides, we are to observe, that these great Fragments falling hollow, they inclos’d and bore down with them under their concave Surface a great deal of Air; and while the Water compass’d these Fragments, and overflow’d them, the Air could not readily get out of those Prisons, but by degrees, as the Earth and Water above would give way; so as this would also hinder the Settlement of the Abyss, and the retiring of the Water into those subterraneous Channels, for some Time. But at length, when this Air had found a vent, and left its place to the Water, and the Ruins both primary and secondary were settled and fix’d then the Waters of the Abyss began to settle too, and the dry Land to appear; first the tops of the Mountains, then the high Grounds, then the Plains and the rest of the Earth. And this gradual Subsidency of the Abyss (which Moses also hath particularly noted) and Discovery of the several Parts of the Earth would also take up a considerable Time.

Thus a new World appear’d, or the Earth put on its new Form, and became divided into Sea and Land; and the Abyss, which from several Ages, even from the beginning of the World, had lain hid in the Womb of the Earth, was brought to light and discover’d; the greatest part of it constituting our present Ocean, and the rest filling the lower Cavities of the Earth: Upon the Land appear’d the Mountains and the Hills, and 103the Islands in the Sea, and the Rocks upon the Shore. And so the Divine Providence, having prepar’d Nature for so great a Change, at one stroke dissolv’d the Frame of the old World, and made us a new one out of its Ruins, which we now inhabit since the Deluge. All which Things being thus explain’d, deduc’d, and stated, we now add and pronounce our Third and last Proposition; That the Disruption of the Abyss, or Dissolution of the primæval Earth, and its Fall into the Abyss, was the Cause of the Universal Deluge, and of the Destruction of the old World.

Chap. VII

That the Explication we have given of an Universal Deluge is not an Idea only, but an Account of what really came to pass in this Earth, and the true Explication of Noah’s Flood; as is prov’d by Argument and from History. An Examination of Tehom Rabba, or the great Abyss, and that by it the Sea cannot be understood, nor the subterraneous Waters, as they are at present. What the true Notion and Form of it was, collected from Moses and other Sacred Writers; The frequent Allusions in Scripture to the opening and shutting the Abyss, and the particular Stile of Scripture in its Reflections on the Origin. And the Formation of the Earth. Observations on Deucalion’s Deluge.

We have now given an Account of the first great Revolution of Nature, and of 104the Universal Deluge, in a way that is intelligible, and from Causes that answer the Greatness of the Effect: We have suppos’d nothing but what is also prov’d, both as to the first Form of the Earth, and as to the manner of its Dissolution; and how far from that would evidently and necessarily arise a general Deluge; which was that, which put a Period to the old World, and the first state of Things. And tho’ all this hath been deduc’d in due Order, and with Connexion and Consequence of one thing upon another, so far as I know, which is the true Evidence of a Theory; yet it may not be sufficient to command the Assent and Belief of some Persons, who will allow, it may be, and acknowledge, that this is a fair Idea of a possible Deluge in general, and of the Destruction of a World by it; but this may be only an Idea, they’ll say; we desire it may be prov’d from some collateral Arguments, taken either from Sacred History, or from Observation, that this hath really been exemplified upon the Earth, and that Noah’s Flood came to pass this way. And seeing we have design’d this first Book chiefly for the Explication of Noah’s Deluge, I am willing to add here a Chapter or two extraordinary upon this occasion; to shew, that what we have delivered is more than an Idea, and that it was in this very way that Noah’s Deluge came to pass. But they who have not this Doubt, and have a Mind to see the Issue of the Theory, may skip these two Chapters, if they please, and proceed to the following, where the Order is continued.

105To satisfy then the Doubtful in this Particular, let us lay down in the first place that Conclusion which they seem to admit, viz. That this is a possible and consistent Explication of an Universal Deluge; and let’s see how far this would go, if well consider’d, towards the Proof of what they desire, or towards the Demonstration of Noah’s Deluge in particular. It is granted on both Hands, that there hath been an Universal Deluge upon the Earth, which was Noah’s Deluge; and it is also granted, that we have given a possible and consistent Idea of an Universal Deluge: Now we have prov’d Chap. II. and III. that all other ways hitherto assign’d for the Explication of Noah’s Flood are incongruous or impossible; therefore it came to pass in that possible and competent way which we have propos’d. And if we have truly prov’d, in the foremention’d Chapters, the Impossibility or Unintelligibility of it in all other ways, this Argumentation is undeniable. Besides, we may argue thus, as it is granted that there hath been an Universal Deluge upon the Earth; so I suppose it will be granted that there hath been but one: Now the Dissolution of the Earth, whensoever it happen’d, would make one Universal Deluge, and therefore the only one, and the same with Noah’s. That such a Dissolution as we have describ’d would make an Universal Deluge, I think, cannot be question’d; and that there hath been such a Dissolution, besides what we have already alledg’d, shall be prov’d at large from natural Observations 106upon the Form and Figure of the present Earth, in the Third Section and last Chapter of this Book; In the mean time we will proceed to History, both Sacred and Prophane, and by comparing our Explication with those, give further Assurance of its Truth and Reality.

In the first Place, it agrees, which is most considerable, with Moses’s Narration of the Deluge; both as to the Matter and Manner of it. The Matter of the Deluge Moses makes to be the Waters from above, and the Waters from below; or he distinguishes the Causes of the Deluge, as we do, into Superior and Inferior, Gen. vii. 11. and the Inferior Causes he makes to be the Disruption of the Abyss, which is the principal Part, and the great Hinge of our Explication. Then as to the manner of the Deluge, the Beginning and the Ending, the Increase and Decrease, he saith, Verse 17, 18, 19, 20. Chap. viii. 3, 5. it increas’d gradually, and decreas’d gradually, by going and coming; that is, after many repeated Fluctuations and Reciprocations of the Waves, the Waters of the Abyss began to be more compos’d, and to retire into their Channels, whence they shall never return to cover the Earth again. This agrees wholly with our Theory; we suppose the Abyss to have been under an extream Commotion and Agitation by the Fall of the Earth into it, and this at first encreas’d more and more, till the whole Earth was fallen; then continuing for some time at the height of its Rage, overwhelming the greatest Mountains, it afterwards decreas’d by the like degrees, 107leaving first the Tops of the Mountains, then the Hills and the Fields, ’till the Waters came to be wholly drawn off the Earth into their Channels.

It was no doubt a great Oversight in the Ancients, to fancy the Deluge like a great standing Pool of Water, reaching from the Bottom of the Valleys to the Tops of the Mountains, every where alike, with a level and uniform Surface; by reason of which mistaken Notion of the Deluge, they made more Water necessary to it than was possible to be had, or being had, than it was possible to get quit of again; for there are no Channels in the Earth that could hold so much Water, either to give it, or to receive it. And the Psalmist, [vid. St. Austin in loc.] speaking of the Deluge, as it seems to me, notes this violent Commotion of the Abyss, Psal. civ. 8, 9. The Waters went up by the Mountains, came down by the Valleys unto the Place which thou hast founded for them. I know some interpret that Passage of the State of the Waters in the Beginning, when they cover’d the Face of the whole Earth, Gen. i. 2. but that cannot be, because of what follows in the next Verse; Thou hast set a Bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the Earth. Which is not true, if the preceding Words be understood of the State of the Waters at the Beginning of the World; for they did pass those Bounds, and did return since that time to cover the Earth, namely at the Deluge: But if these Words be referr’d to the Time of the Deluge, and the State 108of the Waters then, ’tis both a just Description of the Motion of the Abyss, and certainly true, that the Waters since that time are so settled in their Channels, that they shall never overflow the Earth again. As we are assur’d by the Promise made to Noah, and that illustrious Pledge and Confirmation of it, the Rainbow, that the Heavens also shall never pour out so much Waters again; their State being chang’d as well as that of the Earth, or Sea, from what they were before the Deluge.

But before we leave Moses’s Narration of the Deluge, we must examine further, what is, or can be understood by his Tehom-Rabba, or great Abyss, which, he saith, was broken up at the Deluge, Gen. vii. 11. for this will help us to discover, whether our Explication be the same with his, and of the same Flood. And first we must consider, whether by the Tehom-Rabba, or Mosaical Abyss, can be understood the Sea or Ocean, under that Form we see it in at present; and ’tis plain, methinks, that the Sea cannot be understood by this great Abyss, both because the Sea is not capable upon any Disruption to make such an Universal Deluge; and because the Narration of Moses, and his Expressions concerning this Abyss, do not agree to the Sea. Some of the Ancients indeed did imagine, that the Waters of the Sea were much higher than the Land, and stood, as it were, on a heap; so as when these Waters were let loose, they overflow’d the Earth, and made a Deluge. But this is known to be a gross Mistake; the Sea and the 109Land make one Globe, and the Waters couch themselves, as close as may be, to the Center of this Globe in a Spherical Convexity; so that if all the Mountains and Hills were scal’d, and the Earth made even, the Waters would not overflow its smooth Surface; much less could they overflow it in the Form that it is now, where the Shores are higher than the Sea, the Inland Parts than the Shores, and the Mountains still far above all: So as no Disruption of the Sea could make an Universal Deluge, by reason of its Situation. But besides that, the Quantity of Water contain’d in the Sea is no way sufficient to make a Deluge in the present Form of the Earth; for we have shewn before, Chap. ii. that eight such Oceans as ours would be little enough for that Purpose. Then as to the Expressions of Moses concerning this Abyss, if he had meant the Sea by it, and that the Deluge was made by the Disruption of the Sea, why did he not say so? There is no mention of the Sea in all the History of the Deluge: Moses had mention’d the Sea before, Gen. i. 10. and us’d a Word that was common, and known to signify the Sea; and if he had a Mind to express the same thing here, why should he not use the same Word and the same Term? In an Historical Relation we use Terms that are most proper and best known; but instead of that he useth the same Term here that he did, Gen. i. 2. when he saith, Darkness was upon the Face of the Abyss, or of the Deep, as we render it; there the Abyss was open, or cover’d 110with Darkness only, namely, before the exterior Earth was form’d; Here the same Abyss is mention’d again, but cover’d, by the Formation of the Earth upon it; and the covering of this Abyss was broken or cloven asunder, and the Waters gush’d out that made the Deluge. This I am sure is the most natural Interpretation or Signification of this Word, according as it is us’d in Moses’s Writings. Furthermore, we must observe what Moses saith concerning this Abyss, and whether that will agree with the Sea or no; he saith the Fountains of the great Abyss were broken open; now if by the great Abyss you understand the Sea, how are its Fountains broken open? To break open a Fountain, is to break open the Ground that covers it, and what Ground covers the Sea? So that upon all Considerations, either of the Word that Moses here useth, Tehom-Rabba, or of the thing affirmed concerning it, breaking open its Fountains; or of the Effect following the breaking open its Fountains, drowning of the Earth; from all these Heads it is manifest, that the Sea cannot be understood by the great Abyss, whose Disruption was the Cause of the Deluge.

And as the Mosaical Abyss cannot be the Sea, so neither can it be those subterraneous Waters that are dispers’d in the Cells and Caverns of the Earth; for as they are now lodg’d within the Earth, they are not one Abyss, but several Cisterns and Receptacles of Water in several Places, especially under the roots of Mountains and Hills, separate one from another, sometimes by 111whole Regions and Countries interpos’d. Besides, what Fountains, if they were broken up, could let out this Water, or bring it upon the Face of the Earth? When we sink a Mine, or dig a Well, the Waters, when uncover’d, do not leap out of their Places out of those Cavities, or at least, do not flow upon the Earth; ’Tis not as if you open’d a Vein, where the Blood spirts out, and riseth higher than its Source; but as when you take off the Cover of a Vessel, the Water doth not fly out for that: So if we should imagine all the subterraneous Caverns of the Earth uncover’d, and the Waters laid bare, there they would lie unmov’d in their Beds, if the Earth did not fall into them to force them up. Furthermore, if these Waters were any way extracted and laid upon the Surface of the Ground, nothing would be gain’d, as to the Deluge, by that, for as much Water would run into these Holes again when the Deluge begun to rise; so that this would be but an useless Labour, and turn to no Account. And lastly, These Waters are no way sufficient for Quantity to answer to the Mosaical Abyss, or to be the principal Cause of the Deluge, as that was.

Now, seeing neither the Sea, as it is at present, nor the subterraneous Waters, as they are at present, can answer to the Mosaical Abyss, we are sure there is nothing in this present Earth that can answer to it. Let us then on the other Hand compare it with that subterraneous Abyss, which we have found in the antediluvian Earth, represented; Fig. 2. p. 77. and examine their 112Characters and Correspondency: First, Moses’s Abyss was cover’d, and subterraneous, for the Fountains of it are said to have been cloven or burst open; then, it was vast and capacious; and thirdly, it was so dispos’d, as to be capable of a Disruption, that would cause an universal Deluge to the Earth. Our antediluvian Abyss answers truly to all these Characters; it was in the Womb of the Earth; the Earth was founded upon those Waters, as the Psalmist saith; or they were inclos’d within the Earth as in a Bag. Then for the Capacity of it, it contained both all the Waters now in the Ocean, and all those that are dispers’d in the Caverns of the Earth: And lastly, it is manifest its Situation was such, that upon a Disruption or Dissolution of the Earth which cover’d it, an universal Deluge would arise. Seeing then this answers the Description, and all the Properties of the Mosaical Abyss, and nothing else will, how can we in Reason judge it otherwise than the same, and the very Thing intended and propos’d in the History of Noah’s Deluge under the Name of Tehom-Rabba, or the great Abyss, at whose Disruption the World was over-flow’d? And as we do not think it an unhappy Discovery to have found out, (with a moral Certainty) the Seat of the Mosaical Abyss, which hath been almost as much sought for, and as much in vain, as the Seat of Paradise; so this gives us a great Assurance, that the Theory we have given of a general Deluge is not a mere Idea, but is to be appropriated to the Deluge of Noah, as a true Explication of it.

113And to proceed now from Moses to other divine Writers; That our Description is a Reality, both as to the antediluvian Earth, and as to the Deluge, we may further be convinc’d from St. Peter’s Discourse concerning those two Things, 2 Epist. iii. 6. St. Peter saith, that the Constitution of the antediluvian Earth was such, in reference to the Waters, that by reason of that it was obnoxious to a Deluge; we say these Waters were the great Abyss it stood upon, by reason whereof that World was really expos’d to a Deluge, and overwhelm’d in it upon the Disruption of this Abyss, as Moses witnesses. ’Tis true, St. Peter doth not specify what those Waters were, nor mention either the Sea or the Abyss; but seeing Moses tells us, that it was by the Waters of the Abyss that the Earth was overwhelmed, St. Peter’s Waters must be understood of the same Abyss, because he supposeth them the Cause of the same Deluge. And, I think, the Apostle’s Discourse there cannot receive a better Illustration, than from Moses’s History of the Deluge. Moses distinguishes the Causes of the Flood into those that belong to the Heavens, and those that belong to the Earth; the Rains and the Abyss: St. Peter also distinguisheth the Causes of the Deluge into the Constitution of the Heavens, in reference to its Waters; and the Constitution of the Earth, in reference to its Waters; and no doubt they both aim at the same Causes, as they refer to the same Effect; only Moses mentions the immediate Causes, the Rains and the Waters of the Abyss; and St. 114Peter mentions the more remote and fundamental Causes, that Constitution of the Heavens, and that Constitution of the Earth, in reference to their respective Waters, which made that World obnoxious to a Deluge: And these two, speaking of Noah’s Deluge, and agreeing thus with one another, and both with us, or with the Theory which we have given of a general Deluge, we may safely conclude, that it is no imaginary Idea, but a true Account of that ancient Flood, whereof Moses hath left us the History.

And seeing the right understanding of the Mosaical Abyss is sufficient alone to prove all we have deliver’d concerning the Deluge, as also concerning the Frame of the antediluvian Earth, give me leave to take Notice here of some other Places of Scripture, which we mention’d before, that seem manifestly to describe this same Form of the Abyss with the Earth above it, 2 Esdr. xvi. 58. Psal. xxiv. 2. He founded the Earth upon the Seas, and establish’d it upon the Floods. And Psal. cxxxvi. 6. He stretch’d out the Earth above the Waters. Now this Foundation of the Earth upon the Waters, or Extension of it above the Waters, 2 Esdr. c. vi. doth most aptly agree to that Structure and Situation of the Abyss and the antediluvian Earth, which we have assign’d them, and which we have before describ’d; but very improperly and forcedly to the present Form of the Earth and the Waters. In that second Place of the Psalmist, the Word may be render’d either, he stretch’d, as we read it, or he fix’d and consolidated the Earth above 115the Waters, as the Vulgate and Septuagint translate it: For ’tis from the same Word with that which is used for the Firmament, Gen. i. So that as the Firmament was extended over and around the Earth, so was the Earth extended over and about the Waters, in that first Constitution of Things; and I remember some of the Ancients use this very Comparison of the Firmament and Earth, to express the Situation of the Paradisiacal Earth in reference to the Sea or Abyss.

There is another remarkable Place in the Psalms, to shew the Disposition of the Waters in the first Earth; Psal. xxxiii. 7. He gathereth the Waters of the Sea as in a Bag, he layeth up the Abysses in Store-houses. This answers very fitly and naturally to the Place and Disposition of the Abyss which it had before the Deluge, inclos’d within the Vault of the Earth, as in a Bag, or in a Store-house. I know very well what I render here in a Bag, is render’d in the English as an Heap; but that Translation of the Word seems to be grounded on the old Error, that the Sea is higher than the Land, and so doth not make a true Sense. Neither are the two Parts of the Verse so well suited and consequent one to another, if the first express an high Situation of the Waters, and the second a low one. And accordingly the Vulgate, Septuagint, and Oriental Versions and Paraphrase, as also Symmachus, St. Jerom, and Basil, render it as we do here, in a Bag, or by Terms equivalent.

To these Passages of the Psalmist, concerning 116the Form of the Abyss and the first Earth, give me leave to add this general Remark, that they are commonly usher’d in, or follow’d, with something of Admiration in the Prophet. We observ’d before, that the Formation of the first Earth, after such a wonderful Manner, being a Piece of divine Architecture, when it was spoken of in Scripture, it was usually ascrib’d to a particular Providence; and accordingly we see in these Places now mentioned, that it is still made the Object of Praise and Admiration: In the cxxxvi. Palm ’tis reckon’d among the Wonders of God, Verses 4, 5, 6. Give Praise to him who alone doth great Wonders: To him that by Wisdom made the Heavens: To hime that stretched out the Earth above the Waters. And in like manner, in that xxxiii. Ps. ’tis join’d with the Forming of the Heavens, and made the Subject of the Divine Power and Wisdom: Verses 6, 7, 8, 9. By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made, and all the Host of them by the Breath of his Mouth; He gathereth the Waters of the Sea together, as in a Bag, he layeth up the Abyss in Store-houses. Let all the Earth fear the Lord; Let all the Inhabitants of the World stand in awe of him; For he spake, and it was; he commanded, and it stood fast. Namely, all Things stood in that wonderful Posture in which the Word of his Power and Wisdom had establish’d them. David often made the Works of Nature, and the external World, the Matter of his Meditations, and of his Praises and Philosophical Devotions; 117reflecting sometimes upon the present Form of the World, and sometimes upon the primitive Form of it: And tho’ poetical Expressions, as the Psalms are, seldom are so determinate and distinct, but that they may be interpreted more than one Way; yet, I think, it cannot but be acknowledg’d, that those Expressions, and Passages that we have instanc’d in, are more fairly and aptly understood of the ancient Form of the Sea, or the Abyss, as it was inclos’d within the Earth, than of the present Form of it in an open Channel.

There are also in the Book of Job many noble Reflections upon the Works of Nature, and upon the Formation of the Earth and the Abyss; whereof that in Chap. xxvi. 7. He stretcheth out the North over the empty Places, and hangeth the Earth upon nothing, seems to parallel the Expression of David; He stretched out the Earth upon the Waters; for the Word we render the empty Place is Tohu, which is apply’d to the Chaos and the first Abyss, Gen. i. 2. and the hanging the Earth upon nothing is much more wonderful, if it be understood of the first habitable Earth, that hung over the Waters, sustain’d by nothing but its own peculiar Form, and the Libration of its Parts, than if it be understood of the present Earth, and the whole Body of it; for if it be in its Center or proper Place, whither should it sink further, or whither should it go? But this Passage, together with the foregoing and following Verses, requires a more critical Examination than this Discourse will easily bear.

118There is another remarkable Discourse in Job, that contains many Things to our present Purpose, ’tis Chap. xxxviii. where God reproaches Job with his Ignorance of what pass’d at the beginning of the World, and the Formation of the Earth, Verses 4, 5, 6. Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth? Declare if thou hast Understanding. Who hath laid the Measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the Line upon it? Whereupon are the Foundations thereof fastned? or who laid the Corner-stone? All these Questions have far more Force and Emphasis, more Propriety and Elegancy, if they be understood of the first and antediluvian Form of the Earth, than if they be understood of the present; for in the present Form of the Earth there is no Architecture, no Structure, no more than in a Ruin; or at least none comparatively to what was in the first Form of it. And that the exterior and superficial Part of the Earth is here spoken of, appears by the Rule and Line applied to it; but what Rule or Regularity is there in the Surface of the present Earth? What Line was us’d to level its Parts? But in its original Construction, when it lay smooth and regular in its Surface, as if it had been drawn, by Rule and Line in every Part; and when it hung pois’d upon the Deep, without Pillar or Foundation-Stone, then just Proportions were taken, and every thing plac’d by Weight and Measure: And this, I doubt not, was that artificial Structure here alluded to; and when this Work was 119finish’d, then The Morning Stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy, Verse 7.

Thus far the Questions proceed upon the Form and Construction of the first Earth; in the following Verses (8, 9, 10, 11.) they proceed upon the Demolition of that Earth, the opening the Abyss, and the present State of both. Or who shut up the Sea with Doors when it brake forth, as if it had issu’d out of a Womb? Who can doubt but this was at the breaking open the Fountains of the Abyss? Gen. vii. 11. when the Waters gush’d out, as out of the great Womb of Nature; and by reason of that Confusion and Perturbation of Air and Water that rose upon it, a thick Mist and Darkness was round the Earth, and all Things as in a second Chaos, When I made the Cloud the Garment thereof, and thick Darkness a Swadling-band for it, and brake up for it my decreed Place, and made Bars and Doors. Namely, (taking the Words as thus usually render’d) the present Channel of the Sea was made when the Abyss was broke up, and at the same Time were made the shory Rocks and Mountains, which are the Bars and Boundaries of the Sea. And said hitherto shalt thou come, and no further; and here shall thy proud Waves be stay’d. Which last Sentence shews, that this cannot be understood of the first Disposition of the Waters, as they were before the Flood, for their proud Waves broke those Bounds, whatsoever they were, when they over-flow’d the Earth in the Deluge. And that the Womb which 120they broke out of was the great Abyss, the Chaldee Paraphrase in this Place doth expresly mention; and what can be understood by חְהומה מן the Womb of the Earth, but that subterraneous Capacity in which the Abyss lay? Then that which followeth is a Description or Representation of the great Deluge that ensued, and of that Disorder in Nature that was then, and how the Waters were settled and bounded afterwards. Not unlike the Description in Psalm civ. ver. 6, 7, 8, 9. And thus much for these Places in the Book of Job.

There remains a remarkable Discourse in the Proverbs of Solomon, relating to the Mosaical Abyss, and not only to that, but to the Origin of the Earth in general; where Wisdom declares her Antiquity and Pre-existence to all the Works of this Earth, Chap. viii. Verse 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28. I was set up from Everlasting, from the Beginning ere the Earth was. When there were no Deeps or Abysses, I was brought forth; when no Fountains abounding with Water. Then in the 27th Verse, When he prepared the Heavens, I was there; when he set a Compass upon the Face of the Deep or Abyss. When he established the Clouds above, when he strengthned the Fountains of the Abyss. Here is mention made of the Abyss, and of the Fountains of the Abyss; and who can question, but that the Fountains of the Abyss here are the same with the Fountains of the Abyss which Moses mentions, and were broken open, as he tells us, at the Deluge? Let us 121observe therefore what Form Wisdom gives to this Abyss, and consequently to the Mosaical; And here seem to be two Expressions that determine the Form of it, Verse 28. He strengthned the Fountains of the Abyss, that is, the cover of those Fountains, for the Fountains could be strengthned no other Way than by making a strong Cover or Arch over them. And that Arch is express’d more fully and distinctly in the foregoing Verse, When he prepar’d the Heavens, I was there; when he set a Compass on the Face of the Abyss; we render it Compass, the Word signifies a Circle or Circumference, or an Orb or Sphere. So there was in the Beginning of the World a Sphere, Orb or Arch set round the Abyss, according to the Testimony of Wisdom, who was then present. And this shews us both the Form of the Mosaical Abyss, which was included within this Vault: And the Form of the habitable Earth, which was the outward Surface of this Vault, or the Cover of the Abyss that was broke up at the Deluge.

And thus much, I think, is sufficient to have noted out of Scripture, concerning the Mosaical Abyss, to discover the Form, Place, and Situation of it; which I have done the more largely, because that being determin’d, it will draw in easily all the rest of our Theory concerning the Deluge. I will now only add one or two general Observations, and so conclude this Discourse: The first Observation is concerning the Abyss; namely, That the opening and shutting of the Abyss, 122is the great Hinge upon which Nature turns in this Earth: This brings another Face of things, other Scenes, and a new World upon the Stage: And accordingly it is a thing often mention’d and alluded to in Scripture, sometimes in a natural, sometimes in a moral or theological Sense; and in both Senses, our Saviour shuts and opens it as he pleaseth. Our Saviour, who is both Lord of Nature and of Grace, whose Dominion is both in Heaven and in Earth, hath a double Key; that of the Abyss, whereby Death and Hell are in his Power, and all the Revolutions of Nature are under his Conduct and Providence; and the Key of David, whereby he admits or excludes from the City of God, and the Kingdom of Heaven whom he pleaseth. Job xi. 10, 12, 14. Apoc. i. 18. xx. 1, 2, 3. xxi. 1. Apoc. iii. 7. Isa. xxii. 22. Of those Places that refer to the shutting and opening the Abyss in a natural Sense, I cannot but particularly take Notice of that in Job, Chap. xii. ver. 14, 15. and Chap. xi. 10. God breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: He shutteth up Man, and there can be no opening: Behold, he withholdeth the Waters, and they dry up; also he sendeth them out and they overturn the Earth. Tho’ these Things be true of God in lesser and common Instances, yet to me it is plain, that they principally refer to the Deluge, the opening and shutting the Abyss, with the Dissolution or Subversion of the Earth thereupon; and accordingly they are made the great Effects of the divine Power and Wisdom in the 13th 123Verse of Chap. xii. With God is Wisdom and Strength, he hath Counsel and Understanding; Behold, he breaketh down, &c. And also in the Conclusion ’tis repeated again, Verse 16. With him is Strength and Wisdom; which Solemnity would scarce have been us’d for common Instances of his Power. When God is said to build or pull down, and no Body can build again, ’tis not to be understood of an House or a Town. God builds and unbuilds Worlds; and who shall build up that Arch that was broke down at the Deluge? Where shall they lay the Foundation, or how shall the Mountains be rear’d up again to make Part of the Roof? This is the Fabrick, which when God breaketh down, none can build up again. He withholdeth the Waters, and they dry up: As we shew’d the Earth to have been immoderately chap’d and parch’d before its Dissolution. He sendeth them forth, and they overturn the Earth. What can more properly express the breaking out of the Waters at the Disruption of the Abyss, and the Subversion or Dissolution of the Earth in consequence of it? ’Tis true, this last Passage may be applied to the breaking out of Waters in an ordinary Earthquake, and the Subversion of some Part of the Earth, which often follows upon it; but it must be acknowledg’d, that the Sense is more weighty, if it be referr’d to the great Deluge, and the great Earthquake which laid the World in Ruins and in Water. And philosophical Descriptions in sacred Writings, like Prophecies, have often a lesser 124and a greater Accomplishment and Interpretation.

I could not pass by this Place without giving this short Explication of it. We proceed now to the second Observation, which is concerning the Style of Scripture, in most of those Places we have cited, and others upon the same Subject. The Reflections that are made in several Parts of the divine Writings, upon the Origin of the World, and the Formation of the Earth, seem to me to be writ in a Style something approaching to the Nature of a prophetical Style, and to have more of a divine Enthusiasm and Elocution in them, than the ordinary Text of Scripture; the Expressions are lofty, and sometimes abrupt, and often figurative and disguis’d, as may be observed in most of those Places we have made use of, and particularly in that Speech of Wisdom, Prov. viii. where the 26th Verse is so obscure, that no two Versions that I have yet met with, whether ancient or modern, agree in the Translation of that Verse. And therefore, tho’ I fully believe that the Construction of the first Earth is really intended in those Words; yet seeing it could not be made out clear without a long and critical Discussion of them, I did not think that proper to be insisted upon here. We may also observe, that whereas there is a double Form or Composition of the Earth, that which it had at first, or till the Deluge, and that which it hath since; sometimes the one, and sometimes the other may be glanc’d upon in these Scripture Phrases and Descriptions; and so there may be in 125the same Discourse an Intermixture of both. And it commonly happens so in an enthusiastick or prophetick Style, that by reason of the Eagerness and Trembling of the Fancy, it doth not always regularly follow the same even Thread of Discourse, but strikes many times upon some other Thing that hath Relation to it, or lies under or near the same view. Of this we have frequent Examples in the Apocalypse, and in that Prophecy of our Saviour’s, Matth. xxiv. concerning the Destruction of Jerusalem, and of the World. But notwithstanding any such Unevenness or Indistinctness in the Style of those Places which we have cited concerning the Origin and Form of the Earth, we may at least make this Remark, that if there never was any other Form of the Earth but the present, nor any other State of the Abyss, than what it is in now, ’tis not imaginable what should give Occasion to all those Expressions and Passages that we have cited; which being so strange in themselves and paradoxical, should yet so much favour, and so fairly comply with our Suppositions. What I have observ’d in another Place, Tell. Theor. lib. 2. c. 6. in treating of Paradise, that the Expressions of the ancient Fathers were very extravagant, if Paradise was nothing but a little Plot of Ground in Mesopotamia, as many of late have fancied, may in like Manner be observ’d concerning the ancient Earth and Abyss; if they were in no other Form nor other State than what they are under now, the Expressions of the sacred Writers concerning them are very strange and unaccountable, without any sufficient 126Ground, that we know, or any just Occasion for such uncouth Representations. If there was nothing intended or referr’d to in those Descriptions, but the present Form and State of the Earth, that is so well known, that in describing of it there would be nothing dark or mysterious, nor any occasion for Obscurity in the Style or Expression, whereof we find so much in those. So as, all Things consider’d, what might otherwise be made an Exception to some of these Texts alledg’d by us, viz. that they are too obscure, becomes an Argument for us: As implying that there is something more intended by them than the present and known Form of the Earth. And we having propos’d another Form and Structure of the Earth, to which those Characters suit and answer more easily; as this opens and gives Light to those difficult Places, so it may be reasonably concluded to be the very Sense and Notion intended by the holy Writers.

And thus much, I think, is sufficient to have observ’d out of Scripture, to verify our Explication of the Deluge, and our Application of it to Noah’s Flood, both according to the Mosaical History of the Flood, and according to many occasional Reflections and Discourses dispers’d in other Places of Scripture concerning the same Flood, or concerning the Abyss and the first Form of the Earth. And though there may be some other Passages of a different Aspect, they will be of no Force to disprove our Conclusions, because they respect the present Form of the 127Earth and Sea; and also, because Expressions that deviate more from the common Opinion, are more remarkable and more proving; in that there is nothing could give Occasion to such, but an Intention to express the very Truth. So, for instance, if there was one Place in Scripture that said the Earth was mov’d, and several that seem’d to imply, that the Sun was mov’d, we should have more regard to that one Place for the Motion of the Earth, than to all the other that made against it; because those others might be spoken and understood according to common Opinion and common Belief, but that which affirm’d the Motion of the Earth, could not be spoken upon any other Ground, but only for Truth and Instruction-sake. I leave this to be apply’d to the present Subject.

Thus much for the sacred Writings. As to the History of the ancient Heathens, we cannot expect an Account or Narration of Noah’s Flood, under that Name and Notion; but it may be of use to observe two Things out of that History. First, that the Inundations recorded there came generally to pass in the Manner we have describ’d the universal Deluge; namely, by Earthquakes and an Eruption of subterraneous Waters, the Earth being broken and falling in: And of this we shall elsewhere give a full Account out of their Authors. Secondly, that Deucalion’s Deluge in particular, which is suppos’d by most of the ancient Fathers to represent Noah’s Flood, is said to have been accompanied with a gaping or Disruption of the 128Earth. Apollodorus said, Bibl. lib. 1. that the Mountains of Thessaly were divided asunder, or separate one from another at that time: And Lucian (De Dea Syria) tells a very remarkable Story to this purpose, concerning Deucalion’s Deluge, and a Ceremony observ’d in the Temple of Hieropolis, in Commemoration of it; which Ceremony seems to have been of that Nature, as imply’d that there was an opening of the Earth at the Time of the Deluge, and that the Waters subsided into that again when the Deluge ceas’d. He saith, that this Temple at Hieropolis was built upon a kind of Abyss, or had a bottomless Pit, or gaping of the Earth in one Part of it; and the People of Arabia and Syria, and the Countries thereabouts, twice a Year repair’d to this Temple, and brought with them every one a Vessel of Water, which they pour’d out upon the Floor of the Temple, and made a kind of an Inundation there in Memory of Deucalion’s Deluge; and this Water sunk by Degrees into a Chasm or opening of a Rock, which the Temple stood upon, and so left the Floor dry again. And this was a Rite solemnly and religiously perform’d both by the Priests and by the People. If Moses had left such a religious Rite among the Jews, I should not have doubted to have interpreted it concerning his Abyss, and the retiring of the Waters into it; but the actual Disruption of the Abyss could not well be represented by any Ceremony. And thus much concerning the present Question, and the true Application of our Theory to Noah’s Flood.

Chap. VIII

The particular History of Noah’s Flood is explained in all the material Parts and Circumstances of it, according to the preceding Theory. Any seeming Difficulties remov’d, and the whole Section concluded, with a Discourse how far the Deluge may be look’d upon as the Effect of an ordinary Providence, and how far of an extraordinary.

We have now proved our Explication of the Deluge to be more than an Idea, or to be a true Piece of natural History; and it may be the greatest and most remarkable that hath yet been since the Beginning of the World. We have shewn it to be the real Account of Noah’s Flood, according to Authority both divine and human; and I would willingly proceed one step further, and declare my Thoughts concerning the Manner and Order wherein Noah’s Flood came to pass; in what Method all those Things happen’d and succeeded one another, that make up the History of it, as Causes or Effects, or other Parts or Circumstances: As how the Ark was born upon the Waters, what Effect the Rains had, at what Time the Earth broke, and the Abyss was open’d; and what the Condition of the Earth was upon the ending of the Flood, and such like. But I desire to propose my Thoughts concerning these Things only as Conjectures, which I will ground as near as I can upon 130Scripture and Reason, and am very willing they should be rectified where they happen to be amiss. I know how subject we are to Mistakes in these great and remote Things, when we descend to Particulars; but I am willing to expose the Theory to a full Trial, and to shew the way for any to examine it, provided they do it with Equity and Sincerity. I have no other Design than to contribute my Endeavours to find out the Truth in a Subject of so great Importance, and wherein the World hath hitherto had so little Satisfaction: And he that in an obscure Argument proposeth an Hypothesis that reacheth from End to End, tho’ it be not exact in every Particular; ’tis not without a good Effect; for it gives Aim to others to take their Measures better, and opens their Invention in a matter which otherwise, it may be, would have been impenetrable to them: As he that makes the first way thro’ a thick Forest, tho’ it be not the streightest and shortest, deserves better, and hath done more than he that makes it streighter and smoother afterwards.

Providence that ruleth all things and all Ages, after the Earth had stood above sixteen hundred Years, thought fit to put a Period to that World; and accordingly it was revealed to Noah, that for the Wickedness and Degeneracy of Men, God would destroy Mankind with the Earth, (Gen. vi. 13.) in a Deluge of Water; whereupon he was commanded, in order to the preserving of himself and Family, as a Stock for the new World, to build a great Vessel or 131Ark, to float upon the Waters, and had Instructions given him for the Building of it, both as to the Matter, and as to the Form. Noah believed the Word of God, tho’ against his Senses, and all external Appearances, and set himself to work to build an Ark, according to the Directions given, which after many Years Labour was finish’d; whilst the incredulous World, secure enough, as they thought, against a Deluge, continued still in their Excesses and Insolencies, and laught at the Admonition of Noah, and at the Folly of his Design of building an extravagant Machine, a floating House, to save himself from an imaginary Inundation; for they thought it no less, seeing it was to be in an Earth where there was no Sea, nor any Rain neither in those Parts, according to the ordinary Course of Nature; as shall be shewn in the second Book of this Treatise.

But when the appointed Time was come, the Heavens began to melt, and the Rains to fall, and these were the first surprizing Causes and Preparatives to the Deluge: They fell, we suppose, (tho’ we do not know how that could proceed from natural Causes) throughout the Face of the whole Earth; which could not but have a considerable Effect on that Earth, being even and smooth, without Hills and Eminencies, and might lay it all under Water to some Depth; so as the Ark, if it could not float upon those Rain-Waters, at least taking the Advantage of a River, or of a Dock or Cistern made to receive them, it might be afloat before the Abyss was 132broken open. For I do not suppose the Abyss broken open before any Rain fell; and when the opening of the Abyss and of the Flood-gates of Heaven are mention’d together, I am apt to think those Flood-gates were distinct from the common Rain, and were something more violent and impetuous. So that there might be preparatory Rains before the Disruption of the Abyss: And I do not know but those Rains, so covering up and enclosing the Earth on every side, might providentially contribute to the Disruption of it; not only by softning and weakning the Arch of the Earth in the bottom of those Cracks and Chasms which were made by the Sun, and which the Rain would first run into, but especially by stopping on a sudden all the Pores of the Earth, and all Evaporation, which would make the Vapours within struggle more violently, as we get a Fever by a Cold; and it may be in that struggle, the Doors and the Bars were broke, and the great Abyss gush’d out, as out of a Womb.

However, when the Rains were fallen, we may suppose the Face of the Earth cover’d over with Water; and whether it was these Waters that St. Peter refers to, or that of the Abyss afterwards, I cannot tell, when he saith in his first Epistle, Chap. iii. 20. Noah and his Family were sav’d by Water; so as the Water which destroyed the rest of the World was an Instrument of their Conservation, in as much as it bore up the Ark, and kept it from that impetuous Shock, which it would have 133had, if either it had stood upon dry Land when the Earth fell, or if the Earth had been dissolv’d without any Water on it or under it. However, Things being thus prepar’d, let us suppose the great Frame of the exterior Earth to have broke at this time, or the Fountains of the great Abyss, as Moses saith, to have been then open’d; from thence would issue upon the Fall of the Earth, with an unspeakable Violence, such a Flood of Waters as would over-run and overwhelm for a Time all those Fragments which the Earth broke into, and bury in one common Grave all Mankind, and all the Inhabitants of the Earth. Besides, if the Flood-gates of Heaven were any thing distinct from the Forty Days Rain, their Effusion, ’tis likely, was at this same time when the Abyss was broken open; for the sinking of the Earth would make an extraordinary Convulsion of the Regions of the Air, and that Crack and Noise that must be in the Falling World, and in the Collision of the Earth and the Abyss, would make a great and universal Concussion above, which things together must needs so shake, or so squeeze the Atmosphere, as to bring down all the remaining Vapours; but the Force of these Motions not being equal throughout the whole Air, but drawing or pressing more in some Places than in other, where the Center of the Convulsion was, there would be the chiefest collection, and there would fall, not Showers of Rain, or single Drops, but great Spouts or Cascades of Water; and this is that which Moses seems to call, not improperly, 134the Cataracts of Heaven, or the Windows of Heaven being set open.

Thus the Flood came to its height; and ’tis not easy to represent to our selves this strange Scene of Things, when the Deluge was in its Fury and Extremity; when the Earth was broken and swallowed up in the Abyss, whose raging Waters rise higher than the Mountains, and fill’d the Air with broken Waves, with an universal Mist, and with thick Darkness, so as Nature seem’d to be in a second Chaos; and upon this Chaos rid the distress’d Ark, that bore the small Remains of Mankind. No Sea was ever so tumultuous as this, nor is there any thing in present Nature to be compar’d with the Disorder of these Waters; all the Poetry, and all the Hyperboles that are used in the Description of Storms and raging Seas, were literally true in this, if not beneath it. The Ark was really carried to the Tops of the highest Mountains, and into the Places of the Clouds, and thrown down again into the deepest Gulphs; and to this very State of the Deluge and of the Ark, which was a Type of the Church in this World, David seems to have alluded in the name of the Church, Psal. xiii. 7. Abyss calls upon Abyss at the Noise of thy Cataracts or Water-spouts; all thy Waves and Billows have gone over me. It was no doubt an extraordinary and miraculous Providence, that could make a Vessel so ill mann’d, live upon such a Sea; that kept it from being dash’d against the Hills, or overwhelm’d in the Deeps. That Abyss, which had devoured and 135swallow’d up whole Forests of Woods, Cities and Provinces, nay the whole Earth, when it had conquer’d all, and triumph’d over all, could not destroy this single Ship. I remember in the Story of the Argonauticks, Dion. Argonaut. l. 1. v. 47. when Jason set out to fetch the Golden Fleece, the Poet saith, all the Gods that Day look’d down from Heaven to view the Ship; and the Nymphs stood upon the Mountain-tops to see the noble Youth of Thessaly pulling at the Oars; we may with more Reason suppose the Good Angels to have look’d down upon this Ship of Noah’s; and that not out of Curiosity, as idle Spectators, but with a passionate Concern for its Safety and Deliverance. A Ship, whose Cargo was no less than a whole World; that carry’d the Fortune and Hopes of all Posterity, and if this had perish’d, the Earth for any thing we know had been nothing but a Desart, a great Ruin, a dead heap of Rubbish, from the Deluge to the Conflagration. But Death and Hell, the Grave and Destruction have their Bounds. We may entertain our selves with the Consideration of the Face of the Deluge, and of the broken and drown’d Earth, in this Scheme, with the floating Ark, and the Guardian Angels.

Book 1 Figure 8.

Thus much for the Beginning and Progress of the Deluge. It now remains only that we consider it in its Decrease, and the State of the Earth after the Waters were retir’d into their Channels, which makes the present State of it. Moses saith, God brought a Wind upon the Waters, and the Tops of the Hills became bare, 136and then the lower Grounds and Plains by degrees; the Waters being sunk into the Channels of the Sea, and the Hollowness of the Earth, and the whole Globe appearing in the Form it is now under. There needs nothing be added for Explication of this, ’tis the genuine Consequence of the Theory we have given of the Deluge; and whether this Wind was a descending Wind to depress and keep down the Swellings and Inequalities of the Abyss, or whether it was only to dry the Land as fast as it appear’d, or might have both Effects, I do not know; but as nothing can be perpetual that is violent, so this Commotion of the Abyss abated after a certain time, and the great Force that impell’d the Waters decreasing, their natural Gravity began to take Effect, and to reduce them into the lowest Places, at an equal Height, and in an even Surface, and level one Part with another: That is, in short, the Abyss became our Sea, fixt within its Channel, and bounded by Rocks and Mountains: Then was the decreed Place establish’d for it, and Bars and Doors were set; then was it said, hitherto shalt thou come, and no further, and here shall thy proud Waves be stopt, Job xxxviii. 10, 11. And the Deluge being thus ended, and the Waters settled in their Channels, the Earth took such a broken Figure as is represented in those larger Schemes, p. 100. And this will be the Form and State of it till its great Change comes in the Conflagration, when we expect a new Heaven and a new Earth.

137But to pursue this Prospect of Things a little further; we may easily imagine, that for many Years after the Deluge ceas’d, the Face of the Earth was very different from what it is now, and the Sea had other Bounds than it hath at present. I do not doubt but the Sea reach’d much further in-land, and clim’d higher upon the Sides of the Mountains; and I have observ’d in many Places a Ridge of Mountains some Distance from the Sea, and a Plain from their Roots to the Shore; which Plain no doubt was formerly cover’d by the Sea, bounded against those Hills as its first and natural Ramparts, or as the Ledges or Lips of its Vessel. And it seems probable, that the Sea doth still grow narrower from Age to Age, and sinks more within its Channel and the Bowels of the Earth, according as it can make its Way into all those subterraneous Cavities, and crowd the Air out of them. We see whole Countries of Land gain’d from it, and by several Indications, as ancient Sea-ports left dry and useless, old Sea-marks far within the Land, Pieces of Ships, Anchors, &c. left at a great Distance from the present Shores; from these Signs, and such like, we may conclude that the Sea reach’d many Places formerly that now are dry Land, and at first I believe was generally bound in on either Side with a Chain of Mountains. So I should easily imagine the Mediterranean Sea, for instance, to have been bounded by the Continuation of the Alps through Dauphine and Languedoc to the Pyreneans, and at the other End 138by the Darmatick Mountains almost to the Black Sea. Then Atlas major, which runs along with the Mediterranean from Ægypt to the Atlantick Ocean, and now parts Barbary and Numidia, may possibly have been the ancient Barrier on the Africk Side. And in our own Island I could easily figure to my self, in many Parts of it, other Sea-bounds than what it hath at present; and the like may be observ’d in other Countries.

And as the Sea had much larger Bounds for some Time after the Deluge, so the Land had a different Face in many Respects to what it hath now; for we suppose the Valleys and lower Grounds, where the Descent and Derivation of the Water was not so easy, to have been full of Lakes and Pools for a long Time; and these were often converted into Fens and Bogs, where the Ground being spungy, suck’d up the Water, and the loosen’d Earth swell’d into a soft and pappy Substance; which would still continue so, if there was any Course of Water sensible or insensible, above or within the Ground, that fed this moist Place: But if the Water stood in a more firm Basin, or on a Soil, which for its Heaviness or any other Reason would not mix with it, it made a Lake or clear Pool. And we may easily imagine there were innumerable such Lakes, and Bogs, and Fastnesses for many Years after the Deluge, till the World begun to be pretty well stock’d with People, and human Industry cleansed and drained those unfruitful and unhabitable Places. And those Countries that have been later cultivated, or by a lazier People, 139retain still, in Proportion to their Situation and Soil, a greater Number of them.

Neither is it at all incongruous or inconvenient to suppose, that the Face of the Earth stood in this Manner for many Years after the Deluge; for while Mankind was small and few, they needed but a little Ground for their Seats or Sustenance; and as they grew more numerous, the Earth proportionally grew more dry, and more Parts of it fit for Habitation. I easily believe that Plato’s Observation or Tradition [de Leg. li. 3.] is true, that Men at first, after the Flood, liv’d in the Up-lands and Sides of the Mountains, and by Degrees sunk into the Plains and lower Countries, when Nature had prepar’d them for their Use, and their Numbers requir’d more Room. The History of Moses Gen. xi. tells us, that some Time after the Deluge, Noah and his Posterity, his Sons and his Grand-children, chang’d their Quarters, and fell down into the Plains of Shiner, from the Sides of the Hills where the Ark had rested; and in this Plain was the last general Rendezvous of Mankind; so long they seem to have kept in a Body, and from thence they were divided and broken into Companies, and dispers’d, first, into the neighbouring Countries, and then by degrees throughout the whole Earth; the several successive Generations, like the Waves of the Sea when it flows, over-reaching one another, and striking out farther and farther upon the Face of the Land. Not that the whole Earth was peopled by an uniform Propagation of 140Mankind every Way, from one Place, as a common Center; like the Swelling of a Lake upon a Plain: For sometimes they shot out in length, like Rivers, and sometimes they flew into remote Countries in Colonies, like Swarms from the Hive, and settled there, leaving many Places uninhabited betwixt them and their first Home. Sea-shores and Islands were generally the last Places inhabited; for while the Memory or Story of the Deluge was fresh amongst them, they did not care for coming so near their late Enemy; or at least, to be inclos’d and surrounded by his Forces.

And this may be sufficient to have discours’d concerning all the Parts of the Deluge, and the Restitution of the Earth to an habitable Form, for the further Union of our Theory with the History of Moses; there rests only one Thing in that History to be taken notice of, which may be thought possibly not to agree so well with our Account of the Deluge; namely, that Moses seems to shut up the Abyss again at the End of the Deluge, which our Explication supposeth to continue open. But besides that half the Abyss is still really cover’d, Moses saith the same Thing of the Windows of Heaven, that they were shut up too; and he seemeth in both to express only the Cessation of the Effect which proceeded from their opening: For as Moses had ascrib’d the Deluge to the opening of these two, so when it was to cease, he saith, these two were shut up; as they were really put into such a Condition, both of then, that they could 141not continue the Deluge any longer, nor ever be the Occasion of a second; and therefore in that Sense, and as to that Effect were for ever shut up. Some may possibly make that also an Objection against us, that Moses mentions and supposes the Mountains at the Deluge, for he saith, the Waters reached fifteen Cubits above the Tops of them; whereas we suppose the antediluvian Earth to have had a plain and uniform Surface, without any Inequality of Hills and Valleys. But this is easily answer’d, it was in the Height of the Deluge that Moses mention’d the Mountains, and we suppose them to have risen then, or more towards the Beginning of it, when the Earth was broke; and these Mountains continuing still upon the Face of the Earth, Moses might very well take them for a Standard to measure and express to Posterity the Height of the Waters, though they were not upon the Earth when the Deluge began. Neither is there any mention made, as is observ’d by some, of Mountains in Scripture, or of Rain, till the Time of the Deluge.

We have now finish’d our Account of Noah’s Flood, both generally and particularly; and I have not wittingly omitted or conceal’d any Difficulty that occurr’d to me, either from the History, or from abstract Reason; our Theory, so far as I know, hath the Consent and Authority of both: And how far it agrees and is demonstrable from natural Observation, or from the Form and Phænomena of this Earth, as it lies at present, shall be the 142Subject of the remaining Part of this first Book. In the mean time I do not know any Thing more to be added in this Part, unless it be to conclude with an Advertisement to prevent any Mistake or Misconstruction, as if this Theory, by explaining the Deluge in a natural Way, in a great Measure, or, by natural Causes, did detract from the Power of God, by which that great Judgment was brought upon the World in a providential and miraculous Manner.

To satisfy all reasonable and intelligent Persons in this Particular, I answer and declare, first, That we are far from excluding divine Providence, either ordinary or extraordinary, from the Causes and Conduct of the Deluge. I know a Sparrow doth not fall to the Ground without the Will of our Heavenly Father, much less doth the great World fall in Pieces without his good Pleasure and Superintendency. In him all Things live, move, and have their Being; Things that have Life and Thought have it from him, he is the Fountain of both. Things that have Motion only, without Thought, have it also from him: And what hath only naked Being, without Thought or Motion, owe still that Being to him. And these are not only derived from God at first, but every Moment continued and conserv’d by him. So intimate and universal is the Dependance of all Things upon the Divine Will and Power.

In the second Place, they are guilty, in my Judgment, of a great Error or Indiscretion, that oppose the Course of Nature to Providence. 143St. Paul says, (Acts xiv. 17.) God hath not left us without Witness, in that he gives us Rain from Heaven; yet Rains proceed from natural Causes, and fall upon the Sea as well as upon the Land. In like manner, our Saviour, Mat. vi. 21. makes those Things Instances of Divine Providence, which yet come to pass in an ordinary Course of Nature; in that Part of his excellent Sermon upon the Mount, Luke xii. 24. that concerns Providence, he bids them consider the Lilies how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet Solomon in all his Glory was not array’d like one of these: He bids them also consider the Ravens, they neither sow nor reap, neither have they Store-house nor Barn, and God feedeth them. The Lilies grow, and the Ravens are fed according to the ordinary Course of Nature, and yet they are justly made Arguments of Providence by our Saviour; nor are these Things less providential, because constant and regular; on the contrary, such a Disposition or Establishment of second Causes, as will in the best Order, and for a long Succession, produce the most regular Effects, assisted only with the ordinary Concourse of the first Cause, is a greater Argument of Wisdom and Contrivance, than such a Disposition of Causes as will not in so good an Order, or for so long a Time produce regular Effects, without an extraordinary Concourse and Interposition of the first Cause. This I think is clear to every Man’s Judgment. We think him a better Artist that makes a Clock 144that strikes regularly at every Hour from the Springs and Wheels which he puts in the Work, than he that hath so made his Clock that he must put his Finger to it every Hour to make it strike: And if one should contrive a Piece of Clock-work, so that it should beat all the Hours, and make all its Motions regularly for such a Time, and that Time being come, upon a Signal given, or a Spring touch’d, it should of its own accord fall all to Pieces; would not this be look’d upon as a Piece of greater Art than if the Workman came at that Time prefix’d, and with a great Hammer beat it into pieces? I use these Comparisons to convince us, that it is no Detraction from divine Providence, that the Course of Nature is exact and regular, and that even in its greatest Changes and Revolutions it should still conspire and be prepar’d to answer the Ends and Purposes of the divine Will in reference to the moral World. This seems to me to be the great Art of divine Providence, so to adjust the two Worlds, human and natural, material and intellectual, as seeing thro’ the Possibilities and Futuritions of each, according to the first State and Circumstances he puts them under, they should all along correspond and fit one another, and especially in their great Crises and Periods.

Thirdly, Besides the ordinary Providence of God in the ordinary Course of Nature, there is doubtless an extraordinary Providence that doth attend the greater Scenes and the greater Revolutions of Nature. This, methinks, besides 145all other Proof from the Effects, is very rational and necessary in itself; for it would be a Limitation of the divine Power and Will so to be bound up to second Causes, as never to use, upon Occasion, an extraordinary Influence or Direction: And ’tis manifest, taking any System of natural Causes, if the best possible, that there may be more and greater Things done, if to this, upon certain Occasions, you join an extraordinary Conduct. And as we have taken Notice before, that there was an extraordinary Providence in the Formation or Composition of the first Earth, so I believe there was also in the Dissolution of it: And I think it had been impossible for the Ark to have liv’d upon the raging Abyss, or for Noah and his Family to have been preserv’d, if there had not been a miraculous Hand of Providence to take care of them. But ’tis hard to separate and distinguish an ordinary and extraordinary Providence in all Cases, and to mark just how far one goes, and where the other begins. And writing a Theory of the Deluge here, as we do, we were to exhibit a Series of Causes whereby it might be made intelligible, or to shew the proximate natural Causes of it; wherein we follow the Example both of Moses and St. Peter; and with the same Veneration of the divine Power and Wisdom in the Government of Nature, by a constant ordinary Providence, and an occasional extraordinary.

So much for the Theory of the Deluge, and the second Section of this Discourse.

Chap. IX

The second Part of this Discourse, proving the same Theory from the Effects and present Form of the Earth. First, by a general Scheme of what is most remarkable in this Globe, and then by a more particular Induction; beginning with an Account of subterraneous Cavities and subterraneous Waters.

We have now finished our Explication of the universal Deluge, and given an Account, not only of the Possibility of it, but (so far as our Knowledge can reach) of its Causes; and of that Form and Structure of the Earth, whereby the Old World was subject to that sort of Fate. We have not begged any principles or Suppositions for the Proof of this; but taking that common Ground, which both Moses and all Antiquity present to us, viz. That this Earth rose from a Chaos: We have from that deduc’d, by an easy Train of Consequences, what the first Form of it would be; and from that Form, as from a nearer Ground, we have by a second Train of Consequences made it appear, that at some Time or other that first Earth would be subject to a Dissolution, and by that Dissolution to a Deluge. And thus far we have proceeded only by the Intuition of Causes, as is most proper to a Theory; but for the Satisfaction of those that require more sensible Arguments, and to compleat our Proofs on either hand, we will now argue from the Effects; and from the present State of Nature, and the present 147Form of the Earth, prove that it hath been broken, and undergone such a Dissolution as we have already describ’d, and made the immediate Occasion of the Deluge. And that we may do this more perspicuously and distinctly, we will lay down this Proposition to be prov’d, viz. That the present Form and Structure of the Earth, both as to the Surface and as to the interior Parts of it, so far as they are known and accessible to us, doth exactly answer to our Theory concerning the Form and Dissolution of the first Earth, and cannot be explain’d upon any other Hypothesis yet known.

Orators and Philosophers treat Nature after a very different Manner; those represent her with all her Graces and Ornaments, and if there be any Thing that is not capable of that, they dissemble it, or pass it over slightly. But Philosophers view Nature with a more impartial Eye, and without Favour or Prejudice give a just and free Account, how they find all the Parts of the Universe, some more, some less perfect. And as to this Earth in particular, if I was to describe it as an Orator, I would suppose it a beautiful and regular Globe; and not only so, but that the whole Universe was made for its sake; that it was the Darling and Favourite of Heaven, that the Sun shin’d only to give it Light, to ripen its Fruit, and make fresh its Flowers; and that the great Concave of the Firmament, and all the Stars in their several Orbs, were design’d only for a spangled Cabinet to keep this Jewel in. This Idea I would 148give of it as an Orator; but a Philosopher that overheard me would either think me in Jest, or very injudicious, if I took the Earth for a Body so regular in it self, or so considerable if compar’d with the rest of the Universe. This, he would say, is to make the great World like one of the Heathen Temples, a beautiful and magnificent Structure, and of the richest Materials, yet built only for a little brute Idol, a Dog, or a Crocodile, or some deformed Creature placed in a Corner of it.

We must therefore be impartial where the Truth requires it, and describe the Earth as it is really in it self; and though it be handsome and regular enough to the Eye in certain Parts of it, single Tracks and single Regions; yet if we consider the whole Surface of it, or the whole exterior Region, ’tis as a broken and confus’d Heap of Bodies, plac’d in no Order to one another, nor with any Correspondency or Regularity of Parts: And such a Body as the Moon appears to us, when ’tis look’d upon with a good Glass, rude and ragged; as it is also represented in the modern Maps of the Moon; such a Thing would the Earth appear if it was seen from the Moon. They are both in my Judgment the Image or Picture of a great Ruin, and have the true Aspect of a World lying in its Rubbish. See Fig. in Chap. XI.

Our Earth is first divided into Sea and Land, without any Regularity in the Portions, either of the one or the other; in the Sea lie the Islands, scatter’d like Limbs torn from the rest of the 149Body; great Rocks stand rear’d up in the Waters; the Promontories and Capes shoot into the Sea, and the Sinus’s and Creeks on the other hand run as much into the Land; and these without any Order or Uniformity. Upon the other Part of our Globe stand great Heaps of Earth or Stone, which we call Mountains; and if these were all plac’d together, they would take up a very considerable part of the dry Land: In the rest of it are lesser Hills, Valleys, Plains, Lakes and Marshes, Sands and Desarts, &c. and these also without any regular Disposition. Then the Inside of the Earth, or inward Parts of it, are generally broken or hollow, especially about the Mountains and high Lands, as also towards the Shores of the Sea, and among the Rocks. How many Holes and Caverns, and strange subterraneous Passages do we see in many Countries? And how many more may we easily imagine, that are unknown and unaccessible to us?

This is the Pourtraicture of our Earth, drawn without Flattery; and as oddly as it looks, it will not be at all surprizing to one that hath consider’d the foregoing Theory: For ’tis manifest enough, that upon the Dissolution of the first Earth, and its Fall into the Abyss, this very Face and Posture of Things, which we have now describ’d, or something extreamly like it, would immediately result. The Sea would be open’d, and the Face of the Globe would be divided into Land and Water: And according as the Fragments fell, some would make Islands or Rocks in the Sea, others would make Mountains or 150Plains upon the Land; and the Earth would generally be full of Caverns and Hollownesses, especially in the mountainous Parts of it. And we see the Resemblance and Imitation of this in lesser Ruins, when a Mountain sinks and falls into subterraneous Water; or, which is more obvious, when the Arch of a Bridge is broken, and falls into the Water, if the Water under it be not so deep as to overflow and cover all its Parts, you may see there the Image of all these things in little Continents, and Islands, and Rocks under Water: And in the Parts that stand above the Water, you see Mountains, and Precipices, and Plains, and most of the Varieties that we see and admire in the Parts of the Earth. What need we then seek any further for the Explication of these things? Let us suppose this Arch of the Bridge, as the great Arch of the Earth, which once it had, and the Water under it as the Abyss, and the Parts of this Ruin to represent the Parts of the Earth: There will be scarce any Difference but of lesser and greater, the same things appearing in both. But we have naturally that Weakness or Prejudice, that we think great things are not to be explained from easy and familiar Instances; we think there must be something difficult and operose in the Explication of them, or else we are not satisfied; whether it is that we are ashamed to see our Ignorance and Admiration to have been so groundless, or whether we fancy there must be a Proportion between the Difficulty of the Explication, and the Greatness of the 151thing explain’d; but that is a very false Judgment, for let Things be never so great, if they be simple, their Explication must be simple and easy: And on the contrary, some things that are mean, common, and ordinary, may depend upon Causes very difficult to find out; for the Difficulty of explaining an Effect doth not depend upon its Greatness or Littleness, but upon the Simplicity or Composition of its Causes. And the Effects and Phænomena we are here to explain, though great, yet depending upon Causes very simple, you must not wonder if the Explication, when found out, be familiar and very intelligible.

And this is so intelligible, and so easily deducible from the forementioned Causes, that a Man born blind, or brought up all his Life in a Cave, that had never seen the Face of the Earth, nor ever heard any Description of it, more than that it was a great Globe; having this Theory propos’d to him, or being instructed what the Form of the first Earth was, how it stood over the Waters, and then how it was broke and fell into them, he would easily of his own accord foretel what Changes would arise upon this Dissolution; and what the new Form of the Earth would be. As in the first place he would tell you, that this second Earth would be distinguish’d and checker’d into Land and Water; for the Orb which fell being greater than the Circumference it fell upon, all the Fragments could not fall flat and lie drown’d under Water; and those that stood above would make the dry Land or habitable 152part of the Earth. Then in the second Place, he would plainly discern that these Fragments that made the dry Land could not lie all plain and smooth and equal, but some would be higher and some lower, some in one Posture and some in another; and consequently would make Mountains, Hills, Valleys and Plains, and all other Varieties we have in the Situation of the Parts of the Earth. And lastly, a blind Man would easily divine that such a great Ruin could not happen but there would be a great many Holes and Cavities amongst the Parts of it, a great many Intervals and empty Places in the Rubbish, as I may so say; for this we see happens in all Ruins more or less; and where the Fragments are great and hard, ’tis not possible they should be so adjusted in their Fall, but that they would lie hollow in many Places, and many unfill’d Spaces would be intercepted amongst them; some gaping in the Surface of the Earth, and others hid within; so as this would give occasion to all sorts of Fractures and Cavities either in the Skin of the Earth, or within its Body. And these Cavities, that I may add that in the last Place, would be often fill’d with subterraneous Waters, at least at such a Depth; for the Foundations of the Earth standing now within the Waters, so high as those Waters reach’d they would more or less propagate themselves every way.

Thus far our blind Man could tell us what the new World would be, or the Form of the Earth upon the great Dissolution; and we find 153his Reasonings and Inferences very true, these are the chief Lineaments and Features of our Earth; which appear indeed very irregular and very unaccountable when they are look’d upon naked in themselves; but if we look upon them through this Theory, we see as in a Glass all the Reasons and Causes of them. There are different Genius’s of Men, and different Conceptions, and every one is to be allow’d their Liberty as to things of this Nature; I confess, for my own part, when I observe how easy and naturally this Hypothesis doth apply it self to the general Face of this Earth, hits and falls in so luckily and surprizingly with all the odd Postures of its Parts, I cannot, without Violence, bear off my Mind from fully assenting to it: And the more odd and extravagant, as I may so say, and the more diversify’d the Effects and Appearances are, to which an Hypothesis is to be apply’d, if it answers them all and with Exactness, it comes the nearer to a moral Certitude and Infallibility. As a Lock that consists of a great deal of Workmanship, many Wards, and many odd Pieces and Contrivances, if you find a Key, that answers to them all, and opens it readily, ’tis a thousand to one that ’tis the true Key, and was made for that Purpose.

AN eminent Philosopher of this Age, Monsier des Cartes, hath made use of the like Hypothesis to explain the irregular Form of the present Earth; though he never dream’d of the Deluge, nor thought that first Orb, built over the Abyss, to have been any more than a transient 154Crust, and not a real habitable World that lasted for more than sixteen hundred Years, as we suppose it to have been. And though he hath, in my Opinion, in the Formation of that first Orb, and upon the Dissolution of it, committed some great Oversights, whereof we have given an Account in the Latin Treatise, C. 7. & lib. 2. c. 4. however he saw a Necessity of such a Thing, and of the Disruption of it, to bring the Earth into that Form and Posture wherein we now find it.

Thus far we have spoken in general, concerning the Agreement and Congruity of our Supposition with the present Face of the Earth, and the easy Account it gives of the Causes of it. And though I believe to ingenuous Persons, that are not prejudic’d by the Forms and Opinions of the Schools against every thing that looks like a Novelty or Invention, thus much might be sufficient; yet for the Satisfaction of all, we will, as a farther Proof of our Theory, or that part of it which concerns the Dissolution of the Earth, descend to a particular Explication of three or four of the most considerable and remarkable things that occur in the Fabrick of this present Earth; namely, The great Channel of the Ocean; subterraneous Cavities and subterraneous Waters; and lastly, Mountains and Rocks. These are the Wonders of the Earth as to the visible Frame of it; and who would not be pleas’d to see a rational Account of these, of their Origin, and of their Properties? Or who would not approve of an Hypothesis, when 155they see that Nature in her greatest and strongest Works may easily be understood by it, and is in no other way, that we know of, intelligible?

We will speak first of subterraneous Cavities and Waters, because they will be of easier Dispatch, and an Introduction to the rest.

That the Inside of the Earth is hollow and broken in many Places, and is not one firm and united Mass, we have both the Testimony of Sense and of easy Observations to prove: How many Caves and Dens and hollow Passages into the Ground do we see in many Countries, especially amongst Mountains and Rocks; and some of them endless and bottomless so far as can be discover’d? We have many of these in our own Island, in Derbyshire, Somersetshire, Wales, and other Counties, and in every Continent or Island they abound more or less. These Hollownesses of the Earth the Ancients made Prisons, or Store-houses for the Winds, and set a God over them to confine them, or let them loose at his Pleasure. For some Ages after the Flood, as all Antiquity tells us, these were the first Houses Men had, at least in some Parts of the Earth; here rude Mortals shelter’d themselves, as well as they could, from the Injuries of the Air, till they were beaten out by wild Beasts that took Possession of them. The ancient Oracles also us’d to be given out of these Vaults and Recesses under Ground, the Sibyls had their Caves, and the Delphick Oracle, and their Temples sometimes were built upon an hollow Rock. Places that are strange and solemn 156strike an Awe into us, and incline us to a kind of superstitious Timidity and Veneration, and therefore they thought them fit for the Seats and Residences of their Deities. They fancied also that Steams rise sometimes, or a sort of Vapour in those hollow Places, that gave a kind of a divine Fury or Inspiration. But all these Uses and Employments are now in a great measure worn out, we know no Use of them but to make the Places talk’d on where they are, to be the Wonders of the Country, to please our Curiosity to gaze upon and admire; but we know not how they came, nor to what purpose they were made at first.

It would be very pleasant to read good Descriptions of these subterraneous Places, and of all the strange Works of Nature there; how she furnisheth these dark neglected Grotto’s; they have often a little Brook runs murmuring thro’ them, and the Roof is commonly a kind of petrefied Earth, or icy Fret-work, proper enough for such Rooms. But I should be pleas’d especially to view the Sea-caves, or those hollow Rocks that lie upon the Sea, where the Waves roll a great Way under Ground, and wear the hard Rock into as many odd Shapes and Figures as we see in the Clouds. ’Tis pleasant also to see a River in the Middle of its Course throw itself into the Mouth of a Cave, or an Opening of the Earth, and run under Ground sometimes many Miles; still pursuing its Way thro’ the dark Pipes of the Earth, till at last it find an Out-let. There are many of these Rivers taken Notice of 157in History in the several Parts of the Earth, as the Rhone in France, Guadiana in Spain, and several in Greece, Alpheus, Lycus, and Erasinus; then Niger in Africa, Tygris in Asia, &c. And I believe if we could turn Derwent, or any other River, into one of the Holes of the Peak, it would groap its Way till it found an Issue, it may be, in some other Country. These subterraneous Rivers that emerge again, shew us that the Holes of the Earth are longer and reach further than we imagine, and if we could see into the Ground, as we ride, or walk, we should be affrighted to see so often Waters or Caverns under us.

But to return to our dry Caves; these commonly stand high, and are sometimes of a prodigious Greatness: Strabo [Geo. l. 16.] mentions some in the Mountains towards Arabia, that are capable to receive four thousand Men at once. The Cave of Engedi [1 Sam. xxiv. 3, 4.] hid David and six hundred Men, so as Saul, when he was in the Mouth of it, did not perceive them. In the Mountains of the Traconites there are many of these vast Dens and Recesses, and the People of that Country defended themselves a long time in those strong Holds against Herod and his Army: They are plac’d among such craggy Rocks and Precipices, that, as Josephus [Ant. Jud. l. 14. ch. 27.] tells us, Herod was forced to make a sort of open Chests, and in those by Chains of Iron he let down his Soldiers from the Top of the Mountains to go fight them in their Dens. I need add no more Instances of this 158Kind: In the natural History of all Countries, or the geographical Descriptions of them, you find such Places taken notice of, more or less; yet if there was a good Collection made of the chief of them in several Parts, it might be of use, and would make us more sensible how broken and torn the Body of the Earth is.

There are subterraneous Cavities of another Nature, and more remarkable, which they call Volcano’s, or fiery Mountains; that belch out Flames and Smoke and Ashes, and sometimes great Stones and broken Rocks, and Lumps of Earth, or some metallick Mixture; and throw them to an incredible Distance by the Force of the Eruption. These argue great Vacuities in the Bowels of the Earth, and Magazines of combustible Matter treasur’d up in them. And as the Exhalations within these Places must be copious, so they must lie in long Mines or Trains to do so great Execution, and to last so long. ’Tis scarce credible what is reported concerning some Eruptions of Vesuvius and Ætna. The Eruptions of Vesuvius seem to be more frequent and less violent of late; the Flame and Smoke break out at the Top of the Mountain, where they have eaten away the Ground and made a great Hollow, so as it looks at the Top, when you stand upon the Brims of it, like an Amphitheatre, or like a great Caldron, about a Mile in Circumference, and the burning Furnace lies under it. The Outside of the Mountain is all spread with Ashes, but the Inside much more; for you wade up to the Mid-leg 159in Ashes to go down to the Bottom of the Cavity and ’tis extremely heavy and troublesome to get up again. The Inside lies sloping, and one may safely go down, if it be not in a raging Fit; but the middle Part of it, or Center, which is a little rais’d like the Bottom of a Platter, is not to be ventur’d upon, the Ground there lies false and hollow, there it always smoaks, and there the Funnel is suppos’d to be; yet there is no visible Hole or Gaping any where when it doth not rage. Naples stands below in fear of this fiery Mountain, which hath often cover’d its Streets and Palaces with its Ashes; and in Sight of the Sea (which lies by the Side of them both) and as it were in Defiance to it, threatens at one time or other to burn that fair City. History tells us, that some Eruptions of Vesuvius have carry’d Cinders and Ashes as far as Constantinople; this is attested both by Greek and Latin Authors; particularly, that they were so affrighted with these Ashes and Darkness, that the Emperor left the City, and there was a Day observ’d yearly for a Memorial of this Calamity or Prodigy.

ÆTNA is of greater Fame than Vesuvius, and of greater Fury, all Antiquity speaks of it; not only the Greeks and Romans, but as far as History reacheth, either real or fabulous, there is something recorded of the Fires of Ætna: The Figure of the Mountain is inconstant, by reason of the great Consumptions and Ruins it is subject to; the Fires and Æstuations of it are excellently describ’d by Virgil, upon Occasion of Æneas’s passing by those Coasts.

Not far from Ætna lies Strombolo, and other adjacent Islands, where there are also such Magazines of Fire; and throughout all Regions and Countries in the West-Indies and in the East, in the northern and southern Parts of the Earth, there are some of these Volcano’s, which 161are sensible Evidences that the Earth is incompact and full of Caverns; besides, the roarings and bellowings that use to be heard before an Eruption of these Volcano’s argue some dreadful Hollowness in the Belly, or under the Roots of the Mountain, where the Exhalations struggle before they can break their Prison.

The subterraneous Cavities, that we have spoke of hitherto, are such as are visible in the Surface of the Earth, and break the Skin by some gaping Orifice; but the Miners and those that work under Ground meet with many more in the Bowels of the Earth, that never reach to the Top of it; Burrows and Channels, and Clifts and Caverns, that never had the Comfort of one Beam of Light since the great Fall of the Earth. And where we think the Ground is firm and solid, as upon Heaths and Downs, it often betrays its Hollowness, by sounding under the Horses Feet and the Chariot Wheels that pass over it. We do not know when and where we stand upon good Ground, if it was examin’d deep enough; and to make us further sensible of this, we will instance in two Things that argue the Unsoundness and Hollowness of the Earth in the inward Recesses of it, tho’ the Surface be intire and unbroken; these are Earthquakes and the Communication of subterraneous Waters and Seas: Of which two we will speak a little more particularly.

Earthquakes are too evident Demonstrations of the Hollowness of the Earth, being the dreadful Effects or Consequences of it; 162for if the Body of the Earth was sound and compact, there would be no such thing in Nature as an Earthquake. They are commonly accompanied with an heavy dead Sound, like a dull Thunder which ariseth from the Vapours that are striving in the Womb of Nature, when her Throws are coming upon her. And that these Caverns where the Vapours lie are very large and capacious, we are taught sometimes by sad Experience; for whole Cities and Countries have been swallow’d up into them, as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Region of Pentapolis, and several Cities in Greece, and in Asia, and other Parts. Whole Islands also have been thus absorpt in an Earthquake; the Pillars and Props they stood upon being broken, they have sunk and fallen in as an House blown up. I am also of Opinion, that those Islands that are made by Divulsion from a Continent, as Sicily was broken off from Italy, and Great-Britain, as some think, from France, have been made the same way; that is, the Isthmus or Necks of Land, that join’d these Islands with their Continents before, have been hollow, and being either worn by the Water, or shak’d by an Earthquake, have sunk down, and so made Way for the Sea to overflow them, and of a Promontory to make an Island. For it is not at all likely that the Neck of Land continued standing, and the Sea overflow’d it, and so made an Island; for then, all those Passages between such Islands, and their respective Continents, would be extremely shallow and unnavigable, which we do not find them to be. 163Nor is it any more Wonder if such a Neck of Land should fall, than that a Mountain should sink, or any other Tract of Land, and a Lake rise in its Place, which hath often happened. Plato supposeth his Atlantis to have been greater than Asia and Africa together, and yet to have sunk all into the Sea; whether that be true or no, I do not think it impossible that some Arms of the Sea, or Sinus’s, might have had such an Original as that; and I am very apt to think, that for some Years after the Deluge, ’till the Fragments were well settled and adjusted, great Alterations would happen as to the Face of the Sea and the Land; many of the Fragments would change their Posture, and many would sink into the Water, that stood out before, the Props failing that bore them up, or the Joints and Corners whereby they lean’d upon one another: And thereupon a new Face of Things would arise, and a new Deluge for that part of the Earth. Such Removes and Interchanges, I believe, would often happen in the first Ages after the Flood; as we see in all other Ruins, there happen lesser and secondary Ruins after the first, ’till the Parts be so well pois’d and settled, that without some Violence they scarce change their Posture any more.

But to return to our Earthquakes, and to give an Instance or two of their Extent and Violence: Pliny mentions one in the Reign of Tiberius Cæsar, that struck down twelve Cities of Asia in one Night. And Fournier gives us an Account of one in Peru, that reach’d three hundred 164Leagues along the Sea-shore, and seventy Leagues In-land; and level’d the Mountains all along as it went, threw down the Cities, turn’d the Rivers out of their Channels, and made an universal Havock and Confusion: And all this, he saith, was done within the Space of seven or eight Minutes. There must be dreadful Vaults and Mines under that Continent that gave Passage to the Vapours, and Liberty to play for Nine Hundred Miles in length, and above two Hundred in breadth. Asia also hath been very subject to these Desolations by Earthquakes; and many Parts in Europe, as Greece, Italy, and others. The Truth is, our Cities are built upon Ruins, and our Fields and Countries stand upon broken Arches and Vaults, and so does the greatest Part of the outward Frame of the Earth, and therefore it is no Wonder if it be often shaken; there being Quantities of Exhalations within these Mines, or cavernous Passages, that are capable of Rarefaction and Inflammation; and, upon such Occasions, requiring more Room, they shake or break the Ground that covers them. And thus much concerning Earthquakes.

A second Observation that argues the Hollowness of the Earth, is the Communication of the Seas and Lakes under Ground. The Caspian and Mediterranean Seas, and several Lakes, receive into them great Rivers, and yet have no visible Out-let: These must have subterraneous Out-lets, by which they empty themselves, otherwise they would redound and overflow the Brims of their Vessel. The Mediterranean is 165most remarkable in this Kind, because ’tis observ’d, that at one End the great Ocean flows into it through the Straits of Gibraltar, with a sensible Current, and towards the other End about Constantinople the Pontus flows down into it with a Stream so strong, that Vessels have much ado to stem it; and yet it neither hath any visible Evacuation or Out-let, nor overflows its Banks. And besides that it is thus fed at either End, it is fed by the Navel too, as I may so say; it sucks in, by their Channels, several Rivers into its Belly, whereof the Nile is one very great and considerable. These Things have made it a great Problem, What becomes of the Water of the Mediterranean Sea? And for my Part, I think the Solution is very easy, namely, that it is discharged by subterraneous Passages, or convey’d by Channels under the Ground into the Ocean. And this manner of Discharge or Conveyance is not peculiar to the Mediterranean, but is common to it with the Caspian Sea, and other Seas and Lakes, that receive great Rivers into them, and have no visible Issue.

I know there have been propos’d several other Ways to answer this Difficulty concerning the Efflux or Consumption of the Waters of the Mediterranean; some have suppos’d a double Current in the Strait of Gibraltar, one that carry’d the Water in, and another that brought it out; like the Arteries and Veins in our Body, the one exporting our Blood from the Heart, and the other re-importing it: So they suppos’d one Current upon the Surface, which carry’d 166the Water into the Mediterranean, and under it at a certain Depth a Counter-Current, which brought the Water back into the Ocean. But this hath neither Proof nor Foundation; for unless it was included in Pipes, as our Blood is, or consisted of Liquors very different, these cross Currents would mingle and destroy one another. Others are of Opinion, that all the Water that flows into the Mediterranean, or a Quantity equal to it, is consumed in Exhalations every Day: This seems to be a bolder Supposition than the other; for if so much be consumed in Vapours and Exhalations every Day as flows into this Sea, what if this Sea had an Out-let and discharg’d by that, every Day, as much as it receiv’d? In a few Days the Vapours would have consumed all the rest; and yet we see many Lakes that have as free an Out-let as an In-let, and are not consum’d, or sensibly diminish’d by the Vapours. Besides, this Reason is a Summer Reason, and would pass very ill in Winter, when the Heat of the Sun is much less powerful: At least there would be a very sensible Difference betwixt the Height of the Waters in Summer and Winter, if so much was consum’d every Day, as this Explication supposeth. And the Truth is, this Want of a visible Out-let is not a Property belonging only to the Mediterranean Sea, as we noted before, but is also in other Seas and great Lakes, some lying in one Climate and some in another, where there is no Reason to suppose such excessive Exhalations; and tho’ ’tis true some Rivers in Africk, and in other Parts of the 167Earth, are thus exhal’d and dry’d up, without ever flowing into the Sea (as were all the Rivers in the first Earth) yet this is where the Sands and parch’d Ground suck up a great part of them; the heat of the Climate being excessively strong, and the Channel of the River growing shallower by degrees, and it may be, divided into lesser Branches and Rivulets; which are Causes that take no Place here. And therefore we must return to our first Reason, which is universal, for all Seasons of the Year and all Climates; and seeing we are assur’d that there are subterraneous Channels and Passages, for Rivers often fall into the Ground, and sometimes rise again, and sometimes never return; why should we doubt to ascribe this Effect to so obvious a Cause? Nay, I believe, the very Ocean doth evacuate it self by subterraneous Out-lets; for considering what a prodigious Mass of Water falls into it every Day from the wide Mouths of all the Rivers of the Earth, it must have Out-lets proportionable; and those Syrtes or great Whirlpools, that are constant in certain Parts or Sinus’s of the Sea, as upon the Coast of Norway and of Italy, arise probably from subterraneous Out-lets in those Places, whereby the Water sinks, and turns, and draws into it whatsoever comes within such a Compass; and if there was no Issue at the Bottom, tho’ it might by contrary Currents turn Things round within its Sphere, yet there is no Reason from that, why it should suck them down to the Bottom. Neither does it seem improbable, that the Currents of the Sea are from 168these In-draughts, and that there is always a submarine In-let in some part of them, to make a Circulation of the Waters. But thus much for the subterraneous Communication of Seas and Lakes.

And thus much in general concerning subterraneous Cavities, and concerning the hollow and broken Frame of the Earth. If I had now Magick enough to shew you at one View all the Inside of the Earth, which we have imperfectly describ’d; if we could go under the Roots of the Mountains, and into the Sides of the broken Rocks; or could dive into the Earth with one of those Rivers that sink under Ground, and follow its Course and all its Windings till it rise again, or led us to the Sea, we should have a much stronger and more effectual Idea of the broken Form of the Earth, than any we can excite by these faint Descriptions collected from Reason. The Ancients I remember us’d to represent these hollow Caves and subterraneous Regions in the Nature of a World under Ground, and suppos’d it inhabited by the Nymphs, especially the Nymphs of the Waters and the Sea-Goddesses; so Orpheus sung of old; and in Imitation of him Virgil hath made a Description of those Regions; feigning the Nymph Cyrene to send for her Son to come down to her, and make her a Visit in those Shades where Mortals were not admitted.

If we now could open the Earth as this Nymph did the Water, and go down into the Bosom of it; see all the dark Chambers and Apartments there, how ill contriv’d, and how ill kept; so 170many Holes and Corners, some fill’d with Smoak and Fire, some with Water, and some with Vapours and mouldy Air; how like a Ruin it lies gaping and torn in the Parts of it; We should not easily believe that God created it into this Form immediately out of nothing: It would have cost no more to have made Things in better Order; nay, it had been more easy and more simple: And accordingly we are assured that all Things were made at first in Beauty and Proportion. And if we consider Nature and the Manner of the first Formation of the Earth, ’tis evident that there could be no such Holes and Caverns, nor broken Pieces, made then in the Body of it; for the grosser Parts of the Chaos falling down towards the Center, they would there compose a Mass of Earth uniform and compact, the Water swimming above it; and this first Mass under the Water could have no Caverns or Vacuities in it; for if it had any, the earthy Parts, while the Mass was liquid or semi-liquid, would have sunk into them and fill’d them up, expelling the Air or Water that was there; and when afterwards there came to be a Crust or new Earth form’d upon the Face of the Waters, there could be no Cavities, no Dens, no Fragments in it, no more than in the other; and for the same general Reason, that is, passing from a liquid Form into a concrete or solid, leisurely and by degrees, it would slow and settle together in an entire Mass; there being nothing broken, nor any Thing hard, to bear the Parts off from one another, or to intercept any empty Spaces between them.

171’Tis manifest then, that the Earth could not be in this cavernous Form originally, by any Work of Nature, nor by any immediate Action of God, seeing there is neither Use nor Beauty in this kind of Construction. Do we not then, as reasonably, as aptly, ascribe it to that Desolation that was brought upon the Earth in the general Deluge, when its outward Frame was dissolv’d and fell into the great Abyss? How easily doth this answer all that we have observ’d concerning the subterraneous Regions? That hollow and broken Posture of Things under Ground, all those Caves and Holes, and blind Recesses, that are otherwise so unaccountable, say but that they are a Ruin, and you have in one Word explain’d them all. For there is no sort of Cavities, interior or exterior, great or little, open or shut, wet or dry, of what Form or Fashion soever, but we might reasonably expect them in a Ruin of that Nature. And as for the subterraneous Waters, seeing the Earth fell into the Abyss, the Pillars and Foundations of the present (exterior) Earth must stand immers’d in Water, and therefore at such a Depth from the Surface every where, there must be Water found, if the Soil be of a Nature to admit it. ’Tis true, all subterraneous Waters do not proceed from this Original, for many of them are the Effects of Rains and melted Snows sunk into the Earth; but that in digging any where you constantly come to Water at length, even in the most solid Ground, this cannot proceed from these Rains or Snows, but must come from below, 172and from a Cause as general as the Effect is; which can be no other in my Judgment than this, that the Roots of the exterior Earth stand within the old Abyss, whereof, as a great Part lies open in the Sea, so the rest lies hid and cover’d among the Fragments of the Earth; sometimes dispers’d and only moistning the Parts, as our Blood lies in the Flesh, and in the Habit of the Body; sometimes in greater or lesser Masses, as the Blood in our Vessels. And this I take to be the true Account of subterraneous Waters, as distinguish’d from Fountains and Rivers, and from the Matter and Causes of them.

Thus much we have spoke to give a general Idea of the inward Parts of the Earth, and an easy Explication of them by our Hypothesis; which whether it be true or no, if you compare it impartially with Nature, you will confess at least, that all these Things are just in such a Form and Posture as if it was true.

Chap. X

Concerning the Channel of the Sea, and the Original of it; The Causes of its irregular Form and unequal Depths: As also of the Original of Islands, their Situation and other Properties.

We have hitherto given an Account of the subterraneous Regions, and of their general Form; We now come above Ground to view the Surface of the Globe, which we find Terraqueous, or divided into Sea and Land: 173These we must survey, and what is remarkable in them as to their Frame and Structure, we must give an Account of from our Hypothesis, and shew to be unaccountable from any other yet known.

As for the Ocean, there are two things considerable in it, the Water and the Channel that contains it. The Water no doubt is as ancient as the Earth, and cotemporary with it, and we suppose it to be part of the great Abyss wherein the World was drown’d; the rest lying cover’d under the Hollow Fragments of Continents and Islands. But that is not so much the Subject of our present Discourse as the Channel of the Ocean, that vast and prodigious Cavity that runs quite round the Globe, and reacheth, for ought we know, from Pole to Pole, and in many Places is unsearchably deep: When I present this great Gulf to my Imagination, emptied of all its Waters, naked and gaping at the Sun, stretching its Jaws from one End of the Earth to another, it appears to me the most ghastly thing in Nature. What Hands or Instruments could work a Trench in the Body of the Earth of this vastness, and lay Mountains and Rocks on the side of it, as Ramparts to enclose it?

But as we justly admire its Greatness, so we cannot at all admire its Beauty or Elegancy, for ’tis as deform’d and irregular as it is great. And there appearing nothing of Order, or any regular Design in its Parts, it seems reasonable to believe that it was not the Work of Nature, according to her first Intention, or according to 174the first Model that was drawn in Measure and Proportion by the Line and by the Plummet, but a secondary Work, and the best that could be made of broken Materials. And upon this Supposition ’tis easy to imagine, how upon the Dissolution of the Primæval Earth, the Channel of the Sea was made, or that huge Cavity that lies between the several Continents of the Earth; which shall be more particularly explain’d after we have view’d a little better the Form of it, and the Islands that lie scatter’d by its Shores.

There is no Cavity in the Earth, whether open or subterraneous, that is comparably so great as that of the Ocean, nor would any appear of that Deformity if we could see it empty. The Inside of a Cave is rough and unsightly; the Beds of great Rivers and great Lakes, when they are laid dry, look very raw and rude, the Valleys of the Earth, if they were naked, without Trees and without Grass, nothing but bare Ground and bare Stones, from the tops of their Mountains, would have a ghastly Aspect; but the Sea-Channel is the Complex of all these; here Caves, empty Lakes, naked Valleys are represented as in their Original, or rather far exceeded and out-done as to all their Irregularities; for the Cavity of the Ocean is universally irregular, both as to the Shores and Borders of it; as to the uncertain Breadth and the uncertain Depth of its several Parts, and as to its Ground and Bottom and the whole Mould: If the Sea had been drawn round the Earth in regular Figures and Borders, it might have been 175a great Beauty to our Globe, and we should reasonably have concluded it a Work of the first Creation, or of Nature’s first Production; but finding on the contrary all the Marks of Disorder and Disproportion in it, we may as reasonably conclude, that it did not belong to the first Order of Things, but was something succedaneous, when the Degeneracy of Mankind, and the Judgments of God had destroyed the first World, and subjected the Creation to some kind of Vanity.

Nor can it easily be imagin’d, if the Sea had been always, and the Earth, in this Terraqueous Form, broke into Continents and Islands, how Mankind could have been propagated at first thro’ the Face of the Earth, all from one Head and from one Place. For Navigation was not then known, at least as to the Grand Ocean, or to pass from Continent to Continent; and I believe Noah’s Ark was the first Ship, or Vessel of Bulk, that ever was built in the World; how could then the Posterity of Adam overflow the Earth, and stock the several Parts of the World, if they had been distant or separate then, as they are now, by the Interposal of the great Ocean? But this Consideration we will insist upon more largely in another Place; let us reflect upon the Irregularities of the Sea-Channel again, and the possible Causes of it.

If we could imagine the Channel of the Sea to have been made as we may imagine the Channel of Rivers to have been, by long and insensible Attrition, the Water wearing by 176degrees the Ground under it, by the Force it hath from its Descent and Course, we should not wonder at its irregular Form; but ’tis not possible this Channel should have had any such Original; whence should its Water have descended, from what Mountains, or from what Clouds? Where is the Spring-head of the Sea? What Force could eat away half the Surface of the Earth; and wear it hollow to an immeasurable Depth? This must not be from feeble and lingring Causes, such as the Attrition of Waters, but from some great Violence offer’d to Nature, such as we suppose to have been in the general Deluge, when the Frame of the Earth was broken. And after we have a little survey’d the Sea-Coast, and, so far as we can, the Form of the Sea-Channel, we shall the more easily believe that they could have no other Original than what we assign.

The Shores and Coasts of the Sea are no way equal or uniform, but go in a Line uncertainly crooked and broke; indented and jagg’d as a thing torn, as you may see in the Maps of the Coasts and the Sea-charts; and yet there are innumerable more Inequalities than are taken Notice of in those Draughts; for they only mark the greater Promontories and Bays; but there are besides those a Multitude of Creeks and Out-lets, Necks of Land and Angles, which break the Evenness of the Shore in all manner of Ways. Then the Height and Level of the Shore is as uncertain as the Line of it; ’tis sometimes high and sometimes low, sometimes 177spread in sandy Plains, as smooth as the Sea it self, and of such an equal Height with it, that the Waves seem to have no Bounds, but the meer Figure and Convexity of the Globe; in other Places ’tis rais’d into Banks and Ramparts of Earth, and in others ’tis wall’d in with Rocks; and all this without any Order that we can observe, or any other Reason than that this is what might be expected in a Ruin.

As to the Depths and Soundings of the Sea, they are under no Rule nor Equality, any more than the Figures of the Shores; Shallows in some Places, and Gulphs in others; Beds of Sands sometimes, and sometimes Rocks under Water; as Navigators have learn’d by a long and dangerous Experience: And tho’ we that are upon dry Land, are not much concern’d how the Rocks and the Shelves lie in the Sea, yet a poor Shipwreckt-Mariner, when he hath run his Vessel upon a Rock in the middle of the Channel, expostulates bitterly with Nature, who it was that plac’d that Rock there, and to what purpose? Was there not Room enough, saith he, upon the Land, or the Shore, to lay your great Stones, but they must be thrown into the middle of the Sea, as it were in spite to Navigation? The best Apology that can be made for Nature in this Case, so far as I know, is to confess, that the whole Business of the Sea-Channel is but a Ruin, and in a Ruin Things tumble uncertainly, and commonly lie in Confusion: Tho’ to speak the Truth, it seldom happens, unless in narrow Seas, that Rocks, or Banks, 178or Islands, lie in the middle of them, or very far from the Shores.

Having view’d the more visible Parts of the Channel of the Sea, we must now descend to the Bottom of it, and see the Form and Contrivance of that; but who shall guide us in our Journey, while we walk, as Job saith, Chap. xxxviii. 16. in the search of the Deep? Or who can make a Description of that which none hath seen? It is reasonable to believe, that the Bottom of the Sea is much more rugged, broken and irregular than the Face of the Land. There are Mountains, and Valleys, and Rocks, and Ridges of Rocks, and all the common Inequalities we see upon Land; beside these, ’tis very likely there are Caves under Water, and hollow Passages into the Bowels of the Earth, by which the Seas circulate and communicate one with another, and with subterraneous Waters; those great Eddies and infamous Syrtes and Whirpools that are in some Seas, as the Baltick and the Mediterranean, that suck into them and overwhelm whatever comes within their reach, shew that there is something below that sucks from them in Proportion, and that drinks up the Sea, as the Sea drinks up the Rivers. We ought also to imagine the Shores within the Water to go inclin’d and sloping, but with great Inequality; there are many Shelves in the way, and Chambers, and sharp Angles; and many broken Rocks and great Stones lie rolled down to the Bottom.

’Tis true these things affect us little, because 179they are not expos’d to our Senses; and we seldom give our selves the trouble to collect from Reason what the Form of the invisible and inaccessible Parts of the Earth is; or if we do sometimes, those Ideas are faint and weak, and make no lasting Impression upon our Imagination and Passions; but if we should suppose the Ocean dry, and that we look’d down from the Top of some high Cloud upon the empty Shell, how horridly and barbarously would it look? And with what Amazement should we see it under us like an open Hell, or a wide bottomless Pit? So deep, and hollow, and vast; so broken and confus’d, so every way deform’d and monstrous. This would effectually waken our Imagination, and make us enquire and wonder how such a thing came in Nature; from what Causes, by what Force or Engines could the Earth be torn in this prodigious manner? Did they dig the Sea with Spades, and carry out the Molds in Hand-baskets? Where are the Entrails laid? and how did they cleave the Rocks asunder? If as many Pioneers as the Army of Xerxes had been at Work ever since the Beginning of the World, they could not have made a Ditch of this Greatness. Nor is it the Greatness only, but that wild and multifarious Confusion which we see in the Parts and Fashion of it, that makes it strange and unaccountable; ’tis another Chaos in its kind; who can paint the Scenes of it? Gulphs, and Precipices, and Cataracts; Pits within Pits, and Rocks under Rocks, broken Mountains and ragged 180Islands, that look as if they had been Countries pull’d up by the Roots, and planted in the Sea.

If we could make true and full Representations of these things to our selves, I think we should not be so bold as to make them the immediate Product of Divine Omnipotence; being destitute of all Appearance of Art or Counsel. The first Orders of things are more perfect and regular; and this Decorum seems to be observ’d, that Nature doth not fall into Disorder till Mankind be first degenerate and leads the way. Monsters have been often made an Argument against Providence; if a Calf have two Heads, or five Legs, straight there must not be a God in Heaven, or at least not upon Earth; and yet this is but a Chance that happens once in many Years, and is of no consequence at all to the rest of the World: But if we make the standing Frame of Nature monstrous, or deform’d and disproportion’d, and to have been so not by Corruption and Degeneracy, but immediately by divine Creation or Formation, it would not be so easy to answer that Objection against Providence. Let us therefore prevent this Imputation; and supposing, according to our Theory, that these Things were not originally thus, let us now explain more distinctly how they came to pass at the Deluge, or upon the Dissolution of the first Earth.

And we will not content our selves with a general Answer to these Observations concerning the Sea-Channel, as if it was a sufficient Account of them to say they were the Effects 181of a Ruin; there are other things to be consider’d and explain’d beside this Irregularity, as the vast Hollowness of this Cavity, bigger incomparably than any other belonging to the Earth; and also the Declivity of the Sides of it, which lie shelving from Top to Bottom: For notwithstanding all the Inequalities we have taken Notice of in the Channel of the Sea, it hath one general Form, which may, though under many Differences, be observed throughout, and that is, that the Shores and Sides within the Water lie inclin’d, and you descend by degrees to the deepest Part which is towards the Middle. This, I know, admits of many Exceptions; for sometimes upon a rocky Shore, or among rocky Islands, the Sea is very deep close to the Rocks, and the deeper, commonly the higher and steeper the Rocks are. Also where the Descent is more leisurely, ’tis often after a different Manner, in some Coasts more equal and uniform, in others more broken and interrupted; but still there is a Descent to the Channel or deepest Part, and this in the deep Ocean is fathomless; and such a deep Ocean, and such a deep Channel there is always between Continents. This, I think, is a Property as determinate as any we can pitch upon in the Channel of the Sea, and with those other two mention’d; its vast Cavity, and universal Irregularity, is all one can desire an Account of, as to the Form of it; we will therefore from this Ground take our Rise and first Measures for the Explication of the Sea-Channel.

182Let us suppose then in the Dissolution of the Earth, when it began to fall, that it was divided only into three or four Fragments, according to the Number of our Continents; but those Fragments being vastly great could not descend at their full Breadth and Expansion, or at least could not descend so fast in the Middle, as towards the Extremities; because the Air about the Edges would yield and give Place easily, not having far to go, to get out of the Way; but the Air that was under the Middle of the Fragment could not without a very swift Motion get from under the Concave of it, and consequently its Descent there would be more resisted and suspended; but the Sides in the mean time would continually descend, bending the Fragment with their Weight, and so making it of a lesser Compass and Expansion than it was before: And by this Means there would be an Interval and Distance made between the two falling Fragments, and a good Part of the Abyss, after their Descent, would lie uncover’d in the Middle betwixt them; as may be seen in the annex’d Figure, where the Fragments A. B. bending downwards in their Extremities, separate as they go, and after they are faln, leave a good Space in the Abyss betwixt them altogether uncover’d: This Space is the main Channel of the great Ocean, lying betwixt two Continents; and the inclining Sides shew the Declivity of the Shores.

Book 1 Figure 9 Fig. 1.

Book 1 Figure 9 Fig. 3.

This we have represented here only in a Ring or Circle of the Earth, in the first Figure; 183but it may be better represented in a broader Surface, as in the second Figure, where the two Fragments A. B. that are to make the two opposite Continents, fall in like double Doors, opening downwards, the Hinges being towards the Land on either Side, so as at the Bottom they leave in the Middle betwixt them a deep Channel of Water, a. a. a. such as is betwixt all Continents; and the Water reaching a good Height upon the Land on either Side, makes Sea there too, but shallower, and by degrees you descend into the deepest Channel.

Book 1 Figure 9 Fig. 3.

This gives an Account of two Things that we mention’d to be consider’d and explain’d as to the Sea, how the great Cavity of its Channel was made, and how it was made in that general Form of Declivity in its Sides from the Land: The third Thing was the Irregularities of it, both as to its various Depths, and as to the Form of the Shores and of the Bottom. And this is as easily and naturally explain’d from the same Supposition as the former two; for tho’ we have hitherto represented the Fragments A. B. as even and regular after their Fall, because that was most simple, and there was no occasion then to represent them otherwise, yet we must suppose, that as soon as in their Fall they hit upon the Top or Bottom of the Abyss, that great Force and Weight with which they descended broke off all the Edges and Extremities, and so made innumerable Ruptures and Inequalities in the Shores, and as many within the Sea, and at the Bottom; where the broken 184Rocks and Lumps of Earth would lie in all imaginable Disorder; as you may conceive from the third Figure. For when the Motion came on a sudden to be obstructed, the Load of the Fragment still pressing it forwards, such a Concussion arose, as made thousands of lesser Fragments, of all Shapes and Magnitudes, and in all Postures and Forms, and most of them irregular. And by these Fractions and secondary Ruins the Line of the Shores was broken, and the Level of them too: In some Places they would stand high, in others low, sometimes rough, and sometimes even, and generally crooked, with Angles and In-lets, and uncertain Windings. The Bottom also by the same Stroke was diversify’d into all Manner of Forms, sometimes rocky with Pits and Gulphs, and sometimes spread in plain Beds, sometimes shallow, and sometimes deep; for those Differences would depend only upon the Situation of the secondary Fragments; and so it might come to pass, that some Places near the Shore might be excessive deep when a Rock or Rocks stood in a steep Posture, as (Figure 3.) b. b. b. and, on the contrary, sometimes Places much more advanc’d into the Ocean might be less deep, where a Fragment of Earth lay under Water, or one bore up another, as c. c. c. but these Cases would not be very frequent. To conclude, There are no Properties of the Sea-channel, that I know of, nor Differences or Irregularities in the Form of it, which this Hypothesis doth not give a fair Account of: And having thus far open’d the Way 185and laid down the general Grounds for their Explication, other things that are more minute, we leave to the Curiosity of particular Genius’s; being unwilling to clog the Theory at first with things that may seem unnecessary. We proceed now to the Consideration of Islands.

We must in the first Place distinguish between Original Islands and Fictitious Islands: Those I call fictitious, that are not of the same Date and Antiquity with the Sea, but have been made some at one time, some at another, by accidental Causes, as the Aggestion of Sands and Sand-beds, or the Sea leaving the Tops of some shallow Places that lie high, and yet flowing about the lower Skirts of them; these make sandy and plain Islands, that have no high Land in them, and are but Mock-Islands in effect. Others are made by Divulsion from some Continent, when an Isthmus, or the Neck of a Promontory running into the Sea, sinks or falls in, by an Earthquake or otherwise, and the Sea entring in at the Gap passeth through, and makes that Promontory or Country become an Island. Thus the Island Sicily is suppos’d to have been made, and all Africa might be an Island, if the Isthmus between the Mediterranean and the red Sea should sink down. And these Islands may have Rocks and Mountains in them, if the Land had so before. Lastly, There are Islands that have been said to rise from the Bottom of the Sea; History mentions such in both the Archipelago’s, Ægæan and Indian; and this seems to argue that there are great Fragments or Tracts of Earth 186that lie loose at the Bottom of the Sea, or that are not incorporated with the Ground; which agrees very well with our Explication of the Sea-Channel.

But beside these Islands, and the several Sorts of them, there are others which I call Original; because they could not be produc’d in any of the forementioned Ways, but are of the same Origin and Antiquity with the Channel of the Sea; and such are the Generality of our Islands; they were not made of Heaps of Sands, nor torn from any Continent, but are as ancient as the Continents themselves, namely, ever since the Deluge, the common Parent of them both. Nor is there any Difficulty to understand how Islands were made at the Dissolution of the Earth, any more than how Continents were made; for Islands are but lesser Continents, or Continents greater Islands; and according as Continents were made of greater Masses of Earth, or greater Fragments standing above the Water, so Islands were made of less, but so big always, and in such a Posture, as to bear their Tops above the Water. Yet tho’ they agree thus far, there is a particular Difference to be taken notice of, as to their Origin; for the Continents were made of those three or four primary Masses into which the falling Orb of the Earth was divided, but the Islands were made of the Fractures of these, and broken off by the Fall, from the Skirts and Extremities of the Continents: We noted before, that when those great Masses and primary Fragments came to dash upon 187the Abyss in their Fall, the sudden Stop of the Motion, and the weighty Bulk of the descending Fragment broke off all the Edges and Extremities of it, which Edges and Extremities broken off made the Islands; and accordingly we see that they generally lie scatter’d along the Sides of the Continents, and are but Splinters, as it were, of those greater Bodies. ’Tis true, beside these, there were an infinite Number of other Pieces broke off that do not appear, some making Rocks under Water, some Shallows and Banks in the Sea; but the greatest of them when they fell either one upon another, or in such a Posture as to prop up one another, their Heads and higher Parts would stand out of the Water and make Islands.

Thus I conceive the Islands of the Sea were at first produc’d; we cannot wonder therefore that they should be so numerous, or far more numerous than the Continents; these are the Parents, and those are the Children; nor can we wonder to see along the Sides of the Continents several Islands, or Sets of Islands, sown, as it were, by Handfuls, or laid in Trains; for the Manner of their Generation would lead us to think they would be so plac’d. So the American Islands lie scatter’d upon the Coast of that Continent; the Maldivian and Philippine upon the East-India Shore, and the Hesperides upon the Africk; and there seldom happen to be any towards the Middle of the Ocean, tho’ by an Accident, that also might come to pass. Lastly, It suits very well with our Explication, that 188there should be Mountains and Rocks, sometimes in Clusters, sometimes in long Chains, in all Islands; (as we find there are in all that are true and original) for ’tis that makes them high enough to appear above the Water, and strong enough to continue and preserve themselves in that high Situation.

And thus much may suffice for a summary Explication of the Causes of the Sea-Channel and Islands, according to our Hypothesis.

Chap. XI

Concerning the Mountains of the Earth, their Greatness and irregular Form, their Situation, Causes, and Origin.

We have been in the Hollows of the Earth, and the Chambers of the Deep, amongst the Damps and Steams of those lower Regions; let us now go air our selves on the Tops of the Mountains, where we shall have a more free and large Horizon, and quite another Face of Things will present it self to our Observation.

The greatest Objects of Nature are, methinks, the most pleasing to behold; and next to the great Concave of the Heavens, and those boundless Regions where the Stars inhabit, there is nothing that I look upon with more Pleasure than the wide Sea and the Mountains of the Earth. There is something august and stately in the Air of these things, that inspires the Mind with great Thoughts and Passions; we do naturally, upon such Occasions, think of God 189and his Greatness: And whatsoever hath but the Shadow and Appearance of Infinite, as all Things have that are too big for our Comprehension, they fill and over-bear the Mind with their Excess, and cast it into a pleasing kind of Stupor and Admiration.

And yet these Mountains we are speaking of, to confess the Truth, are nothing but great Ruins; but such as shew a certain Magnificence in Nature; as from old Temples and broken Amphitheatres of the Romans we collect the Greatness of that People. But the Grandeur of a Nation is less sensible to those that never see the Remains and Monuments they have left; and those who never see the mountainous Parts of the Earth scarce ever reflect upon the Causes of them, or what Power in Nature could be sufficient to produce them. The Truth is, the Generality of People have not Sense and Curiosity enough to raise a Question concerning these things, or concerning the Original of them. You may tell them that Mountains grow out of the Earth like Fuzz-balls, or that there are Monsters under Ground, that throw up Mountains as Moles do Mole-hills; they will scarce raise one Objection against your Doctrine. Or if you would appear more Learned, tell them that the Earth is a great Animal, and these are Wens that grow upon its Body; this would pass current for Philosophy; so much is the World drown’d in Stupidity and sensual Pleasures, and so little inquisitive into the Works of God and Nature.

190There is nothing doth more awaken our Thoughts, or excite our Minds to enquire into the Causes of such Things, than the actual View of them; as I have had Experience my self, when it was my Fortune to cross the Alps and Apennine Mountains; for the Sight of those wild, vast, and indigested Heaps of Stones and Earth did so deeply strike my Fancy, that I was not easy ’till I could give my self some tolerable Account how that Confusion came in Nature, ’Tis true, the Height of Mountains compar’d with the Diameter of the Earth is not considerable, but the Extent of them and the Ground they stand upon bears a considerable Proportion to the Surface of the Earth; and if from Europe we may take our Measures for the rest, I easily believe, that the Mountains do at least take up the Tenth Part of the dry Land. The Geographers are not very careful to describe or note in their Charts the Multitude or Situation of Mountains; They mark the Bounds of Countries, the Site of Cities and Towns, and the Course of Rivers, because these are Things of chief Use to Civil Affairs and Commerce, and that they design to serve, and not Philosophy or natural History. But Cluverius, in his Description of Ancient Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, hath given Maps of those Countries more approaching to the natural Face of them, and we have drawn (at the end of this Chapter) such a Map of either Hemisphere, without marking Countries or Towns, or any such artificial Things; 191distinguishing only Land and Sea, Islands and Continents, Mountains and not Mountains; and ’tis very useful to imagine the Earth in this Manner, and to look often upon such bare Draughts, as shew us Nature undrest; for then we are best able to judge what her true Shapes and Proportions are.

’Tis certain that we naturally imagine the Surface of the Earth much more regular than it is; for unless we be in some mountainous Parts, there seldom occur any great Inequalities within so much Compass of Ground as we can at once reach with our Eye; and to conceive the rest, we multiply the same Idea, and extend it to those Parts of the Earth that we do not see, and so fancy the whole Globe much more smooth and uniform than it is. But suppose a Man was carried asleep out of a plain Country amongst the Alps, and left there upon the Top of one of the highest Mountains, when he wak’d and look’d about him, he wou’d think himself in an inchanted Country, or carried into another World; every Thing wou’d appear to him so different to what he had ever seen or imagin’d before. To see on every Hand of him a Multitude of vast Bodies thrown together in Confusion, as those Mountains are; Rocks standing naked round about him; and the hollow Valleys gaping under him; and at his Feet, it may be, an Heap of frozen Snow in the midst of Summer. He would hear the Thunder come from below, and see the black Clouds hanging beneath him; upon such a Prospect it would 192not be easy to him to persuade himself that he was still upon the same Earth; but if he did, he would be convinc’d, at least, that there are some Regions of it strangely rude, and ruin-like, and very different from what he had ever thought of before. But the Inhabitants of these wild Places are even with us; for those that live amongst the Alps, and the great Mountains, think that all the rest of the Earth is like their Country, all broken into Mountains, and Valleys, and Precipices; they never see other, and most People think of nothing but what they have seen at one time or an other.

These Alps we are speaking of are the greatest Range of Mountains in Europe; and ’tis prodigious to see and to consider of what extent these Heaps of Stones and Rubbish are; one way they over-spread Savoy and Dauphine, and reach thro’ France to the Pyrenean Mountains, and so to the Ocean. The other way they run along the Skirts of Germany, thro’ Styria, Pannonia, and Dalmatia, as far as Thrace and the Black Sea. Then backwards they cover Switzerland and the Parts adjacent; and that Branch of them which we call the Apennines strikes thro’ Italy, and is, as it were, the Back-bone of that Country. This must needs be a large Space of Ground which they stand upon; yet ’tis not this Part of Europe only that is laden with Mountains, the Northern Part is as rough and rude in the Face of the Country, as in the Manners of the People; Bohemia, Silesia, Denmark, Norway, Sweedland, Lapland, and Iseland, and all 193the Coasts of the Baltick Sea, are full of Clifts, and Rocks, and Crags of Mountains: Besides the Riphean Mountains in Muscovy, which the Inhabitants there use to call the Stone-girdle, and believe that it girds the Earth round about.

Nor are the other Parts of our Continent more free from Mountains than Europe, nor other Parts of the Earth than our Continent; They are in the New World as well as the Old; and if they could discover two or three New Worlds or Continents more, they would still find them there. Neither is there any Original Island upon the Earth, but is either all a Rock, or hath Rocks of Mountains in it. And all the dry Land, and every Continent, is but a kind of Mountain; tho’ that Mountain hath a Multitude of lesser ones, and Valleys, and Plains, and Lakes, and Marshes, and all Variety of Grounds.

In America, the Andes, or a Ridge of Mountains so call’d, are reported to be higher than any we have, reaching above a Thousand Leagues in Length, and Twenty in Breadth, where they are the narrowest. In Africk the Mountain Atlas, that for its height was said to bear the Heavens on its Back, runs all along from the Western Sea to the Borders of Ægypt, parallel with the Mediterranean. There also are the Mountains of the Moon, and many more, whereof we have but an imperfect Account, as neither indeed of that Country in the remote and inner Parts of it. Asia is better known, and the Mountains thereof better describ’d: Taurus, which is the principal, was adjudg’d 194by the Ancient Geographers the greatest in the World. It divides Asia into two Parts, which have their Denomination from it: And there is an Anti-Taurus the greater and the less, which accordingly divide Armenia into greater and less. Then the Cruciform Mountains of Imaus, the famous Caucasus, the long Chains of Tartary and China, and the rocky and mountainous Arabia. If one could at once have a Prospect of all these together, one would be easily satisfied, that the Globe of the Earth is a more rude and indigested Body than ’tis commonly imagin’d; if one could see, I say, all the Kingdoms and Regions of the Earth at one view, how they lie in broken Heaps; the Sea hath overwhelmed one half of them, and what remains are but the taller Parts of a Ruin. Look upon those great Ranges of Mountains in Europe or in Asia, whereof we have given a short Survey; in what Confusion do they lie? They have neither Form nor Beauty, nor Shape, nor Order, no more than the Clouds in the Air. Then how barren, how desolate, how naked are they? How they stand neglected by Nature? Neither the Rains can soften them, nor the Dews from Heaven make them fruitful.

I have given this short Account of the Mountains of the Earth, to help to remove that Prejudice we are apt to have, or that Conceit, that the present Earth is regularly form’d. And to this Purpose I do not doubt but that it would be of very good Use to have natural Maps of the Earth, as we noted before, as well as civil; and done with the same Care and Judgment.

195Our common Maps I call Civil, which note the Distinction of Countries and of Cities, and represent the Artificial Earth as inhabited and cultivated: But Natural Maps leave out all that, and represent the Earth as it would be if there was not an Inhabitant upon it, nor ever had been; the Skeleton of the Earth, as I may so say, with the sight of all its Parts. Methinks also every Prince should have such a Draught of his own Country and Dominions, to see how the Ground lies in the several Parts of them, which highest, which lowest; what respect they have to one another, and to the Sea; how the Rivers flow, and why; how the Mountains stand; how the Heaths and how the Marshes are plac’d. Such a Map or Survey would be useful both in time of War and Peace, and many good Observations might be made by it, not only as to natural History and Philosophy, but also in order to the perfect Improvement of a Country. But to return to our Mountains.

And this View of the Multitude and Greatness of them, may help to rectify our Mistakes about the Form of the Earth; so before we proceed to examine their Causes it will be good to observe further, that these Mountains are plac’d in no Order one with another, that can either respect Use or Beauty; and if you consider them singly, they do not consist of any Proportion of Parts that is referable to any Design, or that hath the least Footsteps of Art or Counsel. There is nothing in Nature more shapeless and ill-figur’d than an old Rock or a Mountain, and 196all that Variety that is among them, is but the various Modes of Irregularity; so as you cannot make a better Character of them, in short, than to say they are of all Forms and Figures except regular. Then if you would go within these Mountains (for they are generally hollow) you would find all things there more rude, if possible, than without: And lastly, if you look upon an Heap of them together, or a mountainous Country, they are the greatest Examples of Confusion that we know in Nature; no Tempest or Earthquake puts Things into more Disorder. ’Tis true, they cannot look so ill now as they did at first; a Ruin that is fresh, looks much worse than afterwards, when the Earth grows discolour’d and skinn’d over. But I fancy, if we had seen the Mountains when they were new born and raw, when the Earth was fresh broken, and the Waters of the Deluge newly retir’d, the Fractions and Confusions of them would have appear’d very ghastly and frightful.

After this general Survey of the Mountains of the Earth and their Properties, let us now reflect upon the Causes of them. There is a double Pleasure in Philosophy; first, that of Admiration, whilst we contemplate Things that are great and wonderful, and do not yet understand their Causes; for tho’ Admiration proceeds from Ignorance, yet there is a certain Charm and Sweetness in that Passion. Then the second Pleasure is greater and more intellectual, which is that of distinct Knowledge and 197Comprehension, when we come to have the Key that unlocks those Secrets, and see the Methods wherein those Things come to pass that we admir’d before: The Reasons why the World is so or so, and from what Causes Nature, or any Part of Nature, came into such a State; and this we are now to enquire after, as to the Mountains of the Earth, what their Original was, how and when the Earth came into this strange Frame and Structure? In the Beginning of our World, when the Earth rose from a Chaos, ’twas impossible it should come immediately into this mountainous Form; because a Mass that is fluid, as a Chaos is, cannot lie in any other Figure than what is regular; for the constant Laws of Nature do certainly bring all Liquors into that Form: And a Chaos is not call’d so from any Confusion or Brokenness in the Form of it, but from a Confusion and Mixture of all sorts of Ingredients in the Composition of it. So we have already produc’d in the precedent Chapters, a double Argument that the Earth was not originally in this Form, both because it rose from a Chaos, which could not of it self, or by any immediate Concretion, settle into a Form of this Nature, as hath been shewn in the fourth and fifth Chapters; as also because if it had been originally made thus, it could never have undergone a Deluge, as hath been prov’d in the second and third Chapters. If this be then a secondary and succedaneous Form, the great Question is, from what Causes it arises.

198Some have thought that Mountains, and all other Irregularities in the Earth, have Rise from Earthquakes, and such like Causes; others have thought that they came from the universal Deluge; yet not from any Dissolution of the Earth that was then, but only from the great Agitation of the Waters, which broke the Ground into this rude and unequal Form. Both these Causes seem to me very incompetent and insufficient. Earthquakes seldom make Mountains, they often take them away, and sink them down into the Caverns that lie under them; besides, Earthquakes are not in all Countries and Climates as Mountains are; for as we have observ’d more than once, there is neither Island that is Original, nor Continent any where in the Earth, in what Latitude soever, but hath Mountains and Rocks in it. And lastly, what Probability is there, or how is it credible, that those vast Tracks of Land which we see fill’d with Mountains both in Europe, Asia and Africa, were rais’d by Earthquakes, or any Eruptions from below? In what Age of the World was this done, and why not continu’d? As for the Deluge, which they alledge as another Cause, I doubt not but Mountains were made in the Time of the general Deluge, that great Change and Transformation of the Earth happen’d then, but not from such Causes as are pretended, that is, the bare rolling and agitation of the Waters; for if the Earth was smooth and plain before the Flood, as they seem to suppose as well as we do, the Waters could have little or 199no Power over a smooth Surface to tear it any way in Pieces, no more than they do a Meadow or low Ground when they lie upon it; for that which makes Torrents and Land floods violent, is their Fall from the Mountains and high Lands, which our Earth is now full of; but if the Rain fell upon even and level Ground, it would only sodden and compress it; there is no possibility how it should raise Mountains in it. And if we could imagine an universal Deluge as the Earth is now constituted, it would rather throw down the Hills and Mountains, than raise new ones; or by beating down their Tops and loose Parts, help to fill the Valleys, and bring the Earth nearer to Evenness and Plainness.

Seeing then there are no Hopes of explaining the Origin of Mountains, either from particular Earthquakes, or from the general Deluge, according to the common Notion and Explication of it; these not being Causes answerable to such vast Effects: Let us try our Hypothesis again; which hath made us a Channel large enough for the Sea, and Room for all subterraneous Cavities, and I think will find us Materials enough to raise all the Mountains of the Earth. We suppose the great Arch or Circumference of the first Earth to have fallen into the Abyss at the Deluge, and seeing that was larger than the Surface it fell upon, ’tis absolutely certain, that it could not all fall flat, or lie under the Water: Now as all those Parts that stood above the Water made dry Land, or the present habitable Earth, so such Parts of the 200dry Land as stood higher than the rest, made Hills and Mountains; and this is the first and general Account of them, and of all the Inequalities of the Earth. But to consider these Things a little more particularly: There is a double Cause and Necessity of Mountains, first this now mention’d, because the exterior Orb of the Earth was greater than the interior, which it fell upon, and therefore it could not all fall flat; and secondly, because this exterior Orb did not fall so flat and large as it might, or did not cover all the Bottom of the Abyss, as it was very capable to do; but as we shew’d before in explaining the Channel of the Ocean, it left a gaping in the Middle, or an Abyss-channel, as I should call it; and the broader this Abyss-channel was, the more Mountains there would be upon the dry Land; for there would be more Earth, or more of the falling Orb left, and less Room to place it in, and therefore it must stand more in Heaps.

In what Parts of the Earth these Heaps would lie, and in what particular manner, it cannot be expected that we should tell; but all that we have hitherto observ’d concerning Mountains, how strange soever, and otherwise unaccountable, may easily be explain’d and deduc’d from this Original; we shall not wonder at their Greatness and Vastness, seeing they are the Ruins of a broken World; and they would take up more or less of the dry Land, according as the Ocean took up more or less Space of our Globe: Then as to their Figure and Form, whether external or internal, ’tis just such as answers our 201Expectation, and no more than what the Hypothesis leads us to; for you would easily believe that these Heaps would be irregular in all manner of ways, whether consider’d apart, or in their Situation to one another. And they would lie commonly in Clusters and in Ridges, for those are two of the most general Postures of the Parts of a Ruin, when they fall inwards. Lastly, We cannot wonder that Mountains should be generally hollow; for great Bodies falling together in Confusion, or bearing and leaning against one another, must needs make a great many Hollownesses in them, and by their unequal Applications empty Spaces will be intercepted. We see also from the same Reason why mountainous Countries are subject to Earthquakes; and why Mountains often sink and fall down into the Caverns that lie under them; their Joints and Props being decayed and worn, they become unable to bear their Weight. And all these Properties you see hang upon one and the same String, and are just Consequences from our Supposition concerning the Dissolution of the first Earth. And there is no surer Mark of a good Hypothesis, than when it doth not only hit luckily in one or two Particulars, but answers all that it is to be apply’d to, and is adequate to Nature in her whole Extent.

But how fully or easily soever these things may answer Nature, you will say, it may be, that all this is but an Hypothesis; that is, a kind of Fiction or Supposition that Things were so and so at first, and by the Coherence and Agreement 202of the Effects with such a Supposition, you would argue and prove that they were really so. This I confess is true, this is the Method, and if we would know any Thing in Nature further than our Senses go, we can know it no otherwise than by an Hypothesis. When Things are either too little for our Senses, or too remote and inaccessible, we have no Way to know the inward Nature, and the Causes of their sensible Properties, but by reasoning upon an Hypothesis. If you would know, for Example, of what Parts Water, or any other Liquor consists, they are too little to be discern’d by the Eye; you must therefore take a Supposition concerning their invisible Figure and Form, and if that agrees and gives the Reason of all their sensible Qualities, you understand the Nature of Water. In like manner, if you would know the Nature of a Comet, or of what Matter the Sun consists, which are Things inaccessible to us, you can do this no otherwise than by an Hypothesis; and if that Hypothesis be easy and intelligible, and answers all the Phænomena of those two Bodies, you have done as much as a Philosopher or as human Reason can do. And this is what we have attempted concerning the Earth and concerning the Deluge. We have laid down an Hypothesis that is easy and perspicuous, consisting of a few things, and those very intelligible, and from this we have given an Account how the old World was destroy’d by a Deluge of Water, and how the Earth came into this present Form, so distinguish’d and interrupted 203with Sea and Land, Mountains and Valleys, and so broken in the Surface and inward Parts of it.

But to speak the Truth, this Theory is something more than a bare Hypothesis; because we are assured that the general Ground that we go upon is true, namely, That the Earth rose at first from a Chaos; for besides Reason and Antiquity, Scripture it self doth assure us of that; and that one Point being granted, we have deduc’d from it all the rest by a direct Chain of Consequences, which I think cannot be broken easily in any Part or Link of it. Besides, the great Hinge of this Theory, upon which all the rest turns, is the Distinction we make of the antediluvian Earth and Heavens from the Postdiluvian, as to their Form and Constitution. And it will never be beaten out of my Head, but that St. Peter, 2 Epist. chap. iii. 5, 6. hath made the same Distinction sixteen hundred Years since, and to the very same purpose; so that we have sure footing here again, and the Theory riseth above the Character of a bare Hypothesis. And whereas an Hypothesis that is clear and proportion’d to Nature in every Respect, is accounted morally certain, we must in Equity give more than a moral Certitude to this Theory. But I mean this only as to the general Parts of it; for as to Particularities, I look upon them only as problematical, and accordingly I affirm nothing therein but with a Power of Revocation, and a Liberty to change my Opinion when I shall be better inform’d. Neither do I know 204any Author that hath treated a Matter new, remote, and consisting of a Multitude of Particulars, who would not have had occasion, if he had liv’d to have seen his Hypothesis fully examin’d, to have chang’d his Mind and Manner of explaining Things in many material Instances.

To conclude both this Chapter and this Section, we have here added a Map or Draught of the Earth, according to the natural Face of it, as it would appear from the Moon, if we were a little nearer to her; or as it was at first after the Deluge, before Cities were built, Distinctions of Countries made, or any Alterations by human Industry. ’Tis chiefly to expose more to view the Mountains of the Earth, and the Proportions of Sea and Land; to shew it as it lies in itself, and as a Naturalist ought to conceive and consider it. ’Tis true, there are far more Mountains upon the Earth than what are here represented, for more could not conveniently be plac’d in this narrow Scheme; but the best and most effectual Way of representing the Body of the Earth as it is by Nature, would be, not in plain Tables, but by a rough Globe, expressing all the considerable Inequalities that are upon the Earth. The smooth Globes that we use, do but nourish in us the Conceit of the Earth’s Regularity; and tho’ they may be convenient enough for geographical Purposes, they are not so proper for natural Science, nothing would be more useful in this Respect, than a rough Globe of the largest Dimensions, wherein the Channel of the Sea should be really 205hollow, as it is in Nature, with all its unequal Depths according to the best Soundings, and the Shores express’d both according to Matter and Form, little Rocks standing where there are Rocks, and Sands and Beaches in the Places where they are found; and all the Islands planted in the Sea-channel in a due Form, and in their solid Dimensions. Then upon the Land should stand all the Ranges of Mountains, in the same Order or Disorder that Nature hath set them there: And the in-land Seas, and great Lakes, or rather the Beds they lie in, should be duly represented; as also the vast Desarts of Sand as they lie upon the Earth. And this being done with Care and due Art, would be a true Epitome, or true Model of our Earth. Where we should see, besides other Instructions, what a rude Lump our World is, which we are so apt to dote upon.

Book 1 No. 1.

Book 1 No. 2.

Chap. XII

A short Review of what hath been already treated of, and in what Manner. The several Faces and Schemes under which the Earth would appear to a Stranger, that should view it first at a Distance, and then more closely, and the Application of them to our Subject. All Methods, whether Philosophical or Theological, that have been offer’d by others for the Explication of the Form of the Earth, are examin’d and disprov’d. A Conjecture concerning the other Planets, their natural Form and State compared with ours.

We have finish’d the three Sections of this Book, and in this last Chapter we will make a short Review and Reflexion upon what hath been hitherto treated of, and add some further Confirmations of it. The Explication of the universal Deluge was the first Proposal and Design of this Discourse, to make that a Thing credible and intelligible to the Mind of Man: And the full Explication of this drew in the whole Theory of the Earth; Whose Original we have deduc’d from its first Source, and shew’d both what was its primæval Form, and how it came into its present Form. The Sum of our Hypothesis concerning the universal Deluge was this; That it came not to pass, as was vulgarly believ’d, by an Excess of Rains, or any Inundation of the Sea, nor could ever be effected 207by a meer Abundance of Waters; unless we suppose some Dissolution of the Earth at the same time, namely, when the Great Abyss was broken open. And accordingly we shewed, that without such a Dissolution, or if the Earth had been always in the same Form it is in now, no Mass of Water, any where to be found in the World, could have equall’d the Height of the Mountains, or made such an universal Deluge. Secondly, We shewed that the Form of the Earth at first, and till the Deluge, was such as made it capable and subject to a Dissolution: And thirdly, That such a Dissolution being suppos’d, the Doctrine of the universal Deluge is very reasonable and intelligible; and not only the Doctrine of the Deluge, but the same Supposition is a Key to all Nature besides, shewing us how our Globe became terraqueous, what was the Original of Mountains, of the Sea-channel, of Islands, of subterraneous Cavities; things which without this Supposition are as untelligible as the universal Flood itself. And these things reciprocally confirming one another, our Hypothesis of the Deluge is arm’d, both Breast and Back, by the Causes and by the Effects.

It remains now, that, as to confirm our Explication of the Deluge, we shew’d all other Accounts that had been given of it to be ineffectual or impossible, to confirm our Doctrine concerning the Dissolution of the Earth, and concerning the Original of Mountains, Seas, and all Inequalities upon it, or within it, we must examine what Causes have been 208assign’d by others, or what Accounts given of these things: That seeing their Defectiveness, we may have the more Assurance and Satisfaction in our own Method.

And in order to this, let us observe first the general Forms under which the Earth may be consider’d, or under which it doth appear accordingly as we view it more nearly or remotely; and the first of these and the most general is that of a terraqueous Globe. If a Philosopher should come out of another World out of Curiosity to see our Earth, the first Discovery or Observation he would make would be this, that it was a terraqueous Globe: Thus much he might observe at a great Distance, when he came but near the Borders of our World. This we discern in the Moon, and most of the Planets, that they are divided into Sea and Land, and how this Division came would be his first Remark and Inquiry concerning our Earth; and how also those Subdivisions of Islands, or little Earths which lie in the Water; how these were form’d, and that great Channel that contains them both.

The second Form that the Earth appears under, is that of an uneven and mountainous Globe. When our Traveller had got below the Circle of the Moon, he would discern the bald Tops of our Mountains, and the long Ranges of them upon our Continents. We cannot from the Earth discern Mountains and Valleys in the Moon directly, but from the Motion of the Light and Shadows which we 209see there, we easily collect that there are such Inequalities: And accordingly we suppose that our Mountains would appear at a great Distance, and the shady Valleys lying under them; and that this curious Person that came to view our Earth, would make that his second Enquiry, how those Mountains were formed, and how our Globe came to be so rude and irregular? For we may justly demand how any Irregularity came into Nature, seeing all her first Motions and her first Forms are regular, and whatsoever is not so, is but secondary, and the Consequence of some Degeneracy, or of some Decay.

The third visible Form of our Earth is that of a broken Globe; and broken throughout, but in the outward Parts and Regions of it. This, it may be, you will say, is not a visible Form; it doth not appear to the Eye, without reasoning, that the Surface of the Earth is so broken. Suppose our new Visitant had now pass’d the middle Region of the Air, and was alighted upon the Top of Pic Teneriffe for his first resting Place, and that sitting there, he took a View of the great Rocks, the wide Sea, and of the Shores of Africk and Europe; for we’ll suppose his piercing Eye to reach so far; I will not say that at first Sight he would pronounce that the Surface of this Globe was broken, unless he knew it to be so by Comparison with some other Planet like to it; but the broken Form and Figure of many Parts of the Rocks, and the Posture in which they lay, or great Portions of them, some inclin’d, some 210prostrate, some erected, would naturally lead him to that Thought, that they were a Ruin; he would see also the Islands tore from the Continents, and both the Shores of the Continents and their Inland Parts in the same Disorder and irregular Situation. Besides, he had this great Advantage in viewing the Earth at a Distance, that he could see a whole Hemisphere together, which, as he made his Approaches thro’ the Air, would have much what the same aspect and countenance as ’tis represented within the great Scheme, p. 203. And if any Man should accidentally hit upon that Scheme, not knowing or thinking that it was the Earth, I believe his first Thought of it would be, that it was some great broken Body, or ruin’d Frame of Matter; and the Original, I am sure, is more manifestly so. But we’ll leave our strange Philosopher to his own Observations, and with him good Guides and Interpreters in his Survey of the Earth, and that he would make a favourable Report at his Return home, of our little dirty Planet.

In the mean time let us pursue, in our own Way, this Third Idea of the Earth a little further, as it is a broken Globe. Nature I know hath dissembled and cover’d this Form as much as may be, and Time hath help’d to repair some of the old Breaches, or fill them up; besides, the Changes that have been made by Art and human Industry, by Agriculture, Planting, and Building Towns, hath made the Face of the Earth quite another Thing from what it was in its naked Rudeness. As 211Mankind is much alter’d from its pristine State, from what it was four thousand Years ago, or towards the first Ages after the Flood, when the Nations liv’d in Simplicity or Barbarousness; so is the Earth too, and both so disguis’d and transform’d, that if one of those primitive Fathers should rise from the Dead, he would scarce know this to be the same World which he liv’d in before. But to discern the true Form of the Earth, whether intire or broken, regular or disorder’d, we must in the first Place take away all those Ornaments or Additions made by Art or Nature, and view the bare Carcass of the Earth, as it hath nothing on it but Rocks and Mountains, Deserts and Fields, and hollow Valleys, and a wide Sea. Then secondly, We must in our Imagination empty this Channel of the Sea, take out all the Waters that hinder the Sight of it, and look upon the dry Ditch, measure the Depth and Breadth of it in our Mind, and observe the Manner of its Construction, and in what a wild Posture all the Parts of it lie; according as it hath been formerly represented, Chap. 10. And lastly, we must take off the Cover of all subterraneous Places and deep Caverns, to see the inside of the Earth; and lay bare the Roots of Mountains, to look into those Holes and Vaults that are under them, fill’d sometimes with Fire, sometimes with Water, and sometimes with thick Air and Vapours. The Object being thus prepar’d, we are then to look fixedly upon it, and to pronounce what we think of this disfigur’d Mass, 212whether this exterior Frame doth not seem to be shatter’d; and whether it doth more aptly resemble a new-made World, or the Ruins of one broken. I confess when this Idea of the Earth is present to my Thoughts, I can no more believe that this was the Form wherein it was first produc’d, than if I had seen the Temple of Jerusalem in its Ruins, when defac’d and sack’d by the Babylonians; I could have persuaded my self, that it had never been in any other Posture, and that Solomon had given Orders for Building it so.

So much for the Form of the Earth: It remains now that we examine what Causes have been assign’d by others, of these Irregularities in the Form of the Earth, which we explain by the Dissolution of it; what Accounts any of the Ancients have given, or attempted to give, how the Earth swell’d into Mountains in certain Places, and in others was depress’d into low Valleys, how the Body of it was so broken, and how the Channel of the Sea was made. The Elements naturally lie in regular Forms one above another, and now we find them mix’d, confounded and transpos’d, how comes this Disturbance and Disordination in Nature? The Explications of these Things that have been given by others, may be reduc’d to two general Sorts, Philosophical or Theological, and we will try them both for our Satisfaction.

Of Philosophers, none was more concern’d to give an Account of such Things than Epicurus, both because he acknowledged the Origin 213of the Earth to have been from a Chaos, and also admitted no Causes to act in Nature but Matter and Motion: Yet all the Account we have from the Epicureans of the Form of the Earth, and the great Inequalities that are in it, is so slight and trivial, that methinks it doth not deserve the Name of a Philosophical Explication. They say that the Earth and Water were mix’d at first, or rather, the Earth was above the Water, and as the Earth was condens’d by the Heat of the Sun and the Winds, the Water was squeez’d out in certain Places, which either it found hollow or made so; and so was the Channel of the Sea made. Then as for Mountains, while some Parts of the Earth shrunk and sunk in this Manner, others would not sink; and these standing still while the others fell lower, made the Mountains. How the subterraneous Cavities were made according to them, I do not find.

This is all the Account that Monsieur Gassendi (who seems to have made it his Business, as well as his Pleasure, to embellish that Philosophy) can help us to, out of the Epicurean Authors how the Earth came into this Form; and he that can content himself with this, is, in my Mind, of an Humour very easy to be pleas’d. Do the Sun and the Wind use to squeeze Pools of Water out of the Earth, and that in such a Quantity as to make an Ocean? They dry the Earth, and the Waters too, and rarify them into Vapours, but I never knew them to be the Causes of pressing Water out of the Earth by Condensation. 214Could they compress the Earth any otherwise, than by drying it and making it hard? And in Proportion, as it was more dry, would it not the more imbibe and suck up the Water? And how were the great Mountains of the Earth made in the North and in the South, where the Influence of the Sun is not great? What sunk the Earth there, and made the Flesh start from the Bones? But ’tis no Wonder that Epicurus should give such a mean Account of the Origin of the Earth, and the Form of its Parts, who did not so much as understand the general Figure of the Body of it, that it was in some Manner Spherical, or that the Heavens encompass’d it round. One must have a blind Love for that Philosophy, and for the Conclusions it drives at, not to see its Lameness and Defects in those first and fundamental Parts.

Aristotle, though he was not concern’d to give an Account how the Earth came into this present Form, as he suppos’d it Eternal; yet upon another Consideration he seems obliged to give some Reason how the Elements came into this Disorder; seeing he supposeth, that, according to the Order of Nature, the Water should lie above the Earth in a Sphere, as the Air doth above the Water, and his Fire above the Air. This he toucheth upon in his Meteors, but so gently and fearfully, as if he was handling hot Coals. He saith the Sea is to be consider’d as the Element, or Body of Waters that belongs to this Earth, and that these Waters change Places, and the Sea is some Ages in one Part of the 215Globe, and some Ages in another; but that this is at such great Distances of Time, that there can be no Memory or Record of it. And he seems willing to suppose that the Water was once all over the Earth, but that it dry’d up in certain Places, and continuing in others, it there made the Sea.

What a miserable Account is this? As to his Change or Removal of the Sea-channel in several Ages, as it is without all Proof or Probability, if he mean it of the Channel of the great Ocean, so ’tis nothing to the Purpose here; for the Question is not why the Channel of the Sea is in such a Part of the Earth, rather than in another, but why there is any such prodigious Cavity in or upon the Earth any where. And if we take his Supposition, that the Element of Water was once higher than the Earth, and lay in a Sphere about it, then let him tell us in plain Terms how the Earth got above, or how the Cavity of the Ocean was made, and how the Mountains rise; for this Elementary Earth which lay under the Water, was, I suppose, equal and smooth when it lay there; and what reason was there, that the Waters should be dry’d in one Part of it, more than another, if they were every where of an equal Depth, and the Ground equal under them? It was not the Climates made any Distinction, for there is Sea towards the Poles, as well as under the Æquator; but suppose they were dry’d up in certain Places, that would make no Mountains, no more than there are Mountains in our dry’d Marshes: 216And the Places where they were not dry’d, would not therefore become as deep and hollow as the Sea-channel, and tear the Earth and Rocks in pieces. If you would say that this very Elementary Earth, as it lay under the Waters, was unequal, and was so originally form’d into Mountains and Valleys and great Cavities; besides that the Supposition is altogether irrational in itself, you must suppose a prodigious Mass of Water to cover such an Earth; as much as we found requisite for the vulgar Deluge, namely, eight Oceans; and what then is become of the other seven? Upon the whole, I do not see that either in Epicurus’s way, who seems to suppose that the Waters were at first within the Earth; nor in Aristotle’s way, who seems to suppose them upon the Earth, any rational or tolerable Account can be given of the present Form of the Earth.

Wherefore some Modern Authors, dissatisfied, as very well they might be, with these Explications given us by the Ancients concerning the Form of the Earth, have pitch’d upon other Causes, more true indeed in their kind, and in their degree, but that fall as much short of those Effects to which they would apply them. They say that all the Irregularities of the Body of the Earth have risen from Earthquakes in particular Places, and from Torrents and Inundations, and from Eruptions of Fire, or such like Causes, whereof we see some Instances more or less every Age; and these have made that havock upon the Face of the Earth, and turn’d things upside down, raising the Earth, 217in some Places, and making great Cavities or Chasms in others, so as to have brought it at length into that torn, broken, and disorderly Form in which we now see it.

These Authors do so far agree with us, as to acknowledge, That the present irregular Form of the Earth must have proceeded from Ruins and Dissolutions of one sort or other; but these Ruins they make to have been partial only, in this or in that Country, by piece-meal, and in several Ages, and from no other Causes, but such as still continue to act in Nature, namely, accidental Earthquakes and Eruptions of Fires and Waters. These Causes we acknowledge as readily as they do, but not as capable to produce so great Effects as they would ascribe to them; the Surface of the Earth may be a little changed by such Accidents as these, but for the most part, they rather sink the Mountains, than raise new Ones: As when Houses are blown up by Mines of Powder, they are not set higher, but generally fall lower and flatter: Or suppose they do sometimes raise an Hill, or a little Mount, what’s that to the great Mountains of our World, to those long and vast Piles of Rocks and Stones, which the Earth can scarce bear? What’s that to strong-backt Taurus or Atlas, to the American Andes, or to a Mountain that reacheth from the Pyreneans to the Euxine Sea? There’s as much Difference between these, and those factious Mountains they speak of, as betwixt them and Mole-hills.

218And to answer more distinctly to this Opinion, as before in speaking of Islands we distinguish’d betwixt factitious and original Islands, so, if you please, we may distinguish here betwixt factitious and original Mountains; and allowing some few, and those of the fifth or sixth Magnitude, to have risen from such accidental Causes, we enquire concerning the rest and the greatest, what was their Original? If we should suppose that the seven Hills upon which Rome stands, came from Ruins or Eruptions, or any such Causes, it doth not follow that the Alps were made so too. And as for Mountains, so for the Cavities of the Earth, I suppose there may be Disruptions sometimes made by Earthquakes, and Holes worn by subterraneous Fires and Waters; but what’s that to the Channel of the Atlantick Ocean, or of the Pacifick Ocean, which is extended an hundred and fifty Degrees under the Æquator, and towards the Poles still further? He that should derive such mighty Things from no greater Causes, I should think him a very credulous Philosopher. And we are too subject indeed to that Fault of Credulity in Matter of Philosophizing: Many when they have found out Causes that are proper for certain Effects within such a Compass, they cannot keep them there, but they will make them do every Thing for them; and extend them often to other Effects of a superior Nature or Degree, which their Activity can by no Means reach to. Ætna hath been a burning Mountain ever since, and above 219the Memory of Man, yet it hath not destroy’d that Island, nor made any new Channel to the Sea, tho’ it stands so near it. Neither is Vesuvius above two or three Miles distant from the Sea-side, to the best of my Remembrance, and yet in so many Ages it hath made no Passage to it, neither open nor subterraneous. ’Tis true, some Isthmus’s have been thrown down by Earthquakes, and some Lakes have been made in that Manner, but what’s this to a Ditch nine thousand Miles broad? Such an one we have upon the Earth, and of a Depth that is not measurable; what Proportion have these Causes to such an Instance? And how many thousand Ages must be allow’d to them to do their Work, more than the Chronology of our Earth will bear?

Besides, When were these great Earthquakes and Disruptions, that did such great Execution upon the Body of the Earth? Was this before the Flood or since? If before, then the old Difficulty returns, how could there be a Flood, if the Earth was in this mountainous Form before that Time? This, I think, is demonstrated impossible in the second and third Chapters. If since the Flood, where were the Waters of the Earth before these Earthquakes made a Channel for them? Besides, where is the History or Tradition, that speaks of these strange Things, and of this great Change of the Earth? Hath any writ of the Origins of the Alps? In what Year of Rome, or what Olympiad they were born? Or how they grew from little ones? How the Earth 220groan’d when it brought them forth, when its Bowels were torn by the ragged Rocks? Do the Chronicles of the Nations mention these things, or ancient Fame, or ancient Fables? were they made all at once, or in successive Ages? These Causes continue still in Nature, we have still Earthquakes and subterraneous Fires and Waters, why should they not still operate and have the same Effects? We often hear of Cities thrown down by Earthquakes, or Countries swallow’d up; but who ever heard of a new Chain of Mountains made upon the Earth, or a new Channel made for the Ocean? We do not read that there hath been so much as a new Sinus of the Sea ever since the Memory of Man: Which is far more feasible than what they pretend. And Things of this Nature being both strange and feasible, excite Admiration and great Attention when they come to pass, and would certainly have been remembered or propagated in some Way or other, if they had ever happen’d since the Deluge. They have recorded the Foundation of Cities and Monarchies, the Appearance of Blazing Stars, the Eruptions of fiery Mountains, the most remarkable Earthquakes and Inundations, the great Eclipses or Obscurations of the Sun, and any thing that look’d strange or Prodigy-like, whether in the Heavens or on Earth: And these, which would have been the greatest Prodigies, and greatest Changes that ever happen’d in Nature, would these have escap’d all Observation and 221Memory of Men? That’s as incredible as the Things themselves are.

Lastly, To comprehend all these Opinions together, both of the Ancient and Modern Authors, they seem all to agree with us in this, That the Earth was once under another Form; otherwise why do they go about to shew the Causes how it came into this Form? I desire then to know what Form they suppose the Earth to have been under before the Mountains were made, the Channel of the Sea, or subterraneous Cavities? Either they must take that Form which we have assign’d it before the Deluge, or else they must suppose it cover’d with Water, till the Sea-channels were made, and the Mountains brought forth; as in Fig. 2. p. 76. And no doubt it was once in this Form, both Reason and the Authority of Moses assure us of it; and this is the Test which every Opinion must be brought to, how the Earth emerg’d out of that watry Form? And in particular, as to that Opinion which we are now examining, the Question is, how by Earthquakes, and fiery Eruptions, subterraneous Waters, and such like Causes, the Body of the Earth could be wrought from that Form to this present Form? And the Thing is impossible at first Sight; for such Causes as these could not take place in such an Earth. As for subterraneous Waters, there could be none at that Time, for they were all above Ground; and as for subterraneous Exhalations, whether fiery or aery, there was no Place for them neither; for the Earth, when 222it lay under the Water, was a solid uniform Mass, compact and close united in its Parts, as we have shewn before upon several Occasions; no Mines or hollow Vaults for the Vapours to be lodg’d in, no Store-houses of Fire; nothing that could make Earthquakes, nor any sort of Ruins or Eruptions: These are Engines that cannot Play but in an Earth already broken, hollow and cavernous. Therefore the Authors of this Opinion do in effect beg the Question; they assign such Causes of the present Form of the Earth, as could not take Place, nor have any Activity until the Earth was in this Form: These Causes may contribute something to increase the Rudeness and Inequalities of the Earth in certain Places, but they could not be the original Causes of it. And that not only because of their Disproportion to such Effects, but also because of their Incapacity, or Non-existence at that time, when these Effects were to be wrought.

Thus much concerning the Philosophical Opinions or the natural Causes that have been assign’d for the irregular Form of this present Earth. Let us now consider the Theological Opinions, how Mountains were made at first, and the wonderful Channel of the Sea: And these Authors say, God Almighty made them immediately when he made the World; and so dispatch’d the Business in a few Words. This is a short Account indeed, but we must take heed that we do not derogate from the Perfection of God, by ascribing all Things promiscuously to his immediate Action. I 223have often suggested that the first Order of Things is regular and simple, according as the Divine Nature is; and continues so till there is some Degeneracy in the moral World; I have also noted upon several Occasions, especially in the Lat. Treat. Chap. 11. the deformity and Incommodiousness of the present Earth; and from these two Considerations we may reasonably infer, that the present State of the Earth was not Original, but is a State of Subjection to Vanity, wherein it must continue till the Redemption and Restitution of all Things.

But besides this general Consideration, there are many others, both Natural and Theological, against this Opinion, which the Authors of it, I believe, will find unanswerable. As first, St. Peter’s Distinction betwixt the present Earth and the Antediluvian; 2 Ep. Chap. iii. 5, 6. and that in Opposition to certain profane Persons, who seem to have been of the same Opinion with these Authors, namely, That the Heavens and the Earth were the same now that they had been from the beginning, and that there had been no Change in Nature, either of late, or in former Ages; These St. Peter confutes and upbraids them with Ignorance or Forgetfulness of the Change that was brought upon Nature at the Deluge, or that the Antediluvian Heavens and Earth were of a different Form and Constitution from the present, whereby that World was obnoxious to a Deluge of Water, as the present is to a Deluge of Fire. Let these Authors put 224themselves in the Place of those Objectors, and see what Answer they can make to the Apostle, whom I leave to dispute the Case with them. I hope they will not treat this Epistle of St. Peter’s so rudely as Didymus Alexandrinus did, an ancient Christian, and one of St. Jerome’s Masters; he was of the same Opinion with these Theological Authors, and so fierce in it, that seeing St. Peter’s Doctrine here to be contrary, he said, this Epistle of St. Peter’s was corrupted, and was not to be receiv’d into the Canon. And all this, because it taught, that the Heavens and the Earth had chang’d their Form, and would do so again at the Conflagration; so as the same World would be triform in Success of Time. We acknowledge his Exposition of St. Peter’s Words to be very true; but what he makes an Argument of the Corruption of this Epistle, is rather, in my Mind, a peculiar Argument of its Divine Inspiration. In the second Place, these Writers dash upon the old Rock, the Impossibility of explaining the Deluge; if there were Mountains from the Beginning, and the Earth then in the same Form as it is in now. Thirdly, They make the State of Paradise as unintelligible as that of the Deluge; For those Properties that are assign’d to Paradise by the Ancients, are inconsistent with the present Form of the Earth: As will appear in the Second Book. Lastly, They must answer, and give an Account of all those Marks which we have observ’d in Nature (both in this Chapter, and the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh), 225of Fractions, Ruins, and Dissolutions that have been on the Earth, and which we have shewn to be inexplicable, unless we admit that the Earth was once in another Form.

These Arguments being premis’d, let us now bring their Opinion close to the Test, and see in what manner these Mountains must have been made according to them, and how the Channel of the Sea, and all other Cavities of the Earth. Let us to this Purpose consider the Earth again in that transient, incompleat Form which it had when the Abyss encompast the whole Body of it, Fig. 2. p. 77. we both agree that the Earth was once in this State, and they say, that it came immediately out of this State into its present Form, there being made by a supernatural Power a great Channel or Ditch in one Part of it, which drew off the Waters from the rest, and the Earth which was squeez’d and forc’d out of this Ditch, made the Mountains. So there is the Channel of the Sea made, and the Mountains of the Earth; how the subterraneous Cavities were made according to these Authors, I do not well know. This I confess seems to me a very gross Thought, and a way of working very un-God like; but however, let’s have Patience to examine it.

And in the first Place, if the Mountains were taken out of the Channel of the Sea, then they are equal to it, and would fill it up if they were thrown in again. But these Proportions upon Examination will not agree; for though the Mountains of the Earth be very 226great, yet they do not equal by much the great Ocean. The Ocean extends to half the Surface of the Earth; and if you suppose the greatest Depth of the Ocean to answer the Height of the greatest Mountains and the middle Depth to the middle sort of Mountains, the Mountains ought to cover all the dry Land to make them answer to all the Capacity of the Ocean; whereas we suppos’d them upon a reasonable Computation to cover but the tenth Part of the dry Land; and consequently neither they nor the Sea-Channel could have been produc’d in this manner, because of their great Disproportion to one another. And the same thing appears, if we compare the Mountains with the Abyss which cover’d the Earth before this Channel was made; for this Channel being made great enough to contain all the Abyss, the Mountains taken out of it must also be equal to all the Abyss; but the Aggregate of the Mountains will not answer this by many Degrees; for suppose the Abyss was but half as deep as the deep Ocean, to make this Calculus answer, all the dry Land ought to be cover’d with Mountains, and with Mountains as high as the Ocean is deep, or double high to the Depth of the Abyss, because they are but upon one half of the Globe. And this is the first Argument against the Reciprocal Production of Mountains and the Sea, their Incongruency or Disproportion.

Secondly, we are to consider that a great many Mountains of the Earth are far distant 227from any Seas, as the great In-land Mountains of Asia and of Africk, and the Sarmatick Mountains, and others in Europe; how were these great Bodies flung thorough the Air from their respective Seas, whence they were taken, to those Places where they stand? What Appearance is there in common Reason or Credibility, that these huge Masses of Earth and Stone that stand in the middle of Continents were dug out of any Seas? We think it strange, and very deservedly, that a little Chapel should be transported from Palestine to Italy over Land and Sea, much more the Transportation of Mount Atlas or Taurus thorough the Air, or of a Range of Mountains two or three thousand Miles long, would surely upon all Accounts appear incongruous and incredible: Besides, neither the hollow Form of Mountains, nor the stony Matter whereof they commonly consist, agrees with that Supposition, that they were press’d or taken out of the Channel of the Sea.

Lastly, we are to consider, that the Mountains are not barely laid upon the Earth, as a Tomb-stone upon a Grave, nor stand as Statues do upon a Pedestal, as this Opinion seems to suppose; but they are one continued Substance with the Body of the Earth, and their Roots reach into the Abyss; as the Rocks by the Sea-side go as deep as the Bottom of the Sea in one continued Mass: And ’tis a ridiculous Thing to imagine the Earth first a plain Surface, then all the Mountains set upon it, as Hay-cocks in a Field, standing upon their flat 228Bottoms. There is no such common Surface in Nature, nor consequently any such Super-additions: ’Tis all one Frame or Mass, only broken and disjointed in the Parts of it. To conclude, ’Tis not only the Mountains that make the Inequalities of the Earth, or the Irregularity of its Surface, every Country, every Province, every Field, hath an unequal and different Situation, higher or lower inclin’d more or less, and sometimes one way sometimes another, you can scarce take a Mile’s Compass in any Place where the Surface of the Ground continues uniform; and can you imagine, that there were Moulds or Stones brought from the Sea-channel to make all those Inequalities? Or that Earthquakes have been in every Country and in every Field? The inner Veins and Lares, the Beds or Strata of the Earth are also broken as well as the Surface. These must proceed from universal Causes; and all those that have been alledg’d, whether from Philosophy or Theology, are but particular or topical. I am fully satisfied, in Contemplation of these Things, and so I think every unprejudic’d Person may be, that to such an irregular Variety of Situation and Construction, as we see every where in the Parts of the Earth, nothing could answer but some universal Concussion or Dislocation, in the Nature of a general Ruin.

We have now finish’d this first Part of our Theory, and all that concerns the Deluge or Dissolution of the Earth; and we have not only establish’d our own Hypothesis by positive 229Arguments, but also produc’d and examin’d all Suppositions that have been offer’d by others, whether Philosophical or Theological, for the Explication of the same things; so as nothing seems now to remain further upon this Subject. For a Conclusion of all, we will consider, if you please, the rest of the Earths, or of the Planets within our Heavens, that appertain to the same common Sun; to see, so far as we can go by rational Conjectures, if they be not of the same Fabrick, and have undergone the like Fate, and Forms with our Earth. It is now acknowledged by the generality of learned Men, that the Planets are opake Bodies, and particularly our next Neighbour, the Moon, is known to be a terraqueous Globe, consisting of Mountains and Valleys as our Earth does; and we have no Reason to believe, but that she came into that Form by a Dissolution, or from like Causes, as our Earth did. Mercury is so near the Sun, that we cannot well discern his Face, whether spotted or no, nor make a Judgment of it. But as for Venus and Mars, if the Spots that be observ’d in them be their Waters or their Sea, as they are in the Moon, ’tis likely they are also terraqueous Globes, and in much what a like Form with the Moon, and the Earth, and, for ought we know, from like Causes. Particularly as to Venus, ’tis a remarkable Passage that St. Austin (De Civ. Dei, lib. 21. c. viii.) hath preserv’d out of Varro: He saith, That about the Time of the great Deluge there was a wonderful Alteration or Catastrophe 230happen’d to the Planet Venus, and that she chang’d her Colour, Form, Figure, and Magnitude. This is a great Presumption that she suffer’d her Dissolution about the same time that our Earth did. I do not know that any such Thing is recorded concerning any of the other Planets, but the Body of Mars looks very rugged, broken, and much disorder’d.

Saturn and Jupiter deserve a distinct Consideration, as having something particular and different from the rest of the Planets; Saturn is remarkable for his Hoop or Ring, which seems to stand off, or higher than his Body, and would strongly induce one to believe, that the exterior Earth of that Planet, at its Dissolution, did not all fall in, but the polar Parts sinking into the Abyss, the middle or equinoctial Parts still subsisted, and bore themselves up in the Nature of an Arch about the Planet, or of a Bridge, as it were, built over the Sea of Saturn. And as some have observ’d concerning the Figure of Jupiter, that it is not wholly Spherical, but a Spheroid, protuberant in the Equator, and depress’d towards the Poles: So I should suspect Saturn to have been much more so, before his Disruption: Namely, That the Body of that Planet, in its first State, was more flat and low towards the Poles, and also weaker and thinner; and about the Equator higher, fuller and stronger built: By reason of which Figure and Construction, the Polar Parts did more easily fall in, or were suckt in (as Cupping Glasses draw in the Flesh) when the Abyss below grew more empty. 231Whereas the middle Parts about the Equator, being a more just Arch and strongly built, would not yield or sink, but stood firm and unbroken, and continues still in its first Posture. Planets break in different ways, according to the Quality of their Matter, the manner of their Construction, and the Nature of the Causes that act upon them. Their Dissolutions are sometimes total, as in our Earth, sometimes partial; and both of these may be under great Variety. In partial Dissolutions, the middle Parts sometimes stand, and the Polar are broke; or the Polar stand and the Middle are broke. Or one Hemisphere, or part of an Hemisphere may be sunk, the rest standing. There may be Causes and Occasions for all these Varieties and many more, in diversifying the Phænomena of an immense Universe. But to return to Saturn.

That this present uncouth Form of Saturn was not its Original Form, I am very well satisfied, if that Planet rose from a Chaos, as ours did. And if this be an adventitious Form, I know no Account can be given of it with more Probability, than by supposing it the Effect of some Fraction or Disruption in the Polar Parts. Neither do I know any Phænomenon hitherto observ’d concerning Saturn, that does disprove this Hypothesis or Conjecture.

As to Jupiter, that Planet without doubt is also turn’d about its Axis, otherwise how should its four Moons be carried round him? And this is also collected from the Motion of that permanent Spot (if it be found to be so) 232that is upon its Body. Which Spot I take to be either a Lake or a Chasm and Hiatus into the Abyss of the Planet: That is, part of the Abyss open or uncover’d, like the Aperture we made in the Seventh Figure, C. 6. p. 184. And this might either have been left so by Providence, at first, for some Reasons and Causes fitting that Earth: Or it may have fallen in afterwards, as Plato’s Atlantis, or as Sodom and Gomorrah, for some Judgment upon part of that World.

To conclude, seeing all the Planets that are plac’d in this Heaven, and are the Foster-Children of this Sun, seem to have some Affinity one with another, and have much what the same Countenance, and the same general Phænomena; it seems probable, that they rise much what the same way, and after the like manner as our Earth, each one from its respective Chaos; and that they had the same Elementary Regions at first, and an exteriour Orb form’d over their Abyss: and lastly, That every one of them hath suffer’d, or is to suffer its Deluge, as our Earth hath done. These, I say, are probable Conjectures according to the Analogy of Reason and Nature, so far as we can judge concerning Things very remote and inaccessible.

And these things being thus, and our Theory of the Deluge, and the Dissolution which brought it, having such a general Agreement both with our Heavens and our Earth, I think there is nothing but the Uncouthness of the Thing to some Men’s Understandings, the 233Custom of thinking otherwise, and the Uneasiness of entring into a new set of Thoughts, that can be a Bar or Hindrance to its Reception. But it may be improv’d, I doubt not, in many Respects, and in some Particularities rectified. The first Attempts in great Things are seldom or never perfect: Such is the Weakness of our Understandings, and the want of a full Natural History. And in assigning Causes of such great Effects, fair Conjectures are to be allow’d, till they be displac’d by others more evident and more certain. Accordingly I readily submit to these Terms, and leave this, and all other Parts of the Theory, to further Examination and Enquiries.

THE THEORY OF THE EARTH. BOOK II. Concerning the Primæval Earth, and concerning Paradise

Chap. I

The Introduction and Contents of the Second Book. The general State of the Primæval Earth, and of Paradise.

We have already seen a World begin and perish; an Earth rais’d from the Rudiments of a Chaos, and dissolv’d and destroy’d in an Universal Deluge. We have given also an imperfect 236Description of that Primæval Earth, so far as was necessary to shew the Causes and Manner of its Dissolution. But we must not content our selves with this; seeing that Earth was the first Theatre upon which Mortals appear’d and acted, and continu’d so for above sixteen hundred Years; and that with Scenes, as both Reason and History tell us, very extraordinary and very different from these of our present Earth, ’tis reasonable we should endeavour to make a more full Discovery and Description of it; especially seeing Paradise was there; that Seat of Pleasure which our first Parents lost, and which all their Posterity have much ado to find again.

In the First Book we so far describ’d this new-found World, as to shew it very different in Form and Fabrick from the present Earth; there was no Sea there, no Mountains, nor Rocks, nor broken Caves, ’twas all one continued and regular Mass, smooth, simple and compleat, as the first Works of Nature use to be. But to know thus much only, doth rather excite our Curiosity than satisfy it; what were the other Properties of this World? How were the Heavens, how the Elements? What Accommodation for Human Life? Why was it more proper to be the Seat of Paradise than the present Earth? Unless we know these Things, you will say, it will seem but an easy Idea to us; and ’tis certain that the more Properties and Particularities that we know concerning any thing, the more real it appears to be.

237As it was our Chief Design therefore in the precedent Book, to give an Account of the Universal Deluge, by way of a Theory; so we propose to our selves chiefly in this Book, from the same Theory, to give an Account of Paradise; and in performing of this, we shall be led into a more full Examination and Display of that first Earth, and of its Qualities. And if we be so happy, as, by the Conduct of the same Principles and the same Method, to give as fair an Account, and as intelligible of the State of Paradise in that Original Earth, as we have done of the Deluge by the Dissolution of it, and of the Form of this Earth which succeeded, one must be very morose or melancholy to imagine, that the Grounds we go upon, all this while, are wholly false or fictitious. A Foundation which will bear the Weight of two Worlds without sinking, must surely stand upon a firm Rock. And I am apt to promise my self that this Theory of the Earth will find Acceptance and Credit, more or less, with all but those that think it a sufficient Answer to all Arguments, to say, it is a Novelty.

But to proceed in our Disquisition concerning Paradise, we may note in the first Place, two Opinions to be avoided, being both extreams; one that placeth Paradise in the extra-mundane Regions, or in the Air, or in the Moon; and the other that makes it so inconsiderable, as to be confin’d to a little Spot of Ground in Mesopotamia or some other Country of Asia, the Earth being now as it 238was then. This offends as much in the Defect, as the other in the Excess. For it is not any single Region of the Earth that can be Paradisiacal, unless all Nature conspire, and a certain Order of Things proper and peculiar for that State. Nor is it of less Importance to find out this peculiar Order of Things, than to find out the particular Seat of Paradise, but rather pre-requisite to it: We will endeavour therefore to discover and determine both, so far as a Theory can go, beginning with that which is more general.

’Tis certain there were some Qualities and Conditions of Paradise that were not meerly topical, but common to all the rest of the Earth at that Time; and these we must consider in the first Place, examine what they were, and upon what they depended. History, both Sacred and Profane, must tell us what they were, and our Theory must shew us upon what Causes they depended. I had once, I confess, propos’d to my self another Method, independent upon History or Effects; I thought to have continued the Description of the Primitive or antediluvian Earth from the Contemplation of its Causes only, and then left it to the Judgment of others to determine, whether that was not the Earth where the Golden Age was past, and where Paradise stood. For I had observ’d three Conditions or Characters of it, which I thought were sufficient to answer all that we knew concerning that first State of Things, viz. The Regularity of its Surface; The Situation or Posture of its 239Body to the Sun; and the Figure of it: From these three general Causes I thought might be deduc’d all the chief Differences of that Earth from the present, and particularly those that made it more capable of being Paradisiacal.

But upon second Thoughts I judg’d it more useful and expedient to lay aside the Causes at present, and begin with the Effects, that we night have some sensible Matter to work upon. Bare Ideas of Things are look’d upon as romantick till Effects be propos’d, whereof they are to give an Account; ’Tis that makes us value the Causes when Necessity puts us upon Enquiry after them; and the Reasons of Things are very acceptable, when they ease the Mind, anxious and at a loss how to understand Nature without their help. We will therefore, without more ado, premise those Things that have been taken Notice of as extraordinary and peculiar to the first Ages of the World, and to Paradise, and which neither do, nor can, obtain in the present Earth; whereof the first is a perpetual Spring or Equinox; the second, the Longævity of Animals; and the third, their Production out of the Earth, and the great Fertility of the Soil in all other Things.

These Difficulties guard the way to Paradise like the flaming Sword, and must be remov’d before we can enter; these are general Preliminaries which we must explain before we proceed to enquire after the particular Place of this Garden of Pleasure. The Ancients 240have taken Notice of all those in the first Ages of the World, or in their golden Age, as they call it; and I do not doubt but what they ascribe to the golden Age, was more remarkably true of Paradise; yet was not so peculiar to it, but that it did in a good measure extend to other Parts of the Earth at that Time. And ’tis manifest that their golden Age was contemporary with our Paradise; for they make it begin immediately after the Production and Inhabitation of the Earth (which they, as well as Moses, raise from the Chaos) and to degenerate by degrees till the Deluge; when the World ended, and begun again.

That this Parallel may the better appear, we may observe, that as we say that the whole Earth was, in some Sense, Paradisiacal in the first Ages of the World, and that there was, besides, one Region or Portion of it that was peculiarly so, and bore the Denomination of Paradise; So the Ancients, beside their golden Age, which was common to all the Earth, noted some Parts of it that were more golden, if I may so say, than the rest, and which did more particularly answer to Paradise; as their Elysian Fields, Fortunate Islands, Gardens of Hesperides, Alcinous, &c. these had a double Portion of Pleasantness, and, beside the Advantages which they had common with the rest of the Earth at that Time, had something proper and singular, which gave them a distinct Consideration and Character from the rest.

Having made this Observation, let us proceed, and see what Antiquity saith, concerning 241that first and Paradisiacal State of Things, upon those three Heads forementioned; First, that there was a perpetual Spring, and constant Serenity of the Air. This is often repeated by the ancient Poets, in their Description of the golden Age.

For I interpret this in the same Sense with Ovid’s Verses of the golden Age:

And then upon the Expiration of the golden Age, he says,

The Ancients suppos’d, that in the Reign of Saturn, who was an antediluvian God, as I may so call him, Time flow’d with a more even Motion, and there was no Diversity of Seasons in the Year; but Jupiter, they say, first introduc’d that, when he came to manage Affairs. This is exprest after their way, who seldom give any severe and philosophical Accounts of the Changes of Nature. And as they suppos’d this perpetual Spring in the Golden Age, so they did also in their particular Elysiums; as I could shew largely from their Authors, if it would not multiply Citations too much. ’Tis true, their Elysiums respected the new Heavens, and new Earth to come, rather than the past; but they are both fram’d upon the same Model, and have common Properties.

The Christian Authors have no less celebrated the perpetual Spring and Serenity of the Heavens in Paradise; such Expressions or Descriptions you will find in Justin Martyr, S. Basil, Damascen, Isidore Hispalensis, De Grat. prim. hom. and others, insomuch that Bellarmine, I remember, reflecting upon those Characters of Paradise, which many of the Fathers have given in these Respects, saith, Such Things could not be, unless the Sun had then another Course from what he hath now; or which is more easy, the Earth another Situation. 243Which Conjecture will hereafter appear to have been well grounded. In the mean Time, let us see the Christian Poetry upon this Subject, as we have seen the Roman upon the other. Alcimus Avitus hath thus describ’d Paradise in his Notes upon Genesis:

And as the Christian Authors, so likewise the Jewish have spoken of Paradise in the same manner; they tell us also that the Days there were always of the same Length throughout 244the whole Year; and that made ’em fancy Paradise to lie under the Equinoctial; as we shall see in its due Place. ’Tis true, we do not find these Things mention’d expresly in the Sacred Writings, but the Effects that flow’d from ’em are recorded there, and we may reasonably suppose Providence to have foreseen, that when those Effects came to be scan’d and narrowly look’d into, they would lead us to a Discovery of the Causes, and particularly of this great and general Cause, that perpetual Equinox and Unity of Seasons in the Year, till the Deluge. The Longevity of the Antediluvians cannot be explain’d upon any other Supposition, as we shall have Occasion to shew hereafter; and that you know is recorded carefully in Scripture: As also that there was no Rainbow before the Flood; which goes upon the same Ground, that there was no Variety of Seasons, nor any Rain: And this by many is thought to be understood by Moses’s Words, Gen. ii. 5, 6. which he speaks of the first and Paradisiacal Earth. Lastly, Seeing the Earth then brought forth the Principles of Life and all living Creatures (Man excepted) according to Moses, Gen. i. 24. we must suppose that the State of the Heavens was such as favour’d these Conceptions and Births, which could not possibly be brought to Perfection, as the Seasons of the Year are at present. The first time that we have mention made in Scripture of Summer and Winter, and the Differences of Seasons, is at the ending of the Deluge, Gen. viii. 22. Henceforward all the Days 245of the Earth, Seed-time and Harvest, Heat and Cold, Summer and Winter, Day and Night shall not cease. ’Tis true these Words are so lax, that they may be understood either of a new Course of Nature then instituted, or of an old one restor’d; but seeing it doth appear from other Arguments and Considerations, that there was at that time a new Course of Nature constituted, it is more reasonable to interpret the Words in that Sense; which, as it is agreeable to Truth, according to Reason and Antiquity so it renders that Remark of Moses of far greater Importance, if it be understood as an Indication of a new Order then settled in Nature, which should continue henceforwards so long as the Earth endur’d. Nor do I at all wonder that such things should not be expresly and positively declar’d in Scripture; for Natural Mysteries in the Holy Writings, as well as Prophetical, are many times, on set Purpose, incompleatly deliver’d, so as to awaken and excite our Thoughts rather than fully resolve them: This being often more suitable to the Designs of Providence in the Government of the World. But thus much for this first common or general Character of the Golden Age, and of Paradise, a perpetual Serenity and perpetual Equinox.

The second Character is the Longevity of Men, and, as is probable, of all other Animals in Proportion. This, methinks, is as strange and surprising as the other, and I know no Difference betwixt the Antediluvian World and the present, so apt to affect us, if 246we reflect upon it, as this wonderful Disproportion in the Ages of Men; our Forefathers and their Posterity: They liv’d seven, eight, nine hundred Years and upwards, and ’tis a wonder now if a Man live to one hundred. Our Oaks do not last so long as their Bodies did; Stone and Iron would scarce outwear them. And this Property of the first Ages, or their Inhabitants, how strange soever, is well attested, and beyond all Exception, having the joint Consent of Sacred and Profane History. The Scripture sets down the precise Age of a Series of Antediluvian Patriarchs, and by that measures the Time from the beginning of the World to the Deluge; so as all Sacred Chronology stands upon that bottom. Yet I know some have thought this so improbable and incongruous a Thing, that to save the Credit of Moses and the Sacred History, they interpret these Years of Lunar Years or Months; and so the Ages of these Patriarchs are reduc’d to much what the same measure with the common Life of Man at this Time. It may be observ’d in this, as in many other Instances, that for want of a Theory to make Things credible and intelligible, Men of Wit and Parts have often deprest the Sense of Scripture; and that not out of any ill Will to Scripture or Religion, but because they could not otherwise, upon the Stock of their Notions, give themselves a rational Account of Things recorded there. But I hope when we come to explain the Causes of this Longevity, we shall shew that it is altogether as strange a Thing 247that Men should have such short Lives as they have now, as that they had such long Lives in the first Ages of the World. In the mean time there are a great many collateral Reasons to assure us that Lunar Years cannot be here understood by Moses, for all Antiquity gives the same Account of those first Ages of the World, and of the first Men, that they were extreamly long-liv’d. We meet with it generally in the Description of the Golden Age; and not only so, but in their Topical Paradises also they always suppos’d a great Vivacity or Longevity in those that enjoy’d them. And Josephus, speaking upon this Subject, Book I. C. iv. Jew. Ant. saith, the Authors of all the learned Nations, Greeks, or Barbarians, bare witness to Moses’s Doctrine in this Particular. And in the Mosaical History it self, there are several Circumstances and Marks that discover plainly, that the Years of the Patriarchs cannot be understood of Lunar Years; as we shall have Occasion to shew in another Place. We proceed in the mean time to the third and last Character, The extraordinary Fertility of the Soil, and the Production of Animals out of the new made Earth.

The first part of this Character is unquestionable; All Antiquity speaks of the Plenty of the Golden Age, and of their Paradises, whether Christian or Heathen. The Fruits of the Earth were at first spontaneous, and the Ground, without being torn and tormented, satisfied the Wants or Desires of Man. When Nature was fresh and full, all things flow’d 248from her more easily and more pure, like the first running of the Grape, or the Honey-comb; but now she must be prest and squeez’d, and her Productions taste more of the Earth and of bitterness. The ancient Poets have often pleas’d themselves in making Descriptions of this happy State, and in admiring the Riches and Liberality of Nature at that Time; but we need not transcribe their Poetry here, seeing this Point is not, I think, contested by any. The second Part of this Character, concerning the spontaneous Origin of living Creatures out of that first Earth, is not so unquestionable; and as to Man, Moses plainly implies, that there was a particular Action or Ministry of Providence in the Formation of his Body; but as to other Animals, he seems to suppose that the Earth brought them forth as it did Herbs and Plants. (Gen. i. 24. compar’d with the 11th Verse.) And the Truth is, there is no such great Difference betwixt Vegetable and Animal Eggs, or betwixt the Seeds out of which Plants rise, and the Eggs out of which all Animals rise, but that we may conceive the one as well as the other in the first Earth; And as some Warmth and Influence from the Sun is required for the Vegetation of Seeds, so that Influence or Impregnation, which is necessary to make Animal Eggs fruitful, was imputed by the Ancients to the Æther, or to an active and pure Element which had the same Effect upon our great Mother the Earth, as the Irradiation of the Male hath upon the Female’s Eggs.

’Tis true, this Opinion of the spontaneous Origin of Animals in the first Earth hath lain under some Odium, because it was commonly reckon’d to be Epicurus’s Opinion peculiarly; and he extended it not only to all Brute Creatures, but to Mankind also, whom he suppos’d to grow out of the Earth in great Numbers, in several Parts and Countries, like other Animals; which is a Notion contrary to the Sacred Writings; for they declare, that all Mankind, though diffus’d now through the several Parts and Regions of the Earth, rose at first from one Head or single Man or Woman; which is a Conclusion of great Importance, and that could not, I think, by the Light of Nature, have ever been discover’d. And this makes the Epicurean Opinion the more improbable, for why should two rise only, if they sprung from the Earth? Or how could they rise in their full Growth and Perfection, as Adam and Eve did? But as for the Opinion of Animals rising out of the Earth at first, that was not at all peculiar to Epicurus: The Stoicks were of the same Mind, and the Pythagoreans and the Egyptians, and I think, all that suppos’d the Earth to rise from a Chaos. Neither do I know any harm in that Opinion, if duly limited 250and stated; for what Inconvenience is it, or what Diminution of Providence, that there should be the Principles of Life, as well as the Principles of Vegetation, in the new Earth? And unless you suppose all the first Animals, as well as the first Man, to have been made at one Stroke, in their full Growth and Perfection, which we have neither Reason nor Authority sufficient to believe; if they were made young, little, and weak, as they come now into the World, there seems to be no way for their Production more proper, and decorous, than that they should spring from their great Mother the Earth. Lastly, considering the innumerable little Creatures that are upon the Earth, Insects and creeping Things; and that these were not created out of nothing, but form’d out of the Ground; I think that an Office most proper for Nature, that can set so many Hands to work at once; and that hath Hands fit for all those little Operations or Manufactures, how small soever, that would less become the Dignity of Superior Agents.

Thus much for the Preliminaries, or three general Characters of Paradise, which were common to it with the rest of the Primæval Earth; and were the chief Ingredients of the Golden Age, so much celebrated by the Ancients. I know there were several other Differences betwixt that Earth and this; but these are the Original; and such as are not necessary to be premis’d for the general Explication of Paradise, we reserve for another Place. We may in the mean time observe, how preposterously 251they go to work, that set themselves immediately to find out some pleasant Place of the Earth to fix Paradise in, before they have consider’d, or laid any Grounds, to explain the general Conditions of it, wheresoever it was. These must be first known and determin’d, and we must take our Aim and Directions from these, how to proceed further in out Enquiries after it; otherwise we sail without a Compass, or seek a Port and know not which way it lies. And as we should think him a very unskilful Pilot that sought a Place in the new World, or America, that really was in the old; so they commit no less an Error, that seek Paradise in the present Earth, as now constituted, which could only belong to the former, and to the State of the first World: As will appear more plainly in the following Chapter.

Chap. II

The great Change of the World since the Flood from what it was in the first Ages. The Earth under its present Form could not be Paradisiacal, nor any Part of it.

The Scheme of this World passeth away, saith an Holy Author: the Mode and Form both of the Natural and Civil World changeth continually more or less, but most remarkable at certain Periods, when all Nature puts on another Face; as it will do at the Conflagration, and hath done already from 252the Time of the Deluge. We may imagine how different a Prospect the first World would make from what we see now in the present State of Things, if we consider only those Generals, by which we have describ’d it in the foregoing Chapter, and what their Influence would be upon Mankind and the rest of Nature. For every new State of Nature doth introduce a new Civil Order, and a new Face and Oeconomy of Human Affairs: And I am apt to think, that some two Planets, that are under the same State or Period, do not so much differ from one another, as the same Planet doth from it self in different Periods of its Duration. We do not seem to inhabit the same World that our first Fore-fathers did, nor scarce to be the same Race of Men. Our Life now is so short and vain, as if we came into the World only to see it and leave it; by that Time we begin to understand our selves a little, and to know where we are, and how to act our part, we must leave the Stage, and give Place to others as meer Novices as we were our selves at our first Entrance. And this short Life is employ’d in a great Measure to preserve our selves from Necessity, or Diseases, or Injuries of the Air, or other Inconveniences; to make one Man easy, ten must work and do drudgery; The Body takes up so much Time, we have little Leisure for Contemplation, or to cultivate the Mind. The Earth doth not yield us Food, but with much Labour and Industry; and what was her free-will Offering before, or an easy Liberality, can scarce now be extorted 253from her. Neither are the Heavens more favourable, sometimes in one Extream, sometimes in another; The Air often impure or infectious, and, for a great Part of the Year, Nature her self seems to be sick or dead. To this Vanity the external Creation is made subject as well as Mankind, and so must continue till the Restitution of all Things.

Can we imagine, in those happy Times and Places we are treating of, that Things stood in this same Posture? Are these the Fruits of the golden Age and of Paradise, or consistent with their Happiness? And the Remedies of these Evils must be so universal, you cannot give them to one Place or Region of the Earth, but all must participate: For these are Things that flow from the Course of the Heavens, or such general Causes, as extend at once to all Nature. If there was a perpetual Spring and perpetual Equinox in Paradise, there was at the same Time a perpetual Equinox all the Earth over; unless you place Paradise in the middle of the Torrid Zone. So also the long Lives of the Antediluvians was an universal Effect, and must have had an universal Cause. ’Tis true, in some single Parts or Regions of the present Earth, the Inhabitants live generally longer than in others, but do not approach in any Measure the Age of their antediluvian Fore-fathers; and that degree of Longevity which they have above the rest, they owe to the Calmness and Tranquillity of their Heavens and Air; which is but an imperfect Participation of that Cause which was 254once universal, and had its Effect throughout the whole Earth. And as to the Fertility of this Earth, though in some Spots it be eminently more fruitful than in others, and more delicious; yet that of the first Earth was a Fertility of another kind, being spontaneous, and extending to the Production of Animals, which cannot be without a favourable Concourse from the Heavens also.

Thus much in general; we will now go over those three fore-mention’d Characters more distinctly, to shew, by their Unsuitableness to the present State of Nature, that neither the whole Earth, as it is now, nor any Part of it, could be Paradisiacal. The perpetual Spring, which belong’d to the golden Age, and to Paradise, is an Happiness this present Earth cannot pretend to, nor is capable of, unless we could transfer the Sun from the Ecliptick to the Equator, or, which is as easy, persuade the Earth to change its Posture to the Sun. If Archimedes had found a Place to plant his Machines in for removing of the Earth, all that I should have desir’d of him, would have been only to have given it an Heave at one End, and set it a little to rights again with the Sun, that we might have enjoy’d the Comfort of a perpetual Spring, which we have lost by its Dislocation ever since the Deluge. And there being nothing more indispensably necessary to a Paradisiacal State than this Unity and equality of Seasons, where that cannot be, ’tis in vain to seek for the rest of Paradise.

255The spontaneous Fruitfulness of the Ground was a thing peculiar to the Primigenial Soil, which was so temper’d, as made it more Luxuriant at that time than it could ever be afterwards; and as that rich Temperament was spent, so by degrees it grew less fertile. The Origin or Production of Animals out of the Earth depended not only upon this vital Constitution of the Soil at first, but also upon such a Posture and Aspect of the Heavens, as favour’d, or at least permitted Nature, to make her best Works out of this prepar’d Matter, and better than could be made in that manner after the Flood. Noah, we see, had Orders given him to preserve the Races of living Creatures in his Ark, when the old World was destroy’d; which is an Argument to me, that Providence foresaw that the Earth would not be capable to produce them under its new Form; and that, not only for want of Fitness in the Soil, but because of the Diversity of Seasons which were then to take place, whereby Nature would be disturb’d in her Work, and the Subject to be wrought upon would not continue long enough in the same due Temper. But this Part of the second Character, concerning the Original of Animals, deserves to be further examin’d and explain’d.

The first Principles of Life must be tender and ductile, that they may yield to all the Motions and gentle Touches of Nature; otherwise it is not possible, that they should be wrought with that Curiosity, and drawn into all those little fine Threads and Textures, that 256we see and admire in some parts of the Bodies of Animals. And as the Matter must be so constituted at first, so it must be kept in a due Temper till the Work be finish’d, without any Excess of Heat or Cold; and accordingly we see that Nature hath made Provision in all sorts of Creatures whether Oviparous or Viviparous, that the first Rudiments of Life should be preserv’d from all Injuries of the Air, and kept in a moderate Warmth. Eggs are enclos’d in a Shell, or Film, and must be cherished with an equal gentle heat, to begin Formation and continue it, otherwise the Work miscarries: And in Viviparous Creatures, the Materials of Life are safely lodg’d in the Female’s Womb, and conserv’d in a fit Temperature ’twixt heat and cold, while the Causes that Providence hath employ’d are busy at work, fashioning and placing and joining the Parts in that due Order which so wonderful a Fabrick requires.

Let us now compare these Things with the Birth of Animals in the new-made World, when they first rose out of the Earth, to see what Provision could be made there for their Safety and Nourishment, while they were a making, and when newly made; and though we take all Advantages we can, and suppose both the Heavens and the Earth favourable, a fit Soil and a warm and constant Temper of the Air, all will be little enough to make this way of Production feasible or probable. But if we suppose there was then the same Inconstancy of the Heavens that is now, the same Vicissitude of Seasons, and 257the same inequality of Heat and Cold, I do not think it at all possible that they could be so form’d, or, being new-form’d, preserv’d and nourish’d. ’Tis true, some little Creatures that are of short Dispatch in their Formation, and find Nourishment enough wheresoever they are bred, might be produc’d and brought to Perfection in this way, notwithstanding any Inequality of Seasons; because they are made all at a Heat, as I may so say, begun and ended within the compass of one Season. But the great Question is, concerning the more perfect kinds of Animals, that require a long stay in the Womb, to make them capable to sustain and nourish themselves when they first come into the World. Such Animals, being big and strong, must have a pretty Hardness in their Bones, and Force and Firmness in their Muscles and Joints, before they can bear their own weight, and exercise the common Motions of their Body: And accordingly we see Nature hath ordain’d for these a longer Time of Gestation, that their Limbs and Members might have time to acquire Strength and Solidity. Besides, the young ones of these Animals have commonly the Milk of the Dam to nourish them after they are brought forth, which is a very proper Nourishment, and like to that which they had before in the Womb; and by this means their Stomachs are prepar’d by degrees for coarser Food; Whereas our Terrigenous Animals must have been wean’d as soon as they were born, or as soon as they were separated from their Mother the Earth, and therefore 258must be allow’d a longer Time of Continuing there.

These Things being consider’d, we cannot in Reason but suppose, that these Terrigenous Animals were as long, or longer, a Perfecting, than our Viviparous, and were not separated from the Body of the Earth for ten, twelve, eighteen, or more Months, according as their Nature was; and seeing in this Space of Time they must have suffer’d, upon the common Hypothesis, all Vicissitudes and Variety of Seasons, and great Excesses of Heat and Cold, which are Things incompatible with the tender Principles of Life, and the Formation of living Creatures, as we have shewn before; we may reasonably and safely conclude, that Nature had not, when the World began, the same Course she hath now, or that the Earth was not then in its present Posture and Constitution: Seeing, I say, these first spontaneous Births, which both the Holy Writ, Reason and Antiquity seem to allow, could not be finish’d and brought to Maturity, nor afterwards preserv’d and nourish’d, upon any other Supposition.

Longevity is the last Character to be consider’d, and as inconsistent with the present State of the Earth as any other. There are many Things in the Story of the first Ages that seem strange, but nothing so prodigy-like as the long Lives of those Men; that their Houses of Clay should stand eight or nine hundred Years and upwards, and those we build of the hardest Stone, or Marble, will not now last so 259long. This hath excited the Curiosity of ingenious and learned Men in all Ages, to enquire after the possible Causes of that Longevity; and if it had been always in Conjunction with Innocency of Life and Manners, and expir’d when that expir’d, we might have thought it some peculiar Blessing or Reward attending that; but it was common to good and bad, and lasted till the Deluge, whereas Mankind was degenerate long before. Amongst Natural Causes, some have imputed it to the Sobriety and Simplicity of their Diet and manner of Living in those Days, that they eat no Flesh, and had not all those Provocations to Gluttony, which Wit and Vice have since invented. This might have some Effect, but not possibly to that Degree and Measure that we speak of. There are many Monastical Persons now, that live Abstemiously all their Lives, and yet they think an hundred Years a very great Age amongst them. Others have imputed it to the Excellency of their Fruits, and some unknown Virtue in their Herbs and Plants in those Days; but they may as well say nothing, as say that which can neither be prov’d nor understood. It could not be either the Quantity or Quality of their food that was the Cause of their long Lives, for the Earth was said to be curst long before the Deluge, and probably by that time was more barren and juiceless (for the generality) than ours is now; yet we do not see that their Longevity decreas’d at all, from the Beginning of the World to the Flood. Methusalah was Noah’s Grandfather 260but one intire Remove from the Deluge, and he liv’d longer than any of his Fore-fathers. That Food that will nourish the Parts, and keep us in Health, is also capable to keep us in long Life, if there be no Impediments otherwise; for to continue Health is to continue Life; as that Fewel that is fit to raise and nourish a Flame, will preserve it as long as you please, if you add fresh Fewel, and no external Causes hinder: Neither do we observe that in those Parts of the present Earth, where People live longer than in others, that there is any thing extraordinary in their Food; but that the Difference is chiefly from the Air and the Temperateness of the Heavens; And if the Antediluvians had not enjoy’d that Advantage in a peculiar manner, and differently from what any Parts of the Earth do now, they would never have seen seven, eight, or nine hundred Years go over their Heads, though they had been nourish’d with Nectar and Ambrosia.

Others have thought that the long Lives of those Men of the old World proceeded from the Strength of their Stamina, or first Principles of their Bodies; which if they were now as strong in us, they think we should still live as long as they did. This could not be the sole and adequate Cause of their Longevity, as will appear both from History and Reason. Shem, who was born before the Flood, and had in his Body all the Virtue of the antediluvian Stamina and Constitution, fell three hundred Years short of the Age of his Fore-fathers, because the greatest part of his Life was past 261after the Flood. That their Stamina were stronger than ours are, I am very ready to believe, and that their Bodies were greater; and any Race of strong Men, living long in Health, would have Children of a proportionable strong Constitution with themselves; but then the Question is, how was this interrupted? We that are their Posterity, why do not we inherit their long Lives? How was this Constitution broken at the Deluge, and how did the Stamina fail so fast when that came? Why was there so great a Crisis then and Turn of Life, or why was that the Period of their Strength?

We see this Longevity sunk half in half immediately after the Flood, and after that it sunk by gentler degrees, but was still in Motion and Declension till it was fixt at length before David’s time, Psal. xc. 10. (call’d a Psalm of Moses,) in that which hath been the common Standard of Man’s Age ever since: As when some excellent Fruit is transplanted into a worse Climate and Soil, it degenerates continually till it comes to such a degree of Meanness as suits that Air and Soil, and then it stands. That the Age of Man did not fall all on a sudden from the Antediluvian Measure to the present, I impute it to the remaining Stamina of those first Ages, and the Strength of that pristine Constitution which could not wear off but by degrees. We see the Blacks do not quit their Complexion immediately, by removing into another Climate, but their Posterity changeth by little and little, and after some Generations they become altogether like the 262People of the Country where they are. Thus by the Change of Nature that happen’d at the Flood, the unhappy Influence of the Air and unequal Seasons, weaken’d by degrees the innate Strength of their Bodies, and the Vigour of their Parts, which would have been capable to have lasted several more hundreds of Years, if the Heavens had continued their Course as formerly, or the Earth its Position. To conclude this particular, if any think that the Antediluvian Longevity proceeded only from the Stamina, or the meer Strength of their Bodies, and would have been so under any Constitution of the Heavens, let ’em resolve themselves these Questions: First, Why these Stamina, or this Strength of Constitution fail’d? Secondly, Why did it fail so much and so remarkably at the Deluge? Thirdly, Why in such Proportions as it hath done since the Deluge? And lastly, Why it hath stood so long immovable, and without any further Diminution? Within the compass of five hundred Years they sunk from nine hundred to ninety; and in the compass of more than three thousand Years since, they have not sunk ten Years, or scarce any thing at all. Who considers the Reasons of these Things, and the true Resolution of these Questions, will be satisfied, that to understand the Causes of that Longevity, something more must be consider’d than the Make and Strength of their Bodies; which though they had been made as strong as the Behemoth or Leviathan, could not have lasted so many Ages, if there had not been a particular 263Concurrence of external Causes, such as the present State of Nature doth not admit of.

By this short Review of the three general Characters of Paradise and the Golden Age, we may conclude how little consistent they are with the present Form and Order of the Earth. Who can pretend to assign any Place or Region in this terraqueous Globe, Island or Continent, that is capable of these Conditions, or that agrees either with the Descriptions given by the ancient Heathens of their Paradises, or by the Christian Fathers of Scripture Paradise? But where then, will you say, must we look for it, if not upon this Earth? This puts us more into Despair of finding it than ever; ’tis not above nor below, in the Air or in the subterraneous Regions; No, doubtless ’twas upon the Surface of the Earth, but of the Primitive Earth, whose Form and Properties, as they were different from this, so they were such as made it capable of being truly Paradisiacal, both according to the forementioned Characters, and all other Qualities, and Privileges reasonably ascrib’d to Paradise.

Chap. III

The Original Differences of the Primitive Earth from the present or post-diluvian. The three Characters of Paradise and the Golden Age found in the Primitive Earth. A particular Explication of each Character.

We have hitherto only perplex’d the Argument and our selves, by shewing how inexplicable the State of Paradise is, according to the present Order of Things, and the present Condition of the Earth. We must now therefore bring into View that Original and Antediluvian Earth, where we pretend its Seat was, and shew it capable of all those Privileges which we have deny’d to the present; in virtue of which Privileges, and of the order of Nature establish’d there, that Primitive Earth might be truly Paradisiacal, as in the Golden Age; and some Region of it might be peculiarly so, according to the receiv’d Idea of Paradise. And this, I think, is all the Knowledge and Satisfaction that we can expect, or that Providence hath allow’d us in this Argument.

The Primigenial Earth, which in the first Book (Chap. 5.) we rais’d from a Chaos, and set up in an habitable Form, we must now survey again with more Care, to observe its principal Differences from the present Earth, and what Influence they will have upon the Question in Hand. These Differences, as we 265have said before, were chiefly three; the Form of it, which was smooth, even, and regular; the Posture and Situation of it to the Sun, which was direct, and not as it is at present, inclin’d and oblique; and the Figure of it, which was more apparently and regularly Oval than it is now. From these three Differences flow’d a great many more, inferior and subordinate; and which had a considerable Influence upon the moral World at that Time, as well as the natural. But we will only observe here, their more immediate Effects, and that in reference to those general Characters or Properties of the Golden Age and of Paradise, which we have instanc’d in, and whereof we are bound to give an Account by our Hypothesis.

And in this respect the most Fundamental of those three Differences we mentioned, was that of the right Posture and Situation of the Earth to the Sun; for from this immediately follow’d a perpetual Æquinox all the Earth over, or, if you will, a perpetual Spring: And that was the great Thing we found wanting in the present Earth to make it Paradisiacal, or capable of being so. Wherefore this being now found and establish’d in the Primitive Earth, the other two Properties of Longevity, and of spontaneous and vital Fertility, will be of more easy Explication. In the mean Time let us view a little the Reasons and Causes of that regular Situation in the first Earth.

The Truth is, one cannot so well require a Reason of the regular Situation the Earth had 266then, for that was most simple and natural; as of the irregular Situation it hath now, standing oblique and inclin’d to the Sun or the Ecliptick: Whereby the Course of the Year is become unequal, and we are cast into a great Diversity of Seasons. But however, stating the first aright with its Circumstances, we shall have a better Prospect upon the second, and see from what Causes, and in what Manner, it came to pass. Let us therefore suppose the Earth, with the rest of its fellow Planets, to be carried about the Sun in the Ecliptick, by the Motion of the liquid Heavens; and being at that time perfectly uniform and regular, having the same Center of its Magnitude and Gravity, it would by the Equality of its Libration necessarily have its Axis parallel to the Axis of the same Ecliptick, both its Poles being equally inclin’d to the Sun. And this Posture I call a right Situation, as oppos’d to oblique or inclin’d; or a parallel Situation, if you please. Now this is a Thing that needs no Proof besides its own Evidence; for ’tis the immediate result and common Effect of Gravity or Libration, that a Body, freely left to it self in a fluid Medium, should settle in such a Posture as best answers to its Gravitation; and this first Earth whereof we speak, being uniform, and every way equally balanced, there was no Reason why it should incline at one End, more than at the other, towards the Sun. As if you should suppose a Ship to stand North and South under the Equator, if it was equally built and equally 267ballasted, it would not incline to one Pole or other, but keep its Axis parallel to the Axis of the Earth; but if the Ballast lay more at one End, it would dip towards that Pole, and rise proportionably higher towards the other. So those great Ships that sail about the Sun once a Year, or once in so many Years, whilst they are uniformly built and equally pois’d, they keep steady and even with the Axis of their Orbit; but if they lose that Equality, and the Center of their Gravity change, the heavier End will incline more towards the common Center of their Motion, and the other End will recede from it. So particularly the Earth, which makes one in that Aëry Fleet, when it scap’d so narrowly from being Shipwreckt in the great Deluge, was however so broken and disorder’d, that it lost its equal Poise, and thereupon the Center of its Gravity changing, one Pole became more inclin’d towards the Sun, and the other more remov’d from it, and so its right and parallel Situation which it had before, to the Axis of the Ecliptick, was chang’d into an Oblique; in which skew Posture it hath stood ever since, and is likely so to do for some Ages to come. I instance in this, as the most obvious Cause of the Change of the Situation of the Earth, though, it may be, upon this followed a Change in its Magnetism, and that might also contribute to the same Effect.

However, this Change and Obliquity of the Earth’s Posture had a long train of Consequences depending upon it; whereof that was 268the most immediate, that it alter’d the Form of the Year, and brought in that Inequality of Seasons, which hath since obtain’d: As, on the contrary, while the Earth was in its first and natural Posture, in a more easy and regular Disposition to the Sun, that had also another respective train of Consequences, whereof one of the first, and that which we are most concern’d in at present, was, that it made a perpetual Equinox or Spring to all the World, all the Parts of the Year had one and the same Tenor, Face and Temper; there was no Winter or Summer, Seed-Time or Harvest, but a continual Temperature of the Air and Verdure of the Earth. And this fully answers the first and fundamental Character of the Golden Age and of Paradise; and what Antiquity, whether Heathen or Christian, hath spoken concerning that perpetual Serenity and constant Spring that reign’d there, which in the one was accounted Fabulous, and in the other Hyperbolical, we see to have been really and philosophically true. Nor is there any Wonder in the Thing, the wonder is rather on our side, that the Earth should stand and continue in that forc’d Posture wherein it is now, spinning Yearly about an Axis, I mean that of the Equator, that doth not belong to the Orbit of its Motion; This, I say, is more strange than that it once stood in a Posture that was streight and regular; as we more justly admire the Tower at Pisa, that stands crook’d, than twenty other streight Towers that are much higher.

269Having got this Foundation to stand upon, the rest of our Work will go on more easily; and the two other Characters which we mention’d, will not be of very difficult Explication. The spontaneous Fertility of the Earth, and its Production of Animals at that time, we have in some measure explain’d before, supposing it to proceed partly from the Richness of the primigenial Soil, and partly from this constant Spring and Benignity of the Heavens, which we have now establish’d: These were always ready to excite Nature, and put her upon Action, and never to interrupt her in any of her Motions or Attempts. We have shew’d in the fifth Chapter of the first Book, how this primigenial Soil was made, and of what Ingredients; which were such as compose the richest and fattest Soil, being a light Earth mix’d with unctuous Juices, and then afterwards refresh’d and diluted with the Dews of Heaven all the Year long, and cherish’d with a continual Warmth from the Sun. What more hopeful Beginning of a World than this? You will grant, I believe, that whatsoever degree, or whatsoever kind of Fruitfulness could be expected from a Soil and a Sun, might be reasonably expected there. We see great Woods and Forests of Trees rise spontaneously, and that since the Flood (for who can imagine that the ancient Forests, whereof some were so vastly great, were planted by the Hand of Man?) why should we not then believe that Fruit-trees and Corn rose as spontaneously in that first Earth? That which makes Husbandry 270and human Arts so necessary now for the Fruits and Productions of the Earth, is partly indeed the Decay of the Soil, but chiefly the Diversity of Seasons, whereby they perish, if care be not taken of them; but when there was neither Heat nor Cold, Winter nor Summer, every Season was a Seed-time to Nature, and every Season an Harvest.

This, it may be, you will allow as to the Fruits of the Earth, but that the same Earth should produce Animals also, will not be thought so intelligible. Since it hath been discover’d, that the first Materials of all Animals are Eggs, as Seeds are of Plants, it doth not seem so hard to conceive, that these Eggs might be in the first Earth, as well as those Seeds; for there is a great Analogy and Similitude betwixt them; especially if you compare these Seeds first with the Eggs of Insects or Fishes, and then with the Eggs of viviparous Animals. And as for those Juices which the Eggs of viviparous Animals imbibe thorough their Coats from the Womb, they might as well imbibe them, or something analogous to them, from a conveniently temper’d Earth, as Plant-Eggs do; and these Things being admitted, the Progress is much what the same in Seeds as Eggs, and in one sort of Eggs as in another.

’Tis true, Animal-Eggs do not seem to be fruitful of themselves, without the Influence of the Male; and this is not necessary in Plant-Eggs or vegetable Seeds. But neither doth it seem necessary in all Animal-Eggs, if there be 271any Animals sponte orta, as they call them, or bred without Copulation. And, as we observ’d before, according to the best Knowledge that we have of this Male influence, it is reasonable to believe, that it may be supplied by the Heavens or Æther. The Ancients, both the Stoicks and Aristotle, have suppos’d that there was something of an æthereal Element in the Malegeniture, from whence the Virtue of it chiefly proceeded; and if so, why may we not suppose, at that Time, some general Impression or Irradiation of that purer Element to fructify the new made Earth? Moses saith there was an Incubation of the Spirit of God upon the Mass, and without all doubt that was either to form or fructify it, and by the Mediation of this active Principle; but the Ancients speak more plainly with express mention of this Æther, and of the Impregnation of the Earth by it, as betwixt Male and Female. As in the Place before cited;

Which Notion, I remember, St. Austin saith, De Civ. D. lib. iv. c. 10. Virgil did not take from the Fictions of the Poets, but out of the Books of the Philosophers. Some of the gravest Authors amongst the Romans have reported, that this Virtue hath been convey’d into the Wombs of some Animals by the Winds, or the Zephyri; and as I easily believe that the first 272fresh Air was more impregnated with this æthereal Principle than ours is, so I see no reason but those balmy Dews, that fell every Night in the Primitive Earth, might be the Vehicle of it as well as the Malegeniture is now; and from them the teeming Earth, and those vital Seeds which it contain’d, were actuated, and receiv’d their first Fruitfulness.

Now this Principle, howsoever convey’d to those Rudiments of Life which we call Eggs, is that which gives the first stroke towards Animation; and this seems to be, by exciting a Ferment in those little Masses, whereby the Parts are loosen’d, and dispos’d for that Formation which is to follow afterwards. And I see nothing that hinders, but that we may reasonably suppose that these Animal Productions might proceed thus far in the Primigenial Earth. And as to their Progress and the Formation of the Body, by what Agents or Principles soever that great Work is carried on in the Womb of the Female, it might by the same be carried on there. Neither would there be any Danger of miscarrying by Excess of Heat or Cold, for the Air was always of an equal Temper and moderate Warmth; and all other Impediments were remov’d, and all Principles ready, whether active or passive; so as we may justly conclude, that as Eve was the Mother of all living, as to Mankind, so was the Earth the Great Mother of all living Creatures besides.

The third Character to be explain’d, and the most extraordinary in Appearance, is that 273of Longevity. This sprung from the same Root in my Opinion, with the other; though the Connexion, it may be, is not so visible. We shew’d in the foregoing Chapter, that no Advantage of Diet, or of strong Constitutions, could have carried their Lives, before the Flood, to that wonderful Length, if they had been exposed to the same Changes of Air and of Seasons that our Bodies are: But taking a perpetual Equinox, and fixing the Heavens, you fix the Life of Man too; which was not then in such a rapid Flux as it is now, but seem’d to stand still as the Sun did once without Declension. There is no Question but every thing upon Earth, and especially the Animate World, would be much more permanent, if the general Course of Nature was more steady and uniform; a Stability in the Heavens makes a Stability in all Things below; and that Change and Contrariety of Qualities that we have in these Regions, is the Fountain of Corruption, and suffers nothing to be long in quiet: Either by intestine Motions and Fermentations excited within, or by outward Impressions, Bodies are no sooner well constituted, but they are tending again to Dissolution. The Æther in their little Pores and Chinks is unequally agitated, and differently mov’d at different Times, and so is the Air in their greater, and the Vapours and Atmosphere round about them: All these shake and unsettle both the Texture and Continuity of Bodies. Whereas in a fix’d State of Nature, where these Principles have always the same 274constant and uniform Motion, when they are once suited to the Forms and Compositions of Bodies, they give them no further Disturbance; they enjoy a long and lasting Peace, without any Commotions or Violence within or without.

We find our selves sensible Changes in our Bodies upon the Turn of the Year, and the Change of Seasons; new Fermentations in the Blood and Resolutions of the Humours; which if they do not amount to Diseases, at least they disturb Nature, and have a bad Effect, not only upon the fluid Parts, but also upon the more solid, upon the Springs and Fibres in the Organs of the Body, to weaken them and unfit them by degrees for their respective Functions. For though the Change is not sensible immediately in these Parts, yet after many repeated Impressions every Year, by unequal Heat and Cold, Driness and Moisture, contracting and relaxing the Fibres, their Tone at length is in a great Measure destroy’d, and brought to a manifest Debility; and the great Springs falling, the lesser, that depend upon them, fall in Proportion, and all the Symptoms of Decay and old Age follow. We see by daily Experience, that Bodies are kept better in the same Medium, as we call it, than if they often change their Medium, as sometimes in Air, sometimes in Water, moistned and dry’d, heated and cool’d; these different states weaken the Contexture of the Parts: But our Bodies, in the present State of Nature, are put into an hundred different Mediums in the Course of a Year; sometimes we are steep’d in Water, or in a misty 275foggy Air, for several Days together; sometimes we are almost frozen with Cold, then fainting with Heat at another time of the Year; and the Winds are of a different Nature, and the Air of a different Weight and Pressure, according to the Weather and the Seasons: These Things would wear our Bodies, tho’ they were built of Oak, and that in a very short Time, in Comparison of what they would last, if they were always encompass’d with one and the same Medium, under one and the same Temper, as it was in the Primitive Earth.

The Ancients seem to have been sensible of this, and of the true Causes of those long Periods of Life; for wheresoever they assign’d a great Longevity, as they did not only to their golden Age, but also to their particular and topical Paradises, they also assign’d there a constant Serenity and Equality of the Heavens, and sometimes expresly a constant Equinox; as might be made appear from their Authors. And some of our christian Authors have gone farther, and connected these two together, as Cause and Effect, for they say that the Longevity of the Antediluvian Patriarchs proceeded from a favourable Aspect and Influence of the Heavens at that Time; which Aspect of the Heavens, being rightly interpreted, is the same thing that we call the position of the Heavens, or the right Situation of the Sun and the Earth, from whence came a perpetual Equinox. And if we consider the present Earth, I know no Place where they live longer than in that little Island of the Bermudas, where, according 276to the Proportion of Time they hold out there, after they are arriv’d from other Parts, one may reasonably suppose, that the Natives would live two hundred Years, and there’s nothing appears in that Island that should give long Life above other Places, but the extraordinary Steadiness of the Weather, and of the Temper of the Air throughout the whole Year, so as there is scarce any considerable Difference of Seasons.

But because it would take up too much Time to shew in this Place the full and just Reasons why, and how these long Periods of Life depend upon the Stability of the Heavens: And how on the contrary, from their Inconstancy and Mutability these Periods are shorten’d, as in the present Order of Nature; we will set apart the next Chapter to treat upon that Subject; yet by way of Digression only, so as those that have a mind may pass to the following, where the Thread of this Discourse is continued. In the mean Time you see, we have prepar’d an Earth for Paradise, and given a fair and intelligible Account of those three general Characters, which, according to the Rules of Method, must be determin’d before any further Progress can be made in this Argument. For in the Doctrine of Paradise there are two things to be consider’d, the State of it and the Place of it; And as it is first in Order of Nature, so it is much more material, to find out the State of it, than the Region where it stood. We need not follow the Windings of Rivers, and the Interpretation of hard Names, to discover this, 277we take more faithful Guides: The unanimous Reports of Antiquity, sacred and profane, supported by a regular Theory. Upon these Grounds we go, and have thus far proceeded on our way; which we hope will grow more easy and pleasant, the nearer we come to our Journey’s End.

Chap. IV

A Digression concerning the natural Causes of Longevity. That the Machine of an Animal consists of Springs, and which are the two principal. The Age of the Antediluvians to be computed by Solar, not Lunar Years.

To confirm our Opinion concerning the Reasons of Longevity in the first Inhabitants of the World, it will not be amiss to deduce more at large the natural Causes of long, or short Periods of Life. And when we speak of long or short Periods of Life, we do not mean those little Differences of ten, twenty, or forty Years, which we see amongst Men now-a-days, according as they are of stronger or weaker Constitutions, and govern themselves better or worse; but those grand and famous Differences of several hundreds of Years, which we have Examples of in the different Ages of the World, and particularly in those that liv’d before and since the Flood. Neither do we think it peculiar to this Earth to have such an Inequality in the Lives of Men; but the other Planets, if they 278be inhabited, have the same Property, and the same Difference in their different Periods: All Planets that are in their Antediluvian State, and in their first and regular Situation to the Sun, have long-liv’d Inhabitants; and those, that are in an oblique Situation, have short-liv’d; unless there be some counter Causes that hinder this general Rule of Nature from taking Place.

We are now so us’d to a short Life, and to drop away after threescore or fourscore Years, that when we compare our Lives with those of the Antediluvians, we think the Wonder lies wholly on their Side, why they liv’d so long; And so it doth popularly speaking; but if we speak Philosophically, the Wonder lies rather on our side, why we live so little, or so short a Time? For seeing our Bodies are such Machines as have a Faculty of nourishing themselves, that is, of repairing their lost or decay’d Parts, so long as they have good Nourishment to make Use of, why should they not continue in good Plight, and always the same, as a Flame does, so long as it is supplied with Fewel? And that we may the better see on whether side the Wonder lies, and from what Causes it proceeds, we will propose this Problem to be examin’d, Why the Frame or Machine of an human Body, or of another Animal, having that Constriction of Parts, and those Faculties which it hath, lasts so short a Time? And tho’ it fall into no Disease, nor have any unnatural Accident, within the Space 279of eighty Years, more or less, fatally and inevitably, decays, dies, and perisheth.

That the State and Difficulty of this Question may the better appear, let us consider a Man in the Prime and Vigour of his Life, at the Age of twenty or twenty four Years, of an healthful Constitution, and all his Vitals sound; let him be nourished with good Food, use due Exercise, and govern himself with Moderation in all other Things; the Question is, Why this Body should not continue in the same Plight, and in the same Strength, for some Ages? or at least, why it should decay so soon and so fall as we see it does? We do not wonder at Things that happen daily, though the Causes of them be never so hard to find out; we contrast a certain Familiarity with common Events, and fancy we know as much of them as can be known, though in Reality we know nothing of them, but Matter of Fact; which the vulgar know as well as the Wise or the Learned. We see daily Instances of the shortness of Man’s Life, how soon his Race is run, and we do not wonder at it, because it is common; yet if we examine the Composition of the Body, it will be very hard to find any good Reasons why the Frame of it should decay so soon.

I know ’tis easy to give general and superficial Answers and Accounts of these Things; but they are such, as being strictly examin’d, give no Satisfaction to an inquisitive Mind; You would say, it may be, that the Interiour Parts and Organs of the Body wear and decay 280by Degrees, so as not performing so well their several Offices and Functions, for the Digestion and Distribution of the Food and its Juices, all the other Parts suffer by it, and draws on insensibly a Decay upon the whole Frame of the Body. This is all true; but why, and how comes this to pass? From what Causes? Where is the first Failure, and what are the Consequences of it? The inward parts do not destroy themselves, and we suppose that there is no want of good Food, nor any Disease, and we take the Body in its full Strength and Vigour, why doth it not continue thus, as a Lamp does, if you supply it with Oil? The Causes being the same, why doth not the same Effect still follow? Why should not the Flame of Life, as well as any other Flame, if you give it Fewel, continue in its Force without Languishing or Decay.

You will say, it may be, the Case is not the same in a simple Body, such as a Lamp or a Fire, and in an organical Body; which being variously compounded of Multiplicity of Parts, and all those Parts put in Connexion and Dependance one upon another, if any one fail, it will disorder the whole Frame; and therefore it must needs be more difficult for such a Body to continue long in the same State, than for a simple Body, that hath no Variety of Parts or Operations. I acknowledge such a Body is much more subject to Diseases and Accidents than a more simple; but barring all Diseases and Accidents, as we do, it might be of as long a Duration as any other, if it was supply’d 281with Nourishment adequately to all its Parts: As this Lamp we speak of, if it consisted of twenty Branches, and each of these Branches was to be fed with a different Oil, and these Oils could be all mix’d together in some common Cistern, whence they were to be distributed into the several Branches, either according to their different Degrees of Lightness, one rising higher than another; or according to the Capacity and Figure of the little Pipes they were to pass thro’; such a compounded Lamp, made up of such Artifices, would indeed be more subject to Accidents and to be out of Order, by the Obstruction of some of the little Pipes, or some unfit Qualities in the Oils; but all these Casualties and Disorders excepted, as they are in our Case, if it was supply’d with convenient Liquors, it would burn as long as any other, tho’ more plain and simple.

To instance yet, for more Plainness, in another sort of Machine; suppose a Mill, where the Water may represent the Nourishment and Humours in our Body, and the Frame of Wood and Stone, the solid Parts; if we could suppose this Mill to have a Power of nourishing itself by the Water it receiv’d, and of repairing all the Parts that were worn away, whether of the Wood-work or of the Stone, feed it but with a constant Stream, and it would subsist and grind for ever. And ’tis the same Thing for all other artificial Machines of this Nature, if they had a Faculty of nourishing themselves, and repairing their Parts. And 282seeing those natural Machines we are speaking of, the Body of Man, and of other Animals, have and enjoy this Faculty, why should they not be able to preserve themselves beyond that short Period of Time, which is now the Measure of their Life?

Thus much we have said, to shew the Difficulty propos’d, and inforce it; we must now consider the true Answer and Resolution of it; and to that purpose bring into View again those Causes which we have assign’d, both of the long Periods of Life before the Flood, and of the short ones since. That there was a perpetual Equinox and Stability of the Heavens before the Flood, we have shew’d both from History and Reason; neither was there then any thing of Clouds, Rains, Winds, Storms, or unequal Weather, as will appear in the following Chapter; and to this Steadiness of Nature, and universal Calmness of the external World, we have imputed those long Periods of Life which Men enjoy’d at that Time: As on the contrary, when that great Change and Revolution happened to Nature at the Deluge, and the Heavens and the Earth were cast in another Mould, then was brought in, besides many other new Scenes, that Shortness and Vanity in the Life of Man, and a general Instability in all sublunary Things, but especially in the animate World.

It is not necessary to shew more than we have done already, how that primitive State of Nature contributed to long Life; neither is it requir’d that it should actively contribute, but 283only be permissive, and suffer our Bodies to act their Parts; for if they be not disturb’d, nor any Harm done them by external Nature, they are built with Art and Strength enough to last many hundreds of Years. And, as we observ’d before, concerning the Posture of the Earth, that that which it had at first, being simple and regular, was not so much to be accounted for, as its present Posture, which is irregular; so likewise for the Life of Man, the Difficulty is not why they liv’d so long in the old World; that was their due and proper Course; but why our Bodies, being made after the same manner, should endure so short a Time now. This is it therefore, which we must now make our Business to give an Account of, namely, how that Vicissitude of Seasons, Inconstancy of the Air, and unequal Course of Nature, which came in at the Deluge, do shorten Life; and indeed hasten the Dissolution of all Bodies, animate or inanimate.

In our Bodies we may consider three several Qualities or Dispositions, and according to each whereof they suffer Decay: First, Their Continuity; Secondly, That Disposition whereby they are capable of receiving Nourishment, which we may call Nutribility; and Thirdly, The Tone or tonick Disposition of the Organs, whereby they perform their several Functions. In all these three respects they would decay in any State of Nature, but far sooner and faster in the present State, than in the Primæval. As for their Continuity, we have noted before that all consistent Bodies must be less 284durable now, than under that first Order of the World, because of the unequal and contrary Motions of the Elements, or of the Air and Æther that penetrate and pervade them; and ’tis Part of that Vanity which all Things now are subject to, to be more perishable than in their first Constitution. If we should consider our Bodies only as breathing Statues, consisting of those Parts they do, and of that Tenderness, the Air which we breathe, and wherewith we are continually incompast, changing so often ’twixt moist and dry, hot and cold, a slow and eager Motion, these different Actions and restless Changes would sooner weaken and destroy the Union of the Parts, than if they were always in a calm and quiet Medium.

But it is not the gross and visible Continuity of the Parts of our Body that first decays; there are finer Textures that are spoil’d insensibly, and draw on the Decay of the rest; such are those other two we mention’d; that Disposition and Temper of the Parts whereby they are fit to receive their full Nourishment; and especially that Construction and Texture of the Organs that are preparatory to this Nutrition. The Nutribility of the Body depends upon a certain Temperament in the Parts, soft and yielding, which makes them open to the Blood and Juices in their Circulation and Passage thro’ them, and mixing intimately and universally, hold fast and retain many of their Particles; as muddy Earth doth the Parts of the Water that runs into it and mixeth with 285it: And when these nutritious Particles retain’d are more than the Body spends, that Body is in its Growth; as when they are fewer, ’tis in its Decay. And as we compar’d the Flesh and tender Parts, when they are young, and in a growing Disposition, to a muddy Soil, that opens to the Water, swells and incorporates with it; so when they become hard and dry, they are like a sandy Earth, that suffers the Water to glide through it, without incorporating or retaining many of its Parts; and the sooner they come to this Temper, the sooner follows their Decay: For the same Causes, that set Limits to our Growth, set also Limits to our Life; and he that can resolve that Question, why the Time of our Growth is so short, will also be able to resolve the other in a good Measure, why the Time of our Life is so short. In both Cases, that which stops our Progress is external Nature, whose Course, while it was even and steady, and the ambient Air mild and balmy, preserv’d the Body much longer in a fresh and fit Temper to receive its full Nourishment, and consequently gave larger Bounds both to our Growth and Life.

But the third thing we mention’d is the most considerable, the Decay of the Organick Parts; and especially of the Organs preparatory to Nutrition. This is the Point chiefly to be examin’d and explain’d, and therefore we will endeavour to state it fully and distinctly. There are several Functions in the Body of an Animal, and several Organs for the Conduct of them; and 286I am of Opinion, that all the Organs of the Body are in the Nature of Springs, and that their Action is tonical. The Action of the Muscles is apparently so, and so is that of the Heart and the Stomach; and as for those Parts, that make Secretions only, as the Glandules and Parenchymata, if they be any more than merely passive, as Strainers, ’tis the Tone of the Parts, when distended, that performs the Separation: And accordingly in all other active Organs, the Action proceeds from a Tone in the Parts. And this seems to be easily prov’d, both as to our Bodies, and all other Bodies; for no Matter that is not fluid, hath any Motion or Action in it, but in Virtue of some Tone; if Matter be fluid, its Parts are actually in Motion, and consequently may impel or give Motion to other Bodies; but if it be solid or consistent, the Parts are not separate or separately mov’d from one another, and therefore cannot impel or give Motion to any other, but in virtue of their Tone; they having no other Motion themselves. Accordingly we see in Artificial Machines, there are but two general Sorts, those that move by some fluid or volatile Matter, as Water, Wind, Air, or some active Spirit; and those which move by Springs, or by the Tonick Disposition of some Part that gives Motion to the rest: For as for such Machines as act by Weights, ’tis not the Weight that is the active Principle, but the Air or Æther that impels it. ’Tis true, the Body of an Animal is a kind of mix’d Machine, and those Organs that are the primary Parts of it, partake of 287both these Principles; for there are Spirits and Liquors that do assist in the Motions of the Muscles, of the Heart, and of the Stomach; but we have no occasion to consider them at present, but only the Tone of the solid Organs.

This being observ’d in the first Place, wherein the Force of our Organs consists, we might here immediately subjoin, how this Force is weaken’d and destroy’d by the unequal Course of Nature which now obtains, and consequently our Life shorten’d; for the whole State and Oeconomy of the Body depends upon the Force and Action of these Organs. But to understand the Business more distinctly, it will be worth our Time to examine upon which of the Organs of the Body Life depends more immediately, and the Prolongation of it; that so reducing our Inquiries into a narrower Compass, we may manage them with more Ease and more Certainty.

In the Body of Man there are several Compages, or Sets of Parts, some whereof need not be consider’d in this Question; there is that System that serves for Sense and local Motion, which is commonly call’d the Animal Compages; and that which serves for Generation, which is call’d the Genital. These have no Influence upon long Life, being Parts nourished, not nourishing, and that are fed from others, as Rivers from their Fountain: Wherefore having laid these aside, there remain two Compages more, the Natural and Vital, which consist of the Heart and Stomach, with their Appendages. These are 288the Sources of Life, and these are all that is absolutely necessary to the Constitution of a living Creature; what Parts we find more, few or many of one sort or other, according to the several kinds of Creatures, is accidental to our Purpose: The Form of an Animal, as we are to consider it here, lies in this little Compass, and what is superadded is for some new Purposes, besides that of mere Life, as for Sense, Motion, Generation, and such like. As in a Watch, beside the Movement which is made to tell you the Hour of the Day, which constitutes a Watch; you may have a Fancy to have an Alarm added, or a Minute-Motion, or that it should tell you the Day of the Month; and this sometimes will require a new Spring, sometimes only new Wheels; however, if you would examine the Nature of a Watch, and upon what its Motion, or, if I may so say, its Life depends, you must lay aside those secondary Movements, and observe the main Spring, and the Wheels that immediately depend upon that, for all the rest is accidental. So for the Life of an Animal, which is a piece of Nature’s Clock-work, if we would examine upon what the Duration of it depends, we must lay aside those additional Parts or Systems of Parts, which are for other Purposes, and consider only the first Principles and Fountains of Life, and the Causes of their natural and necessary Decay.

Having thus reduc’d our Inquiries to these two Organs, the Stomach and the Heart, as the two Master-Springs in the Mechanism of 289an Animal, upon which all the rest depend, let us now see what their Action is, and how it will be more or less durable and constant, according to the different States of external Nature. We determin’d before, that the Force and Action of all Organs in the Body was tonical, and of none more remarkably than of these two, the Heart and Stomach; for though it be not clearly determined what the particular Structure of these Organs, or of their Fibres is, that makes them tonical, yet ’tis manifest by their Actions, that they are so. In the Stomach, besides a peculiar Ferment that opens and dissolves the Parts of the Meat, and melts them into a Fluor or Pulp; the Coats of it, or Fibres whereof they consist, have a Motion proper to them, proceeding from their Tone, whereby they close the Stomach, and compress the Meat when it is receiv’d, and when turn’d into Chyle, press it forwards, and squeeze it into the Intestines; and the Intestines also partaking of the same Motion, push and work it still forwards into those little Veins that convey it towards the Heart. The Heart hath the same general Motions with the Stomach, of opening and shutting, and hath also a peculiar Ferment, which rarifies the Blood that enters into it; and that Blood, by the Spring of the Heart, and the particular Texture of its Fibres, is thrown out again to make its Circulation thro’ the Body. This is, in short, the Action of both these Organs; and indeed the Mystery of the Body of an Animal, and of its Operations and Oeconomy, 290consists chiefly in Springs and Ferments; the one for the solid Parts, the other in the fluid.

But to apply this Fabrick of the organick Parts to our Purpose, we may observe and conclude, that whatsoever weakens the Tone or Spring of these two Organs, which are the Bases of all Vitality, weaken the Principle of Life, and shorten the natural Duration of it; and if of two Orders or Courses of Nature, the one be favourable and easy to these tonick Principles in the Body, and the other uneasy and prejudicial, that Course of Nature will be attended with long Periods of Life, and this with short. And we have shewn, that in the Primitive Earth the Course of Nature was even, steady, and unchangeable, without either different Qualities of the Air, or unequal Seasons of the Year, which must needs be more easy to these Principles we speak of, and permit them to continue longer in their Strength and Vigor, than they can possibly do under all those Changes of the Air, of the Atmosphere, and of the Heavens, which we now suffer yearly, monthly, and daily. And tho’ sacred History had not acquainted us with the Longevity of the Antediluvian Patriarchs, nor profane History with those of the Golden-Age, I should have concluded from the Theory alone, and the Contemplation of that State of Nature, that the Forms of all Things were much more permanent in that World than in ours, and that the Lives of Men and all other Animals had longer Periods.

291I confess, I am of Opinion that ’tis this that makes not only these living Springs or tonick Organs of the Body, but all artificial Springs also, tho’ made of the hardest Metal, decay so fast. The different Pressure of the Atmosphere, sometimes heavier, sometimes lighter, more rare or more dense, moist or dry, and agitated with different Degrees of Motion, and in different Manners! this must needs operate upon that nicer Contexture of Bodies, which make them tonical or elastick; altering the Figure or Minuteness of the Pores, and the Strength and Order of the Fibres upon which that Propriety depends; bending and unbending, closing and opening the Parts. There is a subtle and æthereal Element that traverseth the Pores of all Bodies, and when ’tis straiten’d and pent up there, or stopt in its usual Course and Passage, its Motion is more quick and eager, as a Current of Water, when ’tis obstructed, or runs thro’ a narrower Channel; and that Strife and those Attempts which these little active Particles make to get free, and follow the same Tracts they did before, do still press upon the Parts of the Body that are chang’d, to redress and reduce them to their first and natural Posture, and in this consists the Force of a Spring. Accordingly we may observe, that there is no Body that is or will be tonical or elastick, if it be left to it self, and to that Posture it would take naturally; for then all the Parts are at ease, and the subtle Matter moves freely and uninterruptedly within its Pores; but if by Distention, or by Compression, 292or by Flexion or any other way, the situation of the Parts and Pores be so alter’d, that the Air sometimes, but for the most Part that subtiler Element, is uneasy and compress’d too much, it causeth that Renitency or Tendency to Restitution, which we call the Tone, or Spring of a Body. Now as this Disposition of Bodies doth far more easily perish than their Continuity, so I think, there is nothing that contributes more to its perishing (whether in natural or artificial Springs) than the unequal Action and different Qualities of the Æther, Air, and Atmosphere.

It will be objected to us, it may be, that in the beginning of the Chapter we instanc’d in artificial Things, that would continue for ever, if they had but the Power of nourishing themselves, as Lamps, Mills, and such like; why then may not natural Machines that have that Power last for ever? The Case is not the same as to the Bodies of Animals, and the Things there instanc’d in, for those were springless Machines, that act only by some external Cause, and not in Virtue of any Tone or interior Temper of the Parts, as our Bodies do; and when that Tone or Temper is destroy’d, no Nourishment can repair it. There is something, I say, irreparable in the tonical Disposition of Matter, which when wholly lost cannot be restor’d by Nutrition. Nutrition may answer to a bare Consumption of Parts; but where the Parts are to be preserv’d in such a Temperament, or in such a Degree of Humidity and Driness, Warmth, Rarity or Density, 293to make them capable of that Nourishment, as well as of their other Operations, as Organs, (which is the Case of our Bodies) there the Heavens, the Air, and external Causes will change the Qualities of the Matter in spite of all Nutrition; and the Qualities of the Matter being chang’d, (in a Course of Nature, where the Cause cannot be taken away) that is a Fault incorrigible, and irreparable by the Nourishment that follows, being hindred of its Effect by the Indisposition or Incapacity of the Recipient. And as they say, a Fault in the first Concoction cannot be corrected in the second; so neither can a Fault in the Prerequisites to all the Concoctions be corrected by any of them.

I know the Ancients made the Decay and Term of Life to depend rather upon the Humours of the Body, than the solid Parts, and suppos’d an Humidum radicale and a Calidum innatum, as they call them, a radical Moisture and congenit Heat to be in every Body, from its Birth and first Formation; and as these decay’d, Life decay’d. But who’s wiser for this Account, what doth this instruct us in? We know there is Heat and Moisture in the Body, and you may call the one Radical, and the other Innate if you please; this is but a sort of Cant, for we know no more of the real physical Causes of that Effect we enquir’d into, than we did before. What makes this Heat and Moisture fail, if the Nourishment be good, and all the Organs in their due Strength and Temper? The first and original 294Failure is not in the Fluid, but in the solid Parts, which if they continued the same, the Humours would do so too. Besides, What befel this radical Moisture and Heat at the Deluge, that it should decay so fast afterwards, and last so long before? There is a certain Temper, no doubt, of the Juices and Humours of the Body, which is more fit than any other to conserve the Parts from Driness and Decay; but the Cause of that Driness and Decay, or other Inability in the solid Parts, whence is that, if not from external Nature? ’Tis thither we must come at length in our Search of the Reasons of the natural Decay of our Bodies, we follow the Fate and Laws of that: And I think, by those Causes, and in that Order, that we have already describ’d and explain’d.

To conclude this Discourse, we may collect from it what Judgment is to be made of those Projectors of Immortality, or Undertakers to make Men live to the Age of Methusalah, if they will use their Methods and Medicines: There is but one Method for this, to put the Sun into his old Course, or the Earth into its first Posture; there is no other Secret to prolong Life; our Bodies will sympathize with the general Course of Nature, nothing can guard us from it, no Elixir, no Specific, no Philosopher’s Stone. But there are Enthusiasts in Philosophy, as well as in Religion; Men that go by no Principles, but their own Conceit and Fancy, and by a Light within, which shines very uncertainly, and for the most Part leads them out of the Way 295of Truth. And so much for this Disquisition, concerning the Causes of Longevity, or of the long and short Periods of Life in the different Periods of the World.

That the Age of the Antediluvian Patriarchs is to be computed by Solar or common Years, not by Lunar or Months.

Having made this Discourse of the unequal Periods of Life, only in reference to the Antediluvians and their fam’d Longevity, lest we should seem to have proceeded upon an ill-grounded and mistaken Supposition, we are bound to take Notice of, and confute that Opinion which makes the Years of the Antediluvian Patriarchs to have been Lunar, not Solar, and so would bear us in Hand, that they liv’d only so many Months, as Scripture saith they liv’d Years. Seeing there is nothing could drive Men to this bold Interpretation but the Incredibility of the Thing, as they fancied; they having no Motions or Hypothesis whereby it could appear intelligible or possible to them; and seeing we have taken away that Stumbling-Stone, and shew’d it not only possible but necessary according to the Constitution of that World, that the Periods of Life should be far longer than in this; by removing the Ground or Occasion of their Misinterpretation, we hope we have undeceiv’d them, and let them see that there is no need of that Subterfuge, either to prevent an Incongruity, or save the Credit of the Sacred Historian.

296But as this Opinion is inconsistent with Nature, truly understood, so is it also with common History; for besides, what I have already mention’d in the first Chapter of this Book, Josephus tells us, (Lib. i. Jew. Ant. Chap. iv.) that the Historians of all Nations, both Greeks and Barbarians, give the same account of the first Inhabitants of the Earth; Manetho, who writ the Story of the Ægyptians; Berosus, who writ the Chaldæan History, and those Authors that have given us an Account of the Phœnician Antiquities, besides Molus and Hestiæus, and Hieronymus the Ægyptian; and amongst the Greeks, Hesiodus, Hecateus, Hellanicus, Acusialus, Ephorus and Nicolaus: We have the Suffrages of all these, and their common Consent, that in the first Ages of the World Men liv’d a thousand Years. Now we cannot well suppose that all these Historians meant Lunar Years, or that they all conspir’d together to make and propagate a Fable.

Lastly, As Nature and profane History do disown and confute this Opinion, so much more doth sacred History; not indeed in profess’d Terms, for Moses doth not say that he useth Solar Years; but by several Marks and Observations, or collateral Arguments, it may be clearly collected, that he doth not use Lunar. As first, because he distinguisheth Months and Years in the History of the Deluge, and of the Life of Noah; for Gen. vii. 11. he saith in the six hundredth Year of Noah’s Life, in the second Month, &c. It cannot be imagin’d that in the same Verse and Sentence these two 297Terms of Year and Month should be so confounded as to signify the same Thing; and therefore Noah’s Years were not the same with Months, nor consequently those of the other Patriarchs, for we have no Reason to make any Difference. Besides, what ground was there, or how was it proper or pertinent to reckon, as Moses does there, first, second, third Month, as so many going to a Year, if every one of them was a Year? And seeing the Deluge begun in the six hundredth Year of Noah’s Life, and in the second Month, and ended in the six hundredth and first Year, (Chap. viii. 13.) the first or second Month, all that was betwixt these two Terms, or all the Duration of the Deluge, made but one Year in Noah’s Life, or it may be not so much; and we know Moses reckons a great many Months in the Duration of the Deluge; so as this is a Demonstration, that Noah’s Years are not to be understood of Lunar. And to imagine that his Years are to be understood one way, and those of his fellow-Patriarchs another, would be an unaccountable Fiction. This argument therefore extends to all the Antediluvians, and Noah’s Life will take in the Postdiluvians too; for you see Part of it runs amongst them, and ties together the two Worlds: So that if we exclude Lunar Years from his Life, we exclude them from all; those of his Fathers, and those of his Children.

Secondly, If Lunar Years were understood in the Ages of the Antediluvian Patriarchs, the Interval betwixt the Creation and the Deluge would be too short, and in many Respects 298incongruous. There would be but 1656 Months from the Beginning of the World to the Flood; which converted into common Years, make but 127 Years and five Months for that Interval. This perverts all Chronology, and besides, makes the Number of People so small and inconsiderable at the Time of the Deluge, that destroying of the World then was not so much as destroying of a Country Town would be now: For from one Couple you cannot well imagine there could arise above five hundred Persons in so short a Time; but if there were a thousand, ’tis not so many as we have sometimes in a good Country Village. And were the Flood-gates of Heaven open’d, and the great Abyss broken up to destroy such an handful of People, and the Waters rais’d fifteen Cubits above the highest Mountains throughout the Face of the Earth, to drown a Parish or two? Is not this more incredible than our Age of the Patriarchs? Besides, This short Interval doth not leave Room for ten Generations, which we find from Adam to the Flood, nor allows the Patriarchs Age enough at the Time when they are said to have got Children. One hundred twenty-seven Years for ten Generations is very strait; and of these you must take off forty-six Years for one Generation only, or for Noah, for he liv’d six hundred Years before the Flood, and if they were Lunar, they would come however to forty-six of our Years; so that for the other nine Generations you would have but eighty one Years, that is, nine Years a-piece; 299at which Age they must all be suppos’d to have begun to get Children; which you cannot but think a very absurd Supposition. Thus it would be, if you divide the whole Time equally amongst the nine Generations; but if you consider some single Instances; as they are set down by Moses, ’tis still worse; for Mahaleel and his Grandchild Enoch are said to have got Children at sixty five Years of Age, which if you suppose Months, they were but five Years old at that time; now I appeal to any one, whether it is more incredible that Men should live to the Age of nine hundred Years, or that they should beget Children at the Age of five Years.

You will say, it may be, ’tis true these Inconveniences follow, if our Hebrew Copies of the Old Testament be Authentick: But if the Greek Translation by the Septuagint be of better Authority, as some would have it to be, that gives a little Relief in this Case; for the Septuagint makes the Distance from the Creation to the Flood six hundred Years more than the Hebrew Text does, and so give us a little more Room for our ten Generations: And not only so, but they have so conveniently dispos’d those additional Years, as to salve the other Inconvenience too, of the Patriarchs having Children so young; for what Patriarchs are found to have got Children sooner than the rest, and so soon, that, upon a Computation by Lunar Years, they would be but meer Children themselves at that time? to these more Years are added, and plac’d opportunely, 300before the time of their getting Children; so as one can scarce forbear to think, that it was done on purpose to cure that Inconvenience, and to favour and protect the Computation by Lunar Years. The thing looks so like an Artifice, and as done to serve a Turn, that one cannot but have a less Opinion of that Chronology for it.

But not to enter upon that Dispute at present, methinks they have not wrought the Cure effectually enough; for with these six hundred Lunar Years added, the Sum will be only one hundred seventy three common Years and odd Months; and from these deducting, as we did before, for Noah, forty six Years, and for Adam, or the first Generation, about eighteen, (for he was two hundred and thirty Years old, according to the Septuagint when he begot Seth) there will remain but one hundred and nine Years for eight Generations; which will be thirteen Years a piece and odd Months; a low Age to get Children in, and to hold for eight Generations together. Neither is the other Inconvenience, we mention’d, well cur’d by the Septuagint Account, namely, the small Number of People that would be in the World at the Deluge; for the Septuagint Account, if understood of Lunar Years, adds but forty six common Years to the Hebrew Account, and to the Age of the World at the Deluge, in which time there could be but a very small Accesion to the Number of Mankind. So as both these Incongruities continue, though not in the same 301degree, and stand good in either Account, if it be understood of Lunar Years.

Thirdly, ’Tis manifest from other Texts of Scripture, and from other Considerations, that our first Fathers liv’d very long, and considerably longer than Men have done since, whereas if their Years be interpreted Lunar, there is not one of them that liv’d to the Age that Men do now; Methusalah himself did not reach threescore and fifteen Years, upon that Interpretation; which doth express them not only below those that liv’d next to the Flood, but below all following Generations to this Day; and those first Ages of the World which were always celebrated for Strength and Vivacity, are made as weak and feeble as the last Dregs of Nature. We may observe, that after the Flood for some Time, ’till the pristine Crasis of the Body was broken by the new Course of Nature, they liv’d five, four, three, two hundred Years, and the Life of Men shorten’d by Degrees; but before the Flood, when they liv’d longer, there was no such Decrease or gradual Declension in their Lives. For Noah, who was the last, liv’d longer than Adam; and Methusalah, who was last but two, liv’d the longest of all: So that it was not simply their Distance from the beginning of the World that made them live a shorter Time, but some Change which happen’d in Nature after such a Period of Time; namely at the Deluge, when the Declension begun. Let’s set down the Table of both States.

302A TABLE of the Ages of the Antediluvian Fathers.

A TABLE of the Ages of the Postdiluvian Fathers, from Shem to Joseph.

303From these Tables we see that Mens Lives were much longer before the Flood, and next after it, than they are now; which also is confirm’d undeniably by Jacob’s Complaint of the Shortness of his Life, in Comparison of his Forefathers, when he had liv’d one hundred and thirty Years, Gen. xlvii. 9. The Days of the Years of my Pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty Years; few and evil have the Days of the Years of my Life been, and have not attained unto the Days of the Years of the Life of my Fathers. There were then, ’tis certain, long-liv’d Men in the World before Jacob’s Time; when were they, before the Flood or after? We say both, according as the Tables shew it. But if you count by Lunar Years, there never were any, either before or after, and Jacob’s Complaint was unjust and false; for he was the oldest Man in the World himself, or at least there was none of his Forefathers that liv’d so long as he.

The Patrons of this Opinion must needs find themselves at a loss, how or where to break off the Account of Lunar Years in sacred History, if they once admit it. If they say that way of counting must only be extended to the Flood, then they make the Postdiluvian Fathers longer liv’d than the Antediluvian; did the Flood bring in Longevity? How could that be the Cause of such an Effect? Besides, if they allow the Postdiluvians to have lived six hundred (common) Years, that being clearly beyond the Standard of our Lives, I should never stick at two or three hundred Years more 304for the first Ages of the World. If they extend their Lunar Account to the Postdiluvians too, they will still be intangled in worse Absurdities; for they must make their Lives miserably short, and their Age of getting Children altogether incongruous and impossible. Nahor, for Example, when he was but two Years and three Months old must have begot Terah, Abraham’s Father: And all the rest betwixt him and Shem must have had Children before they were three Years old: A pretty race of Pigmies. Then their Lives were proportionably short, for this Nahor liv’d but eleven Years and six Months at this Rate; and his Grandchild Abraham, who is said to have died in a good old Age, and full of Years, (Gen. xxv. 8.) was not fourteen Years old. What a ridiculous Account this gives of Scripture Chronology and Genealogies? But you’ll say, it may be, these Lunar Years are not to be carried so far as Abraham neither; tell us then where you’ll stop, and why you stop in such a Place rather than another. If you once take in Lunar Years, what Ground is there in the Text, or in the History, that you should change your way of computing at such a Time, or in such a Place? All our ancient Chronology is founded upon the Books of Moses, where the Terms and Periods of Times are exprest by Years, and often by Genealogies and the Lives of Men; Now if these Years are sometimes to be interpreted Lunar, and sometimes Solar, without any Distinction made in the Text, what Light or certain Rule have we 305to go by? Let these Authors name to us the Parts and Places where, and only where the Lunar Years are to be understood, and I dare undertake to shew, that their Method is not only arbitrary, but absurd and incoherent.

To conclude this Discourse, we cannot but repeat what we have partly observ’d before, How necessary it is to understand Nature, if we would rightly understand those Things in holy Writ that relate to the natural World. For without this Knowledge, as we are apt to think some Things consistent and credible, that are really impossible in Nature; so on the other hand, we are apt to look upon other Things as incredible and impossible that are really founded in Nature. And seeing every one is willing so to expound Scripture, as it may be to them good Sense, and consistent with their Notions in other Things, they are forc’d many times to go against the easy and natural Importance of the Words, and to invent other Interpretations more compliant with their Principles, and, as they think, with the Nature of Things. We have, I say, a great Instance of this before us in the Scripture-History, of the long Lives of the Antediluvians, where, without any Ground or Shadow of Ground, in the Narration, only to comply with a mistaken Philosophy, and their Ignorance of the primitive World, many Men would beat down the Scripture Account of Years into Months, and sink the Lives of those first Fathers below the Rate of the worst of Ages. Whereby that great Monument, which Providence 306hath left us of the first World, and of its Difference from the second, would not only be defac’d, but wholly demolish’d. And all this sprung only from the seeming Incredibility of the Thing; for they cannot shew in any Part of Scripture, new or old, that these Lunar Years are made use of, or that any Computation, literal or prophetical, proceeds upon them: Nor that there is any Thing in the Text or Context of that Place, that argues or intimates any such Account. We have endeavour’d, upon this Occasion, effectully to prevent this Misconstruction of sacred History for the future; both by shewing the Incongruities that follow upon it, and also that there is no Necessity from Nature, of any such Shift or Evasion, as that is: But rather on the contrary, that we have just and necessary Reasons to conclude, That as the Forms of all Things would be far more permanent and lasting in that primitive State of the Heavens and the Earth, so particularly the Lives of Men, and of other Animals.

Chap. V

Concerning the Waters of the primitive Earth: What the State of the Regions of the Air was then, and how all Waters proceeded from them; How the Rivers arose, what was their Course, and how they ended. Some Things in sacred Writ that confirms this Hydrography of the first Earth; especially the Origin of the Rainbow.

Having thus far clear’d our Way to Paradise, and given a rational Account of its general Properties; before we proceed to discourse of the Place of it, there is one Affair of Moment, concerning this primitive Earth, that must first be stated and explain’d; and that is, How it was water’d; from what Causes, and in what Manner? How could Fountains rise, or Rivers flow in an Earth of that Form and Nature? We have shut up the Sea with thick Walls on every Side, and taken away all Communication that could be ’twixt it and the external Earth; and we have remov’d all the Hills and the Mountains where the Springs use to rise; and whence the Rivers descend to water the Face of the Ground: And lastly, we have left no Issue for these Rivers, no Ocean to receive them, nor any other Place to disburden themselves into. So that our new-found World is like to be a dry and barren Wilderness, and 308so far from being Paradisiacal, that it would scarce be habitable.

I confess there was nothing in this whole Theory that gave such a Stop to my Thoughts, as this Part of it, concerning the Rivers of the first Earth; how they rose, how they flow’d, and how they ended. It seem’d at first, that we had wip’d away at once the Notion and whole Doctrine of Rivers, we had turn’d the Earth so smooth, that there was not an Hill, or Rising, for the Head of a Spring, nor any Fall or Descent for the Course of a River: Besides, I had suck’d in the common Opinion of Philosophers, That all Rivers rise from the Sea, and return to it again, and both those Passages, I see, were stopt up in that Earth. This gave me occasion to reflect upon the modern and more solid Opinion concerning the Origin of Fountains and Rivers, That they rise chiefly from Rains and melted Snows, and not from the Sea alone; and as soon as I had demur’d in that Particular, I saw it was necessary to consider and examine how the Rains fell in that first Earth, to understand what the State of their Waters and Rivers would be.

And I had no sooner apply’d my self to that Inquiry, but I easily discover’d, that the Order of Nature in the Regions of the Air would be then very different from what it is now, and the Meteorology of the World was of another sort from that of the present. The Air was always calm and equal, there could be no violent Meteors there, nor any that proceeded 309from Extremity of Cold; as Ice, Snow, or Hail; nor Thunder neither; for the Clouds could not be of a Quality and Consistency fit for such an Effect, either by falling one upon another, or by their Disruption. And as for Winds, they could not be either impetuous or irregular in that Earth; seeing there were neither Mountains nor any other Inequalities to obstruct the Course of the Vapours; nor any unequal Seasons, or unequal Action of the Sun, nor any contrary and struggling Motions of the Air: Nature was then a Stranger to all those Disorders. But as for watry Meteors, or those that rise from watry Vapours more immediately, as Dews and Rains, there could not but be Plenty of these in some Part or other of that Earth; for the Action of the Sun in raising Vapours was very strong and very constant, and the Earth was at first moist and soft, and according as it grew more dry, the Rays of the Sun would pierce more deep into it, and reach at length the great Abyss which lay underneath, and was an unexhausted Store-house of new Vapours. But, ’tis true, the same Heat, which extracted these Vapours so copiously, would also hinder them from condensing into Clouds or Rain in the warmer Parts of the Earth; and there being no Mountains at that Time, nor contrary Winds, nor any such Causes to stop them, or compress them, we must consider which way they would tend, and what their Course would be, and whether they would any where meet with Causes capable to change or condense them; 310for upon this, ’tis manifest, would depend the Meteors of that Air, and the Waters of that Earth.

And as the Heat of the Sun was chiefly towards the middle Parts of the Earth, so the copious Vapours rais’d there, were most rarified and agitated; and being once in the open Air, their Course would be that Way, where they found least Resistance to their Motion; and that would certainly be towards the Poles, and the colder Regions of the Earth. For East and West they would meet with as warm an Air, and Vapours as much agitated as themselves, which therefore would not yield to their Progress that Way; but towards the North and the South, they would find a more easy Passage, the Cold of those Parts attracting them, as we call it, that is, making way to their Motion and Dilatation without much Resistance, as Mountains and cold Places usually draw Vapours from the warmer. So as the regular and constant Course of the Vapours of that Earth, which were rais’d chiefly about the Equinoctial and middle Parts of it, would be towards the extream Parts of it, or towards the Poles.

And in consequence of this, when these Vapours were arriv’d in those cooler Climates, and cooler Parts of the Air, they would be condens’d into Rain; for wanting there the Cause of their Agitation, namely, the Heat of the Sun, their Motion would soon begin to languish, and they would fall closer to one another in the Form of Water. For the Difference 311betwixt Vapours and Water is only gradual, and consists in this, that Vapours are in a flying Motion, separate and distant each from another; but the Parts of Water are in a creeping Motion, close to one another; like a Swarm of Bees when they are settled; as Vapours resemble the same Bees in the Air, before they settle together. Now there is nothing puts these Vapours upon the Wing, or keeps them so, but a strong Agitation by Heat; and when that fails, as it must do in all colder Places and Regions, they necessarily return to Water again. Accordingly therefore we must suppose they would soon, after they reach’d these cold Regions, be condens’d, and fall down in a continual Rain, or Dew, upon those Parts of the Earth. I say a continual Rain; for seeing the Action of the Sun, which rais’d the Vapours, was (at that Time) always the same, and the State of the Air always alike, nor any cross Winds, nor any thing else that could hinder the Course of the Vapours towards the Poles, nor their Condensation when arriv’d there; ’tis manifest there would be a constant Source or Store-house of Waters in those Parts of the Air, and in those Parts of the Earth.

And this, I think, was the establish’d Order of Nature in that World, this was the State of the Antediluvian Heavens and Earth; all their Waters came from above, and that with a constant Supply and Circulation; for when the Croud of Vapours rais’d about the middle Parts of the Earth, found Vent and Issue 312this Way towards the Poles, the Passage being once open’d, and the Channel made, the Current would be still continued without Intermission; and as they were dissolv’d and spent there, they would suck in more and more of those which followed, and came in fresh Streams from the hotter Climates. Aristotle, I remember, in his Meteors speaking of the Course of the Vapours, saith, there is a River in the Air, constantly flowing betwixt the Heavens and the Earth, made by the ascending and descending Vapours: This was more remarkably true in the primitive Earth, where the State of Nature was more constant and regular; there was indeed an uninterrupted Flood of Vapours rising in one Region of the Earth, and flowing to another, and there continually distilling in Dews and Rain, which made this aerial River. As may be easily apprehended from this Scheme of the Earth and Air.

Book 2 Fig. 1.

Thus we have found a Source for Waters in the first Earth, which had no Communication with the Sea; and a Source that would never fail, neither diminish or overflow, but feed the Earth with an equal Supply throughout all the Parts of the Year. But there is a second Difficulty that appears at the End of this, how these Waters would flow upon the even Surface of the Earth, or form themselves into Rivers; there being no Descent or Declivity for their Course. There were no Hills, nor Mountains, nor high Lands in the first Earth, and if these Rains fell in the Frigid Zones, or towards the Poles, there they would stand in Lakes 313and Pools, having no Descent one Way more than another; and so the rest of the Earth would be no better for them. This, I confess, appear’d as great a Difficulty as the former, and would be unanswerable for ought I know, if that first Earth was not water’d by Dews only (as I believe some Worlds are) or had been exactly Spherical; but we noted before, that it was Oval or Oblong; and in such a Figure ’tis manifest the polar Parts are higher than the equinoctial, that is, more remote from the Center, as appears to the Eye in this Scheme. This affords us a present Remedy, and sets us free of the second Difficulty; for by this Means the Waters, which fell about the extream Parts of the Earth, would have a continual Descent towards the middle Parts of it; this Figure gives them Motion and Distribution; and many Rivers and Rivulets would flow from those Mother-Lakes, to refresh the Face of the Earth, bending their Course still towards the middle Parts of it.

314’Tis true, These Derivations of the Waters at first would be very irregular and diffuse, till the Channels were a little worn and hollow’d; and tho’ that Earth was smooth and uniform, yet ’tis impossible, upon an inclining Surface, but that Waters should find a Way of creeping downwards, as we see upon a smooth Table, or a flag’d Pavement; if there be the least Inclination, Water will flow from the higher to the lower Parts of it, either directly, or winding to and fro: So the Smoothness of that Earth would be no Hindrance to the Course of the Rivers, provided there was a general Declivity in the Site and Libration of it, as ’tis plain there was from the Poles towards the Æquator. The Current indeed would be easy and gentle all along, and if it chanc’d in some Places to rest, or be stopt, it would spread it self into a pleasant Lake, till by fresh Supplies it had rais’d its Waters so high as to overflow and break loose again; then it would pursue its Way, with many other Rivers its Companions, thro’ all the temperate Climates as far as the Torrid Zone.

But you’ll say, When they were got thither, what would become of them then? How would they end or finish their Course? This is the third Difficulty concerning the Ending of the Rivers in that Earth; what Issue could they have when they were come to the middle Parts of it, whither it seems they all tended? There was no Sea to lose themselves in, as our Rivers do; nor any subterraneous Passages to throw themselves into; how would 315they die, what would be their Fate at last? I answer, The greater Rivers, when they were come towards those Parts of the Earth, would be divided into many Branches, or a Multitude of Rivulets; and those would be partly exhal’d by the Heat of the Sun, and partly drunk up by the dry and sandy Earth. But how and in what Manner this came to pass, requires a little further Explication.

We must therefore observe in the first Place, that those Rivers, as they drew nearer to the æquinoctial Parts, would find a less Declivity or Descent of Ground than in the beginning, or former Part of their Course; that is evident from the oval Figure of the Earth, for near the middle Parts of an Oval, the Semi-diameters, as I may call them, are very little shorter one than another; and for this Reason the Rivers, when they were advanc’d towards the middle Parts of the Earth, would begin to flow more slowly, and, by that Weakness of their Current, suffer themselves easily to be divided and distracted into several lesser Streams and Rivulets; or else having no Force to wear a Channel, would lie shallow upon the Ground like a Plash of Water; and in both Cases their Waters would be much more expos’d to the Action of the Sun, than if they had kept together in a deeper Channel, as they were before.

Secondly, We must observe, that seeing these Waters could not reach to the Middle of the Torrid Zone, for want of Descent; that Part of the Earth having the Sun always perpendicular 316over it, and being refresh’d by no Rivers, would become extreamly dry and parch’d, and be converted at length into a kind of sandy Desert; so as all the Waters that were carried thus far, and were not exhaled and consum’d by the Sun, would be suck’d up, as in a Spunge, by these Sands of the Torrid Zone. This was the common Grave wherein the Rivers of the first Earth were buried; and this is nothing but what happens still in several Parts of the present Earth; especially in Africk, where many Rivers never flow into the Sea, but expire after the same Manner as these did, drunk up by the Sun and the Sands. And one Arm of Euphrates dies, as I remember, amongst the Sands of Arabia, after the Manner of the Rivers of the first Earth.

Thus we have conquer’d the greatest Difficulty, in my Apprehension, in this whole Theory, To find out the State of the Rivers in the primitive and antediluvian Earth, their Origin, Course, and Period. We have been forc’d to win our Ground by Inches, and have divided the Difficulty into Parts, that we might encounter them single with more Ease. The Rivers of the Earth, you see, were in most respects different, and in some, contrary to ours; and if you could turn our Rivers backwards, to run from the Sea towards their Fountain-heads, they would more resemble the Course of those Antediluvian Rivers; for they were greatest at their first setting out, and the Current afterwards, when it was more weak, and the Channel more shallow, was divided into 317many Branches and little Rivers; like the Arteries in our Body, that carry the Blood; they are greatest at first, and the further they go from the Heart, their Source, the less they grow, and divided into a Multitude of little Branches, which lose themselves insensibly in the Habit of the Flesh, as these little Floods did in the Sands of the Earth.

Book 2 Fig. 2.

Because it pleaseth more and makes a greater Impression upon us, to see Things represented to the Eye, than to read their Description in Words, we have ventur’d to give a Model of the Primæval Earth, with its Zones or greater Climates, and the general Order and Tracts of its Rivers: Not that we believe Things to have been in the very same Form as here exhibited; but this may serve as a general Idea of that Earth, which may be wrought into more exactness, according as we are able to enlarge or correct our Thoughts hereafter. And as the Zones here represented, resemble the Belts or Fasciæ of Jupiter, so we suppose them to proceed from like Causes, if that Planet be in an Antediluvian State, as the Earth we here represent. As for the Polar Parts in that first Earth, I can say very little of them, they would make a Scene by themselves, and a very particular one; the Sun would be perpetually in their Horizon, which makes me think the Rains would not fall so much there, as in the other Parts of the Frigid Zones, where accordingly we have made their chief Seat and Receptacle. That they flow’d 318from thence in such like Manner as is here represented, we have already prov’d; and sometimes in their Passage swelling into Lakes, and towards the End of their Course parting into several Streams and Branches, they would water those Parts of the Earth like a Garden.

We have before compar’d the Branchings of these Rivers towards the End of their Course, to the Ramifications of the Arteries in the Body, when they are far from the Heart near the extream Parts; and some, it may be, looking upon this Scheme, would carry the Comparison further, and suppose, that as in the Body the Blood is not lost in the Habit of the Flesh, but strain’d through it, and taken up again by the little Branches of the Veins; so in that Earth the Waters were not lost in those Sands of the Torrid Zone, but strain’d or percolated thorough them, and receiv’d into the Channels of the other Hemisphere. This indeed would in some Measure answer the Notion which several of the ancient Fathers make use of, that the Rivers of Paradise were trajected out of the other Hemisphere into this, by subterraneous Passages. But I confess I could never see it possible how such a Trajection could be made, nor how they could have any Motion, being arriv’d in another Hemisphere; and therefore I am apt to believe that Doctrine amongst the Ancients arose from an Entanglement in their Principles: They suppos’d generally, that Paradise was in the other Hemisphere, as we shall have occasion to shew hereafter; and yet they believ’d that 319Tygris, Euphrates, Nile, and Ganges, were the Rivers of Paradise, or came out of it; and these two Opinions they could not reconcile, or make out, but by supposing that these four Rivers had their Fountain-heads in the other Hemisphere, and by some wonderful Trajection broke out again here. This was the Expedient they found out to make their Opinions consistent one with another; but this is a Method to me altogether unconceivable; and, for my part, I do not love to be led out of my Depth, leaning only upon Antiquity. How there could be any such Communication, either above Ground, or under Ground, betwixt the two Hemispheres, does not appear; and therefore we must still suppose the Torrid Zone to have been the Barrier betwixt them, which nothing could pass either Way.

We have now examin’d and determin’d the State of the Air, and of the Waters in the Primitive Earth, by the Light and Consequences of Reason; and we must not wonder to find them different from the present Order of Nature; what things are said of them, or relating to them in Holy Writ, do testify or imply as much; and it will be worth our time to make some Reflection upon those Passages for our further Confirmation. Moses tells us, that the Rainbow was set in the Clouds after the Deluge; those Heavens then, that never had a Rainbow before, were certainly of a Constitution very different from ours. And St. Peter, 2 Epist. chap. iii. v. 5. doth formally and expresly tell us, that the 320Old Heavens, or the Antediluvian Heavens had a different Constitution from ours, and particularly, that they were compos’d or constituted of Water, which Philosophy of the Apostle’s may be easily understood, if we attend to two things, first, that the Heavens he speaks of were not the Starry Heavens, but the aerial Heavens, or the Regions of our Air, where the Meteors are: Secondly, that there were no Meteors in those Regions, or in those Heavens, till the Deluge, but watry Meteors, and therefore, he says, they consisted of Water. And this shews the Foundation upon which that Description is made, how coherently the Apostle argues, and answers the Objection there propos’d: How justly also he distinguisheth the first Heavens from the present Heavens, or rather opposeth them one to another; because as those were constituted of Water, and watry Meteors only, so the present Heavens, he saith, have Treasures of Fire, fiery Exhalations and Meteors, and a Disposition to become the Executioners of the Divine Wrath and Decrees in the final Conflagration of the Earth.

This minds me also of the Celestial Waters, or the Waters above the Firmaments, which, Scripture sometimes mentions, and which, methinks, cannot be explain’d so fitly and emphatically upon any Supposition as this of ours. Those who place them above the Starry Heavens, seem neither to understand Astronomy nor Philosophy; and, on the other hand, if nothing be understood by them, but the 321Clouds and the middle Region of the Air, as it is at present, methinks that was no such eminent and remarkable Thing, as to deserve a particular Commemoration by Moses in his six Days Work; but if we understand them, not as they are now, but as they were then, the only Source of Waters, or the only Source of Waters upon that Earth, (for they had not one Drop of Water but what was Celestial,) this gives it a new Force and Emphasis: Besides the whole middle Region having no other sort of Meteors but them, that made it still the greater Singularity, and more worthy Commemoration. As for the Rivers of Paradise, there is nothing said concerning their Source, or their Issue, that is either contrary to this, or that is not agreeable to the general Account we have given of the Waters and Rivers of the first Earth. They are not said to rise from any Mountain, but from a great River or a kind of a Lake in Eden, according to the Custom of the Rivers of that Earth. And as for their End and Issue, Moses doth not say, that they disburthen themselves into this or that Sea, as they usually do in the Description of great Rivers, but rather implies that they spent themselves in compassing and watering certain Countries, which falls in again very easily with our Hypothesis. But I say this rather to comply with the Opinions of others, than of my own Judgment: For I think, that Suggestion about the Supercelestial Waters made by Moses, was not so much according to the strict Nature and Speciality of 322Causes, as for the Ease and Profit of the People, in their Belief and Acknowledgment of Providence for so great a Benefit, by what Causes soever it was brought to pass.

But to return to the Rainbow which we mentioned before, and is not to be past over so slightly. This we say is a Creature of the modern World, and was not seen nor known before the Flood. Moses (Gen. ix. 12, 13.) plainly intimates as much, or rather directly affirms it; for he says, the Bow was set in the Clouds after the Deluge, as a Confirmation of the Promise, or Covenant, which God made with Noah, that he would drown the World no more with Water. And how could it be a Sign of this, or given as a Pledge and Confirmation of such a Promise, if it was in the Clouds before, and with no Regard to this Promise; and stood there, it may be, when the World was going to be drown’d? This would have been but cold Comfort to Noah, to have had such a Pledge of the Divine Veracity. You’ll say, it may be, that it was not a Sign or Pledge, that signified naturally, but voluntarily only, and by Divine Institution: I am of Opinion, I confess, that it signify’d naturally, and by Connexion with the Effect, importing thus much, that the State of Nature was chang’d from what it was before, and so chang’d, that the Earth was no more in a Condition to perish by Water. But however, let us grant that it signifieth only by Institution, to make it significant in this Sense, it must be something new, otherwise it could 323not signify any new thing, or be the Confirmation of a new Promise. If God Almighty had said to Noah, I make a Promise to you, and to all living Creatures, that the World shall never be destroy’d by Water again, and for Confirmation of this, Behold, I set the Sun in the Firmament: Would this have been any strengthening of Noah’s Faith or any Satisfaction to his Mind? Why says Noah, the Sun was in the Firmament when the Deluge came, and was a Spectator of that sad Tragedy; why may it not be so again? What Sign or Assurance is this against a second Deluge? When God gives a Sign in the Heavens, or on the Earth, of any Prophecy or Promise to be fulfill’d, it must be by something new, or by some Change wrought in Nature; whereby God doth testify to us, that he is able and willing to stand to his Promise. God says to Ahaz, Isai. vii. Ask a Sign of the Lord; ask it either in the Depth, or in the Height above: And when Ahaz would ask no Sign, God gives one unask’d, Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son. So when Zachary, Luke 1. was promis’d a Son, he asketh for a Sign, Whereby shall I know this? for I am old, and my Wife well stricken in Years, and the Sign given him was, that he became dumb, and continued so till the Promise was fulfilled. Accordingly, when Abraham ask’d a Sign whereby he might be assured of God’s Promise that his Seed should inherit the Land of Canaan, Gen. xv. 8. ’Tis said (ver. 17.) When the Sun went down and it was dark, behold a smoaking Furnace 324and a burning Lamp passed betwixt the Pieces of the Beasts that he had cut asunder. So in other Instances of Signs given in external Nature, as the Sign given to King Hezekiah, Isai. xxxviii. for his Recovery, and to Gideon for his Victory; to confirm the Promise made to Hezekiah, Judge vii. the Shadow went back ten Degrees in Ahaz Dial. And for Gideon, his Fleece was wet, and all the Ground about it dry; and then to change the Trial, it was dry, and all the Ground about it wet. These were all Signs very proper, significant, and satisfactory, having something surprising and extraordinary, yet these were Signs by Institution only; and to be such they must have something new and strange, as a Mark of the Hand of God, otherwise they can have no Force or Significancy. Accordingly we see, Moses himself in another Place, speaks this very Sense, when in the Mutiny or Rebellion of Corah and Dathan, he speaks thus to the People, If these Men die the common Death of Men, then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new Thing and the Earth open her Mouth and swallow them up, &c. then you shall understand that these Men have provoked the Lord, Numb. xxvi. 29, 30. So in the Case of Noah, if God created a new Creature (which are Moses’s Words in the forecited Place) the Sign was effectual: But where every thing continues to be as it was before, and the Face of Nature, in all its Parts, the very same, it cannot signify any thing new, nor any new Intention in the Author of Nature; and consequently, 325cannot be a Sign or Pledge, a Token or Assurance of the Accomplishment of any new Covenant or Promise made by him.

This, methinks, is plain to common Sense, and to every Man’s Reason; but because it is a Thing of Importance, to prove that there was no Rainbow before the Flood, and will confirm a considerable Part of this Theory, by discovering what the state of the Air was in the old World, give me leave to argue it a little further, and to remove some Prejudices that may keep others from assenting to clear Reason. I know ’tis usually said, that Signs like Words, signify any Thing by Institution, or may be apply’d to any Thing by the Will of the Imposer; as hanging out a white Flag is calling for Mercy; a Bush at the Door a Sign of Wine to be sold, and such like. But these are Instances nothing to our Purpose, these are Signs of something present, and that signify only by Use and repeated Experience; we are speaking of Signs of another Nature given in Confirmation of a Promise, or Threatning, or Prophecy, and given with Design to cure our Unbelief, or to excite and beget in us faith in God, in the Prophet, or in the Promiser; such Signs, I say, when they are wrought in external Nature, must be some new Appearance, and must thereby induce us to believe the Effect, or more to believe it, than if there had been no Sign, but only the Affirmation of the Promiser; for otherwise the pretended Sign is a mere Cypher and Superfluity. But a Thing that obtain’d before, and 326in the same Manner, (even when that came to pass, which we are now promis’d shall not come to pass again) signifies no more, than if there had been no Sign at all: It can neither signify another Course in Nature, nor another Purpose in God; and therefore is perfectly insignificant. Some instance in the Sacraments, Jewish or Christian, and make them Signs in such a Sense as the Rainbow is: But those are rather Symbolical Representations or Commemorations; and some of them Marks of Distinction and Consecration of our selves to God in such a Religion; they were also new, and very particular when first instituted; but all such Instances fall short, and do not reach the Case before us; we are speaking of Signs confirmatory of a Promise; when there is something affirm’d de futuro, and to give us a further Argument of the Certainty of it, and of the Power and Veracity of the Promiser, a Sign is given. This, we say, must indispensably be something new, otherwise it cannot have the Nature, Virtue, and influence of a Sign.

We have seen how incongruous it would be to admit, that the Rainbow appear’d before the Deluge, and how dead a Sign that would make it, how forc’d, fruitless and ineffectual, as to the Promise it was to confirm: Let us now on the other hand suppose, that it first appear’d to the Inhabitants of the Earth after the Deluge, how proper, and how apposite a Sign would this be for Providence to pitch upon, to confirm the Promise made to Noah and his Posterity, That 327the World should be no more destroy’d by Water? It hath a secret Connexion with the Effect it self, and was so far a natural Sign; but however, appearing first after the Deluge, and in a watery Cloud, there was, methinks, a great Easiness and Propriety of Application for such a purpose. And if we suppose, that while God Almighty was declaring his Promise to Noah, and the Sign of it, there appeared at the same Time in the Clouds a fair Rainbow, that marvellous and beautiful Meteor, which Noah had never seen before; it could not but make a most lively Impression upon him, quickning his Faith, and giving him Comfort and Assurance, that God would be stedfast to his Promise.

Nor ought we to wonder that Interpreters have commonly gone the other Way, and suppos’d that the Rainbow was before the Flood: this, I say, was no wonder in them, for they had no Hypothesis that could answer to any other Interpretation: And in the Interpretation of the Texts of Scripture that concern natural Things, they commonly bring them down to their own Philosophy and Notions: As we have a great Instance in that Discourse of St. Peter’s (2 Epist. c. iii. 5.) concerning the Deluge and the Antediluvian Heavens and Earth, which, for want of a Theory, they have been scarce able to make Sense of; for they have forcedly apply’d to the present Earth, or the present Form of the Earth, what plainly respected another. A like Instance we have in the Mosaical Abyss, or Tehom-Rabba, by whose Disruption the Deluge was made; 328this they knew not well what to make of, and so have generally interpreted it of the Sea, or of our subterraneous Waters; without any Propriety either as to the Word, or as to the Sense. A third Instance is this of the Rainbow, where their Philosophy hath misguided them again; for to give them their due, they do not alledge, nor pretend to alledge any Thing from the Text, that should make them interpret thus, or think the Rainbow was before the Flood; but they pretend to go by certain Reasons, as that the Clouds were before the Flood, therefore the Rainbow; and if the Rainbow was not before the Flood, then all things were not made within the six Days Creation: To whom these Reasons are convictive, they must be led into the same Belief with them, but not by any Thing in the Text, nor in the true Theory, at least if ours be so; for by that you see, that the Vapours were never condens’d into Drops, nor into Rain, in the temperate and inhabited Climates of that Earth, and consequently there could never be the Production or Appearance of this Bow in the Clouds. Thus much concerning the Rainbow.

To recollect our selves and conclude this Chapter, and the whole Disquisition concerning the Waters of the primitive Earth; we seem to have so well satisfied the Difficulties propos’d in the beginning of the Chapter, that they have rather given us an Advantage; a better Discovery, and such a new Prospect of that Earth, as makes it not only habitable, but more fit to be Paradisiacal. The Pleasantness of the 329Site of Paradise is made to consist chiefly in two Things, its Waters, and its Trees, (Gen. ii. and Chap. xiii. 10. Ezek. xxxi. 8.) and considering the Richness of that first Soil in the primitive Earth, it could not but abound in Trees, as it did in Rivers and Rivulets; and be wooded like a Grove, as it was water’d like a Garden, in the temperate Climates of it; so as it would not be, methinks, so difficult to find one Paradise there, as not to find more than one.

Chap. VI

A Recollection and Review of what hath been said concerning the Primitive Earth: with a more full Survey of the State of the first World Natural and Civil, and the Comparison of it with the present World.

We have now, in a good Measure, finish’d our Description of the first and antediluvian Earth: And as Travellers, when they see strange Countries, make it part of their Pleasure and Improvement to compare them with their own, to observe the Differences, and wherein they excel, or come short of one another: So it will not be unpleasant, nor unuseful, it may be, having made a Discovery, not of a new Country, but of a new World, and travell’d it over in our Thoughts and Fancy, now to sit down and compare it with our own: And ’twill be no 330hard Task, from the general Differences which we have taken Notice of already, to observe what lesser would arise, and what the whole Face of Nature would be.

’Tis also one Fruit of travelling, that by seeing Variety of Places, and People, of Humours, Fashions, and Forms of Living, it frees us by degrees, from that Pedantry and Littleness of Spirit, whereby we are apt to censure every thing for absurd and ridiculous, that is not according to our own Way, and the Mode of our own Country: But if, instead of crossing the Seas, we could waft our selves over to our neighbouring Planets, we should meet with such Varieties there, both in Nature and Mankind, as would very much enlarge our Thoughts and Souls, and help to cure those Diseases of little Minds, that make them troublesome to others, as well as uneasy to themselves.

But seeing our heavy Bodies are not made for such Voyages, the best and greatest thing we can do in this kind, is to make a Survey and Reflection upon the antediluvian Earth, which in some Sense was another World from this, and, it may be, as different as some two Planets are from one another. We have declar’d already the general Grounds upon which we must proceed, and must now trace the Consequences of them, and drive them down into Particulars, which will shew us in most things, wherein that Earth, or that World, differed from the present. The Form of that Earth, and its Situation to the Sun, were two 331of its most fundamental Differences from ours: As to the Form of it, ’twas all one smooth Continent, one continued Surface of Earth, without any Sea, any Mountains, or Rocks; any Holes, Dens, or Caverns: And the Situation of it to the Sun was such as made a perpetual Æquinox. These two join’d together, lay the Foundation of a new Astronomy, Meteorology, Hydrography and Geography; such as were proper and peculiar to that World. The Earth by this means having its Axis parallel to the Axis of the Ecliptick, the Heavens would appear in another Posture; and their diurnal Motion, which is imputed to the Primum Mobile, and supposed to be upon the Poles of the Æquator, would then be upon the same Poles with the second and periodical Motions of the Orbs and Planets, namely, upon the Poles of the Ecliptick, by which Means the Phænomena of the Heavens would be more simple and regular, and much of that Entangledness and Perplexity, which we find now in Astronomy, would be taken away. Whether the Sun and Moon would suffer any Eclipses then, cannot well be determin’d, unless one knew what the Course of the Moon was at that time, or whether she was then come into our Neighbourhood: Her Presence seems to have been less needful when there were no long Winter Nights, nor the great Pool of the Sea to move or govern.

As for the Regions of the Air and the Meteors, we have in the preceding Chapter set 332down what the State of them would be, and in how much a better Order, and more peaceable, that Kingdom was, till the Earth was broken and displac’d, and the Course of Nature chang’d: Nothing violent, nothing frightful, nothing troublesome or incommodious to Mankind, came from above, but the Countenance of the Heavens was always smooth and serene. I have often thought it a very desirable Piece of Power, if a Man could but command a fair Day, when he had occasion for it, for himself, or for his Friends; ’tis more than the greatest Prince or Potentate upon Earth can do; yet they never wanted one in that World, nor ever saw a foul one. Besides they had constant Breezes from the Motion of the Earth, and the Course of the Vapours, which cool’d the open Plains, and made the Weather temperate, as well as fair. But we have spoken enough in other Places upon this Subject of the Air and the Heavens, let us now descend to the Earth.

The Earth was divided into two Hemispheres, separated by the Torrid Zone, which at that time was uninhabitable, and utterly unpassable; so as the two Hemispheres made two distinct Worlds, which, so far as we can judge, had no manner of Commerce or Communication one with another. The Southern Hemisphere the Antients call’d Antichthon, the opposite Earth, or the Other World. And this Name and Notion remain’d long after the Reason of it had ceas’d. Just as the Torrid Zone was generally accounted uninhabitable 333by the Ancients, even in their Time, because it really had been so once, and the Tradition remain’d uncorrected, when the Causes were taken away; namely, when the Earth had chang’d its Posture to the Sun, after the Deluge.

This may be look’d upon as the first Division of that primæval Earth, into two Hemispheres, naturally sever’d and disunited: But it was also divided into five Zones, two Frigid, two Temperate, and the Torrid betwixt them. And this Distinction of the Globe into five Zones, I think, did properly belong to that original Earth, and primitive Geography, and improperly, and by Translation only, to the present. For all the Zones of our Earth are habitable, and their Distinctions are in a manner but imaginary, not fixed by Nature; whereas in that Earth where the Rivers fail’d, and the Regions became uninhabitable, by reason of Driness and Heat, there begun the Torrid Zone; and where the Regions became uninhabitable by reason of Cold and Moisture, there begun the Frigid Zone; and these being determin’d, they became Bounds on either side to the Temperate. But all this was alter’d when the Posture of the Earth was chang’d, and chang’d for that very purpose, as some of the Ancients have said, That the uninhabitable Parts of the Earth might become habitable. Yet though there was so much of the first Earth uninhabitable, there remain’d as much to be inhabited, as we have now; for the Sea, since the breaking up of the Abyss, 334hath taken away half of the Earth from us, a great part whereof was to them good Land. Besides, we are not to suppose, that the Torrid Zone was of that Extent we make it now, twenty three Degrees and more on either side of the Æquator: These Bounds are set only by the Tropicks, and the Tropicks by the Obliquity of the Course of the Sun, or of the Posture of the Earth, which was not in that World. Where the Rivers stop’d, there the Torrid Zone would begin, but the Sun was directly perpendicular to no part of it but the middle.

How the Rivers flow’d in the first Earth, we have before explain’d sufficiently, and what Parts the Rivers did not reach, were turn’d into Sands and Deserts by the Heat of the Sun; for I cannot easily imagine, that the sandy Desarts of the Earth were made so at first, immediately and from the beginning of the World; from what Causes should that be, and to what purpose in that Age? But in those Tracks of the Earth that were not refreshed with Rivers and Moisture, which cement the Parts, the Ground would moulder and crumble into little Pieces, and then those Pieces by the Heat of the Sun were bak’d into Stone. And this would come to pass chiefly in the hot and scorch’d Regions of the Earth, though it might happen sometimes where there was not that Extremity of Heat, if by any Chance a Place wanted Rivers and Water to keep the Earth in due Temper; but those Sands would not be so early 335or ancient as the other. As for greater loose Stones, and rough Pebbles, there were none in that Earth; Deucalion and Pyrrah, when the Deluge was over, found new made Stones to cast behind their Backs; the Bones of their Mother Earth, which then were broken in Pieces, in that great Ruine.

As for Plants and Trees, we cannot imagine but that they must needs abound in the Primitive Earth, seeing it was so well water’d, and had a Soil so fruitful; a new unlaboured Soil, replenish’d with the Seeds of all Vegetables; and a warm Sun that would call upon Nature early for her First-fruits, to be offer’d up at the beginning of her Course. Nature had a wild Luxuriancy at first, which humane Industry by degrees gave Form and Order to: The Waters flow’d with a constant and gentle Current, and were easily led which way the Inhabitants had a Mind, for their Use, or for their Pleasure; and shady Trees, which grow best in moist and warm Countries, grac’d the Banks of their Rivers or Canals. But that which was the Beauty and Crown of all, was their perpetual Spring, the Fields always green, the Flowers always fresh, and the Trees always covered with Leaves and Fruit: But we have occasionally spoken of these things in several Places, and may do again hereafter, and therefore need not enlarge upon them here.

As for Subterraneous Things, Metals and Minerals, I believe they had none in the first Earth; and the happier they; no Gold, nor 336Silver, nor coarser Metals. The Use of these is either imaginary, or in such Works, as, by the Constitution of their World, they had little Occasion for. And Minerals are either for Medicine, which they had no need of further than Herbs; or for Materials to certain Arts, which were not then in use, or were supplied by other ways. These subterraneous things, Metals and metallick Minerals, are fictitious, not original Bodies, coæval with the Earth; but are made in Process of Time, after long Preparations and Concoctions, by the Action of the Sun within the Bowels of the Earth. And if the Stamina, or Principles of them rise from the lower Regions that lie under the Abyss, as I am apt to think they do, it doth not seem probable that they could be drawn thro’ such a Mass of Waters, or that the Heat of the Sun could on a sudden penetrate so deep, and be able to loosen them, and raise them into the exterior Earth. And as the first Age of the World was call’d Golden, though it knew not what Gold was; so the following Ages had their Names from several Metals, which lay then asleep in the dark and deep Womb of Nature, and saw not the Sun till many Years and Ages afterwards.

Having run through the several Regions of Nature, from Top to Bottom, from the Heavens to the lower Parts of the Earth, and made some Observations upon their Order in the antediluvian World; let us now look upon Man and other living Creatures, that make 337up the superior and animate Part of Nature. We have observed, and sufficiently spoken to that Difference betwixt the Men of the old World, and those of the present, in Point of Longevity, and given the Reasons of it; but we must not imagine that this long Life was peculiar to Man, all other Animals had their Share of it, and were in their Proportion longer-liv’d than they are now. Nay, not only Animals, but also Vegetables; and the Forms of all living Things were far more permanent: The Trees of the Field and of the Forest, in all Probability, out-lasted the Lives of Men; and I do not know but the first Groves of Pines and Cedars that grew out of the Earth, or that were planted in the Garden of God, might be standing when the Deluge came, (Ezek. xxxi. 8.) and see from first to last, the entire Course and Period of a World.

We might add here, with St. Austin, (Civ. Dei, lib. 15. c. 9.) another Observation, both concerning Men and other living Creatures in the first World, that they were greater as well as longer-liv’d, than they are at present: This seems to be a very reasonable Conjecture; for the State of every Thing that hath Life is divided into the Time of its Growth, its Consistency and its Decay; and when the whole Duration is longer, every one of these Parts, though not always in like Proportions, will be longer. We must suppose then, that the Growth both in Men and other Animals lasted longer in that World than it doth now, and consequently carried their Bodies both to a greater Height 338and Bulk. And in like Manner, their Trees would be both taller, and every Way bigger than ours; neither were they in any Danger there, to be blown down by Winds and Storms, or struck with Thunder, tho’ they had been as high as the Ægyptian Pyramids; and whatsoever their Height was, if they had Roots and Trunks proportionable, and were streight and well pois’d, they would stand firm, and with a greater Majesty. The Fowls of Heaven making their Nests in their Boughs, and under their Shadow the Beasts of the Field bringing forth their Young. When Things are fairly possible in their Causes, and possible in several Degrees, higher or lower, ’tis Weakness of Spirit in us, to think there is nothing in Nature, but in that one Way, or in that one Degree, that we are us’d to. And whosoever believes those Accounts given us, both by the Ancients (Plin. l. 7. c. 2. Strab. l. 17.) and Moderns, (Hort. Malabar, vol. 3.) of the Indian Trees, will not think it strange that those of the first Earth should much exceed any that we now see in this World. That allegorical Description of the Glory of Assyria in Ezekiel, Chap. xxxi. by Allusion to Trees, and particularly to the Trees of Paradise, was chiefly for the Greatness and Stateliness of them; and there is all Fairness of Reason to believe, that in that first Earth, both the Birds of the Air, and the Beasts of the Field, and the Trees and their Fruit, were all in their several Kinds more large and goodly than Nature produces any now.

339So much in short, concerning the natural World, inanimate or animate; we should now take a Prospect of the moral World of that time, or of the civil and artificial World; what the Order and Oeconomy of these was, what the Manner of Living, and how the Scenes of humane Life were different from ours at present. The Ancients, especially the Poets, in their Description of the golden Age, exhibit to us an Order of Things, and a Form of Life, very remote from any Thing we see in our Days; but they are not to be trusted in all Particulars; many times they exaggerate Matters on purpose, that they may seem more strange, or more great, and by that Means move and please us more. A Moral or Philosophick History of the World, well writ, would certainly be a very useful Work, to observe and relate how the Scenes of humane Life have chang’d in several Ages, the Modes and Forms of Living, in what Simplicity Men begun at first, and by what Degrees they came out of that Way, by Luxury, Ambition, Improvement, or Changes in Nature; then what new Forms and Modifications were superadded by the Invention of Arts, what by Religion, what by Superstition. This would be a View of Things more instructive, and more satisfactory, than to know what Kings reign’d in such an Age, and what Battles were fought, which common History teacheth, and teacheth little more. Such Affairs are but the little Under-plots in the Tragi comedy of the World; the main Design is of another Nature, and of 340far greater Extent and Consequence. But to return to the Subject.

As the animate World depends upon the inanimate, so the civil World depends upon them both, and takes its Measures from them; Nature is the Foundation still, and the Affairs of Mankind are a Superstructure that will be always proportion’d to it. Therefore we must look back upon the Model, or Picture, of their natural World, which we have drawn before, to make our Conjectures, or Judgment, of the civil and artificial, that were to accompany it. We observ’d from their perpetual Æquinox, and the Smoothness of the Earth, that the Air would be always calm, and the Heavens fair, no cold or violent Winds, Rains, or Storms, no Extremity of Weather in any kind, and therefore they would need little Protection from the Injuries of the Air, in that State; whereas now, one great Part of the Affairs of Life is to preserve our selves from those Inconveniencies, by Building and Cloathing. How many Hands, and how many Trades are employ’d about these two Things? Which then were in a manner needless, or at least in such Plainness and Simplicity, that every Man might be his own Workman. Tents and Bowers would keep them from all Incommodities of the Air and Weather, better than Stone Walls and strong Roofs defend us now; and Men are apt to take the easiest Ways of Living, till Necessity or Vice put them upon others that are more laborious, and more artificial. We also observ’d and prov’d, 341that they had no Sea in the primitive and antediluvian World, which makes a vast difference ’twixt us and them. This takes up half of our Globe, and a good part of Mankind is busied with Sea Affairs and Navigation. They had little need of merchandizing then, Nature supply’d them at Home with all Necessaries, which were few, and they were not so greedy of Superfluities as we are. We may add to these, what concern’d their Food and Diet; Antiquity doth generally suppose, that Men were not carnivorous in those Ages of the World, or did not feed upon Flesh, but only upon Fruit and Herbs. And this seems to be plainly confirm’d by Scripture; for after the Deluge, God Almighty gives Noah and his Posterity a Licence to eat Flesh, (Gen. ix. 2, 3.) Every moving Thing that liveth shall be Meat for you. Whereas before, in the new-made Earth, God had prescrib’d them Herbs and Fruit for their Diet, (Gen. i. 29.) Behold I have given you every Herb bearing Seed, which is upon the Face of all the Earth; and every Tree, in the which is the Fruit of a Tree yielding Seed, to you it shall be for Meat. And of this natural Diet they would be provided to their Hands, without further Preparation, as the Birds and the Beasts are.

Upon these general Grounds we may infer and conclude, that the civil World then as well as the natural, had a very different Face and Aspect from what it hath now; for of these Heads, Food and Cloathing, Building and Traffick, with that Train of Arts, Trades 342and Manufactures that attend them, the civil Order of Things is in a great Measure constituted and compounded; These make the Business of Life, the several Occupations of Men, the Noise and Hurry of the World; these fill our Cities, and our Fairs, and our Havens and Ports; yet all these fine Things are but the Effects of Indigency and Necessitousness, and were, for the most part, needless and unknown in that first State of Nature. The Ancients have told us the same Things in Effect; but telling us them without their Grounds, which they themselves did not know, they look’d like poetical Stories, and pleasant Fictions, and with most Men past for no better. We have shewn them in another Light, with their Reasons and Causes, deduc’d from the State of the natural World, which is the Basis upon which they stand; and this doth not only give them a just and full Credibility, but also lays a Foundation for After-thoughts, and further Deductions, when they meet with Minds dispos’d to pursue Speculations of this Nature.

As for Laws, Government, natural Religion, Military and Judicial Affairs, with all their Equipage, which make an higher Order of Things in the civil and moral World, to calculate these upon the Grounds given, would be more difficult, and more uncertain; neither do they at all belong to the present Theory. But from what we have already observ’d, we may be able to make a better Judgment of those traditional Accounts which the Ancients 343have left us concerning these Things, in the early Ages of the World, and the primitive State of Nature. No doubt in these, as in all other Particulars, there was a great Easiness and Simplicity, in Comparison of what is now; we are in a more pompous, forc’d, and artificial Method, which partly the Change of Nature, and partly the Vices and Vanities of Men have introduc’d and establish’d. But these things, with many more, ought to be the Subject of a Philosophick History of the World, which we mentioned before.

This is a short and general Scheme of the primæval World, compared with the modern; yet these things did not equally run thro’ all the Parts and Ages of it; there was a Declension and Degeneracy, both natural and moral, by Degrees, and especially towards the latter End; but the principal Form of Nature remaining till the Deluge and the Dissolution of the Heavens and Earth, till then also this civil Frame of Things would stand in a great Measure. And tho’ such a State of Nature, and of Mankind, when ’tis propos’d crudely, and without its Grounds, appear fabulous or imaginary, yet ’tis really in itself a State, not only possible, but more easy and natural, than what the World is in at present. And if one of the old antediluvian Patriarchs should rise from the Dead, he would be more surpriz’d to see our World in that Posture it is, than we can be by the Story and Description of his. As an Indian hath more Reason to wonder at the European Modes, than we have to wonder at 344their plain Manner of Living. ’Tis we that have left the Track of Nature, that are wrought and screw’d up into Artifices, that have disguis’d ourselves; and ’tis in our World that the Scenes are chang’d, and become more strange and fantastical.

I will conclude this Discourse with an easy Remark, and without any particular Application of it. ’Tis a strange Power that Custom hath upon weak and little Spirits, whose Thoughts reach no further than their Senses; and what they have seen and been us’d to, they make the Standard and Measure of Nature, of Reason, and of all Decorum. Neither are there any Sort of Men more positive and tenacious of their petty Opinions, than they are; nor more censorious, even to Bitterness and Malice. And ’tis generally so, that those that have the least Evidence for the Truth of their beloved Opinions, are most peevish and impatient in the Defence of them. This sort of Men are the last that will be made wise Men, if ever they be, for they have the worst of Diseases that accompany Ignorance, and do not so much as know themselves to be sick.

Chap. VII

The Place of Paradise cannot be determined from the Theory only, nor from Scripture only. What the Sense of Antiquity was concerning it, both as to the Jews and Heathens, and especially as to the Christian Fathers. That they generally plac’d it out of this Continent, in the southern Hemisphere.

We have now prepared our Work for the last finishing Strokes; described the first Earth, and compar’d it with the present; and not only the two Earths, but in a good Measure the whole State and Oeconomy of those two Worlds. It remains only to determine the Place of Paradise in that primæval Earth; I say, in that primæval Earth, for we have driven the Point so far already, that the Seat of it could not be in the present Earth, whose Form, Site, and Air, are so dispos’d, as could not consist with the first and most indispensible Properties of Paradise: And accordingly, we see with what ill Success our modern Authors have rang’d over the Earth, to find a fit Spot of Ground to plant Paradise in; some would set it on the Top of an high Mountain, that it might have good Air and fair Weather, as being above the Clouds, and the middle Region; but then they were at a Loss for Water, which made a great Part of the Pleasure and Beauty of that Place. Others therefore would seat it in a Plain, or in 346a River-Island, that they might have Water enough; but then it would be subject to the Injuries of the Air, and foul Weather at the Seasons of the Year; from which, both Reason and all Authority have exempted Paradise. ’Tis like seeking a perfect Beauty in a mortal Body, there are so many Things required to it, as to Complexion, Features, Proportions and Air, that they never meet all together in one Person; neither can all the Properties of a terrestrial Paradise ever meet together in one Place, tho’ never so well chosen, in this present Earth.

But in the primæval Earth, which we have described, ’tis easy to find a Seat that had all those Beauties and Conveniencies. We have every where thro’ the temperate Climates, a clear and constant Air, a fruitful Soil, pleasant Waters, and all the general Characters of Paradise; so that the Trouble will be rather in that Competition, what Part or Region to pitch upon in particular. But to come as near it as we can, we must remember in the first Place, how that Earth was divided into two Hemispheres, distant and separated from one another, not by an imaginary Line, but by a real Boundary that could not be past; so as the first Inquiry will be, in whether of these Hemispheres was the Seat of Paradise. To answer this only according to our Theory, I confess, I see no natural Reason or Occasion to place it in one Hemisphere more than in another; I see no Ground of Difference or Pre-eminence, that one had above the other; and I am apt to 347think, that depended rather upon the Will of God, and the Series of Providence that was to follow in this Earth, than upon any natural Incapacity in one of these two Regions more than in the other, for planting in it the Garden of God. Neither doth Scripture determine, with any Certainty, either Hemisphere for the Place of it; for when ’tis said to be in Eden, or to be the Garden of Eden, ’tis no more than the Garden of Pleasure or Delight, as the Word signifies: And even the Septuagint, who render this Word Eden, as a proper Name twice, (Gen. ii. ver. 8, & 10.) do in the same Story render it twice as a common Name, signifying τρυφὴ Pleasure, (Chap. ii. 15. and Chap. iii. 24.) and so they do accordingly render it in Ezekiel, (Chap. xxxi. 9, 16, 18.) where this Garden of Eden is spoken of again. Some have thought that the Word Mekiddim, (Gen. ii. 8.) was to be render’d in the East, or Eastward, as we read it, and therefore determin’d the Site of Paradise; but ’tis only the Septuagint translate it so; all the other Greek Versions, and St. Jerome, the Vulgate, the Chaldee Paraphrase, and the Syriack render it from the Beginning, or in the Beginning, or to that Effect. And we that do not believe the Septuagint to have been infallible, or inspir’d, have no Reason to prefer their single Authority above all the rest. Some also think the Place of Paradise may be determined by the four Rivers that are named, as belonging to it, and the Countries they ran through; but the Names of those Rivers are to me uncertain, 348and two of them altogether unintelligible. Where are there four Rivers in our Continent that come from one Head, as these are said to have done, either at the Entrance or Issue of the Garden? ’Tis true, if you admit our Hypothesis, concerning the Fraction and Disruption of the Earth at the Deluge, then we cannot expect to find Rivers now as they were before; the general Source is chang’d, and their Channels are all broke up; but if you do not admit such a Dissolution of the Earth, but suppose the Deluge to have been only like a standing Pool, after it had once cover’d the Surface of the Earth, I do not see why it should make any great Havock or Confusion in it; and they that go that Way, are therefore the more oblig’d to shew us still, the Rivers of Paradise. Several of the Ancients, as we shall shew hereafter, suppos’d these four Rivers to have their heads in the other Hemisphere; and if so, the Seat of Paradise might be there too. But let them first agree among themselves concerning these Rivers, and the Countries they run thro’, and we will undertake to shew that there cannot be any such in this Continent.

Seeing then neither the Theory doth determine, nor Scripture, where the Place of Paradise was, nor in whether Hemisphere, we must appeal to Antiquity, or the Opinions of the Ancients; for I know no other Guide but one of these three, Scripture, Reason, and ancient Tradition; and where the two former are silent, it seems very reasonable to consult 349the third. And that our Inquiries may be comprehensive enough, we will consider what the Jews, what the Heathens, and what the Christian Fathers have said, or determin’d, concerning the Seat of Paradise. The Jews and Hebrew Doctors place it in neither Hemisphere, but betwixt both, under the Æquinoctial, as you may see plainly in Abravanel, Manasses, Ben-Israel, Maimonides, Eben Ezra, and others. But the Reason why they carried it no further than the Line, is, because they suppos’d it certain, as Eben Ezra tells us, that the Days and Nights were always equal in Paradise, and they did not know how that could be, unless it stood under the Æquinoctial. But we have shewn another Method, wherein that perpetual Equinox came to pass, and how it was common to all the Parts and Climates of that Earth, which if they had been aware of, and that the Torrid Zone at that time was utterly uninhabitable, having remov’d their Paradise thus far from Home, they would probably have remov’d it a little further into the temperate Climates of the other Hemisphere.

The ancient Heathens, Poets and Philosophers, had the Notion of Paradise, or rather of several Paradises in the Earth; and ’tis remarkable, that they plac’d them generally, if not all of them, out of this Continent; in the Ocean, or beyond it, or in another Orb or Hemisphere. The Garden of the Hesperides, the fortunate Islands, the Elysian Fields, Ogygia and Toprabane, as it is describ’d by Diodorus Siculus, with others such like; which as 350they were all characteriz’d like so many Paradises, so they were all seated out of our Continent, by their Geography and Descriptions of them.

Thus far Antiquity seems to incline to the other Hemisphere, or to some Place beyond the Bounds of our Continent for the Seat of Paradise: But that which we are most to depend upon in this Affair, is Christian Antiquity, the Judgment and Tradition of the Fathers upon this Argument. And we may safely say in the first Place, negatively, that none of the Christian Fathers, Latin or Greek, ever plac’d Paradise in Mesopotamia; that is a Conceit and Invention of some modern Authors, which have been much encourag’d of late, because it gave Men Ease and Rest, as to further Enquiries, in an Argument they could not well manage. Secondly, We may affirm, that none of the Christian Fathers have plac’d Paradise in any determinate Region of our Continent, Asia, Africk, or Europe. I have read of one or two Authors, I think, that fancied Paradise to have been at Jerusalem; but ’twas a mere Fancy, that no Body regarded or pursu’d. The Controversy amongst the Fathers concerning Paradise was quite another Thing from what it is now of late: They disputed and controverted, whether Paradise was corporeal or intellectual only, and allegorical; this was the grand Point amongst them. Then of those that thought it corporeal, some plac’d it high in the Air, some inaccessible, by Desarts or Mountains, and many beyond the 351Ocean, or in another World; and in these chiefly consisted the Differences and Diversity of Opinions amongst them; nor do we find that they nam’d any particular Place or Country in the known Parts of the Earth for the Seat of Paradise, or that one contested for one Spot of Ground, and another for another, which is the vain Temerity of modern Authors; as if they could tell to an Acre of Land where Paradise stood, or could set their Foot upon the Centre of the Garden. These have corrupted and misrepresented the Notion of our Paradise, just as some Modern Poets have the Notion of the Elysian Fields, which Homer and the Ancients plac’d remote, on the Extremities of the Earth, and these would make a little green Meadow in Campania Felix to be the fam’d Elysium.

Thus much concerning the Fathers, negatively; but to discover as far as we can, what their positive Assertions were in this Argument, we may observe, that tho’ their Opinions be differently exprest, they generally concenter in this, that the Southern Hemisphere was the Seat of Paradise. This, I say, seems manifestly to be the Sense of Christian Antiquity and Tradition, so far as there is anything definitive in the Remains we have upon that Subject. Some of the Fathers did not believe Paradise to be corporeal and local, and those are to be laid aside in the first Place, as to this Point; others that thought it local, did not determine any thing (as most of them indeed did not) concerning the particular Place of it; but the rest that did, tho’ they have exprest 352themselves in various Ways, and under various Forms; yet, upon a due Interpretation, they all meet in one common and general Conclusion, that Paradise was seated beyond the Æquinoctial, or in the other Hemisphere.

And to understand this aright, we must reflect in the first Place, upon the Form of the primæval Earth, and of the two Hemispheres of which it consisted, altogether incommunicable one with another, by reason of the Torrid Zone betwixt them; so as those two Hemispheres were then as two distinct Worlds, or distinct Earths, that had no Commerce with one another. And this Notion, or Tradition, we find among Heathen Authors, as well as Christian; this opposite Earth being called by them Antichthon, and its Inhabitants Antichthones: For those Words comprehend both the Antepodes and Anœci, or all beyond the Line, as is manifest from their best Authors, as Achilles, Tatius, and Cæsar Germanicus, upon Aratus, Probus Grammaticus, Censorinus, Pomponius Mela, and Pliny. And these were called another World, and look’d upon as another Stock and Race of Mankind, as appears from Cicero and Macrobius, (Somn. Scip.) But as the latter Part was their Mistake, so the former is acknowledged by Christian Authors, as well as others; and particularly St. Clement, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, mentions a World, or Worlds beyond the Ocean subject to divine Providence, and the great Lord of Nature as well as ours. This Passage of St. Clement is also cited by St. Jerome, in his Commentary upon Eph. ii. 2. and by Origen Periarchon, 353(Lib. 2. c. 3.) where the Inhabitants of that other World are call’d Antichthones.

I Make this Remark in the first Place, that we may understand the true Sense and Importance of those Phrases and Expressions amongst the Ancients, when they say Paradise was in another World. Which are not to be so understood, as if they thought Paradise was in the Moon, or in Jupiter, or hung above like a Cloud or a Meteor, they were not so extravagant; but that Paradise was in another Hemisphere, which was call’d Antichthon, another Earth, or another World from ours; and justly reputed so, because of an Impossibility of Commerce or Intercourse betwixt their respective Inhabitants. And this Remark being premis’d, we will now distribute the Christian Authors and Fathers, that have deliver’d their Opinion concerning the Place of Paradise, into three or four Ranks or Orders; and tho’ they express themselves differently, you will see, when duly examin’d and expounded, they all conspire and concur in the foremention’d Conclusion, That the Seat of Paradise was in the other Hemisphere.

In the first Rank then we will place and reckon those that have set Paradise in another World, or in another Earth; seeing, according to the foregoing Explication, that is the same thing as to affirm it seated beyond the Torrid Zone in the other Hemisphere. In this Number are Ephrem Syrus, Moses Bar Cepha, Tatianus, and of latter Date, Jacobus de Valentia. To these are to be added again such Authors as say, 354that Adam, when he was turn’d out of Paradise, was brought into our Earth, or into our Region of the Earth; for this is tantamount with the former; and this seems to be the Sense of St. Jerome in several Places against Joviniam, as also of Constantine, in his Oration in Eusebius, and is positively asserted by Sulpitius Severus. And lastly, Those Authors that represent Paradise as remote from our World, and inaccessible; so St. Austin, Procopius Gazæus, Beda, Strabus Fuldensis, Historia Scholiastica, and others; these, I say, pursue the same Notion of Antiquity; for what is remote from our World, (that is, from our Continent, as we before explain’d it) is to be understood to be that Antichthon, (Οἱκουμένη) or Anti-hemisphere, which the Ancients oppos’d to ours.

Another Set of Authors, that interpret the Flaming Sword that guarded Paradise to be the Torrid Zone, do plainly intimate, that Paradise in their Opinion lay beyond the Torrid Zone, or in the Anti-hemisphere; and thus Tertullian interprets the Flaming Sword, and in such Words as fully confirm our Sense: Paradise, he says, by the Torrid Zone, as by a Wall of Fire, was sever’d from the Communication and Knowledge of our World. It lay then on the other Side of this Zone. And St. Cyprian, or the ancient Author that passeth under his Name, in his Comment upon Genesis, expresseth himself to the same Effect; so also St. Austin and Isidore Hispalensis are thought to interpret it: And Aquinas, who makes Paradise inaccessible, gives this Reason 355for it, Propter vehementiam æstus in locis intermediis ex propinquitate Solis, & hoc significatur per Flammeum Gladium: Because of that vehement Heat in the Parts betwixt us and that, arising from the Nearness of the Sun, and this is signified by the Flaming Sword. And this Interpretation of the Flaming Sword receives a remarkable Force and Emphasis from our Theory and Description of the primæval Earth, for there the Torrid Zone was as a Wall of Fire indeed, or a Region of Flame, which none could pass or subsist in, no more than in a Furnace.

There is another Form of Expression amongst the Ancients concerning Paradise, which if decyphered, is of the same Force and Signification with this we have already instanc’d in: They say sometimes, Paradise was beyond the Ocean, or that the Rivers of Paradise came from beyond the Ocean. This is of the same Import with the former Head, and points still at the other Hemisphere; for, as we noted before, some of them fixt their Antichthon and Antichthones beyond the Ocean; that is, since there was an Ocean; since the Form of the Earth was chang’d, and the Torrid Zone became habitable, and consequently could not be a Boundary or Separation, betwixt the two Worlds. Wherefore, as some run still upon the old Division by the Torrid Zone, others took the new Division by the Ocean. Which Ocean they suppos’d to lie from East to West betwixt the Tropicks; as may be seen in ancient Authors, Geminus, Herodotus, Cicero 356de republica, and Clemens Romanus, whom we cited before. St. Austin (De Civ. Dei, lib. 16. c. 9.) also speaks upon the same Supposition, when he would confute the Doctrine of the Antipodes, or Antichthones; and Macrobius, I remember, makes it an Argument of Providence, that the Sun and the Planets, in what Part of their Course soever they are betwixt the two Tropicks, have still the Ocean under them, that they may be cool’d and nourish’d by its Moisture. They thought the Sea, like a Girdle, went round the Earth, and the temperate Zones on either Side were the habitable Regions, whereof this was called the Oicoumene, and the other Antichthon.

This being observ’d, ’tis not material whether their Notion was true or false, it shews us what their Meaning was, and what Part of the Earth they design’d, when they spoke of any Thing beyond the Ocean; namely, that they meant beyond the Line, in the other Hemisphere or in the Antichthon; and accordingly, when they say Paradise, or the Fountains of its Rivers were beyond the Ocean, they say the same Thing in other Terms with the rest of those Authors we have cited. In Moses Bar Cepha above-mention’d, we find a Chapter upon this Subject, Quomodo trajecerint Mortales inde ex Paradisi terra in hanc terram. How Mankind past out of that Earth or Continent, where Paradise was, into that where we are. Namely how they past the Ocean, that lay betwixt them, as the Answer there given explains it. And so Ephrem Syrus is 357cited often in that Treatise, placing Paradise beyond the Ocean. The Essenes also, who were the most Philosophick Sect of the Jews, plac’d Paradise, according to Josephus, beyond the Ocean, under a perfect Temperature of Air. And that Passage in Eusebius, in the Oration of Constantine, being corrected and restor’d to the true reading, represents Paradise, in like manner, as in another Continent, from whence Adam was brought after his Transgression, into this. And lastly, there are some Authors, whose Testimony and Authority may deserve to be consider’d, not for their own Antiquity, but because they are professedly Transcribers of Antiquity and Traditions; such as Strabus, Comestor, and the like, who are known to give this Account or Report of Paradise from the Ancients, that it was interposito Oceano ab Orbe nostro vel a Zona nostra habitabili secretus, separated from our Orb or Hemisphere, by the Interposition of the Ocean.

It is also observable, that many of the Ancients that took Tigris, Euphrates, Nile and Ganges, for the Rivers of Paradise, said that those Heads or Fountains of them, which we have in our Continent, are but their capita secunda, their second Sources, and that their first Sources were in another Orb where Paradise was; and thus Hugo de Sancto Victore says, Sanctos communiter sensisse, That the Holy Men of old were generally of that Opinion. To this Sense also Moses Bar Cepha often expresseth himself; as also Epiphanius, Procopius Gazæus, and Severianus 358in Catena. Which Notion amongst the Ancients, concerning the Trajection or Passage of the paradisiacal Rivers under Ground, or under Sea, from one Continent into another, is to me, I confess, unintelligible, either in the first or second Earth; but however it discovers their Sense and Opinion of the Seat of Paradise, that it was not to be sought for in Asia or in Africa, where those Rivers rise to us; but in some remoter Parts of the World, where they suppos’d their first Sources to be.

This is a short Account of what the Christian Fathers have left us concerning the Seat of Paradise; and the Truth is, ’tis but a short and broken account; yet ’tis no wonder it should be so, if we consider, as we noted before, that several of them did not believe Paradise to be local and corporeal; others that did believe it so, yet did not offer to determine the Place of it, but left that Matter wholly untouch’d and undecided: and the rest that did speak to that Point, did it commonly both in general Terms, and in Expressions that were disguis’d, and needed Interpretation; but all these Differences and Obscurities of Expression, you see, when duly stated and expounded, may signify one and the same Thing, and terminate all in this common Conclusion, That Paradise was without our Continent, according to the general Opinion and Tradition of Antiquity. And I do not doubt but the Tradition would have been both more express and more universal, if the Ancients had understood Geography better; for 359those of the Ancients that did not admit or believe that there were Antipodes or Antichthones, as Lactantius, St. Austin, and some others; these could not join in the common Opinion about the Place of Paradise, because they thought there was no Land, nor any thing habitable ἔξω τὴς οἱκουμένες, or beside this Continent. And yet St. Austin was so cautious, that as he was bounded on the one Hand by his false Idea of the Earth, that he could not join with Antiquity as to the Place of Paradise; so on the other Hand, he had that Respect for it, that he would not say any thing to the contrary; therefore being to give his Opinion, he says only, Terrestrem esse Paradisum, & locum ejus ab hominum cognitione esse remotissimum: That it is somewhere upon the Earth, but the Place of it very remote from the Knowledge of Men.

And as their Ignorance of the Globe of the Earth was one Reason why the Doctrine of Paradise was so broken and obscure, so another Reason why it is much more so at present is, because the chief ancient Books writ upon that Subject are lost. Ephrem Syrus who liv’d in the fourth Century, writ a Commentary in Genesin sine de Ortu rerum, concerning the Origin of the Earth; and by those Remains that are cited from it, we have reason to believe that it contained many Things remarkable concerning the first Earth, and concerning Paradise. Tertullian also writ a Book de Paradiso, which is wholly lost; and we see to what Effect it would have been, by his making the Torrid Zone to be the Flaming Sword, and 360the Partition betwixt this Earth and Paradise, which two Earths he more than once distinguisheth as very different from one another, (Cont. Marc. lib. 2. c. 2. c. 5.) The most ancient Author that I know upon this Subject, at least of those that writ of it literally, is Moses Bar Cepha a Syrian Bishop, who liv’d about 700 Years since, and his Book is translated into Latin by that learned and judicious Man Andreas Masius. Bar Cepha writes upon the same Views of Paradise that we have here presented, that it was beyond the Ocean, in another Track of Land, or another Continent from that which we inhabit: As appears from the very Titles of his 8th, 10th, and 14th Chapters. But we must allow him for his mistaken Notions about the Form of the Earth; for he seems to have fancied the Earth plain, (not only as oppos’d to rough and mountainous, for so it was plain; but as oppos’d to spherical) and the Ocean to have divided it in two Parts, an interior, and an exterior, and in that exterior Part was Paradise. Such Allowances must often be made for Geographical Mistakes, in examining and understanding the Writings of the Ancients. The rest of the Syrian Fathers, as well as Ephrem and Bar Cepha, incline to the same Doctrine of Paradise, and seem to have retain’d more of the ancient notions concerning it, than the Greek and Latin Fathers have; and yet there is in all some Fragments of this Doctrine, and but Fragments in the best.

We might add in the last Place, that as the most ancient Treatises concerning Paradise are lost, so also the ancient Glosses and Catenae upon 361Scripture, where we might have found the Traditions and Opinions of the Ancients upon this Subject, are many of them either lost or unpublish’d; and upon this Consideration, we did not think it improper to cite some Authors of small Antiquity, but such as have transcrib’d several Things out of ancient Manuscript-glosses into their Commentaries. They living however before Printing was invented, or Learning well restor’d, and before the Reformation. I add that also, before the Reformation, for since that Time the Protestant Authors having lessen’d the Authority of Traditions, the pontifical Doctors content themselves to insist only upon such as they thought were useful or necessary, left by multiplying others that were but Matter of Curiosity, they should bring the first into Question, and render the whole Doctrine of Traditions more dubious and exceptionable; and upon this Account, there are some Authors that writ an Age or two before the Reformation, that have with more Freedom told us the Tenets and Traditions of the Ancients in these Speculations, that are but collateral to Religion, than any have done since.

And I must confess I am apt to think, that what remains concerning the Doctrine of Paradise, and the primæval Earth, is in a good Measure traditional; for one may observe, that those that treat upon these Subjects, quote the true Opinions, and tell you some of the Ancients held so and so; as that Paradise was in another Earth, or higher than this Earth; that there were no Mountains before the Flood, 362nor any Rain, and such like; yet they do not name those ancient Authors that held these Opinions; which makes me apt to believe, either that they were convey’d by traditional Communication from one to another, or that there were other Books extant upon those Subjects, or other Glosses, than what are now known.

Finally, To conclude this Discourse concerning the Seat of Paradise, we must mind you again upon what Basis it stands. We declar’d freely, that we could not by our Theory alone determine the particular Place of it, only by that we are assur’d, that it was in the primæval Earth, and not in the present; but in what Region, or in whether Hemisphere of that Earth it was seated, we cannot define from Speculation only. ’Tis true, if we hold fast to that Scripture-conclusion, That all Mankind rose from one Head, and from one and the same Stock and Lineage, (which doth not seem to be according to the Sentiments of the Heathens) we must suppose they were born in one Hemisphere, and after some Time translated into the other, or a Colony of them: But this still doth not determine in whether of the two they begun, and were first seated before their Translation; and I am apt to think that depended rather, as we noted before, upon the Divine Pleasure, and the Train of Affairs that was to succeed, than upon natural Causes and Differences. Some of the Ancients, I know, made both the Soil and the Stars more noble in the southern Hemisphere, than in ours; but 363I do not see any Proof or Warrant for it; wherefore, laying aside all natural Topicks, we are willing, in this Particular, to refer our selves wholly to the Report and Majority of Votes among the Ancients; who yet do not seem to me to lay much Stress upon the Notion of a particular and topical Paradise, and therefore use general and remote Expressions concerning it. And finding no Place for it in this Continent, they are willing to quit their Hands of it, by placing it in a Region somewhere far off, and inaccessible. This, together with the old Tradition, that Paradise was in another Earth, seems to me to give an Account of most of their Opinions concerning the Seat of Paradise, and that they were generally very uncertain where to fix it.

Chap. VIII

The Uses of this Theory for the Illustration of Antiquity; The ancient Chaos explain’d; The Inhabitability of the Torrid Zone; The Change of the Poles of the World; The Doctrine of the Mundane Egg; How America was first peopled; How Paradise within the Circle of the Moon.

We have now dispatch’d the Theory of the primæval Earth, and reviv’d a forgotten World. ’Tis pity the first and fairest Works of Nature should be lost out of the Memory of Man, and that we should so much dote upon the Ruins, as never to think upon the Original Structure. 364As the Modern Artists, from some broken Pieces of an ancient Statue, make out all the other Parts and Proportions; so from the broken and scatter’d Limbs of the first World, we have shewn you how to raise the whole Fabrick again; and renew the Prospect of those pleasant Scenes that first saw the Light, and first entertain’d Man, when he came to act upon this new-erected Stage.

We have drawn this Theory chiefly to give an Account of the universal Deluge, and of Paradise; but as when one lights a Candle to look for one or two Things which they want, the Light will not confine it self to those two Objects, but shews all the other in the Room; so, methinks, we have unexpectedly cast a Light upon all Antiquity, in seeking after these two Things, or in retrieving the Notion and Doctrine of the primæval Earth, upon which they depended. For in ancient Learning, there are many Discourses, and many Conclusions deliver’d to us, that are so obscure and confus’d, and so remote from the present State of Things, that one cannot well distinguish whether they are Fictions or Realities: And there is no way to distinguish with Certainty, but by a clear Theory upon the same Subject; which shewing us the Truth directly and independently upon them, shews us also by Reflection, how far they are true or false, and in what Sense they are to be interpreted and understood. And the present Theory being of great extent, we shall find it serviceable in 365many Things, for the Illustration of such dubious and obscure Doctrines in Antiquity.

To begin with their ancient CHAOS, what a dark Story have they made of it, both their Philosophers and Poets; and how fabulous in Appearance? ’Tis deliver’d as confusedly as the Mass it self could be, and hath not been reduc’d to Order, nor indeed made intelligible by any. They tell us of moral Principles in the Chaos, instead of natural, of Strife and Discord, and Division on the one Hand, and Love, Friendship, and Venus on the other; and, after a long Contest, Love got the better of Discord, and united the disagreeing Principles: This is one Part of their Story. Then they make the Forming of the World out of the Chaos a kind of Genealogy or Pedigree; Chaos was the common Parent of all, and from Chaos sprung first Night, and Tartarus, or Oceanus; Night was a teeming Mother, and of her were born Æther and the Earth; The Earth conceiv’d by the Influences of Æther, and brought forth Man and all Animals.

This seems to be a poetical Fiction rather than Philosophy; yet when ’tis set in a true Light, and compar’d with our Theory of the Chaos, ’twill appear a pretty regular Account, how the World was form’d at first, or how the Chaos divided it self successively into several Regions, rising one after another, and propagated one from another, as Children and Posterity from a common Parent. We shew’d in the first Book, Chap. 5. how the Chaos, 366from an uniform Mass, wrought it self into several Regions or Elements; the grossest Part sinking to the Center; upon this lay the Mass of Water, and over the Water was a Region of dark, impure, caliginous Air; this impure caliginous Air is that which the Ancients call Night, and the Mass of Water Oceanus or Tartarus; for those two Terms with them are often of the like Force, Tartarus being Oceanus inclos’d and lock’d up: Thus we have the first Offspring of the Chaos, or its first born Twins, Nox and Oceanus. Now this turbid Air purifying it self by degrees, as the more subtle Parts flew upwards, and compos’d the Æther; so the earthy Parts that were mix’d with it drop’d down upon the Surface of the Water, or the liquid Mass; and that Mass on the other Hand sending up its lighter and more oily Parts towards its Surface, these two incorporate there, and by their Mixture and Union compose a Body of Earth quite round the Mass of Waters: And this was the first habitable Earth, which, as it was, you see, the Daughter of Nox and Oceanus, so it was the Mother of all other Things, and all living Creatures, which at the Beginning of the World sprung out of its fruitful Womb.

This Doctrine of the Chaos, for the greater Pomp of the Business, the Ancients call’d their Theogonia, or the Genealogy of the Gods; for they gave their Gods, at least their terrestrial Gods, an Original and Beginning; and all the Elements and greater Portions of Nature they made Gods and Goddesses, or their Deities presided 367over them in such a Manner, that the Names were us’d promiscuously for one another. We also mention’d before some moral Principles which they plac’d in the Chaos, Eris and Eros; Strife, Discord, and Dissatisfaction, which prevail’d at first; and afterward Love, Kindness and Union got the upper Hand, and in spite of those factious and dividing Principles, gather’d together the separated Elements, and united them into an habitable World. This is all easily understood, if we do but look upon the Schemes of the rising World, as we have set them down in that fifth Chapter; for in the first Commotion of the Chaos, after an intestine Struggle of all the Parts, the Elements separated from one another into so many distinct Bodies or Masses; and in this State and Posture Things continu’d a good while, which the Ancients, after their poetick or moral Way, call’d the Reign of Eris or Contention, of Hatred, Slight, and Disaffection; and if Things had always continued in that System, we should never have had an habitable World. But Love and good Nature conquer’d at length; Venus rose out of the Sea, and receiv’d into her Bosom, and intangled into her Embraces, the falling Æther, viz. the Parts of lighter Earth, which were mix’d with the Air in that first Separation, and gave it the Name of Night: These, I say, fell down upon the oily Parts of the Sea-mass, which lay floating upon the Surface of it, and by that Union and Conjunction a new Body, and a new World was produc’d, which was the first habitable Earth. This is the Interpretation 368of their mystical Philosophy of the Chaos, and the Resolution of it into plain natural History: Which you may see more fully discuss’d in the Latin Treatise, Lib. 2. c. 7.

In consequence of this, we have already explain’d, in several Places, the Golden Age of the Ancients, and laid down such Grounds as will enable us to discern what is real, and what poetical, in the Reports and Characters that Antiquity hath given of those first Ages of the World. And if there be any Thing amongst the Ancients that refers to another Earth, as Plato’s Atlantis, which, he says, was absorpt by an Earthquake, and an Inundation, as the primæval Earth was; or his Æthereal Earth, mention’d in his Phædo, which he opposeth to this broken hollow Earth; makes it to have long-liv’d Inhabitants, and to be without Rains and Storms, as that first Earth was also; or the pendulous Gardens of Alcinous, or such like; to which nothing answers in present Nature, by reflecting upon the State of the first Earth, we find an easy Explication of them. We have also explain’d what the Antichthon and Antichthones of the Ancients were, and what the true Ground of that Distinction was. But nothing seems more remarkable, than the Inhabitability of the Torrid Zone, if we consider what a general Fame and Belief it had amongst the Ancients, and yet in the present Form of the Earth, we find no such Thing, nor any Foundation for it. I cannot believe that this was so universally receiv’d upon a slight Presumption 369only, because it lay under the Course of the Sun, if the Sun had then the same Latitude from the Æquator, in his Course and Motion, that he hath now, and made the same Variety of Seasons; whereby even the hottest Parts of the Earth have a Winter, or something equivalent to it. But if we apply this to the primæval Earth, whose Posture was direct to the Sun, standing always fixt in its Equinoctial, we shall easily believe, that the Torrid Zone was then uninhabitable by Extremity of Heat, there being no Difference of Seasons, nor any Change of Weather, the Sun hanging always over Head at the same Distance, and in the same Direction. Besides this, the Descent of the Rivers in that first Earth was such, that they could never reach the Equinoctial Parts, as we have shewn before; by which Means, and the want of Rain, that Region must necessarily be turn’d into a dry Desart. Now this being really the State of the first Earth, the Fame and general Belief that the Torrid Zone was uninhabitable had this true Original, and continued still with Posterity after the Deluge, though the Causes then were taken away; for they being ignorant of the Change that was made in Nature at that Time, kept up still the same Tradition and Opinion current, till Observation and Experience taught later Ages to correct it. As the true Miracles that were in the Christian Church at first, occasioned a Fame and Belief of their Continuance long after they had really ceas’d.

370This gives an easy Account, and, I think, the true Cause of that Opinion, amongst the Ancients generally receiv’d, That the Torrid Zone was uninhabitable. I say, generally receiv’d; for not only the Poets, both Greek and Latin, but their Philosophers, Astronomers and Geographers, had the same Notion, and deliver’d the same Doctrine; as Aristotle, Cleomedes, Achilles, Tatius, Ptolomy, Cicero, Strabo, Mela, Pliny, Macrobius, &c. And to speak Truth, the whole Doctrine of the Zones is calculated more properly for the first Earth, than for the present; for the Divisions and Bounds of them now are but arbitrary, being habitable all over, and having no visible Distinction; whereas they were then determin’d by Nature, and the Globe of the Earth was really divided into so many Regions of a very different Aspect and Quality; which would have appear’d at a Distance, if they had been look’d upon from the Clouds, or from the Moon, as Jupiter’s Belts, or as so many Girdles or Swathing-bands about the Body of the Earth: And so the Word imports, and so the Ancients use to call them Cinguli and Fasciæ. But in the present Form of the Earth, if it was seen at a Distance, no such Distinction would appear in the Parts of it, nor scarce any other but that of Land and Water, and of Mountains and Valleys, which are nothing to the purpose of Zones. And to add this Note further, When the Earth lay in this regular Form, divided into Regions or Walks, if I may so call them, as this gave Occasion of its 371Distinction by Zones; so if we might consider all that Earth as a Paradise, and Paradise as a Garden; (for it is always call’d so in Scripture, and in Jewish Authors.) And, as this Torrid Zone, bare of Grass and Trees, made a kind of Gravel-walk in the Middle, so there was a green Walk on either Hand of it, made by the temperate Zones; and beyond those lay a Canal, which water’d the Garden from either Side. (See Fig. 3. c. 5.)

But to return to Antiquity; We may add under this Head another Observation or Doctrine amongst the Ancients, strange enough in Appearance, which yet receives an easy Explication from the preceding Theory; They say, The Poles of the World did once change their Situation, and were at first in another Posture from what they are in now, till that Inclination happen’d: This the ancient Philosophers often make mention of, as Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Diogenes, Leucippus, Democritus; (See the Lat. Treat. 2. lib. 2. c. 10.) as may be seen in Laertius, and in Plutarch; and the Stars, they say, at first were carried about the Earth in a more uniform Manner. This is no more than what we have observ’d and told you in other Words, namely, That the Earth chang’d its Posture at the Deluge, and thereby made these seeming Changes in the Heavens; its Poles before pointed to the Poles of the Ecliptick, which now point to the Poles of the Equator, and its Axis is become parallel with that Axis; and this is the Mystery and Interpretation of what they say in other Terms; 372this makes the different Aspect of the Heavens and of its Poles: And I am apt to think, that those Changes in the Course of the Stars, which the Ancients sometimes speak of, and especially the Egyptians, if they did not proceed from Defects in their Calendar, had no other physical Account than this.

And as they say the Poles of the World were in another Situation at first, so at first they say, there was no Variety of Seasons in the Year, as in their Golden Age. Which is very coherent with all the rest, and still runs along with the Theory. And you may observe, that all these Things we have instanc’d in hitherto, are but Links of the same Chain, in Connexion and Dependance upon one another. When the primæval Earth was made out of the Chaos, its Form and Posture was such, as of Course brought on all those Scenes which Antiquity hath kept the Remembrance of; tho’ now in another State of Nature they seem very strange; especially being disguis’d, as some of them are, by their odd Manner of representing them, That the Poles of the World stood once in another Posture; That the Year had no Diversity of Seasons: That the Torrid Zone was uninhabitable; That the two Hemispheres had no possibility of Intercourse, and such like: These all hang upon the same String; or lean one upon another as Stones in the same Building; whereof we have, by this Theory, laid the very Foundation bare, that you may see what they all stand upon, and in what Order.

373There is still one remarkable Notion or Doctrine among the Ancients which we have not spoken to; ’tis partly symbolical, and the Propriety of the Symbol, or of the Application of it, hath been little understood; ’tis their Doctrine of the Mundane Egg, or their comparing the World to an Egg, and especially in the original Composition of it. This seems to be a mean Comparison, the World and an Egg; what Proportion, or what Resemblance betwixt these two Things? And yet I do not know any symbolical Doctrine, or Conclusion, that hath been so universally entertain’d by the Mystæ, or wise and learned of all Nations; as hath been noted before in the fifth Chapter of the first Book, and at large in the Latin Treatise. (Lib. 2. c. 10.) ’Tis certain, that by the World in this Similitude, they do not mean the Great Universe, for that hath neither Figure, nor any determinate Form of Composition, and it would be a great Vanity and Rashness in any one to compare this to an Egg: The Works of God are immense, as his Nature is infinite, and we cannot make any Image or Resemblance of either of them; but this Comparison is to be understood of the Sublunary World, or of the Earth: And for a general Key to Antiquity upon this Argument, we may lay this down as a Maxim or Canon, That what the Ancients have said concerning the Form and Figure of the World, or concerning the Original of it from a Chaos, or about its Periods and Dissolution, are never to be understood of the great Universe, but of our Earth, or of this 374sublunary and terrestrial World. And this Observation being made, do but reflect upon our Theory of the Earth, the Manner of its Composition at first, and the Figure of it, being compleated, and you will need no other Interpreter to understand this Mystery. We have shew’d there, (Book 1. c. 5.) that the Figure of it, when finish’d, was Oval, and the inward Form of it was a Frame of four Regions, encompassing one another, where that of Fire lay in the Middle like the Yolk, and a Shell of Earth inclos’d them all. This gives a Solution so easy and natural, and shews such an Aptness and Elegancy in the Representation, that one cannot doubt upon a View and Compare of Circumstances, but that we have truly found out the Riddle of the Mundane Egg.

Amongst other Difficulties arising from the Form of this present Earth, that is one, How America could be peopled, or any other Continent, or Island remote from all Continents the Sea interposing. This Difficulty does not hold in our Theory of the first Earth, where there was no Sea. And after the Flood, when the Earth was broken and the Sea laid open, the same Race of Men might continue there, if settled there before. For I do not see any Necessity of deducing all Mankind from Noah after the Flood. If America was peopled before, it might continue so; not but that the Flood was universal. But when the great Frame of the Earth broke at the Deluge, Providence foresaw into how many Continents it would be divided after the ceasing of the 375Flood; and accordingly, as we may reasonably suppose, made Provision to save a Remnant in every Continent, that the Race of Mankind might not be quite extinct in any of them. What Provision he made in our Continent we know from sacred History; but as that takes Notice of no other Continent but ours, so neither could it take Notice of any Method that was us’d there for saving of a Remnant of Men; but ’twere great Presumption, methinks, to imagine, that Providence had a Care of none but us, or could not find out Ways of Preservation in other Places, as well as in that where our Habitations were to be. Asia, Africa and Europe, were repeopled by the Sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japhet; but we read nothing of their going over into America, or sending any Colonies thither; and that World, which is near as big as ours, must have stood long without People, or any thing of humane Race in it, after the Flood, if it stood so till this was full, or till Men navigated the Ocean, and by chance discover’d it: It seems more reasonable to suppose, that there was a Stock providentially reserv’d there, as well as here, out of which they sprung again; but we do not pretend in an Argument of this Nature to define or determine any Thing positively. To conclude, As this is but a secondary Difficulty, and of no great Force, so neither is it any Thing peculiar to us, or to our Hypothesis, but alike common to both; and if they can propose any reasonable Way whereby the Sons of Noah might be transplanted into 376America, with all my Heart; but all the Ways that I have met with hitherto, have seem’d to me mere Fictions, or mere Presumptions. Besides, finding Birds and Beasts there, which are no where upon our Continent, nor would live in our Countries if brought hither; ’tis a fair Conjecture that they were not carried from us, but originally bred and preserv’d there.

Thus much for the Illustration of Antiquity in some Points of human Literature, by our Theory of the primæval Earth; there is also in Christian Antiquity a Tradition or Doctrine, that appears as obscure and as much a Paradox as any of these, and better deserves an Illustration, because it relates more closely and expresly to our present Subject: ’Tis that Notion or Opinion amongst the Ancients concerning Paradise, that it was seated as high as the Sphere of the Moon, or within the lunar Circle. This looks very strange, and indeed extravagantly at first Sight; but the Wonder will cease, if we understand this not of Paradise taken apart from the rest of the Earth, but of the whole primæval Earth, wherein the Seat of Paradise was; That was really seated much higher than the present Earth, and may be reasonably suppos’d to have been as much elevated as the Tops of our Mountains are now. And that Phrase of reaching to the Sphere of the Moon, signifies no more than those other Expressions of reaching to Heaven, or reaching above the Clouds; which are Phrases commonly us’d to express the Height of Buildings, or of Mountains, and such like Things: So the 377Builders of Babel said, they would make a Tower should reach to Heaven; Olympus and Parnassus are said by the Poets to reach to Heaven, or to rise above the Clouds; and Pliny and Solinus use this very Expression of the Lunar Circle, when they describe the Height of Mount Atlas, Eductus in viciniam Lunaris Circuli, (Solin. c. 17.) The Ancients, I believe, aim’d particularly by this Phrase, to express an Height above the middle Region, or above our Atmosphere, that Paradise might be serene; and where our Atmosphere ended, they reckon’d the Sphere of the Moon begun, and therefore said it reach’d to the Sphere of the Moon. Many of the Christian Fathers exprest their Opinion concerning the high Situation of Paradise in plain and formal Terms, as St. Basil, Damascen, Moses Bar Cepha, &c. but this Phrase of reaching to the Lunar Circle is repeated by several of them, and said to be of great Antiquity. Aquinas, Albertus, and others, ascribe it to Bede, but many to St. Austin; and therefore Ambrosius Catharinus, (Com. in Gen. c. 2.) is angry with their great Schoolman, that he should derive it from Bede, seeing St. Austin writing to Orosius, deliver’d this Doctrine, which surely, says he, St. Austin neither feign’d nor dream’d only, but had receiv’d it from Antiquity: And from so great Antiquity, that it was no less than Apostolical, if we credit Albertus Magnus, and the ancient Books he appeals to; (Sum. Theol. par. 2. tract. 13. q. 79.) for he says this Tradition 378was deriv’d as high as from St. Thomas the Apostle. His Words are these, after he had deliver’d his own Opinion, Hoc tamen dico, &c. But this I say without Prejudice to the better Opinion, for I have found it in some most ancient Books, that Thomas the Apostle was the Author of that Opinion, which is usually attributed to Bede and Strabus, namely, That Paradise was so high as to reach to the Lunar Circle. But thus much concerning this Opinion, and concerning Antiquity.

To conclude all, we see this Theory, which was drawn only by a Thread of Reason, and the Laws of Nature, abstractedly from all Antiquity, notwithstanding casts a Light upon many Passages there, which were otherwise accounted Fictions, or unintelligible Truths; and tho’ we do not alledge these as Proofs of the Theory, for it carries its own Light and Proof with it; yet, whether we will or no, they do mutually confirm, as well as illustrate one another; and ’tis a Pleasure also, when one hath wrought out Truth by a meer Dint of thinking, and Examination of Causes, and propos’d it plainly and openly, to meet with it again among the Ancients, disguis’d, and in an old fashion’d Dress; scarce to be known or discover’d, but by those that beforehand knew it very well. And it would be a further Pleasure and Satisfaction to have render’d those Doctrines and Notions for the future, intelligible and useful to others, as well as delightful to our selves.

Chap. IX

A general Objection against this Theory, viz. That if there had been such a Primitive Earth, as we pretend, the Fame of it would have sounded throughout all Antiquity. The Eastern and Western Learning consider’d. The most considerable Records of both are lost. What Footsteps remain relating to this Subject. The Jewish and Christian Learning consider’d; how far lost as to this Argument, and what Notes or Traditions remain. Lastly, how far the sacred Writings bear witness to it. The providential Conduct of Knowledge in the World. A Recapitulation and State of the Theory.

Having gone through the two first Parts, and the two first Books of this Theory that concern the primitive World, the universal Deluge, and the State of Paradise, we have leisure now to reflect a little, and consider what may probably be objected against a Theory of this Nature. I do not mean single Objections against single Parts, for those may be many, and such as I cannot foresee; but what may be said against the Body and Substance of the Theory, and the Credibility of it appearing new and surprizing, and yet of great Extent and Importance. This, I fancy, will induce many to say, surely this cannot be a Reality; for if there had been such a primitive Earth, and such a primitive 380World as is here represented, and so remarkably different from the present, it could not have been so utterly forgotten, or lain hid for so many Ages; all Antiquity would have rung of it; the Memory of it would have been kept fresh by Books or Traditions. Can we imagine that it should lie buried for some thousands of Years in deep Silence and Oblivion? And now only when the second World is drawing to an End, we begin to discover that there was a first, and that of another Make and Order from this.

To satisfy this Objection, or Surmise rather, it will be convenient to take a good large Scope and Compass in our Discourse; we must not suppose that this primitive World hath been wholly lost out of the Memory of Man, or out of History, for we have some History and Chronology of it preserv’d by Moses, and likewise in the Monuments of the Ancients, more or less; for they all suppos’d a World before the Deluge. But ’tis the Philosophy of this primitive World that hath been lost in a great Measure; what the State of Nature was then, and wherein it differ’d from the present or postdiluvian order of Things. This, I confess, hath been little taken notice of; it hath been generally thought or presum’d, that the World before the Flood was of the same Form and Constitution with the present World: This we do not deny, but rather think it design’d and providential, that there should not remain a clear and full Knowledge of that first State of Things; and we may easily suppose how it 381might decay and perish, if we consider how little of the remote Antiquities of the World have ever been brought down to our Knowledge.

The Greeks and Romans divided the Ages of the World into three Periods or Intervals, whereof they call’d the first the Obscure Period, the second the Fabulous, and the third Historical. The dark and obscure Period was from the Beginning of the World to the Deluge; what pass’d then, either in Nature, or amongst Men, they have no Records, no Account, by their own Confession; all that Space of Time was cover’d with Darkness and Oblivion; so that we ought rather to wonder at those Remains they have, and those broken Notions of the Golden Age, and the Conditions of it, how they were sav’d out of the common Ship-wrack, than to expect from them the Philosophy of that World, and all its Differences from the present. And as for the other Nations that pretend to greater Antiquities, to more ancient History and Chronology, from what is left of their Monuments, many will allow only this Difference, that their fabulous Age begun more high, or that they had more ancient Fables.

But besides that our Expectations cannot be great from the Learning of the Gentiles, we have not the Means or Opportunity to inform our selves well what Notions they did leave us concerning the primitive World; for their Books and Monuments are generally lost, or lie hid unknown to us. The Learning of the 382World may be divided into the Eastern Learning and the Western; and I look upon the Eastern as far more considerable for philosophical Antiquities, and philosophical Conclusions; I say Conclusions, for I do not believe either of them had any considerable Theory, or Contexture of Principles and Conclusions together: But ’tis certain that in the East, from what Source soever it came, humane or divine, they had some extraordinary Doctrines and Notions disperst amongst them. Now as by the western Learning we understand that of the Greeks and Romans; so by the eastern that which was amongst the Egyptians, Phœnicians, Chaldæans, Assyrians, Indians, Ethiopians, and Persians; and of the Learning of these Nations, how little have we now left? Except some Fragments and Citations in Greek Authors, what do we know of them? The modern Brackmans, and the Persees, or Pagan Persians, have some broken Remains of Traditions relating to the Origin and Changes of the World: But if we had not only those Books entire, whereof we have now the Gleanings and Reversions only; but all that have perish’d besides, especially in that famous Library at Alexandria; if these, I say, were all restor’d to the World again, we might promise our selves the Satisfaction of seeing more of the Antiquities, and natural History of the first World, than we have now left, or can reasonably expect. That Library we speak of at Alexandria, was a Collection, beside Greek Books, of Egyptian, Chaldæan, and all the 383Eastern Learning; and Cedrenus makes it to consist of an hundred thousand Volumes: But Josephus saith, when the Translation of the Bible by the Septuagint was to be added to it, Demetrius Phalerius, (who was Keeper or Governor of it) told the King then, that he had already two hundred thousand Volumes, and that he hop’d to make them five hundred thousand; and he was better than his Word, or his Successors for him; for Ammianus Marcellinus, and other Authors, report them to have increas’d to seven hundred thousand. This Library was unfortunately burnt in the sacking of Alexandria by Cæsar, and considering that all these were ancient Books, and generally of the eastern Wisdom, ’twas an inestimable and irreparable Loss to the Commonwealth of Learning. In like manner we are told of a vast Library of Books of all Arts and Sciences in China, burnt by the Command or Caprice of one of their Kings. Wherein the Chineses, according to their Vanity, were us’d to say, greater Riches were lost, than will be in the last Conflagration.

We are told also of the Abyssine, or Ethiopick Library, as something very extraordinary. ’Twas formerly in great Reputation, but is now, I suppose, embezzled and lost. But I was extreamly surpriz’d by a Treatise brought to me some few Months since, wherein are mention’d some Ethiopick Antiquities relating to the primæval Earth and the Deluge: To both which they give such Characters and Properties as are in Effect the very same with 384those assign’d them in this Theory. They say the first Earth was much greater than the present, higher and more advanc’d into the Air: That it was smooth and regular in its Surface, without Mountains or Valleys, but hollow within; and was spontaneously fruitful, without plowing or sowing. This was its first State: but when Mankind became degenerate and outragious with Pride and Violence, the angry Gods, as they say, by Earthquakes and Concussions, broke the habitable Orb of the Earth, and thereupon the subterraneous Waters gushing out, drown’d it in a Deluge, and destroy’d Mankind. Upon this Fraction it came into another Form, with a Sea, Lakes and Rivers, as we now have. And those Parts of the broken Earth that stood above the Waters became Mountains, Rocks, Islands, and so much of the Land as we now inhabit. This Account is given us by Barnardinus Ramazzinus, (in his Treatise De Fontium Mutinensium Scaturigine.^[2]^) Taken from a Book writ by Fransisco Patricio, 385to whom this wonderful Tradition was deliver’d by Persons of Credit, from an Æthiopian Philosoper then in Spain. I have not yet had the good Fortune to see that Book of Francisco Patricio; ’twas writ in Italian with this Title, Della Rhetorica degli Antichi: Printed at Venice, 1562. This Story indeed deserves to be enquired after, for we do not any where amongst the Ancients, meet with such a full and explicit Narration of the State of the first and second Earth. That which comes nearest to it are those Accounts we find in Plato, from the Ægyptian Antiquities, in his Timæus, Politicus, and Phœdo, of another Earth, and another State of Nature and Mankind. But none of them are so full and distinct as this Æthiopian Doctrine.

As for the Western Learning, we may remember what the Ægyptian Priest says to Solon, in Plato’s Timæus, You Greeks are always Children, and know nothing of Antiquity; and if the Greeks were so, much more the Romans, who came after them in time; and for so great a People, and so much civiliz’d, never any had less Philosophy, and less of the Sciences amongst them than the Romans had: They 386studied only the Art of Speaking, of Governing, and of Fighting; and left the rest to the Greeks and eastern Nations, as unprofitable. Yet we have Reason to believe, that the best philosophical Antiquities that the Romans had, perish’d with the Books of Varro, of Numa Pompilius, and of the ancient Sibyls, (De Civ. Dei, lib. 6. Dion. Halic. Ant. Rom. lib. 4.) Varro writ, as St. Austin tells us, a Multitude of Volumes, and of various Sorts, and I had rather retrieve his Works, than the Works of any other Roman Author; not his Etymologies and Criticisms, where we see nothing admirable, but his Theologia Physica, and his Antiquitates; which in all Probability would have given us more Light into remote Times, and the natural History of the past World, than all the Latin Authors besides have done. He has left the foremention’d Distinction of three Periods of Time; He had the Doctrine of the Mundane Egg, as we see in Probus Grammaticus; and he gave us that Observation of the Star Venus, concerning the great Change she suffered about the Time of our Deluge.

Numa Pompilius was doubtless a contemplative Man, and ’tis thought that he understood the true System of the World, and represented the Sun by his Vestal Fire; tho’, methinks, Vesta does not so properly refer to the Sun, as to the Earth, which hath a sacred Fire too, that is not to be extinguish’d. He order’d his Books to be buried with him, which were found in a Stone Chest by him, four hundred Years after his Death: They were in all twenty-four, 387whereof twelve contain’d sacred Rites and Ceremonies, and the other twelve the Philosophy and Wisdom of the Greeks; the Romans gave them to the Prætor Petilius to peruse; and to make his Report to the Senate, whether they were fit to be publish’d or no: The Prætor made a wise politick Report, that the Contents of them might be of dangerous Consequence to the establish’d Laws and Religion; and thereupon they were condemn’d to be burnt, and Posterity was depriv’d of that ancient Treasure, whatsoever it was. What the nine Books of the Sibyl contain’d, that were offer’d to King Tarquin, we little know; she valued them high, and the higher still, the more they seem’d to slight or neglect them; which is a Piece of very natural Indignation or Contempt, when one is satisfied of the Worth of what they offer. ’Tis likely they respected, besides the Fate of Rome, the Fate and several Periods of the World, both past and to come, and the most mystical Passages of them. And in these Authors and Monuments are lost the greatest Hopes of natural and philosophick Antiquities, that we could have had from the Romans.

And as to the Greeks, their best and sacred Learning was not originally their own; they enrich’d themselves with the Spoils of the East, and the Remains we have of that eastern Learning, is what we pick out of the Greeks; whose Works, I believe, if they were intirely extant, we should not need to go any further for Witnesses to confirm all the principal Parts 388of this Theory. With what Regret does one read in Laertius, Suidas, and others, the promising Titles of Books writ by the Greek Philosophers, Hundreds or Thousands, whereof there is not one now extant; and those that are extant are generally but Fragments? Those Authors also that have writ their Lives, or collected their Opinions, have done it confusedly and injudiciously. I should hope for as much Light and Instruction, as to the Original of the World, from Orpheus alone, if his Works had been preserv’d, as from all that is extant now of the other Greek Philosophers. We may see from what remains of him, that he understood in a good Measure how the Earth rose from a Chaos, what was its external Figure, and what the Form of its inward Structure: The Opinion of the Oval Figure of the Earth is ascrib’d to Orpheus and his Disciples; and the Doctrine of the Mundane Egg is so peculiarly his, that ’tis call’d by Proclus, the Orphick Egg; not that he was the first Author of that Doctrine, but the first that brought it into Greece.

Thus much concerning the Heathen Learning, Eastern and Western, and the small Remains of it in Things Philosophical; ’tis no Wonder then if the Account we have left us from them of the primitive Earth, and the Antiquities of the natural World be very imperfect. And yet we have trac’d, (in the precedent Chapter, and more largely in our Latin Treatise) the Footsteps of several Parts of this Theory amongst the Writings and Traditions of the Ancients, and even of those Parts that 389seem the most strange and singular, and that are the Basis upon which the rest stand. We have shewn there, that their Account of the Chaos, tho’ it seem’d to many but a poetical Rhapsody, contain’d the true Mystery of the Formation of the primitive Earth, (Tell. Theor. lib. 2. c. 7.) We have also shewn upon the same Occasion, that both the external Figure and internal Form of that Earth were compriz’d and signified in their ancient Doctrine of the Mundane Egg, which hath been propagated through all the learned Nations, (Ibid. cap. 10.) And lastly, as to the Situation of that Earth, and the Change of its Posture since, that the Memory of that has been kept up, we have brought several Testimonies and Indications from the Greek Philosophers, (Ibid.) And these were the three great and fundamental Properties of the primitive Earth, upon which all the other depend, and all its Differences from the present Order of Nature. You see then, tho’ Providence hath suffer’d the ancient Heathen Learning and their Monuments, in a great Part, to perish, yet we are not left wholly without Witnesses amongst them, in a Speculation of this great Importance.

You will say, it may be, tho’ this Account, as to the Books and Learning of the Heathen, may be look’d upon as reasonable, yet we might expect however, from the Jewish and Christian Authors, a more full and satisfactory Account of that primitive Earth, and of the old World. First, as to the Jews, ’tis well known that they have no ancient Learning, 390unless by Way of Tradition, amongst them. There is not a Book extant in their Language excepting the Canon of the Old Testament, that hath not been writ since our Saviour’s Time. They are very bad Masters of Antiquity, and they may in some Measure be excus’d, because of their several Captivities, Dispersions, and Desolations. In the Babylonish Captivity their Temple was ransack’d, and they did not preserve, as is thought, so much as the Autograph, or original Manuscript of the Law, nor the Books of those of their Prophets that were then extant, and kept in the Temple; and at their Return from the Captivity after seventy Years, they seem to have forgot their native Language so much, that the Law was to be interpreted to them in Chaldee, after it was read in Hebrew; for so I understand that Interpretation in Nehemiah, (Chap. viii. 7, 8.) ’Twas a great Providence, methinks, that they should any Way preserve their Law, and other Books of Scripture, in the Captivity, for so long a Time; for ’tis likely they had not the Liberty of using them in any publick Worship, seeing they return’d so ignorant of their own Language, and, as ’tis thought, of their Alphabet and Character too. And if their sacred Books were hardly preserv’d, we may easily believe all others perish’d in that publick Desolation.

Yet there was another Destruction of that Nation, and their Temple, greater than this, by the Romans; and if there were any Remains of Learning preserv’d in the former Ruin, or any 391Recruits made since that Time, this second Desolation would sweep them all away. And accordingly we see they have nothing left in their Tongue, beside the Bible, so ancient as the Destruction of Jerusalem. These and other publick Calamities of the Jewish Nation may reasonably be thought to have wasted their Records of ancient Learning, if they had any; for to speak Truth, the Jews are a People of little Curiosity, as to Sciences and philosophical Enquiries: They were very tenacious of their own Customs, and careful of those Traditions that did respect them, but were not remarkable, that I know of, or thought great Proficients in any other sort of Learning. There has been a great Fame, ’tis true, of the Jewish Cabala, and of great Mysteries contain’d in it; and, I believe, there was once a traditional Doctrine amongst some of them, that had extraordinary Notions and Conclusions: But where is this now to be found? The Essenes were the likeliest Sect, one would think, to retain such Doctrines; but ’tis probable they are now so mixt with Things fabulous and fantastical, that what one should alledge from thence would be of little or no Authority. One Head in this Cabala was the Doctrine of the Sephiroth, (Vide Men. ben Isr. de Creat. prob. 28.) and tho’ the Explication of them be uncertain, the inferior Sephiroth in the corporeal World cannot so well be apply’d to any Thing, as to those several Orbs and Regions, infolding one another, whereof the primigenial Earth 392was compos’d. Yet such Conjectures and Applications, I know, are of no Validity, but in Consort with better Arguments. I have often thought also, that their first and second Temple represented the first and second Earth or World; and that of Ezekiel’s, which is the third, is still to be erected, the most beautiful of all, when this second Temple of the World shall be burn’d down. If the Prophecies of Enoch had been preserv’d, and taken into the Canon by Ezra, after their Return from Babylon, when the Collection of their sacred Books is suppos’d to have been made, we might probably have had a considerable Account there, both of Times past and to come, of Antiquities and Futuritions; for those Prophecies are generally suppos’d to have contain’d both the first and second Fate of this Earth, and all the Periods of it. But as this Book is lost to us, so I look upon all others that pretend to be Ante-mosaical or Patriarchal, as spurious and fabulous.

Thus much concerning the Jews. As for Christian Authors, their Knowledge must be from some of these foremention’d Jews or Heathens; or else by Apostolical Tradition: For the Christian Fathers were not very speculative, so as to raise a Theory from their own Thoughts and Contemplations, concerning the Origin of the Earth. We have instanc’d, in the last Chapter, in a Christian Tradition concerning Paradise, and the high Situation of it, which is fully consonant to the Scite of the Primitive Earth, where Paradise stood, and 393doth seem plainly to refer to it, being unintelligible upon any other Supposition. And ’twas, I believe, this Elevation of Paradise, and the Pencil Structure of that Paradisiacal Earth, that gave Occasion to Celsus, as we see by Origen’s Answer, to say, that the Christian Paradise was taken from the pensile Gardens of Alcinous: But we may see now what was the Ground of such Expressions or Traditions amongst the Ancients, which Providence left to keep Men’s Minds awake; not fully to instruct them, but to confirm them in the Truth, when it should come to be made known in other Methods. We have noted also above, that the ancient Books and Authors amongst the Christians, that were most likely to inform us in this Argument, have perish’d, and are lost out of the World, such as Ephrem Syrus de ortu rerum, and Tertullian de Paradiso; and that Piece, which is extant of Moses Bar Cepha’s upon this Subject, receives more Light from our Hypothesis, than from any other I know; for, correcting some Mistakes about the Figure of the Earth, which the Ancients were often guilty of, the Obscurity or Confusion of that Discourse in other Things may be easily rectified, if compar’d with this Theory.

Of this Nature also is that Tradition that is common both to Jews and Christians, and which we have often mentioned before, that there was a perpetual Serenity, and perpetual Equinox in Paradise; which cannot be upon this Earth, not so much as under the Equinoctial; for they have a Sort of Winter and Summer, 394there, a Course of Rains at certain times of the Year, and great Inequalities of the Air, as to Heat and Cold, Moisture and Drought. They had also Traditions amongst them, That there was no Rain from the Beginning of the World till the Deluge, and that there were no Mountains till the Flood, (Lat. Treat. Lib. 2. c. 10.) and such like. These, you see, point directly at such an Earth, as we have describ’d. And I call these Traditions, because we cannot find the Original Authors of them; the ancient ordinary Gloss (upon Genesis) which some make eight hundred Years old, mentions both these Opinions; so does Historia Scholastica, Alcuinus, Rabanus Maurus, Lyranus, and such Collectors of Antiquity. Bede also relates that of the Plainness or Smoothness of the Antediluvian Earth. Yet these are reported Traditionally, as it were, naming no Authors or Books from whence they were taken: Nor can it be imagin’d that they feign’d them themselves; to what End or Purpose? It serv’d no Interest; or upon what Ground? Seeing they had no Theory that could lead them to such Notions as these, or that could be strengthen’d and confirm’d by them. Those Opinions also of the Fathers, which we recited in the seventh Chapter, placing Paradise beyond the Torrid Zone, and making it therefore inaccessible, suit very well to the Form, Qualities, and Bipartition of the Primæval Earth, and seem to be grounded upon them.

Thus much may serve for a short Survey of the ancient Learning, to give us a reasonable 395Account, why the Memory and Knowledge of the Primitive Earth should be so much lost out of the World; and what we retain of it still; which would be far more, I do not doubt, if all Manuscripts were brought to light, that are yet extant in publick or private Libraries. The Truth is, one cannot judge with Certainty, neither what things have been recorded and preserv’d in the Monuments of Learning, nor what are still; nor what have been, because so many of those Monuments are lost: The Alexandrian Library, which we spoke of before, seems to have been the greatest Collection that ever was made before Christianity, and the Constantinopolitan (begun by Constantine, and destroy’d in the fifth Century, when it was rais’d to the Number, as is said, of one hundred twenty thousand Volumes) the most valuable that was ever since, and both these have been permitted by Providence to perish in the merciless Flames. Beside those Devastations of Books and Libraries that have been made in Christendom, by the Northern barbarous Nations overflowing Europe, and the Saracens and Turks, great Parts of Asia and Africk. It is hard therefore to pronounce what Knowledge hath been in the World, or what Accounts of Antiquity; neither can we well judge what remain, or of what things the Memory may be still latently conserv’d: For beside those Manuscripts that are yet unexamin’d in these Parts of Christendom, there are many, doubtless, of good Value in other Parts; beside those that be hid in the unchristianiz’d 396Dominions. The Library of Fez is said to contain thirty two thousand Volumes in Arabick; and though the Arabick Learning was most what Western, and therefore of less Account, yet they did deal in Eastern Learning too; for Avicenna writ a Book with that Title, Philosophia Orientalis. There may be also in the East, Thousands of Manuscripts unknown to us, of greater Value than most Books we have: And as to those Subjects we are treating of, I should promise my self more Light and Confirmation from the Syriack Authors than from any others. These things being consider’d, we can make but a very imperfect Estimate, what Evidences are left us, and what Accounts of the primitive Earth; and if these Deductions and Defalcations be made, both for what Books are wholly lost, and for what lie asleep or dead, in Libraries, we have Reason to be satisfied in a Theory of this Nature, to find so good Attestations as we have produc’d for the several Parts of it; which we purpose to enlarge upon considerably at another time and occasion.

But to carry this Objection as far as may be, let us suppose it to be urg’d still in the last Place, that though these Humane Writings have perish’d or be imperfect, yet in the Divine Writings at least, we might expect that the Memory of the old World, and of the primitive Earth should have been preserv’d. To this I answer in short, that we could not expect in the Scriptures any natural Theory of that Earth, nor any Account of it, but 397what was general; and this we have, both by the Tehom Rabba of Moses, and the Description of the same Abyss in other Places of Scripture, as we have shewn at large in the first Book. Chap. vii. And also by the Description which St. Peter hath given of the antediluvian Heavens and Earth, and their different Constitution from the present; which is also prov’d by the Rainbow, not seen in the first World. You will say, it may be, that that Place of St. Peter, 2 Pet. iii. 5, 6, &c. is capable of another Interpretation; so are most Places of Scripture, if you speak of a bare Capacity, they are capable of more than one Interpretation: But that which is most natural, proper, and congruous, and suitable to the Words, suitable to the Argument, and suitable to the Context, wherein is nothing superfluous or impertinent, that we prefer and accept of as the most reasonable Interpretation. Besides, in such Texts as relate to the natural World, if of two Interpretations propos’d, one agrees better with the Theory of Nature than the others, cæteris paribus, that ought to be prefer’d. And by these two Rules we are willing to be try’d, in the Exposition of that remarkable Discourse of St. Peter’s, and to stand to that Sense which is found most agreeable to them.

Give me leave to conclude the whole Discourse with this general Consideration: ’Tis reasonable to suppose, that there is a Providence in the Conduct of Knowledge, as well as of other Affairs on the Earth; and that it 398was not design’d that all the Mysteries of Nature and Providence should be plainly and clearly understood throughout all the Ages of the World; but that there is an Order establish’d for this, as for other Things, and certain Periods and Seasons; and what was made known to the Ancients only by broken Conclusions and Traditions will be known (in the latter Ages of the World) in a more perfect way, by Principles and Theories. The Increase of Knowledge being that which changeth so much the Face of the World, and the State of humane Affairs, I do not doubt but there is a particular Care and Superintendency for the Conduct of it; by what Steps and Degrees it should come to light, at what Seasons and in what Ages; what Evidence should be left, either in Scripture, Reason, or Tradition, for the Grounds of it; how clear or obscure, how dispers’d or united: All these things were weigh’d and consider’d, and such Measures taken as best suit the Designs of Providence, and the general Project and Method propos’d in the Government of the World. And I make no Question but the State both of the Old World, and of that which is to come, is exhibited to us in Scripture in such a Measure and Proportion, as is fit for this formentioned Purpose; not as the Articles of our Faith, or the Precepts of a good Life, which he that runs may read; but to the attentive and reflective, to those that are unprejudic’d, and to those who are inquisitive, and have their Minds open and prepar’d for the Discernment of Mysteries of such a Nature.

399Thus much in Answer to that general Objection which might be made against this Theory, That it is not founded in Antiquity. I do not doubt but there may be many particular Objections against Parts and Sections of it, and the exposing it thus in our own Tongue may excite some one or other, it may be, to make them; but if any be so minded, I desire (if they be Scholars) that it may rather be in Latin, as being more proper for a Subject of this Nature; and also that they would keep themselves close to the Substance of the Theory, and wound that as much as they can: But to make Excursions upon Things accidental or collateral, that do not destroy the Hypothesis, is but to trouble the World with Impertinencies. Now the Substance of the Theory is this, THAT there was a Primitive Earth of another Form from the present, and inhabited by Mankind till the Deluge: That it had those Properties and Conditions that we have ascrib’d to it, namely, a perpetual Equinox or Spring, by reason of its right Situation to the Sun; was of an oval Figure, and the exterior Face of it smooth and uniform, without Mountains or a Sea. That in this Earth stood Paradise; the Doctrine whereof cannot be understood but upon Supposition of this primitive Earth, and its Properties. Then that the Disruption and Fall of this Earth into the Abyss, which lay under it, was that which made the universal Deluge, and the Destruction of the old World; and that neither Noah’s Flood, nor the present Form of the Earth, can be explain’d 400in any other Method that is rational, nor by any other Causes that are intelligible, at least, that have been hitherto propos’d to the World. These are the Vitals of the Theory, and the primary Assertions, whereof I do freely profess my full Belief; and whosoever by solid Reasons will shew me in an Error, and undeceive me, I shall be very much oblig’d to him. There are other lesser Conclusions which flow from these, and may be call’d Secondary, as that the Longevity of the Ante-diluvians depended upon their perpetual Equinox, and the perpetual Equality and Serenity of the Air: That the Torrid Zone in the primitive Earth was uninhabitable, and that all their Rivers flow’d from the extream Parts of the Earth towards the Equinoctial; there being neither Rain nor Rainbow in the temperate and habitable Regions of it: And lastly, That the Place of Paradise, according to the Opinion of Antiquity, (for I determine no Place by the Theory) was in the southern Hemisphere. These, I think, are all truly deduc’d and prov’d in their several Ways, tho’ they be not such essential Parts of the Theory, as the former. There are also besides, many particular Explications that are to be consider’d with more Liberty and Latitude, and may be perhaps upon better Thoughts, or better Observations, corrected without any Prejudice to the general Theory. Those Places of Scripture, which we have cited, I think, are all truly apply’d; and I have not mention’d Moses’s Cosmopœia, because I thought it deliver’d 401by him as a Lawgiver, not as a Philosopher; which I intend to shew at large in another Treatise, not thinking that Discussion proper for the vulgar Tongue. Upon the whole, we are to remember, that some Allowances are to be made for every Hypothesis that is new propos’d and untry’d; and that we ought not, out of Levity of Wit, or any private Design, discountenance free and fair Essays; nor from any other Motive but the only Love and Concern of Truth.

Chap. X. Concerning the Author of Nature

Seeing the Theory which we have propos’d in this Work is of that Extent and Comprehension, that it begins with the first Foundation of this World, and is to reach to the last Period of it, in one continued Series or Chain of Nature; it will not be improper, before we conclude, to make some Reflections and Remarks what Nature is, and upon what superior Causes she depends in all her Motions and Operations: And this will lead us to the Discovery of the Author of Nature, and to the true Notion and State of Natural Providence, which seems to have been hitherto very much neglected, or little understood in the World. And ’tis the more reasonable and fitting that we should explain these Notions before we shut up this Treatise, lest those natural Explications which we have given of the Deluge, 402and other Things, should be mistaken or misapply’d; seeing some are apt to run away with Pieces of a Discourse, which they think applicable to their Purpose, or which they can maliciously represent, without attending to the Scope or just Limitations of what is spoken.

By Nature in general is understood all the Powers of finite Beings, with the Laws establish’d for their Action and Conduct according to the ordinary Course of Things. And this extends both to intellectual Beings and corporeal; but seeing ’tis only the material World that hath been the Subject of our Discourse, Nature, as to that, may be defin’d, the Powers of Matter, with the Laws establish’d for their Action and Conduct. Seeing also Matter hath no Action, whether from it self, or imprest upon it, but Motion, as to the corporeal World, Nature is no more than the Powers and Capacities of Matter, with the Laws that govern the Motions of it. And this Definition is so plain and easy, that, I believe, all Parties will agree in it; there will also be no great Controversy what these Laws are. As that one Part of Matter cannot penetrate another, nor be in several Places at once; That the greater Body overcomes the less, and the swifter the slower; That all Motion is in a right Line, till something obstruct it or divert it; which are Points little disputed as to the Matter of Fact; but the Points concerning which the Controversy ariseth, and which are to lead us to the Author of Nature, are these; Who or what is the Author of these Laws 403of this Motion, and even of Matter it self; and of all those Modes and Forms of it which we see in Nature?

The Question useth chiefly to be put concerning Motion, how it came into the World; what the first Source of it is, or how Matter came at first to be mov’d? For the simple Notion of Matter, not divided into Parts, nor diversified, doth not imply Motion, but Extension only: ’Tis true, from Extension there necessarily follows Mobility, or a Capacity of being mov’d by an external Power, but not actual or necessary Motion, springing from it self. For Dimensions, or Length, Breadth, and Depth, which is the Idea of Matter, or of a Body, do no Way include local Motion, or Translation of Parts; on the contrary, we do more easily and naturally conceive simple Extension as a Thing steady and fix’d; and if we conceive Motion in it, or in its Parts, we must superadd something to our first Thought, and something that does not flow from Extension. As when we conceive a Figure, a Triangle, Square, or any other, we naturally conceive it fix’d or quiescent; and if afterwards we imagine it in Motion, that is purely accidental to the Figure; in like Manner it is accidental to Matter, that there should be Motion in it, it hath no inward Principle from whence that can flow, and its Nature is compleat without it; wherefore, if we find Motion and Action in Matter, which is of it self a dead inactive Mass; this should lead us immediately to the Author of Nature, or to some external Power 404distinct from Matter, which is the Cause of all Motion in the World.

In single Bodies, and single Parts of Matter, we readily believe and conclude, that they do not move, unless something move them, and why should we not conclude the same Thing of the whole Mass? If a Rock or Mountain cannot move it self, nor divide it self, either into great Gobbets, or into small Powder, why should it not be as impossible for the whole Mass of Matter to do so? ’Tis true, Matter is capable both of Motion and Rest; yet to conceive it undivided, undiversified and unmoved, is certainly a more simple Notion, than to conceive it divided and mov’d; and this being first in Order of Nature, and an adequate Conception too, we ought to enquire and give our selves an Account how it came out of this State, and by what Causes, or, as we said before, how Motion came first into the World.

In the second Place, That Diversity which we see in Nature, both as to the Qualities of Matter, and the Compositions of it, being one Step further than bare Motion, ought also to be a further Indication of the Author of Nature, and to put us upon Enquiry into the Causes of this Diversity. There is nothing more uniform than simple Extension, nothing more the same throughout, all of a Piece, and all of a Sort, similar, and like to itself every where; yet we find the Matter of the Universe diversified a thousand Ways, into Heavens and Earth, Air and Water, Stars, Meteors, Light, 405Darkness, Stones, Wood, Animals, and all terrestrial Bodies; These Diversifications are still further Removes from the natural Unity and Identity of Matter, and a further Argument of some external and superior Power that hath given these different Forms to the several Portions of Matter, by the Intervention of Motion. For if you exclude the Author of Nature, and suppose nothing but Matter in the World, take whether Hypothesis you will, either that Matter is without Motion of it self, or that it is of it self in Motion, there could not arise this Diversity, and these Compositions in it. If it was without Motion, then the Case is plain, for it would be nothing but an hard inflexible Lump of impenetrable Extension, without any Diversity at all. And if you suppose it mov’d of it self, or to have an innate Motion, that would certainly hinder all Sort of natural Concretions and Compositions, and in Effect destroy all Continuity. For Motion, if it be essential to Matter, it is essential to every Atom of it, and equally diffus’d throughout all its Parts; and all those Parts or Atoms would be equal to one another, and as little as possible; for if Matter was divided into Parts by its own innate Motion, that would melt it down into Parts as little as possible, and consequently all equal to one another, there being no reason why you should stop those Divisions, or the Effect of this innate Impetus in any one Part sooner than in another, or in any Part indeed, till it was divided as much as was possible: wherefore upon this Principle, or in 406this Method, all the Matter of the Universe would be one liquid or volatile Mass, smaller than Pin-dust, nay, than Air or Æther; and there would be no Diversity of Forms, only another sort of Identity from the former, when we suppos’d it wholly without Motion. And so, upon the whole, you see, that Matter, whether we allow it Motion, or no Motion, could not come into that Variety of Tempers and Compositions in which we find it in the World, without the Influence and Direction of a superior external Cause, which we call the Author of Nature.

But there is still a further and stronger Argument from this Head, if we consider not only the Diversity of Bodies that the Mass of Matter is cut into, but also that that Diversity is regular, and in some Parts of it admirably artful and ingenious. This will not only lead us to an Author of Nature, but to such an Author as hath Wisdom as well as Power. Matter is a brute Being, stupid and senseless; and tho’ we should suppose it to have a Force to move it self, yet that it should be able to meditate and consult, and take its Measures how to frame a World, a regular and beautiful Structure, consisting of such and such Parts and Regions, and adapted to such and such Purposes, this would be too extravagant to imagine; to allow it not only Motion from it self, but Wit and Judgment too; and that before it came into any organical or animate Composition.

407You’ll say, it may be, the Frame of the World was not the Result of Counsel and Consultation, but of Necessity; Matter being once in Motion under the Conduct of those Laws that are essential to it, it wrought it self by Degrees from one State into another, till at length it came into the present Form which we call the World. These are Words thrown out at Random, without any Pretence of Ground, only to see if they can be confuted; and so they may easily be; for we have shewn already, that if Matter had innate Motion, it would be so far from running into the orderly and well dispos’d Frame of the World, that it would run into no Frame at all, into no Forms or Compositions, or Diversity of Bodies; but would either be all fluid, or all solid; either every single Particle in a separate Motion, or all in one continued Mass, with an universal Tremor, or Inclination to move without actual Separation; and either of these two States is far from the Form of a World. Secondly, As to the Laws of Motion, as some of them are essential to Matter, so others are not demonstrable, but upon Supposition of an Author of Nature. And thirdly, Tho’ all the Laws of Motion be admitted, they cannot bring Matter into the Form of a World, unless some Measures be taken at first by an intelligent Being; I say, some Measures be taken to determine the primary Motions upon which the rest depend, and to put them in a Way that leads to the Formation of a World. The Mass must be divided into Regions, and 408Centers fixt, and Motions appropriated to them; and it must be consider’d of what Magnitude the first Bodies, or the first Divisions of Matter should be, and how mov’d: Besides, there must be a determinate Proportion, and certain Degree of Motion imprest upon the universal Matter, to qualify it for the Production of a World; if the Dose was either too strong or too weak, the Work would miscarry; and nothing but infinite Wisdom could see thro’ the Effects of every Proportion, or every new degree of Motion, and discern which was best for the Beginning, Progress, and Perfection of a World. So you see the Author of Nature is no Way excluded, or made useless by the Laws of Motion; nor if Matter was promiscuously mov’d, would these be sufficient Causes of themselves to produce a World, or that regular Diversity of Bodies that compose it.

But ’tis hard to satisfy Men against their Inclinations, or their Interest: And as their Regularity of the Universe was always a great Stumbling-stone to the Epicureans; so they have endeavour’d to make Shifts of all Sorts to give an Account and Answer to it, without Recourse to an intelligent Principle; and for their last Refuge, they say, that Chance might bring that to pass, which Nature and Necessity could not do; the Atoms might hit upon a lucky Set of Motions, which, tho’ it were casual and fortuitous, might happily lead them to the forming of a World. A lucky hit indeed, for Chance to frame a World: But this is a 409mere Shuffle and Collusion; for if there was nothing in Nature but Matter, there could be no such Thing as Chance, all would be pure Mechanical Necessity; and so this Answer, tho’ it seem very different, is the same in effect with the former, and Epicurus with his anatomists are oblig’d to give a just mechanical Account, how all the Parts of Nature, the most compound and elaborate Parts not excepted, rise from their Atoms by pure Necessity: There could be no accidental Concourse or Coalition of them, every step, every motion, every composition was fatal and necessary, and therefore ’tis Nonsense for an Epicurean to talk of Chance, as Chance is oppos’d to Necessity; and if they oppose it to Counsel and Wisdom, ’tis little better than Nonsense, to say the World and all its Furniture rose by Chance, in that Notion of it. But it will deserve our Patience a little, to give a more full and distinct Answer to this, seeing it reacheth all their Pleas and Evasions at once.

What Proof or Demonstration of Wisdom and Counsel can be given, or can be desir’d, that is not found in some Part of the World, animate or inanimate? We know but a little Portion of the Universe, a mere Point in Comparison, and a broken Point too; and yet in this broken Point, or some small Parcels of it, there is more of Art, Counsel and Wisdom shewn, than in all the Works of Men taken together, or than in all our Artificial World. In the Construction of the Body of an Animal, there is more of Thought and Contrivance, 410more of exquisite Invention, and fit Disposition of Parts, than is in all the Temples, Palaces, Ships, Theatres, or any other Pieces of Architecture the World ever yet saw: And not Architecture only, but all other Mechanism whatsoever, Engines, Clock-work, or any other, is not comparable to the Body of a living Creature. Seeing then we acknowledge these artificial Works, wheresoever we meet with them, to be the Effects of Wit, Understanding and Reason, is it not manifest Partiality, or Stupidity rather, to deny the Works of Nature, which excel these in all Degrees, to proceed from an intelligent Principle? Let them take any Piece of humane Art, or any Machine fram’d by the Wit of Man, and compare it with the Body of an Animal, either for Diversity and Multiplicity of Workmanship, or Curiosity in the minute Parts, or just Connexion and Dependance of one Thing upon another, or fit Subserviency to the Ends propos’d, of Life, Motion, Use and Ornament to the Creature; and if in all these Respects they find it superior to any Work of humane Production, (as they certainly must do) why should it be thought to proceed from inferior and senseless Causes? Ought we not in this, as well as in other Things, to proportion the Causes to the Effect, and to speak Truth, and bring in an honest Verdict for Nature as well as Art?

In the Composition of a perfect Animal, there are four several Frames or Compages join’d together, the natural, vital, animal and genital: 411Let them examine anyone of these apart, and try if they can find any Thing defective or superfluous, or any Way inept for Matter or Form. Let them view the whole Compages of the Bones, and especially the admirable Constitution, Texture, and Disposition of the Muscles, which are join’d with them for moving the Body, or its Parts. Let them take an Account of the little Pipes and Conduits for the Juices and the Liquors, of their Form and Distribution; or let them take any single Organ to examine, as the Eye, or the Ear, the Hand, or the Heart: In each of these they may discover such Arguments of Wisdom, and of Art, as will either convince them, or confound them; tho’ still they must leave greater undiscover’d. We know little the insensible Form and Contexture of the Parts of the Body, nor the just Method of their Action: We know not yet the Manner, Order and Causes of the Motion of the Heart, which is the chief Spring of the whole Machine; and with how little Exactness do we understand the Brain, and the Parts belonging to it? Why of that Temper and of that Form: How Motions are propagated there, and how conserv’d: How they answer the several Operations of the Mind: Why such little Discomposures of it disturb our Senses, and upon what little Differences in this the great Differences of Wits and Genius’s depend. Yet seeing in all these Organs, whose Make and Manner of Action we cannot discover, we see however by the Effects, that they are truly 412fitted for those Offices to which Nature hath design’d them, we ought in Reason to admire that Art which we cannot penetrate. At least we cannot but judge it a Thing absurd, that what we have not Wit enough to find out or comprehend, we should not allow to be an Argument of Wit and Understanding in the Author, or Inventor of it. This would be against all Logick, common Sense, and common Decorum. Neither do I think it possible to the Mind of Man, while we attend to Evidence, to believe that these, and such like Works of Nature came by Chance, as they call it, or without Providence, Forecast and Wisdom, either in the first Causes, or in the proximate; in the Design, or in the Execution; in the Preparation to them, or in the finishing of them.

Wherefore, in my Judgment, if any be of this Persuasion, it cannot be so much the Effect of their Understanding, as of their Disposion and Inclination; and in moral Things, Mens Opinions do as often spring from the one, as from the other. For my Part, I do generally distinguish of two Sorts of Opinions in all Men, Inclination-opinions, and Reason’d-opinions; Opinions that grow upon Mens Complexions, and Opinions that are the Results of their Reason; and I meet with very few that are of a Temperament so equal, or a Constitution so even pois’d, but that they incline to one Set of Opinions rather than another, antecedently to all Proofs of Reason: And when they have espous’d their Opinions from that secret Sympathy, 413then they find out as good Reasons as they can, to maintain them, and say, nay think sometimes, that ’twas for the sake of those Reasons that they first embrac’d them. We may commonly distinguish these Inclination-opinions from the rational, because we find them accompanied with more Heat than Light, a great deal of Eagerness and Impatience in defending of them, and but slender Arguments. One might give Instances of this, both in Sects of Religion and Philosophy, in Platonists, Stoicks, and Epicureans, that are so by their Temper more than their Reason; but to our Purpose it will be sufficient to instance in one hearty Epicurean, Lucretius, who is manifestly such, more from his Inclination, and the Bent of his Spirit, than from the Force of Argument. For tho’ his Suppositions be very precarious, and his Reasonings all along very slight, he will many times strut and triumph, as if he had rested the Thunder out of Jove’s right Hand; and a Mathematician is not more confident of his Demonstration, than he seems to be of the Truth of his shallow Philosophy. From such a Principle of natural Complexion as this, I allow a Man may be Athestical, but never from the calm Dictate of his Reason; yet he may be as confident and as tenacious of his Conclusion, as if he had a clear and distinct Evidence for it. For I take it to be a true Maxim in humane Nature, that a strong Inclination, with a little Evidence, is equivalent to a strong Evidence. And therefore we are not to be surpriz’d if we find Men confident 414in their Opinions many times far beyond the Degree of their Evidence, seeing there are other Things, besides Evidence, that incline the Will to one Conclusion rather than another. And as I have instanc’d in natural Complexion, so Interest hath the same Effect upon humane Nature, because it always begets an Inclination to those Opinions that favour our Interest, and a Disinclination to the contrary: And this Principle may be another Ingredient, and secret Persuasive to Atheism; for when Men have run themselves so deep into Vice and Immorality, that they expect no Benefit from a God, ’tis in a Manner necessary to their Quiet, and the Ease of their Mind, that they should fancy there is none; for they are afraid, if there be a God, that he will not stand neuter, and let them alone in another World. This, I say, is necessary to the Quiet of their Mind, unless they can attain that great Art, which many labour after, of Non-reflection, or an unthinking Faculty, as to God and a World to come. But to return to our Argument, after this short Digression——

And as that regular Diversity which we see in the Forms of Nature, and especially in the Bodies of Animals, could not be from any blind Principle, either of Necessity or of Chance; so in the last Place, that Subordination which we see in the Parts of Nature, and Subserviency to one another, the less Noble to the more Noble, the Inanimate to the Animate, and all Things upon Earth unto Man, must needs have been the Effect of some Being 415higher than Matter; that did wisely dispose all Things so at first, and doth still conserve them in the same order. If Man had been born into the World, and a numerous Host of Creatures, without any Provision or Accommodation made for their Subsistence and Conveniences, we might have suspected that they had come by Chance, and therefore were so ill provided for: But which of them can complain? Thro’ their various kinds and orders, what is there awanting? They are all fitted to their several Elements, and their ways of living, Birds, Beasts, and Fishes, both by the Form and Shape of their Bodies, the manner of their Covering, and the Quality of their Food. Besides, they are instructed in little Arts and Instincts for their Conservation; and not only for their proper Conservation, but also to find a way to make and bring up young ones, and leave behind them a Posterity: And all this in so fit a Method, and by such a pretty Train of Actions, as is really admirable.

Man is the Master of all, and of him a double Care is taken; that he should neither want what Nature can afford, nor what Art can supply. He could not be provided of all Conveniences by Nature only, especially to secure him against the Injuries of the Air; but in Recompence, Nature hath provided Materials for all those Arts which she saw would be needful in humane Life, as Building, Cloathing, Navigation, Agriculture, &c. that so Mankind might have both wherewithal to answer their Occasions, and also to employ their Time, 416and exercise their Ingenuity. This Oeconomy of Nature, as I may call it, or well ordering of the great Family of living Creatures, is an Argument both of Goodness and of Wisdom, and is every way far above the Powers of Brute Matter. All regular Administration we ascribe to Conduct and Judgment: If an Army of Men be well provided for, in things necessary both for Food, Cloaths, Arms, Lodging, Security and Defence, so as nothing is awanting in so great a Multitude, we suppose it the Effect of Care and Forecast in those Persons that had the Charge of it: They took their Measures at first, computed and proportion’d one thing to another, made good Regulations, and gave Orders for convenient Supplies. And can we suppose the great Army of Creatures upon Earth, managed and provided for with less Fore-thought and Providence, nay, with none at all, by mere Chance? This is to recede from all Rules and Analogy of Reason, only to serve a Turn, and gratify an unreasonable Humour.

To conclude this Argument; there are two general Heads of things, if I recollect aright, which we make the Marks and Characters of Wisdom and Reason, Works of Art, and the Conduct of Affairs or Direction of Means to an End; and wheresoever we meet, either with regular material Works, or a regular Ordination of Affairs, we think we have a good Title and Warrant to derive them from an intelligent Author: Now these two being found in the natural World, and that in an eminent 417Degree, the one in the Frame of it, and the other in the Oeconomy of it, we have all the Evidence and Ground that can be, in arguing from Things visible to Things invisible, that there is an Author of Nature, superior both to humane Power and humane Wisdom.

Before we proceed to give any further Proofs or Discoveries of the Author of Nature, let us reflect a little upon those we have already insisted upon; which have been taken wholly from the material World, and from the common Course of Nature. The very Existence of Matter is a Proof of a Deity, for the Idea of it hath no Connexion with Existence, as we shall shew hereafter; however we will take leave now to set it down with the rest in Order as they follow one another.

1. The Existence of Matter.

2. The Motion of Matter.

3. The just Quantity and Degree of that Motion.

4. The first Form of the Universe upon Motion imprest; both as to the Divisions of Matter, and the Leading Motions.

5. The Laws for Communication and Regulation of that Motion.

6. The regular Effects of it, especially in the Animate World.

7. The Oeconomy of Nature, and fit Subordination of one part of the World to another.

The five first of these Heads are Prerequisites and Preparatives to the Formation of a World, and the two last are as the Image and 418Character of its Maker, of his Power, Goodness and Wisdom, imprest upon it. Every one of them might well deserve a Chapter to it self, if the Subject was to be treated on at large; but this is only an occasional Dissertation, to state the Powers of Matter, lest they should be thought boundless, and the Author of Nature unnecessary, as the Epicureans pretend; but notwithstanding their vain Confidence and Credulity, I defy them, or any Man else, to make Sense of the material World, without placing a God at the Center of it.

To these Considerations, taken wholly from the corporeal World, give me leave to add one of a mix’d Nature, concerning the Union of our Soul and Body. This strange Effect, if rightly understood, doth as truly discover the Author of Nature, as many Effects that are accounted more supernatural. The Incarnation, as I may so say, of a spiritual Substance is to me a kind of standing Miracle; that there should be such an Union and Connexion reciprocally betwixt the Motions of the Body, and the Actions and Passions of the Soul; betwixt a Substance intellectual, and a Parcel of organiz’d Matter, can be no Effect of either of those Substances; being wholly distinct in themselves, and remote in their Natures from one another. For Instance, when my finger is cut, or when ’tis burnt, that my Soul thereupon should feel such a smart and violent Pain, is no Consequence of Nature, or does not follow from any Connexion there is betwixt the 419Motion or Division of that Piece of Matter, I call my Finger, and the Passion of that Spirit I call my Soul; for these are two distinct Essences, and in themselves independent upon one another, as much as the Sun and my Body are independent; and there is no more Reason in strict Nature, or in the essential Chain of Causes and Effects, that my Soul should suffer, or be affected with this Motion in the Finger, than that the Sun should be affected with it; nay, there is less Reason, if less can be, for the Sun being corporeal, as the Finger is, there is some remote Possibility that there might be Communication of Motion betwixt them; but Motion cannot beget a Thought, or a Passion, by its own Force; Motion can beget nothing but Motion, and if it should produce a Thought, the Effect would be more noble than the Cause. Wherefore this Union is not by any Necessity of Nature, but only from a positive institution or Decree, establish’d by the Author of Nature, that there should be such a Communication betwixt these two Substances for a time, viz. during the Vitality of the Body.

’Tis true indeed, if Thought, Apprehension, and Reason, was nothing but corporeal Motion, this Argument would be of no Force; but to suppose this, is to admit an Absurdity to cure a Difficulty; to make a Thought out of a local Motion is like making a God out of a Stock, or a Stone; for these two are as remote in their Nature, and have as different Idea’s in the Mind, as any two desperate Things we can propose or conceive; Number 420and Colour, a Triangle and Virtue, Free-will and a Pyramid, are not more unlike, more distant, or of more different Forms, than Thought and local Motion. Motion is nothing but a Body’s changing its Place and Situation amongst other Bodies, and what Affinity or Resemblance hath that to a Thought? How is that like to Pain, or to a Doubt of the Mind? To Hope or to Desire? To the Idea of God? To any Act of the Will or Understanding, as judging, consenting, reasoning, remembring, or any other? These are Things of several Orders that have no Similitude, nor any Mixture of one another. And as this is the Nature of Motion, so, on the other Hand, in a Thought there are two Things, Consciousness and a Representation; Consciousness is in all Thoughts indifferently, whether distinct or confus’d, for no Man thinks but he is conscious that he thinks, nor perceives any Thing but he is conscious that he perceives it; there is also in a Thought, especially if it be distinct, a Representation; ’tis the Image of that we think upon, and makes its Objects present to the Mind. Now what hath local Motion to do with either of these two, Consciousness or Representativeness? How doth it include either of them, or hold them any way affix’d to its Nature? I think one may with as good Sense and Reason ask of what Colour a Thought is, Green or Scarlet, as what Sort of Motion it is; for Motion of what Sort soever can never be conscious, nor represent Things as our Thoughts do. I have noted thus much in general, only to shew the 421different Nature of Motion and Cogitation, that we may be the more sensible that they have no mutual Connexion in us, nor in any other Creature, from their Essence or essential Properties, but by a supervenient Power from the Author of Nature, who hath thus united the Soul and the Body in their Operations.

We have hitherto only consider’d the ordinary Course of Nature, and what Indications and Proofs of its Author, that affords us: There is another remarkable Head of Arguments from Effects, extraordinary and supernatural, such as Miracles, Prophecies, Inspirations, Prodigies, Apparitions, Witchcraft, Sorceries, &c. These, at one Step, lead us to something above Nature, and this is the shortest way and the most Popular; several Arguments are suited to several Tempers, and God hath not left himself without a proper Witness to every Temper that is not willfully blind. Of these Witnesses we now speak of, the most considerable are Miracles, and the most considerable Records of them are the Books of Scripture; which if we consider only as an History, and as having nothing sacred in them more than other good Histories, that is, Truth in Matter of Fact, we cannot doubt but there have been Miracles in the World: That Moses and the Prophets, our Saviour and his Apostles, wrought Miracles, I can no more question, than that Cæsar and Alexander fought Battles, and took Cities. So also that there were true Prophecies and Inspirations, we know from Scripture, only consider’d as a true History. 422But as for other supernatural Effects that are not recorded there, we have Reason to examine them more strictly before we receive them, at least as to particular Instances; for I am apt to think they are like Lotteries, where there are ten or twenty Blanks for one Prize; but yet if there were no Prizes at all, the Lottery would not have Credit to subsist, and would be cry’d down as a perfect Cheat: So if amongst those many Stories of Prodigies, Apparitions, and Witchcrafts, there were not some true, the very Fame and Thought of them would die from amongst Men, and the first Broachers of them would be hooted at as Cheats. As a false Religion, that hath nothing true and solid mix’d with it, can scarce be fix’d upon Mankind; but where there is a Mixture of true and false, the Strength of the one supports the Weakness of the other. As for Sorcery, the Instances and Examples of it are undeniable; not so much those few scatter’d Instances that happen now and then among us, but such as are more constant, and in a manner National, in some Countries, and amongst barbarous People. Besides, the Oracles, and the Magick that was so frequent amongst the Ancients, shew us that there have been always some Powers more than Humane, tampering with the Affairs of Mankind. But this Topick from Effects, extraordinary and supernatural, being in a great measure Historical, and respecting evil Spirits as well as the Author of Nature, is not so proper for this Place.

423There is a third Set or Head of Arguments, that to some Tempers are more cogent and convictive than any of these, namely, Arguments Abstract and Metaphysical; And these do not only lead us to an Author of Nature in general, but shew us more of his Properties and Perfections; represent him to us as a supreme Deity, infinitely perfect, the Fountain of all Being, and the steady Center of all Things. But Reasons of this Order being of a finer Thread, require more Attention, and some Preparation of Mind to make us discern them well and be duly sensible of them. When a Man hath withdrawn himself from the Noise of this busy World, lock’d up his Senses and his Passions, and every thing that would unite him with it; commanded a general Silence in the Soul, and suffers not a Thought to stir, but what looks inwards; let him then reflect seriously, and ask himself, What am I, and How came I into Being? If I was Author and Original to my self, surely I ought to feel that mighty Power, and enjoy the Pleasure of it; but, alas, I am conscious of no such Force or Virtue, nor of any thing in my Nature, that should give me necessary Existence; it hath no Connexion with any part of me, nor any Faculty in me, that I can discern. And now that I do exist, from what Causes soever, Can I secure my self in Being? Now that I am in Possession, am I sure to keep it? Am I certain that three Minutes hence I shall still exist? I may or I may not, for ought I see; either seems possible in it self; and either is contingent 424as to me; I find nothing in my Nature that can warrant my Substance for one Day, for one Hour, for one Moment longer. I am nothing but Thoughts, fleeting Thoughts, that chase and extinguish one another; and my Being, for ought I know, is successive, and as dying as they are, and renew’d to me every Moment. This I am sure of, that so far as I know my self, and am conscious what I am, there is no Principle of Immutability, or of necessary and indefectible Existence in my Nature; and therefore I ought in Reason to believe, that I stand or fall at the Mercy of other Causes, and not by my own Will, or my own Sufficiency.

Besides, I am very sensible, and in this I cannot be mistaken, that my Nature is in several Respects weak and imperfect, both as to Will and Understanding. I Will many Things in vain and without effect, and I Wish often what I have no Ability to execute or obtain. And as to my Understanding, how defective is it? How little or nothing do I know in Comparison of what I am ignorant of? Almost all the intellectual World is shut up to me, and the far greatest Part of the corporeal; and in those Things that fall under my Cognizance, how often am I mistaken? I am confin’d to a narrow Sphere, and yet within that Sphere I often err; my Conceptions of Things are obscure and confus’d, my reason short-sighted; I am forc’d often to correct my self, or to acknowledge that I have judg’d false, and consented to an Error. In sum, all my Powers I find are limited, 425and I can easily conceive the same kind of Perfections in higher Degrees than I possess them, and consequently there are Beings, or may be, greater and more excellent than my self, and more able to subsist by their own Power, (Τὸ τέλειον πρότερον τῇ Φύσει τοῦς ἀτελοῦς Arist.) Why should I not therefore believe that my Original is from those Beings rather than from my self? For every Nature, the more great and perfect it is, the nearer it approaches to Necessity of Existence, and to a Power of producing other Things. Yet, the Truth is, it must be acknowledg’d, that so long as the Perfection of those other Beings are limited and finite, tho’ they be far superior to us, there is no Necessity ariseth from their Nature that they should exist; and the same Arguments that we have us’d against our selves, they may, in Proportion, use against themselves; and therefore we must still advance higher to find a self-originated Being, whose Existence must flow immediately from his Essence, or have a necessary Connexion with it.

And indeed all these different Degrees of higher and higher Perfections, lead us directly to an highest, or supreme Degree, which is infinite and unlimited Perfection. As subordinate Causes lead to the first, so Natures more perfect one than another lead us to a Nature infinitely perfect, which is the Fountain of them all. Thither we must go, if we will follow the Course of Reason, which cannot stop at one more than another, till it arrive there; and being arriv’d there at that sovereign 426and original Perfection, it finds a firm and immovable Ground to stand upon; the steady Centre of all Being, wherein the Mind rests and is satisfied. All the Scruples or Objections that we mov’d against our selves, or other Creatures, take no Place here: This Being is conscious of an Allsufficiency in it self, and of Immutability as to any Thing else; including in it all the Causes of Existence, or, to speak more properly, all Necessity of Existence. Besides, that we exist our selves, notwithstanding the Imperfection and Insufficiency of our Nature, is a just, collateral Proof of the Existence, of this supreme Being; for such an Effect as this cannot be without its Cause, and it can have no other competent Cause but what we mention. And as this Being is its own Origin, so it must needs be capable of producing all Creatures; for whatsoever is possible, must be possible to it; and that Creatures or finite Beings are possible, we both see by Experience, and may also discern by Reason; for those several Degrees of Perfection or Limitations of it, which we mention’d before, are all consistent Notions, and consequently make consistent Natures, and such as may exist; but contingently indeed, and in Dependance upon the first Cause.

Thus we are come at length to a fair Resolution of that great Question, Whence we are, and how we continue in Being? And this hath led us by an easy Ascent to the supreme Author of Nature, and the first Cause of all things; and presents us also with such a Scheme and 427Draught of the Universe, as is clear and rational; every thing in its Order, and in its Place, according to the Dignity of its Nature, and the Strength of its Principles. When the Mind hath rais’d it self into this View of a Being infinitely perfect, ’tis in a Region of Light, hath a free Prospect every Way, and sees all Things from Top to Bottom, as pervious and transparent. Whereas without God and a first Cause, there is nothing but Darkness and Confusion in the Mind, and in Nature; broken Views of Things, short interrupted Glimpses of Light, nothing certain or demonstrative, no Basis of Truth, no Extent of Thought, no Science, no Contemplation.

You will say, it may be, ’tis true, something must be eternal, and of necessary Existence, but why may not Matter be this eternal necessary Being? Then our Souls and all other Intellectual Things must be Parts and Parcels of Matter; and what Pretensions can Matter have to those Properties and Perfections that we find in our Souls, how limited soever? Much less to necessary Existence, and those Perfections that are the Foundation of it? What exists eternally, and from it self, its Existence must flow immediately from its Essence, as its Cause, Reason, or Ground; for as Existence hath always something antecedent to it in Order of Nature, so that which is antecedent to it, must infer it by a necessary Connexion, and so may be call’d the Cause, Ground, or Reason of it. And nothing can be such a Ground, but what is a Perfection; nor every Perfection neither, 428it must be sovereign and infinite Perfection; for from what else can necessary Existence flow, or be infer’d? Besides, if that Being was not infinitely perfect, there might be another Being more powerful than it, and consequently able to oppose and hinder its Existence; and what may be hinder’d is contingent and arbitrary. Now Matter is so far from being a Nature infinitely perfect, that it hath no Perfection at all, but that of bare Substance; neither Life, Sense, Will or Understanding; nor so much as Motion from it self; as we have shew’d before. And therefore this brute inactive Mass, which is but, as it were, the Drudge of Nature, can have no Right or Title to that sovereign Prerogative of Self-existence.

We noted before, as a Thing agreed upon, that something or other must needs be Eternal. For if ever there was a Time or State when there was no being, there never could be any. Seeing Nothing could not produce Something. Therefore ’tis undeniably true on all Hands, that there was some Being from Eternity. Now, according to our Understanding, Truth is Eternal: Therefore, say we, some intellect or intelligent Being. So also the Reasons of Goodness and Justice appear to us Eternal; and therefore some good and just Being is Eternal. Thus much is plain, that these Perfections which bear the Signatures of Eternity upon them, are Things that have no Relation to Matter, but relate immediately to an intellectual Being: Therefore some such Being, to whom they originally belong, must be that Eternal. Besides, We cannot possibly but judge such a 429Being more perfect than Matter. Now every Nature, the more perfect it is, the more remote it is from Nothing; and the more remote it is from Nothing, the more it approaches to Necessity of Existence, and consequently to eternal Existence.

Thus we have made a short Survey, so far as the Bounds of a Chapter would permit, of those Evidences and Assurances which we have from abstract Reason and the external World, that there is an Author of Nature; and that a Being infinitely perfect, which we call God. We may add to these, in the last Place, that universal Consent of Mankind, or natural Instinct of Religion which we see, more or less, throughout all Nations, barbarous or civil. For tho’ this Argument, ’tis true, be more disputable than the rest, yet having set down just Grounds already from whence this natural Judgment or Persuasion might spring, we have more Reason to impute it to some of those, and their insensible Influence upon the Mind, than to the Artifices of Men, or to make it a Weakness, Prejudice, or Error of our Nature. That there is such a Propension in humane Nature, seems to be very plain; at least so far as to move us to implore, and have recourse to invisible Powers in our Extremities. Prayer is natural in certain Cases, and we do at the mere Motion of our natural Spirit, and indeliberately, invoke God and Heaven, either in case of extream Danger, to help and assist us; or in case of Injustice and Oppression, to relieve or avenge us; or in case of false Accusations, to vindicate our Innocency; and generally in all cases desperate and 430remediless as to humane Power, we seem to appeal and address our selves to something higher. And this we do by a sudden Impulse of Nature, without Reflexion or Deliberation. Besides, as Witnesses of our Faith and Veracity, we use to invoke the Gods, or superior Powers, by Way of Imprecation upon our selves, if we be false and perjur’d; and this hath been us’d in most Nations and Ages, if not in all. These Things also argue, that there is a natural Conscience in Man, and a Distinction of moral Good and Evil; and that we look upon those invisible Powers as the Guardians of Virtue and Honesty. There are also few or no People upon the Earth but have something of external Religion, true or false; and either of them is an Argument of this natural Anticipation, or that they have an Opinion that there is something above them, and above visible Nature; tho’ what that something was, they seldom were able to make a good Judgment. But to pursue this Argument particularly, would require an historical Deduction of Times and Places, which is not suitable to our present Design.

To conclude this Chapter and this Subject; if we set Religion apart, and consider the Deist and Atheist only as two Sects in Philosophy, or their Doctrine as two different Hypotheses propos’d for the Explication of Nature, and in Competition with one another, whether should give the more rational Account of the Universe, of its Origin and Phænomena? I say if we consider them only thus, and make an 431impartial Estimate whether System is more reasonable, more clear, and more satisfactory; to me there seems to be no more Comparison than betwixt Light and Darkness. The Hypothesis of the Deist reacheth from Top to Bottom, both through the intellectual and material World, with a clear and distinct Light every where; is genuine, comprehensive, and satisfactory; hath nothing forc’d, nothing confus’d, nothing precarious; whereas the Hypothesis of the Atheist is strain’d and broken, dark and uneasy to the Mind, commonly precarious; often incongruous and irrational, and sometimes plainly ridiculous. And this Judgment I should make of them abstractly from the Interest of Religion, considering them only as Matter of Reason and Philosophy. And I dare affirm with Assurance, if the Faculties of our Souls be true, that no Man can have a System of Thoughts reaching thorough Nature, coherent and confident in every Part, without a Deity for the Basis of it.

Chap. XI

Several Incroachments upon natural Providence, or Misrepresentations of it, and false Methods of Contemplation. A true Method propos’d, and a true Representation of the Universe. The Mundane Idea, and the universal System of Providence. Several subordinate Systems. That of our Earth and sublunary World. The Course and Periods of it. How much of this is already treated of, and what remains. The Conclusion.

We have set Bounds to Nature in the foregoing Chapter, and plac’d her Author and Governor upon his Throne, to give Laws to her Motions, and to direct and limit her Power in such Ways and Methods as are most for his Honour. Let us now consider Nature under the Conduct of Providence, or consider Natural Providence, and the Extent of it; and as we were cautious before not to give too much Power or Greatness to Nature, consider’d apart from Providence; so we must be careful now, under this second Consideration, not to contract her Bounds too much; lest we should, by too mean and narrow Thoughts of the Creation, eclipse the Glory of its Author, whom we have so lately own’d as a Being infinitely Perfect.

433And to use no further Introduction, in the first Place, we must not by any Means admit or imagine, that all Nature, and this great Universe, was made only for the sake of Man, the meanest of all intelligent Creatures that we know of; nor that this little Planet, where we sojourn for a few Days, is the only habitable Part of the Universe: These are Thoughts so groundless and unreasonable in themselves, and also so derogatory to the infinite Power, Wisdom and Goodness of the first Cause, that as they are absurd in Reason, so they deserve far better to be mark’d and censur’d for Heresies in Religion, than many Opinions that have been censur’d for such in former Ages. How is it possible that it should enter into the Thoughts of vain Man to believe himself the principal Part of God’s Creation, or that all the rest was ordain’d for him, for his Service or Pleasure? Man, whose Follies we laugh at every Day, or else complain of them; whose Pleasures are Vanity, and his Passions stronger than his Reason? who sees himself every Way weak and impotent, hath no power over external Nature, little over himself; cannot execute so much as his own good Resolutions, mutable, irregular, prone to Evil. Surely, if we made the least Reflection upon our selves with Impartiality, we should be asham’d of such an arrogant Thought. How few of these Sons of Men, for whom, they say, all Things were made, are the Sons of Wisdom? How few find the Paths of Life? They spend a few Days in 434Folly and Sin, and then go down to the Regions of Death and Misery. And is it possible to believe that all Nature, and all Providence, are only or principally for their sake? Is it not a more reasonable Character or Conclusion which the Prophet hath made, Surely every Man is Vanity? Man that comes into the World at the Pleasure of another, and goes out by an hundred Accidents; his Birth and Education generally determine his Fate here, and neither of those are in his own Power; his Wit also is as uncertain as his Fortune; he hath not the moulding of his own Brain, however a Knock on the Head makes him a Fool, stupid as the Beasts of the Field; and a little Excess of Passion or Melancholy makes him worse, Mad and Frantick. In his best Senses he is shallow, and of little Understanding; and in nothing more blind and ignorant than in Things sacred and divine; he falls down before a Stock or a Stone, and says, Thou art my God; he can believe Nonsense and Contradictions, and make it his Religion to do so. And is this the great Creature which God hath made by the Might of his Power, and for the Honour of his Majesty? Upon whom all Things must wait, to whom all Things must be subservient? Methinks we have noted Weaknesses and Follies enough in the Nature of Man; this need not be added as the Top and Accomplishment, That with all these he is so vain as to think that all the rest of the World was made for his sake.

And as due Humility and the Consideration of our own Meanness ought to secure us from 435any such vain Opinion of our selves, so the Perfection of other Beings ought to give us more Respect and Honour for them. With what Face can we pretend that Creatures far superior to us, and more excellent both in Nature and Condition, should be made for our Sake and Service? How preposterous would it be to ascribe such a thing to our Maker, and how intolerable a Vanity in us to affect it? We that are next to the Brutes that perish, by a sacrilegious Attempt would make our selves more considerable than the highest Dignities. It is thought to have been the Crime of Lucifer, who was thrown down from Heaven to Hell, that he affected an Equality with the Almighty; and to affect to be next to the Almighty is a Crime next to that. We have no Reason to believe but that there are, at least, as many Orders of Beings above us, as there are Ranks of Creatures below us; there is a greater Distance sure betwixt us and God Almighty, than there is betwixt us and the meanest Worm; and yet we should take it very ill, if the Worms of the Earth should pretend that we were made for them. But to pass from the invisible World to the visible and corporeal——

Was that made only for our sake? King David was more wise, and more just both to God and Man, in his viiith Psalm, where he says, He wonders, when he considers the Heavens, that the Maker of them could think on Man. He truly supposes the celestial Bodies, and the Inhabitants of them, much more considerable than we are, and reckons up only terrestrial Things as put in subjection to Man. Can we then be 436so fond as to imagine all the corporeal Universe made for our Use? ’Tis not the millioneth Part of it that is known to us, much less useful; we can neither reach with our Eye, nor our Imagination, those Armies of Stars that lie far and deep in the boundless Heavens. If we take a good Glass, we discover innumerable more Stars in the Firmament than we can with our single Eye; and yet if you take a second Glass, better than the first, that carries the Sight to a greater Distance, you see more still lying beyond the other; and a third Glass that pierceth further, still makes new Discoveries of Stars; and so forwards, indefinitely and inexhaustedly for any Thing we know, according to the Immensity of the divine Nature and Power. Who can reckon up the Stars of the Galaxy, or direct us in the Use of them? And can we believe that those and all the rest were made for us? Of those few Stars that we enjoy, or that are visible to the Eye, there is not a tenth Part that is really useful to Man; and no doubt if the principal End of them had been our Pleasure or Conveniency, they would have been put in some better Order in respect of the Earth. They lie carelessly scatter’d, as if they had been sown in the Heaven, like seed, by handfuls; and not by a skilful Hand neither. What a beautiful Hemisphere they would have made, if they had been plac’d in Rank and Order; if they had been all dispos’d into regular Figures, and the little ones set with due Regard to the greater, then all finish’d and made up into one fair Piece or great Composition, according to the Rules of Art and 437Symmetry; what a surprizing Beauty this would have been to the Inhabitants of the Earth? What a lovely Roof to our little World? This indeed might have given one some Temptation to have thought that they had been all made for us; but lest any such vain Imagination should now enter into our Thoughts, Providence (besides more important Reasons) seems on Purpose to have left them under that Negligence or Disorder, which they appear in to us.

The second Part of this Opinion supposeth this Planet, where we live, to be the only habitable Part of the Universe; and this is a natural Consequence of the former: If all Things were made to serve us, why should any more be made than what is useful to us? But ’tis only our Ignorance of the System of the World, and of the Grandeur of the Works of God, that betrays us to such narrow Thoughts. (See the Lat. Treat. lib. 1. c. 10. p. 108, 109, &c.) If we do but consider what this Earth is, both for Littleness and Deformity, and what its Inhabitants are, we shall not be apt to think that this miserable Atom hath engross’d and exhausted all the divine Favours, and all the Riches of his Goodness, and of his Providence. But we will not enlarge upon this Part of the Opinion, lest it should carry us too far from the Subject, and it will fall of its own Accord, with the former. Upon the whole we may conclude, that it was only the sublunary World that was made for the sake of Man, and not the great Creation, either material or intellectual; and we cannot admit or affirm any more without manifest 438Injury, Depression, and Misrepresentation of Providence, as we may be easily convinc’d from these four Heads; The Meanness of Man and of this Earth; The Excellency of other Beings; The Immensity of the Universe, and the infinite Perfection of the first Cause. Which I leave to your further Meditation, and pass on to the second Rule concerning natural Providence.

In the second Place, then, If we would have a fair View and right Apprehensions of natural Providence, we must not cut the Chains of it too short, by having recourse without Necessity, either to the first Cause, in explaining the Origins of Things; or to Miracles, in explaining particular Effects. This, I say, breaks the Chains of natural Providence, when it is done without Necessity; that is, when Things are otherwise intelligible from second Causes. Neither is any Thing gain’d by it to God Almighty; for ’tis but as the Proverb says, To rob Peter to pay Paul; to take so much from his ordinary Providence, and place it to his extraordinary. When a new Religion is brought into the World, ’tis very reasonable and decorous that it should be usher’d in with Miracles, as both the Jewish and Christian were, but afterwards Things return into their Channel and do not change or overflow again but upon extraordinary Occasions or Revolutions. The Power Extraordinary of God is to be accounted very sacred, not to be touch’d or expos’d for our Pleasure or Conveniency; but I am afraid we often make use of it only to conceal 439our own Ignorance, or to save us the Trouble of inquiring into natural Causes. Men are generally unwilling to appear ignorant, especially those that make Profession of Knowledge; and when they have not Skill enough to explain some particular Effect in a Way of Reason, they throw it upon the first Cause, as able to bear all; and so placing it to that Account, they excuse themselves, and save their Credit; for all Men are equally wise, if you take away second Causes; as we are all of the same Colour, if you take away the Light.

But to state this Matter, and see the Ground of this Rule more distinctly, we must observe and consider, That the Course of Nature is truly the Will of God; (See Book 1. c. 8. at the End.) and, as I may so say, his first Will; from which we are not to recede, but upon clear Evidence and Necessity. And as in Matter of Religion, we are to follow the known reveal’d Will of God, and not to trust to every Impulse or Motion of Enthusiasm, as coming from the Divine Spirit, unless there be evident Marks that it is supernatural, and cannot come from our own; so neither are we, without Necessity, to quit the known and ordinary Will and Power of God, establish’d in the Course of Nature, and fly to supernatural Causes, or his extraordinary Will; for this is a kind of Enthusiasm or Fanaticism, as well as the other: And no doubt that great Prodigality and Waste of Miracles which some make, is no way to the Honour of God or Religion. ’Tis true, 440the other Extream is worse than this, for to deny all Miracles, is in effect to deny all Reveal’d Religion; therefore due Measures are to be taken betwixt these two, so as neither to make the Divine Power too mean and cheap, nor the Power of Nature illimited and all-sufficient.

In the third Place, to make the Scenes of natural Providence considerable, and the Knowledge of them satisfactory to the Mind, we must take a true Philosophy, or the true Principles that govern Nature, which are Geometrical and Mechanical. By these you discover the Footsteps of the Divine Art and Wisdom, and trace the Progress of Nature Step by Step, as distinctly as in artificial things, where we see how the Motions depend upon one another, in what Order, and by what Necessity. God made all Things in Number, Weight and Measure, which are Geometrical and Mechanical Principles; He is not said to have made Things by Forms and Qualities, or any Combination of Qualities, but by these three Principles, which may be conceiv’d to express the Subject of three Mathematical Sciences, Number, of Arithmetick; Weight, of Staticks; and Measure and Proportion, of Geometry: If then all things were made according to these Principles, to understand the Manner of their Construction and Composition, we must proceed in the Search of them by the same Principles, and resolve them into these again. Besides, the Nature of the Subject does direct us sufficiently; for when we contemplate 441or treat of Bodies, and the material World, we must proceed by the Modes of Bodies, and their real Properties, such as can be represented either to Sense or Imagination, for these Faculties are made for corporeal Things; but Logical Notions, when applied to particular Bodies, are meer Shadows of them, without Light or Substance. No Man can raise a Theory upon such Grounds, nor calculate any Revolutions of Nature, nor render any Service, or invent any thing useful in human Life. And accordingly we see, that for these many Ages, that this dry Philosophy hath govern’d Christendom, it hath brought forth no Fruit, produc’d nothing good to God or Man, to Religion or human Society.

To these true Principles of Philosophy, we must join also the true System of the World. That gives Scope to our Thoughts, and rational Grounds to work upon; but the vulgar System, or that which Aristotle and others have propos’d, affords no Matter of Contemplation. All above the Moon, according to him, is firm as Adamant, and as immutable; no Change or Variation in the Universe, but in those little Removes that happen here below, one Quality or Form shifting into another: There would therefore be no great Exercise of Reason or Meditation in such a World; no long Series of Providence: The Regions above being made of a kind of immutable Matter, they would always remain in the same Form, Structure, and Qualities: So as 442we might lock up that part of the Universe as to any further Inquiries, and we should find it ten thousand Years hence in the same Form and State wherein we left it. Then in this sublunary World there would be but small Doings neither; Things would lie in a narrow Compass, no great Revolution of Nature, no new Form of the Earth, but a few Anniversary Corruptions and Generations, and that would be the short and the long of Nature, and of Providence, according to Aristotle. But if we consider the Earth, as one of those many Planets that move about the Sun, and the Sun as one of those innumerable fix’d Stars that adorn the Universe, and are the Centers of its greatest Motions; and all this subject to Fate and Change, to Corruptions and Renovations: This opens a large Field for our Thoughts, and gives a large Subject for the Exercise and Expansion of the Divine Wisdom and Power, and for the Glory of his Providence.

In the last Place; Having thus prepar’d your Mind, and the Subject, for the Contemplation of Natural Providence, do not content your self to consider only the present Face of Nature, but look back into the first Sources of Things, into their more simple and original States; and observe the Progress of Nature from one Form to another, through various Modes and Compositions. For there is no single Effect, nor any single State of Nature, how perfect soever, that can be such an Argument and Demonstration of Providence, as a 443Period of Nature, or a Revolution of several States consequential to one another; and in such an Order and Dependance, that as they flow and succeed, they shall still be adjusted to the Periods of the moral World; so as to be ready always to be Ministers of the Divine Justice or Beneficence to Mankind. This shews the manifold Riches of the Wisdom and Power of God in Nature. And this may give us just Occasion to reflect again upon Aristotle’s System and Method, which destroys natural Providence in this respect also; for he takes the World as it is now, both for Matter and Form, and supposeth it to have been in this Posture from all Eternity, and that it will continue to Eternity in the same; so as all the great Turns of Nature, and the principal Scenes of Providence in the natural World are quite struck out; and we have but this one Scene for all, and a pitiful one too, if compar’d with the infinite Wisdom of God, and the Depths of Providence. We must take Things in their full Extent, and from their Origins, to comprehend them well, and to discover the Mysteries of Providence, both in the Causes and in the Conduct of them. That Method which David followed in the Contemplation of the Little World, or in the Body of Man, we should also follow in the Great; take it in its first Mass, in its tender Principles and Rudiments, and observe the Progress of it to a compleat Form; in these first Stroaks of Nature are the Secrets of her Art; 444the Eye must be plac’d in this Point to have a right Prospect, and see her Works in a true Light. David admires the Wisdom of God in the Origin and Formation of his Body; My Body, says he, was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, curiously wrought in the lower Parts of the Earth; thine Eyes did see my Substance being yet imperfect, and in thy Book all my Members were written; which in Continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them, or being at first in no Form. How precious are thy Thoughts to me, O God! &c. Psal. cxxxix. 15, 16, 17. This was the Subject of David’s, Meditations, how his Body was wrought from a shapeless Mass into that marvellous Composition which it had when fully fram’d; and this, he says, was under the Eye of God all along, and the Model of it, as it were, was design’d and delineated in the Book of Providence, according to which, it was by Degrees fashion’d and wrought to Perfection. Thine Eyes did see my Substance yet being imperfect, in thy Book all my Members were drawn, &c. Job also hath aptly express’d those first Rudiments of the Body, or that little Chaos out of which it riseth; Hast thou not poured me out as Milk, and cruddled me like Cheese? Thou hast cloathed me with Skin and Flesh, and fenced me with Bones and Sinews, Job x. 10, 11. Where he notes the first Matter and the last Form of his Body, its compleat and most incompleat State. According to these Examples we must likewise consider the greater Bodies of 445Nature, the Earth and the sublunary World; we must go to the Origin of them, the Seminal Mass, the Chaos out of which they rise; look upon the World first as an Embryo World, without Form or Shape, and then consider how its Members were fashion’d, how by degrees it was brought into that Diversity of Parts and Regions which it consists of, with all their Furniture, and with all their Ornaments. The Idea of all which was before-hand, according to David’s Expression, written in the Divine Mind; and we partake of that Wisdom, according to our Capacity, in seeing and admiring the Methods of it.

These seem to be necessary Preparatives or Directions to those that would contemplate, with Profit, natural Providence, and the great Works of God in the visible Creation. We consider’d Nature in the precedent Chapter abstractly, and in her self; and now we consider her under the Conduct of Providence, which we therefore call Natural Providence: And as we have endeavour’d to remove those false Notions and Suppositions that lay as Clouds upon her Face, so we must now endeavour to represent her in a better Light, and in a fuller Beauty. By Natural Providence therefore we understand, the Form or Course of Universal Nature, as actuated by the divine Power; with all the Changes, Periods, and Vicissitudes that attend it, according to the Method and Establishment made at first by the Author of it. I said of Universal Nature, through all the Orders 446of Beings in the intellectual World, and all the Regions and Systems of Matter in the corporeal. For, having prov’d in the foregoing Chapter, that there is an Author of Nature, a Being infinitely perfect, by whose Power and Influence alone all finite Natures exist and act, we have an assured Ground to conclude, that nothing can come to pass, throughout the whole Creation, without the Prescience and Permission of its Author; and as it is necessary to suppose that there is an Idea in the Divine Understanding of all the Mass of Beings produc’d or created, according to the several Ranks and Orders wherein they stand; so there is also an Idea there, according to which this great Frame moves, and all the Parts of it in Beauty and Harmony.

And these two Things, The Essences of all Beings, and the Series of their Motions, compose the MUNDANE IDEA, as I may so call it; or that great all comprehensive Thought in the divine Understanding, which contains the System of universal Providence, and the State of all Things past, present, or to come. This glorious Idea is the express Image of the whole Creation, of all the Works of God, and the Disposition of them: Here lie the Mysteries of Providence, as in their Original; the successive Forms of all Nature; and herein, as in a Glass, may be view’d all the Scenes of Time or Eternity. This is an Abyss of sacred Wisdom, the exhausted Treasure of all Science, the Root of Truth, and Fountain of intellectual Light; and in the clear and full Contemplation 447of this is perfect Happiness, and a truly beatifick Vision.

But what concerns the intellectual World in this Idea, and the Orders or Natures that compose it, is not our present Business to pursue; we are to speak of the corporeal Universe, whereof we will make now a short and general Survey, as it lies under Providence. The corporeal Universe, how immense soever it be, and divided into innumerable Regions, may be consider’d all as one System, made up of several subordinate Systems. And there is also one immense Design of Providence co-extended with it, that contains all the Fate, and all the Revolutions of this great Mass. This, I say, is made up of several subordinate Systems, involving one another, and comprehending one another, in greater and greater Orbs and Compositions; and the Aggregate of all these is that which we call the Universe. But what the Form of these Compositions is, and what the Design of Providence that runs thro’ them all, and comprehends them all, this is unsearchable, not only to humane Understanding, but even to Angels and Archangels.

Wherefore leaving those greater Systems and Compositions of the Universe, as Matter of our Admiration, rather than of our Knowledge; there are two or three kinds of lesser Systems that are visible to us, and bring us nearer to our Subject, and nearer home. That of a fix’d Star single; That of a fix’d Star with its Planets, and that of a single Planet, primary 448or secondary. These three Systems we see and enjoy more or less. No doubt there are fix’d Stars single, or that have no Planets about them, as our Sun hath; nay ’tis probable, that at first the whole Universe consisted only of such Globes of liquid Fire, with Spheres about them, of pure Light and Æther: Earths are but the Dirt and Skum of the Creation, and all Things were pure as they came at first out of the Hands of God. But because we have nothing particular taught us, either by the Light of Nature or Revelation, concerning the Providence that governs these single Stars, of what Use they are to intellectual Beings, how animated by them, what Diversity there is amongst those æthereal Worlds, what Periods they have, what Changes or Vicissitudes they are capable to undergo, because such Inquiries would seem too remote, and carry us too far from our Subject, we leave these heavenly Systems to the Enjoyment and Contemplation of higher and more noble Creatures.

The Sun, with all the Planets that move about him, and depend upon him, make a good Sort of System; not considerable indeed, if compar’d with the whole Universe, or some of the greater Compositions in it; but in respect of us, the System of the Sun is of vast Extent: We cannot measure the Greatness of his Kingdom, and his Dominion is without End. The Distance from the highest Planet to the nearest fixt Star in the Firmament is unmeasurable, and all this belongs to the Empire of the Sun; besides 449the several Planets and their Orbs, which cast themselves closer about his Body, that they may receive a warmer and stronger Influence from him; for by him they may be said to live and move. But those vast Spaces that lie beyond these opaque Bodies, are Regions of perpetual Light; one Planet may Eclipse the Sun to another, and one Hemisphere of a Planet to the other Hemisphere makes Night and Darkness; but nothing can eclipse the Sun, or intercept the Course of his Light to these remote æthereal Regions; they are always luminous, and always pure and serene. And if the worst and planetary Parts of his Dominions be replenished with Inhabitants, we cannot suppose the better to lie as Desarts unenjoy’d and uninhabited; his Subjects then must be numerous, as well as his Dominions large; and in both respects this System of a fixt Star, with its Planets, (of which kind we may imagin innumerable in the Universe, besides this of the Sun, which is near and visible to us) is of a noble Character and Order, being the Habitation of Angels and glorified Spirits, as well as of mortal Men.

A planetary System is the last and lowest; and of these, no doubt, there is great Variety, and great Differences; not only of primary and secondary, or of the principal Planet, and its Moons or Attendants, but also amongst Planets of the same Rank; for they may differ both in their original Constitution, and according to the Form and State they are under at 450present; of which sort of Differences we have noted some amongst our Planets, (Book. 1. chap. last, p. 113, &c.) tho’ they seem to be all of much-what the same original Constitution. Besides, according to external Circumstances, their Distance, Manner of Motion, and Posture to the Sun, which is the Heart of the whole System, they become different in many Things. And we may observe, that those leading Differences, tho’ they seem little, draw after them innumerable others, and so make a distinct Face of Nature, and a distinct World; which still shews the Riches and Fecundity of divine Providence, and gives new Matter of Contemplation to those that take Pleasure in studying the Works and Ways of God. But leaving all other Planets, or planetary Systems to our Meditations only, we must particularly consider our own.

Having therefore made this general Survey of the great Universe, run through the boundless Regions of it, and with much ado found our Way home to that little Planet where our Concerns lie, this Earth or sublunary World, we must rest here at the End of our Course. And having undertaken to give the general Theory of this Earth, to conclude the present Treatise, we’ll reflect upon the whole Work, and observe what Progress we have hitherto made in this Theory, and what remains to be treated of hereafter. This Earth, tho’ it be a small Part or Particle of the Universe, hath a distinct System of Providence belonging to it, 451or an Order establisht by the Author of Nature for all its Phænomena (natural or moral) throughout the whole Period of its Duration, and every Interval of it; for, as there is nothing so great as to be above the divine Care, so neither is there any thing so little as to be below it. All the Changes of out World are fixt; How, or how often to be destroy’d, and how renew’d; What different Faces of Nature, and what of Mankind, in every Part of its Course; What new Scenes to adorn the Stage, and what new Parts to be acted; What the Entrance, and what the Consummation of all. Neither is there any sort of Knowledge more proper, or of more importance to us that are the Inhabitants of this Earth, than to understand this its natural and sacred History, as I may so call it, both as to what is past, and what is to come. And as those greater Volumes and Compositions of the Universe are proportion’d to the Understanding of Angels and superior Beings, so these little Systems are Compendiums of the divine Wisdom more fitted to our Capacity and Comprehension.

The Providence of the Earth, as of all other Systems, consists of two Parts, natural, and sacred or theological. I call that sacred or theological that respects Religion, and the Dispensations of it; the Government of the rational World, or of Mankind, whether under the Light of Nature only, or of a Revelation? the Method and Terms of their Happiness and Unhappiness in a future Life: The State, Oeconomy, 452and Conduct of this, with all the Mysteries contain’d in it, we call theological Providence; in the Head whereof stands the Soul of the blessed Messiah, who is Lord of both Worlds, intellectual and material. When we call the other Part of Providence Natural, we use that Word in a restrain’d Sense, as respecting only the material World; and accordingly this Part of Providence orders and superintends the State of the Earth, the great Vicissitudes and Mutations of it; for we must not imagin but that these are under the Eye of Providence, as well as humane Affairs, or any Revolutions of States and Empires. Now seeing both in the intellectual and corporeal World there are certain Periods, Fulness of Time, and fixt Seasons, either for some great Catastrophe, or some great Instauration; ’tis Providence that makes a due Harmony or Synchronism betwixt these two, and measures out the concurrent Fates of both Worlds, so as Nature may be always a faithful Minister of the divine Pleasure, whether for Rewards or Punishments, according as the State of Mankind may require. But theological Providence not being the Subject of this Work, we shall only observe, as we said before, what Account we have hitherto given of the natural State of the Earth, and what remains to be handled in another Treatise, and so conclude.

I did not think it necessary to carry the Story and Original of the Earth, higher than the Chaos, as Zoroaster and Orpheus seem to have done; but taking that for our Foundation, 453which Antiquity sacred and prophane doth suppose, and natural Reason approve and confirm, we have form’d the Earth from it. But when we say the Earth rose from a fluid Mass, it is not to be so crudely understood, as if a Rock of Marble, suppose, was fluid immediately before it became Marble; no, Things had a gradual Progression from one Form to another, and came at length to those more permanent Forms they are now settled in: Stone was once Earth, and Earth was once Mud, and Mud was once fluid. And so other Things may have another kind of Progression from Fluidity; but all was once Fluid, at least all the exterior Regions of this Earth. And even those Stones and Rocks of Marble which we speak of, seem to confess they were once soft or liquid, by those Mixtures we find in them of heterogeneous Bodies, and those Spots and Veins disperst thorough their Substance; for these Things could not happen to them after they were hard and impenetrable, in the Form of Stone or Marble. And if we can soften Rocks and Stones, and run them down into their first Liquors, as these Observations seem to do, we may easily believe that other Bodies also that compose the Earth were once in a fluid Mass, which is that we call a Chaos.

We therefore watch’d the Motions of that Chaos, and the several Transformations of it, while it continued Fluid; and we found at length what its first Concretion would be, and how it settled into the Form of an habitable 454Earth. But that Form was very different from the present Form of the Earth, which is not immediately deducible from a Chaos by any known Laws of Nature, or by any Wit of Man; as every one, that will have Patience to examine it, may easily be satisfied. That first Earth was of a smooth, regular Surface, as the Concretions of Liquors are, before they are disturb’d or broken; under that Surface lay the great Abyss, which was ready to swallow up the World that hung over it, and about it, whensoever God should give the Command, and the Vault should break and this Constitution of the primæval Earth gave Occasion to the first Catastrophe of this World, when it perish’d in a Deluge of Water. For that Vault did break, as we have shewn at large, and by the Dissolution and Fall of it, the great Deep was thrown out of its Bed, forc’d upwards into the Air, and overflowed, in that impetuous Commotion, the highest Tops of the Fragments of the ruin’d Earth, which now we call its Mountains. And as this was the first great and fatal Period of Nature; so upon the Issue of this, and the Return of the Waters into their Channels, the second Face of Nature appear’d, or the present broken Form of the Earth, as it is Terraqueous, Mountainous, and Cavernous. These Things we have explain’d fully in the first Book, and I have thereby settled two great Points, given a rational Account of the Universal Deluge, and shewn the Causes of the 455irregular Form of the present or Postdiluvian Earth. This being done, we have apply’d our selves in the second Book, to the Description of the Primæval Earth, and the Examination of its Properties; and this hath led us by an easy Tract to the Discovery of Paradise, and of the true Notion and Mystery of it; which is not so much a Spot of Ground where a fine Garden stood, as a Course of Nature, or a peculiar State of the Earth; Paradisiacal in many Parts, but especially in one Region of it; which Place or Region we have also endeavour’d to determine, though not so much from the Theory, as from the Suffrages of Antiquity, if you will take their Judgment.

Thus much is finish’d, and this contains the natural Theory of the Earth till this present Time; for since the Deluge all Things have continued in the same State, or without any remarkable Change. We are next to enter upon new Matter and new Thoughts, and not only so, but upon a Series of Things and Times to come, which is to make the second Part of this Theory. Dividing the Duration of the World into two Parts, past and future, we have dispatch’d the first and far greater Part, and come better half of our Way; And if we make a Stand here, and look both Ways, backwards to the Chaos and the Beginning of the World, and forwards to the End and Consummation of all Things, though the first be a longer Prospect, yet there are as many general Changes and Revolutions of Nature in the remaining 456Part, as have already happen’d; and in the Evening of this long Day the Scenes will change faster, and be more bright and illustrious. From the Creation to this Age the Earth hath undergone but one Catastrophe, and Nature hath had two different Faces. The next Catastrophe is the Conflagration, to which a new Face of Nature will accordingly succeed, New Heavens and a New Earth, Paradise renew’d, and so it is call’d the Restitution of Things, or Regeneration of the World, Ἀποκατάσασις Γαλιγ ἐνεσία. And that Period of Nature and Providence being expir’d, then follows the Consummation of all Things, or the general Apothesis; when Death and Hell shall be swallowed up in Victory. When the great Circle of Time and Fate is run; or according to the Language of Scripture, When the Heavens and the Earth shall pass away, and Time shall be no more.

MAY we, in the mean time, by a true Love of God above all Things, and a Contempt of this vain World which passeth away; by a careful Use of the Gifts of God and Nature, the Light of Reason and Revelation, prepare our selves, and the State of Things, for the great Coming of our Saviour. To whom be Praise and Honour for evermore.

FINIS.

1. Gen. ad lit. lib. 1. c. 19. Plerumque accidit ut aliquid de Terrâ de Cœlo, de cæteris hujus mundi elementis, &c. Cùm enim quenquam Christianorum in eâ re quam optimè nôrunt, errare deprehenderint, & vanam sententiam suam ex nostris libris asserere, quo pacto illis libris credituri sunt de Resurrectione Mortuorum, & spe vitæ æterne regnoque cœlorum, quando de bis rebus quas jam experiri vel indubitatis numeris percipere potuerunt, fallaciter putaverint esse conscriptos?

2. Page 41. Franciscus Patricius, Vir eruditione sat clarus, in quodam libello suo de Antiquorum Rhetoricâ, Italico idiomate conscripto, ac Venetiis impresso per Franciscum Senensem, Dialogo primo satis lepidam narrationem habet, quam referi Julium Strozzam à Comite Balthasare Castilioneo audivisse, Illum verò à Philosopho quodam Abyssino in Hispaniâ accepisse. Narrabat ergo sapiens ille Abyssinus in antiquissimus Æthiopiæ Annalibus descriptam esse historiam perditionis humani generis & disruptionis totius Terræ. In Mundi scilicet primordiis fuisse Terram multo ampliorem quam nunc est, ac Cœlo proximiorem, perfectè rotundam, sine Montibus ac Vallibus, totam tamen intras cavernosam ad instar spongiæ, hominesque in illâ habitantes, ac æthere purissimo gaudentes, jucundum ævum duxisse, Terrâ inaratâ optimas fruges, & fructus ferente. Cum autem post diuturnum sæculorum fluxum homines superbiâ elati à priscâ illâ bonitate descivissent, Deos irates Terram adeo validè concussisse, ut major illius pars intra proprias externas deciderit, atque hoc pacto Aquam in latebræsis recessibus ante conclusam, expressam violenter fuisse, atque ita Fontes, Fiumina, Lacus & Mare ipsium ortum duxisse. Eam vero Terra portionem que intra has non deculisset, sed reliquâ elatior fluisset. Montium formam. Insulas porrò & scopulos in medio mari ad aliud esse nisi segmenta Terra cavernosa ab illo istius terrenæ milos præcipere casu superstitis.

Volume II

Preface to the Reader

I have not much to say to the Reader in this Preface to the Third Part of the Theory; seeing it treats upon a Subject own’d by all, and out of Dispute: The Conflagration of the World. The Question will be only about the Bounds and Limits of the Conflagration, the Causes and the Manner of it. These I have fixed, according to the truest Measures I could take from Scripture, and from Nature. I differ, I believe, from the common Sentiment in this, that, in following St. Peter’s Philosophy, I suppose, that the burning of the Earth, will be a true Liquefaction or Dissolution of it, as to the exterior Region. And that this lays a Foundation for new Heavens and a new Earth; which seems to me as plain a Doctrine in Christian Religion, as the Conflagration itself.

I have endeavour’d to propose an intelligible Way, whereby the Earth may be consum’d by Fire. But if any one can propose another, more probable, and more consistent, I will be the first Man that shall give him Thanks for this Discovery. He that loves Truth for its own sake, is willing to receive it from any Hand; as he that truly loves his Country, is glad of a Victory over the Enemy, whether himself, or any other, has the Glory of it. I need not repeat here, what I have already said upon several Occasions, that ’tis the Substance of this Theory, whether in this Part, or in other Parts, that I mainly regard and depend upon: Being willing to suppose, that many single Explications and Particularities may be rectified, upon farther Thoughts, and clearer Light. I know our best Writings, in this Life, are but Essays, which we leave to Posterity to review and correct.

As to the Style, I always endeavour to express myself in a plain and perspicuous manner; that the Reader may not lose Time, nor wait too long, to know my Meaning. To give an Attendant quick Dispatch, is a Civility, whether you do his Business or no. I would not willingly give any one the Trouble of reading a Period twice over, to know the Sense of it; lest, when he comes to know it, he should not think it a Recompence for his Pains. Whereas, on the contrary, if you are easy to your Reader, he will certainly make you an Allowance for it, in his Censure.

You must not think it strange however, that the Author sometimes, in meditating upon this Subject, is warm in his Thoughts and Expressions. For to see a World perishing in Flames, Rocks melting, the Earth trembling, and an Host of Angels in the Clouds, one must be very much a Stoick, to be a cold and unconcerned Spectator of all this. And when we are mov’d ourselves, our Words will have a Tincture of those Passions which we feel. Besides, in moral Reflections which are design’d for Use, there must be some Heat, as well as dry Reason, to inspire this cold Clod of Clay, this dull Body of Earth, which we carry about with us; and you must soften and pierce that Crust, before you can come at the Soul. But especially when Things future are to be represented, you cannot use too strong Colours, if you would give them Life, and make them appear present to the Mind. Farewel.

BOOK III. Concerning the Conflagration

CHAP. I. The Introduction: With the Contents and Order of this Work.

Seeing Providence hath planted in all Men a natural Desire and Curiosity of knowing Things to come; and such Things especially, as concern our particular Happiness, or the general Fate of Mankind; This Treatise may, in both respects, hope for a favourable Reception 2amongst inquisitive Persons; seeing the Design of it is, to give an Account of the greatest Revolutions of Nature that are expected in future Ages: and in the first Place, of the Conflagration of the World. In which universal Calamity, when all Nature suffers, every Man’s particular Concern must needs be involved.

We see with what Eagerness Men pry into the Stars, to see if they can read there the Death of a King, or the Fall of an Empire: ’Tis not the fate of any single Prince or Potentate, that we calculate, but of all Mankind: Nor of this or that particular Kingdom or Empire, but of the whole Earth. Our Enquiries must reach to that great Period of Nature, when all Things are to be dissolv’d; both Human Affairs, and the Stage whereon they are acted; when the Heavens and the Earth will pass away, and the Elements melt with fervent Heat. We desire, if possible, to know what will be the Face of that Day, that great and terrible Day! when the Regions of the Air will be nothing but mingled Flame and Smoke, and the habitable Earth turn’d into a Sea of molten Fire.

But we must not leave the World in this Disorder and Confusion, without examining what will be the Issue and Consequences of it. Whether this will be the End of all Things, and Nature, by a sad Fate, lie eternally dissolv’d and desolate in this manner? or, Whether we may hope for a Restoration: New Heavens and a New Earth, which the Holy Writings make mention of, more pure and perfect than the former? 3As if this was but as a Refiner’s Fire, to purge out the Dross and coarser Parts, and then cast the Mass again into a new and better Mould. These Things, with God’s Assistance, shall be matter of our present Enquiry: These make the general Subject of this Treatise, and of the remaining Parts of this Theory of the Earth. Which now, you see, begins to be a kind of Prophecy or Prognostication of Things to come, as it hath been hitherto an History of Things past; of such States and Changes as Nature hath already undergone. And if that Account which we have given of the Origin of the Earth, its first and Paradisaical Form, and the Dissolution of it at the universal Deluge, appear fair and reasonable; the second Dissolution by Fire, and the Renovation of it out of a second Chaos, I hope, will be deduc’d from as clear Grounds and Suppositions. And Scripture it self will be a more visible Guide to us in these following Parts of the Theory, than it was in the former. In the mean Time, I take occasion to declare here again, as I have done heretofore, That neither this, nor any other great Revolutions of Nature, are brought to pass, by Causes purely natural, without the Conduct of a particular Providence. And ’tis the sacred Books of Scripture that are the Records of this Providence, both as to Times past, and Times to come; as to all the signal Changes, either of the natural World, or of Mankind, and the different Oeconomies of Religion. In which respects, these Books, tho’ they did not contain a moral Law, would, notwithstanding, be, 4as the most mystical, so also the most valuable Books in the World.

This Treatise, you see, will consist of Two Parts: The former whereof is to give an Account of the Conflagration; and the latter, of the New Heavens, and New Earth following upon it; together with the State of Mankind in those new Habitations. As to the Conflagration, we first enquire, What the Antients thought concerning the present Frame of this World: Whether it was to perish or no: Whether to be destroyed, or to stand eternally in this Posture. Then, in what Manner they thought it would be destroy’d: By what Force or Violence: Whether by Fire or other ways. And with these Opinions of the Antients we will compare the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles, to discover and confirm the Truth of them. In the second Place, We will examine, What Calculations or Conjectures have been made concerning the Time of this great Catastrophe, or of the End of this World: Whether that Period be definable or no; and whether by natural Arguments, or by Prophecies. Thirdly, We will consider the Signs of the approaching Conflagration: Whether such as will be in Nature, or in the State of human Affairs; but especially such as are taken notice of, and recorded, in Scripture. Fourthly, Which is the principal Point, and yet that wherein the Antients have been most silent, What Causes there are in Nature, what Preparations, for this Conflagration: Where are the Seeds of this universal Fire, or Fuel sufficient for the Nourishing 5of it? Lastly, In what Order, and by what Degrees, the Conflagration will proceed: In what Manner the Frame of the Earth will be dissolv’d; and what will be the dreadful Countenance of a burning World.

These Heads are set down more fully in the Arguments of each Chapter; and seem to be sufficient for the Explication of this whole Matter: Taking in some additional Discourses, which, in pursuing these Heads, enter of their own accord, and make the Work more even and intire. In the Second Part, we restore the World that we had destroy’d: Build New Heavens and a New Earth, wherein Righteousness shall dwell. Establish that new Order of Things, which is so often celebrated by the Prophets: A Kingdom of Peace and of Justice, where the Enemy of Mankind shall be bound, and the Prince of Peace shall rule. A Paradise without a Serpent, and a Tree of Knowledge, not to wound, but to heal the Nations: Where will be neither Curse, nor Pain, nor Death, nor Disease: Where all Things are new, all Things are more perfect, both the World it self, and its Inhabitants: Where the First-born from the Dead, have the First-fruits of Glory.

We dote upon this present World, and the Enjoyments of it: And ’tis not without Pain, and Fear, and Reluctancy, that we are torn from them; as if our Hopes lay all within the Compass of this Life. Yet, I know not by what good Fate, my Thoughts have been always fix’d upon Things to come, more than upon Things present. 6These I know, by certain Experience, to be but Trifles; and if there be nothing more considerable to come, the whole Being of Man is no better than a Trifle. But there is Room enough before us in that we call Eternity, for great and noble Scenes; and the Mind of Man feels itself lessen’d and straiten’d in this low and narrow State; wishes and waits to see something greater. And if it could discern another World a coming, on this side Eternal Life: a beginning Glory, the best that Earth can bear, it would be a kind of Immortality to enjoy that Prospect before-hand. To see, when this Theatre is dissolv’d, where we shall act next, and what Parts; what Saints and Heroes, if I may so say, will appear upon that Stage; and with what Lustre and Excellency: How easy would it be, under a View of these Futurities, to despise the little Pomps and Honours, and the Momentary Pleasures of a mortal Life? But I proceed to our Subject.

CHAP. II The true State of the Question is propos’d.

’Tis the general Doctrine of the Antients, that the present World, or the present Frame of Nature, is mutable and perishable: To which the Sacred Books agree; and natural Reason can alledge nothing against it.

When we speak of the End or Destruction of the World, whether by Fire or otherwise, ’tis not to be imagin’d that we understand this of the Great Universe; Sun, Moon, and Stars, and the highest Heavens; as if these were to perish or be destroy’d some few Years hence, whether by Fire or any other Way. This Question is only to be understood of the sublunary World, of this Earth and its Furniture; which had its Original about Six thousand Years ago, according to the History of Moses; and hath once already been destroyed, when the Exterior Region of it broke, and the Abyss, issuing forth, as out of a Womb, overflow’d all the habitable Earth, Gen. vii. 17. Job xxxviii. 8. The next Deluge is that of Fire; which will have the same Bounds, and overflow the Surface of the Earth, much what in the same Manner. But the Cœlestial Regions, where the Stars and Angels inhabit, are not concerned in this Fate: Those are not made of combustible Matter; nor, if they were, could our 8Flames reach them. Possibly those Bodies may have Changes and Revolutions peculiar to themselves, but in Ways unknown to us, and after long and unknown Periods of Time. Therefore, when we speak of the Conflagration of the World, these have no Concern in the Question; nor any other Part of the Universe, than the Earth and its Dependances. As will evidently appear when we come to explain the Manner and Causes of the Conflagration.

And as this Conflagration can extend no farther than to the Earth and its Elements, so neither can it destroy the Matter of the Earth; but only the Form and Fashion of it, as it is an habitable World. Neither Fire, nor any natural Agent, can destroy Matter, that is, reduce it to nothing: It may alter the Modes and Qualities of it, but the Substance will always remain. And accordingly the Apostle, when he speaks of the Mutability of this World, says only, The Figure or Fashion of this World passes away, 1 Cor. vii. 31. This Structure of the Earth and Disposition of the Elements; and all the Works of the Earth, as St. Peter says, 2 Epist. iii. all its natural Productions, and all the Works of Art or human Industry; these will perish, be melted or torn in Pieces by the Fire; but without an Annihilation of the Matter, any more than in the former Deluge. And this will be farther prov’d and illustrated in the Beginning of the following Books.

The Question being thus stated, we are next to consider the Sense of Antiquity upon these two Points: First, Whether this sublunary World is 9mutable and perishable: Secondly, By the Force and Action of what Causes, and in what Manner, it will perish; whether by Fire, or otherwise. Aristotle is very irregular in his Sentiments about the State of the World; he allows it neither Beginning nor Ending, Rise nor Fall; but wou’d have it eternal and immutable. And this he understands, not only of the great Universe, but of this sublunary World, this Earth which we inhabit; wherein he will not admit there ever have been, or ever will be, either general Deluges or Conflagrations. And, as if he was ambitious to be thought singular in his Opinion about the Eternity of the World, he says, All the Antients before him, gave some Beginning or Origin to the World; but were not, indeed, so unanimous as to its future Fate: Some believing it immutable, or, as the Philosophers call it, incorruptible; others, That it had its fatal Times and Periods, as lesser Bodies have; and a Term of Age prefix’d to it by Providence.

But before we examine this Point any farther, it will be necessary to reflect upon that which we noted before, an Ambiguity in the Use of the Word World, which gives frequent Occasion of Mistakes in reading the Ancients: When that which they speak of the great Universe, we apply to the sublunary World: Or, on the contrary, what they speak of this Earth, we extend to the whole Universe. And if some of them, besides Aristotle, made the World incorruptible, they might mean that of the great Universe, which they thought would never be 10dissolv’d or perish as to its Mass and Bulk: But single Parts and Points of it (and our Earth is no more) may be variously transform’d, and made habitable and unhabitable, according to certain Periods of Time, without any Prejudice to their Philosophy. So Plato, for Instance, thinks this World will have no Dissolution: For, being a Work so beautiful and noble, the Goodness of God, he says, will always preserve it. It is most reasonable to understand this of the great Universe; For, in our Earth, Plato himself admits such Dissolutions as are made by general Deluges and Conflagrations; and we contend for no other. So likewise in other Authors, if they speak of the Immortality of the World, you must observe what World they apply it to; and whether to the Matter or the Form of it: And if you remember that our Discourse proceeds only upon the sublunary World, and the Dissolution of its Form, you will find little in Antiquity contrary to this Doctrine. I always except Aristotle (who allow’d of no Providence in this inferior World) and some Pythagoreans falsly so call’d, being either fictitious Authors, or Apostates from the Doctrine of their Master. These being excepted, upon a View of the rest, you will find very few Dissenters from this general Doctrine.

Plato’s Argument against the Dissolution of the World, from the Goodness and Wisdom of God, would not be altogether unreasonable, tho’ apply’d to this Earth, if it was so to be dissolv’d, as never to be restor’d again. But we expect New Heavens and a New Earth, upon 11the Dissolution of these; better in all Respects, more commodious, and more beautiful. And the several Perfections of the Divine Nature, Wisdom, Power, Goodness, Justice, Sanctity, cannot be so well display’d and exemplify’d in any one single State of Nature, as in a Succession of States, fitted to receive one another according to the Dispositions of the moral World, and the Order of Divine Providence. Wherefore, Plato’s Argument from the Divine Attributes, all Things consider’d, doth rather prove a Succession of Worlds, than that one single World should remain the same throughout all Ages, without Change or Variation. Next to the Platonists, the Stoicks were most considerable in Matters relating to Morality and Providence: And their Opinion, in this Case, is well known; they being look’d upon by the Moderns, as the principal Authors of the Doctrine of the Conflagration. Nor is it less known that the School of Democritus and Epicurus, made all their Worlds subject to Dissolution; and by a new Concourse of Atoms restor’d them again. Lastly, The Ionick philosophers, who had Thales for their Master, and were the first Naturalists amongst the Greeks, taught the same Doctrine. We have, indeed, but an imperfect Account left us of this Sect, and ’tis great Pity; for as it was one of the most antient, so it seems to have been one of the most considerable amongst the Greeks for Natural Philosophy. In those Remains which Diogenes Laertius hath preserv’d, of Anaxagoras, Anaximenes, Archelaus, 12&c. all great Men in their Time; we find that they treated much of the Origin of the World, and had many extraordinary Notions about it, which come lame and defective to us. The Doctrine of their Founder, Thales, which made all Things to consist of Water, seems to have a great Resemblance to the Doctrine of Moses and St. Peter about the Constitution of the first Heavens and Earth, Gen. i. 2 Pet. ii. 5. But there is little in Laertius, what their Opinion was about the Dissolution of the World; other Authors inform us more of that. Stobæus, Ecl. Phys. l. 1. c. 24, joins them with Leucippus and the Epicureans: Simplicius with Heraclitus, and the Stoicks, in this Doctrine about the Corruptibility of the World. So that all the Schools of the Greek Philosophers, as we noted before, were unanimous in this Point, excepting the Peripateticks; whose Master, Aristotle, had neither Modesty enough to follow the Doctrine of his Predecessors, nor Wit enough to invent any Thing better.

Besides these Sects of Philosophers, there were Theologers amongst the Greeks, more Antient than these Sects, and more Mystical. Aristotle often distinguisheth the Naturalists, and the Theologues, Οἱ φυσικοὶ, οἱ θεόλογοι. Such were Orpheus and his Followers, who had more of the antient Oriental Learning, than the succeeding Philosophers. But they writ their Philosophy, or Theology rather, Mythologically and Poetically, in Parables and Allegories, that needed an Interpretation. All these Theologers supposed the Earth to rise from a Chaos; and as 13they said that Love was the Principle at first, that united the loose and severed Elements, and formed them into an habitable World; so they supposed that if Strife or Contention prevail’d, that would again dissolve and disunite them, and reduce Things into a Chaos; such as the Earth will be in, upon the Conflagration. And it farther appears, that both these Orders of the Learned in Greece, suppos’d this present Frame of Nature might perish, by their Doctrine of Periodical Revolutions, or of the Renovation of the World after certain Periods of Time; which was a Doctrine common amongst the Learned Greeks, and received by them from the ancient Barbarick Nations: As will appear more at large in the following Book, Ch. 3. In the mean Time we may observe, that Origen in answering Celsus, Lib. 9. about the Point of the Resurrection, tells him, That Doctrine ought not to appear so strange or ridiculous to him, seeing their own Authors did believe and teach the Renovation of the World, after certain Ages or Periods. And the Truth is, this Renovation of the World, rightly stated, is the same Thing with the First Resurrection of the Christians. And as to the second and general Resurrection, when the Righteous shall have Cœlestial Bodies; ’tis well known, that the Platonists and Pythagoreans cloathed the Soul with a Cœlestial Body, or, in their Language, an Æthereal Vehicle, as her last Beatitude or Glorification. So that Origen might very justly tell his Adversary, he had no Reason to ridicule the Christian 14Doctrine of the Resurrection, seeing their own Authors had the main Strokes of it in their Traditionary Learning.

I will only add one Remark more, before we leave this Subject, to prevent a Mistake in the Word Immortal or Immortality, when applied to the World. As I told you before, the Equivocation that was in that Term World, it being us’d sometimes for the whole Universe, sometimes for this inferior Part of it where we live; so likewise we must observe, that when this inferior World is said to be Immortal, by the Philosophers, as sometimes it is, that commonly is not meant of any single State of Nature, or any single World, but of a Succession of Worlds, consequent one upon another. As a Family may be said Immortal, not in any single Person, but in a Succession of Heirs. So as, many Times, when the Ancients mention the Immortality of the World, they do not thereby exclude the Dissolution or Renovation of it; but suppose a Vicissitude, or Series of Worlds succeeding one another. This Observation is not mine, but was long since made by Simplicius, Stobæus, and others, who tell us in what Sense some of those Philosophers who allowed the World to be perishable, did yet affirm it to be immortal: Namely, by successive Renovations.

Thus much is sufficient to shew the Sense and Judgment of Antiquity, as to the Changeableness or Perpetuity of the World. But ancient Learning is like ancient Medals, more esteem’d for their Rarity, than their real Use; unless the Authority 15of a Prince make them currant: So neither will these Testimonies be of any great Effect, unless they be made good and valuable by the Authority of Scripture. We must therefore add the Testimonies of the Prophets and Apostles, to these of the Greeks and Barbarians, that the Evidence may be full and undeniable. That the Heavens and the Earth will perish, or be chang’d into another Form, is, sometimes, plainly express’d, sometimes suppos’d and alluded to in Scripture. The Prophet David’s Testimony is express, both for the Beginning and Ending of the World: In Psal. cii. ver. 25, 26, 27. Of old hast thou laid the Foundation of the Earth, and the Heavens are the Work of thy Hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: Yea, all of them shall wax old like a Garment; as a Vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy Years shall have no End. The Prophet Isaiah’s Testimony is no less express, to the same Purpose, ch. li. 6. Lift up your Eyes to the Heavens, and look upon the Earth beneath: For the Heavens shall vanish away like Smoke, and the Earth shall wax old like a Garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like Manner. These Texts are plain and explicit; and in Allusion to this Day of the Lord, and this Destruction of the World, the same Prophet often useth Phrases that relate to it: As the Concussion of the Heavens and the Earth, Isa. xiii. 13. The shaking of the Foundations of the World, ch. xxiv. 18, 19. The Dissolution of the Host of Heaven, ch. xxxiv. 4. And 16our Sacred Writers have Expressions of the like Force, and relating to the same Effect: As the Hills melting like Wax, at the Presence of the Lord, Psal. xcvii. 5. Shattering once more all the Parts of the Creation, Hagg. ii. 6. Overturning the Mountains, and making the Pillars of the Earth to tremble, Job ix. 5, 6. If you reflect upon the Explication given of the Deluge, in the first Part of this Theory, and attend to the Manner of the Conflagration, as it will be explain’d in the Sequel of this Discourse, you will see the Justness and Fitness of these Expressions: That they are not Poetical Hyperboles, or random Expressions of great and terrible Things in general, but a true Account of what hath been, or will be, at that great Day of the Lord. ’Tis true, the Prophets sometimes use such like Expressions figuratively, for Commotion in States and Kingdoms, but that is only by way of Metaphor and Accommodation; the true Basis they stand upon, is, That Ruin, Overthrow, and Dissolution of the Natural World, which was once at the Deluge, and will be again, after another Manner, at the general Conflagration.

As to the New Testament, our Saviour says, Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but his Words shall not pass away, Mat. xxiv. 35. St. Paul says, the Scheme of this World; the Fashion, Form, and Composition of it, passeth away, 1 Cor. vii. 31. And when mention is made of New Heavens and a New Earth, which both the Prophet Isaiah, Isa. lxv. 17. & lxvi. 22. and the Apostles St. Peter and St. John, Rev. xxi. 1. 2 Pet. 17iii. 13. mention, ’tis plainly imply’d, that the Old ones will be dissolv’d. The same Thing is also imply’d, when our Saviour speaks of a Renascency, or Regeneration, Mat. xix. 28. and St. Peter, of a Restitution of all Things, Acts iii. 21. For what is now, must be abolish’d, before any former Order of Things can be restor’d or reduced. In a Word, If there was nothing in Scripture concerning this Subject, but that Discourse of St. Peter’s, in his Second Epistle, and Third Chapter, concerning the triple Order and Successions of the Heavens and the Earth, past, present, and to come; that alone would be a Conviction, and Demonstration to me, that this present World will be dissolv’d.

You will say, it may be, in the last Place, we want still the Testimony of Natural Reason and Philosophy, to make the Evidence complete. I answer, ’tis enough if they be silent, and have nothing to say to the contrary. Here are Witnesses, Human and Divine, and if none appear against them, we have no reason to refuse their Testimony, or to distrust it. Philosophy will very readily yield to this Doctrine, that all material Compositions are dissolvable; and she will not wonder to see that die, which she had seen born: I mean this terrestrial World. She stood upon the Chaos, and saw it roll itself, with Difficulty, and after many Strugglings, into the form of an habitable Earth: And that Form she saw broken down again at the Deluge; and can as little hope or expect, now, as then, that it should be everlasting and 18immutable. There would be nothing great or considerable in this inferior World, if there were not such Revolutions of Nature. The Seasons of the Year, and the fresh Productions of the Spring, are pretty in their Way; but when the (Annus Magnus) Great Year comes about, with a new Order of all Things, in the Heavens, and on the Earth; and a new Dress of Nature throughout all her Regions, far more goodly and beautiful than the fairest Spring; this gives a new Life to the Creation, and shews the Greatness of its Author. Besides, these fatal Catastrophes are always a Punishment to degenerate Mankind, that are overwhelm’d in the Ruins of these perishing Worlds. And to make Nature herself execute the Divine Vengeance against rebellious Creatures, argues both the Power and Wisdom of that Providence that governs all Things here below. These Things Reason and Philosophy approve of; but if you further require, that they should shew a Necessity of this future Destruction of the World, from natural Causes, with the Time, and all other Circumstances of this Effect; your Demands are unreasonable, seeing these Things do not depend solely upon Nature. But if you will content yourself to know what Dispositions there are in Nature towards such a Change; how it may begin, proceed, and be consummate, under the Conduct of Providence, be pleased to read the following Discourse, for your further Satisfaction.

Chap. III

That the World will be destroy’d by Fire, is the Doctrine of the Ancients, especially of the Stoicks. That the same Doctrine is more ancient than the Greeks, and deriv’d from the Barbarick Philosophy; and That probably from Noah, the Father of all Traditionary Learning. The same Doctrine expressly authorized by Revelation, and inroll’d into the Sacred Canon.

That the present World, or the present Frame of Nature, will be destroy’d, we have already shewn. In what Manner this Destruction will be, by what Force, or what kind of Fate, must be our next Enquiry. The Philosophers have always spoken of Fire and Water, those Two unruly Elements, as the only Causes that can destroy the World, and work our Ruin; and accordingly, they say, all the great and fatal Revolutions of Nature, either past, or to come, depend upon the Violence of these Two; when they get the Mastery, and overwhelm all the rest, and the whole Earth, in a Deluge, or Conflagration. But, as they make these Two the destroying Elements, so they also make them the purifying Elements. And, accordingly in their Lustrations, or their Rites and Ceremonies for purging Sin; Fire and Water were chiefly made use of, both amongst the Romans, Greeks, and Barbarians. And when these Elements over-run the World, it is 20not, they say, for a final Destruction of it, but to purge Mankind, and Nature from their Impurities. As for Purgation by Fire and Water, the Stile of our Sacred Writings does very much accommodate itself to that Sense; and the Holy Ghost, who is the great Purifier of Souls, is compared in his Operation upon us, and in our Regeneration, to Fire or Water. And as for the external World, S. Peter, 1 Ep. iii. 21. makes the Flood to have been a kind of Baptizing or Renovation of the World. And S. Paul, 1 Cor. iii. 13. and the Prophet Malachi, c. iii. 2, 3. makes the last Fire, to be a purging and refining Fire. But to return to the Ancients.

The Stoicks especially, of all other Sects amongst the Greeks, have preserved the Doctrine of the Conflagration; and made it a considerable Part of their Philosophy, and almost a Character of their Order. This is a Thing so well known, that I need not use any Citations to prove it. But they cannot pretend to have been the first Authors of it neither. For, besides that amongst the Greeks themselves, Heraclitus and Empedocles, more ancient than Zeno, the Master of the Stoicks, taught this Doctrine; ’tis plainly a Branch of the Barbarick Philosophy, and taken from thence by the Greeks. For it is well known, that the most ancient and mystick Learning amongst the Greeks, was not originally their own, but borrowed of the more Eastern Nations, by Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato, and many more, who travell’d thither, and traded with the Priests for Knowledge and Philosophy; and when they got a competent Stock, returned home, and set 21up a School, or a Sect, to instruct their Countrymen. But before we pass to the Eastern Nations, let us, if you please, compare the Roman Philosophy upon this Subject, with that of the Greeks.

The Romans were a great People, that made a Shew of Learning, but had little, in reality, more than Words and Rhetorick. Their Curiosity or Emulation in Philosophical Studies was so little, that it did not make different Sects and Schools amongst them, as amongst the Greeks. I remember no Philosophers they had, but such as Tully, Seneca, and some of their Poets. And of these Lucretius, Lucan, and Ovid, have spoken openly of the Conflagration. Ovid’s Verses are well known,

We see Tully’s Sense upon this Matter, in Scipio’s Dream. When the old Man speaks to his Nephew Africanus, and shews him from the Clouds, this Spot of Earth, where we live; he tells him, tho’ our Actions should be great, and Fortune favour them with Success, yet there wou’d be no Room for any lasting Glory in this World; 22for the World itself, is transient and fugitive. And a Deluge, or a Conflagration, which necessarily happen after certain Periods of Time, will sweep away all Records of human Actions. As for Seneca, he being a profess’d Stoick, we need not doubt of his Opinion in this Point. We may add here, if you please, the Sybelline Verses, which were kept, with great Religion, in the Capitol at Rome, and consulted with much Ceremony upon solemn Occasions. These Sybils, were the Prophetesses of the Gentiles; and tho’ their Writings now have many spurious Additions, yet none doubt but that the Conflagration of the World, was one of their original Prophecies.

Let us now proceed to the Eastern Nations. As the Romans received the small Skill they had in the Sciences, from the Greeks; so the Greeks, receiv’d their chief Mystick Learning from the Barbarians: That is, from the Ægyptians, Persians, Phœnicians, and other Eastern Nations; for ’tis not only the Western, or Northern People, that they called Barbarians, but indeed, all Nations besides themselves. For that is commonly the Vanity of great Empires, to uncivilize, in a Manner, all the rest of the World; and to account all those People barbarous, that are not subject to their Dominion. These however, whom they called so, were the most ancient People, and had the first Learning that was ever heard of after the Flood. And amongst these, the Ægyptians were as famous as any; whose Sentiments in this particular of the Conflagration, are well known. For Plato, who liv’d amongst 23them several Years, tells us in his Timæus, that it was the Doctrine of their Priests, that the fatal Catastrophes of the World, were by Fire and Water. In like manner, the Persians made their beloved God, Fire, at length to consume all Things that are capable of being consum’d: For that is said to have been the Doctrine of Hydaspes, one of their great Magi, or Wise Men. As to the Phœnicians, I suspect very much, that the Stoicks had their Philosophy from them (Just. Mar. Apol. 2.) and amongst other Things the Conflagration. We shall take Notice of that hereafter.

But to comprehend the Arabians also, and Indians, give me leave to reflect a little upon the Story of the Phœnix. A Story well known, and related by some ancient Authors, and is in short this: The Phœnix, they say, is a Bird in Arabia, India, and those Eastern Parts, single in her Kind, never more than one at a Time, and very long-lived; appearing only at the Expiration of the Great Year, as they call it: And when she makes herself a Nest of Spices, which being set on fire by the Sun, or some other secret Power, she hovers upon it, and consumes herself in the Flames. But, which is most wonderful, out of these Ashes riseth a second Phœnix, so that it is not so much a Death, as a Renovation. I do not doubt but the Story is a Fable, as to any such kind of Bird, single in her Species, living, and dying, and reviving in that Manner: But ’tis an Apologue, or a Fable with an Interpretation, and was intended as an Emblem of the World; which, after a long Age, will be consum’d in the last 24Fire: And from its Ashes or Remains, will arise another World, or a new-form’d Heavens and Earth. This, I think, is the true Mystery of the Phœnix, under which Symbol the Eastern Nations preserv’d the Doctrine of the Conflagration, and Renovation of the World. They tell somewhat a like Story of the Eagle, soaring aloft so near the Sun, that by his Warmth and enlivening Rays, she renews her Age, and becomes young again. To this the Psalmist is thought to allude, Psal. ciii. 5. Thy Youth shall be renewed like the Eagles: Which the Chaldee Paraphrast renders, In mundo venturo renovabis, sicut Aquilæ, juventutem tuam. These Things to me seem plainly to be Symbolical, representing that World to come, which the Paraphrast mentions, and the firing of this. And this is after the Manner of the Eastern Wisdom; which always lov’d to go fine, cloath’d in Figures and Fancies.

And not only the Eastern Barbarians, but the Northern and Western also, had this Doctrine of the Conflagration amongst them. The Scythians, in their Dispute with the Ægyptians about Antiquity, argue upon both Suppositions, of Fire or Water, destroying the last World, or beginning This. And in the West, the Celts, the most ancient People there, had the same Tradition; for the Druids, who were their Priests and Philosophers, derived not from the Greeks, but of the old Race of Wise Men, that had their Learning traditionally, and, as it were, hereditary from the first Ages: These, as Strabo tells us, lib. 4. gave the World a kind of Immortality, by repeated Renovations; 25and the Principle that destroy’d it, according to them, was always Fire or Water. I had forgot to mention in this List, the Chaldeans, whose Opinion we have from Berosus, in Seneca, Nat. Quæst. 3. c. 29. They did not only teach the Conflagration, but also fix’d it to a certain Period of Time, when there should happen a great Conjunction of the Planets in Cancer. Lastly, we may add, to close the Account, the modern Indian Philosophers, the Reliques of the old Bragmans: These, as Maffeus tells us, lib. 16. Hist. Ind. declare, That the World will be renewed after an universal Conflagration.

You see of what Extent and Universality throughout all Nations, this Doctrine of the Conflagration hath been. Let us now consider, what Defects or Excesses there are, in these ancient Opinions, concerning this Fate of the World, and how they may be rectified: That we may admit them no further into our Belief, than they are warranted by Reason, or by the Authority of the Christian Religion. The first Fault they seem to have committed about this Point, is this, That they made these Revolutions and Renovations of Nature, indefinite or endless: As if there would be such a Succession of Deluges and Conflagrations to all Eternity. This the Stoicks seem plainly to have asserted, as appears from Numenius, Philo, Simplicius, and others. S. Jerome, Ep. 60. imputes this Opinion also to Origen; but he does not always hit the true Sense of that Father, or is not fair and just in the Representation of it. Whosoever held this Opinion, ’tis a manifest Error, and may be easily 26rectified by the Christian Revelation; which teaches us plainly, that there is a final Period and Consummation of all Things that belong to this Sublunary or Terrestrial World; When the Kingdom shall be delivered up to the Father; and Time shall be no more.

Another Error they committed in this Doctrine, is, the Identity, or Sameness, if I may so say, of the World’s succeeding one another. They are made, indeed, of the same Lump of Matter, but they supposed them to return also in the same Form. And, which is worse, that there would be the same Face of human Affairs; the same Persons and the same Actions over again; so as the second World would be but a bare Repetition of the former, without any Variety or Diversity. Such a Revolution is commonly call’d the Platonick Year: A Period when all Things return to the same Posture they had been some Thousand of Years before; as a Play acted over again, upon the same Stage, and to the same Auditory: This is a groundless and injudicious Supposition. For, whether we consider the Nature of Things, the Earth, after a Dissolution by Fire, or by Water, could not return into the same Form and Fashion it had before; Or whether we consider Providence, it would no way suit with the Divine Wisdom and Justice, to bring upon the Stage again, those very Scenes, and that very Course of human Affairs, which it had so lately condemn’d and destroy’d. We may be assur’d therefore, that, upon the Dissolution of a World, a new Order of Things, both as to Nature and Providence, always appears. 27And what that new Order will be, in both respects, after the Conflagration, I hope we shall, in the following Book, give a satisfactory Account.

These are the Opinions, true or false, of the Ancients; and chiefly of the Stoicks, concerning the Mystery of the Conflagration. It will not be improper to enquire, in the last Place, how the Stoicks came by this Doctrine: Whether it was their Discovery and Invention, or from whom they learned it. That it was not their own Invention, we have given sufficient ground to believe, by shewing the Antiquity of it beyond the Times of the Stoicks. Besides, what a Man invents himself, he can give the Reasons and Causes of it, as Things upon which he founded his Invention: But the Stoicks do not this, but, according to the ancient traditional Way, deliver the Conclusion without Proof or Premises. We named Heraclitus and Empedocles, amongst the Greeks, to have taught this Doctrine before the Stoicks; And, according to Plutarch (de Defec. Orac.) Hesiod and Orpheus, Authors of the highest Antiquity, sung of this last Fire in their Philosophick Poetry. But I suspect the Stoicks had this Doctrine from the Phœnicians; for if we inquire into the Original of that Sect, we shall find that their Founder Zeno, was a Barbarian, or Semi-barbarian, deriv’d from the Phœnicians, as Laertius and Cicero give an Account of him. And the Phœnicians had a great Share in the Oriental Knowledge, as we see by Sanchoniathion’s Remains in Eusebius. And by their mystical Books which Suidas mentions, 28from whence Pherecydes, Pythagoras’s Master, had his Learning. We may therefore, reasonably presume, that it might be from his Countrymen, the Phœnicians, that Zeno had the Doctrine of the Conflagration. Not that he brought it first into Greece, but strongly reviv’d it, and made it almost peculiar to his Sect.

So much for the Stoicks in particular, and the Greeks in general. We have also, you see, trac’d these Opinions higher, to the first Barbarick Philosophers; who were the first Race of Philosophers after the Flood. But Josephus tells a formal Story, of Pillars set up by Seth, before the Flood; implying the Foreknowledge of this fiery Destruction of the World, even from the Beginning of it. His Words, lib. 1. c. 3. are to this Effect, give what Credit to them you think fit: Seth and his Fellow Students, having found out the Knowledge of the Cœlestial Bodies, and the Order and Disposition of the Universe; and having also receiv’d from Adam, a Prophecy, that the World should have a double Destruction, one by Water, another by Fire: To preserve and transmit their Knowledge, in either Case, to Posterity, they raised two Pillars, one of Brick, another of Stone, and ingrav’d upon them their Philosophy and Inventions. And one of these Pillars, the Author says (Κατα τον Συριαδα) was standing in Syria, even to his Time. I do not press the Belief of this Story; there being nothing, that I know of, in Antiquity, Sacred or Prophane, that gives a joint Testimony with it. And those that set up these Pillars, do not seem to me, to have understood the Nature of the Deluge or 29Conflagration; if they thought a Pillar, either of Brick or Stone, would be secure, in those great Dissolutions of the Earth. But we have pursued this Doctrine high enough, without the Help of these ante-diluvian Antiquities: Namely, to the earliest People, and the first Appearances of Wisdom after the Flood. So that, I think, we may justly look upon it as the Doctrine of Noah, and of his immediate Posterity. And, as that is the highest Source of Learning to the present World; so we should endeavour to carry our Philosophical Traditions to that Original: For I cannot persuade myself, but that they had amongst them, even in those early Days, the main Strokes, or Conclusions of the best Philosophy: Or, if I may so say, a Form of sound Doctrine concerning Nature and Providence. Of which Matter, if you will allow me a short Digression, I will speak my Thoughts in a few Words.

In those first Ages of the World, after the Flood, when Noah and his Children peopled the Earth again, as he gave them Precepts of Morality and Piety, for the Conduct of their Manners; which are usually call’d Præcepta Noachidarum, the Precepts of Noah, frequently mention’d both by the Jews and Christians: So also he deliver’d to them, at least, if we judge aright, certain Maxims, or Conclusions about Providence, the State of Nature, and the Fate of the World: And these, in Proportion, may be call’d Dogmata Noachidarum, the Doctrines of Noah, and his Children. Which made a System of Philosophy, or secret Knowledge amongst them, delivered by Tradition 30from Father to Son; but especially preserv’d amongst their Priests and Sacred Persons, or such others as were addicted to Contemplation. This I take to be more ancient than Moses himself, or the Jewish Nation. But it would lead me too far out of my Way, to set down, in this Place, the Reasons of my Judgment. Let it be sufficient to have pointed only at this Fountain-head of Knowledge, and so return to our Argument.

We have heard, as it were, a Cry of Fire, throughout all Antiquity, and throughout all the People of the Earth. But those Alarums are sometimes false, or make a greater Noise than the Thing deserves. For my Part, I never trust Antiquity barely upon its own Account, but always require a second Witness, either from Nature, or from Scripture: What the Voice of Nature is, we shall hear all along in the following Treatise. Let us then examine at present, what Testimony the Prophets and Apostles give to this ancient Doctrine of the Conflagration of the World. The Prophets see the World a Fire at a Distance, and more imperfectly, as a Brightness in the Heavens, rather than a burning Flame: But S. Peter describes it, as if he had been standing by, and seen the Heavens and Earth in a red Fire; heard the cracking Flames, and the tumbling Mountains, 2 Pet. iii. 10. In the Day of the Lord, 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. Then, after a pious Ejaculation, he adds, Ver. 12. Looking 31for, and hastening the coming of the Day of God, wherein the Heavens being on Fire, shall be dissolv’d; and the Elements shall melt with fervent Heat. This is as lively as a Man could express it, if he had the dreadful Spectacle before his Eyes. S. Peter had before taught the same Doctrine (ver. 5, 6, 7.) but in a more Philosophick Way; describing the double Fate of the World, by Water and Fire, with relation to the Nature and Constitution of either World, past or present. The Heavens and the Earth were of old, consisting of Water, and by 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, or Atheistical Men. This Testimony of S. Peter being full, direct, and explicit, will give Light and Strength to several other Passages of Scripture, where the same Thing is exprest obscurely, or by Allusion. As when S. Paul says, The Fire shall try every Man’s Work in that Day, 1 Cor. iii. 12, 13. And our Saviour says, The Tares shall be burnt in the Fire, at the End of the World, Matth. xiii. 40, 41, 42. Accordingly it is said, both by the Apostles and Prophets, that God will come to Judgment in Fire. St. Paul to the Thessalonians, 2 Thess. ii. 7, 8. promiseth the persecuted Righteous Rest and Ease, When the Lord shall be revealed from Heaven, with his mighty Angels, in flaming Fire; taking Vengeance on them that know not God, &c. And so to the Hebrews, 32St. Paul says, ch. x. 27. that for wilful Apostates, there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sin, but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment, and fiery Indignation, which shall devour the Adversaries, or Enemies of God. And in ch. xii. ver. 26, 27, 28, 29. he alludes to the same Thing, when, after he had spoken of shaking the Heavens, and the Earth once more, he exhorteth, as St. Peter does upon the same Occasion, to Reverence and godly Fear; for our God is a consuming Fire.

In like manner the Prophets, when they speak of destroying the Wicked, and the Enemies of God and Christ, at the End of the World, represent it as a Destruction by Fire. Psal. xi. 6. Upon the Wicked the Lord shall rain Coals, Fire, and Brimstone, and a burning Tempest: This shall be the Portion of their Cup. And Psal. l. 3. Our God shall come, and will not be slow: A Fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. And in the Beginning of those two triumphal Psalms, the lxviiith, and xcviith, we see plain Allusions to this coming of the Lord in Fire. The other Prophets speak in the same Style, of a fiery Indignation against the Wicked, in the Day of the Lord: As in Isaiah lxvi. 15. For behold the Lord will come with Fire, and with his Chariots like a Whirlwind, to render his Anger with Fury, and his Rebuke with Flames of Fire (and ch. xxxiv. 8, 9, 10) And in Daniel, c. vii. 9, 10. The Ancient of Days is placed upon his Seat of Judgment, covered in Flames. I beheld till the Thrones were set, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose Garment was 33white as Snow, and the Hair of his Head like the pure Wool: His Throne was like the fiery Flame, his Wheels as burning Fire. A fiery Stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministred unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: The Judgment was set, and the Books were opened. The Prophet Malachi, c. iv. 1. describes the Day of the Lord to the same Effect, and in like Colours; Behold the Day cometh, that shall burn as an Oven: and all the Proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be as Stubble; and the Day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither Root nor Branch. And that Nature herself, and the Earth shall suffer in that Fire, the Prophet Zephany tells us, c. iii. 8. All the Earth shall be devoured with the Fire of my Jealousy. Lastly, this Consumption of the Earth by Fire, even to the Foundations of it, is exprest livelily by Moses in his Song, Deut. xxxii. 22. A Fire is kindled in my Anger, and shall burn unto the lowest Hell: and shall consume the Earth with her Increase, and set on Fire the Foundations of the Mountains.

If we reflect upon these Witnesses; and especially the first and last, Moses and Saint Peter; at what a great Distance of Time they writ their Prophecies, and yet how well they agree, we must needs conclude they were acted by the same Spirit; and a Spirit that saw thorough all the Ages of the World, from the Beginning to the End. These Sacred Writers were so remote in Time from one another, that they 34could not confer together, nor conspire either in a false Testimony, or to make the same Prediction. But being under one common Influence and Inspiration, which is always consistent with itself, they have dictated the same Things, tho’ at two thousand Years Distance sometimes from one another. This, besides many other Considerations, makes their Authority incontestable. And upon the whole Account, you see, that the Doctrine of the future Conflagration of the World, having run thro’ all Ages and Nations, is, by the joint Consent of the Prophets and Apostles, adopted into the Christian Faith.

Chap. IV

Concerning the Time of the Conflagration, and the End of the World. What the Astronomers say upon this Subject, and upon what they ground their Calculations: The true Notion of the Great Year, or of the Platonick Year, stated and explained.

Having, in this first Section, laid a sure Foundation, as to the Subject of our Discourse; the Truth and Certainty of the Conflagration whereof we are to treat; we will now proceed to enquire after the Time, Causes, and Manner of it. We are naturally more inquisitive after the End of the World, and the Time of that fatal Revolution, than 35after the Causes of it: For these, we know, are irresistible, whensoever they come, and therefore we are only solicitous that they should not overtake us, or our near Posterity. The Romans thought they had the Fates of their Empire in the Books of the Sibyls, which were kept by the Magistrates as a Sacred Treasure. We have also our Prophetical Books, more sacred and more infallible than theirs, which contain the Fate of all the Kingdoms of the Earth, and of that glorious Kingdom that is to succeed. And of all Futurities, there is none can be of such Importance to be enquired after, as this last Scene and Close of all human Affairs.

If I thought it possible to determine the Time of the Conflagration from the bare Intuition of natural Causes, I would not treat of it in this Place, but reserve it to the last; after we had brought into View all those Causes, weigh’d their Force, and examin’d how and when they would concur to produce this great Effect. But I am satisfied, that the Excitation and Concourse of those Causes does not depend upon Nature only; and tho’ the Causes may be sufficient, when all united, yet the Union of them at such a Time, and in such a Manner, I look upon as the Effect of a particular Providence; and therefore no Fore-sight of ours, or Inspection into Nature, can discover to us the Time of this Conjuncture. This Method, therefore, of Prediction from natural Causes being laid aside as impracticable, all other Methods may be treated of in this Place, as being independent upon any Thing that is to follow in the Treatise; and it will be an Ease to the 36Argument to discharge it of this Part, and clear the Way by Degrees to the principal Point, which is, The Causes and Manner of the Conflagration.

Some have thought it a Kind of Impiety in a Christian, to enquire after the End of the World; because of that Check which our Saviour gave his Disciples, when, after his Resurrection, enquiring of him about the Time of his Kingdom, he answer’d, It is not for you to know the Times or the Seasons, which the Father hath put in his own Power, Acts i. 7. And before his Death, when he was discoursing of the Consummation of all Things, He told them expresly, that though there should be such and such previous Signs as he had mention’d, yet, Of that Day and Hour knoweth no Man; no, not the Angels that are in Heaven, but my Father only, Matt. xxiv. 36. Be it so, that the Disciples deserv’d a Reprimand, for desiring to know, by a particular Revelation from our Saviour, the State of future Times; when many other Things were more necessary for their Instruction, and for their Ministry. Be it also admitted, that the Angels, at that Distance of Time, could not see thorow all Events to the End of the World; it does not at all follow from thence, that they do not know it now; when, in the Course of 1600 Years, many Things are come to pass, that may be Marks and Directions to them to make a Judgment of what remains, and of the last Period of all Things. However, there will be no Danger in our Enquiries about this Matter, seeing they are not so much to discover the Certainty, as the Uncertainty 37of that Period, as to human Knowledge. Let us therefore consider what Methods have been used, by those that have been curious and busy to measure the Duration of the World.

The Stoicks tell us, When the Sun and the Stars have drunk up the Sea, then the Earth shall be burnt. A very fair Prophecy! But, how long will they be a drinking? For unless we can determine that, we cannot determine when this Combustion will begin. Many of the Antients thought that the Stars were nourish’d by the Vapours of the Ocean and of the moist Earth, (Cicer. de Nat. D. lib. 2.) and when that Nourishment was spent, being of a fiery Nature, they would prey upon the Body of the Earth it self, and consume that, after they had consum’d the Water. This is old-fashion’d Philosophy, and now, that the Nature of those Bodies is better known, will scarce pass for current. ’Tis true, we must expect some Dispositions towards the Combustion of the World, from a great Drought and Desiccation of the Earth: But this helps us nothing on our Way; for the Question still returns, When will this immoderate Drought or Dryness happen? and that’s as ill to resolve as the former. Therefore, as I said before, I have no Hopes of deciding the Question by Physiology or Natural Causes; let us then look up from the Earth to the Heavens, to the Astronomers and the Prophets: These think they can define the Age and Duration of the World; the one by their Art, and the other by Inspiration.

38We begin with the Astronomers; whose Calculations are founded either upon the Aspects and Configurations of the Planets, or upon the Revolutions of the fixed Stars: or, lastly, upon that which they call Annus Magnus, or the Great Year, whatsoever that Notion proves to be when it is rightly interpreted. As to the Planets, Berosus tells us, the Chaldeans suppose Deluges to proceed from a great Conjunction of the Planets in Capricorn, (Sen. Nat. qu. l. 3. c. 29.) And from a like Conjunction in the opposite Sign of Cancer, the Conflagration will ensue. So that if we compute by the Astronomical Tables how long it will be to such a Conjunction, we find at the same Time how long it will be to the Conflagration. This Doctrine of the Chaldeans some Christian Authors have owned, and followed the same Principles and Method.

If these Authors would deal fairly with Mankind, they should shew us some Connexion betwixt these Causes and the Effects which they make consequent upon them. For ’tis an unreasonable Thing to require a Man’s Assent to a Proposition, where he sees no Dependance or Connexion of Terms; unless it come by Revelation, or from an infallible Authority. If you say, the Conflagration will be at the first great Conjunction of the Planets in Cancer, and I say it will be at the next Eclipse of the Moon, if you shew no more Reason for your Assertion than I for mine, and neither of us pretend to Revelation or Infallibility, we may justly expect to be equally credited. Pray what Reason can you give why the Planets, when 39they meet, should plot together to set on Fire their Fellow-Planet, the Earth, who never did them any Harm? But now there is a plausible Reason for my Opinion; for the Moon, when eclips’d, may think herself affronted by the Earth interposing rudely betwixt her and the Sun, and leaving her to grope her Way in the Dark: She therefore may justly take her Revenge as she can. But you’ll say, ’tis not in the Power of the Moon to set the Earth on Fire, if she had Malice enough to do it. No, nor say I, is it in the Power of the other Planets that are far more distant from the Earth than the Moon, and as stark dull Lumps of Earth as she is. The plain Truth is, the Planets are so many Earths; and our Earth is as much a Planet as the brightest of them. ’Tis carried about the Sun with the same common Stream, and shines with as much Lustre to them, as they do to us: Neither can they do any more Harm to it, than it can do to them. ’Tis now well known, that the Planets are dark opake Bodies, generally made up of Earth and Water, as our Globe is; and have no Force or Action, but that of reverberating the Light which the Sun casts upon them. This blind superstitious Fear or Reverence for the Stars, had its Original from the antient Idolaters: They thought them Gods, and that they had Domination over human Affairs. We do not indeed worship them, as they did; but some Men retain still the same Opinion of their Vertues, of their Rule and Influence upon us and our Affairs, which was the Ground of their Worship. 40’Tis full Time now to sweep away these Cobwebs of Superstition, these Relicks of Paganism. I do not see how we are any more concern’d in the Postures of the Planets, than in the Postures of the Clouds; and you may as well build an Art of Prediction and Divination, upon the one, as the other. They must not know much of the Philosophy of the Heavens, or little consider it, that think the Fate, either of single Persons, or of the whole Earth, can depend upon the Aspects, or figur’d Dances of those Bodies.

But you’ll say, it may be, Tho’ no Reason can be given for such Effects, yet Experience does attest the Truth of them. In the first Place, I answer, no Experience can be produced for this Effect we are speaking of, the Conflagration of the World. Secondly, Experience fallaciously recorded, or wholly in favour of one side, is no Proof. If a publick Register was kept of all Astrological Predictions, and of all the Events that followed upon them, right or wrong, agreeing or disagreeing, I could willingly refer the Cause to the Determination of such a Register, and such Experience: But that which they call Experience, is so stated, that if one Prediction of ten hits right, or near right, it shall make more Noise, and be more taken Notice of, than all the Nine that are false. Just as in a Lottery, where many Blanks are drawn for one Prize, yet these make all the Noise, and those are forgotten. If any one be so lucky as to draw a good Lot, then the Trumpet sounds, and his Name is register’d, and he tells his good Fortune 41to every Body he meets; whereas those that lose, go silently away with empty Pockets, and are asham’d to tell their Losses. Such a Thing is the Register of Astrological Experiences; they record what makes for their Credit, but drop all blank Instances, that would discover the Vanity or Cheat of their Art.

So much for the Planets. They have also a pretended Calculation of the End of the World, from the fix’d Stars and the Firmament. Which, in short, is this: They suppose these Bodies, besides the Hurry of their Diurnal Motion from East to West, quite round the Earth in 24 Hours, to have another retrograde Motion from West to East, which is more slow and leisurely: And when they have finished the Circle of this Retrogradation, and come up again to the same Place from whence they started at the Beginning of the World, then this Course of Nature will be at an End; and either the Heavens will cease from all Motion, or a new Set of Motions will be put a-foot, and the World begin again. This is a Bundle of Fictions tied up in a pretty Knot. In the first Place, there is no such Thing as a solid Firmament, in which the Stars are fix’d, as Nails in a Board. The Heavens are as fluid as our Air, and the higher we go, the more thin and subtle is the ethereal Matter. Then, the fix’d Stars are not all in one Surface, as they seem to us, not at an equal Distance from the Earth, but are placed in several Orbs higher and higher; there being infinite Room in the great Deep of the Heavens, every Way, for innumerable 42Stars and Spheres behind one another, to fill and beautify the immense Spaces of the Universe. Lastly, the fix’d Stars have no Motion common to them all, nor any Motion singly, unless upon their own Centres; and therefore, never leaving their Stations, they can never return to any common Station, which they would suppose them to have had at the Beginning of the World. So as this Period they speak of, whereby they would measure the Duration of the World, is merely imaginary, and hath no Foundation in the true Nature or Motion of the cœlestial Bodies.

But in the third Place, they speak of an Annus Magnus, a Great Year: A Revolution so call’d, whatsoever it is, that is of the same Extent with the Length of the World. This Notion, I confess, is more antient and universal, and therefore I am the more apt to believe that it is not altogether groundless. But the Difficulty is, to find out the Notion of this Great Year, what is to be understood by it, and then of what Length it is. They all agree that it is a Time of some grand Instauration of all Things, or a Restitution of the Heavens and the Earth to their former State; that is, to the State and Posture they had at the Beginning of the World; such therefore as will restore the Golden Age, and that happy State of Nature wherein Things were at first. If so, if these be the Marks and Properties of this Revolution, which is called the Great Year, we need not go so far to find the true Notion and Interpretation of it. Those that have read the first Part of this Theory, may 43remember, that in the 2d Book, Chap. 3. we gave an Account what the Posture of the Earth was at the Beginning of the World, and what were the Consequences of that Posture, a perpetual Spring and Equinox throughout all the Earth: And if the Earth was restor’d again to that Posture and Situation, all that is imputed to the Great Year, would immediately follow upon it, without ever disturbing or moving the fix’d Stars, Firmament, or Planets; and yet at the same Time all these three would return, or be restored to the same Posture they had at the Beginning of the World; so as the whole Character of the Great Year would be truly fulfill’d, tho’ not in that Way which they imagin’d; but in another, more compendious, and of easier Conception. My Meaning is this, If the Axis of the Earth was rectified and set parallel with the Axis of the Ecliptick, upon which the Planets, Firmament, and fix’d Stars are suppos’d to move, all Things would be as they were at first; a general Harmony and Conformity of all the Motions of the Universe would presently appear, such as they say, was in the Golden Age, before any Disorder came into the Natural or Moral World.

As this is an easy, so I do not doubt, but it is a true Account of that which was originally call’d the Great Year, or the Great Instauration; which Nature will bring to pass in this simple Method, by rectifying the Axis of the Earth, without those operose Revolutions, which some Astronomers have fancied. But however, this Account being admitted, how will it help us to define what the Age and Duration of the 44World will be? ’Tis true, many have undertaken to tell us the Length of this Great Year, and consequently of the World; but, besides that their Accounts are very different, and generally of an extravagant Length, if we had the true Account, it would not assure us when the World would end; because we do not know when it did begin, or what Progress we have already made in the Line of Time. For I am satisfied, the Chronology of the World, whether Sacred or Profane, is lost; till Providence shall please to retrieve it by some new Discovery. As to profane Chronology, or that of the Heathens, the Greeks, and the Romans knew nothing above the Olympiads; which fell short many Ages of the Deluge, much more of the Beginning of the World. And the Eastern barbarous Nations, as they disagreed amongst themselves, so generally they run the Origin of the World to such a prodigious Height, as is neither agreeable to Faith, nor Reason. As to sacred Chronology, ’tis well known, that the Difference there is betwixt the Greek, Hebrew, and Samaritan Copies of the Bible, make the Age of the World altogether undetermin’d: And there is no Way yet found out, how we may certainly discover which of the three Copies is most Authentick; and consequently, what the Age of the World is, upon a true Computation. Seeing therefore we have no Assurance how long the World hath stood already, neither could we be assur’d how long it hath to stand, tho’ by this Annus Magnus, or any other Way, the total Sum, or whole Term of its Duration was truly known; 45I am sorry to see the little Success we have had in our first Search after the End of the World, from Astronomical Calculations. But ’tis an useful Piece of Knowledge to know the Bounds of our Knowledge; that so we may not spend our Time and Thoughts about Things that lie out of our Reach. I have little or no Hopes of resolving this Point by the Light of Nature, and therefore it only remains now to enquire, whether Providence hath made it known by any Sort of Prophecy or Revelation. Which shall be the Subject of the following Chapter.

Chap. V

Concerning Prophecies that determine the End of the World: Of what Order soever, Profane or Sacred; Jewish or Christian. That no certain Judgment can be made from any of them, at what Distance we are now from the Conflagration.

The Bounds of human Knowledge are so narrow, and the Desire of knowing so vast and illimited, that it often puts Mankind upon irregular Methods of inlarging their Knowledge. This hath made them find out Arts of Commerce with evil Spirits, to be instructed by them in such Events as they could not of themselves discover. We meddle not with those Mysteries of Iniquity: But what hath appear’d 46under the Notion of divine Prophecy, relating to the Chronology of the World: Giving either the whole Extent of it, or certain Marks of its Expiration; These we purpose to examine in this Place: How far any Thing may, or may not, be concluded from them, as to the Resolution of our Problem, How long the World will last.

Amongst the Heathens, I do not remember any Prophecies of this Nature, except the Sibylline Oracles, as they are usually called. The antient Eastern Philosophers have left us no Account that I can call to mind, about the Time of this Fatality. They say, when the Phœnix returns, we must expect the Conflagration to follow; but the Age of the Phœnix they make as various and uncertain, as they do the Computation of their Great Year, Symbolum ἀποξαταστάσεως πολυχρονίου, Phœnix. Hor. Apol. l. 2. c. 57. which two Things are indeed, one and the same in Effect. Some of them, I confess, mention 6000 Years for the whole Age of the World: Which being the famous Prophecy of the Jews, we shall speak to it largely hereafter; and reduce to that Head, what broken Traditions remain amongst the Heathens of the same thing. As to the Sibylline Oracles, which were so much in Reputation amongst the Greeks and Romans, they have been tamper’d with so much, and chang’d so often, that they are become now of little Authority. They seem to have divided the Duration of the World into ten Ages, and the last of these they make a Golden Age, a State of Peace, Righteousness, and Perfection: But seeing they have not determin’d, 47in any definite Numbers, what the Length of every Age will be, nor given us the Sum of all, we cannot draw any Conclusion from this Account, as to the Point in question before us: But must proceed to the Jewish and Christian Oracles.

The Jews have a remarkable Prophecy, which expresseth both the Whole, and the Parts of the World’s Duration. The World, they say, will stand Six thousand Years: Two thousand before the Law, Two thousand under the Law, and Two thousand under the Messiah. This Prophecy they derive from Elias; but there were two of the Name, Elias the Thesbite, and Elias the Rabbin, or Cabbalist; and ’tis suppos’d to belong immediately to the latter of these. Yet this does not hinder, in my Opinion, but that it might come originally from the former Elias, and was preserv’d in the School of this Elias the Rabbin, and first made publick by him. Or he added, it may be, that Division of the Time into three Parts, and so got a Title to the whole. I cannot easily imagine, that a Doctor that lived Two hundred Years, or thereabouts, before Christ, when Prophecy had ceas’d for some Ages amongst the Jews, should take upon him to dictate a Prophecy about the Duration of the World, unless he had been supported by some antecedent Cabbalistical Tradition: Which being kept more secret before, he took the Liberty to make Publick, and so was reputed the Author of the Prophecy: As many Philosophers amongst the Greeks, were the reputed Authors of such Doctrines as were 48much more antient than themselves: But they were the Publishers of them in their Country, or the Revivers of them after a long Silence; and so, by forgetful Posterity, got the Honour of the first Invention.

You will think, it may be, the Time is too long, and the Distance too great, betwixt Elias the Thesbite, and this Elias the Rabbin, for a Tradition to subsist all the while, or be preserv’d with any competent Integrity. But it appears from St. Jude’s Epistle, that the Prophecies of Enoch, (who liv’d before the Flood) relating to the Day of Judgment and the End of the World, were extant in his Time, either in Writing or by Tradition: And the Distance between Enoch and St. Jude was vastly greater than betwixt the two Elias’s. Nor was any fitter to be inspir’d with that Knowledge, or to tell the first News of that fatal Period, than the old Prophet Elias, who is to come again and bring the Alarum of the approaching Conflagration. But however this Conjecture may prove as to the original Author of this Prophecy, the Prophecy itself concerning the Sexmillennial Duration of the World, is very much insisted upon by the Christian Fathers. Which yet I believe is not so much for the bare Authority of the Tradition, as because they thought it was founded in the History of the six Days Creation, and the Sabbath succeeding: As also in some other typical Precepts and Usages in the Law of Moses. But before we speak of that, give me Leave to name some of those Fathers to you, that were of this Judgment, 49and supposed the great Sabbatism would succeed after the World had stood Six thousand Years. Of this Opinion was St. Barnabas in his Catholick Epistle, ch. xv. Where he argues, that the Creation will be ended in Six thousand Years, as it was finish’d in six Days: Every Day according to the sacred and mystical Account, being a Thousand Years. Of the same Judgment is St. Irenæus, both as to the Conclusion, and the Reason of it, l. 5. c. 28, 29, 30. He saith, the History of the Creation in six Days, is a Narration as to what it past, and a Prophecy of what is to come. As the Work was said to be consummated in 6 Days, and the Sabbath to be the Seventh: So the Consummation of all Things will be in 6000 Years, and then the great Sabbatism to come on in the blessed Reign of Christ. Hippolytus Martyr, Disciple of Irenæus, is of the same Judgment, as you may see in Photius, c. 202. Lactantius in his Divine Institutions, l. 7. c. 14. gives the very same Account of the State and Condition of the World, and the same Proofs for it, and so does St. Cyprian, in his Exhortation to Martyrdom, c. 18. St. Jerome more than once declares himself of the same Opinion; and St. Austin, C. D. l. 20. c. 7. tho’ he wavers, and was doubtful as to the Millennium, or Reign of Christ upon Earth, yet he receives this Computation without Hesitancy, and upon the foremention’d Grounds. So Johannes Damascenus de Fide Orthodoxâ, takes seven Millennaries for the intire Space of the World, from the Creation, to the general Resurrection, the 50Sabbatism being included. And that this was a receiv’d and approv’d Opinion in early Times, we may collect from the Author of the Questions and Answers, ad Orthodoxos, in Justin Martyr. Who, giving an Answer to that Enquiry about the six thousand Years Term of the World, says, We may conjecture from many Places of Scripture, that those are in the right, that say, six thousand Years is the Time prefix’d, for the Duration of this present Frame of the World. These Authors I have examin’d my self: But there are many others brought in Confirmation of this Opinion: As St. Hilary, Anastasius Sinaita, Sanctus Gaudentius, Q. Julius Hilarion, Junilius Africanus, Isidorus Hispalensis, Cassiodorus, Gregorius Magnus, and others, which I leave to be examin’d by those that have Curiosity and Leisure to do it.

In the mean time, it must be confess’d, that many of these Fathers were under a Mistake, in one respect, in that they generally thought the World was near an End in their Time. An Error, which we need not take Pains to confute now; seeing we, who live twelve hundred or fourteen hundred Years after them, find the World still in being, and likely to continue so for some considerable Time. But it is easy to discern whence their Mistake proceeded: Not from this Prophecy alone, but because they reckon’d this Prophecy according to the Chronology of the Septuagint: Which setting back the Beginning of the World many Ages beyond the Hebrew, these six thousand Years were very near expir’d in the Time of those 51Fathers; and that made them conclude, that the World was very near an End. We will make no Reflections, in this Place, upon that Chronology of the Septuagint, lest it should too much interrupt the Thread of our Discourse. But it is necessary to shew how the Fathers grounded this Computation of six thousand Years, upon Scripture. ’Twas chiefly, as we suggested before, upon the Hexameron, or the Creation finish’d in six Days, and the Sabbath ensuing. The Sabbath, they said, was a Type of the Sabbatism, that was to follow at the End of the World, according to St. Paul, ch. v. to the Hebrews; and then by Analogy and Consequence, the six Days preceding the Sabbath, must note the Space and Duration of the World. If therefore they could discover how much a Day is reckon’d for, in this mystical Computation, the Sum of the six Days would be easily found out. And they think, that, according to the Psalmist (Psal. xc. 4.) and St. Peter, (2 Epist. iii. 8.) a Day may be estimated a thousand Years, and consequently six Days must be counted six thousand Years, for the Duration of the World. This is their Interpretation, and their Inference: But it must be acknowledged, that there is an essential Weakness in all typical and allegorical Argumentations, in comparison of literal. And this being allow’d in Diminution of the Proof, we may be bold to say, that nothing yet appears, either in Nature, or Scripture, or human Affairs, repugnant to this Supposition of six thousand Years: Which hath Antiquity and the Authority of the Fathers, on its Side.

52We proceed now to the Christian Prophecies concerning the End of the World. I do not mention those in Daniel, because I am not satisfied that any there (excepting that of the fifth Kingdom itself) extend so far. But in the Apocalypse of St. John, which is the last Revelation we are to expect, there are several Prophecies that reach to the Consummation of this World, and the first Resurrection. The seven Seals, the seven Trumpets, the seven Vials, do all terminate upon that great Period. But they are rather Historical Prophecies than Chronological; they tell us, in their Language, the Events, but do not measure or express the Time wherein they come to pass. Others there are that may be call’d Chronological, as the treading under Foot the Holy City, Forty and two months, Apoc. xi. 2. The Witnesses opposing Antichrist One thousand Two hundred and sixty Days, Apoc. xi. 3. The Flight of the Woman into the Wilderness, for the same Number of Days, or for a Time, Times, and half a Time, Apoc. xii. 6 & 14. And lastly, The War of the Beasts against the Saints, Forty-two Months, Apoc. xiii. 5. These all, you see, express a Time for their Completion; and all the same Time, if I be not mistaken: But they do not reach to the End of the World. Or if some of them did reach so far, yet because we do not certainly know where to fix their Beginning, we must still be at a Loss, when, or in what Year they will expire. As for Instance, if the Reign of the Beast, or the Preaching 53of the Witnesses be 1260 Years, as is reasonably suppos’d; yet if we do not know certainly when this Reign, or this Preaching begun, neither can we tell when it will end. And the Epocha’s, or Beginnings of these Prophecies are so differently calculated, and are Things of so long Debate, as to make the Discussion of them altogether improper for this Place. Yet it must be confest, that the best Conjectures that can be made concerning the approaching End of the World, must be taken from a judicious Examination of these Points: And accordingly as we gather up the Prophecies of the Apocalypse, in a successive Completion, we see how by degrees we draw nearer and nearer to the Conclusion of all. But till some of these enlightening Prophecies be accomplish’d, we are as a Man that awakes in the Night, all is dark about him, and he knows not how far the Night is spent; but if he watch till the Light appears, the first Glimpses of that will resolve his Doubts. We must have a little Patience, and, I think, but a little; still eyeing those Prophecies of the Resurrection of the Witnesses, and the Depression of Antichrist: ’Till by their Accomplishment, the Day dawn, and the Clouds begin to change their Colour. Then we shall be able to make a near Guess, when the Sun of Righteousness will arise.

So much for Prophecies. There are also Signs, which are look’d upon as Forerunners of the Coming of our Saviour; and, therefore, may give us some Direction how to judge of the Distance or Approach of that great Day. Thus many of the Fathers thought the coming of 54Antichrist would be a Sign to give the World Notice of its approaching End. But we may easily see, by what hath been noted before, what it was that led the Fathers into that Mistake. They thought their six thousand Years were near an End, as they truly were, according to that Chronology they followed: and therefore they concluded the Reign of Antichrist must be very short, whensoever he came, and that he could not come long before the End of the World. But we are very well assur’d, from the Revelation of Saint John, that the Reign of Antichrist is not to be so short and transient; and from the Prospect and History of Christendom, that he hath been already upon his Throne many hundreds of Years. Therefore this Sign wholly falls to the Ground; unless you will take it from the Fall of Antichrist, rather than from his first Entrance. Others expect the coming of Elias, to give Warning of that Day, and prepare the Way of the Lord. I am very willing to admit that Elias will come, according to the Sense of the Prophet Malachi, Chap. iv. 5, 6. but he will not come with Observation, no more than he did in the Person of John the Baptist; He will not bear the Name of Elias, nor tell us he is the Man that went to Heaven in a fiery Chariot, and is now come down again to give us Warning of the last Fire. But some divine Person may appear before the second coming of our Saviour, as there did before his first coming, and by giving a new Light and Life to the Christian Doctrine, may dissipate the Mists of 55Error, and abolish all those little Controversies amongst good Men, and the Divisions and Animosities that spring from them: Enlarging their Spirits by greater Discoveries, and uniting them all in the Bonds of Love and Charity, and in the common Study of Truth and Perfection. Such an Elias the Prophet seems to point at; and may he come, and be the great Peace-maker and Preparer of the Ways of the Lord! But at present, we cannot from this Sign make any Judgment when the World will end.

Another Sign preceding the End of the World, is, The Conversion of the Jews; and this is a wonderful Sign indeed. St. Paul seems expresly to affirm it, Rom. xi. 25, 26. But it is differently understood, either of their Conversion only, or of their Restoration to their own Country, Liberties and Dominion. The Prophets bear hard upon this Sense sometimes, as you may see in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos. And to the same purpose the antient Promise of Moses is interpreted, Deut. xxx. Yet this seems to be a thing very unconceivable: Unless we suppose the ten Tribes to be still in some hidden Corner of the World, from whence they may be conducted again to their own Country, as once out of Ægypt, by a miraculous Providence, and establish’d there: Which, being known, will give the Alarm to all the other Jews, in the World, and make an universal Confluence to their old Home. Then our Saviour, by an extraordinary Appearance to them, as once to St. Paul, John xix. 37. and by Prophets, Apoc. i. 7. Mat. xxiii. 39. rais’d up amongst them for 56that purpose, may convince them that he is the true Messiah, and convert them to the Christian Faith; which will be no more strange, than was the first Conversion of the Gentile World. But if we be content with a Conversion of the Jews, without their Restoration; and of those two Tribes only, which are now dispersed throughout the Christian World, and other known Parts of the Earth: That these should be converted to the Christian Faith, and incorporated into the Christian Commonwealth, losing their National Character and Distinction: If this, I say, will satisfy the Prophecies, it is not a Thing very difficult to be conceived. For when the World is reduc’d to a better and purer State of Christianity, and that Idolatry, in a great measure remov’d, which gave the greatest Scandal to the Jews, they will begin to have better Thoughts of our Religion, and be dispos’d to a more ingenuous and unprejudic’d Examination of their Prophecies concerning the Messiah: God raising up Men amongst them of divine and enlarged Spirits, Lovers of Truth more than of any particular Sect or Opinion; with Light to discern it, and Courage to profess it. Lastly, It will be a cogent Argument upon them, to see the Age of the World so far spent, and no Appearance yet, of their long expected Messiah. So far spent, I say, that there is no Room left, upon any Computation whatsoever, for the Oeconomy of a Messiah yet to come. This will make them reflect more carefully and impartially upon him whom the Christians propose, Jesus of 57Nazareth, whom their Fathers Crucified at Jerusalem: Upon the Miracles he wrought in his Life, and after his Death; and upon the wonderful Propagation of his Doctrine throughout the World, after his Ascension. And lastly, upon the Desolation of Jerusalem, upon their own scattered and forlorn Condition, foretold by that Prophet, as a Judgment of God upon an ungrateful and wicked People.

This I have said to state the Case of the Conversion of the Jews, which will be a Sign of the approaching Reign of Christ. But, alas! what Appearance is there of this Conversion in our Days? or what Judgment can we make from a Sign that is not come to pass? ’Tis ineffectual as to us, but may be of Use to Posterity. Yet even to them it will not determine, at what Distance they are from the End of the World, but be a Mark only that they are not far from it. There will be Signs also, in those last Days, in the Heavens, and in the Earth, and in the Sea, Forerunners of the Conflagration; as the Obscuration of the Sun and Moon, Earthquakes, Roarings of the troubled Sea, and such like Disorders in the natural World, ’tis true; but these are the very Pangs of Death, and the Strugglings of Nature just before her Dissolution, and it will be too late then to be aware of our Ruin when it is at the Door. Yet these being Signs or Prodigies taken Notice of by Scripture, we intend, God willing, after we have explained the Causes and Manner of the Conflagration, to give an Account also whence these unnatural Commotions 58will proceed, that are the Beginnings or immediate Introductions to the last Fire.

Thus we have gone through the Prophecies and Signs that concern the last Day and the last Fate of the World. And how little have we learned from them as to the Time of that great Revolution? Prophecies rise sometimes with an even gradual Light, as the Day riseth upon the Horizon: and sometimes break out suddenly like a Fire, and we are not aware of their Approach ’till we see them accomplish’d. Those that concern the End of the World, are of this latter Sort, to unobserving Men; but even to the most observing, there will still be a Latitude; we must not expect to calculate the coming of our Saviour, like an Eclipse, to Minutes and half Minutes. There are Times and Seasons which the Father hath put in his own Power. If it was design’d to keep these Things secret, we must not think to out-wit Providence, and from the Prophecies that are given us, pick out a Discovery that was not intended we should ever make. It is determin’d in the Councils of Heaven just how far we shall know these Events beforehand, and with what Degree of Certainty: And with this we must be content, whatsoever it is. The Apocalypse of St. John is the last Prophetical Declaration of the Will of God, and contains the Fate of the Christian Religion to the End of the World, its Purity, Degeneracy, and Reviviscency. The Head of this Degeneracy is call’d The Beast, the false Prophet, the Whore of Babylon, in Prophetical Terms: And in an 59Ecclesiastical Term is commonly call’d Antichrist. Those that bear Testimony against this Degeneracy, are call’d the Witnesses: Who, after they have been a long Time in a mean and persecuted Condition, are to have their Resurrection and Ascension; that is, be advanc’d to Power and Authority. And this Resurrection of the Witnesses, and Depression of Antichrist, is that which will make the great Turn of the World to Righteousness, and the great Crisis, whereby we may judge of its drawing to an End. ’Tis true, there are other Marks, as the passing away of the second Woe, Apoc. c. ix. which is commonly thought to be the Ottoman Empire; and the Effusion of the Vials, Apoc. c. xvi. The first of these will be indeed a very conspicuous Mark, if it follow upon the Resurrection of the Witnesses, as by the Prophecy it seems to do, ch. xi. 14. But as to the Vials, tho’ they do plainly reach in a Series to the End of the World, I am not satisfied with any Exposition I have yet met with, concerning their precise Time or Contents.

In a Word, though the Sum and general Contents of a Prophecy be very intelligible, yet the Application of it to Time and Persons may be very lubricous. There must be Obscurity in a Prophecy, as well as Shadow in a Picture. All its Lines must not stand in a full Light. For if Prophecies were open and barefac’d as to all their Parts and Circumstances, they would check and obstruct the Course of human Affairs; and hinder, if it was possible, their own Accomplishment. Modesty and Sobriety are 60in all Things commendable, but in nothing more than in the Explication of these sacred Mysteries; and we have seen so many miscarry by a too close and particular Application of them, that we ought to dread the Rock about which we see so many Shipwrecks. He that does not err above a Century, in calculating the last Period of Time, from what Evidence we have at present, hath, in my Opinion, cast up his Accounts very well. But the Scenes will change fast towards the Evening of this long Day, and when the Sun is near setting, they will more easily compute how far he hath to run.

CHAP. VI. Concerning the Causes of the Conflagration.

The Difficulty of conceiving how this Earth can be set on Fire. With a general Answer to that Difficulty. Two suppos’d Causes of the Conflagration, by the Sun’s drawing nearer to the Earth, or the Earth’s throwing out the central Fire, examin’d and rejected.

We have now made our Way clear to the principal Point, The Causes of the Conflagration: How the Heavens and the Earth will be set on Fire, what Materials are prepared, or what Train of Causes, for that purpose. The Antients, who have kept us Company pretty well thus far, here quite desert 61us: they deal more in Conclusions than Causes, as is usual in all Traditional Learning. And the Stoicks themselves, who inculcate so much the Doctrine of the Conflagration, and make the Strength of it such, as to dissolve the Earth into a fiery Chaos, are yet very short and superficial in their Explications, how this shall come to pass. The latent Seeds of Fire, they say, shall every where be let loose, and that Element will prevail over all the rest, and transform every Thing into its own Nature. But these are general Things, that give little Satisfaction to inquisitive Persons. Neither do the modern Authors, that treat of the same Subject, relieve us in this Particular: They are willing to suppose the Conflagration a superficial Effect, that so they may excuse themselves the Trouble of enquiring after Causes. ’Tis no doubt, in a Sort supernatural; and so the Deluge was: Yet Moses sets down the Causes of the Deluge, the Rains from above, and the Disruption of the Abyss. So there must be Treasures of Fire provided against that Day, by whose Eruption this second Deluge will be brought upon the Earth.

To state the Case fairly, we must first represent the Difficulty of setting the Earth on Fire; tye the Knot, before we loose it; that so we may the better judge whether the Causes that shall be brought into View, may be sufficient to overcome so great Opposition. The Difficulty, no doubt, will be chiefly from the great Quantity of Water that is about our Globe; whereby Nature seems to have made Provision against any Invasion by Fire, and secur’d us 62from that Enemy more than any other. We see half of the Surface of the Earth cover’d with the Seas, whose Channel is of a vast Depth and Capacity: Besides innumerable Rivers, great and small, that water the Face of the dry Land, and drench it with perpetual Moisture. Then within the Bowels of the Earth, there are Store-Houses of subterraneous Waters; which are as a Reserve, in case the Ocean and the Rivers should be overcome. Neither is Water our only Security, for the hard Rocks, and stony Mountains, which no Fire can bide upon, are set in long Ranges upon the Continents and Islands; and must needs give a Stop to the Progress of that furious Enemy, in case he should attack us. Lastly, the Earth itself is not combustible in all its Parts. ’Tis not every Soil that is fit Fewel for the Fire. Clay, and Mire, and such like Soils, will rather choak and stifle it, than help it on its Way. By these Means one would think the Body of the Earth secur’d; and though there may be partial Fires, or Inundations of Fire, here and there, in particular Regions, yet there cannot be an universal Fire throughout the Earth. At least, one would hope for a safe Retreat towards the Poles, where there is nothing but Snow, and Ice, and bitter Cold. These Regions sure are in no Danger to be burnt, whatsoever becomes of the other Climates of the Earth.

This being the State and Condition of the present Earth, one would not imagine by these Preparations, ’twas ever intended that it should perish by an universal Fire. But such is often 63the Method of Providence, that the exterior Face of Things looks one Way, and the Design lies another; ’till at length, touching a Spring, as it were, at a certain Time, all those Affairs change Posture and Aspect, and shew us which way Providence inclines. We must therefore suppose, before the Conflagration begins, there will be Dispositions and Preparatives suitable to so great a Work: and all Antiquity, sacred and prophane, does so far concur with us, as to admit and suppose that a great Drought will precede, and an extraordinary Heat and Dryness of the Air, to usher in this fiery Doom. And these being Things which often happen in a Course of Nature, we cannot disallow such easy Preparations, when Providence intends so great a Consequence. The Heavens will be shut up, and the Clouds yield no Rain; and by this, with an immoderate Heat in the Air, the Springs of Water will become dry, the Earth chapp’d and parch’d, and the Woods and Trees made ready Fewel for the Fire. We have Instances, in History, that there have been Droughts and Heats of this Nature, to that Degree, that the Woods and Forests have taken Fire, and the outward Turf and Surface of the Earth, without any other Cause than the Dryness of the Season, and the Vehemency of the Sun. And, which is more considerable, the Springs and Fountains being dry’d up, the greater Rivers have been sensibly lessen’d, and the lesser quite empty’d, and exhal’d. These Things, which happen frequently, in particular Countries and Climates, may, at an appointed Time, 64by the Disposition of Providence, be more universal throughout the Earth; and have the same Effects every where, that we see by Experience they have had in certain Places: And by this Means, we may conceive it as feasible to set the whole Earth on Fire in some little Space of Time, as to burn up this, or that Country after a great Drought. But I mean this, with Exception still to the main Body of the Sea; which will indeed receive a greater Diminution from these Causes, than we easily imagine; but the final Consumption of it will depend upon other Reasons, whereof we must give an Account in the following Chapters.

As to the Mountains and Rocks, their lofty Heads will sink when the Earthquakes begin to roar, at the Beginning of the Conflagration; as we shall see hereafter. And as to the Earth itself, ’tis true there are several Sorts of Earth that are not proper Fuel for Fire; but those Soils that are not so immediately, as clayey Soils, and such like, may, by the Strength of Fire, be converted into Brick, or Stone, or earthen Metal, and so melted down and vitrified. For, in Conclusion, there is no terrestrial Body that does not finally yield to the Force of Fire, and may either be converted into Flame, incorporated Fire, or into a Liquor more ardent than either of them. Lastly, As to the Polar Regions, which you think will be a safe Retreat and inaccessible to the Fire; ’tis true, unless Providence hath laid subterraneous Treasures of Fire there unknown to us, those Parts of the Earth will be the last consum’d. But it 65is to be observ’d, that the Cold of those Regions proceeds from the Length of their Winter, and their Distance from the Sun when he is beyond the Æquator; and both these Causes will be removed at the Conflagration. For we suppose the Earth will then return to its primitive Situation, which we have explain’d in the second Book of this Theory, chap. iii. and will have the Sun always in its Æquator; whereby the several Climates of the Earth will have a perpetual Equinox, and those under the Poles a perpetual Day: And therefore all the Excess of Cold, and all the Consequences of it, will soon be abated. However, the Earth will not be burnt in one Day, and those Parts of the Earth being uninhabited, there is no Inconvenience that they should be more slowly consum’d than the rest.

This is a general Answer to the Difficulty propos’d about the Possibility of the Conflagration; and being general only, the Parts of it must be more fully explain’d and confirm’d in the Sequel of this Discourse. We should now proceed directly to the Causes of the Conflagration, and shew in what manner they do this great Execution upon Nature: But to be just and impartial in this Enquiry, we ought first to separate the spurious and pretended Causes from those that are real and genuine; to make no false Musters, nor any shew of being stronger than we are; and if we can do our Work with less Force, it will be more to our Credit; as a Victory is more honourable that is gain’d with fewer Men.

There are two grand capital Causes which some Authors make use of, as the chief Agents 66in this Work, the Sun, and the Central Fire. These two great Incendiaries, they say, will be let loose upon us at the Conflagration; the one drawing nearer to the Earth, and the other breaking out of its Bowels into these upper Regions. These are potent Causes indeed, more than enough to destroy this Earth, if it was a thousand Times bigger than it is. But for that very Reason, I suspect they are not the true Causes; for God and Nature do not use to employ unnecessary Means to bring about their Designs. Disproportion and Over-sufficiency is one sort of false Measures, and ’tis a Sign we do not thoroughly understand our Work, when we put more Strength to it than the Thing requires. Men are forward to call in extraordinary Powers, to rid their Hands of a troublesome Argument, and so make a short Dispatch to save themselves the Pains of further Enquiries; but as such Methods as these commonly have no Proof, so they give little Satisfaction to an Inquisitive Mind. This Supposition of burning the Earth, by the Sun drawing nearer and nearer to it, seems to be made in Imitation of the Story of Phaeton, who driving the Chariot of the Sun with an unsteady Hand, came so near the Earth, that he set it on Fire. But however, we will not reject any Pretensions without a fair Trial: Let us examine therefore what Grounds they can have for either of these Suppositions, of the Approximation of the Sun to the Earth, or the Eruption of the Central Fire.

As to the Sun, I desire first to be satisfied in present Matter of Fact: Whether by any Instrument 67or Observation it hath or can be discover’d, that the Sun is nearer to the Earth now, than he was in former Ages? Or, If by any Reasoning or comparing Calculations, such a Conclusion can be made? If not, this is but an imaginary Cause, and as easily deny’d as propos’d. Astronomers do very little agree in their Opinions about the Distance of the Sun: Ptolemy, Albategnius, Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler, and others more modern, differ all in their Calculations; but not in such a Manner or Proportion, as should make us believe that the Sun comes nearer to the Earth, but rather goes further from it. For the more modern of them make the Distance greater than the more ancient do. Kepler says, the Distance of the Sun from the Earth lies betwixt 700 and 2000 Semidiameters of the Earth: But Ricciolus makes it betwixt 700 and 7000: And Gottefred Wendelme hath taken 14656 Semidiameters, for a middle Proportion of the Sun’s Distance; to which Kepler himself came very near in his later Years. So that you see how groundless our Fears are from the Approaches of an Enemy, that rather flies from us, if he change Postures at all. And we have more Reason to believe the Report of the modern Astronomers, than of the antient, in this Matter; both because the Nature of the Heavens and of the celestial Bodies is now better known, and also because they have found out better Instruments and better Methods to make their Observations.

If the Sun and Earth were come nearer to one another, either the Circle of the Sun’s diurnal 68Arch would be less, and so the Day shorter; or the Orbit of the Earth’s annual Course would be less, and so the Year shorter: Neither of which we have any Experience of. And those that suppose us in the Centre of the World, need not be afraid ’till they see Mercury and Venus in a Combustion, for they lie betwixt us and Danger; and the Sun cannot come so readily at us with his fiery Darts, as at them who stand in his Way. Lastly, this languishing Death, by the gradual Approaches of the Sun, and that irreparable Ruin of the Earth, which at last must follow from it, do neither of them agree with that Idea of the Conflagration, which the Scripture hath given us; for it is to come suddenly and unexpectedly, and take us off like a Violent Fever, not as a lingring Consumption. And the Earth is also to be destroyed by Fire, as not to take away all Hopes of a Resurrection, or Renovation: For we are assur’d by Scripture, that there will be new Heavens and a new Earth after these are burnt up. But if the Sun should come so near us, as to make the Heavens pass away with a Noise, and melt the Elements with fervent Heat, and destroy the Form, and all the Works of the Earth, what Hopes or Possibility would there be of a Renovation, while the Sun continu’d in this Posture? He would more and more consume and prey upon the Carcass of the Earth, and convert it at length either into an Heap of Ashes, or a Lump of vitrified Metal.

So much for the Sun. As to the Central Fire, I am very well satisfied it is no imaginary 69Thing: All Antiquity hath preserv’d some sacred Monument of it: The Vestal Fire of the Romans, which was so religiously attended: The Prytoneia of the Greeks were to the same purpose, and dedicated to Vesta: And the Pyretheia of the Persians, where Fire was kept continually by the Magi. These all, in my Opinion, had the same Origin, and the same Signification. And tho’ I do not know any particular Observation, that does directly prove or demonstrate that there is such a Mass of Fire in the middle of the Earth; yet the best Accounts we have of the Generation of a Planet do suppose it; and ’tis agreeable to the whole Oeconomy of Nature: As a Fire in the Heart, which gives Life to her Motions and Productions. But, however, the Question is not at present, about the Existence of this Fire, but the Eruption of it, and the Effect of that Eruption; which cannot be, in my Judgment, such a Conflagration as describ’d in Scripture.

This Central Fire must be enclos’d in a Shell of great Strength and Firmness; for being of itself the lightest, and most active of all Bodies, it would not be detained in the lowest Prison without a strong Guard upon it. ’Tis true, we can make no certain Judgment of what Thickness this Shell is; but if we suppose this Fire to have a twentieth Part of the Semidiameter of the Earth, on either side the Centre, for its Sphere, which seems to be a fair Allowance; there would still remain nineteen Parts for our Safeguard and Security: And these nineteen Parts of the Semidiameter of the 70Earth will make 3268 Miles, for a Partition-Wall betwixt us and this Central Fire. Who would be afraid of an Enemy lock’d up in so strong a Prison? But you’ll say, it may be, tho’ the Central Fire, at the Beginning of the World, might have no more Room or Space than what is mention’d; yet being of that Activity that it is, and corrosive Nature, it may, in the Space of some thousands of Years, have eaten deep into the Sides of its Prison; and so come nearer to the Surface of the Earth by some hundreds or thousands of Miles, than it was at first. This would be a material Exception, if it could be made out. But what Phænomenon is there in Nature that proves this? How does it appear by an Observation, that the Central Fire gains Ground upon us? Or is increased in Quantity, or come nearer to the Surface of the Earth? I know nothing that can be offer’d in Proof of this: and if there be no Appearance of a Change, nor any sensible Effect of it, ’tis an Argument there is none, or none considerable. If the Quantity of that Fire was considerably increas’d, it must needs, besides other Effects, have made the Body of the Earth considerably lighter. The Earth having, by this Conversion of its own Substance into Fire, lost so much of its heaviest Matter, and got so much of the lightest and most active Element instead of it: and in both these respects, its Gravity would be manifestly lessen’d. Which if it really was in any considerable Degree, it would discover it self by some Change, either as to the Motion of the Earth, or as to its Place or Station 71in the Heavens. But there being no external Change observable, in this or any other respect, ’tis reasonable to presume that there is no considerable inward Change, or no great Consumption of its inward Parts and Substance; and consequently no great Increase of the central Fire.

But if we should admit both an Increase and Eruption of this Fire, it would not have that Effect which is pretended. It might cause some Confusion and Disorder in those Parts of the Earth where it broke out, but it would not make an universal Conflagration, such as is represented to us in Scripture. Let us suppose the Earth to be open, or burst in any Place; under the Pole, for Instance, or under the Æquator; and let it gape as low as the Central Fire: At this Chasm or Rupture we suppose the Fire would gush out; and what then would be the Consequence of this when it came to the Surface of the Earth? It would either be dissipated and lost in the Air, or fly still higher towards the Heavens in a Mass of Flame. But what Execution in the mean time would it do upon the Body of the Earth? ’Tis but like a Flash of Lightning, or a Flame issuing out of a Pit, that dies presently. Besides, this Central Fire is of that Subtilty and Tenuity, that it is not able to inflame gross Bodies: no more than those Meteors we call Lambent Fires, inflame the Bodies to which they stick. Lastly, in explaining the Manner of the Conflagration, we must have regard principally to Scripture; for the Explications given there are more to the purpose, than all 72that the Philosophers have said upon that Subject. Now, as we noted before, ’tis manifest in Scripture, that after the Conflagration, there will be a Restauration, new Heavens, and a new Earth. ’Tis the express Doctrine of St. Peter, besides other Prophets: We must therefore suppose the Earth reduc’d to such a Chaos by this last Fire, as will lay the Foundation of a new World, 2 Pet. iii. 12, 13. Which can never be, if the inward Frame of it be broke, the Central Fire exhausted, and the exterior Region suck’d into those central Vacuities. This must needs make it lose its former Poise and Libration, and it will thereupon be thrown into some other Part of the Universe, as the useless Shell of a broken Granado, or as a dead Carcass, and unprofitable Matter.

These Reasons may be sufficient why we should not depend upon those pretended Causes of the Conflagration, the Sun’s Advance towards the Earth, or such a Rupture of the Earth as will let out the Central Fire. These Causes, I hope, will appear superfluous, when we shall have given an Account of the Conflagration without them. But young Philosophers, like young Soldiers, think they are never sufficiently armed; and often take more Weapons, than they can make use of, when they come to fight. Not that we altogether reject the Influence of the Sun, or of the Central Fire; especially the latter: For in that great Estuation of Nature, the Body of the Earth will be much open’d and relaxated; and when the Pores are enlarg’d, the Steams of that Fire will sweat out more plentifully into all its 73Parts; but still without any Rupture in the Vessels, or in the Skin. And whereas these Authors suppose the very Veins to burst, and the vital Blood to gush out, as at open Flood-Gates, we only allow a more copious Perspiration, and think that sufficient for all Purposes in this Case.

Chap. VII

The true Bounds of the last Fire, and how far it is fatal. The natural Causes and Materials of it, cast into three Ranks: First, Such as are exterior and visible upon the Earth; where the Vulcano’s of the Earth, and their Effects, are consider’d. Secondly, Such Materials as are within the Earth. Thirdly, Such as are in the Air.

As we have, in the preceding Chapter, laid aside those Causes of the Conflagration which we thought too great and cumbersome; so now we must, in like manner, examine the Effect, and reduce that to its just Measures and Proportions, that there may be nothing left superfluous on either side; then, by comparing the real Powers with the Work they are to do, both being stated within their due Bounds, we may the better judge how they are proportion’d to one another.

We noted before, that the Conflagration had nothing to do with the Stars, and superior Heavens, but was wholly confin’d to this sublunary 74World. And this Deluge of Fire will have much what the same Bounds, that the Deluge of Water had formerly. This is according to St. Peter’s Doctrine, for he makes the same Parts of the Universe to be the Subject of both: Namely, the inferior Heavens and the Earth, 2 Pet. iii. 5, 6. The Heavens and the Earth which were then, perish’d in a Deluge of Water: ver. 7. But the Heavens and the Earth that are now, are reserv’d to Fire. The present Heavens and Earth are substituted in the Place of those that perish’d at the Deluge, and these are to be over-run and destroy’d by Fire, as those were by Water. So that the Apostle takes the same Regions, and the same Space and Compass for the one, as for the other, and makes their Fate different according to their different Constitution, and the different Order of Providence. This is the Sense St. Austin gives us of the Apostle’s Words, and these are the Bounds he sets to the last Fire; whereof a modern Commentator is so well assur’d, that he says, Estius in loc. They neither understand Divinity, nor Philosophy, that would make the Conflagration reach above the elementary Heavens.

Let these be then its Limits upwards, the Clouds, Air, and Atmosphere of the Earth. But the Question seems more doubtful, How far it will extend downwards, into the Bowels of the Earth? I answer still, to the same Depth that the Waters of the Deluge reach’d: To the lowest Abysses, and the deepest Caverns within the Ground. And seeing no Caverns are deeper or lower, at least according to our Theory, than the Bottom 75of the great Ocean, to that Depth, I suppose, the Rage of this Fire will penetrate, and devour all before it. And therefore we must not imagine, that only the outward Turf and habitable Surface of the Earth will be put into a Flame and laid waste: the whole exterior Region of the Earth, to the Depth of the deepest Part of the Sea, will suffer in this Fire; and suffer to that Degree, as to be melted down, and the Frame of it dissolv’d. For we are not to conceive that the Earth will be only scorcht or charkt in the last Fire, there will be a Sort of Liquefaction and Dissolution; Rev. xv. 2. 2 Pet. iii. 10. Psal. xcvii. 5. it will become a molten Sea mingled with Fire, according to the Expression of Scripture. And this Dissolution may reasonably be suppos’d to reach as low as the Earth hath any Hollownesses, or can give vent to Smoak and Flame.

Wherefore, taking these for the Bounds and Limits of the last great Fire, the next Thing to be enquired into, are the Natural Causes of it: How this strange Fate will seize upon the sublunary World, and with an irresistible Fury subdue all Things to it self. But when I say Natural Causes, I would not be so understood, as if I thought the Conflagration was a pure Natural Fatality, as the Stoicks seem to do. No, ’tis a mix’d Fatality; the Causes indeed are Natural, but the Administration of them is from an higher Hand. Fire is the Instrument, or the executive Power, and hath no more Force given it than what it hath naturally; but the Concurrence of these Causes, 76or of these fiery Powers, at such a Time, and in such a Manner, and the Conduct of them to carry on and complete the whole Work without Cessation or Interruption, that I look upon as more than what material Nature could effect of itself, or than could be brought to pass by such a Government of Matter, as is the bare Result of its own Laws and Determinations. When a Ship falls gently before the Wind, the Mariners may stand idle; but to guide her in a Storm, all Hands must be at Work. There are Rules and Measures to be observ’d, even in these Tumults and Desolations of Nature, in destroying a World, as well as in making one, and, therefore, in both it is reasonable to suppose a more than ordinary Providence to superintend the Work. Let us not, therefore, be too positive or presumptuous in our Conjectures about these Things; for if there be an invisible Hand, Divine or Angelical, that touches the Springs and Wheels; it will not be easy for us to determine, with Certainty, the Order of their Motions. However, ’tis our Duty to search into the Ways and Works of God, as far as we can: And we may, without Offence, look into the Magazines of Nature; see what Provisions are made, and what Preparations for this great Day; and in what Method ’tis most likely the Design will be executed.

But before we proceed to mark out Materials for this Fire, give me leave to observe one Condition or Property in the Form of this present Earth, that makes it capable of Inflammation. ’Tis the Manner of its Construction, in an hollow 77cavernous Form: By reason whereof, containing much Air in its Cavities, and having many Inlets and Outlets, ’tis in most Places capable of Ventilation, pervious and passable to the Winds, and consequently to the Fire. Those that have read the former Part of this Theory, Book 1. ch. 6, 7. know how the Earth came into this hollow and broken Form; from what Causes and at what Time; namely, at the universal Deluge; when there was a Disruption of the exterior Earth that fell into the Abyss, and so, for a Time was overflow’d with Water. These Ruins, recover’d from the Water, we inhabit, and these Ruins, only will be burnt up; for being not only unequal in their Surface, but also hollow, loose, and incompact within, as Ruins use to be, they are made thereby capable of a second Fate, by Inflammation. Thereby, I say, they are made combustible; for if the exterior Regions of this Earth were as close and compact in all their Parts, as we have Reason to believe the interior Regions of it to be, the Fire could have little Power over it, nor ever reduce it to such a State as is requir’d in a compleat Conflagration, such as ours is to be.

This being admitted, that the exterior Region of the Earth stands hollow, as a well set Fire, to receive Air freely into its Parts, and hath Issues for Smoke and Flame: It remains to enquire, what Fuel or Materials Nature hath fitted to kindle this Pile, and to continue it on Fire ’till it be consum’d; or, in plain Words, what are the natural Causes and Preparatives for a Conflagration. The first and 78most obvious Preparations that we see in Nature for this Effect, are the burning Mountains, or Volcano’s of the Earth. These are lesser Essays or Preludes to the general Fire: set on purpose by Providence to keep us awake, and to mind us continually, and forewarn us of what we are to expect at last. The Earth, you see, is already kindled, blow but the Coal, and propagate the Fire, and the Work will go on, Isa. xxx. 33. Tophet is prepared of old; and when the Day of Doom is come, and the Date of the World expir’d, the Breath of the Lord shall make it burn.

But besides these burning Mountains, there are Lakes of Pitch and Brimstone, and oily Liquors dispers’d in several Parts of the Earth. These are to enrage the Fire as it goes, and to fortify it against any Resistance or Opposition. Then all the vegetable Productions upon the Surface of the Earth, as Trees, Shrubs, Grass, Corn, and such like; every thing that grows out of the Ground, is Fewel for the Fire; and tho’ they are now accommodated to our Use and Service, they will then turn all against us; and with a mighty Blaze, and rapid Course, make a Devastation of the outward Furniture of the Earth, whether natural or artificial. But these Things deserve some further Consideration, especially that strange Phænomenon of the Volcano’s or burning Mountains, which we will now consider more particularly.

There is nothing certainly more terrible in all Nature than fiery Mountains to those that live within the View or Noise of them; but it is not easy for us, who never see them, nor heard them, 79to represent them to ourselves with such just and lively Imaginations as shall excite in us the same Passions, and the same Horror as they would excite, if present to our Senses. The Time of their Eruption, and of their Raging, is, of all others, the most dreadful; but, many times, before their Eruption, the Symptoms of an approaching Fit are very frightful to the People. The Mountain begins to roar and bellow in its hollow Caverns; cries out, as it were, in Pain to be deliver’d of some Burthen too heavy to be born, and too big to be easily discharged. The Earth shakes and trembles, in Apprehension of the Pangs and Convulsions that are coming upon her; and the Sun often hides his Head, or appears with a discolour’d Face, pale, or dusky, or bloody, as if all Nature was to suffer in this Agony. After these Forerunners or Symptoms of an Eruption, the wide Jaws of the Mountain open: And first, Clouds of Smoke issue out, then Flames of Fire, and after that a Mixture of all Sorts of burning Matter; red hot Stones, Lumps of Metal, half-dissolv’d Minerals, with Coals and fiery Ashes. These fall in thick Showers round about the Mountain, and in all adjacent Parts; and not only so, but are carried, partly by the Force of the Expulsion, and partly by the Winds when they are aloft in the Air, into far distant Countries. As from Italy to Constantinople, and cross the Mediterranean Sea into Africk; as the best Historians, Procopius, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Dion Cassius, have attested.

80These Vulcano’s are planted in several Regions of the Earth, and in both Continents, this of ours, and the other of America. For by Report of those that have view’d that new-found World, there are many Mountains in it that belch out Smoke and Fire; some constantly, and others by Fits, and Intervals. In our Continent, Providence hath variously dispers’d them, without any Rule known to us; but they are generally in Islands, or near the Sea. In the Asiatick Oriental Islands they are in great Abundance, and Historians tell us of a Mountain in the Island Java, that in the Year 1586, at one Eruption, kill’d ten thousand People in the neighbouring Cities and Country: But we do not know so well the History of those remote Vulcano’s, as of such as are in Europe and nearer Home. In Iseland, tho’ it lie within the polar Circle, and is scarce habitable by reason of the Extremity of Cold, and abundance of Ice and Snow, yet there are three burning Mountains in that Island; whereof the chief and most remarkable is Hecla. This hath its Head always cover’d with Snow, and its Belly always fill’d with Fire; and these are both so strong in their kind, and equally powerful, that they cannot destroy one another. It is said to cast out, when it rages, besides Earth, Stones, and Ashes, a Sort of flaming Water; as if all Contrarieties were to meet in this Mountain, to make it the more perfect Resemblance of Hell, as the credulous Inhabitants fancy it to be.

But there are no Vulcano’s, in my Opinion, that deserve our Observation so much, as those 81that are in and about the Mediterranean Sea; There is a Knot of them, called the Vulcanian Islands, from their fiery Eruptions, as if they were the Forges of Vulcan; as Strombolo, Lapara, and others, which are not so remarkable now, as they have been formerly. However, without dispute, there are none in the Christian World to be compared with Ætna and Vesuvius; one in the Island of Sicily, and the other in Campania, overlooking the Port and City of Naples. These two, from all Memory of Man, and the most antient Records of History, have been fam’d for the Treasures of subterraneous Fires, which are not yet exhausted, nor diminsh’d, so far as is perceivable; for they rage still, upon Occasion, with as much Fierceness and Violence, as they ever did in former Ages; as if they had a continual Supply to answer their Expences, and were to stand till the last Fire, as a Type and Prefiguration of it, throughout all Generations.

Let us therefore take these two Volcano’s as a Pattern for the rest; seeing they are well known, and stand in the Heart of the Christian World, where, ’tis likely, the last Fire will make its first Assault. Ætna, of the two, is more spoken of by the Antients, both Poets and Historians; and we should scarce give Credit to their Relations concerning it, if some later Eruptions did not equal, or exceed the Fame of all that have been reported from former Ages: That it heated the Waters of the Sea, and cover’d them over with Ashes; crack’d, or dissolv’d the neighbouring Rocks; darken’d the 82Sun and the Air; and cast out, not only mighty Streams of Flame, but a Flood of melted Ore, and other Materials: These Things we can now believe, having had Experience of greater, or and Account of them from such, as have been Eye-Witnesses of these Fires, or of the fresh Ruins and sad Effects of them.

There are two Things especially, in these Eruptions of Ætna, that are most prodigious in themselves, and most remarkable for our Purpose: The Rivers of fiery Matter that break out of its Bowels, or are spew’d out of its Mouth; and the vast burning Stones which it flings into the Air, at a strange Height and Distance. As to these fiery Rivers, or Torrents, and the Matter whereof they are compounded, we have a full Account of them by Alphonsus Borellus, a learned Mathematician at Pisa; who, after the last great Eruption on the Year 1669, went into Sicily, while the Fact was fresh, to view and survey what Ætna had done or suffer’d; and he says, the Quantity of Matter thrown out of the Mountain at that Time, upon Survey, amounted to ninety three Millions, eight Hundred thirty eight Thousand, seven Hundred and fifty cubical Paces. So that if it had been extended in Length upon the Surface of the Earth, it would reach further than ninety three Millions of Paces; which is more than four times the Circumference of the whole Earth, taking a thousand Paces to a Mile. This is strange to our Imagination, and almost incredible, that one Mountain should throw out so much fiery Matter, besides all the 83Ashes that were disperst through the Air, far and near, and could be brought to no Account.

’Tis true, all this Matter was not actually inflam’d or liquid Fire; but the rest, that was Sand, Stone, and Gravel, might have run into Glass, or some melted Liquor like to it, if it had not been thrown out before the Heat fully reach’d it: However, sixty Million Paces of this Matter, as the same Author computes, were liquid Fire, or came out of the Mouth of the Pit in that Form; this made a River of Fire, sometimes two Miles broad, according to his Computation; but, according to the Observation of others who also viewed it, the Torrent of Fire was six or seven Miles broad, and sometimes ten or fifteen Fathoms deep; and forc’d its Way into the Sea near a Mile, preserving it self alive in the midst of the Waters.

This is beyond all the infernal Lakes and Rivers Acheron, Phlegeton, Cocytus; all that the Poets have talk’d of: Their greatest Fictions about Hell have not come up to the Reality of one of our burning Mountains upon Earth. Imagine then, all our Volcano’s raging at once in this manner——But I will not pursue that Supposition yet: Give me leave only to add here, what I mentioned in the second Place, the vast Burning Stones which this Mountain, in the time of its Rage and Æstuation, threw into the Air with an incredible Force. This same Author tells us of a Stone fifteen Foot long, that was flung out of the Mouth of the Pit, to a Mile’s Distance; and when it fell, it came from such an Height, and with such a 84Violence, that it buried it self in the Ground eight Foot deep. What Trifles are our Mortar-Pieces and Bombs, when compared with these Engines of Nature? When she flings, out of the wide Throat of a Volcano, a broken Rock, and twirls it in the Air like a little Bullet; then lets it fall, to do Execution here below, as Providence shall point and direct it! It would be hard to give an Account, how so great an Impulse can be given to a Body so ponderous: But there’s no disputing against Matter of Fact; and as the Thoughts of God are not like our Thoughts, so neither are his Works like our Works.

Thus much for Ætna. Let us now give an Instance in Vesuvius, another burning Mountain upon the Coast of the Mediterranean, which hath as frequent Eruptions, and some as terrible as those of Ætna. Lib. 66. Dion. Cassius (one of the best Writers of the Roman History) hath given us an Account of one that happened in the Time of Titus Vespasian; and tho’ he hath not set down Particulars, as the former Author did, of the Quantity of fiery Matter thrown out at that Time: yet supposing that proportionable to its Fierceness in other Respects, this seems to me as dreadful an Eruption as any we read of; and was accompanied with such Prodigies and Commotions in the Heavens and the Earth, as made it look like the Beginning of the last Conflagration. As a Prelude to this Tragedy, he says, there were strange Sights in the Air, and after that followed an extraordinary Drought: Then the Earth begun to tremble and quake; and the 85Concussions were so great, that the Ground seem’d to rise and boil up in some Places, and in others the Tops of the Mountains sunk in, or tumbled down: At the same Time were great Noises and Sounds heard; some were subterraneous, like Thunder within the Earth; others above Ground, like Groans or Bellowings. The Sea roared, the Heavens ratled with a fearful Noise, and then came a sudden and mighty Crack, as if the Frame of Nature had broke, or all the Mountains of the Earth had fallen down at once. At length Vesuvius burst, and threw out of its Womb, first, huge Stones, then a vast Quantity of Fire and Smoke, so as the Air was all darkned, and the Sun was hid, as if he had been under a great Eclipse. The Day was turn’d into Night, and Light into Darkness; and the frighted People thought the Giants were making War against Heaven, and fansied they saw the Shapes and Images of Giants in the Smoke, and heard the Sound of their Trumpets: Others thought, the World was returning to its first Chaos, or going to be all consumed with Fire. In this general Confusion and Consternation, they knew not where to be safe; some run out of the Fields into the Houses, others out of the Houses into the Fields; those that were at Sea hastened to Land, and those that were at Land endeavoured to get to Sea; still thinking every Place safer than that where they were. Besides grosser Lumps of Matter, there was thrown out of the Mountain such a prodigious Quantity of Ashes, as cover’d the Land and Sea, and filled the Air, so as besides other Damages, the Birds, 86Beasts and Fishes, with Men, Women, and Children were destroy’d, within such a Compass; and two entire Cities, Herculanium and Pompeios, were overwhelm’d with a Shower of Ashes, as the People were sitting in the Theatre. Nay, these Ashes were carried, by the Winds, over the Mediterranean into Africk, and into Ægypt and Syria. And at Rome they choak’d the Air on a sudden, so as to hide the Face of the Sun; Whereupon the People not knowing the Cause, as not having yet got the News from Campania, of the Eruption of Vesuvius, could not imagine what the Reason should be; but thought the Heavens and the Earth were coming together, the Sun coming down, and the Earth going to take its Place above. Thus far the Historian.

You see what Disorders in Nature, and what an Alarum, the Eruption of one fiery Mountain is capable to make. These Things, no doubt, would have made strong Impressions upon us, if we had been Eye-Witnesses of them; but I know, Representations made from dead History, and at a Distance, though the Testimony be never so credible, have a much less Effect upon us, than what we see ourselves, and what our Senses immediately inform us of. I have only given you an Account of two Volcano’s, and of a single Eruption in either of them: These Mountains are not very far distant from one another; let us suppose two such Eruptions, as I have mentioned, to happen at the same Time, and both these Mountains to be raging at once in this Manner; by that Violence 87you have seen in each of them singly, you will easily imagine what Terror and Desolation they would carry round about, by a Conjunction of their Fury, and all their Effects, in the Air, and on the Earth. Then, if to these two you should join two more, the Sphere of their Activity would still be enlarged, and the Scenes become more dreadful. But to compleat the Supposition, let us imagine all the Volcano’s of the whole Earth to be prepar’d, and set to a certain Time; which Time being come, and a Signal given by Providence, all these Mines begin to play at once; I mean, all these fiery Mountains burst out, and discharge themselves in Flames of Fire, tear up the Roots of the Earth, throw hot burning Stones, send out Streams of flowing Metals and Minerals, and all other Sorts of ardent Matter, which Nature hath lodg’d in those Treasuries: If all these Engines, I say, were to play at once, the Heavens and the Earth would seem to be in a Flame, and the World in an universal Combustion. But we may reasonably presume, that against that great Day of Vengeance and Execution, not only all these will be employ’d, but also new Volcano’s will be opened, and new Mountains in every Region will break out into Smoke and Flame; just as at the Deluge, the Abyss broke out from the Womb of the Earth, and from those hidden Stores sent an immense Quantity of Water, which, it may be the Inhabitants of that World never thought of before: So we must expect new Eruptions, and also new sulphureous Lakes, and Fountains of 88Oyl, to boyl out of the Ground: and these, all united with that Fewel that naturally grows upon the Surface of the Earth, will be sufficient to give the first Onset, and to lay waste all the habitable World, and the Furniture of it.

But we suppose the Conflagration will go lower, pierce under Ground, and dissolve the Substance of the Earth to some considerable Depth: Therefore, besides these outward and visible Preparations, we must consider all the hidden invisible Materials within the Veins of the Earth; Such are all Minerals, or mineral Juices and Concretions that are igniferous, or capable of Inflammation; and these cannot easily be reckoned up, or estimated; some of the most common are Sulphur, and all sulphureous Bodies, and Earths impregnated with Sulphur, Bitumen, and bituminous Concretions; inflammable Salts, Coal and other Fossils that are ardent; with innumerable Mixtures and Compositions of these Kinds, which, being open’d by Heat, are unctuous and inflammable, or by Attrition discover the latent Seeds of Fire. But besides consistent Bodies, there is also much volatile Fire within the Earth, in Fumes, Steams, and Exudations, which will all contribute to this Effect. From these Stores under Ground, all Plants and Vegetables are fed and supplied, as to their oily and sulphureous Parts, and all hot Waters in Baths or Fountains, must have their Original from some of these, some Mixture or Participation of them; and as to the British Soil, there is so much Coal incorporated with it, that when the Earth shall burn, we have 89Reason to apprehend no small Danger from that subterraneous Enemy.

These Dispositions, and this Fewel we find, in and upon the Earth, towards the last Fire. The third Sort of Provision is in the Air; all fiery Meteors and Exhalations engender’d and form’d in those Regions above, and discharg’d upon the Earth in several Ways. I believe there were no fiery Meteors in the antedeluvian Heavens; which therefore Saint Peter says, were constituted of Water, had nothing in them but what was watery; but he says the Heavens that are now, have Treasures of Fire, or are reserv’d for Fire, as Things laid up in a Store-House for that Purpose. We have Thunder and Lightning, and fiery Tempests, and there is nothing more vehement, impetuous, and irresistible, where their Force is directed. It seems to me very remarkable, that the Holy Writers describe the Coming of the Lord, and the Destruction of the Wicked, in the Nature of a Tempest, or a Storm of Fire, Psalm xi. 6. Upon the Wicked the Lord shall rain Coals, Fire and Brimstone, and a burning Tempest; this shall be the Portion of their Cup. And in the lofty Song of David, Psal. xviii. (which, in my Judgment, respects both the past Deluge and the future Conflagration) ’tis said, Ver. 13, 14, 15. The Lord also thundered in the Heavens, and the Highest gave his Voice, Hail-stones and Coals of Fire. Yea, he sent forth his Arrows and scattered them, and he shot out Lightnings and discomfited them. Then the Channels of Waters were seen, and the Foundations of 90the World were discover’d; at thy Rebuke, O Lord, at the Blast of the Breath of thy Nostrils. And a like fiery Coming is described in the 97th Psalm, as also by Isaiah, Isa. lxvi. 15. Daniel, Dan. vii. 9, 10. and St. Paul, 2 Thess. i. 8. And lastly, in the Apocalypse, when the World draws to a Conclusion, as in the seventh Trumpet (Chap. xi. 19.) and the seventh Vial (Chap. xvi. 18.) we have still mention made of this fiery Tempest of Lightnings and Thunderings.

We may therefore reasonably suppose, that, before the Conflagration, the Air will be surcharg’d every where (by a precedent Drought) with hot and fiery Exhalations: And as against the Deluge those Regions were burthen’d with Water and moist Vapours, which were pour’d upon the Earth, not in gentle Showers, but like Rivers and Cataracts from Heaven; so they will now be filled with hot Fumes and sulphureous Clouds, which will sometimes flow in Streams and fiery Impressions through the Air, sometimes make Thunder and Lightnings, and sometimes fall down upon the Earth in Floods of Fire. In general, there is a great Analogy to be observed betwixt the two Deluges of Water and of Fire, not only as to the Bounds of them, which were noted before; but as to the general Causes and Sources upon which they depend, from above and from below. At the Flood, the Windows of Heaven were open’d above, and the Abyss was open’d below; and the Waters of these two join’d together to overflow the World: In like manner, at the Conflagration, God will rain down Fire from Heaven, as he did 91once upon Sodom; and at the same time the subterraneous Store-houses of Fire will be broken open; which answers to the Disruption of the Abyss: And these two meeting and mingling together, will involve all the Heaven and Earth in Flames.

This is a short Account of the ordinary Stores of Nature, and the ordinary Preparations for a general Fire; and, in Contemplation of these, Pliny the Naturalist said boldly, It was one of the greatest Wonders of the World, that the World was not every Day set on Fire. We will conclude this Chapter with his Words, in the second Book of his Natural Hist. ch. 106, 107. Having given an Account of some fiery Mountains and other Parts of the Earth that are the Seats and Sources of Fire, he makes this Reflection: Seeing this Element is so fruitful, that it brings forth it self, and multiplies and encreases from the least Sparks; what art we to expect from so many Fires already kindled on the Earth? How does Nature feed and satisfy so devouring an Element, and such a great Voracity throughout all the World, without Loss or Diminution of herself? Add to these Fires we have mentioned, the Stars and the great Sun; then all the Fires made for human Uses; Fire in Stones, in Wood, in the Clouds, and in Thunder; IT EXCEEDS ALL MIRACLES, IN MY OPINION, THAT ONE DAY SHOULD PASS WITHOUT SETTING THE WORLD ALL ON FIRE.

Chap. VIII

Some new Dispositions towards the Conflagration, as to the Matter, Form, and Situation of the Earth. Concerning miraculous Causes, and how far the Ministry of Angels may be engaged in this Work.

We have given an Account, in the preceding Chapter, of the ordinary Preparations of Nature for a general Fire; we now are to give an Account of the extraordinary, or of any new Dispositions, which, towards the End of the World, may be super-added to the ordinary State of Nature. I do not, by these, mean Things openly miraculous and supernatural; but such a Change wrought in Nature, as shall still have the Face of natural Causes, and yet have a greater Tendency to the Conflagration. As, for Example, suppose a great Drought, as we noted before, to precede this Fate, or a general Heat and Dryness of the Air, and of the Earth; because this happens sometimes in a Course of Nature, it will not be look’d upon as prodigious. ’Tis true, some of the Antients speak of a Drought of forty Years, that will be a Fore-runner of the Conflagration; so that there will not be a watery Cloud, nor Rainbow seen in the Heavens, for so long a Time. And this they impute to Elias, who at his Coming, will stop the 93Rain, and shut up the Heavens to make way for the last Fire. But these are excessive and ill-grounded Suppositions; for half forty Years Drought will bring an universal Sterility upon the Earth, and thereupon an universal Famine, with innumerable Diseases; so that all Mankind would be destroyed, before the Conflagration could overtake them.

But we will readily admit an extraordinary Drought and Desiccation of all Bodies to usher in this great Fatality. And therefore, whatsoever we read in natural History, concerning former Droughts, of their drying up Fountains and Rivers, parching the Earth, and making the outward Turf take Fire in several Places; filling the Air with fiery Impressions, making the Woods and Forests ready Fewel, and sometimes to kindle by the Heat of the Sun, or a Flash of Lightning: These and what other Effects have come to pass in former Droughts, may come to pass again; and that in an higher Measure, and so as to be of more general Extent. And we must also allow, that by this means, a great degree of Inflammability, or Easiness to be set on Fire, will be super-induc’d, both into the Body of the Earth, and of all Things that grow upon it. The Heat of the Sun will pierce deeper into its Bowels, when it gapes to receive his Beams, and by Chinks and widened Pores makes way for their Passage to its very Heart. And, on the other Hand, it is not improbable, but that upon this general Relaxation, and Incalescency of the Body of the Earth, the Central Fire may 94have a freer Efflux, and diffuse itself in greater abundance every Way; so as to affect even these exterior Regions of the Earth, so far as to make them still more catching, and more combustible.

From this external and internal Heat acting upon the Body of the Earth, all Minerals, that have the Seeds of Fire in them, will be open’d, and exhale their Effluviums more copiously. As Spices, when warm’d are more odoriferous, and fill the Air with their Perfumes; so the Particles of Fire that are shut up in several Bodies, will easily fly abroad, when, by a further degree of Relaxation, you shake off their Chains, and open the Prison Doors. We cannot doubt, but there are many Sorts of Minerals, and many Sorts of Fire-stones, and of Trees and Vegetables of this Nature, which will sweat out their oily and sulphureous Atoms, when by a general Heat and Dryness their Parts are loosen’d and agitated.

We have no Experience that will reach so far, as to give us a full Account what the State of Nature will be at that Time; I mean, after this Drought, towards the End of the World; but we may help our Imagination, by comparing it with other Seasons and Temperaments of the Air. As therefore in the Spring the Earth is fragrant, and the Fields and Gardens are fill’d with the sweet Breathings of Herbs and Flowers; especially after a gentle Rain; when their Bodies are softened, and the Warmth of the Sun makes them evaporate more freely: So a greater degree of Heat acting upon all the 95Bodies of the Earth, like a stronger Fire in the Alembick, will extract another sort of Parts or Particles, more deeply incorporated, and more difficult to be disintangled; I mean oily Parts, and such undiscover’d Parcels of Fire, as lie fix’d and imprison’d in hard Bodies: These, I imagine, will be in a great measure set afloat, or drawn out into the Air, which will abound with hot and dry Exhalations, more than with Vapours and Moisture in a wet Season; and by this Means, all Elements and elementary Bodies will stand ready, and in a proximate Disposition to be inflamed.

Thus much concerning the last Drought, and the general Effects of it. In the next Place, we must consider the Earthquakes that will precede the Conflagration, and the Consequences of them. I noted before, that the cavernous and broken Construction of the present Earth, was that which made it obnoxious to be destroy’d by Fire; as its former Construction over the Abyss, made it obnoxious to be destroy’d with Water. This Hollowness of the Earth is most sensible in mountainous and hilly Countries, which therefore I look upon as most subject to burning; but the plain Countries may also be made hollow and hilly by Earthquakes, when the Vapours, not finding an easy Vent, raise the Ground, and make a forcible Eruption, as at the springing of a Mine. And tho’ plain Countries are not so subject to Earthquakes as mountainous, because they have not so many Cavities, and subterraneous Vaults, to lodge the Vapours in; yet every Region hath 96more or less of them: And after this Drought, the Vacuities of the Earth being every where enlarg’d, the Quantity of Exhalations much increas’d, and the Motion of them more strong and violent, they will have their Effects in many Places where they never had any before. Yet I do not suppose that this will raise new Ridges of Mountains, like the Alps, or Pyreneans, in those Countries that are now plain, but that they will break and loosen the Ground, make greater Inequalities in the Surface, and greater Cavities within, than what are at present in those Places: and by this means the Fire will creep under them, and find a Passage thorough them, with more Ease than if they were compact, and every where continu’d and unbroken.

But you will say, it may be, How does it appear that there will be more frequent Earthquakes towards the End of the World? If this precedent Drought be admitted, ’tis plain that fiery Exhalation will abound every where within the Earth, and will have a greater Agitation than ordinary; and these being the Causes of Earthquakes, when they are rarified and inflamed, ’tis reasonable to suppose, that in such a State of Nature, they will more frequently happen, than at other Times. Besides, Earthquakes are taken Notice of in Scripture, as Signs and Fore-runners of the last Day, as they usually are of all great Changes and Calamities. The Destruction of Jerusalem was a Type of the Destruction of the World, and the Evangelists always mention Earthquakes amongst 97the ominous Prodigies that were to attend it. But these Earthquakes we are speaking of at present are but the Beginnings of Sorrow, and not to be compar’d with those that will follow afterwards, when Nature is convuls’d in her last Agony, just as the Flames are seizing on her. Of which we shall have Occasion to speak hereafter.

These Changes will happen as to the Matter and Form of the Earth, before it is attack’d by the last Fire: There will be also another Change as to the Situation of it; for that will be rectified, and the Earth restor’d to the Posture it had at first, namely, of a right Aspect, and Conversion to the Sun. But because I cannot determine at what Time this Restitution will be, whether at the Beginning, Middle, or End of the Conflagration, I will not presume to lay any Stress upon it. Plato seems to have imputed the Conflagration to this only; which is so far true, that the Revolution, call’d the Great Year, is this very Revolution, or the Return of the Earth, and the Heavens to their first Posture. But tho’ this may be contemporary with the last Fire, or some way concomitant; yet it does not follow that it is the Cause of it, much less the only Cause. It may be an Occasion of making the Fire reach more easily towards the Poles, when by this Change of Situation their long Nights, and long Winters shall be taken away.

The new Dispositions in our Earth which we expect before that great Day, may be look’d upon as extraordinary, but not as miraculous, 98because they may proceed from natural Causes. But now in the last Place, we are to consider miraculous Causes: What Influence they may have, or what Part they may bear, in this great Revolution of Nature. By miraculous Causes we understand either God’s immediate Omnipotency, or the Ministry of Angels; and what may be perform’d by the latter, is very improperly and undecently thrown upon the former. ’Tis a great Step to Omnipotency: and ’tis hard to define what Miracles, on this side Creation, require an infinite Power. We are sure that the Angels are Ministring Spirits, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand about the Throne of the Almighty, to receive his Commands and execute his Judgments. That perfect Knowledge they have of the Powers of Nature, and of conducting those Powers to the best Advantage, by adjusting Causes in a fit Subordination one to another, makes them capable of performing, not only things far above our Force, but even above our Imagination: Besides, they have a radical inherent Power, belonging to the Excellency of their Nature, of determining the Motions of Matter, within a far greater Sphere than human Souls can pretend to. We can only command our Spirits, and determine their Motions within the Compass of our own Bodies; but their Activity and Empire is of far greater Extent, and the outward World is much more subject to their Dominion than to ours. From these Considerations it is reasonable to conclude, that the generality of Miracles may be, and are perform’d 99by Angels; it being less decorous to employ a sovereign Power, where a subaltern is sufficient; and when we hastily cast Things upon God, for quick Dispatch, we consult our own Ease more than the Honour of our Maker.

I take it for granted here, that what is done by an angelical Hand, is truly providential, and of divine Administration; and also justly bears the Character of a Miracle. Whatsoever may be done by pure material Causes, or human Strength, we account natural; and whatsoever is above these, we call supernatural and miraculous. Now what is supernatural and miraculous, is either the Effect of an angelical Power, or of a sovereign and infinite Power; and we ought not to confound these two, no more than natural and supernatural; for there is a greater Difference betwixt the highest angelical Power and Omnipotency, than betwixt an human Power, and angelical. Therefore, as the first Rule concerning Miracles is this, that we must not fly to Miracles, where Man and Nature are sufficient; so the second Rule is this, that we must not fly to a sovereign infinite Power, where an angelical is sufficient. And the Reason in both Rules is the same, namely, because it argues a Defect of Wisdom in all Oeconomies to employ more and greater Means than are sufficient.

Now to make Application of this to our present Purpose, I think it reasonable, and also sufficient, to admit the Ministry of Angels in the future Conflagration of the World. If Nature will not lay violent Hands upon her 100self, or is not sufficient to work her own Destruction, let us allow Destroying Angels to interest themselves in the Work, as the Executioners of the Divine Justice and Vengeance upon a degenerate World. We have Examples of this so frequently in sacred History, how the Angels have executed God’s Judgments upon a Nation or a People, that it cannot seem new or strange, that in this last Judgment, which by all the Prophets is represented as the Great Day of the Lord, the Day of his Wrath, and of his Fury, the same Angels should bear their Parts, and conclude the last Scene of that Tragedy which they had acted in all along. We read of the Destroying Angel in Ægypt, Gen. xii. 23. of Angels that presided at the Destruction of Sodom, Gen. xix. 13. which was a Type of the future Destruction of the World, (Jude vii.) 2. Thess. i. 7, 8. and of Angels that will accompany our Saviour when he comes in Flames of Fire; not, we suppose, to be Spectators only, but Actors and Superintendants in this great Catastrophe.

This Ministry of Angels may be either in ordering and conducting such natural Causes as we have already given an Account of, or in adding new ones, if Occasion be; I mean, increasing the Quantity of Fire, or of fiery Materials, in and about the Earth; so as that Element shall be more abundant and more predominant, and overbear all Opposition that either Water, or any other Body, can make against it. It is not material whether of these two Suppositions we follow, provided we allow 101that the Conflagration is a Work of Providence, and not a pure natural Fatality. If it be necessary that there should be an Augmentation made of fiery Matter, ’tis not hard to conceive how that may be done, either from the Heavens, or from the Earth, Isa. xxx. 26. The Prophets sometimes speak of multiplying or strengthening the Light of the Sun, and it may as easily be conceiv’d of his Heat as of his Light; as if the Vial that was to be pour’d upon it, Rev. xxvi. 8. and gave it a Power to scorch Men with Fire, had something of a natural Sense as well as moral. But there is another Stream of ethereal Matter that flows from the Heavens, and recruits the Central Fire with continual Supplies; this may be encreas’d and strengthened, and its Effects convey’d throughout the whole Body of the Earth.

But if an Augmentation is to be made of terrestrial Fire, or of such terrestrial Principles as contain it most, as Sulphur, Oyl, and such like, I am apt to believe, these will encrease of their own accord, upon a general Drought and Desiccation of the Earth. For I am far from the Opinion of some Chymists, that think these Principles immutable, and incapable of Diminution or Augmentation. I willingly admit that all such Particles may be broken and disfigur’d, and thereby lose their proper and specifick Virtue, and new ones may be generated to supply the Places of the former: Which Supplies, or new Productions being made in a less, or greater Measure, according to the general Dispositions of Nature; when Nature is heightened into a 102kind of Fever and Ebullition of all her Juices and Humours, as she will be at that Time, we must expect, that more Parts than ordinary, should be made inflammable, and those that are inflam’d should become more violent. Under these Circumstances, when all Causes lean that Way, a little Help from a superior Power will have a great Effect, and make a great Change in the State of the World. And as to the Power of Angels, I am of Opinion, that it is very great as to the Changes and Modifications of natural Bodies; that they can dissolve a Marble as easily as we can crumble Earth and Moulds, or fix any Liquor in a Moment, into a Substance as hard as Crystal: That they can either make Flames more vehement and irresistible to all Sorts of Bodies; or as harmless as lambent Fires, and as soft as Oyl. We see an Instance of this last, in Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery Furnace, Daniel iii. 28. where the three Children walk’d unconcern’d in the midst of the Flames, under the Charge and Protection of an Angel: And the same Angel, if he had pleas’d, could have made the same Furnace seven times hotter than the Wrath of the Tyrant had made it.

We will therefore leave it to their Ministry to manage this great Furnace, when the Heavens and the Earth are on Fire: To conserve, increase, direct, or temper the Flames, according to Instructions given them, as they are to be tutelary or destroying. Neither let any Body think it a Diminution of Providence, to put Things into the Hands of Angels; ’tis the 103true Rule and Method of it: For to imploy an Almighty Power where it is not necessary, is to debase it, and give it a Task fit for lower Beings. Some think it Devotion and Piety to have recourse immediately to the Arm of God to salve all things; this may be done sometimes with a good Intention, but commonly with little Judgment. God is as jealous of the Glory of his Wisdom, as of his Power; and Wisdom consists in the Conduct and Subordination of several Causes, to bring our Purposes to Effect; but what is dispatched by an immediate supreme Power, leaves no room for the Exercise of Wisdom. To conclude this Point, which I have touch’d upon more than once; We must not be partial to any of God’s Attributes, and Providence being a Complexion of many, Power, Wisdom, Justice, and Goodness, when we give due Place and Honour to all these, then we must honour Divine Providence.

Chap. IX

How the Sea will be diminish’d and consum’d. How the Rocks and Mountains will be thrown down and melted, and the whole exterior Frame of the Earth dissolv’d into a Deluge of Fire.

We have now taken a View of the Causes of the Conflagration, both ordinary and extraordinary: It remains to consider the Manner of it; how these Causes will operate, and bring to pass an Effect so great and so prodigious. We took Notice before, that the grand Obstruction would be from the Sea, and from the Mountains; we must therefore take these to Task in the first Place: and if we can remove them out of our Way, or overcome what Resistance and Opposition they are capable to make, the rest of the Work will not be uneasy to us.

The Ocean indeed is a vast Body of Waters; and we must use all our Art and Skill to dry it up, or consume it in a good measure, before we can pass our Design. I remember the Advice a Philosopher gave Amasis King of Ægypt, when he had a Command sent him from the King of Æthiopia, that he should drink up the Sea. Amasis being very anxious and solicitous what Answer he should make to this strange Command, the Philosopher Bias advis’d 105him to make this round Answer to the King, That he was ready to perform his Command, and to drink up the Sea, provided he would stop the Rivers from flowing into his Cup while he was drinking. This Answer baffled the King, for he could not stop the Rivers; but this we must do, or we shall never be able to drink up the Sea, or burn up the Earth.

Neither will this be so impossible as it seems at first Sight, if we reflect upon those Preparations we have made towards it, by a general Drought all over the Earth. This, we suppose, will precede the Conflagration, and by drying up the Fountains and Rivers which daily feed the Sea, will by degrees starve that Monster, or reduce it to such a degree of Weakness, that it shall not be able to make any great Resistance. More than half an Ocean of Water flows into the Sea every Day, from the Rivers of the Earth, if you take them altogether. This I speak upon a moderate Computation. Aristotle says, the Rivers carry more Water into the Sea in the Space of a Year, than would equal in Bulk the whole Globe of the Earth. Nay some have ventur’d to affirm this of one single River, the Volga, that runs into the Caspian Sea. ’Tis a great River indeed, and hath seventy Mouths; and so it had need have, to disgorge a Mass of Water equal to the Body of the Earth, in a Year’s Time. But we need not take such high Measures; there are at least an hundred great Rivers that flow into the Sea from several Parts of the Earth, Islands and Continents, besides several thousands of 106lesser ones; let us suppose these, all together, to pour as much Water into the Sea-Channel every Day, as is equal to half the Ocean: And we shall be easily convinc’d of the Reasonableness of this Supposition, if we do but examine the daily Expence of one River, and by that make an Estimate of the rest. This we find calculated to our Hands in the River Po, in Italy; a River of much what the same Bigness with our Thames, and disburthens it self into the Gulpp of Venice. Baptista Riccioli hath computed how much Water this River discharges in an Hour, viz. 18000000 cubical Paces of Water, and consequently 432000000 in a Day; which is scarce credible to those that do not distinctly compute it. Suppose then an hundred Rivers as great as this, or greater, to fall into the Sea from the Land; besides thousands of lesser, that pay their Tribute at the same Time into the great Receipt of the Ocean: These all taken together, are capable to renew the Sea twice every four and twenty Hours. Which Suppositions being admitted, if by a great and lasting Drought these Rivers were dried up, or the Fountains from whence they flow, what would then become of that vast Ocean, that before was so formidable to us?

’Tis likely, you will say, these great Rivers cannot be dried up, tho’ the little ones may; and therefore we must not suppose such an universal Stop of Waters, or that they will all fail, by any Drought whatsoever. But great Rivers being made up of little ones, if these fail, those must be diminished, if not quit drain’d 107and exhausted. It may be, all Fountains and Springs do not proceed from the same Causes, or the same Original; and some are much more copious than others: For such Differences, we will allow what is due; but still the Dryness of the Air and of the Earth continuing, and all the Sources and Supplies of Moisture, both from above and from below, being lessen’d, or wholly discontinued, a general Decay of all Fountains and Rivers must necessarily follow, and consequently of the Sea, and of its Fulness, that depends upon them; and that’s enough for our present Purpose.

The first Step towards the Consumption of the Ocean, will be the Diminution or Suspension of the Rivers that run into it; the next will be an Evacuation by subterraneous Passages; and the last, by Eruptions of Fires in the very Channel of it, and in the midst of the Waters. As for subterraneous Evacuations, we cannot doubt but that the Sea hath Outlets at the Bottom of it, whereby it discharges that vast Quantity of Water that flows into it every Day; and that could not be discharg’d so fast as it comes from the wide Mouths of the Rivers, by Percolation, or Straining through the Sands. Seas also communicate with one another by these internal Passages; as is manifest from those particular Seas that have no external Outlet, or Issue, though they receive into them many great Rivers, and sometimes the Influx of other Seas. So the Caspian Sea receives not only Volga, which we mentioned before, but several other Rivers, and yet hath no visible Issue for 108its Waters. The Mediterranean Sea, besides all the Rivers it receives, hath a Current flowing into it, at either End, from other Seas; from the Atlantick Ocean at the Streights of Gibraltar, and from the Black Sea above Constantinople; and yet there is no Passage above Ground, or visible Derivation of the Mediterranean Waters out of their Channel; which seeing they do not overfill, nor overflow the Banks, ’tis certain they must have some secret Conveyances into the Bowels of the Earth, or subterraneous Communication with other Seas. Lastly, from the Whirlpools of the Sea, that suck in Bodies that come within their Reach, it seems plainly to appear, by that Attraction and Absorption, that there is a Descent of Waters in those Places.

Wherefore when the Current of the Rivers into the Sea is stopp’d, or in a great Measure diminished; the Sea continuing to empty it self by these subterraneous Passages, and having little or none of those Supplies that it used to have from the Land, it must needs be sensibly lessen’d and both contract its Channel into a narrower Compass, and also have less Depth in the Waters that remain. And in the last Place, we must expect fiery Eruptions in several Parts of the Sea Channel, which will help to suck up, or evaporate the remaining Waters. In the present State of Nature there have been several Instances of such Eruptions of Fire from the Bottom of the Sea; and in that last State of Nature, when all Things are in a Tendency to Inflammation, and when Earthquakes and Eruptions 109will be more frequent every where, we must expect them also more frequently by Sea, as well as by Land. ’Tis true, neither Earthquakes nor Eruptions can happen in the middle of the great Ocean, or in the deepest Abyss, because there are no Cavities, or Mines below it, for the Vapours and Exhalations to lodge in: But it is not so much of the Sea-Chanel that is so deep; and in other Parts, especially in Streights, and near Islands, such Eruptions, like Sea-Vulcano’s, have frequently happened, and new Islands have been made by such fiery Matter thrown up from the Bottom of the Sea. Thus, they say, those Islands in the Mediterranean, call’d the Vulcanian Islands, had their Original, being Matter cast up from the Bottom of the Sea, by the Force of Fire, as new Mountains sometimes are raised upon the Earth. Another Island in the Archipelago had the same Original; whereof Strabo gives an Account, Lib. 1. The Flames, he says, sprung up through the Waters four Days together, so as the whole Sea was hot and burning; and they rais’d by degrees, as with Engines, a Mass of Earth, which made a new Island, twelve Furlongs in Compass. And in the same Archipelago, Flames and Smoke have several times, (particularly in the Year 1650) risen out of the Sea, and fill’d the Air with sulphureous Scents and Vapours. In like manner in the Island of St. Michael, one of the Tercera’s, there have been, of later Years, such Eructations of Fire and Flames, so strong and violent, that, at the Depth of a hundred and sixty Fathoms, they 110forc’d their Way through the midst of the Waters, from the Bottom of the Sea into the open Air, as has been related by those that were Eyewitnesses.

In these three Ways, I conceive, the great Force of the Sea will be broken, and the mighty Ocean reduced to a standing Pool of putrid Waters, without Vent, and without Recruits. But there will still remain, in the midst of the Channel, a great Mass of troubled Liquors, like Dregs in the Bottom of the Vessel; which will not be drunk up, ’till the Earth be all on Fire, and Torrents of melted and sulphureous Matter flow from the Land, and mingle with this dead Sea. But let us now leave the Sea in this humble Posture, and go on to attack the Rocks and Mountains, which stand next in our Way.

See how scornfully they look down upon us, and bid Defiance to all the Elements; they have born the Thunder and Lightning of Heaven, and all the Artillery of the Skies, for innumerable Ages; and do not fear the crackling of Thorns and of Shrubs that burn at their Feet: Let the Towns and Cities of the Earth, say they, be laid in Ashes; let the Woods and Forests blaze away, and the fat Soil of the Earth fry in its own Grease; these Things will not affect us; we can stand naked in the midst of a Sea of Fire, with our Roots as deep as the Foundations of the Earth, and our Heads above the Clouds of the Air. Thus they proudly defy Nature; and it must be confess’d, that these, being, as it were, the Bones of the 111Earth, when the Body is burning, will be the last consum’d; and I am apt to think, if they could keep in the same Posture they stand in now, and preserve themselves from falling, the Fire could never get an entire Power over them. But Mountains are generally hollow, and that makes them subject to a double Casualty; first, of Earthquakes; secondly, of having their Roots eaten away by Water or by Fire; but by Fire especially in this Case; For we suppose there will be innumerable subterraneous Fires smothering under Ground, before the general Fire breaks out; and these by corroding the Bowels of the Earth, will make it more hollow, and more ruinous; and when the Earth is so far dissolv’d, that the Cavities within the Mountains are fill’d with Lakes of Fire, then the Mountains will sink, and fall into those boiling Cauldrons, which in Time will dissolve them, though they were as hard as Adamant.

There is another Engine that will tear the Earth with great Violence, and rend in pieces whatsoever is above or about those Parts of it; and that is the Element of Water, so gentle in it self when undisturb’d: But ’tis found by Experience, that when Water falls into liquid Metals, it flies about with an incredible Impetuosity, and breaks or bears down every Thing that would stop its Motion and Expansion. This Force I take to come from the sudden and strong Rarefaction of its Parts, which make a kind of Explosion, when it is sudden and vehement; and this is one of the greatest Forces we know in Nature: Accordingly I am apt to 112think, that the marvellous Force of Vulcano’s, when they throw out Lumps of Rocks, great Fragments of the Earth, and other heavy Bodies, to such a vast Height and Distance, that it is done by this way of Explosion: And that Explosion made by the sudden Rarefaction of Sea Waters, that fall into Pans or Receptacles of molten Ore and ardent Liquors, within the Cavities of the Mountain; and thereupon follow the Noises, Roarings, and Eruptions of those Places. ’Tis observ’d, that Vulcano’s are in Mountains, and generally, if not always, near the Sea; and when its Waters, by subterraneous Passages, are driven under the Mountain, either by a particular Wind, or by a great Agitation of the Waves, they meet there with Metals and fiery Minerals, dissolv’d; and are immediately, according to our Supposition, rarified, and, by way of Explosion, fly out at the Mouth or Funnel of the Mountain, bearing before them whatsoever stands in their Way. Whether this be a true Account, or no, of the present Vulcano’s and their Eruptions, ’tis manifest, that such Cases as we have mention’d, will happen in the Conflagration of the Earth, and that such Eruptions or Disruptions of the Earth will follow thereupon: and that these will contribute very much to the sinking of Mountains, the splitting of Rocks, and the bringing of all strong Holds of Nature under the Power of the general Fire.

To conclude this Point: The Mountains will all be brought low, in that State of Nature either by Earthquakes, or subterraneous Fires; 113Every Valley shall be exalted, and every Mountain and Hill shall be made low, Isa. xl. 4. Which will be literally true at the second coming of our Saviour, as it was figuratively apply’d to his first coming, Luke iii. 5. Now, being once levell’d with the rest of the Earth, the Question will only be, how they shall be dissolv’d? But there is no terrestrial Body indissolvable to Fire, if it have a due Strength and Continuance; and this last Fire will have both, in the highest degrees; so that it cannot but be capable of dissolving all elementary Compositions, how hard or solid soever they be.

’Tis true, these Mountains and Rocks, as I said before, will have the Privilege to be the last destroy’d. These, with the deep Parts of the Sea, and the polar Regions of the Earth, will undergo a slower Fate, and be consum’d more leisurely. The Action of the last Fire may be distinguish’d into two Times, or two Assaults; the first Assault will carry off all Mankind, and all the Works of the Earth that are easily combustible; and this will be done with a quick and sudden Motion. But the second Assault, being employ’d about the Consumption of such Bodies, or such Materials, as are not so easily subjected to Fire, will be of long Continuance, and the Work of some Years. And ’tis fit it should be so; that this flaming World may be view’d and consider’d by the neighbouring Worlds about it, as a dreadful Spectacle, and Monument of God’s Wrath against disloyal, and disobedient Creatures. That by this Example, now before their Eyes, they may think 114of their own Fate, and what may befal them, as well as another Planet of the same Elements and Composition.

Thus much for the Rocks and Mountains; which, you see, according to our Hypothesis, will be levell’d, and the whole Face of the Earth reduc’d to Plainness and Equality; nay, which is more, melted and dissolv’d into a Sea of liquid Fire. And because this may seem a Paradox, being more than is usually supposed, or taken notice of, in the Doctrine of the Conflagration, it will not be improper, in this Place, to give an Account, wherein our Idea of the Conflagration, and its Effects, differs from the common Opinion, and the usual Representation of it. ’Tis commonly supposed, that the Conflagration of the World is like the burning of a City, where the Walls and Materials of the Houses are not melted down, but scorch’d, inflam’d, demolish’d, and made uninhabitable: So they think in the burning of the World, such Bodies, or such Parts of Nature, as are fit Fewel for the Fire, will be inflam’d, and, it may be, consum’d, or reduc’d to Smoke and Ashes; but other Bodies, that are not capable of Inflammation, will only be scorch’d and defac’d, the Beauty and Furniture of the Earth spoil’d, and by that means, say they, it will be laid waste and become uninhabitable. This seems to me a very short and imperfect Idea of the Conflagration; neither agreeable to Scripture, nor to the Deductions that may be made from Scripture. We therefore suppose that this is but half the Work; this destroying of the outward 115Garniture of the Earth, is but the first Onset, and that the Conflagration will end in a Dissolution and Liquefaction of the Elements and all the exterior Region of the Earth; so as to become a true Deluge of Fire, or a Sea of Fire overspreading the whole Globe of the Earth. This State of the Conflagration, I think, may be plainly prov’d; partly by the Expressions of Scripture concerning it, and partly from the Renovation of the Earth that is to follow upon it. Saint Peter, who is our chief Guide in the Doctrine of the Conflagration, says, 2 Pet. iii. 10, 11. The Elements will be melted with fervent Heat; besides burning up the Works of the Earth. Then adds, Seeing all these Things shall be dissolv’d, &c. These Terms of Liquefaction and Dissolution cannot, without Violence, be restrained to simple Devastation, and superficial Scorching. Such Expressions carry the Work a great deal further, even to that full Sense which we propose. Besides, the Prophets often speak of the melting of the Earth, or of the Hills and Mountains, at the Presence of the Lord, in the Day of his Wrath, Isa. xxxiv. 3, 4. & xliv. 1, 2. Nah. i. 5. Psal. xcvii. 5. And Saint John (Apoc. xv. 2.) tells us of a Sea of Glass, mingled with Fire; where the Saints stood, singing the Song of Moses, and triumphing over their Enemies, the Spiritual Pharaoh and his Host, that were swallowed up in it. The Sea of Glass, must be a Sea of molten Glass; it must be fluid, not solid, if a Sea; neither can a solid Substance be said to be mingled with Fire, as this was. 116And to this answers the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, which the Beast and false Prophet were thrown into alive, Apoc. xix. 20. These all refer to the End of the World, and the last Fire, and also plainly imply, or express rather, that State of Liquefaction which we suppose and assert.

Furthermore, the Renovation of the World, or the New Heaven and New Earth, which St. Peter, out of the Prophets, tells us shall spring out of these that are burnt and dissolved, do suppose this Earth reduc’d into a fluid Chaos, that it may lay a Foundation for a second World. If you take such a Skeleton of an Earth, as your scorching Fire would leave behind it; where the Flesh is torn from the Bones, and the Rocks and Mountains stand naked, and staring upon you; the Sea, half empty, gaping at the Sun, and the Cities all in Ruins, and in Rubbish; how would you raise a new World from this? And a World fit to be an Habitation for the Righteous? For so St. Peter makes that to be, which is to succeed after the Conflagration, 2 Pet. iii. 13. And a World also without a Sea? So St. John describes the new Earth he saw, Apoc. xxi. 1. As these Characters do not agree to the present Earth, so neither would they agree to your future one; for if that dead Lump could revive and become habitable again, it would however retain all the Imperfections of the former Earth, besides some Scars, and Deformities of its own. Wherefore, if you would cast the Earth into a new, and better Mould, you must first melt it down; and the last Fire, being 117as a Refiner’s Fire, will make an Improvement in it, both as to Matter and Form. To conclude, it must be reduc’d into a fluid Mass, in the Nature of a Chaos, as it was at first; but this last will be a fiery Chaos, as that was watery; and from this State it will emerge again into a Paradisaical World. But this being the Subject of the following Book, we will discourse no more of it in this Place.

Chap. X

Concerning the Beginning and Progress of the Conflagration, what Part of the Earth will first be burnt. The Manner of the future Destruction of Rome, according to prophetical Indications. The last State and Consummation of the general Fire.

Having remov’d the chief Obstructions to our Design, and shew’d a Method for weakning the Strength of Nature, by draining the Trench, and beating down those Bulwarks, wherein she seems to place her greatest Confidence: We must now go to Work; making Choice of the weakest Part of Nature for our first Attack, where the Fire may be the easiest admitted, and the best maintain’d, and preserv’d.

And for our better Direction, it will be of Use to consider what we noted before, viz. 118That the Conflagration is not a pure natural Fatality, but a mix’d Fatality; or a divine Judgment supported by natural Causes. And if we can find some Part of the Earth, or of the Christian World, that hath more of these natural Dispositions to Inflammation than the rest; and is also represented by Scripture as a more peculiar Object of God’s Judgments at the coming of our Saviour, we may justly pitch upon that Part of the World, as first to be destroy’d: Nature and Providence conspiring to make that the first Sacrifice to this fiery Vengeance.

Now as to natural Dispositions, in any Country or Region of the Earth, to be set on Fire, they seem to be chiefly these two; Sulphureousness of the Soil, and, an hollow mountainous Construction of the Ground. Where these two Dispositions meet in the same Tract or Territory, (the one as to the Quality of the Matter, and the other as to the Form) it stands like a Pile of fit Materials, ready set to have the Fire put to it. And as to divine Indications where this general Fire will begin, the Scripture points to the Seat of Antichrist, wheresoever that is, for the Beginning of it. The Scripture, I say, points at this two Ways: First, In telling us that our Saviour at his coming in Flames of Fire shall consume the wicked One, the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition, with the Spirit of his Mouth, and shall destroy him with the Brightness of his Presence, 2 Thess. i. 7. chap. ii. 8. Secondly, under the Name of Mystical Babylon; which is allowed by all to be the Seat of Antichrist, and by Scripture always condemn’d 119to the Fire. This we find in plain Words asserted by Saint John, in the xviiith Chapter of his Revelations (Verses 8, 19.) and in the xixth (Verse 3) under the Name of the Great Whore; which is the same City, and the same Seat, according to the Interpretation of Scripture it self, (Ch. xvii, xviii.) And the Prophet Daniel, when he had set the Antient of Days upon his fiery Throne, says, The Body of the Beast was given to the burning Flame, Dan. vii. 9, 10, 11. Which I take to be the same Thing with what St. John says afterwards, (Apoc. xix. 20.) The Beast and the false Prophet, were cast alive into a Lake of Fire, burning with Brimstone. By these Places of Scripture it seems manifest, that Antichrist, and the Seat of Antichrist will be consum’d with Fire, at the coming of our Saviour. And ’tis very reasonable and decorous, that the grand Traytor and Head of the Apostacy, should be made the first Example of the divine Vengeance.

Thus much being allow’d from Scripture, let us now return to Nature again; to seek out that Part of the Christian World, that from its own Constitution is most subject to burning; by the Sulphureousness of its Soil, and its fiery Mountains and Caverns. This we shall easily find to be the Roman Territory, or the Country of Italy: Which, by all Accounts, antient and modern, is a Store-house of Fire; as if it was condemn’d to that Fate by God and Nature, and to be an Incendiary, as it were, to the rest of the World. And seeing Mystical Babylon, the Seat of Antichrist, is the same Rome, 120and its Territory, as it is understood by most Interpreters of former, and latter Ages; you see both our Lines meet in this Point; and, that there is Fairness, on both Hands, to conclude, that at the glorious Appearance of our Saviour, the Conflagration will begin at the City of Rome, and the Roman Territory.

Nature hath sav’d us the Pains of kindling a Fire in those Parts of the Earth; for, since the Memory of Man, there have always been subterraneous Fires in Italy. And the Romans did not preserve their Vestal Fire with more Constancy, than Nature hath done her fiery Mountains in some Part or other of that Territory. Let us then suppose, when the fatal Time draws near, all these burning Mountains to be fill’d and replenish’d with fit Materials for such a Design; and when our Saviour appears in the Clouds, with an Host of Angels, that they all begin to play, as Fireworks, at the triumphal Entry of a Prince. Let Vesuvius, Ætna, Strongyle, and all the Vulcanian Islands, break out into Flames; and by the Earthquakes, which then will rage, let us suppose new Eruptions, or new Mountains open’d in the Apennines, and near to Rome; and to vomit out Fire in the same Manner as the old Vulcano’s. Then let the sulphureous Ground take Fire; and seeing the Soil of that Country, in several Places, is so full of Brimstone, that the Steams and Smoke of it visibly rise out of the Earth; we may reasonably suppose, that it will burn openly, and be inflam’d, at that Time. Lastly, the Lightenings of the Air, and the 121flaming Streams of the melting Skies, will mingle and join with these Burnings of the Earth; and these three Causes meeting together, as they cannot but make a dreadful Scene, so they will easily destroy and consume whatsoever lies within the Compass of their Fury.

Thus you may suppose the Beginning of the general Fire: And it will be carried on by like Causes, though in lesser Degrees, in other Parts of the Earth: But as to Rome, there is still, in my Opinion, a more dreadful Fate that will attend it; namely, to absorp’d, or swallow’d up, in a Lake of Fire and Brimstone, after the Manner of Sodom and Gomorrah. This, in my Judgment, will be the Fate and final Conclusion of Mystical Babylon, to sink as a great Mill-stone into the Sea, and never to appear more. Hear what the Prophet says, A mighty Angel took up a Stone, like a great Mill stone, and cast it into the Sea, saying, Thus with Violence shall that great City Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all, Apoc. xviii. 21. Simply to be burnt, does not at all answer to this Description of its perishing, by sinking like a Mill-stone into the Sea, and never appearing more, nor of not having its Place ever more found; that is, leaving no Remains or Marks of it. A City that is only burnt, cannot be said to fall like a Mill-stone into the Sea; or, that it can never more be found; for after the Burning of a City, the Ruins stand, and its Place is well known: Wherefore, in both Respects, besides this exterior Burning, there must be 122an Absorption of this Mystical Babylon, the Seat of the Beast, and thereupon a total Disappearance of it. This also agrees with the Suddenness of the Judgment, which is a repeated Character of it, Chap. xviii. 8, 10, 17, 19. Now what kind of Absorption this will be, into what, and in what Manner, we may learn from what Saint John says afterwards, Chap. xix. 20. The Beast and the false Prophet were cast alive into a Lake of Fire and Brimstone. You must not imagine, that they were bound Hand and Foot, and so thrown headlong into this Lake; but they were swallow’d up alive, they and theirs, as Corah and his Company; or, to use a plainer Example, after the manner of Sodom and Gomorrah, which perish’d by Fire, and at the same Time sunk into the Dead Sea, or a Lake of Brimstone.

This was a lively Type of the Fate of Rome, or *Mystical Babylon: *And ’tis fit it should resemble Sodom, as well in its Punishment, as in its Crimes. Neither is it a hard Thing to conceive how such an Absorption may come to pass, that being a Thing so usual in Earthquakes, and Earthquakes being so frequent in that Region. And lastly, That this should be, after the Manner of Sodom, turn’d into a Lake of Fire, will not be at all strange, if we consider, that there will be many subterraneous Lakes of Fire at that Time, when the Bowels of the Earth begin to melt, and the Mountains spew out Streams of liquid Fire. The Ground therefore being hollow and rotten in those Parts, when it comes to be shaken with 123a mighty Earthquake, the Foundations will sink, and the whole Frame fall into an Abyss of Fire below, as a Mill-stone into the Sea. And this will give Occasion to that Cry, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and shall never more be found.

This seems to be a probable Account, according to Scripture and Reason, of the Beginning of the general Fire, and of the particular Fate of Rome. But it may be propos’d here, as an Objection against this Hypothesis, that the Mediterranean Sea, lying all along the Coast of Italy, must needs be a sufficient Guard to that Country against the Invasion of Fire, or at least must needs extinguish it, before it can do much Mischief there, or propagate itself into other Countries. I thought we had in a good measure prevented this Objection before, by shewing how the Ocean would be diminished before the Conflagration, and especially the Arms and Sinus’s of the Ocean; and of these none would be more subject to this Diminution, than the Mediterranean; for, receiving its Supplies from the Ocean and the Black Sea, if these came to sink in their Channels they would not rise so high, as to be capable to flow into the Mediterranean at either End; and these Supplies being cut off, it would soon empty itself so far, partly by Evaporation; and partly by subterraneous Passages, as to shrink from all its Shores, and become only a standing Pool of Water in the Middle of the Channel: Nay, ’tis possible, by Floods of Fire descending from the many 124Vulcano’s upon its Shores, it might itself be converted into a Lake of Fire, and rather help than obstruct the Progress of the Conflagration.

It may indeed be made a Question, Whether this fiery Vengeance upon the Seat of Antichrist will not precede the general Conflagration, at some Distance of Time, as a Fore-runner and Fore-warner to the World, that the rest of the People may have Space to repent; and particularly the Jews, being Spectators of this Tragedy, and of the miraculous Appearance of our Saviour, may see the Hand of God in it, and be convinc’d of the Truth and divine Authority of the Christian Religion: I say, this Supposition would leave Room for these and some other Prophetick Scenes, which we know not well where to place; but seeing The Day of the Lord is represented in Scripture, as one entire Thing, without Interruption or Discontinuation, and that it is to begin with the Destruction of Antichrist, we have Warrant enough to pursue the rest of the Conflagration from this Beginning and Introduction.

Let us then suppose the same Preparations made in the other Parts of the Earth to continue the Fire; for the Conflagration of the World being a Work of Providence, we may be sure such Measures are taken, as will effectually carry it on, when once begun. The Body of the Earth will be loosen’d and broken by Earthquakes, the more solid Parts impregnated with Sulphur, and the Cavities fill’d with 125unctuous Fumes and Exhalations, so as the whole Mass will be but as one great Funeral-Pile, ready built, and wanting nothing but the Hand of a destroying Angel to give it Fire. I will not take upon me to determine which Way this devouring Enemy would steer his Course from Italy, or in what Order he will advance and enter the several Regions of our Continent; that would be an Undertaking as uncertain as useless: But we cannot doubt of his Success, which Way soever he goes; unless where the Channel of the Ocean may chance to stop him: But as to that, we allow, that different Continents may have different Fires: not propagated from one to another, but of distinct Sources and Originals; and so likewise in remote Islands; and therefore no long Passage, or Trajection, will be requir’d from Shore to Shore: And even the Ocean it self will, at length, be as fiery as any Part of the Land; but that, with its Rocks, like Death, will be the last Thing subdued.

As to the animate World, the Fire will over-run it with a swift and rapid Course, and all living Creatures will be suffocated, or consumed, at the first Assault; and at the same Time all the Beauty of the Fields, and the External Decorations of Nature will be defac’d: Then the Cities and the Towns, and all the Works of Man’s Hands, will burn like Stubble before the Wind. These will soon be dispatched; but the great Burthen of the Work still remains; which is, that Liquefaction we mention’d before, or a melting Fire, much more 126strong and vehement than these transient Blazes, which do but sweep the Surface of the Earth: This Liquefaction, I say, we prov’d before out of Scripture, as the last State of the fiery Deluge, Chap. IX. And ’tis this which, at length will make the Sea itself a Lake of Fire and Brimstone; when, instead of Rivers of Waters which used to flow into it from the Land, there come Streams and Rivulets of sulphureous Liquors, and purulent melted Matter, which following the Tract of their natural Gravity, will fall into this great Drain of this Earth; upon which Mixture, the remaining Parts of sweet Water will soon evaporate, and the Salt mingling with the Sulphur, will make a Dead Sea, an Asphaltites, a Lake of Sodom, a Cup of the Dregs of the Wine of the Fierceness of God’s Wrath.

We noted before two remarkable Effects of the burning Mountains, which would contribute to the Conflagration of the World, and gave Instances of both in former Eruptions of Ætna and Vesuvius; one was, of those Balls, or Lumps of Fire, which they throw about in the Time of their Rage; and the other, of those Torrents of liquid Fire, which rowl down their Sides to the next Seas or Valleys. In the first Respect, these Mountains are as so many Batteries, planted, by Providence, in several Parts of the Earth, to fling those fiery Bombs into such Places, or such Cities, as are marked out for Destruction; and, in the second Respect, they are to dry up the Waters, and the Rivers, and the Sea it self, when they fall into its 127Channel, Annal. Sic. dec. 1. l. 2. c. 4. T. Fazellas, a Sicilian, who writ the History of that Island, tells us of such a River of Fire (upon an Eruption of Ætna) near twenty eight Miles long, reaching from the Mountain to Port Longina; and might have been much longer, if it had not been stopt by the Sea. Many such as these, and far greater, we ought in Reason to imagine, when all the Earth begins to melt, and to ripen towards a Dissolution: It will then be full of these sulphureous Juices, as Grapes with Wine; and these will be squeez’d out of the Earth into the Sea, as out of a Wine-press into the Receiver, to fill up that Cup, as we said before, with the Wine of the Fierceness of God’s Wrath.

If we may be allowed to bring prophetical Passages of Scripture to a natural Sense, as doubtless some of those must that respect the End of the World; these Phrases which we have now suggested, of the Wine-press of the Wrath of God, Apoc. xiv. 10, 19. Ch. xvi. 19. Ch. xix. 15. Drinking the Fierceness of his Wine, poured, without Mixture, into the Cup of his Indignation; with Expressions of the like Nature, that occur sometimes in the old Prophets, but especially in the Apocalypse: These, I say, might receive a full and emphatical Explication from this State of Things which now lies before us. I would not exclude any other Explication of less Force, as that of alluding to the bitter Cup, or mixt Potion, that us’d to be given to Malefactors: But that, methinks, is a low Sense, when applied to these Places 128in the Apocalypse. That these Phrases signify God’s remarkable Judgments, all allow; and here they plainly relate to the End of the World, to the last Plagues, and the last of the last Plagues, Chap. xvi. 19. Besides, the Angel that presided over this Judgment, is said to be an Angel that had Power over Fire; and those who are to drink this Potion are said to be tormented with Fire and Brimstone, Chap. xiv. 10. This presiding Angel seems to be our Saviour himself (Chap. xix. 15.) who, when he comes to execute Divine Vengeance upon the Earth, gives his Orders in these Words, Gather the Clusters of the Vine of the Earth, for her Grapes are fully ripe, Ch. xiv. 18, 19. And thereupon the destroying Angel thrust in his Sickle into the Earth, and gather’d the Vine of the Earth, and cast it into the great Wine-press of the Wrath of God. And this made a Potion compounded of several Ingredients, but not diluted with Water; Τὸ κεκερασμένου ἀκράτου, (Ch. xiv. 10.) and was indeed a Potion of Fire and Brimstone, and all burning Materials mixt together. The Similitudes of Scripture are seldom nice and exact, but rather bold, noble and great; and according to the Circumstances which we have observed, this Vineyard seems to be the Earth, and this Vintage the End of the World; the pressing of the Grapes into the Cup or Vessel that receives them, the Distillation of burning Liquors from all Parts of the Earth into the Trough of the Sea; and that Lake of red Fire, the Blood of those Grapes so flowing into it.

129’Tis true, this Judgment of the Vintage and Wine-press, and the Effects of it, seem to aim more especially at some particular Region of the Earth, Chap. xiv. 20. And I am not against that, provided the Substance of the Explication be still retained, and the universal Sea of Fire be that which follows in the next Chapter, under the Name of a Sea of Glass, mingled with Fire, Ch. xvi. 2. This, I think, expresses the highest and complete State of the Conflagration; when the Mountains are fled away, and not only so, but the exterior Region of the Earth quite dissolv’d, like Wax before the Sun: The Channel of the Sea fill’d with a Mass of fluid Fire, and the same Fire overflowing all the Globe, and covering the whole Earth, as the Deluge, or the first Abyss. Then will the triumphal Songs and Hallelujahs be sung for the Victories of the Lamb over all his Enemies, and over Nature it self, Apoc. xv. 3, 4. Great and marvellous are thy Works, Lord God Almighty: Just and true are thy Ways, thou King of Saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name? for thou only art holy: for all Nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy Judgments are made manifest.

Chap. XI

An Account of those extraordinary Phœnomena and Wonders in Nature, that, according to Scripture, will precede the coming of Christ, and the Conflagration of the World.

If we reflect upon the History of burning Mountains, we cannot but observe, that, before their Eruptions, there are usually some Changes in the Earth, or in the Air, in the Sea, or in the Sun it self, as Signs and Forerunners of the ensuing Storm. We may then easily conclude that when the last great Storm is a coming, and all the Vulcano’s of the Earth ready to burst, and the Frame of the World to be dissolv’d, there will be previous Signs, in the Heavens, and on the Earth, to introduce this tragical Fate: Nature cannot come to that Extremity, without some Symptoms of her Illness, nor die silently without Pangs or Complaint. But we are naturally heavy of Belief, as to Futurities, and can scarce fancy any other Scenes, or other State of Nature, than what is present, and continually before our Eyes: We will therefore, to cure our Unbelief, take Scripture for our Guide, and keep within the Limits of its Predictions.

The Scripture plainly tells us of Signs, of Prodigies, that will precede the Coming of our Saviour, and the End of the World: both in 131the Heavens, and on the Earth. The Sun, Moon, and Stars, will be disturb’d in their Motion, or Aspect; the Earth and the Sea will roar and tremble, and the Mountains fall at his Presence. These things both the Prophets and Evangelists have told us; but what we do not understand, we are slow to believe; and therefore those that cannot apprehend how such Changes should come to pass in the natural World, chuse rather to allegorize all these Expressions of Scripture, and to make them signify no more than political Changes of Governments, and Empires, and the great Confusions that will be amongst the People and Princes of the Earth, towards the End of the World. So that darkening of the Sun, shaking of the Earth, and such like Phrases of Scripture, according to these Interpreters, are to be understood only in a moral Sense.

And they think they have a Warrant for this Interpretation, from the prophetick Style of the Old Testament, where the Destruction of Cities, and Empires, and great Princes, is often describ’d by such Figures, taken from the natural World. So much is true indeed as to the Phrase of the old Prophets in some Places; but I take the true Reason and Design of that, to be a typical Adumbration of what was intended should literally come to pass in the great and universal Destruction of the World; whereof these partial Destructions were only Shadows and Prefigurations. But to determine this Case, let us take the known and approved Rule for interpreting Scripture, Not to recede 132from the literal Sense without Necessity, or where the Nature of the Subject will admit of a literal Interpretation. Now, as to those Cases in the Old Testament, History and Matter of Fact do shew, that they did not come to pass literally, therefore must not be so understood; but as for those that concern the End of the World, as they cannot be determin’d in that way, seeing they are yet future; so neither is there any natural Repugnancy or Improbability that they should come literally to pass: On the contrary, from the Intuition of that State of Nature, one would rather conclude the Probability or Necessity of them; that there may, and must be such Disorders in the external World, before the general Dissolution. Besides, if we admit Prodigies in any Case, or providential Indications of God’s Judgments to come there can be no Case suppos’d, wherein it will be more reasonable or proper to admit them, than when they are to be the Messengers of an universal Vengeance and Destruction.

Let us therefore consider what Signs Scripture hath taken notice of, as destin’d to appear at that Time, to publish, as it were, and proclaim the approaching End of the World; and how far they will admit of a natural Explication, according to those Grounds we have already given, in explaining the Causes and Manner of the Conflagration. These Signs are chiefly Earthquakes, and extraordinary Commotions of the Seas. Then the Darkness or bloody Colour of the Sun and Moon; the 133shaking of the Powers of Heaven, the Fulgurations of the Air, and the falling of Stars. As to Earthquakes, we have upon several Occasions shewn, that these will necessarily be multiplied towards the End of the World; when, by an Excess of Drought and Heat, Exhalations will more abound within the Earth; and, from the same Causes, their Inflammation also will be more frequent, than in the ordinary State of Nature. And as all Bodies, when dried, become more porous and full of Vacuities; so the Body of the Earth will be at that Time: And the Mines or Cavities wherein the Fumes and Exhalations lodge, will accordingly be of greater Extent, open into one another, and continued thro’ long Tracts and Regions; by which means, when an Earthquake comes, as the Shock will be more strong and violent, so it may reach to a vast Compass of Ground, and whole Islands or Continents be shaken at once, when these Trains have taken Fire. The Effects also of such Concussions, will not only affect Mankind, but all the Elements, and the Inhabitants of them.

I do not wonder that frequent and great Earthquakes should be made a Sign of an approaching Conflagration; and the highest Expressions of the Prophets concerning the Day of the Lord, may be understood in a literal Sense, if they be finally referr’d to the general Destruction of the World, and not terminated solely upon those particular Countries or People, to whom they are at first directed. Hear 134what Ezekiel says upon this Subject, Chap. xxxviii. 19, 20, 22. For in my Jealousy and in the Fire of my Wrath have I spoken; surely in that Day there shall be a great shaking in the Land of Israel: So that the Fishes of the Sea, and the Fowls of the Heaven, and the Beasts of the Field, and all creeping Things that creep upon the Earth; and all the Men that are upon the Face of the Earth, shall shake at my Presence; and the Mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep Places shall fall, and every Wall shall fall to the Ground.——And I will rain an overflowing Rain, and great Hail-stones, Fire and Brimstone. The Prophet Isaias, (Chap. xxiv. 18, 19, 20.) describes these Judgments in Terms as high, and relating to the natural World; The Windows from on high are open, and the Foundations of the Earth do shake. The Earth is utterly broken down, the Earth is clean dissolved, the Earth is moved exceedingly. The Earth shall reel to and fro like a Drunkard, and shall be removed like a Cottage, and the Transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again.

To restrain all these things to Judea, as their adequate and final Object, is to force both the Words and the Sense. Here are manifest Allusions and Footsteps of the Destruction of the World, and the Dissolution of the Earth; partly as it was in the Deluge, and partly as it will be in its last Ruin, torn, broken, and shatter’d. But most Men have fallen into that Error, to fancy both the Destructions of the World by Water and Fire, quiet, noiseless 135Things; executed without any Ruins or Ruptures in Nature: That the Deluge was but a great Pool of still Waters made by the Rains, and Inundation of the Sea; and the Conflagration will be only a superficial Scorching of the Earth, with a running Fire. These are false Ideas, and unsuitable to Scripture: For as the Deluge is there represented a Disruption of the Abyss, and consequently of the then habitable Earth; so the future Combustion of it, according to the Representations of Scripture, is to be usher’d in and accompanied with all sorts of violent Impressions upon Nature; and the chief Instrument of these Violences will be Earthquakes. These will tear the Body of the Earth, and shake its Foundations; rend the Rocks, and pull down the tall Mountains; sometimes overturn, and sometimes swallow up Towns and Cities; disturb and disorder the Elements, and make a general Confusion in Nature.

Next to Earthquakes, we may consider the Roarings of a troubled Sea. This is another Sign of a dying World. St. Luke, (Chap. xxi. 25, 26, 27.) hath set down a great many of them together: Let us hear his Words: And there shall be Signs in the Sun, and in the Moon, and in the Stars; and upon the Earth Distress of Nations, with Perplexity; the Sea and the Waves roaring. Mens Hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth; for the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a Cloud, with 136Power and great Glory, &c. As some would allegorize these Signs, which we noted before; so others would confine them to the Destruction of Jerusalem. But ’tis plain, by this coming of the Son of Man in the Clouds, and the Redemption of the Faithful, (Verse 28.) and at the same Time the Sound of the last Trumpet, (Matt. xxiv. 31) which all relate to the End of the World, that something further is intended than the Destruction of Jerusalem. And though there were Prodigies at the Destruction of that City and State, yet not of this Force, nor with these Circumstances. ’Tis true, those partial Destructions and Calamities, as we observ’d before, of Babylon, Jerusalem, and the Roman Empire, being Types of an universal and final Destruction of all God’s Enemies, have, in the Pictures of them, some of the same Strokes, to shew they are all from the same Hand, decreed by the same Wisdom, foretold by the same Spirit; and the same Power and Providence that have already wrought the one, will also work the other, in due Time, the former being still Pledges, as well as Prefigurations, of the latter.

Let us then proceed in our Explication of this Sign, the Roaring of the Sea, and the Waves, applying it to the End of the World. I do not look upon this ominous Noise of the Sea, as the Effect of a Tempest, for then it would not strike such a Terror into the Inhabitants of the Earth, nor make them apprehensive of some great Evil coming upon the World, as this will do; what proceeds from visible Causes, and 137such as may happen in a common Course of Nature, does not so much amaze us, nor affright us: Therefore ’tis more likely these Disturbances of the Sea proceed from below, partly by Sympathy and Revulsions from the Land; by Earthquakes there, and exhausting the subterraneous Cavities of Waters, which will draw again from the Seas what Supplies they can; and partly by Earthquakes in the very Sea it self, with Exhalations and fiery Eruptions from the Bottom of it: Things indeed that happen at other Times, more or less; but at this Conjuncture, all Causes conspiring, they will break out with more Violence, and put the whole Body of the Waters into a tumultuary Motion. I do not see any Occasion, at this Time, for high Winds; neither can I think a superficial Agitation of the Waves would answer this Phænomenon; but ’tis rather from Contorsions in the Bowels of the Ocean, which make it roar, as it were, for Pain. Some Causes impelling the Waters one Way, and some another, make intestine Strugglings, and contrary Motions; from whence proceed unusual Noises, and such a troubled State of the Waters, as does not only make the Sea innavigable, but also strikes Terror into all the maritime Inhabitants, that live within the View or Sound of it.

So much for the Earth and Sea. The Face of the Heavens also will be changed in divers Respects; the Sun and the Moon darken’d, or of a bloody or pale Countenance; the celestial Powers shaken, and the Stars unsettled 138in their Orbs. As to the Sun and Moon, their Obscuration or Change of Colour is no more than what happens commonly before the Eruption of a fiery Mountain. Dion Cassius, you see, hath taken notice of it in that Eruption of Ætna which he describes; and others upon the like Occasions in Vesuvius. And ’tis a Thing of easy Explication; for, according as the Atmosphere is more or less clear or turbid, the Luminaries are more or less conspicuous; and, according to the Nature of those Fumes, or Exhalations that swim in the Air, the Face of the Sun is discolour’d sometimes one Way, sometimes another. You see, in an ordinary Experiment, when we look upon one another through the Fumes of Sulphur, we appear pale like so many Ghosts; and in some foggy Days, the Sun hangs in the Firmament as a Lump of Blood: And both the Sun and Moon, at their Rising, when their Light comes to us through the thick Vapours of the Earth, are red and fiery. These are not Changes wrought in the Substance of the Luminaries, but in the Modifications of their Light, as it flows to us: For Colours are but Light in a Sort of Disguise; as it passes through Mediums of different Qualities, it takes different Forms, but the Matter is still the same, and returns to its Simplicity, when it comes again into a pure Air.

Now the Air may be changed and corrupted to a great Degree, tho’ there appear no visible Change to our Eye. This is manifest from infectious Airs, and the Changes of the Air before 139Storms and Rains, which we feel commonly sooner than we see, and some other Creatures perceive much sooner than we do. ’Tis no Wonder then, if, before this mighty Storm, the Dispositions of the Air be quite alter’d; especially if we consider, what we have so often noted before, that there will be a great Abundance of Fumes and Exhalations, thro’ the whole Atmosphere of the Earth, before the last Fire breaks out, whereby the Light of the Sun may be tinctur’d in several Ways: And lastly, it may be so order’d providentially that the Body of the Sun may contract at that Time some Spots, or Maculæ, far greater than usual, and by that means be really darkened, not to us only, but to all the neighbouring Planets: And this will have a proportionable Effect upon the Moon too, for the Diminution of her Light: So that upon all Suppositions, these Phænomena are very intelligible, if not necessary Forerunners of the Conflagration.

The next Sign given us, is, that the Powers of Heaven will be shaken. By the Heavens in this Place is either understood the Planetary Heavens, or that of the fix’d Stars; but this latter being vastly distant from the Earth, cannot be really affected by the Conflagration; nor the Powers of it, that is, its Motion, or the Bodies contained in it, any ways shaken or disorder’d. But, in Appearance, these celestial Bodies may seem to be shaken, and their Motions disorder’d; as in a Tempest by Night, when the Ship is toss’d with contrary and uncertain Motions, the Heavens seem to fluctuate 140over our Heads, and the Stars to reel to and fro, when the Motion is only in our own Vessel: So possibly the uncertain Motions of the Atmosphere, and sometimes of the Earth it self, may so vary the Sight and Aspect of this starry Canopy, that it may seem to shake and tremble.

But if we understand this of the planetary Heavens, they may really be shaken; Providence either ordering some great Changes in the other Planets, previously to the Conflagration of our Planet; as, ’tis probable, there was a great Change in Venus at the Time of our Deluge: Or the great Shakings and Concussions of our Globe at that Time, affecting some of the neighbouring Orbs, or at least that of the Moon, may cause Anomalies and Irregularities in their Motions. But the Sense that I should pitch upon chiefly for explaining this Phrase of Shaking the Powers of Heaven, comprehends, in a good measure, both these Heavens of the fix’d Stars and of the Planets: ’Tis that Change of Situation in the Axis of the Earth, which we have formerly mention’d, whereby the Stars will seem to change their Places, and the whole Universe to take another Posture. This is sufficiently known to those that know the different Consequences of a strait or oblique Posture of the Earth. And as the Heavens and the Earth were, in this Sense, once shaken, before, namely, at the Deluge, when they lost their first Situation; so now they will be shaken again, and thereby return to the Posture they had before that first Concussion. And 141this I take to be the true literal Sense of the Prophet Haggai, repeated by St. Paul, (Ch. ii. 6., and Heb. xii. 26.) Yet once more I shake not the Earth only, but also Heaven.

The last Sign we shall take Notice of, is that of falling Stars. And the Stars shall fall from Heaven, says our Saviour, Matt. xxiv. 29. We are sure, from the Nature of the Thing, that this cannot be understood either of fix’d Stars, or Planets; for if either of these should tumble from the Skies, and reach the Earth, they would break it all in Pieces or swallow it up, as the Sea does a sinking Ship; and at the same Time would put all the inferior Universe into Confusion. It is necessary therefore, by these Stars, to understand either fiery Meteors falling from the Middle Region of the Air, or Comets and Blazing Stars. No doubt, there will be all sorts of fiery Meteors at that Time; and, amongst others, those that are call’d falling Stars; which, tho’ they are not considerable singly, yet if they were multiplied in great Numbers, falling (as the Prophet says, Isa. xxxiv. 4.) as Leafs from the Vine, or Figs from the Fig-tree, they would make an astonishing Sight. But, I think, this Expression does chiefly refer to Comets, which are dead Stars, and may truly be said to fall from Heaven, when they leave their Seats above, and those æthereal Regions wherein they were fix’d, and sink into this lower World; where they wander about with a Blaze in their Tail, or a Flame about their Head, as if they came on purpose to be the Messengers of some fiery Vengeance. If 142Numbers of these blazing Stars should fall into our Heaven together, they would make a dreadful and formidable Appearance; and, I am apt to think, that Providence hath so contriv’d the Periods of their Motion, that there will be an unusual Concourse of them at that Time, within the View of the Earth, to be a Prelude to this last and most tragical Scene of the sublunary World.

I do not know any more in Scripture relating to the last Fire, that, upon the Grounds laid down in this Discourse, may not receive a satisfactory Explication. It reaches beyond the Signs before-mention’d to the highest Expressions of Scripture: as, Lakes of Fire and Brimstone, a molten Sea mingled with Fire, the Liquefaction of Mountains, and of the Earth it self. We need not now look upon these Things as hyperbolical, and poetical Strains, but as barefac’d Prophesies, and Things that will literally come to pass as they are predicted. One thing more will be expected in a just Hypothesis, or Theory of the Conflagration; namely, that it should answer, not only all the Conditions and Characters belonging to the last Fire, but should also make Way, and lay the Foundation of another World to succeed this, or of new Heavens and a new Earth: For St. Peter hath taught this Doctrine of the Renovation of the World, as positively and expresly as that of its Conflagration; and therefore they that so explain the Destruction of the present World, as to leave it afterwards in an eternal Rubbish, without any Hopes of Restoration, do not answer 143the Christian Doctrine concerning it. But as to our Hypothesis, we are willing to stand this farther Trial, and be accountable for the Consequences of the Conflagration, as well as the Antecedents and Manner of it. And we have accordingly, in the following Book, from the Ashes of this, raised a New Earth, which we leave to the Enjoyment of the Readers. In the mean time, to close our Discourse, we will bid farewell to the present World, in a short Review of its last Flames.

Chap. XII

An imperfect Description of the Coming of our Saviour; and of the World on Fire.

Certainly there is nothing in the whole Course of Nature, or of Human Affairs, so great and so extraordinary, as the two last Scenes of them, THE COMING OF OUR SAVIOUR, and the BURNING OF THE WORLD. If we could draw in our Minds the Pictures of these, in true and lively Colours, we should scarce be able to attend to any thing else, or ever divert our Imagination from these two Objects: For what can more affect us, than the greatest Glory that ever was visible upon Earth, and at the same Time the greatest Terror; a God descending at the Head of 144an Army of Angels, and a burning World under his Feet?

These Things are truly above Expression; and not only so, but so different and remote from our ordinary Thoughts and Conceptions, that he that comes nearest to a true Description of them, shall be look’d upon as the most extravagant. ’Tis our Unhappiness to be so much used to little trifling Things in this Life, that when any Thing great is represented to us, it appears fantastical, an Idea made by some contemplative or melancholy Person: I will not venture therefrom, without premising Grounds out of Scripture, to say any thing concerning this glorious Appearance. As to the Burning of the World, I think we have already laid a Foundation sufficient to support the highest Description that can be made of it; but the Coming of our Saviour being wholly out of the way of natural Causes, it is reasonable we should take all Directions we can from Scripture, that we may give a more fitting and just Account of that sacred Pomp.

I need not mention those Places of Scripture that prove the second Coming of our Saviour in general, or his Return again to the Earth at the End of the World, (Matt. xxiv. 30, 31. Acts i. 11. and iii. 20, 21. Apoc. i. 7. Heb. ix. 28.) No Christian can doubt of this, ’tis so often repeated in those sacred Writings; but the Manner and Circumstances of this Coming, or of this Appearance, are the Things we now enquire into. And, in the first Place, we may observe, that the Scripture tells us, our 145Saviour will come in flaming Fire, and with an Host of mighty Angels; so says St. Paul to the Thessalonians, The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with mighty Angels, in flaming Fire, taking Vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the second Place, our Saviour says himself, (Mat. xvi. 27.) The Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father, with his Angels. From which two Places we may learn; First, that the Appearance of our Saviour will be with Flames of Fire. Secondly, with an Host of Angels. Thirdly, in the Glory of his Father: By which Glory of the Father, I think, is understood that Throne of Glory represented by Daniel for the Antient of Days. For our Saviour speaks here to the Jews, and probably in a Way intelligible to them; and the Glory of the Father, which they were most likely to understand, would be either the Glory wherein God appeared at Mount Sinai, upon the giving of the Law, whereof the Apostle speaks largely to the Hebrews; or that which Daniel represents Him in at the Day of Judgment, (Chap. xii. 18, 19, 20, 21.) And this latter being more proper to the Subject of our Saviour’s Discourse, ’tis more likely this Expression refers to it. Give me leave therefore to set down that Description of the Glory of the Father upon his Throne, from the Prophet Daniel, ch. vii. 9. And I beheld ’till the Thrones were set,—and the 146Antient of Days did sit, whose Garment was white as Snow, and the Hair of his Head like the pure Wooll: His Throne was like the fiery Flame, and his Wheels as burning Fire. A fiery Stream issued and came forth from before him, thousand thousands ministred unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. With this Throne of the Glory of the Father, let us, if you please, compare the Throne of the Son of God, as it was seen by St. John in the Apocalypse, Chap. iv. 2, &c. And immediately I was in the Spirit: and behold a Throne was set in Heaven, and one sat on the Throne. And he that sat, was to look upon like a Jasper, and a Sardine Stone: And there was a Rainbow round about the Throne, in Appearance like unto an Emerald. And out of the Throne proceeded Lightnings, and Thunderings, and Voices, &c. and before the Throne was a Sea of Glass like unto Crystal.

In these Representations you have some Beams of the Glory of the Father, and of the Son; which may be partly a Direction to us, in conceiving the Lustre of our Saviour’s Appearance. Let us further observe, if you please, how external Nature will be affected at the Sight of God, or of this approaching Glory. The Scripture often takes Notice of this, and in Terms very high and eloquent. The Psalmist seems to have lov’d that Subject above others; to set out the Greatness of the Day of the Lord, and the Consternation of all Nature, at that Time. He throws about his Thunder and Lightning, makes the Hills to melt like Wax, at the Presence of the Lord, and the very 147Foundations of the Earth to tremble, as you may see in the xviiith Psalm, and the xcviith, and the civth, and several others which are too long to be here inserted. So the Prophet Habakkuk, in his prophetick Prayer, Chap. iii. hath many Ejaculations to the like Purpose. And the Prophet Nahum says, The Mountains quake at him, and the Hills melt, and the Earth is burnt at his Presence: yea, the World, and all that dwell therein.

But more particularly, as to the Face of Nature, just before the coming of our Saviour, that may be best collected from the Signs of his coming, mention’d in the precedent Chapter. Those all meeting together, help to prepare and make ready a Theatre, fit for an angry God to come down upon. The Countenance of the Heavens will be dark and gloomy; and a Veil drawn over the Face of the Sun. The Earth in a Disposition every where to break into open Flames. The Tops of the Mountains smoaking; the Rivers dry, Earthquakes in several Places; the Sea sunk and retir’d into its deepest Channel, and roaring, as against some mighty Storm. These Things will make the Day dead and melancholy; but the Night-Scenes will have more of Horror in them, when the blazing Stars appear, like so many Furies, with their lighted Torches, threatning to set all on Fire. For I do not doubt but the Comets will bear a Part in this Tragedy, and have something extraordinary in them, at that Time; either as to Number, or Bigness, or Nearness to the Earth. Besides, the Air will be full of flaming Meteors, 148of unusual Forms and Magnitudes; Balls of Fire rowling in the Sky, and pointed Lightnings darted against the Earth; mix’d with Claps of Thunder, and unusual Noises from the Clouds. The Moon and the Stars will be confus’d and irregular, both in their Light and Motions; as if the whole Frame of the Heavens was out of Order, and all the Laws of Nature were broken or expir’d.

When all Things are in this languishing or dying Posture, and the Inhabitants of the Earth under the Fears of their last End; the Heavens will open on a sudden, and the Glory of God will appear. A Glory surpassing the Sun in its greatest Radiancy; which, tho’ we cannot describe, we may suppose it will bear some Resemblance, or Proportion, with those Representations that are made in Scripture, of God upon his Throne. This Wonder in the Heavens, whatsoever its Form may be, will presently attract the Eyes of all the Christian World. Nothing can more affect them than an Object so unusual, and so illustrious; and, that (probably) brings along with it their last Destiny, and will put a Period to all human Affairs.

Some of the Antients have thought, that this coming of our Saviour would be in the dead of the Night, and his first glorious Appearance in the midst of Darkness, 2 Pet. iii. 10. God is often describ’d in Scripture as Light, or Fire, with Darkness round about him. He bowed the Heavens, and came down; and Darkness was under his Feet. He made Darkness his 149secret Place, Psal. xviii. 9, 11, 12. His Pavilion round about him were dark Waters, and thick Clouds of the Skies. At the Brightness that was before him, the thick Clouds passed, Psal. xcvii. And when God appeared upon Mount Sinai, the Mountain burnt with Fire unto the midst of Heaven, with Darkness, Clouds and thick Darkness, Deut. iv. 11. Or, as the Apostle expresses it, with Blackness, and Darkness, and Tempest, Heb. xii. 18. Light is never more glorious than when surrounded with Darkness; and, it may be, the Sun, at that Time, will be so obscure, as to make little Distinction of Day and Night. But however, this Divine Light over-bears, and distinguishes itself from common Light, tho’ it be at Mid-day. ’Twas about Noon that the Light shin’d from Heaven, and surrounded St. Paul, Acts xxii. 6. And ’twas in the Day-time that St. Stephen saw the Heavens opened; Acts vii. 55, 56. Saw the Glory of God, and Jesus standing at the Right Hand of God. This Light, which flows from a more vital Source, be it Day or Night, will always be predominant.

That Appearance of God upon Mount Sinai, which we mention’d, if we reflect upon it, will help us a little to form an Idea of this last Appearance. When God had declar’d, that he would come down in the Sight of the People, the Text says, There were Thunders and Lightnings, and a thick Cloud upon the Mount, and the Voice of the Trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the People that was in the Camp trembled. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a 150Smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in Fire. And the Smoke thereof ascended as the Smoke of a Furnace, and the whole Mount quaked greatly. If we look upon this Mount as an Epitome of the Earth, this Appearance gives us an imperfect Resemblance of that which is to come. Here are the several Parts, or main Strokes of it; first, the Heavens and the Earth in Smoke and Fire; then the Appearance of a Divine Glory, and the Sound of a Trumpet in the Presence of Angels. But as the second Coming of our Saviour, is a Triumph over his Enemies, and an Entrance into his Kingdom, and is acted upon the Theatre of the whole Earth; so we are to suppose, in proportion, all the Parts and Circumstances of it, more great and magnificent.

When, therefore, this mighty God returns again to that Earth, where he had once been ill treated, not Mount Sinai only, but all the Mountains of the Earth, and all the Inhabitants of the World, will tremble at his Presence. At the the opening of the Heavens, the Brightness of his Person will scatter the dark Clouds, and shoot Streams of Light throughout all the Air. But that first Appearance, being far from the Earth, will seem to be only a great Mass of Light, without any distinct Form; till, by nearer Approaches, this bright Body shews it self to be an Army of Angels, with this King of Kings for their Leader. Then you may imagine how guilty Mankind will tremble and be astonished; and while they are gazing at this heavenly Host, 151the Voice of the Archangel is heard, the shrill Sound of the Trumpet reaches their Ears, and this gives the general Alarum to all the World: For he cometh, for he cometh, they cry, to judge the Earth. The crucify’d God is return’d in Glory, to take Vengeance upon his Enemies: Not only upon those that pierced his sacred Body, with Nails, and with a Spear, as Jerusalem; but those that also pierce him every Day by their Profaneness, and hard Speeches, concerning his Person, and his Religion. Now they see that God, whom they have mock’d, or blasphem’d, laugh’d at his Meanness, or at his vain Threats; they see Him, and are confounded with Shame and Fear; and in the Bitterness of their Anguish and Despair, call for the Mountains to fall upon them, Isa. ii. 29. Fly into the Clefts of the Rocks, and into the Caves of the Earth, for fear of the Lord, Rev. vi. 16, 17. and the Glory of His Majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the Earth.

As it is not possible for us to express, or conceive the Dread, and Majesty of this Appearance; so neither can we, on the other Hand, express the Passions and Consternation of the People that behold it. These Things exceed the Measures of Human Affairs, and of Human Thoughts; we have neither Words, nor Comparisons, to make them known by. The greatest Pomp and Magnificence of the Emperors of the East, in their Armies, in their Triumphs, in their Inaugurations, is but like the Sport and Entertainment of Children, if compar’d with this Solemnity. When God condescends 152to an external Glory, with a visible Train and Equipage; when, from all the Provinces of his vast and boundless Empire, he summons his Nobles, as I may so say, the several Orders of Angels, and Archangels, to attend his Person; tho’ we cannot tell the Form or Manner of this Appearance, we know there is nothing in our Experience, or in the whole History of this World, that can be a just Representation of the least Part of it. No Armies so numerous as the Host of Heaven; and in the midst of those bright Legions, in a flaming Chariot, will sit the Son of Man, when he comes to be glorified in his Saints, and triumph over his Enemies: And instead of the wild Noises of the Rabble, which makes a great Part of our Worldly State, this blessed Company will breathe their Hallelujahs into the open Air, and repeated Acclamations of Salvation to God, which sits upon the Throne, and to the Lamb, Apoc. vii. 10. Now is come Salvation and Strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the Power of his Christ, ch. xii. 10.

But I leave the rest to our silent Devotion and Admiration. Only give me leave, whilst this Object is before our Eyes, to make a short Reflection upon the wonderful History of our Saviour; and the different States which that sacred Person, within the Compass of our Knowledge, hath undergone. We now see him coming in the Clouds, in Glory and Triumph, surrounded with innumerable Angels: This is the same Person, who, so many Hundred Years ago, enter’d Jerusalem, with another 153sort of Equipage, mounted upon an Ass’s Colt, while the little People, and the Multitude cry’d, Hosanna to the Son of David. Nay, this is the same Person, that, at his first Coming into this World, was laid in a Manger, instead of a Cradle; a naked Babe dropt in a Crib at Bethlehem (Luke ii. 12.) his poor Mother not having wherewithal to get her a better Lodging, when she was to be delivered of this sacred Burthen. This helpless Infant, that often wanted a little Milk to refresh it, and support its Weakness; that hath often cry’d for the Breast with Hunger and Tears, now appears to be the Lord of Heaven and Earth. If this Divine Person had fallen from the Clouds in a Mortal Body, cloath’d with Flesh and Blood, and spent his Life here amongst Sinners, that alone had been an infinite Condescension: But, as if it had not been enough to take upon him human Nature, he was content, for many Months, to live the Life of an Animal, or of a Plant, in the dark Cell of a Woman’s Womb. This is the Lord’s Doing, it is marvellous in our Eyes!

Neither is this all that is wonderful in the Story of our Saviour. If the Manner of his Death, be compar’d with his present Glory, we shall think either the one or the other incredible. Look up first into the Heavens; see how they bow under him, and receive a new Light from the Glory of his Presence; then look down upon the Earth, and see a naked Body, hanging upon a cursed Tree in Golgotha, crucified between two Thieves, wounded, 154spit upon, mock’d, abus’d. Is it possible to believe, that one, and the same Person can act or suffer such different Parts? That he that is now Lord and Master of all Nature, not only of Death and Hell, and the Powers of Darkness, but of all Principalities in heavenly Places, is the same Infant Jesus, the same crucified Jesus, of whose Life and Death the Christian Records give us an Account? The History of this Person is the Wonder of this World; and not of this World only, but of the Angels above, that desire to look into it (1 Pet. i. 11, 12.)

Let us now return to our Subject. We left the Earth in a languishing Condition, ready to be made a Burnt Offering, to appease the Wrath of its offended Lord. When Sodom was to be destroy’d (Gen. xviii.) Abraham interceded with God, that he would spare it for the Righteous Sake; and David (2 Sam. xxiv. 17.) interceded to save his guiltless People, from God’s Judgments, and the destroying Angel: But here is no Intercessor for Mankind in this last Extremity; none to interpose, where the Mediator of our Peace, is the Party offended. Shall then, the Righteous perish with the Wicked? Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right? Or, if the Righteous be translated and deliver’d from this Fire, what shall become of innocent Children and Infants? Must these all be given up to the merciless Flames, as a Sacrifice to Moloch? And their tender Flesh, like burnt Incense, send up Fumes to feed the Nostrils of Evil Spirits? Can the God of 155Israel smell a sweet Savour from such Sacrifices? The greater half of Mankind is made up of Infants and Children; and if the Wicked be destroy’d; yet these Lambs, what have they done? Are there no Bowels of Compassion for such an harmless Multitude? But we leave them to their Guardian Angels, and to that Providence which watches over all Things (Mat. xviii. 10.)

It only remains, therefore, to let fall that Fire from Heaven, which is to consume this Holocaust. Imagine all Nature now standing in a silent Expectation to receive its last Doom; the tutelary and destroying Angels to have their Instructions; every Thing to be ready for the fatal Hour; and then, after a little Silence, all the Host of Heaven to raise their Voice, and sing aloud, LET GOD ARISE, let his Enemies be scattered: As Smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as Wax melteth before the Fire, so LET the Wicked perish at the Presence of God. And upon this, as upon a Signal given, all the sublunary World breaks into Flames, and all the Treasuries or Fire are open’d in Heaven, and in Earth.

Thus the Conflagration begins. If one should now go about to represent the World on Fire, with all the Confusions that necessarily must be in Nature, and in Mankind upon that Occasion, it would seem to most Men a Romantick Scene: Yet we are sure there must be such a Scene; The Heavens will pass away with a Noise, and the Elements will melt with fervent Heat, and all the Works of the Earth 156will be burnt up: And these Things cannot come to pass without the greatest Disorders imaginable, both in the Minds of Men, and in external Nature, and the saddest Spectacles that Eye can behold. We think it a great Matter to see a single Person burnt alive; here are Millions shrieking in the Flames at once. ’Tis frightful to us to look upon a great City in Flames, and to see the Distractions and Misery of the People; here is an universal Fire through all the Cities of the Earth, and an universal Massacre of their Inhabitants. Whatsoever the Prophets foretold of the Desolations of Judea, Jerusalem, or Babylon (Isa. xxiv. Jer. li. Lament.) in the highest Strains, is more than literally accomplish’d in this last and general Calamity; and those only that are Spectators of it, can make its History.

The Disorders in Nature, and the inanimate World, will be no less, nor less strange and unaccountable, than those in Mankind. Every Element, and every Region, so far as the Bounds of this Fire extend, will be in a Tumult and a Fury, and the whole habitable World running into Confusion. A World is sooner destroyed than made; and Nature relapses hastily into that Chaos-State, out of which she came by slow and leisurely Motions: As an Army advances into the Field by just and regular Marches; but when it is broken and routed, it flies with Precipitation, and one cannot describe its Posture. Fire is a barbarous Enemy, it gives no Mercy; there is nothing but Fury, and Rage, and Ruin, and Destruction, wheresoever 157it prevails. A Storm, or Hurricano, tho’ it be but the Force of Air, makes a strange Havock where it comes; but devouring Flames, or Exhalations set on Fire, have still a far greater Violence, and carry more Terror along with them. Thunder and Earthquakes are the Sons of Fire; and we know nothing in all Nature more impetuous, or more irresistibly destructive than these two. And accordingly in this last War of the Elements, we may be sure, they will bear their Parts, and do great Execution in the several Regions of the World. Earthquakes and subterraneous Eruptions will tear the Body and Bowels of the Earth; and Thunders and convulsive Motions of the Air rend the Skies. The Waters of the Sea will boil and struggle with Streams of Sulphur that run into them; which will make them fume, and smoke, and roar, beyond all Storms and Tempests; and these Noises of the Sea will be answer’d again from the Land, by falling Rocks and Mountains. This is a small Part of the Disorders of that Day.

But ’tis not possible, from any Station, to have a full Prospect of this last Scene of the Earth; for ’tis a Mixture of Fire and Darkness. This new Temple is fill’d with Smoke, while it is consecrating, and none can enter into it. But I am apt to think, if we could look down upon this burning World from above the Clouds, and have a full View of it, in all its Parts, we should think it a lively Representation of Hell it self. For Fire and Darkness are the two chief Things by which that State, or that Place, uses to be described; 158and they are both here mingled together, with all other Ingredients that make that Tophet that is prepared of old, (Isa. xxx.) Here are Lakes of Fire and Brimstone; Rivers of melted glowing Matter; ten thousand Vulcano’s vomiting Flames all at once; thick Darkness, and Pillars of Smoke twisted about with Wreaths of Flame, like fiery Snakes; Mountains of Earth thrown up into the Air, and the Heavens dropping down in Lumps of Fire. These Things will all be literally true, concerning that Day, and that State of the Earth. And if we suppose Beelzebub, and his apostate Crew, in the midst of this fiery Furnace (and I know not where they can be else;) it will be hard to find any Part of the Universe, or any State of Things, that answers to so many of the Properties and Characters of Hell, as this which is now before us.

But if we suppose the Storm over, and that the Fire hath got an entire Victory over all other Bodies, and subdued every Thing to itself; the Conflagration will end in a Deluge of Fire, or in a Sea of Fire, covering the whole Globe of the Earth: For, when the exterior Region of the Earth is melted into a Fluor, like molten Glass, or running Metal, it will, according to the Nature of other Fluids, fill all Vacuities and Depressions, and fall into a regular Surface, at an equal Distance every where, from its Center. This Sea of Fire, like the first Abyss, will cover the Face of the whole Earth, make a kind of second Chaos, and leave a Capacity for another World to rise 159from it. But that is not our present Business. Let us only, if you please, to take Leave of this Subject, reflect, upon this Occasion, on the Vanity and transient Glory of all this habitable World; how, by the Force of one Element breaking loose upon the rest, all the Varieties of Nature, all the Works of Art, all the Labours of Men, are reduc’d to nothing; all that we admir’d and ador’d before, as great and magnificent, is obliterated or vanish’d; and another Form and Face of Things, plain, simple, and every where the same, overspreads the whole Earth. Where are now the great Empires of the World, and their great Imperial Cities? Their Pillars, Trophies, and Monuments of Glory? Shew me where they stood, read the Inscription, tell me the Victor’s Name. What Remains, what Impressions, what Difference or Distinction do you see in this Mass of Fire? Rome itself, eternal Rome, the great City, the Empress of the World, whole Domination and Superstition, antient and modern, make a great Part of the History of this Earth; what is become of her now? She laid her Foundations deep, and her Palaces were strong and sumptuous: She glorified herself, and liv’d deliciously; and said in her Heart, I sit a Queen, and shall see no Sorrow. But her Hour is come, she is wip’d away from the Face of the Earth, and buried in perpetual Oblivion. But ’tis not Cities only, and Works of Mens Hands, but the everlasting Hills, the Mountains and Rocks of the Earth, are melted as Wax before the Sun; and their Place is no where found. Here stood 160the Alps, a prodigious Range of Stone, the Load of the Earth, that covered many Countries, and reach’d their Arms from the Ocean to the Black Sea; this huge Mass of Stone is soften’d and dissolv’d, as a tender Cloud, into Rain. Here stood the African Mountains, and Atlas with his Top above the Clouds. There was frozen Caucasus, and Taurus, and Imaus, and the Mountains of Asia. And yonder, towards the North, stood the Riphæan Hills, cloath’d in Ice and Snow. All these are vanish’d, dropt away as the Snow upon their Heads, and swallow’d up in a red Sea of Fire, (Revel. xv. 3.) Great and marvellous are thy Works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy Ways, thou King of Saints. Hallelujah.

The CONCLUSION.

If the Conflagration of the World be a Reality, as, both by Scripture and Antiquity we are assur’d it is; if we be fully persuaded and convinc’d of this; ’Tis a Thing of that Nature, that we cannot keep it long in our Thoughts, without making some moral Reflections upon it. ’Tis both great in itself, and of universal Concern to all Mankind. Who can look upon such an Object, a World in Flames, without thinking with himself, Whether shall I be in the midst of these Flames, or no? What is my Security that I shall not 161fall under this fiery Vengeance, which is the Wrath of an angry God? St. Peter, when he had delivered the Doctrine of the Conflagration, makes this pious Reflection upon it: 2 Ep. iii. 11. Seeing then, that all these Things shall be dissolved, what manner of Persons ought you to be, in all holy Conversation and Godliness? The Strength of his Argument depends chiefly upon what he had said before in ver. 7. where he told us, that the present Heavens and Earth were reserved unto Fire against the Day of Judgment, and the Perdition of irreligious Men. We must avoid the Crime then, if we would escape the Punishment. But this Expression of irreligious or ungodly Men, is still very general. St. Paul, when he speaks of this fiery Indignation, and the Persons it is to fall upon, is more distinct in their Characters. He seems to mark out for this Destruction, three Sorts of Men chiefly; The Atheists, Infidels, and the Tribe of Antichrist: These are his Words, 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven, with his mighty Angels, in flaming Fire, taking Vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then as for Antichrist and his Adherents, he says in the 2d Chapter, and viiith Verse, The Lord shall consume that wicked One, with the Spirit of his Mouth, and shall destroy him with the Brightness of his Coming, or of his Presence. These, you see, all refer to the same Time with St. Peter: Namely, to the Coming of our Saviour, at the Conflagration; and three Sorts of Persons are 162characteriz’d as his Enemies, and set out for Destruction at that Time. First, Those that know not God; that is, that acknowledge not God, that will not own the Deity. Secondly, Those that hearken not to the Gospel; that is, that reject the Gospel, and Christian Religion, when they are preach’d and made known to them: For you must not think, that it is the poor barbarous and ignorant Heathens, that scarce ever heard of God, or the Gospel, that are threatned with this fiery Vengeance; no, ’tis the Heathens that live amongst Christians; those that are Infidels, as to the Existence of God, or the Truth of Christian Religion, tho they have had a full Manifestation of both: These are properly the Adversaries of God and Christ. And such Adversaries, St. Paul says in another Place, A fearful Judgment, and fiery Indignation shall devour: (Heb. x. 27.) Which still refers to the same Time, and the same Persons we are speaking of. Then as to the third Sort of Men, Antichrist, and his Followers; besides, this Text of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, ’tis plain to me in the Apocalypse, that Mystical Babylon is to be consum’d by Fire; and the Beast and False Prophet, to be thrown into the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone. Which Lake is no where to be found till the Conflagration.

You see then, for whom Tophet is prepar’d of Old; for Atheists, Infidels, and Antichristian Persecutors: And they will have for their Companions, the Devil and his Angels, the Heads of the Apostasy. These are all in open 163Rebellion against God and Christ, and at Defiance, as it were, with Heaven; excepting Antichrist, who is rather in a secret Conspiracy, than an open Rebellion: For, under a pretended Commission from Jesus Christ, he persecutes his Servants, dishonours his Person, corrupts his Laws and his Government, and makes War against his Saints. And this is a greater Affront and Provocation, if possible, than a barefac’d Opposition would be.

There are other Men, besides these, that are unacceptable to God, all Sorts of Sinners and wicked Persons; but they are not so properly the Enemies of God, as these we have mentioned. An intemperate Man is an Enemy to himself; and an unjust Man is an Enemy to his Neighbour; but those that deny God, or Christ, or persecute their Servants, are directly, and immediately Enemies to God: And, therefore, when the Lord comes in Flames of Fire, to triumph over his Enemies, to take Vengeance upon all that are Rebels or Conspirators against Him, and his Christ; these Monsters of Men will be the first, and most exemplary Objects of the Divine Wrath and Indignation.

To undertake to speak to these three Orders of Men, and convince them of their Error, and the Danger of it, would be too much for the Conclusion of a short Treatise. And as for the third Sort, the Subjects of Antichrist, none but the Learned amongst them are allow’d to be inquisitive, or to read such Things as condemn their Church, or the Governors 164of it; therefore, I do not not expect that this English Translation should fall into many of their Hands. But those of them, that are pleas’d to look into the Latin, will find, in the Conclusion of it, a full and fair Warning to come out of Babylon; which is there proved to be the Church of Rome. Then as to those that are Atheistically inclin’d, which I am willing to believe are not many; I desire them to consider, how mean a Thing it is, to have Hopes only in this Life; and how uneasy a Thing, to have nothing but Fears, as to the Future. Those, sure, must be little, narrow Souls, that can make themselves a Portion, and a Sufficiency, out of what they enjoy here; that think of no more; that desire no more: For, what is this Life, but a Circulation of little, mean Actions? We lie down and rise again; dress and undress; feed and wax hungry; work, or play, and are weary; and then we lie down again, and the Circle returns. We spend the Day in Trifles, and when the Night comes, we throw our selves into the Bed of Folly, among Dreams, and broken Thoughts, and wild Imaginations. Our Reason lies asleep by us; and we are, for the Time, as arrant Brutes, as those that sleep in the Stalls, or in the Field. Are not the Capacities of Man higher than these? And ought not his Ambition and Expectations to be greater? Let us be Adventurers for another World; ’tis, at least, a fair and noble Chance; and there is nothing in this, worth our Thoughts, or our Passions. If we should be disappointed, we are still no worse than the rest of our Fellow-Mortals; 165and if we succeed in our Expectations, we are eternally happy.

For my Part, I cannot be persuaded, that any Man, of atheistical Inclinations, can have a great and generous Soul; for there is nothing great in the World, if you take God out of it: Therefore, such a Person can have no great Thought, can have no great Aims, or Expectations, or Designs: For all must lie within the Compass of this Life, and of this dull Body. Neither can he have any great Instincts or noble Passions; for if he had, they would naturally excite in him greater Ideas, inspire him with higher Notions, and open the Scenes of the intellectual World. Lastly, he cannot have any great Sense of Order, Wisdom, Goodness, Providence, or any of the divine Perfections: And these are the greatest Things that can enter into the Thoughts of Man, and that do most enlarge and ennoble his Mind. And therefore I say again, that he that is naturally inclined to Atheism, being also naturally destitute of all these, must have a little and narrow Soul.

But you’ll say, it may be, this is to expostulate, rather than to prove: or to upbraid us with our Make and Temper, rather than to convince us of an Error in Speculation. ’Tis an Error, it may be, in Practice, or in Point of Prudence; but we seek Truth, whether it make for us, or against us: Convince us therefore by just Reasoning and direct Arguments, that there is a God, and then we’ll endeavour to correct these Defects in our natural Complexion. 166You say well, and therefore I have endeavour’d to do this before, in another Part of this Theory, in the Second Book, ch. II. concerning the Author of Nature: Where you may see, that the Powers of Nature, or of the material World, cannot answer all the Phænomena of the Universe, which are there represented. This you may consult at Leisure: But in the mean Time, ’tis a good Persuasive why we should not easily give our selves up to such Inclinations or Opinions, as have neither Generosity nor Prudence on their Side. And it cannot be amiss, that these Persons should often take into their Thoughts this last Scene of Things, the Conflagration of the World: Seeing if there be a God, they will certainly be found in the Number of his Enemies, and of those that will have their Portion in the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone.

The third Sort of Persons that we are to speak to, are the Incredulous, or such as do not believe the Truth of Christian Religion, though they believe there is a God. There are commonly Men of Wit and Pleasure, that have not Patience enough to consider, cooly and in due Order, the Grounds upon which it appears that Christian Religion is from Heaven, and of divine Authority. They ought, in the first Place, to examine Matter of Fact, and the History of our Saviour: That there was such a Person, in the Reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, that wrought such and such Miracles in Judea; taught such a Doctrine; was crucified 167at Jerusalem; rose from the Dead the third Day, and visibly ascended into Heaven. If these Matters of Fact be denied, then the Controversy turns only to an historical Question, Whether the Evangelical History be a fabulous, or true History? which it would not be proper to examine in this Place. But if Matter of Fact recorded there, and in the Acts of the Apostles, and the first Ages of Christianity, be acknowledged, as I suppose it is, then the Question that remains is this, Whether such Matter of Fact does not sufficiently prove the divine Authority of Jesus Christ and of his Doctrine? We suppose it possible, for a Person to have such Testimonials of divine Authority, as may be sufficient to convince Mankind, or the more reasonable Part of Mankind; and if that be possible, what, pray, is wanting in the Testimonies of Jesus Christ? The Prophecies of the old Testament bear Witness to him: His Birth was a Miracle, and his Life a Train of Miracles; not wrought out of Levity and vain Ostentation, but for useful and charitable Purposes: His Doctrine and Morality not only blameless, but noble; designed to remove out of the World the imperfect Religion of the Jews, and the false Religion of the Gentiles; all Idolatry and Superstition, and thereby improve Mankind, under a better and more perfect Dispensation. He gave an Example of a spotless Innocency in all his Conversation, free from Vice or any Evil; and liv’d in a Neglect of all the Pomp or Pleasures of this Life, referring 168his Happiness wholly to another World. He prophesied concerning his own Death, and his Resurrection; and concerning the Destruction of Jerusalem; which all came to pass in a signal Manner: He also prophesied of the Success of his Gospel; which, after his Death, immediately took Root, and spread itself every Way throughout the World, maugre all Opposition or Persecution from Jews or Heathens. It was not supported by any temporal Power for above three hundred Years: nor were any Arts used, or Measures taken, according to human Prudence, for the Conservation of it. But, to omit other Things, that grand Article of his rising from the Dead, ascending visibly into Heaven, and pouring down the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost, (according as he had promis’d) upon his Apostles and their Followers; this alone is to me a Demonstration of his divine Authority. To conquer Death, to mount, like an Eagle, into the Skies, and to inspire his Followers with inimitable Gifts and Faculties, are Things, without Controversy, beyond all human Power; and may and ought to be esteem’d sure Credentials of a Person sent from Heaven.

From these Matters of Fact we have all possible Assurance, that Jesus Christ was no Impostor or deluded Person; (one of which two Characters all Unbelievers must fix upon him) but commission’d by Heaven to introduce a new Religion; to reform the World, to remove Judaism and Idolatry; the beloved Son of God, the great Prophet of the later Ages, the true Messiah that was to come.

169It may be, you will confess, that these are great Arguments, that the Author of our Religion was a divine Person, and had supernatural Powers: But withal, that there are so many Difficulties in Christian Religion, and so many Things unintelligible, that a rational Man knows not how to believe it, though he be inclined to admire the Person of Jesus Christ. I answer, if they be such Difficulties as are made only by the Schools and disputacious Doctors, you are not to trouble your self about them, for they are of no Authority: But if they be in the very Words of Scripture, then ’tis either in Things practical, or in Things merely speculative. As to the Rules of Practice in Christian Religion, I do not know any Thing in Scripture obscure or unintelligible; and as to Speculations, great Discretion and Moderation is to be used in the Conduct of them. If these Matters of Fact, which we have alledged, prove the Divinity of the Revelation, keep close to the Words of that Revelation, asserting no more than it asserts, and you cannot err: But if you will expatiate, and determine Modes, and Forms, and Consequences, you may easily be puzled by your own Forwardness. For besides some Things that are in their own Nature infinite and incomprehensible, there are many other Things in Christian Religion, that are incompleatly revealed; the full Knowledge whereof, it has pleased God to reserve to another Life, and to give us only a summary Account of them at present. We have so much Deference for any Government, as not to 170expect that all their Counsels and Secrets should be made known to us, nor to censure every Action, whose Reasons we do not fully comprehend; much more in the providential Administration of a World, we must be content to know so much of the Counsels of Heaven and of supernatural Truths, as God has thought fit to reveal to us. And if these Truths be no otherwise than in a general Manner, summarily and incompletely revealed in this Life, as commonly they are, we must not therefore throw off the Government, or reject the whole Dispensation; of whose divine Authority we have otherways full Proof, and satisfactory Evidence: For this would be, to lose the Substance in catching at a Shadow.

But Men that live continually in the Noise of the World, amidst Business, and Pleasures, their Time is commonly shar’d betwixt those two, so that little or nothing is left for Meditation; at least, not enough for such Meditations as require Length, Justness, and Order. They should retire from the Crowd for one Month or two, to study the Truth of Christian Religion, if they have any Doubt of it. They retire sometimes to cure a Gout, or other Disease, and diet themselves according to Rule; but they will not be at that Pains, to cure a Disease of the Mind, which is of far greater, and more fatal Consequence. If they perish by their own Negligence or Obstinacy, the Physician is not to blame. Burning is the last Remedy in some Distempers; and they would do well to remember, that the World will flame about their Heads one of these Days; and whether they 171be amongst the Living, or amongst the Dead, at that Time, the Apostle makes them a Part of the Fewel, which that fiery Vengeance will prey upon. Our Saviour hath been true to his Word hitherto; whether in his Promises, or in his Threatnings. He promis’d the Apostles to send down the Holy Ghost upon them after his Ascension, and that was fully accomplish’d: He foretold, and threaten’d the Destruction of Jerusalem; and that came to pass accordingly, soon after he had left the World: And he hath told us also, that he will come again in the Clouds of Heaven, Matt. xxiv. 30. with Power and great Glory; and, xxv. 32. &c. and that will be to judge the World. When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory, and all the holy Angels with him, then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory: and before him shall be gathered all Nations; and he will separate the Good from the Bad; and to the Wicked and Unbelievers he will say, Ver. 41. Depart from me, ye Cursed, into everlasting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. This is the same Coming, and the same Fire, with that which we mention’d before out of St. Paul, 2 Thess. i. 7, 8, 9; as you will plainly see, if you compare Saint Matthew’s Words with Saint Paul’s, which are these, When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven, with his mighty Angels, in flaming Fire, taking Vengeance on them that know not God, and that hearken not to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punish’d with everlasting Destruction, from, or by, the Presence of the Lord, and the 172Glory of his Power. This, methinks, should be an awakening Thought, that there is such a Threatning upon Record (by one who never yet failed in his Word) against those that do not believe his Testimony. Those that reject him now as a Dupe, or an Impostor, run a Hazard of seeing him hereafter coming in the Clouds to be their Judge. And it will be too late then to correct their Error, when the bright Armies of Angels fill the Air, and the Earth begins to melt at the Presence of the Lord.

Thus much concerning those three Ranks of Men, whom the Apostle Saint Paul seems to point at principally, and condemn to the Flames. But, as I said before, the rest of Sinners, and vicious Persons, amongst the Professors of Christianity, though they are not so directly the Enemies of God, as these are; yet being Transgressors of his Law, they must expect to be brought to Justice. In every well-govern’d State, not only Traitors and Rebels that offend more immediately against the Person of the Prince; but all others, that notoriously violate the Laws, are brought to condign Punishment, according to the Nature and Degree of their Crime: So in this Case, The Fire shall try every Man’s Work, of what Sort it is. ’Tis therefore the Concern of every Man, to reflect often upon that Day, and to consider what his Fate and Sentence is likely to be, at that last Trial. The Jews have a Tradition, that Elias sits in Heaven, and keeps a Register of all Mens Actions, good or bad. 173He hath his Under-Secretaries for the several Nations of the World, that take Minutes of all that passes; and so hath the History of every Man’s Life before him, ready to be produc’d at the Day of Judgment. I will not vouch for the literal Truth of this, but it is true in Effect: Every Man’s Fate shall be determined that Day, according to the History of his Life; according to the Works done in the Flesh, whether good or bad. And, therefore, it ought to have as much Influence upon us, as if every single Action was formally register’d in Heaven.

If Men would learn to contemn this World, it would cure a great many Vices at once. And, methinks, St. Peter’s Argument, from the approaching Dissolution of all Things, should put us out of Conceit with such perishing Vanities. Lust and Ambition are the two reigning Vices of great Men; and those little Fires might be soon extinguished, if they would frequently and seriously meditate on this last and universal Fire, which will put an End to all Passions, and all Contentions. As to Ambition, the Heathens themselves made use of this Argument, to abate and repress the vain Affectation of Glory and Greatness in this World. I told you before, the Lesson that was given to Scipio Africanus, by his Uncle’s Ghost, upon this Subject: And upon a like Occasion and Consideration, Cæsar hath a Lesson given him by Lucan, after the Battle of Pharsalia; where Pompey lost the Day, and Rome its Liberty. The Poet says, Cæsar took Pleasure in looking upon the dead Bodies, 174and would not suffer them to be buried, or, which was their Manner of burying, to be burnt: Whereupon he speaks to him in these Words.

These are mortifying Thoughts to ambitious Spirits. And surely our own Mortality, and the Mortality of the World itself, may be enough to convince all considering Men, that Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanity under the Sun; any otherwise than as they relate to a better Life.

FINIS.

Preface to the Reader

You see it is still my Lot to travel into new Worlds, having never found any great Satisfaction in this: As an active People leaves their Habitations in a barren Soil, to try if they can make their Fortune better elsewhere. I first look’d backwards, and waded through the Deluge, into the primæval World, to see how they lived there, and how Nature stood in that original Constitution. Now I am going forwards, to view the new Heavens and new Earth, that will be after the Conflagration. But, gentle Reader, let me not take you any farther, if you be weary; I do not love a querulous Companion: Unless your Genius therefore press you forwards, chuse rather to rest here, and be content with that Part of the Theory which you have seen already. Is it not fair to have followed Nature so far, as 177to have seen her twice in her Ruins? Why should we still pursue her, even after Death and Dissolution, into dark and remote Futurities? To whom therefore such Disquisitions seem needless, or over-curious, let them rest here; and leave the Remainder of this Work, which is a kind of Prophecy concerning the State of things after the Conflagration, to those that are of a Disposition suited to such Studies and Enquiries.

Not that any part of this Theory requires much Learning, Art, or Science, to be Master of it; but a Love and Thirst after Truth, Freedom of Judgment, and a Resignation of our Understandings to clear Evidence. Let it carry us which way it will, an honest English Reader, that looks only at the Sense as it lies before him, and neither considers nor cares whether it be new or old, so it be true, may be a more competent Judge than a great Scholar full of his own Notions, and puffed up with the Opinion of his mighty Knowledge; for such Men think they cannot in Honour own any thing to be true, which they did not know before. To be taught any new Knowledge, is to confess their former Ignorance; and that lessens them in their own Opinion, and, as they think, in the Opinion of the World, which are both uneasy Reflections to them. Neither must we depend upon Age only for Soundness of Judgment: Men in discovering and owning Truth seldom change their Opinions after threescore, especially if they be leading Opinions: It is then too late, we think, to begin the World again, and as we grow old, the Heart contracts, 178and cannot open wide enough to take in a great Thought.

The Spheres of Mens Understandings are as different, as Prospects upon the Earth: Some stand upon a Rock or a Mountain, and see far round about; others are in an Hollow, or in a Cave, and have no Prospect at all. Some Men consider nothing but what is present to their Senses; others extend their Thoughts both to what is past, and what is future: And yet the fairest Prospect in this Life is not to be compar’d to the least we shall have in another. Our dearest Day here is misty and hazy; we see not far, and what we do see, is in a bad Light: But when we have got better Bodies in the first Resurrection, whereof we are going to treat; better Senses and a better Understanding, a clearer Light and an higher Station, our Horizon will be enlarged every Way, both as to the natural World, and as to the intellectual.

Two of the greatest Speculations that we are capable of in this Life, are, in my Opinion, The REVOLUTION OF WORLDS, and the REVOLUTION OF SOULS; one for the material World, and the other for the intellectual. Toward the former of these, our Theory is an Essay; and in this our Planet, (which I hope to conduct into a fixed Star, before I have done with it) we give an Instance of what may be in other Planets. ’Tis true, we took our Rise no higher than the Chaos, because that was a known Principle, and we were not willing to amuse the Reader with too many strange Stories; as that, I am sure would have been 179thought one, TO HAVE brought this Earth from a fixed Star, and then carried it up again into the same Sphere; which yet, I believe, is the true Circle of natural Providence.

As to the Revolution of Souls, the Footsteps of that Speculation are more obscure than of the former; for though we are assur’d by Scripture, that all good Souls will at length have cœlestial Bodies; yet, that this is a returning to a primitive State, or to what they had at their first Creation, that Scripture has not acquainted us with: It tells us indeed, that Angels fell from their primitive cœlestial Glory; and consequently we might be capable of a Lapse as well as they, if we had been in that high Condition with them; but that we ever were there, is not declared to us by any Revelation. Reason and Morality would indeed suggest to us, that an innocent Soul, fresh and pure from the Hands of its Maker, could not be immediately cast into Prison, before it had, by any Act of its own Will, or any Use of its own Understanding, committed either Error or Sin. I call this Body a Prison, both because it is a Confinement and Restraint upon our best Faculties and Capacities, and is also the Seat of Diseases and Loathsomness; and, as Prisons use to do, commonly tends more to debauch Mens Natures, than to improve them.

But though we cannot certainly tell under what Circumstances human Souls were plac’d at first, yet all Antiquity agrees, Oriental and Occidental, concerning their Præ-existence in general, in Respect of these mortal Bodies: 180And our Saviour never reproaches or corrects the Jews, when they speak upon that Supposition, Luke ix. 18, 19. John ix. 2. Besides, it seems to me beyond all Controversy, that the Soul of the Messiah did exist before the Incarnation, and voluntarily descended from Heaven to take upon it a mortal Body. And though it does not appear that all human Souls were at first placed in Glory, yet, from the Example of our Saviour, we see something greater in them; namely, a Capacity to be united to the Godhead, John iii. 13. and vi. 38. and 62. and xvii. 5. And what is possible to one, is possible to more. But these Thoughts are too high for us, while we find our selves united to nothing but diseased Bodies and Houses of Clay.

The greatest Fault we can commit, in such speculations, is to be over positive and dogmatical: To be inquisitive into the Ways of Providence and the Works of God, is so far from being a Fault that it is our greatest Perfection: We cultivate the highest Principles and best Inclinations of our Nature, while we are thus employ’d; and ’tis Littleness or Secularity of Spirit, that is the greatest Enemy to Contemplation. Those that would have a true Contempt of this World, must suffer the Soul to be sometimes upon the Wing, and, to raise herself above the Sight of this little dark Point, which we now inhabit. Give her a large and free Prospect of the Immensity of Gods Works, and of his inexhausted Wisdom and Goodness, if you would make her great and good; as the warm Philosopher says,

BOOK IV. Concerning the New Heavens and New Earth, AND Concerning the Consummation of all Things.

Chap. I

The Introduction; That the World will not be annihilated in the last Fire: That we are to expect, according to Scripture and the Christian Doctrine, new Heavens and a new Earth, when these are dissolv’d or burnt up.

We are now so far advanc’d in the Theory of the Earth, as to have seen the End of two Worlds; one destroy’d by Water, and another by Fire. It remains only to consider, whether we be yet come to the 183final Period of Nature; the last Scene of all Things, and consequently the utmost Bound of our Enquires: Or, whether Providence, which is inexhausted in Wisdom and Goodness, will raise up, from this dead Mass, new Heavens and a new Earth; another habitable World, better and more perfect than that which was destroyed: That, as the first World began with a Paradise, and a State of Innocency; so the last may be a kind of Renovation of that happy State, whose Inhabitants shall not die, but be translated to a blessed Immortality.

I know ’tis the Opinion of some, that this World will be annihilated, or reduc’d to nothing, at the Conflagration, and that would put an End to all farther Enquiries. But whence do they learn this? From Scripture or Reason, or their own Imagination? What Instance or Example can they give us of this they call Annihilation? Or what Place of Scripture can they produce, that says, the World, in the last Fire, shall be reduc’d to nothing? If they have neither Instance nor Proof of what they affirm, ’tis an empty Imagination of their own, neither agreeable to Philosophy, nor Divinity: Fire does not consume any Substance; it changes the Form and Qualities of it, but the Matter remains. And if the Design had been Annihilation, the employing of Fire would have been of no Use or Effect: For Smoke and Ashes are at as great a Distance from Nothing, as the Bodies themselves out of which they are made. But these Authors seem to have but a small 184Tincture of Philosophy, and therefore it will be more proper to confute their Opinion from the Words of Scripture, which hath left us sufficient Evidence, that another World will succeed after the Conflagration of that we now inhabit.

The Prophets, both of the Old and New Testament, have left us their Predictions concerning new Heavens and a new Earth. So says the Prophet Isaiah, ch. lxv. 17. Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth, and the former shall not be remembered, or come into Mind; as not worthy our Thoughts, in comparison of those that will arise when these pass away. So the Prophet St. John in his Apocalypse, when he was come to the End of this World, says, And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth: For the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away, and there was no more Sea, Apoc. xxi. 1. Where he does not only give us an Account of a new Heaven and a new Earth in general; but also gives a distinctive Character of the new Earth, that it shall have no Sea. And in the 5th Verse, he that sate upon the Throne says, Behold I make all Things new: which, consider’d with the Antecedents and Consequents, cannot be otherwise understood than of a new World.

But some Men make Evasions here, as to the Words of the Prophets, and say, they are to be understood in a figurative and allegorical Sense; and to be apply’d to the Times of the Gospel, either at first or towards the latter End of the World; so as this new Heaven and new 185Earth, signify only a great Change in the moral World. But how can that be, seeing St. John places them after the End of the World? And the Prophet Isaiah connects such Things with his new Heavens and new Earth, as are not compatible to the present State of Nature, ch. lxv. However, to avoid all Shuffling and Tergiversation in this Point, let us appeal to St. Peter, who uses a plain literal Style, and discourses downright concerning the natural World. In his 2d Epist. and 3d Chap. when he had foretold and explain’d the future Conflagration, he adds, But we expect new Heavens and a new Earth, according to his Promises. These Promises were made by the Prophets; and this gives us full Authority to interpret their new Heavens and new Earth to be after the Conflagration. St. Peter, when he had describ’d the Dissolution of the World in the last Fire, in full and emphatical Terms, as the passing away the Heavens with a Noise; the melting of the Elements, and burning up all the Works of the Earth; he subjoins, Nevertheless (notwithstanding this total Dissolution of the present World) we, according to his Promises, look for new Heavens and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth Righteousness. As if the Apostle should have said, Notwithstanding this strange and violent Dissolution of the present Heavens and Earth, which I have describ’d to you, we do not at all distrust God’s Promises, concerning new Heavens and a new Earth, that are to succeed these, and to be the Seat of the Righteous.

186Here’s no room for Allegories, or allegorical Expositions, unless you will make the Conflagration of the World an Allegory: For, as Heavens and Earth were destroyed, so Heavens and Earth are restored; and if, in the first Place, you understand the natural material World, you must also understand it in the second Place; they are both Allegories, or neither. But to make the Conflagration an Allegory, is not only to contradict St. Peter, but all Antiquity, sacred or prophane. And I desire no more Assurance, that we shall have new Heavens and a new Earth, in a literal Sense, than we have that the present Heavens and Earth shall be destroyed in a literal Sense, and by material Fire: Let it therefore rest upon that Issue, as to the first Evidence and Argument from Scripture.

Some will fancy, it may be, that we shall have new Heavens and Earth, and yet that these shall be annihilated: They would have these first reduc’d to nothing, and then others created, spick and span new, out of nothing. But why so, pray, what’s the Humour of that? Lest Omnipotency should want Employment, you would have it to do, and undo, and do again; as if new-made Matter, like new Cloaths, or new Furniture, had a better Gloss, and was more credible. Matter never wears; as fine Gold, melt it down never so often, it loses nothing of its Quantity: The Substance of the World is the same, burnt or unburnt, and is of the same Value and Virtue, new or old; and we must not multiply the Actions of Omnipotency without Necessity. God does not make, or unmake 187things, to try Experiments: He knows beforehand the utmost Capacities of every thing, and does no vain or superfluous Work. Such Imaginations as these, proceed only from want of true Philosophy, or the true Knowledge of the Nature of God and of his Works, which should always be carefully attended to in such Speculations as concern the natural World. But to proceed in our Subject.

If they suppose Part of the World to be annihilated, and to continue so, they philosophize still worse and worse: How high shall the Annihilation reach? Shall the Sun, Moon, and Stars be reduc’d to nothing? But what have they done, that they should undergo so hard a Fate? Must they be turn’d out of Being for our Faults? The whole material Universe will not be annihilated at this Bout, for we are to have Bodies after the Resurrection, and to live in Heaven. How much of the Universe then will you leave standing? or how shall it subsist with this great Vacuum in the Heart of it? This Shell of a World is but the Fiction of an empty Brain; for God and Nature, in their Works, never admit of such gaping Vacuities and Emptinesses.

If we consult Scripture again, we shall find that that makes mention of a Restitution and Reviviscency of all Things, at the End of the World, or at the Coming of our Saviour. St. Peter, whose Doctrine we have hitherto follow’d, in his Sermon to the Jews, after our Saviour’s Ascension, tells them, that he will come again, and that there will be then a Restitution of all Things, such as 188was promised by the Prophets. The Heavens, says he, must receive him until the Time of Restitution of all Things; which God hath spoken by the Mouth of his holy Prophets, since the World began, Acts iii. 21. If we compare this Passage of Saint Peter’s, with that which we alledged before, out of his Second Epistle, it can scarce be doubted but that he refers to the same Promises in both Places; and what he there calls a new Heaven, and a new Earth, he calls here a Restitution of all Things: For the Heavens and the Earth comprehend all, and both these are but different Phrases for the Renovation of the World. This gives us also Light how to understand what our Saviour calls the Regeneration or Reviviscency, when he shall sit upon his Throne of Glory, and will reward his Followers an hundred-fold, for all their Losses in this World, besides everlasting Life, as the Crown of all, Mat. xix. 28, 29. I know, in our English Translation, we separate the Regeneration from sitting upon his Throne, but without any Warrant from the Original. And seeing our Saviour speaks here of bodily Goods, and seems to distinguish them from everlasting Life, which is to be the final Reward of his Followers; this Regeneration seems to belong to his Second Coming, when the World shall be renew’d or regenerated, and the Righteous shall possess the Earth.

Other Places of Scripture that foretel the Fate of this material World, represent it always as a Change, not as an Annihilation. St. Paul says, The Figure of this World passeth away, 1 Cor. vii. 31. The Form, Fashion, and 189Disposition of its Parts, but the Substance still remains: As a Body that is melted down and dissolv’d, the Form perishes, but the Matter is not destroyed. And the Psalmist says, the Heavens and the Earth shall be chang’d, Psal. cii. 26. which answers to this Transformation we speak of. The same Apostle, in the eighth Chapter to the Romans, ver. 21, 22, 23, 24. shews also, that this Change shall be, and shall be for the better, and calls it a Deliverance of the Creation from Vanity and Corruption, and a Participation of the glorious Liberty of the Children of God; being a sort of Redemption, as they have a Redemption of their Bodies.

But seeing the Renovation of the World is a Doctrine generally receiv’d, both by antient and modern Authors, as we shall have Occasion to shew hereafter, we need add no more, in this Place, for Confirmation of it. Some Men are willing to throw all Things into a State of Nothing at the Conflagration, and bury them there, that they may not be oblig’d to give an Account of that State of things that is to succeed it. Those who think themselves bound in Honour to know every thing in Theology that is knowable, and find it uneasy to answer such Questions and Speculations as would arise upon their admitting a new World, think it more advisable to stifle it in the Birth, and so to bound all Knowledge at the Conflagration. But surely so far as Reason or Scripture lead us, we may and ought to follow, otherwise we should be ungrateful to Providence, that sent us those Guides, provided we be always duly 190sensible of our own Weakness: And, according to the Difficulty of the Subject, and the Measure of Light that falls upon it, proceed with that Modesty and Ingenuity, that becomes such fallible Enquirers after Truth, as we are. And this Rule I desire to prescribe to my self, as in all other Writings, so especially in this; where, though I look upon the principal Conclusions as fully prov’d, there are several Particulars, that are rather propos’d to Examination, than positively asserted.

Chap. II

The Birth of the new Heavens and the new Earth, from the second Chaos, or the Remains of the old World: The Form, Order, and Qualities of the new Earth, according to Reason and Scripture.

Having prov’d from Scripture, that we are to expect new Heavens, and a new Earth, after the Conflagration; it would be some Pleasure and Satisfaction to see how this new Frame will arise, and what Foundation there is in Nature for the Accomplishment of these Promises. For, though the Divine Power be not bound to all the Laws of Nature, but may dispense with them when there is a Necessity; yet it is an Ease to us in our Belief, when we see them both conspire in the same 191Effect. And in order to this, we must consider in what Posture we left the demolish’d World, what Hopes there are of a Restauration. And we are not to be discourag’d, because we see Things at present wrapt up in a confus’d Mass; for, according to the Methods of Nature and Providence, in that dark Womb usually are the Seeds and Rudiments of an Embryo-World.

Neither is there, possibly, so great a Confusion, in this Mass, as we imagine: The Heart, an interior Body of the Earth, is still entire; and that Part of it that is consum’d by the Fire, will be divided, of its own accord, into two Regions. What is dissolv’d and melted, being the heaviest, will descend as low as it can, and cover and inclose the Kernel of the Earth round about, as a molten Sea or Abyss; according as it is explain’d and set down in the precedent Book. But what is more light and volatile, will float in the Air; as Fumes, Smoke, Exhalations, Vapours of Water, and whatsoever terrestrial Parts can be elevated and supported by the Strength of Fire. These, all mingled together, of different Sizes, Figures, and Motions, will constitute an opake Cloud, or thick Region of Darkness round the Earth; so as the Globe of the Earth, with its Atmosphere, after the Conflagration is finished, will stand much-what in the Form represented in this Scheme.

Book 4 Figure 1.

Now as to the lower of these two Regions, the Region of melted Matter, A. A. we shall have little Occasion to take Notice of it; seeing it will contribute nothing to the Formation of the new World. But the upper Region, or all 192above that Orb of Fire, is the true Draught of a Chaos; or a Mixture and Confusion of all the Elements, without Order or Distinction. Here are Particles of Earth, and of Air, and of Water, all promiscuously jumbled together by the Force and Agitation of the Fire. But when that Force ceases, and every one is left to its own Inclination, they will, according to their different degrees of Gravity, separate and sort themselves after this manner: First, the heaviest and grossest Parts of the Earth will subside, then the watery Parts will follow; then a lighter sort of Earth, which will stop, and rest upon the Surface of the Water, and compose there a thin Film or Membrane. This Membrane or tender Orb is the first Rudiment, or Foundation of a new habitable Earth: For, according as terrestrial Parts fall upon it, from all the Regions and Heights of the Atmosphere, or of the Chaos, this Orb will grow more firm, strong, and immoveable, able to support it self and Inhabitants too. And having in it all the Principles of a fruitful Soil, whether for the Production of Plants, or of Animals, it will want no Property or Character of an habitable Earth. And particularly, will become such an Earth, and of such a Form, as the first paradisaical Earth was, which hath been fully describ’d, in the first and second Books of this Theory.

There is no occasion of examining more accurately the Formation of this second Earth, seeing it is so much the same with that of the first; which, is set down fully and distinctly, in the fifth Chapter of the first Book of this 193Theory. Nature here repeats the same Work, and in the same Method; only the Materials are now a little more refin’d, and purg’d by the Fire: They both rise out of a Chaos, and that, in effect, the same in both Cases; for though in forming the first Earth, I suppos’d the Chaos or confus’d Mass, to reach down to the Center, I did that only for the Ease of our Imagination; that so the whole Mass might appear more simple and uniform. But in reality, that Chaos had a solid Kernel of Earth within, as this hath; and that Matter which fluctuated above in the Regions of the Air, was the true Chaos, whose Parts, when they came to a Separation, made the several Elements, and the Form of an habitable Earth, betwixt the Air and Water. This Chaos, upon Separation, will fall into the same Form and Elements; and so, in like manner, create or constitute a second Paradisaical World.

I say, a Paradisaical World; for it appears plainly, that this new-form’d Earth must agree with that primigenial Earth, in the two principal and fundamental Properties. First, it is of an even, entire, uniform, and regular Surface, without Mountains or Sea. Secondly, that it hath a straight and regular Situation to the Sun, and the Axis of the Ecliptick. From the Manner of its Formation, it appears manifestly, that it must be of an even and regular Surface. For the Orb of liquid Fire, upon which the first Descent was made, being smooth and uniform every where, the Matter that fell upon it would take the same Form and Mould: And so the second 194or third Region, that were superinduc’d, would still imitate the Fashion of the first; there being no Cause or Occasion of any Inequality. Then as to the Situation of its Axis, this Uniformity of Figure would determine the Center of its Gravity to be exactly in the Middle, and consequently there would be no Inclination of one Pole, more than another, to the general Center of its Motion; but, upon a free Libration in the liquid Air, its Axis would lie parallel with the Axis of the Ecliptick where it moves. But these Things having been deduc’d more fully in the second Book about Paradise and the primigenial Earth, they need no further Explication in this Place.

If Scripture had left us several distinct Characters of the New Heavens, and the New Earth, we might, by comparing with those, have made a full Proof of our Hypothesis. One indeed St. John hath left us in very express Terms; There was no Sea there, he says: His Words are these: And I saw a New Heaven, and a New Earth; for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away; AND THERE WAS NO MORE SEA. This Character is very particular, and you see it exactly answers to our Hypothesis; for in the new form’d Earth, the Sea is cover’d and inconspicuous, being an Abyss; not a Sea; and wholly lodg’d in the Womb of the Earth. And this one Character, being inexplicable upon any other Supposition, and very different from the present Earth, makes it a strong Presumption that we have hit upon the true Model of the 195new Heavens and new Earth which St. John saw.

To this Sight of the new Heavens and new Earth, St. John immediately subjoins the Sight of the new Jerusalem, ver. 2. as being contemporary, and, in some respects, the same Thing. ’Tis true, the Characters of the new Jerusalem, in these two last Chapters of the Apocalypse, are very hard to be understood; some of them being incompatible to a terrestrial State, and some of ’em to a celestial; so as it seems to me very reasonable to suppose, that the new Jerusalem, spoken of by St. John, is two-fold: That which he saw himself, ver. 2. and that which the Angel shewed him afterwards, ver. 9. For I do not see what need there was of an Angel, and of taking him up into a great and high Mountain, only to shew him that which he had seen before, at the Foot of the Mountain: But however that be, we are to consider, in this Place, the terrestrial new Jerusalem only, or that which is the new Heavens and new Earth. And as St. John hath joined these two together, so the Prophet Isaiah hath done the same thing before, Chap. lxv. 17, 18. when he had promised new Heavens and a new Earth, he calls them under another Name, Jerusalem; and they both use the same Character in Effect, in the Description of their Jerusalem. Ver. 19. Isaiah says, And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my People, and the Voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the Voice of crying, Apoc. xxi. 3, 4. St. John says also in his Jerusalem, God shall 196dwell with them, and they shall be his People: And he shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes; and there shall be no more Death, neither Sorrow, nor Crying, neither shall there be any more Pain. Now in both these Prophets, when they treat upon this Subject, we find they make frequent Allusions to Paradise and a paradisaical State; so as they may be justly taken as a Scripture Character of the new Heavens and the new Earth. The Prophet Isaiah seems plainly to point at a paradisaical State, throughout that Chapter, by an universal Innocency, and Harmlesness of Animals; and Peace, Plenty, Health, Longevity or Immortality of the Inhabitants. St. John also hath several Allusions to Paradise, in those two Chapters where he describes the new Jerusalem, Ch. xxi. and Ch. xxii. And in his Discourse to the seven Churches, in one Place (Ch. ii. 7.) To him that overcometh is promised, to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. And in another Place (Ch. iii. 12.) To him that overcometh is promised, to have the Name of the new Jerusalem writ upon him. These I take to be the same Thing, and the same Reward of Christian Victors; the new Jerusalem, or the new Heavens and new Earth, and the Paradise of God. Now this being the general Character of the new Earth, that it is paradisaical; and the particular Character that it hath no Sea; and both these agreeing with our Hypothesis, as apparently deducible from those Principles, and that Manner of its Formation which we have set down; we cannot but allow, that the Holy 197Scriptures, and the natural Theory agree in their Testimony, as to the Conditions and Properties of the New Heavens and New Earth.

From what hath been said in this and the precedent Chapter, it will not be hard to interpret what St. Paul meant by his habitable Earth to come; Τὴν οἰκουμένην τῆς μέλλουσαν; πατὴρ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, Isai. ix. 6. which is to be subjected to our Saviour, and not to the Angels. In the second Chapter to the Hebrews, ver. 5. he says, For unto the Angels hath he not put in Subjection the WORLD TO COME; so we read it, but, according to the strictest and plainest Translation, it should be the habitable Earth to come. Now, what Earth is this, where our Saviour is absolute Sovereign; and where the Government is neither Human, nor Angelical, but peculiarly Theocratical? In the first Place, this cannot be the present World, or the present Earth, because the Apostle calls it future, or the Earth to come. Nor can it be understood of the Days of the Gospel; seeing the Apostle acknowledges, ver. 8. that this Subjection, whereof he speaks, is not yet made. And seeing Antichrist will not finally be destroyed till the Appearance of our Saviour, (2 Thess. ii. 8.) nor Satan bound, while Antichrist is in Power; during the Reign of these two (who are the Rulers of the Darkness of the World) our Saviour cannot properly be said to begin his Reign here, Ephes. vi. 12. ’Tis true, he exercises his Providence over his Church, and secures it from being destroyed: He can, by a Power paramount, stop the Rage either of 198Satan or Antichrist; Hitherto ye shall go, and no farther. As sometimes when he was upon Earth, he exerted a Divine Power, which yet did not destroy his State of Humiliation; so he interposes now when he thinks fit, but he does not finally take the Power out of the Hands of his Enemies, nor out of the Hands of the Kings of the Earth. The Kingdom is not deliver’d up to him, and all Dominion and Power; Ch. vii. 13, 25, 26. That all Tongues and Nations should serve him. For St. Paul can mean no less in this Place than that Kingdom in Daniel, Heb. ii. 8. seeing he calls it putting all Things in Subjection under his Feet, and says that it is not yet done. Upon this account also, as well as others, our Saviour might truly say to Pilate, Joh. xviii. 36. My Kingdom is not of this World. And to his Disciples, The Son of Man came not to be ministred unto, but to minister, Matt. xx. 28. When he comes to receive his Kingdom, he comes in the Clouds of Heaven (Dan. vii. 13, 14.) not in the Womb of a Virgin. He comes with the Equipage of a King and Conqueror: with Thousands and Ten Thousands of Angels; not in the Form of a Servant, or of a weak Infant, as he did at his first coming.

I allow the Phrase αἰὼν μέλλων, or in the Hebrew עולם הבא, the World to come, is sometimes used in a large Sense, as comprehending all the Days of the Messiah, whether at his first or second coming, (for these two comings are often undistinguished in Scripture) and respect the moral World, as well as the natural. But the Word οἰχομένη, Orbis habitabilis, 199which St. Paul here uses, does primarily signify the natural World, or the habitable Earth, in the proper use of the Word amongst the Greeks, and frequently in Scripture, Luke iv. 5. and xxi. 26. Rom. x. 18. Heb. i. 6. Apoc. iii. 10. Neither do we here exclude the moral World, or the Inhabitants of the Earth, but rather necessarily include them: Both the natural and moral World to come, will be the Seat and Subject of our Saviour’s Kingdom and Empire, in a peculiar Manner. But when you understand nothing by this Phrase but the present moral World, it neither answers the proper Signification of μέλλουσα, nor of οἰκουμένη, of the first or second Part of the Expression; and tho’ such like Phrases may be used for the Dispensation of the Messiah in Opposition to that of the Law, yet the height of that Distinction or Opposition, and the fulfilling of the Expression, depends upon the second coming of our Saviour, and upon the future Earth or habitable World, where he shall reign, and which does peculiarly belong to him and his Saints.

Neither can this World to come, or this Earth to come, be understood of the Kingdom of Heaven. For the Greek Word will not bear that Sense, nor is it ever us’d in Scripture for Heaven. Besides, the Kingdom of Heaven, when spoken of as future, is not properly till the last Resurrection and final Judgment. Whereas this World to come, which our Saviour is to govern, must be therefore that Time, and will then expire. For all his Government as to this World, expires at the Day of Judgment, 1 Cor. 200xv. 24, &c. and he will then deliver up the Kingdom into the Hands of his Father, that he may be all in all: Having reigned first himself, and put down all Rule and all Authority and Power. So that St. Paul, in these two Places of his Epistles, refers plainly to the same Time, and the same Reign of Christ; which must be in a future World, and before the last Day of Judgment, and therefore, according, to our Deductions, in the new Heavens and the new Earth.

Chap. III

Concerning the Inhabitants of the new Earth. That natural Reason cannot determine this Point. That according to Scripture, the Sons of the first Resurrection, or the Heirs of the Millennium, are to be the Inhabitants of the new Earth. The Testimony of the Philosophers, and of the Christian Fathers, for the Renovation of the World. The first Proposition laid down.

Thus we have settled the true Notion, according to Reason and Scripture, of the new Heavens and new Earth: But where are the Inhabitants, you’ll say? You have taken the Pains to make us a new World, and now that it is made, it must stand empty. When the first World was destroyed, there were eight Persons preserv’d, with a Set of living Creatures of every Kind, as a Seminary or Foundation of another World; but the Fire, 201it seems, is more merciless than the Water; for in this Destruction of the World, it does not appear that there is one living Soul left, of any sort, upon the Face of the Earth. No Hopes of Posterity, nor of any Continuation of Mankind, in the usual Way of Propagation; and Fire is a barren Element, that breeds no living Creatures in it, nor hath any Nourishment proper for their Food or Sustenance.

We are perfectly at a Loss therefore, so far as I see, for a new Race of Mankind, or how to People this new-form’d World. The inhabitants, if ever there be any, must either come from Heaven, or spring from the Earth; there are but these two Ways. But natural Reason can determine neither of these, sees no Track to follow in these unbeaten Paths, nor can advance one Step farther. Farewell then, dear Friend; I must take another Guide, and leave you here, as Moses upon Mount Pisgah, only to look into that Land, which you cannot enter. I acknowledge the good Service you have done, and what a faithful Companion you have been, in a long Journey; from the Beginning of the World to this Hour, in a Tract of Time of six thousand Years. We have travelled together thro’ the dark Regions of a first and second Chaos; seen the World twice shipwreck’d: Neither Water, nor Fire, could separate us; but now you must give place to other Guides.

Welcome, Holy Scriptures, the Oracles of God, a Light shining in Darkness, a Treasury of hidden Knowledge; and where Human Faculties cannot reach, a seasonable Help and 202Supply to their Defects. We are now come to the utmost Bounds of their Dominion; they have made us a New World, but, how it shall be inhabited, they cannot tell; know nothing of the History or Affairs of it. This we must learn from other Masters, inspir’d with the Knowledge of Things to come: And such Masters we know none, but the holy Prophets and Apostles. We must therefore now put our selves wholly under their Conduct and Instruction, and from them only receive our Information concerning the moral State of the future habitable Earth.

In the first place therefore, the Prophet Isaiah tells us, as a Preparation to our farther Enquiries, The Lord God created the Heavens, God himself that formed the Earth, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited, Isa. xlv. 18. This is true, both of the present Earth and the future, and of every habitable World whatsoever. For to what purpose is it made habitable, if not to be inhabited? That would be, as if a Man should manure, and plough, and every Way prepare his Ground for Seed, but never sow it. We do not build Houses, that they should stand empty, but look out for Tenants as fast as we can; as soon as they are made ready and become tenantable. But if Man could do things in vain, and without Use or Design, yet God and Nature never do any thing in vain; much less so great a Work as the making of a World; which if it were in vain, would comprehend ten thousand Vanities or useless Preparations in it. We may therefore, in the first place, safely conclude, 203that the new Earth will be inhabited.

But by whom will it be inhabited? This makes the second Enquiry. St. Peter answers this Question for us, and with a particular Application to this very Subject of the new Heavens and new Earth: They shall be inhabited, he says, by the Just or the Righteous. His Words which we cited before, are these; when he had described the Conflagration of the World, he adds, But we expect new Heavens and a new Earth, WHEREIN DWELLETH RIGHTEOUSNESS. By Righteousness here, it is generally agreed, must be understood righteous Persons; for Righteousness cannot be without righteous Persons. It cannot hang upon Trees, or grow out of the Ground; ’tis the Endowment of reasonable Creatures. And these righteous Persons are eminently such, and therefore call’d Righteousness in the Abstract, or purely righteous without Mixture of Vice.

So we have found Inhabitants for the new Earth, Persons of an high and noble Character; like those describ’d by St. Peter, (1 Eph. ii. 9.) A chosen Generation, a royal Priesthood, an holy Nation, a peculiar People. As if into that World, as into St. John’s new Jerusalem, nothing impure or unrighteous was to be admitted, Apoc. xxi. 27. These being then the happy and holy Inhabitants; the next Enquiry is, Whence do they come? From what Off-spring, or from what Original? We noted before, that there was no Remnant of Mankind left at the Conflagration, as there was at the Deluge; nor any Hopes of a Restauration 204that Way. Shall we then imagine that these new Inhabitants are a Colony wafted over from some neigbouring World; as from the Moon, or Mercury, or some of the higher Planets? You may imagine what you please, but that seems to me not imaginary only, but impracticable: And that the Inhabitants of those Planets are Persons of so great Accomplishments, is more than I know; but I am sure they are not the Persons here understood; for these must be such as inhabited this Earth before. We look for new Heavens and new Earth, says the Apostle: Surely to have some Share and Interest in them, otherwise there would be no Comfort in that Expectation. And the Prophet Isaiah said before, I create new Heavens and a new Earth, and the former shall come no more in Remembrance; but be YOU glad and rejoyce for ever in that which I create. The Truth is, none can have so good Pretensions to this Spot of Ground we call the Earth, as the Sons of Men, seeing they once possessed it; and if it be restor’d again, ’tis their Propriety and Inheritance. But ’tis not Mankind in general that must possess this new World, but the Israel of God, according to the Prophet Isaiah; or the Just, according to St. Peter; and especially those that have suffer’d for the Sake of their Religion. For this is that Palingenesia, as we noted before, that Renovation, or Regeneration of all Things, where our Saviour says, those that suffer Loss for his Sake, shall be recompensed, Matth. xix. 28, 29.

But they must be then raised from the Dead. 205For all Mankind was destroyed at the Conflagration: and there is no Resource for them any other way, than by a Resurrection. ’Tis true: and St. John (Apoc. xx.) gives us a fair Occasion to make this Supposition, that there will be some raised from the Dead, before the general Day of Judgment. For he plainly distinguisheth of a first and second Resurrection, and makes the first to be a thousand Years before the second, and before the general Day of Judgment. Now, if there be truly and really a two-fold Resurrection, as St. John tells us; and that a Thousand Years Distance from one another: It may be very rationally be presum’d, that those that are raised in the first Resurrection, are those Just that will inhabit the New Heavens and New Earth; or whom our Saviour promis’d to reward in the Renovation of the World.

For otherwise, who are those Just that shall inhabit the New Earth, and whence do they come? Or when is that Restauration which our Saviour speaks of, wherein those that suffer’d for the Sake of the Gospel shall be rewarded? St. John says, the Martyrs, at this first Resurrection, shall live again, and reign with Christ: Which seems to be the Reward promis’d by our Saviour, to those that suffer’d for his sake, and the same Persons in both Places. And I saw the Souls of them (says St. John) that were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God; and which had not worshipped the Beast, &c. and they lived and reigned with Christ a Thousand Years, Apoc. xx. 4. 206These, I say, seem to be the same Persons, to whom Christ had before promis’d and appropriated a particular Reward. And this Reward of theirs, or this Reign of theirs, is upon Earth; upon some Earth, new or old, not in Heaven. For, besides that we read nothing of their Ascension into Heaven after their Resurrection; there are several Marks that shew, it must necessarily be understood of a State upon Earth. For Gog and Magog came from the four Quarters of the Earth, and besieged the Camp of the Saints, and the beloved City, ver. 9. That Camp and that City therefore were upon the Earth. And Fire came down from Heaven, and devoured them. If it came down from Heaven, it came upon the Earth. Farthermore, those Persons that are raised from the Dead, are said to be Priests of God and of Christ, and to reign with him a thousand Years, ver. 6. Now these must be the same Persons with the Priests and Kings, mention’d in the fifth Chapter, ver. 10. which are there said expressly to reign upon Earth, or that they should reign upon Earth. It remains therefore only to determine, what Earth this is, where the Sons of the first Resurrection will live and reign. It cannot be the present Earth, in the same State, and under the same Circumstances it is now: For what Happiness or Privilege would that be, to be called back into a mortal Life, under the Necessities and Inconveniencies of sickly Bodies, and an incommodious World; such as the present State of Mortality is, and 207must continue to be, till some Change be made in Nature. We may be sure therefore, that a Change will be made in Nature, before that Time, and that the State they are rais’d into, and the Earth they are to inhabit, will be, at least, Paradisaical; and consequently can be no other than the New Heavens and New Earth, which we are to expect after the Conflagration.

From these Considerations, there is a great Fairness to conclude, both as to the Characters of the Persons, and of the Place or State, that the Sons of the first Resurrection will be Inhabitants of the New Earth, and reign there with Christ a Thousand Years. But seeing this is one of the principal and peculiar Conclusions of this Discourse, and bears a great Part in this last Book of the Theory of the Earth, it will deserve a more full Explication, and a more ample Proof, to make it out. We must therefore take a greater Compass in our Discourse, and give a full Account of that State which is usually call’d the Millennium; the Reign of the Saints a Thousand Years, or the Kingdom of Christ upon Earth. But before we enter upon this new Subject, give me leave to close our present Argument, about the Renovation of the World, with some Testimonies of the antient Philosophers, to that purpose. ’Tis plain to me, that there were among the Antients several Traditions, or traditionary Conclusions, which they did not raise themselves, by Reason and Observation, but received them from an unknown 208Antiquity. An Instance of this is the Conflagration of the World; a Doctrine as antient, for any Thing I know, as the World it self; at least as antient as we have any Records, and yet none of those Antients that tell us of it, give any Argument to prove it. Neither is it any Wonder, for they did not invent it themselves, but receiv’d it from others without Proof, by the sole Authority of Tradition. In like manner the Renovation of the World, which we are now speaking of, is an antient Doctrine, both amongst the Greeks and Eastern Philosophers: But they shew us no Method how the World may be renew’d, nor make any Proof of its future Renovation; for it was not a Discovery which they first made, but receiv’d it with an implicit Faith, from their Masters and Ancestors: And these traditionary Doctrines were all Fore-runners of that Light which was to shine more clearly at the Opening of the Christian Dispensation; to give a more full Account of the Fate and Revolutions of the natural World, as well as of the moral.

The Jews, ’tis well known, held the Renovation of the World, and a Sabbath after Six Thousand Years; according to the Prophecy that was current among them; whereof we have given a larger Account in the precedent Book, Chap. v. And that future State they called עולם הבא, Olam Hava, or the World to come, which is the very same with Saint Paul’s habitable Earth to come, ἡ οἰκουμένη ἥ μέλλουσα, Heb. ii. 6. Neither can I easily believe, that those Constitutions of Moses 209that proceed so much upon a septenary, or the Number seven, and have no Ground or Reason, in the Nature of the Thing, for that particular Number. I cannot easily believe, I say, that they are either accidental or humoursome, without Design or Signification; but that they are typical, or representative of some Septenary State, that does eminently deserve and bear that Character. Moses, in the History of the Creation, makes six Days Work, and then a Sabbath: Then, after six Years, he makes a Sabbath-Year; and after a Sabbath of Years, a Year of Jubilee, Levit. xxv. All these lesser Revolutions seem to me to point at the grand Revolution, the great Sabbath or Jubilee, after six Millenaries; which, as it answers the Type in point of Time, so likewise in the Nature and Contents of it; being a State of Rest from all Labour, and Trouble, and Servitude; a State of Joy and Triumph, and a State of Renovation, when Things are to return to their first Condition and pristine Order. So much for the Jews.

The Heathen Philosophers, both Greeks and Barbarians, had the same Doctrine of the Renovation of the World current amongst them, and that under several Names and Phrases; as of the Great Year, the Restauration, the Mundane Periods, and such-like. They suppos’d stated and fix’d Periods of Time, upon Expiration whereof there would always follow some great Revolution of the World, and the Face of Nature would be renewed: particularly after the Conflagration, the Stoicks always suppos’d a new World to succeed, or 210another Frame of Nature to be erected in the Room of that which was destroyed. And they use the same Words and Phrases upon this Occasion that Scripture useth. Chrysippis calls it Apocatastasis (Lact. l. 7. c. 23.) as St. Peter does, Acts iii. 21. Marcus Antonius in his Meditations, several times calls it Palingenesia, as our Saviour does, Matt. xix. 28. And Numenius hath two Scripture words, Resurrection and Restitution, (Euseb. præp. Ev. l. 7. c. 23.) to express this Renovation of the World. Then as to the Platonicks, that Revolution of all Things hath commonly been call’d the Platonick Year, as if Plato had been the first Author of that Opinion; but that’s a great Mistake; he receiv’d it from the Barbarick Philosophers, and particularly from the Ægyptian Priests, amongst whom he liv’d several Years, to be instructed in their Learning. But I do not take Plato neither to be the first that brought this Doctrine into Greece: For, besides that the Sibylls, whose Antiquity we do not well know, sung this Song of old, as we see it copy’d from them by Virgil in his fourth Eclogue; Pythagoras taught it before Plato, and Orpheus before them both; and that’s as high as the Greek Philosophy reaches.

The Barbarick Philosophers were more antient; namely, the Ægyptians, Persians, Chaldeans, Indian Brackmans, and other Eastern Nations. Their Monuments indeed are in a great measure lost; yet from the Remains of them which the Greeks have transcribed, and so preserv’d in their Writings, we see plainly 211they all had this Doctrine of the future Renovation. And to this Day the Posterity of the Brackmans in the East-Indies retain the same Notion, that the World will be renew’d after the last Fire. You may see the Citations, if you please, for all these Notions, in the Latin Treatise, Ch. v. which I thought would be too dry and tedious to be render’d into English.

To these Testimonies of the Philosophers of all Ages, for the future Renovation of the World, we might add the Testimonies of the Christian Fathers, Greek and Latin, antient and modern. I will only give you a bare List of them, and refer you to the Latin Treatise (Chap. ix.) for the Words or the Places. Amongst the Greek Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenæus, Origen: The Fathers of the Council of Nice, Eusebius; Basil; the two Cyrils, of Jerusalem and Alexandria: The two Gregories, Nazianzen and Nyssen; St. Chrysostom, Zacharias Mitylenensis; and of later Date, Damascen, Oecumenius, Euthymius, and others. These have all set their Hands and Seals to this Doctrine. Of the Latin Fathers, Tertullian, Lactantius, St. Hillary, St. Ambrose, St. Austin, St. Jerome; and many later Ecclesiastical Authors. These, with the Philosophers before-mention’d, I count good Authority, sacred and prophane; which I place here as an Out-guard upon Scripture, where our principal Force lies. These three united, and acting in Conjunction, will be sufficient to prove this first Post, and to prove our first Proposition, which is this; That after the Conflagration of this World, 212there will be new Heavens and a new Earth; and that Earth will be inhabited. (Propos. I.)

Chap. IV

The Proof of a Millennium, or of a blessed Age to come, from Scripture. A View of the Apocalypse, and of the Prophecies of Daniel, in reference to this Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints.

We have given fair Presumptions, if not Proofs, in the precedent Chapter, that the Sons of the first Resurrection will be the Persons that shall inhabit the new Earth, or the World to come. But to make that Proof complete and unexceptionable, I told you, it would be necessary to take a larger Compass in our Discourse, and to examine what is meant by that Reign with Christ a thousand Years, which is promis’d to the Sons of the first Resurrection, by St. John in the Apocalypse; and in other places of Scripture is usually call’d the Kingdom of Christ, and the Reign of the Saints: And by Ecclesiastical Authors, in Imitation of St. John, it is commonly styled, the Millennium. We shall indifferently use any of these Words or Phrases; and examine, first, the Truth of the Notion and Opinion, whether, in Scripture, there be any such an happy State promised to the Saints under the Conduct of Christ; and then we will proceed 213to examine the Nature, Characters, Place and Time of it. And I am in hopes when these Things are duly discuss’d and stated, you will be satisfied that we have found out the true Inhabitants of the new Heavens and new Earth; and the true Mystery of that State which is called the Millennium, or the Reign of Christ and of his Saints.

We begin with St. John, whose Words in the xxth Chapter of the Apocalypse, ver. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6. are express, both as to the first Resurrection, and as to the Reign of those Saints that rise with Christ for a Thousand Years; Satan in the mean Time being bound, or disabled from doing Mischief, and seducing Mankind. The Words of the Prophet are these; And I saw an Angel come down from Heaven, having the Key of the bottomless Pit, and a great Chain in his Hand. And he laid hold on the Dragon, that old Serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a Thousand Years. And I saw Thrones, and they sat upon them, and Judgment was given unto them; And I saw the Souls of them that were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the Beast, neither his Image, neither had received his Mark upon their Foreheads, or in their Hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand Years. But the rest of the Dead lived not again until the thousand Years were finished. This is the first Resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection; on such the second Death hath no Power, but they shall be Priests of God, and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand Years. These 214Words do fully express a Resurrection, and a Reign with Christ a thousand Years. As for that particular Space of Time, of a Thousand Years, it is not much material to our present Purpose: but the Resurrection here spoken of, and the Reign with Christ, make the Substance of the Controversy, and in effect prove all that we enquire after at present. This Resurrection, you see, is call’d the first Resurrection, by way of Distinction from the second and general Resurrection; which is to be placed a Thousand Years after the first. And both this first Resurrection, and the Reign of Christ, seem to be appropriated to the Martyrs in this Place: For the Prophet says, The Souls of those that were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus, &c. they lived and reigned with Christ a Thousand Years. From which Words, if you please, we will raise this Doctrine; that those that have suffer’d for the Sake of Christ, and a good Conscience, shall be raised from the Dead a Thousand Years before the general Resurrection, and reign with Christ in an happy State. This Proposition seems to be plainly included in the Words of St. John, and to be the intended Sense of this Vision; but you must have Patience a little as to your Enquiry into Particulars, till, in the Progress of our Discourse, we have brought all the Parts of this Conclusion into a fuller Light.

In the mean time there is but one Way, that I know of, to evade the Force of these Words, and of the Conclusion drawn from them; and that is, by supposing that the first Resurrection here mention’d, is not to be understood in a 215literal Sense, but is allegorical and mystical, signifying only a Resurrection from Sin to a spiritual Life: As we are said to be dead in Sin, and to be risen with Christ, by Faith and Regeneration. This is a manner of Speech which St. Paul does sometimes use, as Eph. ii. 6. and ver. 14, and Col. 3. 1. But how can this be applied to the present Case? Were the Martyrs dead in Sin? ’Tis they that are here rais’d from the Dead: Or, after they were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus, naturally dead and laid in their Graves, were they then regenerate by Faith? There is no Congruity in Allegories so apply’d. Besides, why should they be said to be regenerate a Thousand Years before the Day of Judgment? or to reign with Christ, after this Spiritual Resurrection, such a limited Time, a Thousand Years? Why not so to Eternity? For in this allegorical Sense of rising and reigning, they will reign with him for everlasting. Then, after a Thousand Years, must all the Wicked be regenerate, and rise into a Spiritual Life? ’Tis said here, the rest of the Dead lived not again, until the Thousand Years were finished, ver. 5. That implies, that at the End of these Thousand Years, the rest of the Dead did live again; which, according to the Allegory, must be, that, after a Thousand Years, all the Wicked will be regenerate, and rais’d into Spiritual Life. These Absurdities arise upon an allegorical Exposition of this Resurrection, if apply’d to single Persons.

216But Dr. Hammond, a learned and worthy Divine, (but one that loves to contract and cramp the Sense of Prophecies) making this first Resurrection allegorical, applies it not to single Persons, but to the State of the Church in general: The Christian Church, he says, shall have a Resurrection for a Thousand Years; that is, shall rise out of Persecution, be in a prosperous Condition, and an undisturbed Profession of the true Religion, for so long a Time. But this agrees with the Prophecy as little as the former; if it be a State of the Church in general, and of the Church then in being, why is this Resurrection apply’d to the Martyrs? Why are they said to rise; seeing the State they liv’d in, was a troublesome State of the Church, and it would be no Happiness to have that reviv’d again? Then as to the Time of this Resurrection of the Church, where will you fix it? The Prophet Daniel places this Reign of Christ, at, or after the Dissolution of the fourth Monarchy; and Saint John places it a Thousand Years before the last Day of Judgment. How will you adjust the allegorical Resurrection of the Church to these Limits? Or if, in point of Time, you was free, as to Prophecy, yet how would you adjust it to History? Where will you take these Thousand Years of Happiness and Prosperity to the Church? These Authors suppose them past, and therefore must begin them either from the first Times of the Gospel, or from the Time of Constantine. Under the first Ages of the Gospel, were, you know, the great Persecutions 217by the Heathen Emperors; could those be call’d the Reign of Christ and of his Saints? Was Satan then bound? Or was this Epocha but a thousand Years before the Day of Judgment? And if you begin this Resurrection of the Church from the Days of Constantine, when the Empire became Christian, how will you reckon a thousand Years from that Time, for the Continuance of the Church in Peace and Purity? For the Reign of Christ and of his Saints must necessarily imply both those Characters. Besides, who are the rest of the Dead, (ver. 5.) that lived after the Expiration of those thousand Years, if they began at Constantine? And why is not the second Resurrection and the Day of Judgment yet come? Lastly, you ought to be tender of interpreting the first Resurrection in an allegorical Sense, lest you expose the second Resurrection to be made an Allegory also.

To conclude; The Words of the Text are plain and express for a literal Resurrection, as to the first, as well as the second; and there is no allegorical Interpretation that I know of, that will hold through all the Particulars of the Text, consistently with it self and with History. And when we shall have proved this future Kingdom of Christ from other Places of the Apocalypse, and of Holy Writ, you will the more easily admit the literal Sense of this Place; which, you know, according to the receiv’d Rule of Interpreters, is never to be quitted or forsaken, without Necessity: But when I speak of confirming this Doctrine from other Passages of Scripture, I 218do not mean as to that definite Time of a Thousand Years, for that is no where else mention’d in the Apocalypse, or in Scripture, that I know of; and seems to be mention’d here, in this Close of all Things, to mind us of that Type that was propos’d in the Beginning of all Things, of six Days and a Sabbath; whereof each Day comprehends a Thousand Years, and the Sabbath, which is the Millennial State, hath its Thousand; according to the known Prophecy of Elias, Book III. Ch. v. which, as I told you before, was not only receiv’d among the Jews, but also own’d by very many of the Christian Fathers.

To proceed therefore to other Parts of St. John’s Prophecies, that set forth this Kingdom of Christ; the Vision of the Seven Trumpets is one of the most remarkable in the Apocalypse; and the Seventh Trumpet, which plainly reaches to the End of the World, and the Resurrection of the Dead, opens the Scene to the Millennium; hear the Sound of it, Ch. xi. 15, 16, 17, 18. The seventh Angel sounded, and there were great Voices in Heaven, saying, The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty Elders, which sat before God on their Seats, fell upon their Faces, and worshipped God; saying, we give thee Thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great Power, and hast reigned. And the Nations were angry, and thy Wrath is come, and the Time of the Dead, that they should be judged, 219and that thou shouldest give Reward unto thy Servants the Prophets, and to the Saints, and them that fear thy Name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them that destroy the Earth, &c. This is manifestly the Kingdom of Christ; and with this is joined the Resurrection of the Dead, and the rewarding of the suffering Prophets and Saints, as in the xxth Chapter. This is that Mystery of God that was to be finished in the Days of the Voice of the seventh Angel, as is said in the xxth Chap. ver. 7. As he hath declared to his Servants the Prophets; namely, the Mystery of this Kingdom, which was foretold by the Prophets of the Old Testament, and more especially by Daniel, as we shall see hereafter.

The new Jerusalem (as it is set down, Apoc. xxi. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.) is another Instance or Image of this Kingdom of Christ. And the Palm-bearing Company, Chap. vii. 9, &c. are some of the Martyrs that shall enjoy it. They are plainly describ’d there as Christian Martyrs; (ver. 14.) and their Reward, or the State of Happiness they are to enjoy, (ver. 15, 16, 17.) is the same with that of the Inhabitants of the new Jerusalem, Ch. xxi. 2, 3, 4, &c. as, upon comparing those two Places, will easily appear. Farthermore, at the Opening of the Seals, Chap. v. which is another principal Vision, and reaches to the End of the World, there is a Prospect given us of this Kingdom of Christ, and of that Reward of his Saints. For when they sing the new Song to the Lamb, (ver. 9, 10.) they say, Thou art worthy to take the Book, and to open the Seals thereof; for thou 220wast slain and hast redeemed us to God, by thy Blood; and hast made us into our God Kings and Priests, and we shall reign on the Earth. This must be the same State, and the same Thousand-Years-Reign mention’d in the xxth Chap. where ’tis said, (Ver. 6.) the Partakers of it shall be Priests of God, and of Christ, and shall reign with him a Thousand Years.

Another completory Vision, that extends it self to the End of the World, is that of the Seven Vials, Chap. xv. and xvi. And as at the Opening of the Seals, so at the pouring out the Vials, a triumphal Song is sung, and ’tis call’d the Song of Moses and of the Lamb, Ch. xv. 3. ’Tis plainly a Song of Thanksgiving for a Deliverance, but I do not look upon this Deliverance as already wrought, before the pouring out of the Vials, tho’ it be plac’d before them; as often the grand Design and Issue of a Vision is plac’d at the Beginning: It is wrought by the Vials themselves, and by their Effusion, and therefore upon the pouring out of the last Vial, the Voice came out of the Temple of Heaven, from the Throne, saying, Consummatum est; It is done, Ch. xvi. 17. Now the Deliverance is wrought, now the Work is at an End; or, the Mystery of God is finished, as the Phrase was before, concerning the 7th Trumpet, Chap. x. 7. You see therefore this terminates upon the same Time, and consequently upon the same State, of the Millennium; and that they are the same Persons that triumph here, and reign there, Chap. xx. you may see by the same Characters given to both of them, Ch. xv. 2. Here, 221those that triumph, are said to have gotten the Victory over the Beast, and over his Image, and over his Mark, and over the Number of his Name, Ch. xx. 4. And there, those that reign with Christ, are said to be those that had not worshiped the Beast, neither his Image, neither had received his Mark upon their Foreheads, or in their Hands. These are the same Persons therefore, triumphing over the same Enemies, and enjoying the same Reward.

And you shall seldom find any Doxology or Hallelujah in the Apocalypse, but ’tis in Prospect of the Kingdom of Christ, and the Millennial State: This is still the Burthen of the sacred Song, the Complement of every grand Vision, and the Life and Strength of the whole System of Prophecies in that Book: Even those Hallelujahs that are sung at the Destruction of Babylon, in the xixth Chapter, ver. 6, 7. are rais’d upon the succeeding State, the Reign of Christ. For the Text says, And I heard as it were a Voice of a great Multitude, and as the Voice of many Waters, and as the Voice of mighty Thunders, saying, Hallelujah: For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoyce, and give Honour to him: For the Marriage of the Lamb is come, and his Wife hath made her self ready. This appears plainly to be the new Jerusalem, if you consult the 21st Ch. ver. 2. And I John saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband. ’Tis, no doubt, the same Bride and Bridegroom, in both Places; 222the same Marriage or Preparations for Marriage, which are compleated in the Millennial Bliss, in the Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints.

I must beg your patience a little longer, in pursuing this Argument throughout the Apocalypse; As towards the latter End of St. John’s Revelation, this Kingdom of Christ shines out in a more full Glory; so there are the Dawnings of it in the very Beginning and Entrance into his Prophecies. As at the Beginning of a Poem, we have commonly, in a few Words, the Design of the Work, in like Manner Ch. i. 5, 6. St. John makes this Preface to his Prophecies, From Jesus Christ, who is the faithful Witness, the first begotten of the Dead, and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth; unto him that loved us, and washed us from our Sins in his own Blood; and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father; to him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever, Amen. Behold, he cometh in the Clouds, &c. In this Prologue the grand Argument is pointed at, and that happy Catastrophe and last Scene, which is to crown the Work, the Reign of Christ and of his Saints at his second Coming. He hath made us Kings and Priests unto God; this is always the Characteristick of those that are to enjoy the Millennial Happiness, as you may see at the Opening of the Seals, Ch. v. 10. and in the Sons of the first Resurrection, Ch. xx. 6. And this being joined to the Coming of our Saviour, puts it still more out of Doubt. That Expression also, of being washed from our Sins in his Blood, is repeated again both at the Opening of the Seals, 223chap. v. 9. and in the Palm-bearing Company, chap. vii. 14. both which Places we have cited before, as referring to the Millennial State.

Give me Leave to add farther, that as in this general Preface, so also in the introductory Visions of the seven Churches, there are, covertly or expresly, in the Conclusion of each, glances upon the Millennium; as in the first to Ephesus, the Prophet concludes, chap. ii. 7. He that hath an Ear, let him hear, what the Spirit says to the Churches: To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. This is the Millennial Happiness which is promised to the Conqueror; as we noted before concerning that Phrase. In like manner in the second to Smyrna, he concludes, chap. ii. 11. He that overcometh, shall not be hurt of the second Death. This implies, he shall be Partaker of the first Resurrection, for that’s the Thing understood; as you may see plainly by their being joyn’d in the xxth Chapter ver. 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath Part in the first Resurrection; on such the second Death hath no Power, but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand Years. In the third to Pergamus, the Promise is, chap. ii. 7. To eat of the hidden Manna, to have a white Stone, and a new Name written in it: But seeing the Prophet adds, which no Man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it, we will not presume to interpret that new State, whatsoever it is, chap. ii. 26, 27. In Thyatira, the Reward is, To have Power over the Nations, and to have the 224Morning Star; which is to reign with Christ, who is the Morning Star, in his Millennial Empire: Both these Phrases being us’d in that Sense in the Close of this Book, Ch. iii. 5. In Sardis the Promise is, To be cloathed in white Raiment, and not to be blotted out of the Book of Life. And you see afterwards the Palme bearing Company are cloathed in white Robes, Ch. vii. 9, 14. and those that are admitted into the new Jerusalem, Chap. iii. 12. are such as are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, Ch. xxi. 27. Then as to Philadelphia, the Reward promised there does openly mark the Millennial State, by the City of God; new Jerusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from God, compar’d with Ch. xxi. 2. Lastly, to the Church of Laodicea is said, Ch. iii. 21. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne. And that is the usual Phrase to express the Dignity of those that reign with Christ, in his Millennial Kingdom; as you may see, Apoc. xx. 4. Matt. xix. 28. Dan. vii. 9, 13, 14. So all these Promises to the Churches aim at one and the same thing, and terminate upon the same Point: ’Tis the same Reward express’d in different Ways; and seeing it is still fix’d upon a Victory, and appropriated to those that overcome, it does the more easily carry our Thoughts to the Millennium, which is the proper Reward of Victors, that is, of Martyrs and Confessors.

Thus you see how this Notion and Mystery of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ, does both begin and End the Apocalypse, and run thorough all its Parts, as the Soul of that Body of Prophecies; 225a Spirit or Ferment that actuates the whole Mass. And if we could thoroughly understand that illustrious Scene, at the Opening of this Apocalyptical Theatre in the ivth and vth Chapter, I do not doubt but we should find it a Representation of the Majesty of our Saviour in the Glory of his future Kingdom; but I dare not venture upon the Explication of it, there are so many Things of Difficulty, and dubious Interpretation, coucht under those Schemes. Wherefore having made these Observations upon the Prophecies of St. John, we will now add to them some Reflections upon the Prophecies of Daniel: that by the Agreement and Concurrence of these two great Witnesses, the Conclusion we pretend to prove, may be fully established.

In the Prophecies of Daniel there are two grand Visions, that of the Statue or Image, Chap. ii. and that of the four Beasts, Chap. vii. and both these Visions terminate upon the Millennium, or the Kingdom of Christ. In the Vision of the Statue, representing to us the four great Monarchies of the World successively, whereof by the general Consent of Interpreters, the Roman is the fourth and last, after the Dissolution of the last of them, a fifth Monarchy, the Kingdom of Christ, is openly introduc’d, in these Words: And in the Days of these Kingdoms, shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the Kingdom shall not be left to other People, but it shall break in Pieces, and consume all those Kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever, Ch. ii. ver. 44. This may be verified, in some 226measure, by the first coming of our Saviour in the Days of the fourth Kingdom, when his Religion, from small Beginnings, in a short Time over-spread the greatest Part of the known World. As the Stone cut out without Hands, became a great Mountain, and filled the whole Earth, ver. 34, 35. but the full and final Accomplishment of this Prophecy cannot be till the second coming of our Saviour. For not till then will he, Ver. 35, break in pieces and consume all those Kingdoms; and that in such a manner, that they shall become like the Chaff of the Summer-threshing Floor, carried away by the Wind; so as no Place shall be found for them. This, I say, will not be done, nor an everlasting Kingdom erected in their place, over all the Nations of the Earth, till his second coming, and his Millennial Reign.

But this Reign is declared more expresly, in the Vision of the four Beasts, Ch. vii. ver. 13. For after the Destruction of the fourth Beast, the Prophet says, I saw in the Night Visions, and behold one like the Son of Man, came with the Clouds of Heaven, and came to the Antient of Days, and they brought him near before him: And there was given him Dominion, and Glory, and a Kingdom, that all People, Nations and Languages should serve him; his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion, which shall not pass away; and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. Accordingly, he says, Ver. 21, 22. The last Beast, and the little Horn, made war against the Saints, until the Antient of Days came, and Judgment was given to the Saints of the most High; and 227the Time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdom. And lastly, in Pursuit still of the same Argument, he concludes to the same Effect in fuller Words, ver. 26, 27. But the Judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his Dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the End. And the Kingdom and Dominion, and the Greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven, shall be given to the People of the Saints of the most High; whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all Dominions shall serve and obey him.

Here is the End of the Matter, says the Prophet, Chap. vii. ver. 28. Chap. xii. ver. 13. Here is the Upshot and Result of all; here terminate both the Prophecies of Daniel and St. John, and all the Affairs of the terrestrial World. Daniel brings in this Kingdom of Christ, in the Conclusion of two or three Visions; but St. John hath interwoven it every where with his Prophecies, from first to last: And you may as well open a Lock without a Key, as interpret the Apocalypse without the Millennium. But after these two great Witnesses, the one for the Old Testament, the other for the New, we must look into the rest of the sacred Writers; for tho’ every single Author there, is an Oracle, yet the Concurrence of Oracles is still a farther Demonstration, and takes away all Remains of Doubt or Incredulity.

Chap. V

A View of other Places of Scripture concerning the Millennium or future Kingdom of Christ. In what Sense all the Prophets have borne Testimony concerning it.

The Wife of Zebedee came to our Saviour, and begg’d of him, like a fond Mother, that her two Sons might sit, one at his Right Hand, the other at his Left, when he came into his Kingdom, Matt. xx. 21. Our Saviour does not deny the Supposition, or general Ground of her Request, that he was to have a Kingdom; but tells her, the Honours of that Kingdom were not then in his Disposal. He had not drunk his Cup, nor been baptiz’d with his last Baptism; which were Conditions, both to him and others, of entring into that Kingdom. Yet, in another place, (Matt. xix. 28.) our Saviour is so well assur’d of his Interest and Authority there, by the Good-will of his Father, that he promises to his Disciples and Followers, that for the Losses they should sustain here, upon his Account, and for the Sake of his Gospel, they should receive there an hundred-fold, and sit upon Thrones with him, judging the Tribes of Israel. The Words are these: And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the Regeneration or Renovation, when the Son of Man shall sit in the Throne of his Glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones, judging 229the twelve Tribes of Israel. These Thrones, in all Reason, must be understood to be the same with those, which we mention’d in the foregoing Chapter out of Daniel vii. 9. and Apocal. xx. 4. and therefore mark the same Time, and the same State. And seeing, in those Places, they plainly signify the Millennial State, or the Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints, they must here signify the same, in this Promise of our Saviour to his suffering Followers. And as to the Word Palingenesia, which is here translated Regeneration, ’tis very well known, that both the Greek Philosophers, and Greek Fathers, use that very Word for the Renovation of the World; which is to be, as we shall hereafter make appear, at or before the Millennial State.

Our Saviour also, in his Divine Sermon upon the Mount, makes this one of his Beatitudes, Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit the Earth: But how, I pray, or where, or when, do the Meek inherit the Earth? Neither at present, I am sure, nor in any past Ages. ’Tis the great ones of the World, ambitious Princes and Tyrants, that slice the Earth amongst them; and those that can flatter them best, or serve them in their Interests or Pleasures, have the next best Shares: But a meek, modest and humble Spirit, is the most unqualified Person that can be, for a Court, or a Camp; to scramble for Preferment, or Plunder. Both he, and his self denying Notions, are ridicul’d, as Things of no Use, and proceeding from Meanness and Poorness of Spirit. David, who was a Person 230of an admirable Devotion, but of an unequal Spirit; subject to great Dejections, as well as Elevations of Mind; was so much affected with the Prosperity of the Wicked in this World, that he could scarce forbear charging Providence with Injustice. You may see several Touches of a repining Spirit in his Psalms, and in the lxxiiid Psalm, compos’d upon that Subject, you have both the Wound and the Cure. Now this Beatitude pronounc’d here by our Saviour, was spoken before by David, Psal. xxxvii. 11. the same David, that was always so sensible of the hard Usage of the Just in this Life. Our Saviour also, and his Apostles, preach’d the Doctrine of the Cross every where, and foretell the Sufferings that shall attend the Righteous in this World. Therefore neither David, nor our Saviour, could understand this Inheritance of the Earth, otherwise than of some future State, or of a State yet to come. But as it must be a future State, so it must be a terrestrial State; for it could not be call’d the Inheritance of the Earth, if it was not so. And ’tis to be a State of Peace, as well as Plenty, according to the Words of the Psalmist, But the Meek shall inherit the Earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of Peace. It follows therefore from these Premisses, that both our Saviour, and David, must understand some future State of the Earth, wherein the Meek will enjoy both Peace and Plenty; and this will appear to be the future Kingdom of Christ, when, upon a fuller Description, we shall 231have given you the Marks and Characters of it.

In the mean time, why should we not suppose this Earth, which the Meek are to inherit, to be that habitable Earth to come, which St. Paul mentions (Heb. ii. 6.) and represents as subject to our Saviour in a peculiar Manner, at his Disposal, and under his Government, as his Kingdom? Why should not that Earth be the Subject of this Beatitude, the promis’d Land, the Lot of the Righteous? This I am sure of, that both this Text and the former deserve our serious Thoughts; and tho’ they do not expresly, and in Terms, prove the future Kingdom of our Saviour, yet upon the fairest Interpretations they imply such a State. And it would be very uneasy to give a satisfactory Account, either of the Regeneration or Renovation, when our Saviour and his Disciples shall sit upon Thrones; or of that Earth which the Meek shall inherit: Or, lastly, of that habitable World, which is peculiarly subject to the Dominion of Jesus Christ, without supposing, on this side Heaven, some other Reign of Christ and his Saints, than what we see, or what they enjoy, at present.

But to proceed in this Argument, it will be necessary, as I told you, to set down some Notes and Characters of the Reign of Christ and of his Saints, whereby it may be distinguish’d from the present State and present Kingdoms of the World: And these Characters are chiefly three, Justice, Peace, and Divine Presence or Conduct, which uses to be called Theocracy. By these Characters it is sufficiently distinguish’d from the Kingdoms 232of this World; which are generally unjust in their Titles or Exercise, stain’d with Blood, and so far from being under a particular Divine Conduct, that Human Passions and Human Vices are the Springs that commonly give Motion to their greatest Designs: But more particularly and restrainedly, the Government of Christ is oppos’d to the Kingdom and Government of Antichrist, whose Characters arc diametrically opposite to these, being Injustice, Cruelty, and human or diabolical Artifices.

Upon this short View of the Kingdom of Christ, let us make Enquiry after it amongst the Prophets of the Old Testament; and we shall find, upon Examination, that there is scarce any of them, greater or lesser, but take notice of this mystical Kingdom, either expresly, or under the Types of Israel, Sion, Jerusalem, and such-like. And therefore I am apt to think, that when St. Peter, in his Sermon to the Jews, Acts iii. says, all the holy Prophets spoke of the Restitution of all Things, he does not mean the Renovation of the World separately from the Kingdom of Christ, but complexly, as it may imply both. For there are not many of the old Prophets that have spoken of the Renovation of the natural World, but a great many have spoken of the Renovation of the moral, in the Kingdom of Christ. These are St. Peter’s Words, Acts iii. 19, 20, 21. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your Sins may be blotted out, when the Times of refreshing shall come from the Presence 233of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you; whom the Heavens must receive until the Times of RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS. The Apostle here mentions three Things, the Times of refreshing, the second coming of our Saviour, and the Times of Restitution of all Things: And to the last of these he immediately subjoins, which God hath spoken by the Mouth of all his holy Prophets, since the World began. This Restitution of all Things, I say, must not be understood abstractly from the Reign of Christ, but as in Conjunction with it; and in that Sense, and no other, it is the general Subject of the Prophets.

To enter therefore into the Schools of the Prophets, and enquire their Sense concerning this Mystery, let us first address our selves to the Prophet Isaiah, and the royal Prophet David; who seem to have had many noble Thoughts or Inspirations upon this Subject. Isaiah, in the lxvth Chapter, from the xviith Verse to the End, treats upon this Argument; and joins together the Renovation of the natural and moral World, as St. Peter, in the Place fore-mentioned, seems to do: And accordingly the Prophet, having set down several natural Characters of that State, as Indolency and Joy, Longevity, Ease, and Plenty, from ver. 18. to the 24th, he there begins the moral Characters of Divine Favour, and such a particular Protection, that they are heard and answer’d before they pray. And lastly, he represents it as a State of universal Peace and Innocency, ver. 23. The Wolf and the Lamb shall feed together, &c.

234This last Character, which comprehends Peace, Justice and Innocency, is more fully display’d by the same Prophet, in the xith Chapter, where he treats also of the Kingdom of Christ. Give me leave to set down his Words, ver. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. But with Righteousness shall he judge the Poor, and reprove with Equity, for the Meek of the Earth: and he shall smite the Earth with the Rod of his Mouth, and with the Breath of his Lips shall he slay the Wicked. And Righteousness shall be the Girdle of his Loins, and Faithfulness the Girdle of his Reins. The Wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb, and the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid; and the Calf and the young Lyon, and the Fatling together, and a little Child shall lead them. And the Cow and the Bear shall feed, and their young Ones shall lie down together; and the Lyon shall eat Straw like the Ox. And the sucking Child shall play on the Hole of the Asp, and the weaned Child shall put his Hand on the Cockatrice-Den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountain; for the Earth shall be full of the Knowledge of the Lord, as the Waters cover the Sea. Thus far the Prophet. Now if we join this to what we noted before, from his lxvth Chapter, concerning the same State, ’twill be impossible to understand it of any Order of Things, that is now, or hath been hitherto in the World; And consequently it must be the Idea of some State to come, and particularly of that which we call the future Kingdom of Christ.

The same pacifick Temper, Innocency and Justice, are celebrated by this Prophet, when 235the Mountain of the Lord shall be established in the Top of the Mountains, Chap. ii. 2, 4. And he shall judge amongst the Nations, and shall rebuke many People; and they shall beat their Swords into Plow-shares, and their Spears into Pruning-hooks. Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation, neither shall they learn War any more. And as to Righteousness, he says, in the xxiiid Chapter, Behold a King shall reign in Righteousness, and Princes shall rule in Judgment, &c. These Places, I know, usually are apply’d to the first coming of our Saviour; the Peaceableness of his Doctrine, and the Propagation of it thro’ all the World. I willingly allow this to be a true Sense, so far as it will go: But ’tis one thing to be a true Sense to such a Degree, and another thing to be the final Sense and Accomplishment of a Prophecy. The Affairs of the first and second coming of our Saviour are often mingled together in the Prophecies of the Old Testament; but in that Mixture there are some Characters whereby you may distinguish what belongs to his first, and what to his second coming; what to the Time when he came to suffer, and what to the Time when he shall come to reign. For Instance, in these Prophecies recited, though there are many Things very applicable to his first coming, yet that Regality which is often spoken of, and that universal Peace and Innocency that will accompany it, cannot be verified of his coming in the Flesh, seeing it is plain, that in his State of Humiliation he did not come as a King, to 236rule over the Nations of the Earth, (Matt. xx. 21. Luke xxiii. 42.) And he says himself expresly, That his Kingdom is not of this World, John xviii. 36. And the Prayer of Salome, and of the good Thief upon the Cross, suppose it not then present, but to come. Then as to the Establishment of Peace in his Kingdom, it does not at all appear to me that there is more Peace in the World now, than there was before our Saviour came into it; or that the Christian Parts of the World are more peaceable than the Unchristian. Therefore these great Promises of a pacifick Kingdom, which are express’d in Terms as high and emphatical as can be imagin’d, must belong to some other Days, and some other Ages, than what we have seen hitherto.

You’ll say, it may be, ’Tis not the Fault of the Gospel that the World is not peaceable, but of those that profess it, and do not practice it. This is true, but it does not answer the Prophecy; for that makes no Exception, and by such a Reserve as this, you may elude any Prophecy. So the Jews say, their Messiah defers his coming beyond the Time appointed by Prophecy, because of their Sins; but we do not allow this for a good Reason. The Israelites had their promised Canaan, tho’ they had render’d themselves unworthy of it; and by this Method of interpreting Prophecies, all the Happiness and Glory promised in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ may come to nothing, upon a pretended Forfeiture. Threatnings indeed may have a tacit Condition; God may be better than his Word, and, upon 237Repentance, divert his Judgments; but he cannot be worse than his Word, or fail of Performance, when, without any Condition express’d, he promises or prophecies good Things to come: This would destroy all Assurance of Hope or Faith. Lastly, this Prophecy concerning pacifick Times or a pacifick Kingdom, is in the lxvth Chapter of Isaiah, subjoin’d to the Renovation of the Heavens and the Earth, and several Marks of a Change in the natural World; which Things we know did not come to pass at the first coming of our Saviour; there was no Change of Nature then, nor has been ever since: And therefore this happy Change, both in the natural and moral World, is yet to come.

But, as we said before, we do not speak this exclusively of the first coming of our Saviour, as to other Parts of these Prophecies; for no doubt that was one great Design of them. And in the Prophecies of the Old Testament, there are often three Gradations, or gradual Accomplishments; the first, in some King of Israel, or some Person or Affair relating to Israel, as National only: The second, in the Messiah at his first coming: And the last, in the Messiah, and his Kingdom at his second coming. And that which we affirm and contend for, is, that the Prophecies fore-mentioned have not a final and total Accomplishment, either in the Nation of the Jews, or at the first coming of our Saviour; and this we abide by.

The next Prophet that we mention’d as a Witness of the future Kingdom of Christ, is David; who, in his Psalms, seems to be pleas’d 238with this Subject above all others: And when he is most exalted in his Thoughts and prophetical Raptures, the Spirit carries him into the Kingdom of the Messiah, to contemplate its Glory, to sing Praises to its King, and triumph over his Enemies, Psal. lxviii. Let God arise, let his Enemies be scattered; Let them also that hate him flee before him: As Smoak is driven away, so drive them away; at Wax melteth before the Fire, so let the Wicked perish at the Presence of God: But let the Righteous be glad, &c. The plain Ground he goes upon in this Psalm, is the Deliverance out of Ægypt, and bringing the Israelites into the Land of Canaan; but when he is once upon the Wing, he soars to an higher Pitch (ver. 18.) from the Type to the Antitype; to the Days of the Messiah, the Ascension of our Saviour; and, at length, to his Kingdom and Dominion over all the Earth, ver. 32, &c. The xlvth Psalm is an Epithalamium to Christ and the Church, or to the Lamb and his Spouse. And when that will be, and in what State, we may learn from St. John, Apoc., xix. 7, 8. and chap. xix. 2, 9. Namely, after the Destruction of Babylon, in the New Jerusalem’s Glory. The Words and Matter of the two Prophets, answer to one another. Here, in this Psalm, there is a Fight and Victory celebrated as well as a Marriage; and so there is in that xixth Chapter of Saint John. Here the Prophet says, Gird thy Sword upon thy Thigh, O most Mighty, with thy Glory and thy Majesty. And in thy Majesty ride prosperously because of 239Truth and Meekness and Righteousness; and thy right Hand shall teach thee terrible Things. Thy Throne, O God, is for ever and ever: The Scepter of thy Kingdom is a right Scepter, &c. Psal. xlv. 3, 4, 6. There St. John says, having describ’d a Conqueror on a white Horse, Out of his Mouth goeth a sharp Sword, that with it he should smite the Nations, and he shall rule them with a Rod of Iron; and he treadeth the Wine-press of the Fierceness and Wrath of Almighty God: And he hath on his Vesture, and on his Thigh a Name written, KING of KINGS, and LORD of LORDS, Apoc. xix. 15, 16. This is the same glorious Conqueror and Bridegroom in both Places; and this Victory is not gain’d, nor these Nuptials compleated, till the second Coming of our Saviour.

In many other Psalms there are Reflections upon this happy Kingdom, and the Triumph of Christ over his Enemies, as Psal. ii. Psal. ix. Psal. xxi. and xxiv. and xlvii. and lxxxv. and cx. and others. In these, and such-like Psalms, there are Lineaments and Colours of a fairer State than any we have yet seen upon Earth. Not but that in their first Instances and Grounds they may sometimes respect the State of Israel, or the Evangelical State; but the Eye of the Prophet goes farther; this does not terminate his Sight: His Divine Enthusiasm reaches into another World; a World of Peace, and Justice, and Holiness; of Joy, and Victory, and Triumph over all the Wicked; and consequently such a World, as neither we nor our Fathers, have yet seen. This is an Account of two Prophets David, 240and Isaiah; and of what they have more openly declar’d concerning the future Kingdom of Christ. But to verify St. Peter’s Words, in that fore-mention’d Place, Acts iii. 21. viz. That all of the Holy Prophets since the World began, have spoken of the Restauration of all Things at the second coming of Christ. I say, to verify this Assertion of St. Peter, we must suppose, that, where the Prophets speak of the Restauration and future Glory of Judah and Jerusalem, they do, under those Types, represent to us the Glory and Happiness of the Church in the future Kingdom of Christ: And most of the Prophets, in this Sense, and under these Forms, have spoken of this Kingdom; in foretelling the Restauration of Jerusalem and Sion; and happy Days, Peace, Plenty, and Prosperity to the People of Israel.

Most of the Prophets, I say, from Moses to Malachi, have spoken of this Restauration. Moses, in the xxxth of Deut. ver. 4, 5, 9. David also in many of those Psalms we have cited: Isaiah, besides the Places fore-mentioned, treats amply of this Subject, chap. li. and in several other Places. So likewise the Prophets Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachary, Malachi: All these have, either expresly, or under the Types of Jerusalem and Sion, foretold happy 241Days, and a glorious Triumph to the Church of God. And seeing in the New Testament, and in the Prophecies of St. John, the Christian Church is still represented, as under Persecution and Distress, till the Fall of Anti-christ, and the millennial Kingdom; ’tis then, and not till then, that we must expect the full Accomplishment of these Prophecies; the Restauration that St. Peter says was spoken of, by all the Prophets; and the Mystery, which St. John says (Apoc. x. 7.) was declared by his Servants the Prophets, and would be finish’d under the seventh Trumpet, which ushers in the Kingdom of Christ.

It would be too long to examine all these Places in the Prophets, which you may consult at Leisure. However, it cannot seem strange that Jerusalem should be us’d in a typical or allegorical Sense, seeing we often find such Applications of it in the New Testament; as Gal. iv. 26. Heb. xii. 22. Apoc. iii. 12. And ’tis very natural that Jerusalem restor’d, should signify the same thing as new Jerusalem; and therefore that St. John, by his new Jerusalem, intended the same thing, or the same State, that the antient Prophets did by their Restauration of Jerusalem. And it neither can be understood in a literal Sense, which, I believe, you will not contend for, they must both be interpreted of the future Happiness and Glory of the Church in the Kingdom of Christ.

But to conclude this Point wholly as to Scripture; if we make Reflection upon all the Passages alledged in this and the foregoing Chapter, 242whether out of the Old or New Testament, we must at least acknowledge thus much, that there are happy Days, at one time or other: Days of Peace and Righteousness; of Joy and Triumph, of external Prosperity, and internal Sanctity; when Virtue and Innocency shall be in the Throne, and Vice and vicious Men out of Power or Credit. That there are such happy Days prophesied of in Scripture, and promised to the Church of God. Whether you call this the Reign of Christ and of his Saints or by any other Name, it is not material at present to determine; let the Title be what you will, as to the Substance it cannot be denied to be a general Doctrine of prophetical Scripture. And we must not imagine, that the Prophets wrote like the Poets; feigned an Idea of a romantick State, that never was, nor ever will be, only to please their own Fancies, or the credulous People. Neither is it the State of Heaven and eternal Life that is here meant or intended: For, besides that they had little or no Light concerning those Notions, in the Old Testament, the Prophets generally, in their Description of this Happiness, either express the Earth, or at least give plain Marks of a terrestrial State. Wherefore, the only Question that remains, is this, Whether these happy Days are past already, or to come? Whether this blessed State of the Church is behind us, or before us? Whether our Predecessors have enjoyed it, or our Posterity is to expect it? For we are very sure that it is not present. The World is full of Wars, and Rumours 243of Wars; of Vice and Knavery, of Oppression and Persecution: and these are things directly contrary to the Genius and Characters of the State which we look after.

And if we look for it in Times past, we can go no farther back than the beginning of Christianity. For St. John, the last of the Apostles, prophesied of these Times, as to come; and plac’d them at the End of his System of Prophecies; whereby one might conclude, that they are not only within the Compass of the Christian Ages, but far advanc’d into them. But however, not to insist upon that at present, where will you find a thousand Years, from the Birth of Christianity to this present Age, that deserves the Name, or answers to the Characters of this pure and pacifick State of the Church? The first Ages of Christianity, as they were the most pure, so likewise were they the least peaceable; continually, more or less, under the Persecution of the Heathen Emperors; and so far from being the Reign and Empire of Christ and his Saints over the Nations, that Christians were then, every where, in Subjection or Slavery; a poor, feeble, helpless People, thrust into Prisons, or thrown to the Lions, at the Pleasure of their Princes or Rulers. ’Tis true, when the Empire became Christian under Constantine, in the fourth Century, there was, for a time, Peace and Prosperity in the Church, and a good Degree of Purity and Piety; but that Peace was soon disturb’d, and that Piety soon corrupted. The growing Pride and Ambition of the Ecclesiasticks, and their easiness to admit or introduce 244superstitious Practices, destroy’d the Purity of the Church. And as to the Peace of it, their Contests about Opinions and Doctrines, tore the Christians themselves into Pieces; and, soon after, an Inundation of barbarous People fell into Christendom, and put it all into Flames and Confusion. After this Eruption of the Northern Nations, Mahometanism rose in the East; and swarms of Saracens, like Armies of Locusts, invaded, conquer’d, and planted their Religion in several Parts of the Roman Empire, and of the Christianiz’d World. And can we call such Times the Reign of Christ, or the Imprisonment of Satan? In the following Ages, the Turks overran the Eastern Empire and the Greek Church, and still hold that miserable People in Slavery. Providence seems to have so order’d Affairs, that the Christian World should be never without a WOE upon it, lest it should fancy it self already in those happy Days of Peace and Prosperity, which are reserv’d for future Times. Lastly, whosoever is sensible of the Corruptions and Persecutions of the Church of Rome, since she came to her Greatness; whosoever allows her to be Mystical Babylon, which must fall before the Kingdom of Christ comes on, will think that Kingdom duly plac’d by St. John at the End of his Prophecies, concerning the Christian Church; and that there still remains, according to the Words of St. Paul, (Heb. iv. 9.) a Sabbatism to the People of God.

Chap. IV

The Sense and Testimony of the Primitive Church concerning the Millennium, or future Kingdom of Christ; from the Times of the Apostles to the Nicene Council. The second Proposition laid down. When, by what Means, and for what Reasons, that Doctrine was afterwards neglected or discountenanc’d.

You have heard the Voice of the Prophets and Apostles, declaring the future Kingdom of Christ: Next to these, the Primitive Fathers are accounted of good Authority; let us therefore now enquire into their Sense concerning this Doctrine, that we may give Satisfaction to all Parties; and both those that are guided by Scripture alone, and those that have a Veneration for Antiquity, may find Proofs suitable to their Inclinations and Judgment.

And to make few Words of it, we will lay down this Conclusion; That the millennial Kingdom of Christ was the general Doctrine of the Primitive Church, from the Times of the Apostles to the Nicene Council, inclusively. St. John out-liv’d all the rest of the Apostles, and towards the latter end of his Life, being banish’d into the Isle of Pathmos, he wrote his Apocalypse; wherein he hath given us a more full and distinct Account of the millennial Kingdom of Christ, than any of the Prophets or Apostles before him. Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis, and Martyr, one of St. John’s Auditors, as Ireneus testifies, Iren. Lib 5. c. 33. taught the same 246Doctrine after St. John. He was the familiar Friend of Polycarp, another of St. John’s Disciples; and either from him, or immediately from St. John’s Mouth, he might receive this Doctrine. That he taught it in the Church, is agreed on by all Hands; both by those that are his Followers, as Irenæus; and those that are not Well-wishers to this Doctrine, as Eusebius and Jerome.

There is also another Channel wherein this Doctrine is traditionally deriv’d from St. John, namely, by the Clergy of Asia; as Irenæus tells us in the same Chapter. For, arguing the Point, he shews that the Blessing promis’d to Jacob from his Father Isaac, was not made good to him in this Life, and therefore he says, without doubt those Words had a farther Aim and Prospect upon the Times of the Kingdom: (so they us’d to call the millennial State) when the Just rising from the Dead, shall reign; and when Nature renew’d and set at Liberty, shall yield Plenty and Abundance of all things; being blest with the Dew of Heaven, and a great Fertility of the Earth according as has been related by those Ecclesiaticks or Clergy, who saw S. John, the Disciple of Christ; and heard of him WHAT OUR LORD HAD TAUGHT CONCERNING THOSE TIMES. This you see, goes to the Fountain Head: The Christian Clergy receive it from St. John, and St. John relates it from the Mouth of our Saviour.

So much for the original Authority of this Doctrine, as a Tradition; that it was from St. John, and by him from Christ. And as to 247the Propagation and prevailing of it in the Primitive Church, we can bring a Witness beyond all exception, Justin Martyr, cotemporary with Irenæus, and his Senior. He says, that himself, and all the Orthodox Christians of his Time, did acknowledge the Resurrection of the Flesh (suppose the first Resurrection) and a thousand Years reign in Jerusalem restor’d, or in the new Jerusalem, Dial. with Tryphon the Jew. According as the Prophets Ezekiel, and Isaiah, and others, attest with common Consent. As St. Peter had said before, Acts iii. 21. That all the Prophets had spoken of it. Then he quotes the lxvth Chapter of Isaiah, which is a Bulwark for this Doctrine, that never can be broken. And to shew the Jew, with whom he had this Discourse, that it was the Sense of our Prophets, as well as of theirs, he tells him, that a certain Man amongst us Christians, by Name John, one of the Apostles of Christ, in a Revelation made to him did prophesy, that the faithful Believers in Christ should live a thousand Years in the New Jerusalem; and after that should be the general Resurrection and Day of Judgment. Thus you have the Thoughts and Sentiments of Justin Martyr, as to himself; as to all the reputed Orthodox of his Time; as to the Sense of the Prophets in the Old Testament, and as to the Sense of St. John in the Apocalypse; all conspiring in Confirmation of the millennary Doctrine.

To these three Witnesses, Papias, Irenæus and Justin Martyr, we may add two more within the second Age of the Church; Melito, 248Bishop of Sardis, and St. Barnabas, or whosoever was the Author of the Epistle under his Name. This Melito, by some, is thought to be the Angel of the Church of Sardis, to whom St. John directs the Epistle to that Church, Apoc. iii. 1. but I do not take him to be so ancient; however, he was Bishop of that Place, at least in the second Century, and a Person of great Sanctity and Learning: He wrote many Books, as you may see in St. Jerome; and, as he notes out of Tertullian, was by most Christians reputed a Prophet (De Script. Eccles. Dogm. Eccl. c. lv.) He was also a declar’d Millennary, and is recorded as such, both by Jerome and Gennadius. As to the Epistle of Barnabas, which we mention’d, it must be very ancient, whosoever is the Author of it, and before the third Century; seeing it is often cited by Clemens Alexandrinus, who was himself within the second Century: The Genius of it is very much Millennarian, in the Interpretation of the Sabbath, the promis’d Land, a Day for a thousand Years, and concerning the Renovation of the World. In all which, he follows the Footsteps of the Orthodox of those Times; that is, of the Millennarians.

So much for the first and second Centuries of the Church. By which short Account it appears, that the millennary Doctrine was Orthodox and Catholick in those early Days; for these Authors do not set it down as a private Opinion of their own, but as a Christian Doctrine, or an Apostolical Tradition. ’Tis remarkable 249what Papias says of himself, and his way of Learning, in his Book call’d, The Explanation of the Words of the Lord, as St. Jerome gives an Account of it: (De Script. Eccles.) He says in his Preface, He did not follow various Opinions, but had the Apostles for his Authors: And that he consider’d what Andrew, and what Peter said; what Philip, what Thomas, and other Disciples of the Lord; as also what Aristion, and John the Senior, Disciples of the Lord, what they spoke. And that he did not profit so much by reading Books, as by the living Voice of these Persons, which resounded from them to that Day. This hath very much the Air of Truth and Sincerity, and of a Man that, in good earnest, sought after the Christian Doctrine, from those that were the most authentick Teachers of it. I know Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History, gives a double Character of this Papias; in one Place he calls him, A very eloquent Man in all Things, and skilful in Scripture; and in another, he makes him a Man of a small Understanding, (Vid. Hieron. Epist. 28. ad Lucinium.) But what Reason there is to suspect Eusebius of Partiality in this Point of the Millennium, we shall make appear hereafter. However, we do not depend upon the Learning of Papias, or the Depth of his Understanding; allow him but to be an honest Man and a fair Witness, and ’tis all we desire. And we have little reason to question his Testimony in this Point, seeing it is back’d by others of good Credit; and all because 250there is no Counter-Evidence, nor any Witness that appears against him: For there is not extant, either the Writing, Name, or Memory, of any Person that contested this Doctrine in the first or second Century: I say, that call’d in question this millennary Doctrine, propos’d after a Christian Manner, unless such Hereticks as denied the Resurrection wholly, or such Christians as deny’d the Divine Authority of the Apocalypse.

We proceed now to the third Century; where you find Tertullian, Origen, Victorinus, Bishop and Martyr; Nepos Ægyptius, Cyprian, and, at the End of it, Lactantius; all openly professing, or implicitly favouring, the millennary Doctrine. We do not mention Clemens Alexandrinus, contemporary with Tertullian, because he hath not any thing, that I know of, expresly either for, or against the Millennium: But he takes notice that the Seventh Day hath been accounted Sacred, both by the Hebrews and Greeks, because of the Revolution of the World, and the Renovation of all Things. And giving this as a Reason why they kept that Day holy, seeing there is not a Revolution of the World, every seven Days, it can be in no other Sense than as the Seventh Day represents the seventh Millennary, in which the Renovation of the World and the Kingdom of Christ, is to be. As to Tertullian, St. Jerome reckons him, in the first place, amongst the Latin Millennaries. And tho’ his Book, about the Hope of the Faithful, as also that about Paradise, which should have given 251us the greatest Light in this Affair, be both lost or suppress’d; yet there are sufficient Indications of his millennary Opinion in his Tracts against Marcion, and against Hermogenes. St. Cyprian was Tertullian’s Admirer, and inclines to the same Opinion, so far as one can judge, in this particular; for his Period of six thousand Years, and making the seventh Millennary the consummation of all, is wholly according to the Analogy of the millennary Doctrine. As to the two Bishops, Victorinus and Nepos, St. Jerome vouches for them: The Writings of the one are lost, and of the other so chang’d, that the Sense of the Author does not appear there now. But Lactantius, whom we nam’d in the last Place, does openly and profusely teach this Doctrine, in his Divine Institutions, (Book vii.) and with the same Assurance that he does other Parts of the Christian Doctrine; for he concludes thus, speaking of the Millennium, This is the Doctrine of the holy Prophets, which we Christians follow; this is our Wisdom, &c. Yet he acknowledges there, that it was kept as a Mystery or Secret amongst the Christians, lest the Heathens should make any perverse or odious Interpretation of it. And for the same or like Reason, I believe, the Book of the Apocalypse was kept out of the Hands of the Vulgar for some time, and not read publickly, lest it should be found to have spoken too openly of the Fate of the Roman Empire, or of this millennial State.

So much for the first, second, and third 252Centuries of the Church: But by our Conclusion, we engag’d to make out this Proof as far as the Nicene Council, inclusively. The Nicene Council was about the Year of Christ 325. and we may reasonably suppose Lactantius was then living; at least he came within the Time of Constantine’s Empire. But however, the Fathers of that Council are themselves our Witnesses in this Point; for in their Ecclesiastical Forms or Constitutions, in the Chapter about the Providence of God, and about the World, they speak thus: The World was made meaner, or less perfect, providentially; for God foresaw that Man would Sin: Wherefore we expect new Heavens and a new Earth, according to the holy Scriptures, at the Appearance and Kingdom of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ. And then, as Daniel says (chap. vii. 18.) The Saints of the most High shall take the Kingdom, and the Earth shall be pure, holy, the Land of the Living, not of the Dead. Which David foreseeing by the Eye of Faith, cries out, (Psal. xxvii. 13.) I believe to see the good Things of the Lord, in the Land of the Living. Our Saviour says, happy are the Meek, for they shall inherit the Earth, Mat. v. 5. And the Prophet Isaiah says, (Chap. xxvi. 6.) the Feet of the meek and lowly shall tread upon it. So you see, according to the Judgment of these Fathers, there will be a Kingdom of Christ upon Earth; and moreover, that it will be in the new Heavens and the new Earth: And, in both these Points, they cite the Prophets, and our Saviour in Confirmation of them.

253Thus we have discharg’d our Promise, and given you an account of the Doctrine of the Millennium, or future Kingdom of Christ, throughout the three first Ages of the Church, before any considerable Corruptions were crept into the Christian Religion. And those Authorities of single and successive Fathers, we have seal’d up all together, with the Declaration of the Nicene Fathers, in a Body. Those that think Tradition a Rule of Faith, or a considerable Motive to it, will find it hard to turn off the Force of these Testimonies: And those that do not go so far, but yet have a Reverence for Antiquity and the Primitive Church, will not easily produce better Authorities, more early, more numerous, or more uncontradicted, for any Article that is not fundamental: Yet these are but Seconds to the Prophets and Apostles, who are truly the Principals in this Cause. I will leave them all together, to be examin’d and weigh’d by the impartial Reader. And because they seem to me to make a full and undeniable Proof, I will now, at the Foot of the Account, set down our second Proposition, which is this, That there is a millennial State, or a future Kingdom of Christ and his Saints, prophesied of and promised, in the Old and New Testament; and receiv’d by the Primitive Church as a Christian and Catholick Doctrin. (Propos. I.)

Having dispatch’d this main Point; to conclude the Chapter and this Head of our Discourse, it will be some Satisfaction 254possibly to see, How a Doctrine so generally receiv’d and approv’d came to decay, and almost wear out of the Church, in following Ages. The Christian millennary Doctrine was not call’d into Question, so far as appears from History, before the middle of the third Century; when Dionysius Alexandrinus wrote against Nepos, an Ægyptian Bishop, who had declar’d himself upon that Subject. But we do not find that this Book had any great Effect; for the Declaration or Constitution of the Nicene Fathers was after; and in St. Jerome’s Time, who wrote towards the End of the fourth Century, this Doctrine had so much Credit, that he, who was its greatest Adversary, yet durst not condemn it, as he says himself; Quæ licet non sequamur, tamen damnare non possumus; quia multi Ecclesiasticorum virorum & martyres ista dixerunt: Which Things or Doctrines, speaking of the Millennium, tho’ we do not follow, yet we cannot condemn; because many of our Churchmen, and Martyrs have affirmed these things. And when Apollinarius reply’d to that Book of Dionysius, St. Jerome says, that, not only those of his own Sect, but a great Multitude of other Christians did agree with Apollinarius in that particular: Ut presagâ mente jam cernam, quantorum in me rabies concitanda sit; That now I foresee, how many will be enrag’d against me, for what I have spoken against the millennary Doctrine.

We may therefore conclude that in St. Jerome’s Time the Millennaries made the greater 255Party in the Church; for a little Matter would not have frighted him from censuring their Opinions. St. Jerome was a rough and rugged Saint, and an unfair Adversary, that usually run down with Heat and Violence, what stood in his Way. As to his Unfairness, he shews it sufficiently in this very Cause, for he generally represents the millennary Doctrine after a Judaical, rather than a Christian Manner. And in reckoning up the chief Patrons of it, he always skips Justin Martyr; who was not a Man so obscure as to be over-look’d: And he was a Man that had declar’d himself sufficiently upon this Point; for he says, Both himself and all the Orthodox of his time, were of that Judgment, and applies both the Apocalypse of St. John, and the lxvth Chapter of Isaiah, for the Proof of it; as we noted before.

As St. Jerome was an open Enemy to this Doctrine, so Eusebius was a back Friend to it; and represented every thing to its Disadvantage, so far as was tolerably consistent with the Fairness of an Historian. He gives a slight Character of Papias, without any Authority for it; and brings in one Gaius, that makes Cerinthus to be the Author of the Apocalypse and of the Millennium (Eccles. Hist. l. iii. c. 32.) and calls the Visions there, Τερετολογίας, monstrous Stories. He himself is willing to shuffle off that Book from John the Evangelist to another John a Presbyter; and to shew his Skill in the Interpretation of it, (l. 3. c. 32. de vit. Constan.) he makes the new Jerusalem in the xxith Chapter to be Constantine’s Jerusalem, 256when he turn’d the Heathen Temples there into Christian: A wonderful Invention. As St. Jerome by his Flouts, so Eusebius, by sinister Insinuations, endeavour’d to lessen the Reputation of this Doctrine; and the Art they both us’d was, to misrepresent it as Judaical. But we must not cast off every Doctrine which the Jews believ’d, only for that Reason; for we have the same Oracles which they had, and the same Prophets; and they have collected from them the same general Doctrine that we have, namely, that there will be an happy and pacifick State of the Church, in future Times. But as to the Circumstances of this State we differ very much: They suppose the Mosaical Law will be restor’d, with all its Pomp, Rites, and Ceremonies: whereas we suppose the Christian Worship, or something more perfect, will then take Place. Yet St. Jerome has the Confidence, even there where he speaks of the many Christian Clergy and Martyrs that held this Doctrine; has the Confidence, I say, to represent it, as if they held that Circumcision, Sacrifices, and all the Judaical Rites, should then be restor’d. Which seems to me to be a great Slander, and a great Instance how far Mens Passions will carry them, in misrepresenting an Opinion, which they have a Mind to disgrace.

But as we have Reason to blame the Partiality of those that opposed this Doctrine; so, on the other Hand, we cannot excuse the Patrons of it from all Indiscretions. I believe they might partly themselves make it obnoxious; 257by mixing some things with it, from pretended Traditions, or the Books of the Sybills, or other private Authorities, that had so sufficient warrant from Scripture; and things, sometimes, that Nature would not easily bear. Besides, in latter Ages, they seem to have dropt one half of the Doctrine, namely, the Renovation of Nature, which Irenæus, Justin Martyr, and the Antients, join inseparably with the Millennium: And by this Omission, the Doctrine hath been made less intelligible, and one Part of it inconsistent with another. And when their Pretensions were to reign upon this present Earth, and in this present State of Nature, it gave a Jealousy to temporal Princes, and gave occasion likewise to many of Fanatical Spirits, under the Notion of Saints, to aspire to Dominion, after a violent and tumultuary Manner. This I reckon as one great Cause that brought the Doctrine into Discredit. But I hope by reducing of it to the true State, we shall cure this and other Abuses for the future.

Lastly, It never pleas’d the Church of Rome; and so far as the Influence and Authority of that would go, you may be sure it would be depress’d and discountenanced. I never yet met with a Popish Doctor that held the Millennium; and Baronius would have it to pass for an Heresy, and Papias for the Inventor of it; whereas, if Irenæus may be credited, it was receiv’d from St. John, and by him from the Mouth of our Saviour. And neither St. Jerome, nor his friend Pope Damasus, durst 258ever condemn it for an Heresy. It was always indeed uneasy, and gave Offence to the Church of Rome; because it does not suit to that Scheme of Christianity, which they have drawn. They suppose Christ reigns already, by his Vicar, the Pope; and treads upon the Necks of Emperors and Kings: And if they could but suppress the Northern Heresy, as they call it, they do not know what a Millennium would signify, or how the Church could be in an happier Condition than she is. The Apocalyse of St. John does suppose the true Church under hardship and Persecution, more or less, for the greatest Part of the Christian Ages; namely, for 1260 Years, while the Witnesses are in sack-cloth. But the Church of Rome hath been in prosperity and Greatness, and the commanding Church in Christendom, for so long, or longer, and hath rul’d the Nations with a Rod of Iron; so as that Mark of the true Church does not favour her at all. And the Millennium being properly a Reward and Triumph for those that come out of Persecution, such as have liv’d always in Pomp and Prosperity, can pretend to no Share in it, or Benefit by it. This has made the Church of Rome have always an ill Eye upon this Doctrine, because it seem’d to have an ill Eye upon her; And as she grew in Splendor and Greatness, she eclips’d and obscur’d it more and more; so that it would have been lost out of the World as an obsolete Error, it it had not been revived by some of the Reformation.

Chap. VII

The true State of the Millennium, according to Characters taken from Scripture; some Mistakes concerning it examin’d.

We have made sufficient Proof of a millennial State, from Scripture and Antiquity; and upon that firm Basis have settled our second Proposition. We should now determine the Time and Place of this future Kingdom of Christ: not whether it is to be in Heaven, or upon Earth; for that we suppose determin’d already; but whether it is to be in the present Earth, and under the present Constitution of Nature, or in the new Heavens, and new Earth, which are promis’d after the Conflagration: This is to make our third Proposition: And I should have proceeded immediately to the Examination of it, but that I imagine it will give us some Light in this Affair, if we enquire farther into the true State of the Millennium, before we determine its Time and Place.

We have already noted some moral Characters of the millennial State; and the great natural Character of it is this in general, that it will be Paradisaical; free from all Inconveniencies, either of external Nature, or of our own Bodies. For my part, I do not understand, how there can be any considerable Degree of Happiness without Indolency; nor how there can be Indolency, while we have 260such Bodies as we have now, and such an external Constitution of Nature. And as there must be Indolency, where there is Happiness; so there must not be Indigency, or want of any due Comforts of Life: For where there is Indigency, there is Solicitude, and Distraction, and Uneasiness, and Fear; Passions that do as naturally disquiet the Soul, as Pain does the Body. Therefore Indolency and Plenty seem to be two essential Ingredients of every happy State; and these two, in Conjunction, make that State we call Paradisaical.

Now the Scripture seems plainly to exempt the Sons of the new Jerusalem, or of the Millennium, from all Pain or Want, in those Words, Apoc. xxi. 4. And God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes: And there shall be no more Death, neither Sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more Pain: For the former Things are passed away. And the Lord of that Kingdom, He that sat upon the Throne, said, Behold I make all Things new, ver. 5. This Renovation is a Restauration to some former State; and I hope, not that State of Indigency and Misery, and Diseasedness, which we languish under at present; but to that pristine Paradisaical State, which was the Blessing of the first Heavens and the first Earth.

As Health and Plenty are the Blessings of Nature; so, in Civil Affairs, Peace is the greatest Blessing: And this is inseparably annex’d to the Millennium; an indelible Character of the Kingdom of Christ. And by Peace, we understand not only Freedom from Persecution 261upon religious Accounts, but that Nation shall not rise up against Nation, upon any Account whatsoever. That bloody Monster, War, that hath devoured so many Millions of the Sons of Adam, is now at length to be chain’d up; and the Furies, that run throughout the Earth, with their Snakes and Torches, shall be thrown into the Abyss, to sting and prey upon one another: All evil and mischievous Passions shall be extinguished; and that not in Men only, but even in brute Creatures, according to the Prophets. The Lamb and the Lion shall lie down together, and the sucking Child shall play with the Basilisk. Happy Days, when not only the Temple of Janus shall be shut up for a thousand Years, and the Nations shall beat their Swords into Plowshares; but all Enmities and Antipathies shall cease, all Acts of Hostility, throughout all Nature. And this universal Peace is a Demonstration also of the former Character, universal Plenty; for where there is a Want and Necessitousness, there will be quarrelling.

Fourthly, ’Tis a Kingdom of Righteousness, as well as of Peace: these also must go together: For unrighteous Persons will not live long in Peace, no more than indigent Persons. The Psalmist therefore joins them together; and Plenty, also, as their necessary Preservative, in his Description of the Kingdom of Christ, Psal. lxxxv. 10, 11, 12. Mercy and Truth are met together: Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the Earth, and Righteousness shall look down 262from Heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give good, and our Land shall yield her Increase. This will not be a Medley-State, as the present World is, good and bad mingled together; but a chosen Generation, a royal Priesthood, an holy Nation, a peculiar People. Those that have a Part in the first Resurrection, the Scripture pronounceth them Holy and Blessed; and says, The second Death shall have no Power over them. Satan is also bound and shut up in the bottomless Pit, and has no Liberty of tempting or seducing this People, for a thousand Years: but at the End of that Time, he will meet with a degenerate Crew, separate and Aliens to the holy City, that will make War against it, and perish in the Attempt. In a word, those that are to enjoy this State, are always distinguish’d from the Multitude, as People redeemed from the Earth, (Apoc. v. 9.) that have wash’d their Robes, and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb; and are represented as Victors over the World; with such other Characters as are incompatible to any but the Righteous, ch. vii. 14. ch. xiv. 3, 4. ch. xxi. 27.

Fifthly, This will be a State under a peculiar divine Presence and Conduct. It is not easy indeed to determine the Manner of this Presence; but the Scripture plainly implies some extraordinary divine Presence to enlighten and enliven that State. When the new Jerusalem was come down, St. John says, Apoc. xxi. 3. And I heard a great voice out of Heaven, saying, behold the Tabernacle of God is with Men; and he will dwell with them, and 263they shall be his People; and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And the like is promis’d to the Palm-bearing Company, ch. vii. 19. where they are admitted to the Privileges of the new Jerusalem. When our Saviour was incarnate, and vouchsafed to dwell amongst the Children of Men, the same Phrase is us’d by this same Author, ἐσχήνωσε. Joh. i. 14. The Word was made Flesh, and tabernacled amongst us; and we beheld his Glory, &c. We read it, He dwelt amongst us, but render’d more closely, it is, He set his Tabernacle amongst us. And that which the Hebrews call the שכינה Shekinah, or divine Presence, Maimon. Mor. Nev. par. 1. c. 25 comes from a Word of the like Signification and Sound with the Greek Word here us’d. Therefore there will be a Shekinah in that Kingdom of Christ; but as to the Mode of it, I am very willing to confess my Ignorance.

The last Character that belongs to this State, or rather to those that enjoy it, is, that they are Kings and Priests unto God. This is a Character often repeated in Scripture, and therefore the more to be regarded. It occurs thrice in the Apocalypse in formal Terms, ch. i. 6. ch. v. 10. ch. xx. 6. And as to the Regal Dignity apart, that is farther exprest, either by the Donation of a Kingdom, as in Daniel’s Phrase, chap. vii. 18, 22, 27. Or by placing upon Thrones, with a judicial Power; which is the New Testament Style, Mat. xix. 28. Luke xxii. 29, 30. Rev. xx. 4. These two Titles, no doubt, are intended to comprehend the highest Honours that we are capable of; these being the 264highest Dignities in every Kingdom; and such as were by the Antients, both in the East and in the West, commonly united in one and the same Person; Their Kings being Priests, like Melchisedeck, or, as the Roman Emperor was, Pontifex Maximus. But as to the sacerdotal Character, that seems chiefly to respect the Temper of the Mind; to signify a People dedicated to God and his Service, separate from the World, and from secular Affairs, spending their time in Devotion and Contemplation, which will be the great Employments of that happy State. For where there is Ease, Peace, and Plenty of all Things, refin’d Bodies, and purified Minds, there will be more Inclination to intellectual Exercises and Entertainments; which they may attend upon, without any Distraction, having neither Want, Pain, nor worldly Business.

The Title of King implies a Confluence of all Things that constitute temporal Happiness. ’Tis the highest thing we can wish any in this World, to be a King; So as the Regal Dignity seems to comprehend all the Goods of Fortune, or external Felicity, and the Sacerdotal, the Goods of the Mind, or internal; both which concur in the Constitution of true Happiness. There is also a further Force and Emphasis in this Notion of the Saints being made Kings, if we consider it comparatively, with respect to what they were before in this World; where they were not only mean and despicable, in Subjection and Servility, but often under Persecution, abus’d and trampled upon by the Secular and Ecclesiastical Powers. But now the 265Scene is chang’d, and you see the reverse of Providence, according as Abraham said to the Rich-Man; Son, remember that thou in thy Life time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. Now they are set upon Thrones and Tribunals, who were before arraigned as Criminals, and brought before tyrannical Judicatures: They are now Laws and Law-givers to themselves, in a true State of Royal Liberty, neither under the Domination of evil Men, nor of their own evil Passions.

Some possibly may think, that this high Character of being made Priests and Kings to God, is not general to all that enjoy the Millennium; but a Prerogative belonging to the Apostles and some of the chief Martyrs, who are eminently rewarded for their eminent Services. But Scripture as far as I perceive, applies it to all that inherit that Kingdom. The redeemed out of every Kindred, and Tongue, and People, and Nation, are made Kings and Priests to God, and shall reign on the Earth, Apoc. v. 9, 10, And in the xxth chap. ver. 6. all the Sons of the first Resurrection are made Priests of God, and shall reign with him a thousand Years. Here is no Distinction or Discrimination thus far: Not that we suppose an unversal Equality of Conditions in the millennial State; but as to all these Characters which we have given of it, I do not perceive that they are restrain’d or confin’d by Scripture to single Persons, but make the general Happiness of that State, and are the Portion of every one that is admitted into the new Jerusalem.

266Others possibly may think that this Privilege of the first Resurrection is not common to all that enjoy the millennial State. For tho’ St. John, who is the only Person that hath made express mention of the first Resurrection, and of the thousand Years Reign of Christ, does join these two as the same thing, and common to the same Persons; yet I know there are some that would distinguish them as things of a different Extent, and also of a different Nature. They suppose the Martyrs only will rise from the Dead, and will be immediately translated into Heaven, and there pass their Millennium in celestial Glory; while the Church is still here below, in her Millennium, such as it is: A State indeed better than ordinary, and free from Persecution, but obnoxious to all the Inconveniences of our present mortal Life, and a Medley of good and bad People, without Separation. This is such an Idea of the Millennium, as, to my Eye, hath neither Beauty in it, nor Foundation in Scripture. That the Citizens of the new Jerusalem are not a miscellaneous Company, but a Community of righteous Persons, we have noted before, and that the State of Nature will be better than it is at present. But, besides this, what Warrant have they for this Ascension of the Martyrs into Heaven at that Time? Where do we read of that in Scripture? And in those things that are not Matters of natural Order, but of divine Oeconomy, we ought to be very careful how we add to Scripture.

The Scripture speaks only of the Resurrection 267of the Martyrs, Apoc. xx. 45. but not a Word concerning their Ascension into Heaven. Will that be visible? We read of our Saviour’s Resurrection and Ascension, and therefore we have Reason to affirm them both. We read also of the Resurrection and Ascension of the Witnesses, (Apoc. xi.) in a figurative Sense; and in that Sense we may assert them upon good Grounds. But as to the Martyrs, we read of their Resurrection only, without any thing exprest or imply’d about their Ascension. By what Authority then shall we add this new Notion to the History or Scheme of the Millennium? The Scripture, on the contrary, makes mention of the Descent of the new Jerusalem, Apoc. xxi. 2. making the Earth the Theatre of all that Affair: And the Camp of the Saints is upon the Earth, ver. 9. and these Saints are the same Persons, so far as can be collected from the Text, that rose from the Dead, and reign’d with Christ, and were Priests to God, ver. 4, 5, 6. Neither is there any Distinction made, that I find, by St. John, of two sorts of Saints in the Millennium, the one in Heaven, and the other upon Earth. Lastly, the four and twenty Elders, chap. v. 10. tho’ they were Kings and Priests unto God, were content to reign upon Earth. Now who can you suppose of a superior Order to these four and twenty Elders? Whether they represent the twelve Patriarchs and twelve Apostles, or whomsoever they represent, they are plac’d next to him that sits upon the Throne, and they have Crowns of Gold upon their Heads, 268chap. iv. 4. ch. xi. 16. There can be no Marks of Honour and Dignity greater than these are; and therefore seeing these highest Dignitaries in the Millennium or future Kingdom of Christ, are to reign upon Earth, there is no Ground to suppose the Assumption of any other into Heaven, upon that Account, or upon that Occasion.

This is a short and general Draught of the millennial State, or future Reign of the Saints, according to Scripture. Wherein I have endeavour’d to rectify some Mistakes or Misconceptions about it; that viewing it in its true Nature, we may be the better able to judge, when and where it will obtain: which is the next Thing to be consider’d.

Chap. VIII

The third Proposition laid down, concerning the Time and Place of the Millennium: Several Arguments us’d, to prove, that it cannot be till after the Conflagration; and that the new Heavens and the new Earth are the true Seat of the blessed Millennium.

We now come to the third and last Head of our Discourse; to determine the Time and Place of the Millennium. And seeing it is indifferent, whether the Proofs lead or follow the Conclusion, we will lay down the Conclusion in the first Place, that our Business may be more in View; and back it with Proofs 269in the following Part of the Chapter. Our third and last Proposition therefore is this, That the blessed Millennium, Propos. 3. (properly so called) according as it is describ’d in Scripture, cannot obtain in the present Earth, nor under the present Constitution of Nature and Providence; but it is to be celebrated in the new Heavens and new Earth, after the Conflagration. This Proposition it may be, will seem a Paradox or Singularity to many, even of those that believe a Millennium: We will therefore make it the Business of this Chapter, to state it, and prove it, by such Arguments as are manifestly founded in Scripture and in Reason.

And to prevent Mistakes, we must premise this in the first Place; that tho’ the blessed Millennium will not be in this Earth; yet we allow that the State of the Church here, will grow much better than it is at present. There will be a better Idea of Christianity, and according to the Prophecies, a full Resurrection of the Witnesses, and an Ascension into Power, and the tenth Part of the City will fall; which things imply ease from Persecution, the Conversion of some Part of the Christian World to the reformed Faith, and a considerable Diminution of the Power of Antichrist. But this still comes short of the Happiness and Glory wherein the future Kingdom of Christ is represented; which cannot come to pass till the Man of Sin be destroyed, with a total Destruction. After the Resurrection of the Witnesses, there is a third WOE yet to come; 270and how long that will last, does not appear. If it bear proportion with the preceeding WOES, it may last some hundreds of Years. And we cannot imagine the Millennium to begin till that WOE be finished: As neither till the Vials be pour’d out, in the xvth chap. which cannot be all pour’d out till after the Resurrection of the Witnesses; those Vials being the last Plagues that compleat the Destruction of Antichrist. Wherefore allowing that the Church, upon the Resurrection and Ascension of the Witnesses, will be advanc’d into a better Condition, yet that Condition cannot be the millennial State; where the Beast is utterly destroy’d, and Satan bound, and cast into the bottomless Pit.

This being premis’d, let us now examine what Grounds there are for the Translation of that blessed State into the new Heavens and new Earth; seeing that Thought, it may be, to many Persons, will appear new and extraordinary. In the first Place, we suppose it out of Dispute, that there will be new Heavens and a new Earth after the Conflagration. This was our first Proposition, and we depend upon it, as sufficiently prov’d both from Scripture and Antiquity. This being admitted, how will you flock this new Earth? What use will you put it to? ’Twill be a much nobler Earth, and better built than the present; and ’tis a pity it should only float about, empty and useless in the wild Air. If you will not make it the Seat and Habitation of the Just in the blessed Millennium, what will you make it? 271How will it turn to Account? What hath Providence design’d it for? We must not suppose new Worlds made without Counsel or Design. And as, on the one Hand, you cannot tell what to do with this new Creation, if it be not thus employ’d; so, on the other Hand, it is every way fitted and suited to be an happy and paradisaical Habitation, and answers all the natural Characters of the millennial State; which is a great Presumption that it is design’d for it.

But to argue this more closely upon Scripture-grounds: St. Peter says, the Righteous shall inhabit the new Heavens and the new Earth: 2 Pet. iii. 13. Nevertheless, according to his Promise, we look for new Heavens and new Earth, Wherein Dwelleth Righteousness: that is, a righteous People, as we have shewn before. But who are these righteous People? That’s the great Question. If you compare St. Peter’s new Heavens and new Earth with St. John’s Apoc. xxi. 1, 2. it will go far towards the Resolution of this Question: For St. John seems plainly to make the Inhabitants of the new Jerusalem to be in this new Earth. I saw, says he, new Heavens and a new Earth, and the new Jerusalem descending from God out of Heaven; therefore descending into this new Earth, which he had mention’d immediately before. And there the Tabernacle of God was with Men, ver. 3. and there he that sat upon the Throne, said, Behold I make all Things new. Referring still to the new Heavens and new Earth, as the Theatre 272where all these Things are acted, or all these Scenes exhibited; from the first Verse to the eighth: Now the new Jerusalem State being the same with the Millennial, if the one be in the new Heavens and new Earth, the other is there also. And this Interpretation of St. John’s Word is confirm’d and fully assur’d to us by the Prophet Isaiah; who also placeth the Joy and Rejoicing of the new Jerusalem in the new Heavens and new Earth, Chap. lxv. 17, 18. For behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth; and the former shall not be remembred: but be you glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a Rejoicing, and her People a Joy: Namely, in that new Heavens and new Earth; which answers to St. John’s Vision of the new Jerusalem being let down upon the new Earth.

To these Reasons, and Deductions from Scripture, we might add the Testimony of several of the Fathers; I mean of those that were Millennaries: For we are speaking now to such as believe the Millennium, but place it in the present Earth before the Renovation; whereas the antient Millennaries suppos’d the Regeneration and Renovation of the World before the Kingdom of Christ came: As you may see in ^[1]^Irenæus, ^[2]^Justin Martyr, ^[3]^Tertullian, ^[4]^Lactantius, and ^[5]^the Author ad Orthodoxos. And the Neglect of this, I look upon as one Reason, as we noted before, that brought that 273Doctrine into Discredit and Decay. For when they plac’d the Kingdom of the Saints upon this Earth, it became more capable of being abus’d, by fanatical Spirits, to the Disturbance of the World, and the Invasion of the Rights of the Magistrates, Civil or Ecclesiastical, under that Notion of Saints; and made them also dream of sensual Pleasures, such as they see in this Life: Or at least gave an Occasion and Opportunity to those, that had a Mind to make the Doctrine odious, of charging it with these Consequences. All these Abuses are cut off, and these Scandals prevented, by placing the Millennium aright: Namely, not in this present Life, or on this present Earth, but in the new Creation, where Peace and Righteousness will dwell. And this is our first Argument why we place the Millennium in the new Heavens and new Earth; and ’tis taken partly, you see, from the Reason of the Thing itself, the Difficulty of assigning any other use of the new Earth, and its fitness for this; and partly from Scripture-evidence, and partly from Antiquity.

The second Argument for our Opinion, is this; the present Constitution of Nature will not bear that Happiness, that is promis’d in the Millennium, or is not consistent with it. The Diseases of our Bodies, the Disorders of our Passions, the Incommodiousness of external Nature; Indigency, Servility, and the Unpeaceableness of the World; these are things inconsistent with the Happiness that is promis’d in the Kingdom of Christ. But these are constant 274Attendants upon this Life, and inseparable from the present State of Nature. Suppose the Millennium was to begin nine or ten Years hence, as some pretend it will; how shall this World, all of a sudden, be metamorphos’d into that happy State? Apoc. xxi. 4. No more Sorrow, nor crying, nor Pain, nor Death, says St. John: All former Things are past away. But how past away? Shall we not have the same Bodies; and the same external Nature; and the same Corruptions of the Air; and the same Excesses and Intemperature of Seasons? Will there not be the same Barrenness of the Ground, the same Number of People to be fed; and must they not get their living by the Sweat of their Brows, with servile Labour and Drudgery? How then are all former Evils past away? And as to publick Affairs, while there are the same Necessities of human Life, and a Distinction of Nations, those Nations sometimes will have contrary Interests, will clash and interfere one with another; whence Differences, and Contests, and Wars will arise, and the thousand Years Truce, I am afraid, will be often broken. We might add also, that if our Bodies be not chang’d, we shall be subject to the same Appetites, and the same Passions; and upon those Vices will grow, as bad Fruit upon a bad Tree: To conclude, so long as our Bodies are the same, external Nature the same, the Necessities of human Life the same; which things are the Roots of Evil; you may 275call it a Millennium, or what you please, but there will be still Diseases, Vices, Wars, Tears and Cries, Pain and Sorrow in this Millennium; and if so, ’tis a Millennium of your own making, for that which the Prophets describe, is quite another thing.

Farthermore, if you suppose the Millennium will be upon this Earth, and begin, it may be, ten or twenty Years hence, how will it be introduc’d? How shall we know when we are in it, or when we enter upon it? If we continue the same, and all Nature continue the same, we shall not discern when we slip into the Millennium. And as to the moral State of it, shall we all, on a sudden, become Kings and Priests to God? Wherein will that Change consist, and how will it be wrought? St. John makes the first Resurrection introduce the Millennium; and that’s a conspicuous Mark and Boundary: But as to the modern or vulgar Millennium, I know not how ’tis usher’d in. Whether they suppose a visible Resurrection of the Martyrs, and a visible Ascension; and that to be a Signal to all the World that the Jubilee is beginning; or whether ’tis gradual, and creeps upon us insensibly; or the Fall of the Beast marks it: These things need both Explication and Proof: for to me they seem either arbitrary or unintelligible.

But to pursue our Design and Subject: That which gives me the greatest Scandal in this Doctrine of the vulgar Millennium, is their joining Things together that are really 276inconsistent; a natural World of one Colour, and a moral World of another. They will make us happy in spight of Nature; as the Stoicks would make a Man happy in Phalaris his Bull; so must the Saints be in full Bliss in the Millennium, tho’ they be under a Fit of the Gout, or the Stone. For my part, I could never reconcile Pain to Happiness; it seems to me to destroy and drown all Pleasure, as a loud Noise does a still Voice: It affects the Nerves with Violence, and over-bears all other Motions. But if, according to this modern Supposition, they have the same Bodies, and breath the same Air in the Millennium, as we do now, there will be both private and epidemical Distempers, in the same Manner as now. Suppose then a Plague comes and sweeps away half an hundred thousand Saints in the Millennium, is this no Prejudice or Dishonour to the State? Or a War makes a Nation desolate; or, in single Persons, a lingring Disease makes Life a Burthen; or a burning Fever, or a violent Cholick tortures them to Death; where such Evils as these reign, christen the thing what you will, it can be no better than a Mock-Millennium. Nor shall I ever be persuaded that such a State as our present Life, where an aking Tooth, or an aking Head, does so discompose the Soul, as to make her unfit for Business, Study, Devotion, or any useful Employment; and that all the Powers of the Mind, all its Virtue, and all its Wisdom, are not able to stop these little Motions, 277or to support them with Tranquillity: I can never persuade my self, I say, that such a State was design’d by God or Nature, for a State of Happiness.

Our third Argument is this; the future Kingdom of Christ will not take place, till the Kingdom of Antichrist be wholly destroy’d: But that will not be wholly destroy’d till the End of the World, and the appearing of our Saviour; therefore the Millennium will not be till then. Christ and Antichrist cannot reign upon Earth together; their Kingdoms are opposite, as Light and Darkness: Besides, the Kingdom of Christ is universal, extends to all the Nations, and leaves no room for other Kingdoms at that time. Thus it is describ’d in Daniel, in the Place mention’d before, chap. vii. 13, 14. I saw in the Night Visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, came with the Clouds of Heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days; and there was given him Dominion and Glory, and a Kingdom; that all People, Nations, and Languages, should serve him. And again ver. 27. And the Kingdom and Dominion, and the Greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven, shall be given to the People of the Saints of the most High; whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all Dominion shall serve and obey him. The same Character of Universality is given to the Kingdom of Christ by David, Psal. ii. and Psal. lxxii. Isaiah ii. 2. and other Prophets. But the most direct Proof of this, is from the 278Apocalypse, where the Beast and false Prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, (chap. xix. 20.) before the Millennium comes on, chap. xx. This, being cast into a Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone, must needs signify utter Destruction: Not a Diminution of Power only, but a total Perdition and Consumption. And that this was before the Millennium, of the Beast and false Prophets being in the Lake of Fire, as of a Thing past, and formerly transacted. For when Satan, at length, is thrown into the same Lake ’tis said, he is thrown into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, where the Beast and the false Prophets are, Apoc. xx. 10. They were there before, it seems; namely, at the beginning of the Millennium; and now at the Conclusion of it, the Devil is thrown in to them: Besides, the Ligation of Satan proves this Point effectually; for so long as Antichrist reigns, Satan cannot be said to be bound; but he is bound at the Beginning of the Millennium, therefore Antichrist’s Reign was then totally expir’d. Lastly, the Destruction of Babylon, and the Destruction of Antichrist go together; but you see Babylon utterly and finally destroy’d, (Apoc. xviii. and xix.) before the Millennium comes on: I say, utterly and finally destroy’d. For she is not only said to be made an utter Desolation, but to be consum’d by Fire; and absorpt as a Millstone thrown into the Sea; and that he shall be found no more at all, chap. xviii. 21. Nothing can express 279a total and universal Destruction more effectually, or more emphatically. And this is before the Millennium begins; as you may see both by the Order of the Prophesies, and particularly, in that upon this Destruction, the Hallelujah’s are sung, ch. xix. and concluded thus, ver. 6, 7. Hallelujah, for the God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give Honour to him; for the Marriage of the Lamb is come, and his Wife hath made her self ready. This, I suppose, every one allows to be the millennial State, which now approaches, and is making ready, upon the Destruction of Babylon.

Thus much for the first Part of our Argument, that the Kingdom of Christ will not take place, till the Kingdom of Antichrist be wholly destroy’d. We are now to prove the second Part, that the Kingdom of Antichrist will not be wholly destroy’d till the End of the World, and the coming of our Saviour. This, one would think, is sufficiently prov’d from St. Paul’s Words alone, 2 Thess. ii. 8. The Lord shall consume the Man of Sin, who is suppos’d the same with Antichrist, with the Spirit of his Mouth, and shall destroy him with the Brightness of his coming. He will not then be destroyed before the coming of our Saviour; and that will not be till the End of the World. For St. Peter says, Acts iii. 21. The Heaven must receive him, speaking of Christ, until the Times of Restitution of all things; that is, the Renovation of the World. And if we consider 280that our Saviour’s coming will be in Flames of Fire, as the same Apostle St. Paul tells us, 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. ’tis plain, that his coming will not be till the Conflagration; in which last Flames Antichrist will be universally destroy’d. This Manner of Destruction agrees also with the Apocalypse and with Daniel, and the Prophets of the Old Testament. As to the Apocalypse, Babylon, the Seat of Antichrist, is represented there as destroy’d by Fire, ch. xviii. 8, 18. ch. xiv. 11. ch. xix. 3, 20. And in Daniel, when the Beast is destroy’d, ch. vii. 11. His Body was given to the burning Flame. Then as to the other Prophets, they do not, you know, speak of Antichrist or the Beast in Terms, but under the Types of Babylon, Tyre, and such-like; and these Places or Princes are represented by them as to be destroy’d by Fire, Isa. xiii. 19. Jer. ii. 25. Ezek. xxviii. 18.

So much for this third Argument; the fourth Argument is this; the future Kingdom of Christ will not be till the Day of Judgment and the Resurrection; but that will not be till the End of the World: Therefore, neither the Kingdom of Christ. By the Day of Judgment here, I do not mean the final and universal Judgment; nor by the Resurrection, the final and universal Resurrection; for these will not be till after the Millennium. But we understand here the first Day of Judgment and the first Resurrection, which will be at the End of this present World; according as St. John does distinguish them, in the xxth chap. of the Apocalypse. Now that the Millennium 281will not be till the Day of Judgment in this Sense, we have both the Testimonies of Daniel and of St. John. Daniel, in chap. vii. ver. 9, &c. ver. 26, &c. supposes the Beast to rule till Judgment shall sit, and then they shall take away his Dominion, and it shall be given to the People of the Saints of the most High. St. John makes an explicit Declaration of both these, in his xxth chap. of the Apocalypse, which is the great Directory in this point of the Millennium; he says there were Thrones set, as for a Judicature, ver. 4. Then there was a Resurrection from the Dead, and those that rise, reigned with Christ a thousand Years: Here’s a judicial Session, a Resurrection, and the Reign of Christ joined together. There is also another Passage in St. John that joins the Judgment of the Dead with the Kingdom of Christ; ’tis in the xith Chapter, under the seventh Trumpet; the Words are these, ver. 15. And the seventh Angel sounded, and there were great Voices in Heaven, saying, the Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever, And the four and twenty Elders, &c. And the Nations were angry, and thy Wrath is come, and the time of the Dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give Reward unto thy Servants the Prophets, and to the Saints, and them that fear thy Name. Here are two things plainly express’d and link’d together, The judging of the Dead, and the Kingdom of 282Christ; wherein the Prophets and Saints are rewarded. Now as the judging of the Dead is not in this Life, so neither is the Reward of the Prophets and Saints in this Life; as we are taught sufficiently in the Gospel, and by the Apostles, Mat. xix. 28. 1 Thess. i. 7. 2 Tim. iv. 8. 1 Pet. i. 7. and ch. v. 4. Therefore the Reign and Kingdom of Christ, which is joined with these two, cannot be in this Life, or before the End of the World: And as a farther Testimony and Confirmation of this, we may observe that St. Paul to Timothy hath joined together these three things; the Appearance of Christ, the Reign of Christ, and the judging of the Dead. I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, at his appearing, and his Kingdom, 2 Tim. iv. 1.

This might also be prov’d from the Order, Extent and Progress of the Prophesies of the Apocalypse; whereof some are such as reach to the End of the World, and yet must be accomplish’d before the Millennium begins, as the Vials. Others are so far already advanc’d towards the End of the World, as to leave no room for a thousand Years Reign; as the Trumpets. But because every one hath his own Interpretation of these Prophesies, and it would be tedious here to prove any single Hypothesis in Contradistinction to all the rest, we will therefore leave this Remark, to have more or less Effect, according to the Minds it falls upon; and proceed to our fifth Argument.

283Fifthly, The new Jerusalem State is the same with the millennial State; but the new Jerusalem State will not be till the End of the World, or till after the Conflagration; therefore neither the Millennium: That the new Jerusalem State is the same with the Millennium, is agreed upon, I think, by all Millennaries, ancient and modern: Justin Martyr, Irenæus and Tertullian, speak of it in that Sense; and so do the latter Authors, so far as I have observed. And St. John seems to give them good Authority for it; in the xxth chap. of the Apocalypse, he says, the Camp of the Saints, and the beloved City were besieg’d by Satan and his gigantick Crew at the End of the Millennium: That beloved City is the new Jerusalem, and you see it is the same with the Camp of the Saints, or, at least, contemporary with it. Besides, the Marriage of the Lamb was in, or at the Appearance of the new Jerusalem, for that was the Spouse of the Lamb, Apoc. xxi. 2. Now this Spouse was ready, and this Marriage was said to be come, at the Destruction of Babylon, which was the Beginning of the Millennium, chap. xviii. 7. Therefore the new Jerusalem run all along with the Millennium, and was indeed the same thing under another Name. Lastly, what is this new Jerusalem, if it be not the same with the millennial State? It is promis’d a Reward to the Sufferers for Christ Apoc. iii. 12. and you see its wonderful Privileges, chap. xxi. 3, 4. and yet it is not Heaven 284and eternal Life; for it is said to come down from God out of Heaven, ch. xxi. 2. and ch. iii. 12. It can therefore be nothing but the glorious Kingdom of Christ upon Earth, where the Saints shall reign with him a thousand Years.

Now as to the second Part of our Argument, that the new Jerusalem will not come down from Heaven till the End of the World; of this St. John seems to give us a plain Proof or Demonstration; for he places the new Jerusalem in the new Heaven and new Earth, which cannot be till after the Conflagration. Let us hear his Words, Apoc. xxi. 1, 2. And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth, for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away, and there was no more Sea. And I John saw the holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven; prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband. When the new Earth was made, he sees the new Jerusalem coming down upon it; and this Renovation of the Earth not being till the Conflagration, the new Jerusalem could not be till then neither. The Prophet Isaiah had long before said the same thing, though not in terms so express; he first says, Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth, wherein you shall rejoice: Then subjoins immediately, Behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, Isa. lxv. 17, 18. This rejoicing is still in the same Place; in the new Heavens and new Earth, or in the new Jerusalem. And St. John, in a like Method, first sets down the new Earth, then 285the new Jerusalem; and expresses the Mind of the Prophet Isaiah more distinctly.

This leads me to a sixth Argument to confirm our Conclusion: The Time of the Restitution or Restauration of all Things, spoken of by St. Peter and the Prophets, is the same with the Millennium; but that Restauration will not be till the coming of Christ, and the End of the World; therefore neither the Millennium. That this Restitution of all things will not be till the coming of our Saviour, St. Peter declares in his Sermon, Acts iii. 21. and that the coming of our Saviour will not be till the End of the World, or till the Conflagration, both St. Paul and St. Peter signify to us, 1 Thess. i. 7, 8. 2 Pet. iii. 10. therefore it remains only to prove, that this Restitution of all Things spoken of here by the Apostle, is the same with the Millennium. I know that which it does directly and immediately signify, is the Renovation of the World: but it must include the moral World as well as the Natural; otherwise it cannot be truly said, as St. Peter does there, that all the Prophets have spoken of it. And what is the Renovation of the natural and moral World, but the new Jerusalem or the Millennium?

These Arguments, taken together, have, to me, an irresistible Evidence for the Proof of our Conclusion; that the blessed Millennium cannot obtain in the present Earth, or before the Conflagration; but when Nature is renew’d, and the Saints and Martyrs rais’d 286from the Dead, then they shall reign together with Christ, in the new Heavens and new Earth, or in the new Jerusalem; Satan being bound for a thousand Years.

Chap. IX

The chief Employment of the Millennium, Devotion and Contemplation.

We have now done with the Substance of our Discourse; which is comprehended in these three Propositions:

I. After the Conflagration of this World, there will be new Heavens and a new Earth, and that Earth will be inhabited.

II. That there is an happy millennial-State, or a future Kingdom of Christ and his Saints, prophesied of and promis’d in the Old and New Testament; and receiv’d by the Primitive Church, as a Christian and Catholick Doctrine.

III. That this blessed millennial-State, according as it is describ’d in Scripture, cannot take place in the present Earth, nor under the present Constitution of Nature and Providence; But is to be celebrated in the new Heavens and new Earth, after the Conflagration.

These three Propositions support this Work, and if any of them be broken, I confess my Design is broken, and this Treatise is of 287no Effect: But what remains to be spoken to in these last Chapters, is more circumstantial or modal; and an Error or Mistake in such things, does not wound any vital Part of the Argument. You must not therefore lay aside your Severity and rigorous Censures; we are very happy, if, in this Life, we can attain to the Substance of Truth; and make rational Conjectures concerning Modes and Circumstances, where every one hath Right to offer his Sense, with Modesty and Submission. Revelations made to us from Heaven in this present State, are often incompleat, and do not tell us all; as if it was on purpose to set our Thoughts a-work to supply the rest; which we may lawfully do, provided it be according to the Analogy of Scripture and Reason.

To proceed therefore; we suppose, as you see, the new Heavens and the new Earth to be the Seat of the Millennium, and that new Creation to be Paradisiacal: Its Inhabitants also to be righteous Persons, the Saints of the most High. And seeing the ordinary Employments of our present Life will then be needless and superseded, as Military-Affairs, Sea-Affairs, most Trades and Manufactures, Law, Physick, and the laborious part of Agriculture; it may be wonder’d, how this happy People will bestow their Time; what Entertainment they will find in a State of so much Ease, and so little Action. To this one might answer in short, by another Question, How would they have entertain’d themselves in 288Paradise, if Man had continued in Innocency? This is a Revolution of the same State, and therefore they may pass Time as well now as they could have done then. But to answer more particularly, besides all innocent Diversions, ingenuous Conversations, and Entertainments of Friendship, the greatest part of their Time will be spent in Devotion and Contemplation. O happy Employment, and next to that of Heaven it self! What do the Saints Above, but sing Praises unto God, and contemplate his Perfections! And how mean and despicable, for the most part, are the Employments of this present Life, if compar’d with those intellectual Actions! If Mankind was divided into ten Parts, nine of those ten employ their Time to get Bread to their Belly, and Cloaths to their Back; and what Impertinences are these to a reasonable Soul, if she was free from the Clog of a mortal Body, or if that could be provided for, without Trouble or lots of Time? Corporeal Labour is from Need and Necessity, but intellectual Exercises are matter of Choice, that please and perfect at the same Time.

Devotion warms and opens the Soul, and disposes it to receive divine Influences. It sometimes raises the Mind into an heavenly Ecstasy, and fills it with a Joy that is not to be express’d. When it is pure, it leaves a strong Impression upon the Heart, of Love to God; and inspires us with a Contempt of this World, having tasted the Pleasures of the World to come. In 289the State which we speak of, seeing the Tabernacle of God will be with Men, Apoc. xxi. 3. we may reasonably suppose that there will be greater Effusions and Irradiations of the Holy Spirit, than we have or can expect in this Region of Darkness; and consequently, all the Strength and Comfort that can arise from private Devotion.

And as to their publick Devotions, all Beauties of Holiness, all Perfection of divine Worship, will shine in their Assemblies. Whatsoever David says of Sion and Jerusalem, Psal. lxxxiv. are but Shadows of this New Jerusalem, and of the Glory that will be in those Solemnities, Psal. lxxxvii. Imagine what a Congregation will be there of Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Christian Martyrs, and Saints of the first Rank, throughout all Ages: And these all known to one another by their Names and History. This very meeting together of such Persons, must needs create a Joy unspeakable: But when they unite in their Praises to God and to the Lamb, with pure Hearts full of divine Love; when they sing their Hallelujahs to him that sits upon the Throne, that hath wash’d them in his Blood, and redeem’d them out of every Kingdom, and Tongue, and People, and Nation: When, with their Palms in their Hands, they triumph over Sin and Death, and Hell, and all the Powers of Darkness; can there be any thing, on this side Heaven, and a Choir of Angels, more glorious or more joyful?

But why did I except Angels? Why may not they be thought to be present at these Assemblies? 290In a Society of Saints and purified Spirits, why should we think their Converse impossible? In the Golden Age, the Gods were always represented, as having freer Intercourse with Men; and before the Flood, we may reasonably believe it so. I cannot think, Enoch was translated into Heaven without any Converse with its Inhabitants before he went thither: And seeing the Angels vouchsafed often, in former Ages, to visit the Patriarchs upon Earth, we may with Reason judge, that they will much more converse with the same Patriarchs and holy Prophets, now they are risen from the Dead, and cleans’d from their Sins, and seated in the New Jerusalem. I cannot but call to mind, upon this Occasion, that Representation which St. Paul makes to us, of a glorious State and a glorious Assembly, too high for this present Earth: ’Tis, (Hebr. xii. 22, &c.) in these Words: But you are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable Company of Angels; to the general Assembly and Church of the First-born, which are written in Heaven; and to God the Judge of all, and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect. This, I know, several apply to the Times and State of the Gospel, in Opposition to that of the Law; and it is introduc’d in that manner; but here are several Expressions too high for any present State of Things; they must respect a future State, either of Heaven, or of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ: And to the 291latter of these Expressions agree, and have a peculiar Fitness and Applicability to it. And what follows in the Context, ver. 26, 27, 28. About shaking the Heavens and the Earth once more; removing the former Scenes, and bringing on a new Kingdom that cannot be shaken: All this, I say, answers to the Kingdom of Christ, which is to be establish’d in the new Heavens and new Earth.

But to proceed in their publick Devotions; Suppose this August Assembly, inflam’d with all divine Passions, met together to celebrate the Name of God, with Angels intermixt, to bear a Part in this holy Exercise: And let this Concourse be, not in any Temple made with Hands, but under the great Roof Heaven, (the true Temple of the most High,) so as all the Air may be fill’d with the chearful Harmony of their Hymns and Hallelujahs: Then, in the height of their Devotion, as they sing Praises to the Lamb, and to him that sits upon the Throne, suppose the Heavens to open, and the Son of God to appear in his Glory, Apoc. v. 11. with thousands and ten thousands of Angels round about him; that their Eyes may see him, who, for their Sakes was crucified upon Earth, now encircled with Light and Majesty. This will raise them into as great Transports as human Nature can bear: They will wish to be dissolv’d, they will strive to fly up to him in the Clouds, or to breathe out their Souls in repeated Doxologies of Blessing, Ch. v. 13. and Honour, and Glory, and Power, to him that sits upon the 292Throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and ever.

But we cannot live always in the Flames of Devotion; the Weakness of our Nature will not suffer us to continue long under such strong Passions, and such Intenseness of Mind. The Question is therefore, What will be the ordinary Employment of that Life? How will they entertain their Thoughts, or spend their Time? For we suppose they will not have that multiplicity of frivolous Business that we have now; about our Bodies, about our Children; in Trades and Mechanicks; in Traffick and Navigation; or Wars by Sea or Land. These things being swept away wholly, or in a great Measure, what will come in their Place? How will they find Work or Entertainment for a long Life? If we consider, who they are that will have a Part in this first Resurrection, and be Inhabitants of that World that is to come, we may easily believe that the most constant Employment of their Life will be Contemplation. Not that I exclude any innocent Diversions, as I said before; the Entertainments of Friendship, or ingenuous Conversation; but the great Business and Design of that Life is Contemplation, as preparatory to Heaven and eternal Glory. Ut paulatim assueseant capere Deum, L. 5. c. 32. as Irenæus says, that they may, by Degrees, enlarge their Capacities, fit and accustom themselves to receive God. Or, as he says in another Place, That they may become capable of the Glory of the Father; that is, capable of bearing the Glory 293and Presence of God; capable of the highest Enjoyment of him, which is usually call’d the Beatifical Vision; and is the Condition of the Blessed in Heaven.

It cannot be deny’d, that in such a Millennial State, where we shall be freed from all the Incumbrances of this Life, and provided of better Bodies and greater Light of Mind: It cannot be doubted, I say, but that we shall then be in a Disposition to make greater Proficiency in the Knowledge of all Things, divine and intellectual; and consequently of making happy Preparations for our entring upon a further State of Glory: For there is nothing certainly does more prepare the Mind of Man for the highest Perfections, than Contemplation, with that Devotion which naturally flows from it, as Heat follows Light. And this Contemplation hath always a greater or less Effect upon the Mind according to the Perfection of its Object; so as the Contemplation of the divine Nature is, of all others, the most perfective in it self, and to us, according to our Capacities and Decree of Abstraction. An immense Being does strangely fill the Soul; and Omnipotency, Omnisciency, and infinite Goodness, do enlarge and dilate the Spirit, while it fixily looks upon them. They raise strong Passions of Love and Admiration, which melt our Nature, and transform it into the Mould and Image of that which we contemplate: What the Scripture says of our Transformation into the divine 294Likeness; what St. John and the Platonists say of our Union with God; and whatever is not cant in the mystical Theology, when they tell us of being deified; all this must spring from these Sources of Devotion and Contemplation: They will change and raise us from Perfection to Perfection, as from Glory to Glory, into a greater Similitude and nearer Station to the divine Nature.

The Contemplation of God and his Works comprehends all Things; for the one makes the uncreated World, and the other the created: And as the divine Essence and Attributes are the greatest Objects that the Mind of Man can set before it self; so next to that are the Effects and Emanations of the Divinity, or the Works of the divine Goodness, Wisdom and Power in the created World. This hath a vast Extent and Variety, and would be sufficient to entertain their Time, in that happy State, much longer than a thousand Years; as you will easily grant, if you allow me but to point at the several Heads of those Speculations.

The Contemplation of the created World divides it self into three Parts; that of the intellectual World; that of the corporeal; and the Government and Administration of both, which is usually call’d Providence. These three, drawn into one Thought, with the Reasons and Proportions that result from them, compose that Grand Idea, which is the Treasury and Comprehension of all Knowledge; whereof we have spoken more largely in the last Chapter 295of the second Book of this Theory, under the Name of the Mundane Idea. But at present we shall only mention such Particulars, as may be thought proper Subjects for the Meditations and Enquiries of those who shall enjoy that happy State which we now treat of.

As to the intellectual World, excepting our own Souls, we know little, in this Region of Darkness where we are at present, more than bare Names: We hear of Angels and Archangels, of Cherubins and Seraphins, of Principalities and Powers, and Thrones, and Dominions: We hear the Sound of these Words with Admiration, but we know little of their Natures; wherein their general Notion, and wherein their Distinction consists; what peculiar Excellencies they have, what Offices and Employments, of all this we are ignorant; only in general, we cannot but suppose that there are more Orders and Degrees of intellectual Beings, betwixt us and the Almighty, than there are Kinds or Species of living Creatures upon the Face of the Earth; betwixt Man their Lord and Master, and the least Worm that creeps upon the Ground; nay, than there are Stars in Heaven, or Sands upon the Sea-shore. For there is an infinite Distance and Interval betwixt us and God Almighty, and all that is fill’d with created Beings of different Degrees of Perfection, still approaching nearer and nearer to their Maker. And when this invisible World shall be open’d to us, when the Curtain is drawn, and 296the Celestial Hierarchy set in order before our Eyes, we shall despise our selves, and all the petty Glories of a mortal Life, as the Dirt under our Feet.

As to the corporeal Universe, we have some Share already in the Contemplation and Knowledge of that; though little in Comparison of what will be then discover’d. The Doctrine of the Heavens, fixed Stars, Planets and Comets, both as to their Matter, Motion and Form, will be then clearly demonstrated; and what are Mysteries to us now, will become matter of ordinary Conversation: We shall be better acquainted with our neighbouring Worlds, and make new Discoveries as to the State of their Affairs. The Sun especially, the great Monarch of the planetary Worlds; whose Dominion reaches from Pole to Pole, and the Greatness of his Kingdom is under the whole Heaven: Who sends his bright Messengers every Day through all the Regions of his vast Empire; throwing his Beams of Light round about him, swifter and farther than a Thought can follow: This noble Creature, I say, will make a good part of their Study in the succeeding World. Eudoxus, the Philosopher, wish’d he might dye like Phaeton, in approaching too near to the Sun, provided he could fly so near it, and endure it so long, till he had discover’d its Beauty and Perfection. Who can blame his Curiosity? Who would not venture far to see the Court of so great a Prince, who hath more Worlds under 297his Command than the Emperors of the Earth have Provinces or Principalities? Neither does he make his Subjects Slaves to his Pleasure, or Tributaries to serve and supply his Wants: On the contrary, they live upon him, he nourishes and preserves them; gives them Fruits every Year, Corn, and Wine, and all the Comforts of Life: This glorious Body, which now we can only gaze upon and admire, will be then better understood. A Mass of Light and Flame, and ethereal Matter, ten thousand times bigger than this Earth; enlightning and enlivening an Orb that exceeds the Bulk of our Globe, as much as that does the least Sand upon the Sea-shore, may reasonably be presum’d to have some great Being at the Centre of it; but what that is we must leave to the Enquiries of another Life.

The Theory of the Earth will be a common Lesson there; carried through all its Vicissitudes and Periods from first to last, till its entire Revolution be accomplish’d. I told you in the Preface, the Revolution of the World was one of the greatest Speculations that we are capable of in this Life; and this little World where we are, will be the first and easiest Instance of it, seeing we have Records, Historical, or Prophetical, that reach from the Chaos to the End of the new Heavens and new Earth; which course of Time makes up the greatest part of the Circle or Revolution. And as what was before the Chaos, was but, in my Opinion, the first Remove from a fixed Star, 298so what is after the thousand Years Renovation, is but the last Step to it again.

The Theory of human Nature is also an useful and necessary Speculation, and will be carried on to Perfection in that State. Having fix’d the true Distinction betwixt Matter and Spirit, betwixt the Soul and the Body, and the true Nature and Laws of their Union, the original Contract, and the Terms ratified by Providence at their first Conjunction, it will not be hard to discover the Springs of Action and Passion; how the Thoughts of our Mind and the Motions of our Body act in dependance one upon another. What are the primary Differences of Genius’s and Complexions, and how our Intellectuals or Morals depend upon them? What is the Root of Fatality, and how far it extends? By these Lights they will see into their own and every Man’s Breast, and trace the Foot-steps of the divine Wisdom in that strange Composition of Soul and Body.

This indeed is a mix’d Speculation, as most others are, and takes in something of both Worlds, intellectual and corporeal; and may also belong in part to the third Head we mention’d, Providence: But there is no need of distinguishing these Heads so nicely, provided we take in, under some or other of them, what may be thought best to deserve our Knowledge now, or in another World. As to Providence, what we intend chiefly by it here, is the general Oeconomy of our Religion, and what is reveal’d to us in Scripture, concerning 299God, Angels, and Mankind. These Revelations, as most in Sacred Writ, are short and incompleat; as being design’d for Practice more than for Speculation, or to awaken and excite our Thoughts rather than to satisfy them. Accordingly, we read in Scripture of a Triune Deity; of God made Flesh in the Womb of a Virgin; barbarously crucified by the Jews; descending into Hell; rising again from the Dead; visibly ascending into Heaven; and sitting at the Right Hand of God the Father, above Angels and Archangels. These great things are imperfectly revealed to us in this Life; which we are to believe so far as they are revealed, in hopes these Mysteries will be made more intelligible in that happy State to come, where Prophets, Apostles and Angels, will meet in Conversation together.

In like manner, how little is it we understand concerning the Holy Ghost? that he descended like a Dove upon our Saviour, Mat. iii. 16. Like cloven Tongues of Fire upon the Apostles the Place being fill’d with a rushing mighty Wind, Acts ii. That he over shadow’d the blessed Virgin, and begot the Holy Infant, Mat. i. 18. That he made the Apostles speak all sorts of Tongues and Languages ex tempore, and pour’d out strange Virtues and miraculous Gifts upon the Primitive Christians, Luke i. 35. These things we know as bare Matter of Fact, but the Method of these Operations we do not at all understand. Who can tell us now, what that is which we call Inspiration? 300What Change is wrought in the Brain, and what in the Soul, and how the Effect follows? Who will give us the just Definition of a Miracle? What the proximate Agent is above Man, and whether they are all from the same Power? How the Manner and Process of those miraculous Changes in Matter may be conceiv’d? These Things we see darkly, and hope they will be set in a clearer Light, and the Doctrines of our Religion more fully expounded to us, in that future World. For as several things obscurely express’d in the Old Testament, are more clearly reveal’d in the New; so the same Mysteries, in a succeeding State, may still receive a farther Explication.

The History of the Angels, good or bad, makes another Part of this providential System. Christian Religion gives us some Notices of both Kinds, but very imperfect; what Interest the good Angels have in the Government of the World, and in ordering the Affairs of this Earth and Mankind? What Subjection they have to our Saviour? And what Part in his Ministry? Whether they are Guardians to particular Persons, to Kingdoms, to Empires? All that we know at present, concerning these Things, is but conjectural. And as to the bad Angels, who will give us an Account of their Fall and of their former Condition? I had rather know the History of Lucifer, than of all the Babylonian and Persian Kings; nay, than of all the Kings of the 301Earth. What the Birth-right was of that mighty Prince? What his Dominions? Where his Imperial Court and Residence? How he was depos’d? For what Crime, and by what Power? How he still wages War against Heaven, in his Exile? What Confederates he hath? What is his Power over Mankind, and how limited? What Change or Damage he suffer’d by the Coming of Christ, and how it alter’d the Posture of his Affairs? Where he will be imprison’d in the Millennium; and what will be his last Fate and final Doom? whether he may ever hope for a Revolution or Restauration? These things lie hid in the secret Records of Providence, which then, I hope, will be open’d to us.

With the Revolution of Worlds, we mention’d before the Revolution of Souls; which is another great Circle of Providence, to be studied hereafter: We know little here, either of the Pre-existence or Post-existence of our Souls. We know not what they will be, till the loud Trump awakes us, and calls us again into the corporeal World. Who knows how many Turns he shall take upon this Stage of the Earth, and how many Trials he shall have, before his Doom will be finally concluded? Who knows where, or what, is the State of Hell? Where the Souls of the Wicked are said to be for ever? What is the true State of Heaven? What our celestial Bodies? and, what that sovereign Happiness that is call’d the Beatifical Vision? Our Knowledge and Conceptions 302of these things are, at present, very general and superficial; but in the future Kingdom of Christ, which is introductory to Heaven it self, these Imperfections, in a great measure, will be done away; and such Preparations wrought, both in the Will and Understanding, as may fit us for the Life of Angels, and the Enjoyment of God in eternal Glory.

Thus you see in general, what will be the Employment of the Saints in the blessed Millennium: And tho’ they have few of the trifling Businesses of this Life, they will not want the best and noblest of Diversions. ’Tis an happy thing when a Man’s Pleasure is also his Perfection; for most Men’s Pleasures are such as debase their Nature. We commonly gratify our lower Faculties, our Passions, and our Appetites; and these do not improve, but depress the Mind; and besides they are so gross that the finest Tempers are surfeited in a little time. There is no lasting Pleasure but Contemplation; all others grow flat and insipid upon frequent Use; and when a Man hath run thorow a Set of Vanities, in the Declension of his Age he knows not what to do with himself, if he cannot Think; he saunters about, from one dull Business to another to wear out time; and hath no Reason to value Life, but because he is afraid of Death: But Contemplation is a continual Spring of fresh Pleasures. Truth is inexhausted, and when once you are in the right Way, the farther you go, the greater Discoveries you make, 303and with the greater Joy. We are sometimes highly pleased, and even transported, with little inventions in Mathematicks, or Mechanicks, or natural Philosophy; all these things will make part of their Diversion and Entertainment in that State, all the Doctrine of Sounds and Harmony, of Light, Colours, and Perspective, will be known in Perfection: But these I call Diversions, in comparison of their higher and more serious Speculations, which will be the Business and Happiness of that Life.

Do but imagine, that they will have the Scheme of all humane Affairs lying before them, from the Chaos to the last Period; the universal History and Order of Times; the whole Oeconomy of the Christian Religion, and of all the Religions in the World; the Plan of the Undertaking of the Messiah, with all other Parts and Ingredients of the Providence of this Earth: Do but imagine this, I say, and you will easily allow, that when they contemplate the Beauty, Wisdom and Goodness of the whole Design, it must needs raise great and noble Passions, and a far richer Joy than either the Pleasures or Speculations of this Life can exite in us; and this being the last Act and Close of all human Affairs, it ought to be the more exquisite and elaborate, that it may crown the Work, satisfy the Spectators, and end in a general Applause; the whole Theatre resounding with the Praises of the great Dramatist, and the wonderful Art and Order of the Composition.

Chap. X

Objections against the Millennium, answer’d. With some Conjectures concerning the State of Things after the Millennium; and what will be the final Consummation of this World.

You see how Nature and Providence have conspir’d, to make the Millennium as happy a State, as any terrestrial State can be: For, besides Health and Plenty, Peace, Truth, and Righteousness will flourish there, and all the Evils of this Life stand excluded. There will be no ambitious Princes, studying Mischief one against another, or contriving Methods to bring their own Subjects into Slavery; no mercenary Statesmen to assist and intrigue with them, no Oppression from the Powerful, no Snares or Traps laid for the Innocent, no treacherous Friends, no malicious Enemies, no Knaves, Cheats, Hypocrites; the Vermin of this Earth, that swarm every where. There will be nothing but Truth, Candor, Sincerity and Ingenuity; as in a Society or Commonwealth of Saints and Philosophers: In a Word, ’twill be Paradise restor’d, both as to Innocency of Temper, and the Beauties of Nature.

I believe you will be apt to say, if this be not true, ’tis pity but it should be true: For ’tis a very desirable State, where all good People would find themselves mightily at ease. What is it that hinders it then? It must be 305some ill Genius; for Nature tends to such a Renovation, as we suppose; and Scripture speaks loudly of an happy State to be some time or other on this side Heaven: And what is there, pray, in this present World, Natural and Moral, if I may ask with Reverence, that could make it worth the while for God to create it, if it never was better, nor ever will be better? Is there not more Misery than Happiness? Is there not more Vice than Virtue in this World? As if it had been made by a Manichean God. The Earth barren, the Heavens inconstant; Men wicked and God offended: This is the Posture of our Affairs, such hath our World been hitherto, with Wars and Bloodshed, Sickness, and Diseases, Poverty, Servitude and perpetual Drudgery for the Necessaries of a mortal Life. We may therefore reasonably hope, from a God infinitely good and powerful, for better Times and a better State, before the last Period and Consummation of all Things.

But it will be objected, it may be, that, according to Scripture, the Vices and Wickedness of Men will continue to the End of the World; and so there will be no room for such an happy State, as we hope for, Luk. xviii. 8. Our Saviour says, When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find Faith upon the Earth? They shall eat and drink and play, as before the Destruction of the old World, or of Sodom, (Luke xvii. 26, &c.) and the Wickedness of those Men, you know, continued to the last. This Objection 306may pinch those that suppose the Millennium to be in the present Earth, and a thousand Years before the coming of our Saviour; for his Words seem to imply that the World will be in a State of Wickedness even till his coming. Accordingly Antichrist or the Man of Sin, is not said to be destroy’d till the coming of our Saviour, 2 Thess. ii. 8. and till he be destroy’d, we cannot hope for a Millennium. Lastly, The coming of our Saviour is always represented in Scripture as sudden, surprizing and unexpected; as Lightning breaking suddenly out of the Clouds, (Luke xvii. 24. and ch. xxi. 34, 35.) or as a Thief in the Night, 1 Thess. v. 2, 3, 4. 2 Pet. iii. 10. Apoc. xvi. 15. But if there be such a Fore-runner of it as the millennial State, whose Bounds we know, according as that expires and draws to an End, Men will be certainly advertis’d of the approaching of our Saviour: But this Objection, as I told you, does not affect our Hypothesis, for we suppose the Millennium will not be till after the coming of our Saviour, and the Conflagration. And also that his coming will be sudden and surprising; and that Antichrist will continue in being, tho’ not in the same degree of Power, till that time: So that they that place the Millennium in the present Earth, are chiefly concern’d to answer this first Objection.

But you will object, it may be, in the second Place, that this Millennium, wheresoever it is, would degenerate at length into Sensuality, and a Mahometan Paradise: For where there 307are earthly Pleasures and earthly Appetites, they will not be kept always in order without any Excess or Luxuriancy; especially as to the Senses to Touch and Taste. I am apt to think this is true, if the Soul have no more Power over the Body than she hath at present, and our Senses, Passions, and Appetites be as strong as they are now: But according to our Explication of the Millennium, we have great Reason to hope, that the Soul will have a greater Dominion over the Resurrection-Body, than she hath over this; and you know we suppose that none will truly inherit the Millennium, but those that rise from the Dead: Nor do we admit any Propagation there, nor the Trouble or Weakness of Infants. But that all rise in a perfect Age, and never die; being translated, at the final Judgment, to meet our Saviour in the Clouds, and to be with him for ever: Thus we easily avoid the Force of this Objection. But those that place the Millennium in this Life, and to be enjoy’d in these Bodies, must find out some new Preservatives against Vice, otherwise they will be continually subject to Degeneracy.

Another Objection may be taken from the personal Reign of Christ upon Earth, which is a thing incongruous, and yet asserted by many modern Millennaries; that Christ should leave that Right-Hand of his Father, to come and pass a thousand Years here below, living upon Earth in an heavenly Body: This, I confess, is a thing I never could digest, and therefore 308I am not concern’d in this Objection; not thinking it necessary that Christ should be personally present and resident upon Earth in the Millennium. I am apt to believe that there will be then a celestial Presence of Christ, or a Shekinah, as we noted before; as the Sun is present to the Earth, yet never leaves its Place in the Firmament; so Christ may be visibly conspicuous in his heavenly Throne, as he was to St. Stephen, Acts vii. 55, 56. and yet never leave the Right Hand of his Father. And this would be a more glorious and illustrious Presence, than if he should descend, and converse amongst Men in a personal Shape: But these things not being distinctly reveal’d to us, we ought not to determine any thing concerning them, but with Modesty and Submission.

We have thus far pretty well escap’d, and kept our selves out of the reach of the ordinary Objections against the Millennium: But there remains one, concerning a double Resurrection, which must fall upon every Hypothesis, and ’tis this. The Scripture, they say, speaks but of one Resurrection; whereas the Doctrine of the Millennium supposes two; one at the Beginning of the Millennium, for the Martyrs, and those that enjoy that happy State, and the other at the End of it; which is universal and final, in the last Day of Judgment. ’Tis true, Scripture generally speaks of the Resurrection in gross; without distinguishing first and second; and so it speaks of the Coming of our Saviour, without Distinction of first or second 309yet it does not follow from that, that there is but one coming of our Saviour, so neither that there is but one Resurrection. And seeing there is one place of Scripture that speaks distinctly of two Resurrections, namely, the xxth chap. of the Apocalypse, that is to us a sufficient Warrant for asserting two; as there are some things in one Evangelist that are not in another, yet we think them authentick if they be but in one: There are also some things in Daniel, concerning the Messiah, and concerning the Resurrection, that are not in the rest of the Prophets; yet we look upon his single Testimony as good Authority. St. John wrote the last of all the Apostles, and as the whole Series of his Prophecies is new, reaching through the latter Times to the Consummation of all Things; so we cannot wonder if he had something more particular reveal’d to him concerning the Resurrection: That which was spoken of before in general, being distinguish’d now into first and second, or particular and universal, in this last Prophet. See Mr. Mede. Some think St. Paul means no less, when he makes an Order in the Resurrection; some rising sooner, some later, 1 Cor. xv. 23, 24, 1 Thess.. iv. 14, 15, &c. but whether that be so or no, St. John might have a more distinct Revelation concerning it, than St. Paul had, or any one before him.

After these Objections, a great many Queries and Difficulties might be propos’d relating to the Millennium: But that’s no more than 310what is found in all other Matters, remote from our Knowledge. Who can answer all the Queries that may be made concerning Heaven, or Hell, or Paradise? When we know a Thing as to the Substance, we are not to let go our Hold, tho’ there remain some Difficulties unresolv’d; otherwise we should be eternally sceptical in most Matters of Knowledge. Therefore, tho’ we cannot, for Example, give a full Account of the Distinction of Habitations and Inhabitants in the future Earth; or, of the Order of the first Resurrection, whether it be perform’d by degrees and successively, or all the Inhabitants of the new Jerusalem rise at once, and continue throughout the whole Millennium: I say, tho’ we cannot give a distinct Account of these, or such like Particulars, we ought not therefore to deny or doubt whether there will be a new Earth, or a first Resurrection. For the Revelation goes clearly so far, and the Obscurity is only in the Consequences and Dependences of it; which Providence thought fit, without farther Light, to leave to our Search and Disquisition.

Scripture mentions one Thing, at the End of the Millennium, which is a common Difficulty to all; and every one must contribute their best Thoughts and Conjectures towards the Solution of it: ’Tis the strange Doctrine of Gog and Magog, Apoc. xx. 8, 9. which are to rise up in Rebellion against the Saints, and besiege the holy City, and the holy Camp: And this is to be upon the Expiration of the thousand Years, when Satan is loosen’d; for 311no sooner will his Chains be knock’d off, but he will put himself in the Head of this Army of Giants, or Sons of the Earth, and attack Heaven, and the Saints of the most High: But with ill Success, for there will come down Fire and Lightning from Heaven, and consume them. This, methinks, hath a great Affinity with the History of the Giants, rebelling and assaulting Heaven, and struck down by Thunder-Bolts: But that of setting Mountains upon Mountains, or tossing them into the Sky, that’s the poetical Part, and we must not expect to find it in the Prophecy. The Poets told their Fable, as of a thing past, and so it was a Fable; but the Prophets speak of it, as of a Thing to come, and so it will be a Reality: But how and in what Sense it is to be understood and explain’d, every one has the Liberty to make the best Judgment he can.

Ezekiel mentions Gog and Magog, ch. xxxviii. and xxxix. which I take to be only Types and Shadows of these which we are now speaking of, and not yet exemplify’d, no more than his Temple. And seeing this People is to be at the End of the Millennium, and in the same Earth with it, we must, according to our Hypothesis, plant them in the future Earth, and therefore all former Conjectures about the Turks, or Scythians, or other Barbarians, are out of Doors with us, seeing the Scene of this Action does not lie in the present Earth: They are also represented by the Prophet, as a People distinct and separate from the Saints, not in their 312Manners only, but also in their Seats and Habitations; for (Apoc. xx. 8, 9.) they are said to come up from the four Corners of the Earth, upon the Breadth of the Earth, and there to besiege the Camp of the Saints and the beloved City: This makes it seem probable to me, that there will be a double Race of Mankind in that future Earth; very different one from another, both as to their Temper and Disposition, and as to their Origin: The one born from Heaven, Sons of God, and of the Resurrection, who are the true Saints and Heirs of the Millennium. The other born of the Earth, Sons of the Earth, generated from the Slime of the Ground, and the Heat of the Sun, as brute Creatures were at first: This second Progeny or Generation of Men in the future Earth, I understand to be signified by the Prophet under these borrowed or feigned Names of Gog and Magog: And this Earth-born Race, increasing and multiplying after the Manner of Men, by carnal Propagation, after a thousand Years, grew numerous, as the Sand by the Sea; and thereupon made an Irruption or Inundation upon the Face of the Earth, and upon the Habitations of the Saints; as the barbarous Nations did formerly upon Christendom; or as the Giants are said to have made War against the Gods: But they were soon confounded in their impious and sacrilegious Design, being struck and consum’d by Fire from Heaven.

313Some will think, it may be, that there was such a double Race of Mankind in the first World also: The Sons of Adam, and the Sons of God; because it is said, Gen. vi. When Men began to multiply upon the Face of the Earth, that the Sons of God saw the Daughters of Men, that they were fair, and they took them Wives of all that they lik’d. And it is added, presently, ver. 4. There were Giants in the Earth in those Days; and also after that, when the Sons of God came in unto the Daughters of Men, and they bare Children to them; the same became mighty Men, which were of old, Men of Renown. Here seem to be two or three Orders or Races in this Ante-diluvian World. The Sons of God; the Sons and Daughters of Adam; and a third Sort arising from the Mixture and Copulation of these, which are call’d Mighty Men of old, or Heroes. Besides, here are Giants mention’d, and to which they are to be reduc’d, it does not certainly appear.

This Mixture of these two Races, whatsoever they were, gave, it seems, so great Offence to God, that he destroy’d that World upon it, in a Deluge of Water. It hath been matter of great Difficulty to determine, who these Sons of God were, that fell in Love with and married the Daughters of Men. There are two Conjectures that prevail most; one, that they were Angels; and another, that they were of the Posterity of Seth, and distinguished from the rest, by their Piety, and the Worship 314of the true God; so that it was a great Crime for them to mingle with the rest of Mankind, who are suppos’d to have been Idolaters: Neither of these Opinions is to me satisfactory. For as to Angels, good Angels neither marry, nor are given in Marriage, Mat. xxii. 30. and bad Angels are not called the Sons of God. Besides, if Angels were capable of those mean Pleasures, we ought in Reason to suppose, that there are Female Angels, as well as Male; for surely those Capacities are not in vain through a whole Species of Beings. And if there be Female Angels, we cannot imagine, but that they must be of a far more charming Beauty than the dowdy Daughters of Men. Then as to the Line of Seth, it does not appear that there was any such Distinction of Idolaters and true Worshipers before the Flood, or that there was any such thing as Idolatry at that time, nor for some Ages after. Besides, it is not said, that the Sons of God fell in Love with the Daughters of Cain, or of any degenerate Race, but with the Daughters of Adam; which may be the Daughters of Seth, as well as of any other: These Conjectures therefore seem to be shallow and ill-grounded. But what the Distinction was of those two Orders, remains yet very uncertain.

St. Paul to the Galatians, (chap. iv. 21, 22, &c.) makes a Distinction also of a double Progeny; that of Sarah, and that of Hagar: One was born according to the Flesh, after a natural 315Manner; and the other by the divine Power, or in virtue of the divine Promise. This Distinction of a natural and supernatural Origin, and of a double Progeny; the one born to Servitude, the other to Liberty, represents very well either the Manner of our present Birth, and of our future, at the Resurrection; or that double Progeny and double manner of Birth, which we suppose in the future Earth. ’Tis true, St. Paul applies this to the Law and the Gospel; but typical Things, you know, have different Aspects and Complexions, which are not exclusive of one another; and so it may be here. But however, this double Race of Mankind in the future Earth, to explain the Doctrine of Gog and Magog, is but a Conjecture; and does not pretend to be otherwise considered.

The last Thing that remains to be considered and accounted for, is the Upshot and Conclusion of all; namely, what will become of the Earth after the thousand Years expir’d? Or after the Day of Judgment past, and the Saints translated into Heaven, what will be the Face of Things here below? There being nothing expresly reveal’d concerning this, we must not expect a positive Resolution of it: And the Difficulty is not peculiar to our Hypothesis; for though the Millennium, and the final Judgment, were concluded in the present Earth, the Quære would still remain, What would become of this Earth after the last Day? So that all Parties are equally concern’d, and 316equally free, to give their Opinion, What will be the last State and Consummation of this Earth: Scripture, I told you, hath not defin’d this Point; and the Philosophers say very little concerning it. The Stoicks indeed speak of the final Resolution of all things into Fire, or into Ether: which is the purest and subtlest sort of Fire: So that the whole Globe or Mass of the Earth, and all particular Bodies, will, according to them, be at last dissolv’d into a liquid Flame. Neither was this Doctrine first invented by the Stoicks; Heraclitus taught it long before them, and I take it to be as ancient as Orpheus himself; who was the first Philosopher amongst the Greeks: And he deriving his Notions from the Barbarick Philosophers, or the Sages of the East, that School of Wisdom may be look’d upon as the true Seminary of this Doctrine, as it was of most other natural Knowledge.

But this Dissolution of the Earth into Fire, may be understood two Ways; either that it will be dissolv’d into a loose Flame, and so dissipated and lost as Lightning in the Air, and vanish into nothing; or that it will be dissolv’d into a fix’d Flame, such as the Sun is, or a fix’d Star. And I am of Opinion, that the Earth after the last Day of Judgment, will be chang’d into the Nature of a Sun, or of a fix’d Star, and shine like them in the Firmament: Being all melted down into a Mass of æthereal Matter, and enlightning a Sphere or Orb round about it. I have no direct and demonstrative 317Proof of this I confess, but if Planets were once fixed Stars, as I believe they were, their Revolution to the same State again, in a great Circle of Time, seems to be according to the Methods of Providence, which loves to recover what was lost or decay’d, after certain Periods, and what was originally good and happy, to make it so again, all Nature, at last, being transform’d into a like Glory with the Sons of God, (Rom. viii. 21.)

I will not tell you what Foundation there is in Nature, for this Change or Transformation from the interiour Constitution of the Earth, and the Instances we have seen of new Stars appearing in the Heavens. I should lead the English Reader too far out of his Way, to discourse of these things: But if there be any Passages or Expressions in Scripture, that countenance such a State of things after the Day of Judgment, it will not be improper to take Notice of them. That radiant and illustrious Jerusalem, describ’d by St. John Apoc. xxi. ver. 10, 11, 12, &c. compos’d all of Gemms and bright Materials, clear and sparkling, as a Star in the Firmament: Who can give an Account what that is? Its Foundations, Walls, Gates, Streets, all the Body of it, resplendent as Light or Fire? What is there in Nature, or in this Universe, that bears any Resemblance with such a Phænomenon as this, unless it be a Sun or a fix’d Star? Especially if we add and consider what follows, ver. 23. That the City had no need of the Sun, nor of the Moon 318to shine in it, ver. 25. And that there was no Night there. This can be no terrestrial Body; it must be a Substance luminous in it self, and a Fountain of Light, as a fix’d Star: And upon such a Change of the Earth, or Transformation, as this, would be brought to pass the Saying that is written, Death is Swallowed up in Victory. Which indeed St. Paul seems to apply to our Bodies in particular, 1 Cor. xv. 54. But in the eighth Chap. to the Romans he extends it to all Nature, ver. 21. The Creation it self also shall be deliver’d from the Bondage of Corruption, into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God. And accordingly St. John, speaking of the same Time with St. Paul in that Place to the Corinthians, namely, of the general Resurrection and Day of Judgement, says, Death and Hades, which we render Hell, were cast into the Lake of Fire, Apoc. xx. 14. This is their being swallowed up in Victory, which St. Paul speaks of; when Death and Hades, that is, all the Region of Mortality, the Earth and all its Dependences, are absorpt into a Mass of Fire; and converted, by a glorious Victory over the Powers of Darkness, into a luminous Body and a Region of Light.

This great Issue and Period of the Earth, and of all human Affairs, tho’ it seem to be founded in Nature, and supported by several Expressions of Scripture; yet we cannot, for want of full Instruction, propose it otherwise than as a fair Conjecture: The Heavens and 319the Earth shall flie away at the Day of Judgment, says the Text, Apoc. xx. 11. And their Place shall not be found. This must be understood of our Heavens and our Earth; and their flying away must be their removing to some other Part of the Universe, so as their Place or Residence shall not be found any more here below. This is the easy and natural Sense of the Words; and this Translation of the Earth will not be without some Change preceeding, that makes it leave its Place, and, with a lofty Flight, takes its Seat amongst the Stars.——There we leave it; having conducted it for the Space of seven thousand Years thro’ various Changes, from a dark Chaos to a bright Star.

FINIS.

A Review

To take a Review of this Theory of the Earth, which we have now finish’d, we must consider, first, the Extent of it, and then the principal Parts whereof it consists: It reaches, as you see, from one End of the World to the other; from the first Chaos to the last Day, and the Consummation of all Things. This probably, will run the length of seven thousand Years; which is a good competent Space of Time to exercise our Thoughts upon, and to observe the several Scenes which Nature and Providence bring into View within the Compass of so many Ages.

323The Matter and principal Parts of this Theory are such things as are recorded in Scripture: We do not feign a Subject, and then discant upon it, for Diversion; but endeavour to give an intelligible and rational Account of such Matters of Fact, past or future, as are there specified and declared. What it hath seem’d good to the Holy Ghost to communicate to us, by History or Prophecy, concerning the several States and general Changes of this Earth, makes the Argument of our Discourse: Therefore the Things themselves must be taken for granted, in one Sense or other, seeing, besides all other Proofs, they have the Authority of a Revelation; and our Business is only to give such an Explication of them, as shall approve it self to the Faculties of Man, and be conformable to Scripture.

We will therefore first set down the Things themselves, that make the subject Matter of this Theory; and remind you of our Explication of them: Then recollect the general Proofs of that Explication, from Reason and Nature; but more fully and particularly shew how it is grounded upon Scripture. The primary Phænomena whereof we are to give an Account, are these five or six.

I. The Original of the Earth from a Chaos.

II. The State of Paradise, and the antediluvian World.

III. The universal Deluge.

IV. The universal Conflagration.

324V. The Renovation of the World, or the new Heavens and new Earth.

VI. The Consummation of all Things.

These are unquestionably in Scripture; and these all relate, as you see, to the several Forms, States and Revolutions of this Earth. We are therefore oblig’d to give a clear and coherent Account of these Phænomena, in that Order and Consecution wherein they stand to one another.

There are also in Scripture some other Things, relating to the same Subjects, that may be call’d the secondary Ingredients of this Theory, and are to be referr’d to their respective primary Heads. Such are, for Instance,

I. The Longevity of the Ante-diluvians.

II. The Rupture of the great Abyss, at the Deluge.

III. The appearing of the Rainbow after the Deluge, as a Sign that there never should be a second Flood.

These things Scripture hath also left upon Record, as Directions and Indications how to understand the ante-diluvian State, and the Deluge it self. Whosoever therefore shall undertake to write the Theory of the Earth, must think himself bound to give us a just Explication of these secondary Phænomena, as well as of the primary; and that in such a Dependance and Connexion, as to make them give and receive Light from one another.

325The former Part of the Task is concerning the World behind us, Times and Things past, that are already come to Light: The latter is concerning the World before us, Times and Things to come; that lie yet in the Bosom of Providence, and in the Seeds of Nature. And these are chiefly the Conflagration of the World, and the Renovation of it. When these are over and expir’d, then comes the End, as St. Paul says, 1 Cor. xv. Then the Heavens and the Earth fly away, as St. John says, Apoc. xx. Then is the Consummation of all Things, and the last Period of this sublunary World, whatsoever it is: Thus far the Theorist must go, and pursue the Motions of Nature, till all Things are brought to Rest and Silence: And in this latter Part of the Theory, there is also a collateral Phænomenon, the Millennium, or thousand Years Reign of Christ and his Saints upon Earth, to be consider’d. For this, according as it is reported in Scripture, does imply a Change in the natural World, as well as in the Morals and therefore must be accounted for in the Theory of the Earth: At least it must be there determin’d, whether that State of the World, which is singular and extraordinary, will be before or after the Conflagration.

These are the Principals and Incidents of this Theory of the Earth, as to the Matter and Subject of it; which, you see, is both important, and wholly taken out of Scripture: As to our Explication of these Points, that is 326sufficiently known, being set down at large in four Books of this Theory; Therefore it remains only, having seen the Matter of the Theory, to examine the Form of it, and the Proofs of it; for from these two things it must receive its Censure. As to the Form, the Characters of a regular Theory seem to be these three; Few and easy Postulatums; Union of Parts; and a Fitness to answer, fully and clearly, all the Phænomena to which it is to be apply’d.

We think our Hypothesis does not want any of these Characters: As to the first, we take but one single Postulatum for the whole Theory, and that an easy one, warranted both by Scripture and Antiquity; namely, That this Earth rise, at first, from a Chaos: As to the second, Union of Parts, the whole Theory is but one Series of Causes and Effects from that first Chaos. Besides, you can scarce admit any one Part of it, first, last, or intermediate, but you must, in Consequence of that, admit all the rest. Grant me but that the Deluge is truly explain’d, and I’ll desire no more Proof for all the Theory: Or, if you begin at the other End, and grant the new Heavens and new Earth after the Conflagration, you will be led back again to the first Heavens and first Earth that were before the Flood. For St. John says, that new Earth was without a Sea, Apoc. xxi. 1. And it was a Renovation, or Restitution to some former State of Things: There was therefore some 327former Earth without a Sea; which not being the present Earth, it must be the ante-diluvian. Besides, both St. John, and the Prophet Esaias, have represented the new Heavens and new Earth, as paradisiacal, according as it proved, Book IV. Chap. 2. And having told us the Form of the new-future-Earth, that it will have no Sea, it is a reasonable Inference that there was no Sea in the paradisiacal Earth. However, from the Form of this future Earth, which St. John represents to us, we may at least conclude, that an Earth without a Sea is no Chimæra, or Impossibility; but rather a fit Seat and Habitation for the Just and the Innocent.

Thus you see the Parts of the Theory link and hold fast one another, according to the Second Character: And as to the third, of being suited to the Phænomena, we must refer that to the next Head of Proofs. It may be truly said, that bare Coherence and Union of Parts is not a sufficient Proof; the Parts of a Fable or Romance may hang aptly together, and yet have no Truth in them: This is enough indeed to give the Title of a just Composition to any Work, but not of a true one; till it appear that the Conclusions and Explications are grounded upon good natural Evidence, or upon good Divine Authority. We must therefore proceed now to the third thing to be consider’d in a Theory, What its Proofs are? Or the Grounds upon which it stands, whether Sacred or Natural?

328According to natural Evidence, things are proved from their Causes or their Effects; and we think we have this double Order of Proofs for the Truth of our Hypothesis: As to the Method of Causes, we proceed from what is more simple, to what is more compound, and build all upon one Foundation. Go but to the Head of the Theory, and you will see the Causes lying in a Train before you, from first to last; and tho’ you did not know the natural History of the World, past or future, you might, by Intuition, foretel it, as to the grand Revolutions and successive Faces of Nature, through a long Series of Ages. If we have given a true Account of the Motions of the Chaos, we have also truly form’d the first habitable Earth; and if that be truly form’d we have thereby given a true Account of the State of Paradise, and of all that depends upon it; and not of that only, but also of the universal Deluge. Both these we have shewn in their Causes; The one from the Form of that Earth, and the other from the Fall of it into the Abyss: And tho’ we had not been made acquainted with these things by Antiquity, we might, in Contemplation of the Causes, have truly conceiv’d them as Properties or Incidents to the first Earth. But as to the Deluge, I do not say, that we might have calculated the Time, Manner, and other Circumstances of it: These things were regulated by Providence, in subordination to the moral World; but that there would be, at one Time 329or other, a Disruption of that Earth, or of the great Abyss, and in Consequence of it, an universal Deluge; so far, I think, the Light of a Theory might carry us.

Farthermore, in Consequence of this Disruption of the primæval Earth, at the Deluge, the present Earth was made hollow and cavernous, [Theor. Book iii. chap. 7, and 8.] and by that means, (due Preparations being used) capable of Combustion, or of perishing by an universal Fire: Yet, to speak ingenuously, this is as hard a Step to be made, in virtue of natural Causes, as any in the whole Theory. But in Recompence of that Defect, the Conflagration is so plainly and literally taught us in Scripture, and avow’d by Antiquity, that it can fall under no dispute, as to the Thing it self; and as to a Capacity or Disposition to it in the present Earth, that I think is sufficiently made out.

Then, the Conflagration admitted, in that way it is explain’d in the third Book; the Earth, you see, is, by that Fire, reduc’d to a second Chaos. A Chaos truly so call’d; and from that, as from the first, arises another Creation, or new Heavens and a new Earth; by the same Causes, and in the same Form, with the paradisiacal. This is the Renovation of the World; the Restitution of all Things mention’d both by Scripture and Antiquity; and by the Prophet Isaiah, St. Peter and St. John, call’d the new Heavens and new Earth: With this, as the last Period, and most glorious Scene 330of all human Affairs, our Theory concludes, as to this Method of Causes, whereof we are now speaking.

I say, here it Ends as to the Method of Causes: For tho’ we pursue the Earth still farther, even to its last Dissolution, which is call’d the Consummation of all Things; yet all that we have superadded upon that Occasion, is but problematical, and may, without Prejudice to the Theory, be argued and disputed on either Hand. I do not know, but that our Conjectures there may be well grounded; but however, not springing so directly from the same Root, or, at least, not by Ways so clear and visible, I leave that Part undecided: Especially seeing we pretend to write no more than the Theory of the Earth, and therefore as we begin no higher than the Chaos, so we are not oblig’d to go any farther than to the last State of a terrestrial Consistency; which is that of the new Heavens and the new Earth.

This is the first natural Proof, from the Order of Causes: The second is from the Consideration of Effects; namely, of such Effects as are already in being: And therefore this Proof can extend only to that Part of the Theory, that explains the present and past Form and Phænomena of the Earth. What is future, must be left to a farther Trial, when the Thing comes to pass, and present themselves to be examin’d and compar’d with the Hypothesis. As to the present Form of the Earth, we call all Nature to Witness for us; the Rocks and the Mountains, 331the Hills and the Valleys, the deep and wide Sea, and the Caverns of the Ground: Let these speak, and tell their Origin: How the Body of the Earth came to be thus torn and mangled? If this strange and irregular Structure was not the Effect of a Ruin; and of such a Ruin as was universal over the Face of the whole Globe. But we have given such a full Explication of this, in the first Part of the Theory, from chap. ix. to the End of that Treatise, that we dare stand to the Judgment of any that reads those four Chapters to determine if the Hypothesis does not answer to all those Phænomena, easy and adequately.

The next Phænomenon to be consider’d, is the Deluge, with its Adjuncts: This also is fully explain’d by our Hypothesis, in the iid, iiid, and vith Chapters of the first Book: Where it is shewn, that the Mosaical Deluge, that is, an universal Inundation of the whole Earth, above the Tops of the highest Mountains, made by a breaking open of the great Abyss, (for thus far Moses leads us) is fully explain’d by this Hypothesis, and cannot be conceiv’d in any other Method hitherto propos’d. There are no Sources or Stores of Water sufficient for such an Effect, that may be drawn upon the Earth, and drawn off again, but by supposing such an Abyss, and such a Disruption of it, as the Theory represents.

Lastly, As to the Phænomena of Paradise, and the ante-diluvian World, we have set them down in Order in the second Book; and apply’d 332to each of them its proper Explication, from the same Hypothesis. We have also given an Account of that Character which Antiquity always assign’d to the first Age of the World, or the Golden Age, as they call’d it; namely, Equality of Seasons throughout the Year, or a perpetual Equinox. We have also taken in all the Adjuncts or Concomitants of these States, as they are mention’d in Scripture. The Longevity of the Ante-diluvians, and the Declension or their Age by degrees, after the Flood: As also that wonderful Phænomenon, the Rainbow; which appear’d to Noah for a Sign, that the Earth should never undergo a second Deluge. And we have shewn [Theor. Book ii. ch. 5.] wherein the Force and Propriety of that Sign consisted, for confirming Noah’s Faith in the Promise and in the Divine Veracity.

Thus far we have explain’d the past Phænomena of the natural World: The rest are Futurities, which still lie hid in their Causes; and we cannot properly prove a Theory from Effects that are not yet in Being: But so far as they are foretold in Scripture, both as to Substance and Circumstance, in Prosecution of the same Principles we have ante-dated their Birth, and shew’d how they will come to pass. We may therefore, I think, reasonably conclude, that this Theory has perform’d its Task and answer’d its Title; having given an Account of all the general Changes of the natural World as far as either Sacred History looks backwards, 333or Sacred Prophecy looks forwards; so far as the one tells us what is past in Nature, and the other what is to come; And if all this be nothing but an Appearance of Truth, ’tis a kind of Fatality upon us to be deceiv’d.

So much for natural Evidence, from the Causes or Effects: We now proceed to Scripture, which will make the greatest Part of this Review. The Sacred Basis upon which the whole Theory stands, is the Doctrine of St. Peter, deliver’d in his second Epistle and third Chapter, concerning the triple Order and Succession of the Heavens and the Earth; that comprehends the whole Extent of our Theory; which indeed is but a large Commentary upon St. Peter’s Text. The Apostle sets out a three-fold State of the Heavens and Earth, with some general Properties of each, taken from their different Constitution and different Fate. The Theory takes the same three-fold State of the Heavens and the Earth; and explains more particularly, wherein their different Constitution consists; and how, under the Conduct of Providence, their different Fate depends upon it. Let us set down the Apostle’s Words, with the Occasion of them; and their plain Sense, according to the most easy and natural Explication.

2 Pet. iii. ver. 3. Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last Days Scoffers, walking after their own Lusts.

4. And saying, where is the Promise of his 334coming? For since the Fathers fell asleep, all Things continue as they were from the Beginning of the Creation.

5. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God, the Heavens were of old, and the Earth consisting of Water and by Water.

6. Whereby the World that then was, being overflowed with Water, perished.

7. But the Heavens and the Earth that are now, by the same Word, are kept in Store, reserved unto Fire against the Day of Judgment, and Perdition of ungodly Men.—

8. The Day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the Night, in 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.

9. Nevertheless we, according to his Promise, look for new Heavens and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth Righteousness.

This is the whole Discourse so far as relates to our Subject: St. Peter, you see, had met with some that scoff’d at the future Destruction of the World, and the coming of our Saviour; and they were Men, it seems, that pretended to Philosophy and Argument; and they use this Argument for their Opinion, Seeing there has been no Change in Nature, or in the World, from the Beginning to this Time, why should we think there will be any Change for the future?

The Apostle answers to this, that they willingly forget, or are ignorant, that there were 335Heavens of old, and an Earth, so and so constituted; consisting of Water and by Water; by reason whereof that World, or those Heavens and that Earth, perish’d in a Deluge of Water. But, saith he, the Heavens and the Earth, that are now, are of another Constitution, fitted and reserved to another Fate; namely to perish by Fire: And after these are perish’d, there will be new Heavens and a new Earth, according to God’s Promise.

This is an easy Paraphrase, and the plain and genuine Sense of the Apostle’s Discourse; and no Body, I think, would ever look after any other Sense, if this did not carry them out of their usual Road, and point to Conclusions which they did not fancy. The Sense, you see, hits the Objection directly, or the Cavil which these Scoffers made; and tells them, that they vainly pretend that there hath been no change in the World since the Beginning; for there was one sort of Heavens and Earth before the Flood, and another Sort now, the first having been destroy’d at the Deluge. So that the Apostle’s Argument stands upon this Foundation, that there is a Diversity betwixt the present Heavens and Earth, and the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth; take away that, and you take away all the Force of his Answer.

Then as to his new Heavens and new Earth after the Conflagration, they must be material and natural, in the same Sense and Signification with the former Heavens and Earth; unless you will offer open Violence to 336the Text. So that this Triplicity of the Heavens and the Earth, is the first, obvious, plain Sense of the Apostle’s Discourse; which every one would readily accept, if it did not draw after it a long Train of Consequences, and lead them into other Worlds than they ever thought of before, or are willing to enter upon now.

But we shall have Occasion by and by, to examine this Text more fully in all its Circumstances: Give me leave in the mean time to observe, that St. Paul also implies that triple Creation which St. Peter expresses. St. Paul, I say, in the viiith Chapter to the Romans, ver. 20, 21. tells us of a Creation that will be redeem’d from Vanity, which are the new Heavens and new Earth to come. A Creation in Subjection to Vanity; which is the present State of the World; and a Creation that was subjected to Vanity, in hopes of being restored, which was the first Paradisiacal Creation: And these are the three States of the natural World, which make the Subject of our Theory.

To these two Places of St. Peter and St. Paul, I might add that third in St. John, concerning the new Heavens and new Earth, with that distinguishing Character, that the Earth was without a Sea: As this distinguisheth it from the present Earth, so, being a Restitution or Restauration, as we noted before, it must be the same with some former Earth; and consequently it implies, that there was another precedent State of the natural World, to which this is a Restitution. These three 337Places I alledge, as comprehending and confirming the Theory in its full Extent; But we do not suppose them all of the same Force and Clearness; St. Peter leads the Way, and gives Light and Strength to the other two: When a Point is prov’d by one clear Text, we allow others, as Auxiliaries, that are not of the same Clearness; but being open’d, receive Light from the primary Text, and reflect it upon the Argument.

So much for the Theory in general: We will now take one or two principal Heads of it, which virtually contain all the rest, and examine them more strictly and particularly, in reference to their Agreement with Scripture. The two Heads we pitch upon, shall be our Explication of the Deluge, and our Explication of the new Heavens and new Earth: We told you before, these two were as the Hinges, upon which all the Theory moves, and which hold the Parts of it in firm Union one with another. As to the Deluge, if I have explain’d that aright, by the Disruption of the great Abyss, and the Dissolution of the Earth that cover’d it, all the rest follows in such a Chain of Consequences as cannot be broken. Wherefore, in order to the Proof of that Explication, and of all that depends upon it, I will make bold to lay down this Proposition, That our Hypothesis concerning the universal Deluge, is not only more agreeable to Reason and Philosophy, than any other yet propos’d to the World, but is also more agreeable 338to Scripture: Namely, to such Places of Scripture as reflect upon the Deluge, the Abyss, and the Form of the first Earth: And particularly to the History of Noah’s Flood, as recorded by Moses. If I can make this good, it will, doubtless, give Satisfaction to all that are free and intelligent; and I desire their Patience, if I proceed slowly and by several Steps. We will divide our Task into Parts, and examine them separately; first, by Scripture in general, and then by Moses his History and Description of the Flood.

Our Hypothesis of the Deluge consists of three principal Heads, or differs remarkably in three Things from the common Explication. First, in that we suppose the ante-diluvian Earth to have been of another Form and Constitution from the present Earth; with the Abyss placed under it.

Secondly, In that we suppose the Deluge to have been made, not by any Inundation of the Sea, or overflowing of Fountains and Rivers; nor (principally) by an Excess of Rains; but by a real Dissolution of the exteriour Earth, and Disruption of the Abyss which it cover’d: These are the two principal Points; to which may be added, as a Corollary,

Thirdly, That the Deluge was not in the nature of a standing Pool; the Waters lying every where level, of an equal Depth, and with an uniform Surface; but was made by a Fluctuation and Commotion of the Abyss upon the Disruption: Which Commotion being 339over, the Waters retired into their Channels, and let the dry Land appear.

These are the most material and fundamental Parts of our Hypothesis; and these being prov’d consonant to Scripture, there can be no doubt of the rest.

We begin with the first: That the ante-diluvian Earth was of another Form and Constitution from the present Earth, with the Abyss placed under it: This is confirm’d in Scripture, both by such Places as assert a Diversity in general; and by other Places that intimate to us, wherein that Diversity consisted, and what was the form of the first Earth. That Discourse of St. Peter’s, which we have set before you concerning the past, present and future Heavens and Earth, is so full a Proof of this Diversity in general, that you must either allow it, or make the Apostle’s Argumentation of no Effect: He speaks plainly of the natural World, The Heavens and the Earth; and he makes a plain Distinction, or rather Opposition, betwixt those before and after the Flood. So that the least we can conclude from his Words, is a Diversity betwixt them; in answer to that Identity or Immutability of Nature, which the Scoffers pretended to have been ever since the Beginning.

But tho’ the Apostle, to me, speaks plainly of the natural World, and distinguishes that which was before the Flood, from the present; yet there are some that will allow neither of these to be contain’d in St. Peter’s Words; 340and by that means would make this whole Discourse of little or no Effect, as to our Purpose: And seeing we, on the contrary, have made it the chief Scripture-Basis of the whole Theory of the Earth, we are oblig’d to free it from those false Glosses or Mis-interpretations, that lessen the Force of its Testimony, or make it wholly ineffectual.

These Interpreters say, that St. Peter meant no more than to mind these Scoffers, that the World was once destroy’d by a Deluge of Water; meaning the Animate World, Mankind and living Creatures: And that it shall be destroyed again by another Element, namely, by Fire. So as there is no Opposition or Diversity betwixt the two natural Worlds, taught or intended by the Apostle; but only in reference to their different Fate or Manner of perishing, and not of their different Nature or Constitution.

Here are two main Points, you see, wherein our Interpretations of this Discourse of the Apostle’s differ. First, in that they make the Apostle (in that sixth verse) to understand only the World Animate, or Men in brute Creatures: That these were indeed destroy’d, but not the natural World, or the Form and Constitution of the then Earth and Heavens. Secondly, that there is no Diversity or Opposition made by St. Peter betwixt the antient Heavens and Earth, and the present, as to their Form and Constitution. We pretend that these are Mis-apprehensions or Mis-representations of the Sense of the Apostle in both respects, and 341offer these Reasons to prove them to be so.

For the first Point; That the Apostle speaks here of the natural World, particularly in the 6th verse; and that it perished, as well as the animate, these Considerations seem to prove.

First, because the Argument or Ground these Scoffers went upon, was taken from the natural World, its Constancy and Permanency in the same State from the Beginning; therefore if the Apostle answers ad idem, and takes away their Argument, he must understand the same natural World, and shew that it hath been chang’d, or hath perish’d.

You will say, it may be, the Apostle doth not deny, nor take away the Ground they went upon, but denies the Consequence they made from it; that therefore there would be no Change because there had been none. No, neither doth he do this, if by the World in the 6th verse, he understands Mankind only; for their Ground was this, There hath been no Change in the natural World; their Consequence this, Therefore there will be none, nor any Conflagration. Now the Apostle’s Answer according to you, is this, You forget that Mankind hath been destroy’d in a Deluge. And what then? What’s this to the natural World, whereof they were speaking? This takes away neither Antecedent nor Consequent, neither Ground nor Inference nor any way toucheth their Argument, which proceeded from the natural World, to the natural World. Therefore you must either suppose that the Apostle takes away their Ground, or he takes away nothing.

342Secondly, What is it that the Apostle tells these Scoffers they were ignorant of? That there was a Deluge that destroy’d Mankind? They could not be ignorant of that, nor pretend to be so: It was therefore the Constitution of those old Heavens and Earth, and the Change or Destruction of them at the Deluge, that they were ignorant of, or did not attend to; and of this the Apostle minds them. These Scoffers appear to have been Jews by the Phrase they use, Since the Fathers fell asleep, which in both Parts of it is a Judaical Expression; and does St. Peter tell the Jews that had Moses read to them every Sabbath, that they were ignorant that Mankind was once destroyed with a Deluge in the Days of Noah? Or could they pretend to be ignorant of that without making themselves ridiculous both to Jews and Christians^[6]^? Besides, these do not seem to have been of the Vulgar amongst them, for they bring a Philosophical Argument for their Opinion; and also in their very Argument they refer to the History of the Old Testament, in saying, Since the Fathers fell asleep, amongst which Fathers, Noah was one of the most remarkable.

343Thirdly, The Design of the Apostle is to prove to them, or to dispose them to the Belief of the Conflagration, or future destruction of the World; which I suppose you will not deny to be a Destruction of the natural World; therefore to prove or persuade this, he must use an Argument taken from a precedent Destruction of the natural World; for to give an instance of the perishing of Mankind only, would not reach home to his Purpose. And you are to observe here, that the Apostle does not proceed against them barely by Authority; for what would that have booted? If these Scoffers would have submitted to Authority, they had already the Authority of the Prophets and Apostles in this Point: but he deals with them at their own Weapon, and opposes Reasons to Reasons; What hath been done may be done, and if the natural World hath been once destroyed, ’tis not hard, nor unreasonable to suppose those Prophecies to be true, that say, it shall be destroyed again.

Fourthly, Unless we understand here the natural World, we make the Apostle both redundant in his Discourse, and also very obscure in an easy Argument: If his Design was only to tell them that Mankind was once destroy’d in a Deluge, what’s that to the Heavens and the Earth? The 5th verse would be superfluous; which yet he seems to make the foundation of his Discourse. He might have told them how Mankind had perished before 344with a Deluge, and aggravated that Destruction as much as he pleas’d, without telling them how the Heavens and the Earth were constituted then; what was that to the Purpose, if it had no Dependence or Connection with the other? In the precedent Chapter, ver. 5. when he speaks only of the Floods destroying Mankind, he mentions nothing of the Heavens or the Earth; and if you make him to intend no more here, what he says more is superfluous.

I also add, that you make the Apostle very obscure and operose in a very easy Argument: How easy had it been for him, without this Apparatus, to have told them, as he did before, that God brought a Flood upon the World of the ungodly; and not given us so much Difficulty to understand his Sense, or such a Suspicion and Appearance, that he intended something more? For that there is at least a great Appearance and Tendency to a farther Sense, I think none can deny; And St. Austin, Didymus Alex. Bede, as we shall see hereafter, understood it plainly of the natural World; also modern Expositors and Criticks; as Cajetan, Estius, Drusius, Heinsius, have extended it to the natural World, more or less, tho’ they had no Theory to mislead them, nor so much as an Hypothesis to support them; but attended only to the Tenor of the Apostle’s Discourse, which constrained them to that Sense, in whole or in Part.

Fifthly, The Opposition carries it upon the natural World: The Opposition lies betwixt the οἱ ἔκπαλαι οὐρανοὶ καὶ γῆ and οἱ νῦν οὐρανοὶ καὶ γῆ 345the Heavens that were of old, and the Earth, and the present Heavens and Earth, or the two natural Worlds: And if they will not allow them to be oppos’d in their Natures (which yet we shall prove by and by) at least they must be oppos’d in their Fate; and as this is to perish by Fire, so that perished by Water; and if it perish’d by Water, it perish’d; which is all we contend for at present.

Lastly, If we would be as easily govern’d in the Exposition of this Place, as we are of other Places of Scripture, it would be enough to suggest, that in Reason and Fairness of Interpretation, the same World is destroy’d in the 6th verse, that was describ’d in the foregoing verse; but it is the natural World that is describ’d there, the Heavens and the Earth, so and so constituted; and therefore in Fairness of Interpretation they ought to be understood here; that World being the Subject that went immediately before, and there being nothing in the Words that restrains them to the animate World or to Mankind. In the iid ch. ver. 5. the Apostle does restrain the Word κόσμος by adding ἀσεβῶν, the World of the ungodly; but here ’tis not only illimited, but, according to the Context, both preceding and following, to be extended to the natural World. I say by the following Context too; for so it answers to the World that is to perish by Fire; which will reach the Frame of Nature as well as Mankind.

For a Conclusion of this first Point, I will set down St. Austin’s Judgment in this Case; who 346in several Parts of his Works hath interpreted this Place of St. Peter, of the natural World. As to the Heavens, he hath these Words in his Expositian upon Genesis, Hos etiam aërios cœlos quondam periisse Diluvio, in quâdam earum, quæ Canonica appellantur, Epistolâ legimus. We read in one of the Epistles called Canonical, meaning this of St. Peter’s, that the aërial Heavens perished in the Deluge. And he concerns himself there to let you know that it was not the starry Heavens that were destroy’d; the Waters could not reach so high, but the Regions of our Air. Then afterwards he hath these Words, Faciliùs eos (cœlos) secundum illius Epistolæ authoritatem credimus periisse, & alios, sicut ibi scribitur repositos. We do more easily believe, according to the Authority of that Epistle, those Heavens to have perished; and others, as it is there written, substituted in their Place. In like manner, and to the same Sense, he hath these Words upon Psal. ci. Aerii utique cœli perierunt ut propinqui Terris, secundum quod dicuntur volucres cœli; sunt autem & cœli cœlorum, superiores in Firmamento, sed utrùm & ipsi perituri sint igne, an hi soli, qui etiam diluvio perierunt, disceptatio est aliquanto scrupulosior inter doctos. And in his Book de Civ. Dei, he hath several Passages to the same purpose, Quemadmodum in Apostolicâ illâ Epistolâ à toto Pars accipitur, quod diluvio periisse dictus est mundus, quamvis sola ejus cum suis cœlis pars ima perierit. These being to the same Effect with the first Citation, I need not 347make them English; and this last Place refers to the Earth as well as the Heavens, as several other places in St. Austin do, whereof we shall give you an Account, when we come to shew his Judgment concerning the second Point, the diversity of the ante-diluvian and post-diluvian World: This being but a Foretaste of his good Will and Inclinations towards this Doctrine.

These Considerations alledg’d, so far as I can judge, are full and unanswerable Proofs, that this Discourse of the Apostle’s comprehends and refers to the natural World; and consequently they warrant our Interpretation in this Particular, and destroy the contrary. We have but one Step more to make good, That there was a Change made in this natural World at the Deluge, according to the Apostle; and this is to confute the second Part of their Interpretation, which supposeth that St. Peter makes no Distinction or Opposition betwixt the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth, and the present Heavens and Earth, in that respect.

This second Difference betwixt us, methinks is still harsher than the first; and contrary to the very Form, as well as to the Matter of the Apostle’s Discourse. For there is a plain Antithesis, or Opposition made betwixt the Heavens and the Earth of old (ver. the 5th) and the Heavens and the Earth that are now (ver. the 7th) οἱ ἔκπαλαι οῦρανοὶ καὶ ἡ γῆ, and οἱ νῦν οῦρανοὶ καὶ ἡ γῆ, and the adversitive Particle, δὲ but, you see marks the Opposition; so that it is 348full and plain according to Grammar and Logick. And that the Parts or Members of this Opposition differ in Nature from one another, is certain from this, because otherwise the Apostle’s Argument or Discourse is of no Effect, concludes nothing to the Purpose; he makes no Answer to the Objection, nor proves any thing against the Scoffers, unless you admit that Diversity. For they said, All Things had been the same from the Beginning in the natural World; and unless he say, as he manifestly does, that there hath been a Change in Nature, and that the Heavens and Earth that are now, are different from the ancient Heavens and Earth which perish’d at the Flood, he says nothing to destroy their Argument, nor to confirm the prophetical Doctrine of the future Destruction of the natural World.

This, I think, would be enough to satisfy any clear and free Mind concerning the Meaning of the Apostle; but because I desire to give as full a Light to this Place as I can, and to put the Sense of it out of Controversy, if possible, for the future, I will make some farther Remarks to confirm this Exposition.

And we may observe that several of those Reasons which we have given to prove, that the natural World is understood by St. Peter, are double Reasons; and do also prove the other Point in Question, a Diversity betwixt the two natural Worlds, the ante-diluvian and the present. As for Instance, unless you admit this Diversity betwixt the two natural 349Worlds, you make the 5th verse in this Chapter superfluous and useless; and you must suppose the Apostle to make an Inference here without Premises. In the vith verse he makes an Inference, ^[7]^Whereby the World, that then was perish’d in a Deluge; What does this whereby relate to? by Reason of what? Sure of the particular Constitution of the Heavens and the Earth immediately before describ’d. Neither would it have signified any thing to the Scoffers, for the Apostle to have told them how the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth were constituted, if they were constituted just in the same Manner as the present.

Besides, what is it, as I ask’d before, that the Apostle tells these Scoffers they were ignorant of? does he not say formally and expresly (ver. 5.) that they were ignorant that the Heavens and the Earth were constituted so and so, before the Flood? But if they were constituted as these present Heavens and Earth are, they were not ignorant of their Constitution? Nor did pretend to be ignorant, for their own (mistaken) Argument supposeth it.

But before we proceed any further, give me leave to note the Impropriety of our Translation, in the 5th verse, or latter Part of it; Ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ δὶ ὕδατων (vel δὶ ὔδατος) συνισῶτα. 350This we translate standing in the Water, and out of the Water, which is done manifestly in compliance with the present Form of the Earth, and the Notions of the Translators, and not according to the natural Force and Sense of the Greek Words. If one met with this Sentence^[8]^ in a Greek Author, who would ever render it standing in the Water, and out of the Water? Nor do I know any Latin Translator that hath ventur’d to render them in that Sense, nor any Latin Father; St. Austin and St. Jerome I’m sure do not, but Consistens ex aquâ, or de aquâ, & per aquam; for that later Phrase also συνεσάναι δὶ ὕδατος, does not with so good Propriety signify to stand in the Water, as to consist or subsist by Water, or by the Help of Water, Tanquam per causam sustinentem, as St. Austin and Jerome render it. Neither does that Instance they give from 1 Pet. iii. 20. prove any thing to the contrary, for the Ark was sustain’d by the Waters, and the English does render it accordingly.

The Translation being thus rectified, you 351see the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth consisted of Water, and by Water; which makes Way for a second Observation to prove our Sense of the Text; for if you admit no Diversity betwixt those Heavens and Earth, and the present, shew us pray, how the present Heavens and Earth consist of Water, and by Water? What watry Constitution have they? The Apostle implies rather, that the new Heavens and Earth have a fiery Constitution. We have now Meteors of all Sorts in the Air, Winds, Hail, Snow, Lightning, Thunder, and all Things engender’d of fiery Exhalations, as well as we have Rain; but according to our Theory, Book ii. c. 5. the ante-diluvian Heavens, of all these Meteors had none but Dews and Vapours, or watry Meteors only; and therefore might very aptly be said by the Apostle to be constituted of Water, or to have a watry σίζασις. Then the Earth was said to consist by Water, because it was built upon it, and at first was sustain’d by it. And when such a Key as this is put into our Hands, that does so easily unlock this hard Passage, and makes it intelligible, according to the just Force of the Words, why should we pertinaciously adhere to an^[9]^ Interpretation, that neither agrees with the Words, nor makes any Sense that is considerable.

352Thirdly, If the Apostle had made the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth the same with the present, his Apodosis in the 7th verse, should not have been οἱ δε νῦν οῦρανοι, but καὶ οἱ αὐτοὶ καὶ ἡ γῆ τεθησαυρισμένοι εἰσί, &c. I say, it would not have been by way of Antithesis, but of Identity or Continuation; And the same Heavens and Earth are kept in store reserv’d unto Fire, &c. Accordingly we see the Apostle speaks thus, as to the Logos, or the Word of God, ver. 7. τῷ αὐτῷ λόγῳ, by the same Word of God; where the Thing is the same, he expresseth it as the same; and if it had been the same Heavens and Earth, as well as the same Word of God, why should he use a Mark of Opposition for the one, and of Identity for the other? To this I do not see what can be fairly answer’d.

Fourthly, The ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth were different from the present, because, as the Apostle intimates, they were such, and so constituted, as made them obnoxious to a Deluge; whereas ours are of such a Form, as makes them incapable of a Deluge, and obnoxious to a Conflagration; the just contrary Fate, Theor. Book i. c. 2.

If you say there was nothing of natural Tendency or Disposition in either World to their respective Fate, but the first might as well have perished by Fire as Water, and this by Water as by Fire, you unhinge all Nature and natural Providence in that Method, and contradict one main Scope of the Apostle in this Discourse. 353His first Scope is to assert, and mind them of that Diversity there was betwixt the antient Heavens and Earth, and the present; and from that, to prove against those Scoffers, that there had been a Change and Revolution in Nature: And his second Scope seems to be this, to shew that Diversity to be such, as, under the divine Conduct, leads to a different Fate, and expos’d that World to a Deluge; for when he had describ’d the Constitution of the first Heavens and Earth, he subjoins, δὶ ὧν ὅ τοτε κόσμος ὑδατι κατακλυοθεὶς ἀπόλετο. Quia talis erat, saith Grotius, qualem diximus, constitutio & Terræ & Cœli. WHEREBY the then World perish’d in a Flood of Water. This whereby notes some kind of casual Dependance, and must relate to some Means or Conditions precedent. It cannot relate to Logos, or the Word of God, Grammar will not permit that; therefore it must relate to the State of the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth immediately premis’d: And to what purpose indeed should he premise the Description of those Heavens and Earth, if it was not to lay a Ground for this Inference?

Having given these Reasons for the Necessity of this interpretation: in the last place, let us consider St. Austin’s Judgment and his Sense upon this Place, as to the Point in Question; as also the Reflections that some other of the Ancients have made upon this Doctrine of St. Peter’s. Didymus Alexandrinus, who was for some time St. Jerome’s 354Master, made such a severe Reflection upon it, that he said this Epistle was corrupted, and should not be admitted into the Canon, because it taught the Doctrine of a triple or triform World in this third Chapter; as you may see in his Enarr. in Epist. Canonicas. Now this three-fold World is first that in the 6th verse, The World that then was. In the 7th verse, The Heavens and the Earth that are now. And in the 13th verse, We expect new Heavens and a new Earth, according to his Promise. This seems to be a fair Account that St. Peter taught the Doctrine of a triple World; and I quote this Testimony, to shew what St. Peter’s Words do naturally import, even in the Judgment of one that was not of his Mind; and a Man is not prone to make an Exposition against his own Opinion, unless he thinks the Words very pregnant and express.

But St. Austin owns the Authority of this Epistle, and of this Doctrine, as deriv’d from it, taking notice of this Text of St. Peter’s in several Parts of his Works. We have noted three or four Places already to this purpose, and we may further take notice of several Passages in his Treatise, de Civ. Dei, which confirm our Exposition. In his xxth Book, ch. xxiv. he Disputes against Porphyry, who had the same Principles with these Eternalists in the Text; or, if I may so call them Incorruptarians; and thought the World never had, nor ever would undergo any Change, especially, as to the Heavens. St. Austin could not urge Porphyry with the Authority 355of St. Peter, for he had no Veneration for the Christian Oracles, but it seems he had some for the Jewish; and arguing against him, upon that Text in the Psalms, Cœli peribunt, he shews, upon Occasion, how he understands St. Peter’s Destruction of the old World. Legitur Cœlum & Terra transibunt, Mundus transit, sed puto quod præterit transit, transibunt aliquantò mitius dicta sunt quam peribunt. In Epistolà quoque Petri Apostoli, ubi aquâ inundatus, qui tum erat, periisse dictus est Mundus, satis clarum est quæ pars mundi a toto significata est, & quatenus periisse dicta sit, & qui Cœli repositi igni reservandi. This he explains more fully afterwards by subjoining a Caution (which we cited before) that we must not understand this Passion of St. Peter’s concerning the Destruction of the ante-diluvian World, to take in the whole Universe, and the highest Heavens, but only the aerial Heavens, and the sublunary World. In Apostolicâ illâ Epistola a toto pars accipitur, quod Diluvio periisse dictus est Mundus quamvis sola ejus, cum suis Cœlis pars ima perierit. In that Apostolical Epistle, a part is signified by the whole, when the World is said to have perished in the Deluge, although the lower part of it only, with the Heavens belonging to it, perished; that is, the Earth with the Regions of the Air that belong to it. And consonant to this, in his Exposition of that ci. Psalm, upon those Words, The Heavens are the work of thy Hands; they shall perish, but thou shalt endure. This perishing 356of the Heavens, he says, St. Peter tells us, hath been once done already, namely, at the Deluge: Apertè dixit hoc Apostolus Petrus, Cœli erant olim & Terra, de aquâ & per aquam constituti, Dei verbo; per quod qui factus est mundus, aquâ inundatus deperiit; Terra autem & Cœli qui nunc sunt, igni reservantur. Jam ergo dixit periisse Cœlos per Diluvium.

These Places shew us, that St. Austin understood St. Peter’s Discourse to aim at the natural World, and his periit or periisse (ver. 6) to be of the same Force as peribunt in the Psalms, when ’tis said the Heavens shall perish; and consequently that the Heavens and the Earth, in this Father’s Opinion, were as really changed and transformed at the Time of the Flood, as they will be at the Conflagration. But we must not expect from St. Austin, or any of the Antients, a distinct Account of this Apostolical Doctrine, as if they knew and acknowledg’d the Theory of the first World; that does not at all appear, but what they said was either from broken Tradition, or extorted from them by the Force of the Apostle’s Words and their own Sincerity.

There are yet other Places in St. Austin worthy our Consideration upon this Subject; especially his Exposition of this iiid Chapter of St. Peter, as we find it in the same Treatise, de Civ. Dei, cap. xviii. There he compares again, the Destruction of that World at the 357Deluge, with that which shall be at the Conflagration, and supposeth both the Heavens and Earth to have perish’d: Apostolus commemorans factum ante Diluvium, videtur admonuisse quodammodo quatenùs in fine hujus seculi mundum istum periturum esse credamus. Nam & illo tempore periisse dixit, qui tunc erat, mundum; nec solum orbem terræ, verum etiam cœlos. Then giving his usual Caution, that the Stars and starry Heavens should not be comprehended in that mundane Destruction, he goes on, Atque hoc modo (penè totus aër) cum terra perierat; cujus Terræ utique prior facies (nempe ante-diluviana) fuerat deleta Diluvia. Qui autem nunc sunt cœli & terra eodem verba repositi sunt igni reservandi; Proinde qui Cœli & quæ Terra id est, qui mundus, pro eo mundo qui Diluvio periit, ex eádem aquâ repositus est, ipse igni novissimo reservatur. Here you see St. Austin’s Sense upon the whole Matter; which is this, that the natural World, the Earth with the Heavens about it, was destroyed and chang’d at the Deluge into the present Heavens and Earth; which shall again, in like Manner, be destroyed and chang’d by the last Fire. Accordingly, in another place, to add no more, he saith, the Figure of the (sublunary) World shall be changed at the Conflagration, as it was chang’d at the Deluge: Tunc figura hujus mundi, &c. cap. xvi.

Thus you see, we have St. Austin on our side, in both Parts of our Interpretation; that 358St. Peter’s Discourse is to be referr’d to the natural inanimate World, and that the present natural World is distinct and different from that which was before the Deluge. And St. Austin having applied this expresly to St. Peter’s Doctrine by way of Commentary, it will free us from any Crime or Affectation of Singularity in the Exposition we have given of that Place.

Venerable Bede hath followed St. Austin’s Footsteps in this Doctrine; for, interpreting St. Peter’s original World (Αρχαῖος Κόσμος) 2 Pet. ii. 5. he refers both that and this (chap. iii. 6.) to the natural inanimate World, which he supposeth to have undergone a Change at the Deluge. His Words are these, Idem ipse mundus est (nempe quoad materiam) in quo nunc humanum genus habitat, quem inhabitaverunt hi qui ante diluvium fuerunt, sed tamen rectè Originalis Mundus, quasi alius dicitur; quia sicut in consequentibus hujus Epistolæ scriptum continetur, Ille tunc mundus aquâ inundatus periit. Cælis videlicet qui erant prius, id est, cunctis aëris hujus turbulenti spatiis, aquarum accrescentiun altitudine consumptis, ac Terrâ in alteram faciem, excedentibus aquis, immutatâ. Nam etsi montes aliqui atque convalles ab initio facti creduntur, non tamen tanti quanti nunc in orbe cernuntur universo. ’Tis the same World (namely, as to the Matter and Substance of it) which Mankind lives in now, and did live in before the Flood, but yet that is truly called the ORIGINAL WORLD, being as it were another 359from the present. For it is said in the Sequel of this Epistle, that the World that was then, perished in the Deluge; namely, the Regions of the Air were consumed by the Height and Excess of the Water; and by the same Waters the Earth was changed into another Form or Face. For although some Mountains and Valleys are thought to have been made from the Beginning, yet not such great ones as now we see throughout the whole Earth.

You see this Author does not only own a Change made at the Deluge, but offers at a farther Explication wherein that Change consisted, viz. That the Mountains and Inequalities of the Earth were made greater than they were before the Flood; and so he makes the Change, or the Difference betwixt the two Worlds gradual, rather than specifical, if I may so term it. But we cannot wonder at that, if he had no Principles to carry it farther, or to make any other Sort of Change intelligible to him. Bede [De 6 dier. creat.] also pursues the same Sense and Notion in his Interpretation of that Fountain, Gen. ii. 5. that watered the Face of the Earth before the Flood. And many other Transcribers of Antiquity have recorded this Tradition concerning a Difference, gradual or specifical, both in the ante-diluvian Heavens (Gloss. Ordin. Gen. ix. de Iride. Lyran. ibid. Hist. Scholast. c. 35. Rab. Maurus & Gloss. Inter. Gen. ii. 5, 6. Alcuin. Quæst. in Gen. inter. 135.) and in the ante-diluvian Earth, as the same Authors 360witness in other Places: As Hist. Schol. c. 34. Gloss. Ord. in Gen. vii. Alcuin. Inter. 118, &c. Not to Instance those that tell us the Properties of the ante-diluvian World under the Name and Notion of Paradise.

Thus much concerning this remarkable Place in St. Peter, and the true Exposition of it; which I have the more largely insisted upon, because I look upon this Place as the chief Repository of that great natural Mystery, which in Scripture is communicated to us concerning the triple State or Revolution of the World. And of those Men that are so scrupulous to admit the Theory we have propos’d, I would willingly know, whether they believe the Apostle in what he says concerning the new Heavens and the new Earth to come? ver. 13. and if they do, why they should not believe him as much concerning the old Heavens and the old Earth past? ver. 5, and 6. which he mentions as formally, and describes more distinctly than the other. But if they believe neither past nor to come, in a natural Sense, but an unchangeable State of Nature from the Creation to its Annihilation, I leave them then to their Fellow-Eternalists in the Text, and to the Character or Censure the Apostle gives them, Κατὰ τὰς ἴδιας αὐτῶν ἐπιθυμίας πορευόμενοι, Men that go by their own private Humour and Passions, and prefer that to all other Evidence.

They deserve this Censure, I am sure, if they do not only disbelieve, but also scoff, at 361this Prophetick and Apostolick Doctrine concerning the Vicissitudes of Nature and a triple World. The Apostle in this Discourse does formally distinguish three Worlds (for ’tis well known that the Hebrews have no Word to signify the natural World, but use that Periphrasis, the Heavens and the Earth) and upon each of them engraves a Name and Title that bears a Note of Distinction in it: He calls them the old Heavens and Earth, the present Heavens and Earth, and the new Heavens and Earth. ’Tis true, these three are one, as to Matter and Substance; but they must differ as to Form and Properties; otherwise what is the Ground of this Distinction and of these three different Appellations? Suppose the Jews had expected Ezekiel’s Temple for the third, and last, and most perfect; and that in the Time of the second Temple they had spoke of them with this Distinction, or under these different Names, the old Temple, the present Temple, and the new Temple we expect; would any have understood those three of one and the same Temple; never demolish’d, never chang’d, never rebuilt; always the same, both as to Materials and Form? No, doubtless, but of three several Temples succeeding one another. And have we not the same Reason to understand this Temple of the World, whereof St. Peter speaks, to be three-fold in Succession; seeing he does as plainly distinguish it into the old Heavens and Earth, the present Heavens and Earth? and 362the new Heavens and Earth. And I do the more willingly use this Comparison of the Temple, because it hath been thought an Emblem of the outward World.

I know we are naturally averse to entertain any Thing that is inconsistent with the general Frame and Texture of our own Thoughts; that’s to begin the World again; and we often reject such things without Examination. Neither do I wonder that the generality of Interpreters beat down the Apostle’s Words and Sense to their own Notions; they had no other Grounds to go upon, and Men are not willing, especially in natural and comprehensible things, to put such a Meaning upon Scripture, as is unintelligible to themselves; they rather venture to offer a little Violence to the Words, that they may pitch the Sense at such a convenient Height, as their Principles will reach to: And therefore though some of our modern Interpreters, whom I mention’d before, have been sensible of the natural Tendency of this Discourse of St. Peter’s, and have much ado to bear off the Force of the Words, so as not to acknowledge that they import a real Diversity betwixt the two Worlds spoken of; yet having no Principles to guide or support them in following that Tract, they are forc’d to stop or divert another way. ’Tis like entring into the Mouth of a Cave, we are not willing to venture farther than the Light goes: Nor are they much to blame for this, the Fault is only in those Persons that continue wilfully 363in their Darkness; and when they cannot otherwise resist the Light, shut their Eyes against it, or turn their Head another Way.—But I am afraid I have staid too long upon this Argument; not for my own sake, but to satisfy others.

You may please to remember that all that I have said hitherto, belongs only to the first Head: To prove a Diversity in general betwixt the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth, and the present; not expressing what their particular Form was. And this general Diversity may be argued also by Observations taken from Moses his History of the World, before and after the Flood: From the Longevity of the Ante-diluvians; the Rainbow appearing after the Deluge; and the breaking open an Abyss capable to overflow the Earth. The Heavens that had no Rain-bow, and under whose benign and steady Influence, Men liv’d seven, eight, nine hundred Years and upwards, [See Theor. Book ii. ch. 5.] must have been of a different Aspect and Constitution from the present Heavens: And that Earth that had such an Abyss, that the Disruption of it made an universal Deluge, must have been of another Form than the present Earth; and those that will not admit a Diversity in the two Worlds, are bound to give us an intelligible Account of these Phænomena: How they could possibly be in Heavens and Earth, like the present? Or if they were there once, why they do not continue so still, if Nature be the same?

364We need say no more, as to the ante-diluvian Heavens; but as to the Earth, we must now, according to the second part of the first Head, enquire, if that particular Form, which we have assign’d it before the Flood, be agreeable to Scripture. You know how we have described the Form and Situation of that Earth; namely, that it was built over the Abyss, as a regular Orb, covering and incompassing the Waters round about, and founded, as it were, upon them. There are many Passages of Scripture that favour this Description; some more expresly, others upon a due Explication. To this purpose there are two express Texts in the Psalms; as Psal. xxiv. 1, 2. The Earth is the Lord’s, and the Fulness thereof; the habitable World, and they that dwell therein. FOR he has founded it upon the^[10]^ Sea, and established it 365upon the Floods. An Earth founded upon the Seas, and establish’d upon the Waters, is not this Earth we have describ’d? The first Earth, as it came from the Hands of its Maker? Where can we now find in Nature such an Earth, as the Seas and the Water for its Foundation? Neither is this Text without a second, as a Fellow Witness to confirm the same Truth; for in Psal. cxxxvi. ver. 4, 5, 6. we read to the same Effect, in these Words, To him who alone does great Wonders; to him that by Wisdom made the Heavens; to him that stretched out the Earth above the Waters. We can hardly express that Form of the ante-diluvian Earth, in Words more determinate than these are: Let us then, in the same Simplicity of Heart, follow the Words of Scripture; seeing this literal Sense is not repugnant to Nature, but, on the contrary, agreeable to it upon the strictest Examination. And we cannot, without some Violence, turn the Words to any other Sense. What tolerable Interpretation can these admit of, if we do not allow the Earth once to have encompass’d and over-spread the Face of the Waters? To be founded upon the Waters, to be establish’d upon the Waters, to be extended upon the Waters, what rational or satisfactory Account can be given of these Phrases and Expressions from any thing we find in the present Situation of the Earth? Or how can they be verified concerning it? Consult Interpreters, antient or modern, upon these two Places; see if they answer your Expectation, or answer the 366natural Importance of the Words, unless they acknowledge another Form of the Earth, than the present. Because a Rock hangs its Nose over the Sea, must the Body of the Earth be said to be stretched over the Waters? Or, because there are Waters in some subterraneous Cavities, is the Earth therefore founded upon the Seas? Yet such lame Explications as these you will meet with; and while we have no better Light, we must content our selves with them; but when an Explication is offer’d, that answers the Propriety, Force and Extent of the Words, to reject it, only because it is not fitted to our former Opinions, or because we did not first think of it, is to take an ill Method in expounding Scripture. This Foundation or Establishment of the Earth upon the Seas, this Extention of it above the Waters, relates plainly to the Body, or whole Circuit of the Earth, not to Parcels and Particles of it; as appears from the Occasion, and its being join’d with the Heavens, the other Part of the World. Besides, David is speaking of the Origin of the World, and of the divine Power and Wisdom in the Constitution and Situation of our Earth; and these Attributes do not appear from the Holes of the Earth, and broken Rocks, which have rather the Face of a Ruin, than of Wisdom; but in that wonderful Libration and Expansion of the first Earth over the Face of the Waters, sustained by its own Proportions, and the Hand of his Providence.

367These two Places in the Psalms being duly consider’d, we shall more easily understand a third Place, to the same effect, in the Proverbs; delivered by WISDOM, concerning the Origin of the World, and the Form of the first Earth, in these Words, Chapter viii. 27. When he prepared the Heavens I was there, when HE SET an Orb or Sphere upon the Face of the Abyss. We render it, when we set a Compass upon the Face of the Abyss; but if we have rightly interpreted the Prophet David, ’tis plain enough what Compass is here to be understood; not an imaginary Circle, (for why should that be thought one of the wonderful Works of God?) but that exterior Orb of the Earth that was set upon the Waters: That was the Master-piece of the divine Art in framing of the first Earth, and therefore very fit to be taken Notice of by Wisdom. And upon this Occasion, I desire you to reflect upon St. Peter’s Expression, concerning the first Earth, and to compare it with Solomon’s, to see if they do not answer one another. St. Peter calls it, γῆ καθεστῶσα δὶ ὕδάτων, an Earth consisting, standing, or sustained by the Waters. And Solomon calls it חונ על בני תהום An Orb drawn upon the Face of the Abyss. And St. Peter says, that was done τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, by the Wisdom of God; which is the same Λόγος or Wisdom, that here declares her self to have been present at this Work. Add now to these two Places, the two 368foremention’d out of the Psalmist; An Earth founded upon the Sea, (Psal. xxiv. 2.) and an Earth stretched out above the Waters; (Psal. cxxxvi. 6.) Can any Body doubt or question; but all these four Texts refer to the same Thing? And seeing St. Peter’s Description refers certainly to the ante-diluvian Earth, they must all refer to it; and do all as certainly and evidently agree with our Theory concerning the Form and Situation of it.

The pendulous Form and Posture of that first Earth being prov’d from these four Places, ’tis more easy and emphatical to interpret in this Sense that Passage in Job ch. xxvi. 7. He stretcheth out the North over the Tohu, (for so it is in the Original) and hangeth the Earth upon nothing. And this strange Foundation or no Foundation of the exterior Earth seems to be the Ground of those noble Questions propos’d to Job by God Almighty, chap. xxxviii. Where wast thou, when I laid the Foundations of the Earth? Declare if thou hast understanding, whereupon are the Foundations thereof fastned, and who laid the Corner-Stone? There was neither Foundation, nor Corner-Stone, in that piece of Architecture; and that was it which made the Art and Wonder of it. But I have spoken more largely to these Places in the Theory it self, Book i. p. 119. And if the four Texts before mention’d be consider’d without Prejudice, I think there are few Matters of natural Speculation that can be so well prov’d out of Scripture, as the Form which 369we have given to the ante-diluvian Earth.

But yet it may be thought a just, if not a necessary Appendix to this Discourse, concerning the Form of the ante-diluvian Earth, to give an Account also of the ante-diluvian Abyss, and the Situation of it according to Scripture; for the Relation which these two have to one another, will be a farther Means to discover, if we have rightly determined the Form of that Earth. The Abyss or Tehom Rabbah is a Scripture Notion, and the Word is not us’d, that I know of, in that distinct and peculiar Sense in Heathen Authors. ’Tis plain that in Scripture it is not always taken for the Sea (as Gen. i. 2. and vii. 11. and xlix. 25. Deut. xxxiii. 13. Job xxviii. 14. and xxxviii. 16. Psal. xxxiii. 7. and lxxi. 20. and lxxviii. 15. and cxxxv. 6. Apoc. xx. 1, 3.) but for some other Mass of Waters, or subterraneous Store-house. And this being observ’d, we may easily discover the Nature, and set down the History of the Scripture-Abyss.

The Mother-Abyss is no doubt that in the Beginning of Genesis, v. 2. which had nothing but Darkness upon the Face of it, or a thick caliginous Air. The next News we hear of this Abyss is at the Deluge, (Gen. vii. 11.) where ’tis said to be broke open, and the Waters of it to have drowned the World. It seems then, this Abyss was clos’d up some Time betwixt the Creation and the Deluge, and had got another Cover than that of Darkness. And 370if we will believe Wisdom, (Prov. viii. 27.) who was there present at the Formation of the Earth, an Orb was set upon the Face of the Abyss, at the Beginning of the World.

That these three Places refer to the same Abyss, I think, cannot be questioned by any that will compare them and consider them. That of the Deluge, Moses calls there Tehom-Rabbah, the great Abyss; and can there be any greater than the forementioned Mother-Abyss? And WISDOM, in that Place in the Proverbs, useth the same Phrase and Words with Moses, Gen. i. 2. על פני תהום upon the Face of the Deep, or of the Abyss; changing Darkness for that Orb of the exterior Earth, which was made afterwards to inclose it. And in this Sort it lay, and under this Cover, when the Psalmist speaks of it in these Words, Psal. xxxiii. 7. He gathereth the Waters of the Sea, as in a^[11]^ Bag; he layeth up the Abyss in Store-houses. Lastly, we may observe, that ’twas this Mother-Abyss, whose Womb was burst at the Deluge, when the Sea was born, and broke forth as if it had issued out of a Womb; as God expresseth it to Job, ch. xxxviii. 8. in which Place the Chaldee Paraphrase reads it, when it broke forth, coming out of the Abyss. Which Disruption at the Deluge 371seems also to be alluded to Job xii. 14, 15. and more plainly, Prov. iii. 20. by his Knowledge the Abysses are broken up.

Thus you have already a three-fold State of the Abyss, which makes a short History of it; first, open, at the Beginning; then covered till the Deluge; then broke open again, as it is at present. And we pursue the History of it no farther; but we are told, Apoc. xx. 3. That it shall be shut up again, and the great Dragon in it, for a thousand Years. In the mean time we may observe from this Form and Posture of the ante-diluvian Abyss, how suitable it is and coherent with that Form of the ante-diluvian Earth which St. Peter and the Psalmist had described, sustained by the Waters; founded upon the Waters; stretched above the Waters; for if it was the Cover of this Abyss (and it had some Cover that was broke at the Deluge) it was spread as a Crust of Ice upon the Face of those Waters, and so made an Orbis Terrarum, an habitable Sphere of Earth about the Abyss.

So much for the Form of the ante-diluvian Earth and Abyss; which as they aptly correspond to one another, so, you see, our Theory answers, and is adjusted to both; and, I think, so fitly, that we have no reason hitherto to be displeased with the Success we have had in the Examination of it, according to Scripture. We have dispatch’d the two main 372Points in Question, first, to prove a Diversity in general betwixt the two natural Worlds, or betwixt the Heavens and the Earth before and after the Flood. Secondly, to prove wherein this Diversity consisted; or that the particular Form of the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth was such according to Scripture, as we have describ’d it in the Theory. You’ll say, then the Work is done; what needs more, all the rest follows of Course? For if the ante-diluvian Earth had such a Form as we have propos’d and prov’d it to have had, there could be no Deluge in it but by a Dissolution of its Parts and exterior Frame: And a Deluge so made, would not be in the Nature of a Standing-Pool, but of a violent Agitation and Commotion of the Waters. This is true; these Parts of the Theory are so cemented, that you must grant all, if you grant any. However we will try, if even these two Particulars also may be prov’d out of Scripture; that is, if there be any Marks or Memorandums left there by the Spirit of God, of such a Fraction or Dissolution of the Earth at the Deluge; and also such Characters of the Deluge it self, as shew it to have been by a Fluctuation and impetuous Commotion of the Waters.

To proceed then; that there was a Fraction or Dissolution of the Earth at the Deluge, the History of it by Moses gives us the first Account, seeing he tells us, as the principal Cause of the Flood, that the Fountains of 373the great Abyss were cloven or burst asunder; and upon this Disruption the Waters gush’d out from the Bowels of the Earth, as from the widen’d Mouths of so many Fountains. I do not take Fountains there to signify any more than Sources or Stores of Water; noting also this Manner of their Eruption from below, or out of the Ground, as Fountains do. Accordingly in the Proverbs, (chap. iii. 20.) ’tis only said, the Abysses were broken open. I do not doubt, but this refers to the Deluge, as Bede, and others understand it; the very Word being us’d here, both in the Hebrew and Septuagint, נבקעו ἐῤῤάγησαν that express the Disruption of the Abyss at the Deluge.

And this breaking up of the Earth at that Time, is elegantly exprest in Job, by the bursting of the Womb of Nature, when the Sea was first brought to Light; ch. xxxviii. when after many Pangs and Throws and Dilacerations of her Body, Nature was delivered of a Burthen, which she had born in her Womb sixteen hundred Years.

These three Places I take to be Memorials and Proofs of the Disruption of the Earth, or of the Abyss, at the universal Deluge. And to these we may add more out of the Prophets, Job, and the Psalms, by Way of Allusion commonly to the State of Nature at that Time. The Prophet Isaiah, in describing the future Destruction of the World, chap. xxiv. 18, 19. seems plainly to allude and have 374respect to the past Destruction of it at the Deluge; as appears by that leading Expression, the Windows from on high are open, ארבות סמיום נפתחו θυρίδες ἐκ τῷ οὐρανῶ ἠνεώχθησαν, taken manifestly from Gen. vii. 11. Then see how the Description goes on; the Windows from on high are open, and the Foundations of the Earth do shake, the Earth is utterly broken down, the Earth is quite dissolved, the Earth is exceedingly moved. Here are Concussions, and Fractions, and Dissolutions, as there were in the mundane Earthquake and Deluge; which we had exprest before only by breaking open the Abyss. By the Foundations of the Earth here and elsewhere, I perceive many understand the Center; so by moving or shaking the Foundations, or putting them out of Course, must be understood a displacing of the Center; which was really done at the deluge, as we have shewn in its proper Place, Theor. Book ii. Chap. 3. If we therefore remember, that there was both a Dislocation, as I may so say, and a Fraction in the Body of the Earth, by that great Fall; a Dislocation as to the Center, and a Fraction as to the Surface and exterior Region, it will truly answer to all those Expressions in the Prophet, that seem so strange and extraordinary. ’Tis true, this Place of the Prophet respects also and foretels the future Destruction of the World; but that being by Fire, when the Elements shall melt with fervent Heat, and the Earth with the Works therein shall be burnt 375up, these Expressions of Fractions and Concussions, seem to be taken originally from the Manner of the World’s first distruction, and to be transferr’d, by way of Application, to represent and signify the second Destruction of it, though, it may be, not with the same Exactness and Propriety.

There are several other Places that refer to the Dissolution and Subversion of the Earth at the Deluge, Amos ix. 5, 6. The Lord of Hosts is he, that toucheth the Earth, and it shall melt, or be dissolv’d.——and it shall rise up wholly like a Flood, and shall be drowned as by the Flood of Ægypt. By this and by the next verse the Prophet seems to allude to the Deluge, and to the Dissolution of the Earth that was then. This in Job seems to be called breaking down the Earth, and overturning the Earth, chap. xii. 14, 15. Behold he breaketh down and it cannot be built again, He shutteth upon Man, and there can be no opening. Behold, he with-holdeth the Waters, and they dry up; also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the Earth: Which Place you may see paraphras’d, Theo. Book i. p. 124, 125. We have already cited, and shall hereafter cite, other Places out of Job; and as that ancient Author (who is thought to have liv’d before the Judaical Oeconomy, and nearer to Noah than Moses) seems to have had the Præcepta Noachidarum, so also he seems to have had the Dogmata Noachidarum; which were deliver’d by Noah to his Children and 376Posterity, concerning the Mysteries of natural Providence, the Origin and Fate of the World, the Deluge and ante-diluvian State, &c. and accordingly we find many Strictures of these Doctrines in the Book of Job. Lastly, In the Psalms there are Texts that mention the shaking of the Earth, and the Foundations of the World, in reference to the Flood, if we judge aright; whereof we will speak under the next Head, concerning the raging of the Waters in the Deluge.

These Places of Scripture may be noted, as left us to be Remembrancers of that general Ruin and Disruption of the Earth at the Time of the Deluge. But I know it will be said of them, that they are not strict Proofs, but Allusions only: Be it so; yet what is the Ground of those Allusions? Something must be alluded, and something that hath past in Nature, and that is recorded in Sacred History; and what is that, unless it be the universal Deluge, and that Change and Disturbance that was then in all Nature? If others say, that these and such like Places are to be understood morally and allegorically, I do not envy them their Interpretation; but when Nature and Reason will bear a literal Sense, the Rule is, that we should not recede from the Letter. But I leave these Things to every one’s Thoughts; which the more calm they are, and the more impartial, the more easily they will feel the Impressions of Truth: 377In the mean Time, I proceed to the last particular mention’d, The Form of the Deluge it self.

This we suppose to have been, not in the Way of a standing Pool, the Waters making an equal Surface, and an equal Height every where; but that the extream Height of the Waters was made by the extream Agitation of them; caus’d by the Weight and Force of great Masses or Regions of Earth falling at once into the Abyss; by which Means, as the Waters in some Places were press’d out, and thrown at an excessive Height into the Air, so they would also in certain Places gape, and lay bare even the Bottom of the Abyss; which would look as an open Grave ready to swallow up the Earth, and all it bore. Whilst the Ark, in the mean time, falling and rising by these Gulphs and Precipices, sometimes above Water, and sometimes under, was a true Type of the State of the Church in this World: And to this Time and State David alludes in the Name of the Church, Psalm. xlii. 7. Abyss calls unto Abyss at the Noise of thy Cataracts or Water-Spouts; all thy Water and Billows have gone over me. And again, Psal. xlvi. 2, 3. in the Name of the Church, Therefore will not we fear tho’ the Earth be removed, and tho’ the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Seas. The Waters thereof roar and are troubled, the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof.

378But there is no Description more remarkable or more eloquent, than of that Scene of Things represented, Psalm. xviii. 7, 8, 9, &c. which still alludes, in my Opinion, to the Deluge-Scene, and in the Name of the Church. We will set down the Words at large.

Ver. 6. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cryed unto my God; He heard my Voice out of his Temple, and my Cry came before him into his Ears.

7. Then the Earth shook and trembled, the Foundations also of the Hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.

8. There went up a Smoak from his Nostrils, and Fire out of his Mouth devoured; Coals were kindled by it.

9. He bowed the Heavens also and came down, and Darkness was under his Feet.

10. And he rode upon a Cherub and did fly, he did fly upon the Wings of the Wind.

11. He made Darkness his secret Place; his Pavilion round about him was dark Waters and thick Clouds of the Sky.

12. At the Brightness before him the thick Clouds passed, Hail and Coals of Fire.

13. The Lord also thunder’d in the Heavens, and the Highest gave his Voice, Hail and Coals of Fire.

14. Yea, he sent out his Arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out Lightnings and discomfited them.

15. Then the Channels of Waters were seen, and the Foundations of the World were discovered; at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the Breath of thy Nostrils.

He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of great Waters. מים רבים

This is a rough, I think, Draught of the Face of the Heavens and the Earth at the Deluge, as the last Verses do intimate; and ’tis apply’d to express the Dangers and Deliverances of the Church: The Expressions are so far too high to be apply’d to David in his Person, and to his Deliverance from Saul; no such Agonies or Disorders of Nature as are here instanc’d, were made in David’s Time, or upon his Account; but ’tis a Scheme of the Church, and of her Fate, particularly, as represented by the Ark, in that dismal Distress, when all Nature was in Confusion. And though there may be some Things here intermixt to make up the Scene, that are not so close to the Subject as the rest, or that they may be refer’d to the future Destruction of the World; yet that is not unusual, nor amiss, in such Descriptions, if the great Strokes be fit and rightly placed. That there was Smoak, and Fire, and Water, and Thunder, and Darkness, and Winds, and Earthquakes, at the Deluge, we cannot doubt, if we consider the Circumstances of it: Waters dash’d and broken made a Smoak and Darkness, and no Hurricane could be so violent as the Motions of the Air at that Time: 380Then the Earth was torn in pieces, and its Foundations shaken. And as to Thunder and Lightning, the Encounters and Collisions of the mighty Waves, and the Cracks of a falling World, would make Flashes and Noises, far greater and more terrible, than any that can come from Vapours and Clouds. There was an universal^[12]^ Tempest, a Conflict and Clashing of all the Elements; and David seems to have represented it so; with God Almighty in the midst of it, ruling them all.

But I am apt to think, some will say, all this is Poetical in the Prophet, and these are hyperbolical and figurative Expressions, from which we cannot make any Inference, as to the Deluge and the natural World: ’Tis true, those that have no Idea of the Deluge, that will answer to such a Scene of things, as is here represented, must give such a slight Account of this Psalm. But on the other hand, if we have already an Idea of the Deluge, that is rational, and also consonant to Scripture upon other Proofs, and the Description here made by the Prophet answer to that Idea, whether then is it not more reasonable to think, that it stands upon that Ground, than to think it a mere Fancy and poetical Scene of Things? This is the true State of the Case, and that which we must judge of. Methinks ’tis very harsh to suppose all this a bare Fiction, 381grounded upon no matter of Fact, upon no sacred Story, upon no Appearance of God in Nature. If you say it hath a moral Signification, so let it have, we do not destroy that: It hath reference, no doubt, to the Dangers and Deliverances of the Church; but the Question is, whether the Words and natural Sense be a Fancy only, a Bundle of random Hyperboles? or, whether they relate to the History of the Deluge, and the State of the Ark there representing the Church? This makes the Sense doubly rich, Historically and Morally; and grounds it upon Scripture and Reason, as well as upon Fancy.

That violent Eruption of the Sea out of the Womb of the Earth, which Job speaks of, is, in my Judgment, another Description of the Deluge; ’tis ch. xxxviii. 8, 9, 10, 11. Who shut up the Sea with Doors, when it broke forth, as if it had issued out of a womb; when I made the Cloud the Garment thereof, and thick Darkness a swadling Band for it. And broke up for it my decreed Place.——Hitherto shalt thou come, &c. Here you may see the Birth and Nativity of the Sea, or of Oceanus, describ’d^[13]^, how he broke out of the Womb, and what his first Garment and Swadling-Cloaths were; 382namely, Clouds and thick Darkness. This cannot refer to any thing, that I know of, but to the Face of Nature at the Deluge; when the Sea was born, and wrapt up in Clouds and broken Waves, and a dark impenetrable Mist round the Body of the Earth. And this seems to be the very same, that David had express’d in his Description of the Deluge, Psal. xviii. 11. He made Darkness his secret Place, his Pavilion round about him were dark Waters and thick Clouds of the Skies. For this was truly the Face of the World in the Time of the Flood, tho’ we little reflect upon it. And this dark Confusion every where, above and below, arose from the violent and confus’d Motion of the Abyss; which was dash’d in pieces by the falling Earth; and flew into the Air in misty Drops, as Dust flies up in a great Ruin. [See Theor. Book i. p. 136.]

But I am afraid, we have stay’d too long upon this Particular, The Form of the Deluge; seeing ’tis but a Corollary from the precedent Article about the Dissolution of the Earth. However, Time is not ill spent about any thing that relates to natural Providence, whereof the two most signal Instances in our sacred Writings, are, the Deluge and the Conflagration. And seeing Job and David do often reflect upon the Works of God in the external Creation, and upon the Administrations of Providence, it cannot be imagin’d, that they should never reflect upon the Deluge; the most remarkable Change of Nature that ever 383hath been, and the most remarkable Judgment upon Mankind. And if they have reflected upon it any where, ’tis, I think, in those Places and those Instances, which I have noted; and if those Places do relate to the Deluge, they are not capable, in my Judgment, of any fairer or more natural Interpretation, than that which we have given them; which you see, how much it favours and confirms our Theory.

I have now finished the Heads I undertook to prove, that I might shew our Theory to agree with Scripture in these three principal Points; first, in that it supposeth a Diversity and Difference betwixt the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth, and the present Heavens and Earth: Secondly, in assigning the particular Form of the ante-diluvian Earth and Abyss; Thirdly, in explaining the Deluge by a Dissolution of that Earth, and an Eruption of the Abyss. How far I have succeeded in this Attempt, as to others, I cannot tell; but I am sure I have convinced my self, and am satisfied that my Thoughts, in that Theory, have run in the same Tract with the Holy Writings, with the true Intent and Spirit of them. There are some Persons that are wilfully ignorant in certain things, and others that are willing to be ignorant, as the Apostle phraseth it; speaking of those Eternalists that denied the Doctrine of the Change and Revolutions of the natural World: And ’tis not to be expected but there are many still of the 384same Humour, and therefore may be called willingly ignorant; that is, they will not use that Pains and Attention that is necessary for the Examination of such a Doctrine, nor Impartiality in judging after Examination; they greedily lay hold on all Evidence on one side, and willingly forget, or slightly pass over, all Evidence for the other. This, I think, is the Character of those that are willingly ignorant; for I do not take it to be so deep as a downright wilful Ignorance, where they are plainly conscious to themselves of that Wilfulness: but where an insensible Mixture of human Passions inclines them one Way, and makes them averse to the other; and in that Method draws on all the Consequences of a willing Ignorance.

There remains still, as I remember, one Proposition that I am bound to make good; I said, at first, that our Hypothesis concerning the Deluge was more agreeable not only to Scripture in general, but also to the particular History of the Flood left us by Moses; I say, more agreeable to it than any other Hypothesis, that hath yet been propos’d. This may be made good in a few Words; for in Moses’s History of the Deluge, there are two principal Points, the Extent of the Deluge, and the Causes of it; and in both these we do fully agree with that sacred Author. As to the Extent of it, he makes the Deluge universal; All the high Hills under the whole Heaven were cover’d fifteen Cubits upwards. We also make it universal, over the Face of the 385whole Earth; and in such a Manner as must needs raise the Waters above the Top of the highest Hills every where. As to the Causes of it, Moses makes them to be the Disruption of the Abyss, and the Rains, and no more; and in this also we exactly agree with him; we know no other Causes, nor pretend to any other but those two. Distinguishing therefore Moses his Narration as to the Substance and Circumstances of it, it must be allowed that these two Points make the Substance of it, and that an Hypothesis that differs from it in either of these two, differs from it more than ours; which, at the worst, can but differ in Matter of Circumstance. Now seeing the great Difficulty about the Deluge is the Quantity of Water required for it, there have been two Explications proposed, besides ours, to remove or satisfy this Difficulty; one whereof makes the Deluge not to have been universal, or to have reach’d only Judea and some neighbouring Countries, and therefore less Water would suffice; the other owning the Deluge to be universal, supplies it self with Water from the divine Omnipotency, and says new Waters were created then for the nonce, and again annihilated, when the Deluge was to cease. Both these Explications, you see, (and I know no more of Note that are not obnoxious to the same Exceptions) differ from Moses in the Substance, or in one of the two substantial Points, and consequently more than ours doth. The first changeth the Flood into a kind of 386National Inundation; and the second assigns other Causes of it than Moses had assign’d; And as they both differ apparently from the Mosaical History, so you may see them refuted upon other Grounds also, in the third Chapter of the first Book of the Theory.

This may be sufficient as to the History of the Flood by Moses: But possibly it may be said, the principal Objection will arise from Moses his six Days Creation in the first Chapter of Genesis; where another sort of Earth, than what we have form’d from the Chaos, is represented to us; namely, a terraqueous Globe such as our Earth is at present. ’Tis indeed very apparent, that Moses hath accommodated his six Days Creation to the present Form of the Earth, or to that which was before the Eyes of the People, when he wrote. But it is a great Question whether that was ever intended for a true Physical Account of the Origin of the Earth; or whether Moses did either Philosophize or Astronomize in that Description. The antient fathers, when they answer the Heathens, and the Adversaries of Christianity, do generally deny it; as I am ready to make good upon another Occasion. And the Thing it self bears in it evident Marks of an Accommodation and Condescension to the vulgar Notions concerning the Form of the World: Those that think otherwise, and would make it literally and physically true in all the Parts of it, I desire them, without entring upon the strict Merits of the Cause, to determine these 387Preliminaries. First, whether the whole Universe rise from a terrestrial Chaos? Secondly, what System of a World this six Days Creation proceeds upon; whether it supposes the Earth, or the Sun, for the Center? Thirdly, whether the Sun and fix’d Stars are of a later Date, and a later Birth, than this Globe of Earth? And lastly, where is the Region of the Super-celestial Waters? When they have determin’d these Fundamentals, we will proceed to other Observations upon the six Days Work, which will farther assure us, that ’tis a Narration suited to the Capacity of the People, and not to the strict and physical Nature of Things. Besides, we are to remember, that Moses must be so interpreted in the first Chapter of Genesis, as not to interfere with himself in other Parts of his History; nor to interfere with St. Peter, or the Prophet David, or any other sacred Authors, when they treat of the same Matter. Nor lastly, so, as to be repugnant to clear and uncontested Science. For, in things that concern the natural World, that must always be consulted.

With these Precautions, let them try if they can reduce that Narrative of the Origin of the World, to physical Truth; so as to be consistent, both with Nature, and with Divine Revelation every where. It is easily reconcileable to both, if we suppose it wrote in a vulgar Style, and to the Conceptions of the People; and we cannot deny that a vulgar Style is often made use of in the holy Writings. How 388freely and unconcernedly does Scripture speak of God Almighty, according to the Opinions of the Vulgar? Of his Passions, local Motions, Parts and Members of his Body: Which all are things that do not belong, or are not compatible with the Divine Nature, according to Truth and Science. And if this Liberty be taken, as to God himself, much more may it be taken as to his Works. And accordingly we see, what Motion the Scripture gives to the Sun; what Figure to the Earth; what Figure to the Heavens: All according to the Appearance of Sense and popular Credulity without any Remorse for having transgressed the Rules of intellectual Truth.

This vulgar Style of Scripture, in describing the Nature of Things, hath been often mistaken for the real Sense, and so become a Stumbling-Block in the Way of Truth. Thus the Anthropomorphites of old contended for the human Shape of God, from the Letter of Scripture, and brought many express Texts for their purpose; but sound Reason, at length, got the upper hand of literal Authority. Then several of the Christian Fathers contended, that there were no Antipodes; and made that Doctrine irreconcilable to Scripture; But this also, after a while, went off, and yeilded to Reason and Experience. Then, the Motion of the Earth must by no means be allow’d, as being contrary to Scripture; for so it is indeed, according to the Letter and vulgar Style. But all intelligent Persons see thorough this Argument, 389and depend upon it no more in this Case, than in the former. Lastly, the Original of the Earth from a Chaos, drawn according to the Rules of Phisiology, will not be admitted; because it does not agree with the Scheme of the six Days Creation. But why may not this be wrote in a vulgar Style, as well as the rest? Certainly there can be nothing more like a vulgar Style, than to set God to work by the Day, and in six Days to finish his Task; as he is there represented. We may therefore probably hope that all these Disguises of Truth will at length fall off, and that we shall see God and his Works in a pure and naked Light.

Thus I have finished what I had to say in Confirmation of this Theory from Scripture; I mean of the former Part of it, which depends chiefly upon the Deluge, and the ante-diluvian Earth. When you have collated the Places of Scripture, on either side, and laid them in the Balance, to be weigh’d one against another; if you do but find them equal, or near to an equal Poise, you know in whether Scale the natural Reasons are to be laid; and of what Weight they ought to be in an Argument of this kind. There is a great Difference betwixt Scripture with Philosophy on its side, and Scripture with Philosophy against it, when the Question is concerning the natural World: And this is our Case; which I now leave to the Consideration of the unprejudic’d Reader, and proceed to the Proof of the second Part of the Theory.

390The latter Part consists of the Conflagration of the World, and the new Heavens and new Earth; and seeing there is no Dispute concerning the former of these two, our Task will now lie in a little Compass; being only this, to prove that there will be new Heavens, and a new Earth, after the Conflagration. This, to my Mind, is sufficiently done already, in the first, second and third Chapters of the ivth book, both from Scripture and Antiquity, whether Sacred or Prophane; and therefore, at present, we will only make a short and easy Review of Scripture-Testimonies, with design chiefly to obviate and disappoint the Evasions of such, as would beat down solid Texts into thin Metaphors and Allegories.

The Testimonies of Scripture concerning the Renovation of the World, are either express, or implicit: Those I call express, that mention the new Heavens and new Earth; and those implicit, that signify the same Thing, but not in express Terms. So when our Saviour speaks of a Palingenesia, or Regeneration; (Matt. xix. 28, 29.) or St Peter, of an Apocatastasis or Restitution; (Acts iii. 21.) these being Words used by all Authors, Prophane or Ecclesiastical, for the Renovation of the World, ought, in reason, to 391be interpreted in the same Sense in the Holy Writings. And in like Manner, when St. Paul speaks of his future Earth, or an habitable World to come, Hebr. ii. 5. ἡ οἰκουμένη ἡ μέλλουσα or of a Redemption or Melioration of the present State of Nature, Rom. iii. 21, 22. these lead us again, in other Terms, to the same Renovation of the World. But there are also some Places of Scripture, that set the new Heavens and new Earth in such a full and open View, that we must shut our Eyes not to see them. St. John says, he saw them, and observed the Form of the new Earth, Apoc. xxi. 1. Isa. lxv. 17. The Seer Isaiah spoke of them in express Words, many hundred Years before. And St. Peter marks the Time when they are to be introduc’d, namely, after the Conflagration, or after the Dissolution of the present Heavens and Earth, 2 Pet. iii. 12, 13.

These later Texts of Scripture being so express, there is but one Way left to elude the Force of them; and that is, by turning the Renovation of the World into an Allegory; and making the new Heavens and new Earth to be allegorical Heavens and Earth, not real and material, as ours are. This is a bold Attempt of some modern Authors, who chuse rather to strain the Word of God, than their own Notions. There are Allegories, no doubt, in Scripture, but we are not 392to allegorize Scripture without some Warrant; either from an Apostolical Interpretation, or from the Necessity of the Matter; and I do not know how they can pretend to either of these, in this Case. However, that they may have all fair Play, we will lay aside, at present, all the other Texts of Scripture, and confine our selves wholly to St. Peter’s Words; to see and examine whether they are, or can be turn’d into an Allegory, according to the best Rules of Interpretation.

St. Peter’s Words are these, 2 Pet. iii. 11, 12, 13. Seeing then all these Things shall be dissolved, what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness? Looking for, and hasting the Coming of the Day of God; wherein the Heavens being on Fire shall be dissolved, and the Elements shall melt with fervent Heat. Nevertheless we, according to his Promise, look for new Heavens and a new Earth; wherein Righteousness shall dwell. The Question is concerning this last Verse, Whether the new Heavens and Earth here promis’d, are to be real and material Heavens and Earth, or only figurative and allegorical. The Words, you see, are clear; and the general Rule of Interpretation is this, That we are not to recede from the Letter, or the literal Sense, unless there be a Necessity from the Subject-matter; such a Necessity, as makes a literal Interpretation 393absurd. But where is that Necessity in this Case? Cannot God make new Heavens and a new Earth, as easily as he made the old ones? Is his Strength decayed since that Time, or is Matter grown more disobedient? Nay, does not Nature offer her self voluntarily to raise a new World from the second Chaos, as well as from the first; and, under the Conduct of Providence, to make it as convenient an Habitation as the primæval Earth? Therefore no Necessity can be pretended of leaving the litteral Sense, upon an Incapacity of the Subject-matter.

The second Rule to determine an Interpretation to be literal or allegorical, is the use of the same Words or Phrase in the Context, and the Signification of them there: Let’s then examine our Case according to this Rule. St. Peter had us’d the same Phrase of Heavens and Earth twice before in the same Chapter. The old Heavens and Earth, ver. 5. The present Heavens and Earth, ver. 7. and now he uses it again, ver. 13. the new Heavens and Earth. Have we not then Reason to suppose, that he takes it here in the same Sense, that he had done twice before, for real and material Heavens and Earth? There is no Mark set of a new Signification, nor why we should alter the Sense of the Words. That he used them always before for the material Heavens and Earth, 394I think none will question; and therefore, unless they can give us a sufficient Reason, why we should change the Signification of the Words, we are bound by this second Rule also, to understand them in a litteral Sense.

Lastly, The very Form of the Words, and the Manner of their Dependence upon the Context, leads us to a litteral Sense, and to material Heavens and Earth. Nevertheless, says the Apostle, we expect new Heavens, &c. Why Nevertheless! that is, notwithstanding the Dissolution of the present Heavens and Earth. The Apostle foresaw, what he had said might raise a Doubt in their Minds, whether all Things would not be at an End; nothing more of Heavens and Earth, or of any habitable World, after the Conflagration: And to obviate this, he tells them, Notwithstanding that wonderful Desolation that I have describ’d, we do, accordding to God’s Promises, expect new Heavens and a new Earth, to be an Habitation for the Righteous.

You see then the new Heavens and new Earth, which the Apostle speaks of, are substituted in the Place of those that were destroyed at the Conflagration; and would you substitute allegorical Heavens and Earth in the Place of Material? Shadow for a Substance? What an Equivocation would it be in the Apostle, when the Doubt was about the material Heavens and Earth, to 395make an Answer about allegorical. Lastly, The timing of the Thing determines the Sense: When shall this new World appear? after the Conflagration, the Apostle says: Therefore it cannot be understood of any moral Renovation, to be made at, or in the Times of the Gospel, as these Allegorists pretend. We must therefore, upon all Accounts, conclude that the Apostle intended a literal Sense; real and material Heavens, to succeed these after the Conflagration; which was the Thing to be prov’d. And I know not what Bars the Spirit of God can set, to keep us within the Compass of a literal Sense, if these be not sufficient.

Thus much for the Explication of St. Peter’s Doctrine concerning the new Heavens and new Earth; which secures the second Part of our Theory: For the Theory stands upon two Pillars, or two Pedestals, the ante-diluvian Earth and the future Earth; or in St. Peter’s Phrase, the old Heavens and Earth, and the new Heavens and Earth; and it cannot be shaken, so long as these two continue firm and immoveable. We might now put an End to this Review, but it may be expected possibly that we should say something concerning the Millennium? which we have, contrary to the general Sentiment of the modern Millennaries, plac’d in the future Earth. Our Opinion hath this Advantage above others, that all fanatical Pretensions to Power and Empire in this World, 396are, by these Means, blown away, as Chaff before the Wind. Princes need not fear to be dethroned, to make way to the Saints; nor Governments unhinged, that they may rule the World with a Rod of Iron. These are the Effects of the wild Enthusiasm; seeing the very State which they aim at, is not to be upon this Earth.

But that our Sense may not be mistaken or misapprehended in this Particular, as if we thought the Christian Church would never, upon this Earth, be in a better and happier Posture than it is in at present: We must distinguish betwixt a Melioration of the World, if you will allow that Word; and a Millennium. We do not deny a Reformation and Improvement of the Church, both as to Peace, Purity, and Piety: That Knowledge may increase, Mens Minds be enlarged, and Christian Religion better understood: That the Power of Antichrist shall be diminish’d, Persecution cease, Liberty of Conscience allow’d amongst the Reformed; and a greater Union and Harmony established: That Princes will mind the publick Good, more than they do now; and be themselves better Examples of Virtue and true Piety. All this may be, and I hope will be e’er long. But the apocalyptical Millennium, or the new Jerusalem, is still another Matter: It differs not in Degree only from the present State, but in a new Order of Things; both in the moral World and in the natural; and that cannot be till we come into the new 397Heavens and new Earth. Suppose what Reformation you can in this World, there will still remain many Things inconsistent with the true millennial State; Antichrist, tho’ weakned, will not be finally destroyed till the coming of our Saviour, nor Satan bound. And there will be always Poverty, Wars, Diseases, Knaves and Hypocrites, in this World, which are not consistent with the new Jerusalem, as St. John describes it, Apoc. xxi. 2, 3, 4, &c.

You see now what our Notion is of the Millennium, as we deny this Earth to be the Seat of it: ’Tis the State that succeeds the first Resurrection, when Satan is lock’d up in the bottomless Pit: The State when the Martyrs are to return into Life, and wherein they are to have the first Lot and chief Share: A State which is to last a thousand Years. And Blessed and Holy is he, that hath a Part in it; on such the second Death hath no Power; but they shall be Priests of God and Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand Years. If you would see more particular Reasons of our Judgment in this Case, why such a Millennium is not to be expected in this World; they are set down in the 8th Chap. of the 4th Book, and we do not think it necessary that they should be here repeated.

As to that Dissertion that follows the Millennium, and reaches to the Consummation of all Things seeing it is but problematical, we leave it to stand or fall by the Evidence already given; and should be very glad to see the 398Conjectures of others more learned, in Speculations so abstruse and remote from common Knowledge. They cannot surely be thought unworthy or unfit for our Meditations, seeing they are suggested to us by Scripture it self: And to what end were they propos’d to us there, if it was not intended, that they should be understood, sooner or later?

I have done with this Review; and shall only add one or two Reflections upon the whole Discourse, and so conclude. You have seen the State of the Theory of the Earth, as to the Matters, Form, and Proofs of it, both natural and sacred: If any one will substitute a better in its Place, I shall think my self more obliged to him, than if he had shewed me the Quadrature of the Circle. But it is not enough to pick Quarrels here and there; that may be done by any Writing, especially when it is of so great Extent and Comprehension: They must build up, as well as pull down; and give us another Theory instead of this, fitted to the same natural History of the Earth, according as it is set down in Scripture; and then let the World take their Choice. He that cuts down a Tree, is bound in Reason to plant two; because there is an Hazard in their Growth and Thriving.

Then as to those that are such rigorous Scripturists, as to require plainly demonstrative and irresistible Texts for every thing they entertain or believe; they would do well to reflect and consider, whether, for every Article in the 399three Creeds (which have no Support from natural Reason) they can bring such Texts of Scripture as they require of others; or a fairer and juster Evidence, all things consider’d, than we have done for the Substance of this Theory. We have not indeed said all that might be said, as to Antiquity; that making no part in this Review, and being capable still of great Additions. But as to Scripture and Reason I have no more to add: Those that are not satisfied with the Proofs already produc’d upon these two Heads, are under a Fate, good or bad, which is not in my Power to overcome. FINIS.

AN ANSWER TO THE EXCEPTIONS MADE BY Mr. Erasmus Warren, AGAINST THE THEORY of the EARTH

If it be Civility to return a speedy Answer to a Demand or Message, I will not fail to pay that Respect to the late Author of the Exceptions against the Theory of the Earth. I know, short Follies, and short Quarrels, are the best: And to offer Satisfaction at the first Opportunity, is the fairest Way to put an End to Controversies. Besides, such personal Altercations as these, are but Res perituræ, which do not deserve much Time or Study; but, like Repartees, are best made off hand, and never thought on more. I only desire that Friendliness, that some Allowance may be 403made as to Unaccuracy of Style: Which is always allow’d in hasty Dispatches.

I shall make no Excursions from the Subject, nor use any other Method than to follow the learned Exceptor from Chapter to Chapter, and observe his Steps and Motions, so far as they are contrary to the Theory. But if he divert out of his Way, for his Pleasure, or other Reasons best known to himself, I may take notice of it perhaps, but shall not follow him any farther than my Business leads me; having no design to abridge his Liberty, but to defend my own Writings where they are attack’d. Give me leave therefore, without any other Preface or Ceremony, to fall to our Work.

Chap. I

This Chapter is only an Introduction, and treats of other Things, without any particular Opposition to the Theory. And therefore I shall only give you the Conclusion of it, in the Author’s own Words: So much for the first Chapter; which may be reckoned as an Introduction to the following Discourse. Which if any shall look upon as a Collection of Notes, somewhat confusedly put together, rather than a formal, well digested Treatise, they will entertain the best or truest Idea of it. A severe Censure: But every Man best understands his own Works.

Chap. II

Here he begins to enter upon particular Exceptions: And his first Head is against the Formation of the Earth, pag. 45. as explained by the Theory. To this he gives but one Exception in this Chapter: Namely, That it would have taken up too much Time; the World being made in six Days. Whereas many Separations of the Chaos, and of the Elements, were to be made, according to the Theory, which could not be dispatch’d in so short a Time. To this Exception, the general Answer may be this; either you take the Hypothesis of an ordinary Providence, or of an extraordinary, as to the Time allowed for the Formation of the Earth: If you proceed according to an ordinary Providence, the Formation 404of the Earth would require much more Time than six Days: But if according to an extraordinary, you may suppose it made in six Minutes, if you please. ’Twas plain Work, and a simple Process, according to the Theory; consisting only of such and such Separations, and a Concretion: And either of these might be accelerated, and dispatch’d in a longer or shorter Time, as Providence thought fit.

However, this Objection does not come well from the Hands of this Author, who makes all the Mountains of the Earth (the most operose Part of it, as one would think) to be rais’d in a small Parcel of a Day by the Heat and Action of the Sun; as we shall find in the tenth Chapter, hereafter. He seems to proceed by natural Causes; for such are the Heat and Action of the Sun: And if so, he will find himself as much straiten’d for Time, as the Theorist can be. But if he say, the Work of Nature and of the Sun was accelerated by an extra-ordinary Power, he must allow us to say the same Thing of the Separations of the Chaos, and the first Concretion of the Earth. For he cannot reasonably debar us that Liberty which he takes himself, unless we have debarr’d and excluded our selves. Now ’tis plain, the Theorist never excluded an extraordinary Providence in the Formation and Construction of the Earth; as appears, and is openly express’d in many Parts of the Theory, Eng. Theor. p. 88. See, if you please, the Conclusion of the fifth Chapter, which treats about the Formation of the Earth. The last Paragraph is this: Give me leave only, before we proceed any farther, to annex here a short Advertisement, concerning the Causes of this wonderful Structure of the first Earth: ’Tis true, we have propos’d the natural Causes of it, and I do not know wherein our Explication is false or defective; but in Things of this Kind we may easily be too credulous: And this Structure is so marvellous, that it ought rather to be consider’d as a particular Effect of the Divine Art, than as the Work of Nature. The whole Globe of the Water vaulted over, and the exterior Earth hanging above the Deep, sustain’d by nothing but its own Measures and Manner of Construction: A Building without Foundation or Corner-stone. This seems to be a Piece of Divine Geometry or Architecture; and to this, I think, is to be referr’d that magnificent Challenge which God Almighty made to Job; Where wast thou, when I laid the Foundations of the Earth? Declare, &c. Moses also, when be had describ’d 405the Chaos, saith, The Spirit of God mov’d upon, or sat brooding upon, the Face of the Waters; without all doubt, to produce some Effects there. And St. Peter, when he speaks of the Form of the Anti-deluvian Earth, how it stood, in reference to the Waters, adds, By the Word of God, or by the Wisdom of God, it was made so. And this same Wisdom of God, in the Proverbs, as we observed before, takes notice of this very Piece of Work in the Formation of the Earth: When he set an Orb over the Face of the Deep, I was there. Wherefore to the great Architect, who made the boundless Universe out of nothing, and form’d the Earth out of a Chaos, let the Praise of the whole Work, and particularly, of this Master-piece, for ever, with all Honour, be given. In like Manner, there is a larger Account of Providence, both ordinary and extraordinary, as to the Revolutions of the natural World, in the last Paragraph of the eighth Chapter; and like Reflections are made in other Places, when Occasion is offer’d.

We have not, therefore, any where excluded the Influence and Benefit of superior Causes, where the Case requires it: Especially, when ’tis only to modify the Effect, as to Time and Dispatch. And in that Case, none will have more need of it than himself; as we shall find in the Examination of his tenth Chapter, about the Origin of Mountains.

The rest of this second Chapter is spent in three Excursions. One in justifying the Cartesian Way of forming Light and the Sun, as agreeable to Moses. The second about the Jewish Cabala, and Cabalistical Interpretations. And the third about mystical Numbers. But the Theory not being concern’d in these Things, I leave them to the Author, and his Readers, to enjoy the Pleasure and Profit of them. And proceed to the third Chapter.

Chap. III

In this Chapter a second Exception against the Formation of the Earth, as propos’d in the Theory, is alledg’d: And ’tis this; The Fluctuation of the Chaos, or of that first watery Globe, would hinder, he says, any Concretion of Earth upon its Surface. Not that there were Winds or Storms then, to agitate those Waters; neither would the Motion of the Earth, or the Rotation of that Globe, disturb them, as he allows there; but the Disturbance would have Rise from Tides, p. 74. lin. 18, 19. 406or the Ebbings and Flowings of that great Ocean, which, he says, must have been then, as well as now; And the Reason he gives, is this; because the Flux and Reflux of the Sea depend upon the Moon; and the Moon was then present, as he says, in our Heavens, or in our Vortex: And therefore, would have the same Effect then, upon that Body of Waters which lay under it, that it hath now upon the Sea.

That the Moon was in the Heavens, and in our Neighbourhood, when the Earth was form’d, he proves from the six Days Creation: and spends two or three Pages in Wit and Scolding upon this Subject, p. 77, 78, 79. But, with his leave, when all is done, his Argument will be of no Force, unless he can prove, that the fourth Day’s Creation was before the third. I confess, I have heard of a Wager that was lost upon a like Case, namely, Whether Henry VIII. was before Henry VII? But that was done by Complot in the Company, to whom it was referr’d to decide the Question. We have no Plot here, but appeal fairly to that Judge the Exceptor hath chosen, namely, to Scripture, which tells us, that the Moon was made the fourth Day, and the Earth was form’d the third. Therefore, unless the fourth Day was before the third, the Moon could not hinder the Formation of the Earth.

But I hope, say you, this is a Misrepresentation. The Animadverter sure would not put the Matter upon this Issue. Yes, he does. For when he had oppos’d to our Formation of the Earth, the Fluctuation of the Waters, caus’d, as he phrases it, by the bulky Presence of the Moon, he concludes with these Words, (p. 77. Parag. 3.) But in reference to this Matter, there is a Doubt made by the Theorist, which must be consider’d and removed; otherwise most of what hath been said, touching the Instability and Fluctuation of these Waters, will be vain and groundless: The Doubt is, Whether the Moon were then in our Neighbourhood. You see that Matter is put upon this Issue, Whether the Moon was in the Neighbourhood of the Earth, at the Time of its Formation. We say she was not; and prove it by this plain Argument, If she was not in Being at that Time, she was not in our Neighbourhood: But unless the fourth Day was before the third, she was not in Being. Ergo.

But after all, if the Moon had been present then, and there had been Tides, or any other Fluctuation towards the Poles, we have no Reason to believe, according to 407the Experiences we have now, that that would have hinder’d the Formation of the Earth, upon the Surface of the Chaos. For why should they have hinder’d that more, than they do the Formation of Ice upon the Surface of the Sea? We know, in cold Regions, the Seas are frozen, notwithstanding their Tides; and in the Mouths of Rivers, where there is both the Current and Stream of the River on one hand, and the Counter-Current of the Tides on the other; these, together, cannot hinder the Concretion that is made on the Surface of the Water: And our Water is a Substance more thin, and easily broken, than that tenacious Film was, that cover’d the Chaos. Wherefore, upon all Suppositions, we have Reason to conclude, that no Fluctuations of the Chaos could hinder the Formation of the first Earth.

Lastly, The Observator opposes the Reasons that are given by the Theorist, why the Presence of the Moon was less needful in the first World. Namely, because there were no long Winter Nights; nor the great Pool of the Sea to move or govern. As to the second Reason, ’tis only hypothetical; and if the Hypothesis be true, That there was no open Sea at that Time, (which must be elsewhere examin’d,) the Consequence is certainly true. But as to the first Reason, he will not allow the Consequence, tho’ the Hypothesis be admitted. For he says, p. 79. As there were no long Winter Nights then, so there were no short Summer ones neither: So that set but the one against the other, and the Presence of the Moon may seem to have been as needful then, in regard of the Length of Nights, as she is now. This looks like a witty Observation, but it does not reach the Point. Is there as much need of the Moon in Spain, as in Lapland, or the Northern Countries? There is as much Night in one Place as another, within the Compass of a Year, but the great Inconvenience is, when the Night falls upon the Hours of Travel, or the Hours of Work and Business; for if it fall only upon Hours of Sleep, or of Rest and Retirement, as it does certainly more in Spain, and in those Climates that approach nearer to an Equinox; the Moon is there less necessary in that Respect: We can sleep without Moonshine, or without Light, but we cannot travel, or do Business abroad, without Hazard and great Inconvenience, if there be no Light. So that the Reason of the Theorist holds good, viz. That there would be more Necessity of 408Moon-shine in long Winter Nights, than in a perpetual Equinox.

We proceed now to the rest of this Chapter, which is made up of some secondary Charges against this Part of the Theory, concerning the Chaos and the Formation of the first Earth. As, First, That it is, p. 80, 81. Precarious: Secondly, p. 83. Unphilosophical: And, Thirdly, Antiscriptural; which we shall answer in order. He seems to offer at three or four Instances of Precariousness, as to the Ingredients of the Chaos, their Proportions and Separations; but his Quarrel is chiefly with the oily Particles: These he will scarce allow at all; nor that they could separate themselves in due Time to receive the terrestrial, at least in due Proportions.

First, He would have no oily Particles in the Chaos. But why so, I pray? What Proof or just Exception is there against them? Why may not there be original oily Particles, as well as original salt Particles? Such as your great Master Des Cartes supposes, Prin. ph. l. 4. §. 84. Meteor. c. 1. §. 8. He who considers that vast Quantity of oleaginous Matter that is dispers’d every where, in Vegetables, in Animals, and in many sorts of Earths, and that this must have been from the Beginning, or as soon as the Earth had any Furniture; will see Reason to believe that such Particles must be thought original and primeval; not forg’d below the Abyss, and extracted from the inferior Regions of the Earth: For that would require a Process of many Ages; whereas, these being the Principles of Fertility, it is reasonable to suppose, that a new World abounds with them more than an old one. Lastly, If we suppose oily Particles to be tenuious and branchy, as your Philosopher does, too gross to be Air, and too light for Water; why should we imagine that in that vast Mass and Variety of Particles, whereof the Chaos consisted, there should not be any of this Figure, as well as of others? Or, what Reason is there to suppose, that there are none of that Figure, but what are brought from the inferior Regions of the Earth? For, of all others, these seem to be the most unlikely, if not incapable, of being extracted from thence. And if there be only a gradual Difference, in Magnitude and Mobility, betwixt the Particles of Air and Oil, as that Philosopher seems to suppose, Prin. phil. l. 4. §. 76. why must we exclude these Degrees, and yet admit the higher and lower?

409The second Thing which he charges with Precariousness, is the Separation of this oily Matter, in due time, so as to make a Mixture and Concretion with the terrestrial Particles that fell from above. This Objection was both made and answered by the Theorist; Eng. Theor. p. 79. which the Observator might have vouchsaf’d to have taken notice of; and either confuted the Answer, or spar’d himself the Pains of repeating the Objection.

The third Precariousness is, concerning the Quantity and Proportion of these Particles: And the fourth, concerning the Quantity and Proportion of the Water. The Exceptor, it seems, would have had the Theorist to have gauged these Liquors, and told him the just Measure and Proportion of each; but, in what Theory or Hypothesis is that done? Has his great Philosopher, in his Hypothesis of Three Elements, (which the Exceptor makes use of, p. 52.) or in his several Regions of the unform’d Earth, the Fourth Book of his Principles, defin’d the Quantity and Dimensions of each? Or in the mineral Particles and Juices, which he draws from the lower Regions, does he determine the Quantity of them? And yet these, by their Excess, or Defect, might be of great Inconvenience to the World: Neither do I censure him for these Things, as precarious. For, when the Nature of a Thing admits a Latitude, the original Quantity of it is left to be determin’d by the Effects; and the Hypothesis stands good, if neither any Thing antecedent, nor any present Phænomena, can be alledged against it.

But if these Examples, from his great Philosopher be not sufficient, I will give him one from an Author beyond all Exceptions; And that is from himself. Does the Animadverter, in his new Hypothesis concerning the Deluge, Ch. 15. give us the just Proportions of his Rock-Water, and the just Proportions of his Rain-Water, that concurred to make the Deluge? I find no Calculations there, but general Expressions, that the one was far greater than the other; and that may be easily presumed, concerning the oily Substance, and the watery Chaos: What Scruples therefore, p. 80, 81. he raises, in reference to the Chaos, against the Theorist, for not having demonstrated the Proportions of the Liquors of the Abyss, fall upon his own Hypothesis; for the same or greater Reasons. And you know what the old Verse says,

410But, however, he will have such Exceptions, p. 81. to stand good against the Theorist, though they are not good against other Persons; because the Theorist stands upon Terms^[14]^ of Certainty, and in one Place of his Book, has this Sentence, Ego quidem, &c. These Words, I think, are very exceptionable, if they be taken with the Context: For this Evidence and Certainty, which the Theorist speaks of, is brought in there in Opposition to such uncertain Arguments, as are taken from the Interpretation of Fables and Symbols; or from Etymologies and Grammatical Criticisms, which are expresly mention’d in the preceding Discourse: And yet this Sentence, because it might be taken in too great an Extent, is left out in the second Edition of the Theory, and therefore, none had Reason to insist upon it. But I see the Exceptor puts himself into a State of War, and thinks there is no foul Play against an Enemy.

So much for his Charge of Precariousness. We now come to the second, which is call’d Unphilosophicalness. And, why is the Theorist, in this Case, unphilosophical? Because, says the Exceptor, he supposes terrestrial Particles to be dispers’d through the whole Sphere of the Chaos, as high as the Moon: And why not, pray, if it be a mere Chaos? Where, antecedently to Separations, all Things are mix’d and blended without Distinction of Gravity or Levity; otherwise it is not a mere Chaos: And when Separations begin to be made, and Distinction of Parts and Regions, so far it is ceasing to be a mere Chaos. But then, says the Observator, why did not the Moon come down, as well as these terrestrial Particles? I answer by another Question, Why does not the Moon come down now? Seeing she is still in our Vortex, and at the same Distance; and so the same Reason which keeps her up now, kept her up then: Which Reason he will not be at a loss to understand, if he understand the Principles of his great Philosopher.

411We come now to the last Charge: That the Theory, in this Part of it, is antiscriptural. And why so? Because it supposes the Chaos dark, whereas the Scripture says, there was Light the first Day. Well, but does the Scripture say, that the Chaos was throughly illuminated the first Day? The Exceptor, p. 52. as I remember, makes the primigenial Light to have been the Rudiment of a Sun; and calls it there, lin. 17. a faint Light, and a feeble Light; and in this Place, lin. 27. a faint Glimmering. If then the Sun, in all its Strength and Glory, cannot sometimes dispel a Mist out of the Air, what could this faint, feeble Glimmering do, towards the Dissipation of such a gross caliginous Opacity, as that was? This Light might be sufficient to make some Distinction of Day and Night in the Skies; and we do not find any other Mark of its Strength in Scripture, nor any other Use made of it.

So we have done with this Chapter. Give me leave only, without Offence, to observe the Style of the Exceptor, in reference to Scripture, and the Theory. He is apt to call every Thing antiscriptural, that suits not his Sense; neither is that enough, but he must also call it, p. 78. a bold Affront to Scripture. He confesses, he hath made, p. 299. pen. a little bold with Scripture himself, in his new Hypothesis; how much that little will prove, we shall see hereafter. But however, as to that hard Word, Affront, a discreet Man, as he is not apt to give an Affront, so neither is he forward to call every cross Word, an Affront: Both those Humours are Extreams, and breed Quarrels. Suppose a Man should say boldly, God Almighty hath no Right Hand. Oh, might the Animadverter cry, That’s a bold Affront to Scripture: For I can shew you many and plain Texts of Scripture, both in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, where express Mention is made of God’s Right Hand. And will you offer to oppose Reason and Philosophy to express Words of Scripture, often repeated, and in both Testaments? O Tempora, O Mores! So far as my Observation reaches, weak Reasons commonly produce strong Passions. When a Man hath clear Reasons, they satisfy and quiet the Mind; and he is not much concern’d, whether others receive his Notions, or no: But when we have a strong Aversion to an Opinion, from other Motives and Considerations, and find our Reasons doubtful or insufficient; then, according to the Course of human Nature, the Passions rise for a farther Assistance; and what is wanting, 412in point of Argument, is made up by Invectives and Aggravations.

Chap. IV

This Chapter is chiefly concerning the Central Fire, and the Origin of the Chaos; of both which, the Theorist had declared he would not treat: And ’tis an unreasonable Violence to force an Author to treat of what Things we please, and not allow him to prescribe Bounds to his own Discourse. As to the first of these, see what the Theorist hath said, Engl. Theor. p. 451, and 86, 67. By which Passages it is evident, that he did not meddle with the central Parts of the Earth; nor thought it necessary for his Hypothesis: As is also more fully express’d in the Latin Theory, p. 45. For, do but allow him a Chaos from the Bottom of the Abyss, upwards to the Moon, and he desires no more for the Formation of an habitable Earth: Neither is it the Part of Wisdom, to load a new Subject with unnecessary Curiosities.

Then as to the Origin of the Chaos, see how the Theorist bounds his Discourse as to that, ^[15]^Engl. Theor. p. 451. I did not think it necessary to carry the Story and Original of the Earth, higher than the Chaos, as Zoroaster and Orpheus seem to have done; but taking that for our Foundation which Antiquity, sacred and profane, does suppose, and natural Reason approve and confirm, we have form’d the Earth from it. To form an habitable Earth from a Chaos given, and to shew all the great Periods and general Changes of that Earth, throughout the whole Course of its Duration, or while it remain’d an Earth, was the adequate Design of the Theorist. And was this Design so short or shallow, that it could not satisfy the great Soul of the Exceptor, p. 88. but it must be a Flaw in the Hypothesis, that it did go higher than the Chaos? We content our selves with these Bounds at present. And when a Man declares, that he will write only the Roman History, will you say his Work’s imperfect, because it does not take in the Persian and Assyrian?

413These Things consider’d, to speak freely of this Chapter, it seems to me, in a great Measure, impertinent; unless it was design’d to shew the Learning of the Observator, who loves, I perceive, to dabble in Philosophy, though little to the Purpose: For, as far as I see, his Disquistions generally end in Scepticism; he disputes first one way, then another; and, at last determines nothing. He rambles betwixt Des Cartes and Moses, the Rabbies, the Septuagint, the Platonists, Magnetisme, striate Particles, and Præ-existence of Souls: And ends in nothing, as to the Formation of the Earth, which was to be the Subject of the Chapter. We proceed therefore to the next, in hopes to meet with closer Reasoning.

Chap. V

From the manner of the Earth’s Formation, the Exceptor, p. 106. now proceeds to the Form of it, if compleated. And his first Exception is, That it would want Waters, or Rivers to water it. He says, there would either be no Rivers at all, or none, at least, in due time.

The Theorist hath replenish’d that Earth with Rivers, flowing from the extreme Parts of it, towards the middle, in continual Streams; and watering, as a Garden, all the intermediate Climates. And this constant Supply of Water was made from the Heavens, by an uninterrupted Stream of Vapours, which had their Course through the Air, from the middle Parts of the Earth towards the extreme; and falling in Rains, return’d again upon the Surface of the Earth, from the extreme Parts to the middle: For that Earth being of an oval or something oblong Figure, there would be a Declivity all along, or Descent, from the Polar Parts towards the Equinoctial; which gave Course and Motion to these Waters. And the Vapours above never falling in their Course, the Rivers would never fail below; but a perpetual Circulation would be establish’d, betwixt the Waters of the Heavens and of the Earth.

This is a short Account of the State of the Waters in the primeval Earth. Which you may see represented and explain’d more at large, in the second Book of the Theory, Chap. 5. And this, I believe, is an Idea more easily conceiv’d, than any we could form concerning the Waters and Rivers of the present Earth, if we had not Experience 414of them. Suppose a Stranger, that had never seen this terraqueous Globe, where we live at present, but was told the general Form of it; how the Sea lies, how the Land, and what was the Constitution of the Heavens: If this Stranger was asked his Opinion, whether such an Earth was habitable; and particularly, whether they could have Waters commodiously in such an Earth, and how the inland Countries would be supplied? I am apt to think, he would find it more difficult (upon an Idea only, without Experience) to provide Waters for such an Earth, as ours is at present, than for such an one as the primeval Earth was. ’Tis true, he would easily find Rains, possible and natural, but with no Constancy or Regularity; and these, he might imagine, would only make transient Torrents, not any fix’d and permanent Rivers. But as for Fountains deriv’d from the Sea, and breaking out in higher Grounds, I am apt to believe, all his Philosophy would not be able to make a clear Discovery of them: But Things that are familiar to us by Experience, we think easy in Speculation, or never enquire into the Causes of them. Whereas, other Things, that never fall under our Experience, though more simple and intelligible in themselves, we reject often as Paradoxes or Romances. Let this be applied to the present Case, and we proceed to answer the Exceptions.

Let us take that Exception first, as most material, p. 114. that pretends there would have been no Rivers at all in the primeval Earth, if it was of such a Form as the Theorist had describ’d. And for this, he gives one grand Reason, Because the Regions towards the Poles, where the Rains are suppos’d to fall, and the Rivers to rise, would have been all frozen and congeal’d; and consequently, no fit Sources of Water for the rest of the Earth. Why we should think those Regions would be frozen, and the Rains that fell in them, he gives two Reasons, the Distance, and the Obliquity of the Sun. As also the Experience we have now, of the Coldness and Frozenness of those Parts of the Earth. But as to the Distance of the Sun, He confesses, p. 118. that is not the Thing that does only or chiefly make a Climate cold. He might have added, particularly in that Earth, where the Sun was never at a greater Distance than the Equator. Then, as to the Obliquity of the Sun, neither was that so great, nor so considerable, in the first Earth, as in the present. Because the Body of that lay in a direct Position to the Sun; 415whereas the present Earth lies in an oblique. And though the Polar Circles or Circumpolar Parts of that Earth, did not lie so perpendicular to the Sun as the Equinoctial, and consequently were cooler, yet there was no Danger of their being frozen or congeal’d. It was more the Moisture and excessive Rains of those Parts that made them uninhabitable, than the extreme Coldness of the Climate, of it self. And if the Exceptor had well consider’d the Differences betwixt the present and primitive Earth, as to Obliquity of Position, and that which follows from it, the Length of Nights, he would have found no Reason to have charg’d that Earth with nipping and freezing Cold; where there was not, I believe, one Morsel of Ice, from one Pole to another: But that will better appear, if we consider the Causes of Cold.

There are three general Causes of Cold: The Distance of the Sun, his Obliquity, and his total Absence; I mean in the Nights. As to Distance, that alone must be of little Effect, seeing there are many Planets (which must not be look’d upon as mere Lumps of Ice) at a far greater Distance from the Sun, than ours: And as to Obliquity, you see it was much less considerable in the respective Parts of the Primitive Earth, than of the present. Wherefore, these are to be consider’d but as secondary Causes of Cold, in respect of the third, the total Absence of the Sun in the Night Time: And where this happens to be long and tedious, there you must expect Excess of Cold. Now, in the primitive Earth there was no such Thing as long Winter Nights, but every where a perpetual Equinox, or a perpetual Day. And consequently, there was no Room or Cause of excessive Cold in any Part of it. But on the contrary, the Case is very different in the present Earth; for in our Climate, we have not the Presence of the Sun, in the Depth of Winter, half as long as he is absent; and towards the Poles they have Nights that last several Weeks or Months together: And then ’tis that the Cold rages, binds up the Ground, freezes the Ocean, and makes those Parts more or less uninhabitable. But where no such Causes are, you need not fear any such Effects.

Thus much to shew that there might be Rains, Waters, and Rivers, in the primigenial Earth, and towards the extreme Parts of it, without any Danger of freezing. But however, says the other Part of the Exception, These Rivers would not be made in due Time. That’s wholly 416according to the Process you take; if you take a mere natural Process, the Rivers could not flow throughout the Earth, all on a sudden; but you may accelerate that Process, as much as you please, by a Divine Hand. As to this Particular indeed of the Rivers, one would think there should be no Occasion for their sudden flowing through the Earth, because Mankind could not be suddenly propagated throughout the Earth: And if they did but lead the Way, and prepare the Ground in every Country, before Mankind arrived there, that seems to be all that would be necessary upon their Account: Neither can it be imagined, but that the Rivers would flow faster than Mankind could follow; for it is probable, in the first hundred Years, Men did not reach an hundred Miles from Home, or from their first Habitations: And we cannot suppose the Defluxion of Water, upon any Declivity, to be half so slow. As to the Channels of these Rivers, the Manner of their Progress, and other Circumstances, those Things are set down fully enough in the fifth Chapter of the second Book of the English Theory, and it would be needless to repeat them here.

But the Anti-Theorist says, this slow Production and Propagation of Rivers is contrary to Scripture; both because of the Rivers of Paradise, and also, because Fishes were made the sixth Day. As to that of the Fishes, he must first prove that those were River-Fishes; for the Scripture, Gen. i. 21. and 22. makes them Sea-Fish, and instances in great Whales. But he says (p. 113, 114.) it will appear in the Sequel of his Discourse, that the Abyss could be no Receptacle of Fishes. To that Sequel of his Discourse therefore we must refer the Examination of this Particular. Then as to Paradise, that was but one single Spot of Ground, ch. xiii. according to the ordinary Hypothesis; which he seems to adhere to: And Rivers might be there as soon as he pleases, seeing its Seat is not yet determin’d. But as for the Lands which they are said to traverse or encompass, that they might be the Work of Time, when their Channels and Courses were extended and settled; as they would be, doubtless, long before the Time that Moses writ that Description: But as to the Rivers of Paradise, it would be a long Story to handle that Dispute here. And ’tis fit the Authors should first agree amongst themselves, before we determine the Original of its River, or Rivers.

Chap. VI

We come now to the Deluge, where the great Exception is this, p. 121. That according to the Theory, the Deluge would have come to pass, whether Mankind had been degenerate, or no.

We know Mankind did degenerate, and ’tis a dangerous Thing to argue upon false Suppositions; and to tell what would have come to pass, in case such a Thing had not come to pass: Suppose Adam had not sinn’d, what would have become of the Messiah? Eph. i. 4. 1 Pet. i. 20. Apoc. xiii. 8. and the Dispensation of the Gospel, which yet is said to have been determin’d more early than the Deluge? Let the Anti-Theorist answer himself this Question, and he may answer his own.

But to take a gentler Instance, suppose Adam had not eaten the forbidden Fruit, how could he and all his Posterity have liv’d in Paradise? A few Generations would have fill’d that Place; and should the rest have been turn’d out into the wide World, without any sin or Fault of theirs? You suppose the Ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth to have been the same with the present, and, consequently, subject to the same Accidents and Inconveniences. The Action of the Sun would have been the same then as now, according to your Hypothesis: The same Excesses of Heat and Cold, in the several Regions and Climates; the same Vapours and Exhalations extracted out of the Earth; the same Impurities and Corruptions in the Air: And in Consequence of these, the same external Disposition to epidemical Distempers. Besides, there would be the same Storms and Tempests at Sea, the same Earthquakes, and other Desolations at Land. So that had all the Sons and Daughters of Men, to use the Exceptor’s elegant Style, p. 122. been as pure and bright as they could possibly have dropt out of the Mint of Creation, they should still have been subject to all these Inconveniences and Calamities. If Mankind had continued spotless and undegenerate ’till the Deluge, or for sixteen hundred Years, they might as well have continued so for sixteen hundred more. And in a far less Time, according to their Fruitfulness and Multiplication, the whole Face of the Earth would have been thick covered with Inhabitants: Every Continent and every Island, every Mountain and every 418Desert, and all the Climates from Pole to Pole. But could naked Innocency have liv’d happy in the frozen Zones, where Bears and Foxes can scarce subsist? in the midst of Snows and Ice, thick Fogs, and more than Ægyptian Darkness, for some Months together? Would all this have been a Paradise, or a paradisaical State, to these virtuous Creatures? I think it would be more advisable for the Exceptor, not to enter into such Disputes, grounded only upon Suppositions. God’s Prescience is infallible, as his Counsels are immutable.

But the Exceptor further suggests, p. 121. that the Theory does not allow a judicial and extraordinary Providence in bringing on the Deluge, as a Punishment upon Mankind. Which, I must needs say, is an untrue and uncharitable Suggestion, as any one may see, both in the Latin Theory ^[16]^ Chap. 6. and in the English, in several Places. So at the Entrance upon the Explication of the Deluge (Theor. p. 92.) are these Words, Let us then suppose, that at a Time appointed by Divine Providence, and from Causes made ready to do that great Execution upon a sinful World, that this Abyss was open’d, and the Frame of the Earth broke, &c. And accordingly in the Conclusion of that Discourse about the Deluge, are these Words, (Theor. p. 144.) In the mean time I do not know any more to be added in this Part, unless it be to conclude with an Advertisement to prevent any Mistake or Misconstruction, as if this Theory, by explaining the Deluge in a natural Way, or by natural Causes, did detract from the Power of God, by which that GREAT JUDGMENT WAS BROUGHT UPON THE WORLD, IN A PROVIDENTIAL AND MIRACULOUS MANNER. And in the three following Paragraphs (Theor. p. 144, 145, 146.) which conclude that Chapter, there is a full Account given both of an ordinary and extraordinary Providence, 419in reference to the Deluge, and other great Revolutions of the natural World.

But it is a Weakness however to think, that, when a Train is laid in Nature, and Methods concerted, for the execution of a Divine Judgment, therefore it is not providential. God is the Author and Governor of the natural World, as well as of the Moral: And he sees thorough the Futuritions of both, and hath so dispos’d the one, as to serve him in his just Judgments upon the other. Which Method, as it is more to the Honour of his Wisdom, so it is in no way to the Prejudice of his Power or Justice. And what the Exceptor suggests concerning Atheists, and their presum’d Cavils at such an Explication of the Deluge, is a Thing only said at random and without Grounds. On the contrary, so to represent the Sense of Scripture, in natural Things, as to make it unintelligible, and inconsistent with Science and Philosophick Truth, is one great Cause, in my Opinion, that breeds and nourishes Atheism.

Chap. VII

This Chapter is about the Places of Scripture, alledg’d in Confirmation of the Theory: And chiefly concerning that remarkable Discourse in St. Peter, 2 Epist. iii. which treats of the Difference of the Ante-diluvian World, and the present World. That Discourse is so fully explain’d in the Review of the Theory, that I think it is plac’d beyond all Exception. And the Animadverter here makes his Exception only against the first Words, ver. 5. Λανσθάνει γὰρ αὐτοῦς τοῦτο θέλοντας, which we thus render, For this they willingly are ignorant of. But he generally renders it, wilfully ignorant of, and lays a great Stress upon that word wilfully. But if he quarrel with the English Translation, in this particular, he must also fault the Vulgate, and Beza, and all others that I have yet met withal. And it had been very proper for him, in this Case, to have given us some Instances or Proofs, out of Scripture or Greek Authors, where this Phrase signifies a wilful and obstinate Ignorance. He says it must have been a wilful Ignorance, otherwise it was not blameable: Whereas St. Peter gives it a sharp Reproof. I answer, There are many Kinds and Degrees of blameable Ignorance; a contented Ignorance, an Ignorance from Prejudices, from 420Non-attendance, and want of due Examination. These are all blameable in some Degree, and all deserve some Reproof; but it was not their Ignorance that St. Peter chiefly reproves, but their deriding and scoffing at the Doctrine of the coming of our Saviour, and the Conflagration of the World. And therefore he calls them, Scoffers, walking after their own Lusts.

But the Exceptor seems at length inclinable to render the forementioned Words thus, p. 137. They are willingly mindless or forgetful. And I believe the Translation would be proper enough. And what gentler Reproof can one give, than to say, you are willing to forget such an Argument, or such a Consideration; which implies little more than Non-attention, or an Inclination of the Will towards the contrary Opinion? We cannot tell what Evidence, or what Traditions they might have then concerning the Deluge, but we know they had the History of it by Moses, and all the Marks in Nature, that we have now, of such a Dissolution. And they, that pretended to philosophize upon the Works of Nature, and the Immutability of them, might very well deserve that modest Rebuke, that they were willing to forget the first Heavens and first Earth, and the Destruction of them at the Deluge, when they talk’d of an immutable State of Nature.

Neither is there any Thing in all this, contrary to what the Theorist had said, Theor. c. 1. concerning the ancient Philosophers: That none of them ever invented or demonstrated from the Causes, the true State of the first Earth. This must be granted; but it is one Thing to demonstrate from the Causes, or by way of Theory, and another Thing to know at large: Whether by Scripture, Tradition, or Collection from Effects. The Mutability and Changes of the World, which these Pseudo-Christians would not allow of, was a knowable Thing, taking all the Means which they might and ought to have attended to: At least, before they should have proceeded so far as to reject the Christian Doctrine concerning the future Changes of the World, with Scorn and Derision. Which is the very Thing the Apostle so much censor’d them for.

So much for what is said by the Exceptor concerning this place of St. Peter. To all the rest he gives an easy Answer, (in the Contents of this Chapter) viz., That they are figurative, and so not argumentative. The Places of Scripture upon which the Theory depends, are fixed 421distinctly and in order, in the Review: And, to avoid Repetitions, we must sometimes refer to that, Review, p. 371, 372. particularly, as to two remarkable Places, Psal. xxiv. 2. and Psal. cxxxvi. 6. concerning the Foundation and Extension of the Earth upon the Seas. Which the Exceptor quickly dispatches by the Help of a Particle and a Figure. על.

The next he proceeds to, is, Psal. xxxiii. 7. He gathereth the Waters of the Sea, as in a Bag: He layeth up the Abyss in Store-Houses. But, he says, it should be render’d, as on an Heap: Which is the English Translation. Whether the Authorities produced, in this case, by the Theorist, Eng. Theor. p. 117. or by the Exceptor, are more considerable, I leave the Reader to judge. But, however, he cites another place, Psal. lxxviii. 13. where the same Word is us’d and apply’d to the Red Sea, which could not be enclos’d as in a Bag. Take whether Translation you please for this second place; it is no Prejudice to the Theory, if you render it on an Heap: For it was a Thing done by Miracle. But the other Place speaks of the ordinary Posture and Constitution of the Waters, which is not on an Heap, but in a Level or spherical Convexity with the rest of the Earth. This Reason the Animadverter was not pleas’d to take notice of, tho’ it be intimated in that same Place of the Theory which he quotes, p. 86. But that which I might complain of most, is his unfair Citation of the next Paragraph of the Theory, Excep. p. 140. which he applies peculiarly to this Text of Psal. xxxiii. 7. whereas it belongs to all the Texts alledg’d out of the Psalms, and is a modest Reflection upon the Explication of them, as the Reader may plainly see, if he please to look the Theory, and compare it with his Citation.

The next Place he attacks, is, Job xxvi. 7. He stretches the North over the Tohu, or, as we render it, over the empty Places: And hangeth the Earth upon nothing. Here he says, p. 141. Job did either accommodate himself to the Vulgar, or else was a perfect Platonist. Methinks Plato should rather be a Jobist, if you would have them to imitate one another. Then he makes an Objection, and answers it himself: concluding, however, that Job could not but mean this of the present Earth, because in the next Verse he mentions Clouds. But how does it appear, that every Thing that Job mentions in that Chapter, refers to the same time?

422The next Place, is, Job xxxviii. 4, 5, 6. Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth? &c. These eloquent Expostulations of the Almighty, he applies all to the present Form of the Earth: Where he says, there are the Embossings of Mountains, the Enamelling of lesser Seas, the open Work of the vast Ocean, and the fret Work of Rocks, &c. These make a great Noise, but they might all be apply’d to the Ruins of an old Bridge, fallen into the Water. Then he makes a large Harangue in Commendation of Mountains, and of the present Form of the Earth: Which, if you please, you may compare with the tenth Chapter of the Latin Theory, and then make your Judgment upon both.

But it is not enough for the Exceptor to admire the Beauty of Mountains, but he, p. 146. will make the Theorist to do so too, because he hath exprest himself much pleas’d with the Sight of them. Can we be pleas’d with nothing in an Object but the Beauty of it? Does not the Theorist say there, in the very Words cited by the Exceptor, Sæpe loci ipsius insolentia & spectaculorum novitas delectat magis quam venustas in rebus notis & communibus. We are pleas’d in looking upon the Ruins of a Roman Amphitheatre, or a triumphal Arch, tho’ time have defac’d its Beauty. A Man may be pleas’d in looking upon a Monster, will you conclude therefore that he takes it for a Beauty? There are many Things in Objects, besides Beauty, that may please; but he that hath not Sense and Judgment enough to see the Difference of those Cases, and whence the Pleasures arise, it would be very tedious to beat it into him by Multitude of Words.

After his Commendation of Mountains, he falls upon the Commendation of Rain: Making those Countries, that enjoy it, to be better water’d than by Rivers; and consequently the present Earth better than that paradisaical Earth describ’d by the Theorist. And in this he says, he follows the Rule of Scripture, for these are his Words, p. 148, And that these Rules, whereby we measure the Usefulness of this Earth, and shew it to be more excellent than that of the Theory, are the most true and proper Rules, is manifest from God’s making use of the same, in a Case not unlike: For he, comparing Ægypt and Palestine, prefers the latter before the former; because in Ægypt the Seed sown was watered with the Foot, as a Garden of Herbs; but Palestine was a Land of Hills and Valleys, and drank Water of the Rain of Heaven, Deut. xi. 10, 11.

423Let this rest a while: In the mean time let us take notice how unluckily it falls out for the Observator, that a Country that had no Rain, should be compared in Scripture, or join’d in Privilege, with Paradise it self, and the Garden of God. For so is this very Ægypt, Gen. xiii. 10, tho’ it had no Rain, but was water’d by Rivers. The Words of Scripture are these. And Lot lifted up his Eyes, and beheld all the Plain of Jordan, that it was well-watered every where (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) even as the Garden of the Lord, like the Land of Ægypt. The Plain of Jordan you see is commended for its Fruitfulness, and being well watered: And as the height of its Commendation, it is compar’d with Ægypt, and with the Paradise of God. Now in Ægypt we know there was little or no Rain: And we read of none in Paradise: But they were both water’d by Rivers. Therefore the greatest Commendation of a Land, for Pleasure and Fertility, according to Scripture, is its being well water’d with Rivers: Which makes it like a Paradise. Surely then you cannot blame the Theorist, having this Authority besides all other Reasons, for making the paradisaical Earth to have been thus water’d.

Now let the Exceptor consider how he will interpret and apply his place in Deuteronomy, and make it consistent with this Genesis. Till I see a better Interpretation, I like this very well, tho’ quite contrary to his: Namely, That they were not to expect such a Land as Ægypt, that was a Plain naturally fruitful, as being well water’d; but the Land they were to possess, depended upon the Benediction of Heaven: And therefore they might expect more or less Fertility, according as they kept God’s Commandments. And so much for those two Texts of Scripture.

Lastly, The Exceptor, p. 149. in the Conclusion of his Discourse about that place in Job, makes a Reflection upon the Impropriety of those Expressions made in Job, about Foundations and Corner-stones, if they be apply’d to the first Earth describ’d by the Theorist. But this seems to me an Elegancy in that Discourse, which he makes a Fault: Whether it be understood as an Allusion only to our manner of Building, by deep Foundations, and strong Corner-stones: Or an ironical Interrogation, as it seems to me; implying, that there was no Foundation (strictly so call’d) nor Corner-stone, in that great Work, tho’ we cannot 424build a Cottage or little Bridge, without such Preparations.

He proceeds then to the following Verses in that thirty-eighth Chapter. Who shut up the Sea with Doors, when it broke forth as if it had issued out of a Womb? This the Theorist understands of the Disruption of the Abyss at the Deluge, when the Sea broke forth out of the Womb of the Earth: Or out of that subterraneous Cavity, where it was enclosed as in a Womb. ’Tis plainly imply’d in the Words of the Text, that the Sea was shut up in some Womb, before it broke forth. I desire therefore to know in what Womb that was. You will find Interpreters much at a loss to give a fair Answer to that Question: What was that enclos’d State of the Sea? And what Place, or Part of Nature, was that Receptacle where it lay? But the Exceptor hath found out a new Answer. He says, it was that Womb of Non-entity. These are his Words, It just then (at its Creation) gushed out of the Womb of Nothing, into Existence. This is a subtle and far-fetch’d Notion. Methinks the Womb of Nothing, is much-what the same as no Womb. And so this is no Answer. But however let us consider how far it would suit this Case, if it was admitted. If you understand the Womb of Non-entity, Gen. i. 2. the Sea broke out of that Womb the first Day, and had no Bars or Doors set to it, but flow’d over all the Earth without Check or Control. Therefore that could not be the Time or State here spoken of. And to refer that Restraint, or those Bars and Doors, to another Time, which are spoken of here in the same Verse, would be very inexcusable in the Exceptor: p. 150. seeing he will not allow the Theorist to suppose those Things that are spoken of in different Verses, to be understood of different Times. To conclude, this metaphysical Notion of the Womb of Nothing, is altogether impertinent, at least in this Case: For the Text is plainly speaking of Things local and corporeal, and this Prison of the Sea must be understood as such.

He proceeds now to the last Place alleg’d, Prov. viii. 27, 28. When he prepared the Heavens, I was there: When he set a Compass upon the Face of the Deep. The word חוג which we tender Compass, he says, signifies no more than the Rotundity or spherical Figure of the Abyss. And so the Sense will run thus, When God set a Rotundity, or spherical Figure, upon the Face of the Abyss. But whereas the Word may as well signify a Sphere or Orb, the 425Theorist thinks it more reasonable that it should be so translated: And so the Sentence would run thus, When God set an Orb upon the Face of the Deep. And this Discourse of Solomon’s, referring to the Beginning of the World, he thinks it rational to understand it of the first habitable Earth: Which is really an Orb set over the Face of the Deep.

One cannot swear for the Signification of a Word in every particular Place, where it occurs: But when there are two Senses whereof it is capable, and the one is much more important than the other, it is a fair Presumption to take it in the more important Sense; especially in such a Place, and upon such an Occasion, where the great Works of the Divine Wisdom and Power are celebrated: As they are here by Solomon. And it cannot be deny’d, that our Sense of the Words is more important than the other: For of what Consequence is it to say, God made the Body of the Abyss round. Every one knows, that Fluids of their own accord run into that Figure. So as that would be a small Remark upon a great Occasion.

The Construction of this Orb we speak of, minds me of an Injustice which the Exceptor hath done the Theory, in the precedent Part of this Chapter, by a false Accusation. For he says, the Theory makes the Construction of the first Earth to have been merely mechanical. At least, his Words seem to signify as much, which are these, p. 143. And so its Formation, speaking of the first Earth, had been merely mechanical, as the Theory makes it. That the Construction was not merely mechanical, in the Opinion of the Theorist, you may see, Eng. Theor. p. 88. which, because we have cited it before, we will not here repeat. The Theorist might also complain, that the Exceptor cites the first Edition of the Theory for such Things as are left out in the second: Which yet was printed a Twelvemonth before his Animadversions. And therefore in Fairness he ought always to have consulted the last Edition, and last Sense of the Author, before he had censured him, or his Work. But this unfair Method, it seems, pleas’d his Humour better: p. 81. p. 100, last Part, as you may see in this Chapter, p. 154. p. 227, 228. p. 244. and in several other Places; where Passages are cited and insisted upon, that are no where to be found in the second Edition. Not to mention his defective Citations, omitting that Part that qualifies the Sentence, as p. 99. last Citation, and elsewhere, p. 279, 280. p. 288. I make this Note, that the 426Reader may judge, how well this answers that Sincerity, with which he profest he would examine this Work: Only as a Friend and Servant to Truth. And therefore with such Candor, Meekness, and Modesty, as becomes one who assumes and glories in so fair a Character, p. 43.

The rest of this Chapter is a general Censure of Citations out of Scripture, that are only tropical or figurative Schemes of Speech. These must be made so indeed, if our Sense of them be not allow’d. But what Necessity is there of a figurative interpretation of all these Texts? The Rule we go by, and I think all good Interpreters, is this, that we are not to leave the literal Sense, unless there be a Necessity, from the Subject-Matter. And there is no such Necessity in this Case, upon our Hypothesis: For it suits with the literal Sense. And ’tis to beg the Question, to say, the literal Sense is not to be admitted, because it complies too much with the Theory. But as for that Text of his own, which he instances in, The Pillars of the Earth tremble, that cannot be understood (by the same Rule) of Pillars literally; because there are no such Pillars of the Earth, upon any Hypothesis.

Chap. VIII

This Chapter is concerning that grand Property of the ante-diluvian Earth, a perpetual Equinox, or a right Position to the Sun. This perpetual Equinox the Exceptor will by no means admit. But I’m afraid he mistakes the Notion: For as he explains it in the two first Sections of this Chapter, he seems to have a false Idea of the whole Matter. He thinks, I perceive, that when the Earth chang’d its Situation, it was translated from the Equator into the Ecliptick: And that before that Change in the ante-diluvian State, it moved directly under the Equator. For these are his Words, p. 158. So that in her annual Motion about the Sun, namely, the Earth, before that Change, she was carried directly under the Equinoctial, without any Manner of Obliquity in her Site, or Declination towards either of the Tropicks in her Course; and therefore could never cut the Equinoctial, by passing (as now she is presumed to do) from one Tropick to the other. By which Words, you see, he imagines that the Earth mov’d perpetually under the Equator, when it had a perpetual Equinox. And when it came out of that State, into this 427wherein it is now, it did not only change its Position, and the Posture of its Axis, but was also really translated from one Part of the Heavens into another, namely, from under the Equator to the Ecliptick, and so took another Road in its annual Course about the Sun. This is a great Mistake: And I cannot blame him, if he was so averse to admit this Change, seeing it lay so cross in his Imagination. For what Pullies or Leavers should we employ to remove the Earth out of the Equator into the Ecliptick? Archimedes pretended, if he had Ground to plant his Engines upon, that he would move the Earth out of its Place; but that it was done before, I never knew, nor heard of: And if the Exceptor had consider’d what is said in the Theory upon that Occasion, Lat. Theor. li. 2. c. 4. he might easily have prevented his Mistake. But we shall meet with the same Error again in another Place. Let us consider now, what Arguments he uses against this Change.

He says, p. 159. If there had been such a Change, either Providence, or Mankind, would have preserv’d the Memory of it. How far the Memory of it hath been preserv’d, we shall see hereafter. In the mean Time, we will give him Instances of other Things to reflect upon, that are lost out of Memory, unless he be the happy Man that shall retrieve them. The Age of the World hath been preserv’d, either by the Memory of Man, or by the Care of Providence. And was not that both a Thing of Importance, and of easy Preservation? Noah could not but know the Age of the World, for he was contemporary with five or six Generations, that were contemporary with Adam. And knowing the Age of the World himself, he could not easily forbear, one would think, to tell it to his Sons and Posterity. But, to this Day, we do not know what the true Age of the World is. There are three Bibles, if I may so say, or three Pentateuchs, the Hebrew, Samaritan, and Greek: Which do all differ very considerably in their Accounts, concerning the Age of the World: And the most learned Men are not yet able to determine with Certainty, which of the three Accounts is most authentick. Then, what think you of the Place of Paradise? How well is the Memory or Knowledge of that preserv’d? Could Noah be ignorant of it? And was it not a fit Subject to discourse of, and entertain his Sons and Nephews, and by them to communicate it to Posterity? Yet we seek it still in vain. The Jews were as much at a Loss as we are: p. 263, 264, 265. and the Christian Fathers, you 428think, were out in their Opinions, both about the Place and Conditions of it: Neither do you venture to determine them your self: So that Paradise is lost in a Manner out of the World. What Wonder then if this single Property of it be lost? If the Exceptor had well consider’d (Eng. Theor. p. 400, 401.) what the Theorist has said concerning the providential Conduct of Knowledge in the World, this Doubt or Objection might have been spar’d.

After a long Excursion, little to the Purpose, but to shew his Reading, p. 166. he tells us next, that Scripture does not favour this Notion of a perpetual Equinox before the Flood: And cites Gen. viii. 22. which the Theorist had cited as a Place that did suggest to us that Vicissitude of Seasons that was established after the Flood. The Words indeed are not so determinate in themselves, but that they may be understood, either of the Restoration of a former Order in the Seasons of the Year, or of the Establishment of a new one. And in whether Sense they are to be taken, is to be determin’d by collateral Reasons and Considerations. Such the Theorist had set down, to make it probable, that they ought to be understood as a Declaration of such an Order of the Seasons of the Year, as was brought in at that Time, and was to continue to the End of the World. The Exceptor hath not thought fit to take notice of, or refute those Reasons, and therefore they stand good, as formerly. Besides, the Exceptor must remember, that this Text stands betwixt two remarkable Phænomena, the Longevity of the Ante-diluvians in the old World, and the Appearance of the Rainbow in the new. Both which were Marks of a different State of Nature in the two Worlds.

He further excepts, p. 168. against that perpetual Equinox before the Flood, for another Scripture-reason: viz. Because the Earth was curst before that Time, and consequently, he says, had not a perpetual Equinox. But if that Curse was supernatural, it might have its Effect in any Position of the Earth. For God can make a Land barren, if he think fit, in spite of the Course of Nature. And so he also must suppose it to have been in this Case. For, upon all Suppositions, whether of a perpetual Equinox, or no, the Earth is granted to have been very fruitful at first: And so would have continued, if that Curse had not interven’d.

429Lastly, He makes that an Argument, p. 169. that the Air was cold and intemperate in Paradise, and consequently no constant Equinox, because Adam and Eve made themselves Aprons to cover their Nakedness. So, he confesses, Interpreters generally understand, that it was to cover their Nakedness. But he will not allow that to be the true Sense, but says those Fig-Leaves were to keep them warm. And the other Interpretation of covering their Nakedness, he will not admit, for three Reasons: First, because the Scripture, as he pretends, does not declare it so. See, pray, Gen. iii. 7. Secondly, What Shame, says he, need there have been betwixt Husband and Wife? Thirdly, If it was Modesty; when they were innocent, they should have been more modest. Some Arguments answer themselves, and I do not think these deserve a Confutation. But, he says, p. 170. however God made them Coats of Skins afterwards, and that was to be a Defence against Cold. He must tell us in what Climate he supposes Paradise to have stood: And which way, and how far Adam and Eve were banish’d from it. When those Things are determin’d, we shall know what to judge of this Argument, and of Coats of Skins.

After Lastly, I expected no more: But he hath two or three Reasons after the Last. As first, he says, p. 171. upon our Hypothesis, one Hemisphere of the Globe must have been unpeopled: Because the torrid Zone was unpassable. And was not the Ocean as unpassable, upon your Hypothesis? How got they into America? And not only into America, but into all the Islands of the Earth, that are remote from Continents? Will you not allow us one Miracle, for your many? I’m sure the Theorist never excluded the Ministry of Angels; and they could as easily carry them thorough the torrid Zone, as over the Ocean. But secondly, he says, There could be no Rains to make the Flood, if there was a perpetual Equinox. Were not those Rains, that made the Flood, extraordinary, and out of the Course of Nature? You would give one angry Words that should deny it. Besides, the Flood-Gates of Heaven were open’d when the great Deep was broken up, (Gen. vii. 11.) and no Wonder the Disruption of the Earth should cause some extraordinary Commotions in the Air, Eng. Theor. p. 135. and either compress the Vapours, or stop their usual Course towards the Poles, and draw them down in Streams upon several Parts of the Earth. But the Exceptor says, this 430could not be, because the Theorist makes the Rains fall before the Disruption of the Abyss. But he does not suppose the Cataracts of Heaven to have been open’d before, which made the grand Rains. And how unfairly that Passage of the Theory is represented, we shall see hereafter in the fourteenth Chapter.

Lastly, He concludes all with this Remark, p. 176. That all sorts of Authors have disputed in what Season of the Year the Deluge came, and in what Season of the Year the World began: Therefore they thought there were then different Seasons of the Year. These Disputes, he confesses, did manifestly proceed from Inadvertency, or something worse: Because there could not be any one Season throughout all the Earth at once. He might have added, unless upon the Supposition of the Theory, which makes an universal Equinox at that Time. And why may not that have given Occasion to the general Belief, That the World begun in the Spring? And when the true Reason of the Tradition was lost, they fell into those impertinent Questions, In what Season of the Year the World began. But however, we do not depend upon the Belief, either of the Antients or the Moderns, as to the Generality: For we know they had other Notions of these Things than what the Theory proposes; otherwise it would have been a needless Work. But notwithstanding the general Error, that Providence did preserve some Traditions and Testimonies, concerning that ancient Truth, we shall see in the next following Discourse.

So much for Scripture and Reasons. He now comes to examine Authorities: Namely, such Testimonies as are alledg’d by the Theorist, to shew that there was a Tradition among the Antients, of a Change that had been, as to the Position of the Earth: And consequently, as to the Form and Seasons of the Year. The first Testimony that he excepts against, is, that of Diogenes and Anaxagoras; who witness plainly, p. 177. That there had been an Inclination of the Earth, or a Change of Posture, since it was form’d and inhabited. But the Exceptor says, they have not assign’d a true final Cause, nor such as agrees with the Theory. The second Testimony, is, that of Empedocles, p. 178. which he excepts against, because he hath not given a good efficient Cause of that Change. The third Witness is Leucippus; against whom he makes the same Exception, p. 179. that he doth not assign the Causes a-right. The fourth Witness, is Democritus; whom he, 431p. 180. quarrels with upon the same Account. But is this a fair hearing of Witnesses? Or are these just and legal Grounds of rejecting their Testimony, as to matter of Fact, because they are unskilful in giving the Causes and Reasons of that matter of Fact? That is not requir’d in Witnesses: And they are often impertinent when they attempt to do it. The Theorist does not cite these Authors to learn of them the Causes, either efficient or final, of that Inclination, or Change of Posture in the Earth, but only matter of Fact: To let you see, that according to their Testimony, there was a Tradition in that Time, which they took for true, concerning a Change made in the Posture of the Earth. And this is all we require from them. If you pretend to invalidate their Testimony, because they do not philosophize well about that Change; that’s as if you should deny that there was such a War as the Peloponnesian War, because the Historian hath not assigned the true Causes and Reasons of it: Or as if a Man should give you the History of a Comet, that appear’d in such a Year, was of such a Form, and took such a Course in the Heavens; and you should deny there was any such Comet, because the same Author had not given a good Account of the Generation of that Comet, nor of the Causes of its Form and Motion. The Exceptions made against the Testimonies of these Philosophers, seem to me to be no less injudicious.

After these Testimonies, he p. 181. makes three or four Remarks or Reflections upon them. But they all concern, either the Time of this Change, or the Causes of it. Neither of which the Theorist either engag’d or intended to prove from these Witnesses.

There is still one Testimony behind, which the Exceptor hath separated from the rest, that he might encounter it singly. ’Tis another Passage from Anaxagoras, which both notes this Inclination, and the Posture of the Heavens and Earth before that Inclination. But here the Exceptor quarrels, first, with the word θολοειδῶς: Because Ambrosius the Monk, would have it to be θολερπῶς, but without the Authority of any Manuscript: And, as Casaubon says, malè. Then, he says, Aldobrandinus translates it turbulentè, but gives no Reason for that Translation, in his Notes. Therefore he cannot rest in this, but in the third Place, he gives another Sense to Φορὰ Θολοειδής. And if that will not please you, he hath still a fourth Answer in reserve. I do not like when a Man shifts Answer so often; ’tis a sign he 432has no great Confidence in any one. But let us have his fourth Answer. ’Tis this, That Anaxagoras was a kind of heterodox Philosopher, and what he says is not much to be heeded. These are the Words of the Exceptor, p. 184. If this will not satisfy, I have one Thing more to offer. Grant that Anaxagoras should mean that very Declination, which the Theory would have him, yet this truly would contribute little towards the Proof of the Thing. For he was a Man as like to be heterodox; as like to broach and maintain false and groundless Opinions, as any of the learned Antients. Had he made this Exception against this Witness at first, it might have sav’d both himself and us a great deal of Pains. For we do allow, if you can prove a Witness to be persona infamis, or non compos mentis, ’tis sufficient to invalidate his Testimony.

But this is a rude and groundless Censure; shall that famous Anaxagoras, that was call’d MENS, κατὶ ἐοχὴν, not be thought so much as mentis compos; nor have Credit enough for an honest Witness? I am apt to think, from those Sentences, and those Remains we have left of him, that there was not a more considerable Man amongst the Antients, for Nobleness of Mind and natural Knowledge. I could bring the Testimonies of many antient Authors, and of many Christian Fathers, to clear his Reputation, and place it above Envy. ’Tis generally acknowledg’d, that he first introduc’d an intellectual Principle, in the Formation of the Universe, to dispose and order confus’d Matter. And accordingly Eusebius gives him this fair Character, Præp. Evan. l. 10. c. ult. p. 504. Col. δὴ πρῶτος διήρθρωσε, &c. He first rectified the Doctrine of Principles: For he did not only discourse about the Matter or Substance of the Universe, as other Philosophers: But also of the Cause and Principle of its Motion. And the same Author, in his fourteenth Book, ch. 14. p. 750. repeats and enlarges this Character.

I wonder the Exceptor, of all Men, should lessen the Name of Anaxagoras. For, besides his Orthodoxy as to the intellectual World; he was one that establish’d the Notion of Vortices, in the Corporeal. As you may see in Clem. Alexandrinus, Strom. 2. p. 364. and in Plato’s Phædo Phæd. p. 99. And tho’ the Father, and Socrates, (who never was a Friend to natural Philosophy) both blame him for it, yet the Exceptor, who is deservedly pleas’d with that system of Vortices, ought to have shew’d him some Favour and Esteem, for the Sake of this Doctrine. 433Lastly, as to his moral Temper, his Contempt of the World, and his Love of Contemplation; you may have many Instances of it in the short Story of his Life in Laertius. And I shall always remember that excellent Saying of his in Clemens Alexandrinus, Strom. p. 416. Τὴν θεωρίαν τοῦ βίου τέλος εἶναι, καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ ταύτης ἐλευθερίαν. That the End of Life is Contemplation; and that Liberty, that accompanies it, or flows from it.

But we are not to imagine, that all the Opinions of the ancient Philosophers, are truly convey’d or represented to us. Neither can we, in Reason or Justice, believe that they could be guilty of such absurd Notions, as are sometimes fathered upon them. The Exceptor instances in an extravagant Assertion, (as the Story is told to us) ascrib’d to Anaxagoras, of a Stone that fell from the Sun. This cannot be literally true, nor literally the Opinion of Anaxagoras, if he believed Vortice; therefore methinks so witty a Man as the Exceptor, and so well versed in the modern Philosophy, should rather interpret this of the Incrustation of a fix’d Star, and its Descent into the lower World: That a Star fell from the etherial Regions, and became an opake and terrestrial Body: Especially seeing Diogenes, as he says, supposes it a Star. Some Things were ænigmatically spoken at first: And some Things afterwards so much corrupted, in passing through unskilful Hands, that we should be very injurious to the Memory of those great Men, if we should suppose every Thing to have come so crudely from them, as it is now delivered to us. And as to this Philosopher in particular; as the Ionick Physiology, in my Opinion, was the most considerable amongst the Antients; so there was none, of that Order, more considerable than Anaxagoras. Whom, tho’ you should suppose extravagant, quoad hoc, that it would not invalidate his Testimony in other Things.

Upon the whole Matter, let us now sum up the Evidence, and see what it will amount to. Here are five or six Testimonies of considerable Philosophers: Anaxagoras, Diogenes, Empedocles, Leucippus and Democritus. To which he might have added Plato, both in his Politicus and Phædo, Li. 2. c. 10. p. 274. if he had pleased to have look’d into the second Edition of the Latin Theory. These Philosophers do all make mention of a Change that hath been in the Posture of the Earth and the Heavens. And tho’ they differ in assigning Causes, or other Circumstances, yet they all agree as to Matter of Fact; 434that there was such a Thing, or, at least, a Tradition of such a Thing. And this is all that the Defendant desir’d or intended to prove from them, as Witnesses in this Cause.

To these Philosophers, he might have added the Testimonies of the Poets, who may be admitted as Witnesses of a Tradition, though it be further questioned, whether that Tradition be true or false. These Poets, when they speak of a Golden Age, or the Reign of Saturn, tell us of a perpetual Spring, or a Year without Change of Seasons. This is expresly said by Ovid, Ver erat æternum, &c. And upon the Expiration of the Golden Age, he says;

Ovid liv’d in the Time of our Saviour. And the Tradition, it seems, was then a-foot, and very express too. Plato, who was much more antient, hath said the same Thing in his Politicus, concerning the Reign of Saturn. And if we may have any Regard to Mythology, (vid. Theor. Lat. li. 2. c. 10. in fine.) and make Janus the same with Noah, which is now an Opinion generally received, that Power, that is given him by the Antients, of changing Times and Seasons, cannot be better expounded, than by that great Change of Time, and of the Seasons of the Year, that happened in the Days of Noah. Neither must we count it a mere Fable, what is said by the Antients, concerning the Inhabitability of the Torrid Zone: And yet that never was, if the Earth was never in any other Posture, than what it is in now.

Lastly, as the Philosophers and Poets are Witnesses of this Tradition, so many of the Christian Fathers have given such a Character of Paradice, as cannot be understood upon any other Supposition, than of a perpetual Equinox. This Card. Bellarmine^[17]^ hath noted to our Hands; 435and also observ’d, that there could not be a perpetual Equinox in the Countries of Asia, nor indeed in any topical Paradise, (unless it stood in the middle of the Torrid Zone) nisi alius tunc fuerit cursus solis, quam nunc est; unless the Course of the Sun, or, which is all one, the Posture of the Earth, was otherwise at that Time than what it is now: Which is a true Observation. The Jewish Doctors also, as well as the Christian, seem to go upon the same Supposition, when they place Paradise under the Equinoctial; see Eng. Theor. p. 351. Because they suppos’d it certain, as Eben Ezra tells us, that the Days and Nights were always equal in Paradise.

We have now done with the Examination of Witnesses: Philosophers, Poets, Jews, and Christians. From all these we collect, that there was an Opinion, or Tradition, amongst the Antients, of a Change made in the State of the natural World, as to the Diversity of Seasons in the Year: And that this did arise from the Change of the Posture of the Earth. Whether this Opinion, or this Tradition, was de jure, as well as de facto, is a Question of another Nature, that did not lie before us at present. But the Thing that was only in Debate in this Chapter, was matter of Fact, which I think we have sufficiently prov’d.

In the Close of this Chapter, the Exceptor makes two Queries: Still by way of Objection to the ante-diluvian Equinox. The first is this, p. 185. Supposing an Equinox in the Beginning of the World, would it (in Likelyhood) have continued to the Flood. If you grant the first Part, I believe few will scruple the second. For why should we suppose a Change before there appear any Cause for it? He says, the Waters might possibly have weigh’d more towards one Pole, than towards another. But why the Waters more than the Air? The Waters were not more rarified towards one Pole than towards another, no more than the Air was: For which the Exceptor, p. 180. had justly blam’d Leucippus before. But however, says he, that Earth would be very unstable, because, in Process of Time, there would be an empty Space betwixt the exterior Region of the Earth, and the Abyss below. But that empty Space would be fill’d with such gross Vapours, that it would be little purer than Water: And would stick to the Earth much closer than its Atmosphere that is carried about with it. We have no Reason to change the Posture of the Earth, till we see some antecedent Change that may 436be a Cause of it. And we see not any till the Earth broke. But then indeed, whether its Posture depended barely upon its Æquilibrium, or upon its Magnetism, either, or both of them, when its Parts were thrown into another Situation, might be changed. For the Parts of a Ruin seldom lie in the same Libration the Fabrick stood in. And as to the Magnetism of the Earth, that would change, according as the Parts and Regions of the Earth changed their Situation.

The second Query is this, granting there was such an Equinox in the first World, p. 187. Would not the natural World, towards the latter End of that World, have been longer, than in the former Periods of the same? Suppose this was true, which yet we have no Reason to believe, that the Days were longer towards the Flood, than towards the beginning of the World; why is this contrary to Scripture? He tells you how, in these Words, p. 188. That the Days just before the Flood were of no unusual Length, is evident in the very Story of the Flood; the Duration of which we find computed by Months, consisting of thirty Days a-piece. Whereas had Days been grown longer, fewer of them would have made a Month. This is a mere Paralogism, or a mere Blunder. For if thirty Days were to go to a Month, whether the Days were longer or shorter, there must be thirty of them; and the Scripture does not determine the Length of the Days. If thirty Circumgyrations of the Earth makes a Month, whether these Circumgyrations are slow or swift, thirty are still thirty. But I suppose that which he would have said and which he had confusedly in his Mind, was this, that the Month would have been longer at the Flood than it was before. Longer, I say, as to extent of Time, or Duration in general, but not as to number of Days. And you could not cut off a slip of one Day, and tack it to the next, through the intermediate Night, to make an Abridgment for the Whole. Therefore this Objection is grounded upon a Mistake, and ill Reasoning, which is now sufficiently detected.

Chap. IX

This Chapter is against the oval Figure of the first Earth, p. 189. which the Theorist had asserted, and grounded upon a general Motion of the Waters, forc’d from 437the Equinoctial Parts towards the Polar. But before we proceed to his Objections against this Explication, we must rectify one Principle. The Exceptor seems to suppose, p. 190. that terrestrial Bodies have a Nitency inwards or downwards, towards their central Point. Whereas the Theorist supposes, that all Bodies moving round, have, more or less, a Nitency from the Centre of their Motion: And that ’tis by an external Force that they are prest down, against their first Inclination or Nitency.

This being premised, we proceed to his Exceptions: Where his first and grand Quarrel is about the Use of a Word; whether the Motion of the Water from the middle of the Earth towards the Poles, can be call’d defluxus; seeing those polar Parts, in this supposed Case, were as high, or higher than the Equinoctial. I think we do not scruple to say undæ defluunt ad littora: Tho’ the Shores be as high, or higher than the Surface of the Sea. For we often respect, as the Theorist did, the middle and the sides, in the use of that Word; And so, defluere è medio ad latera, is no more than prolabi ad latera. But ’tis not worth the while to contest about a Word; especially seeing ’tis explained in the second Edition of the Theory, p. 186, by adding detrusione: But it would have spoil’d all this Pedantry, and all his little Triumphs, if he had taken notice of that Explication.

Wherefore setting aside the Word, let us consider his Reasons against this Motion of the Waters towards the Poles; which, he says, could not be, because it would have been an Ascent, not a Descent. We allow and suppose that. But may not Waters ascend by Force and Detrusion; when it is the easiest way they can take to free themselves from that Force, and persevere in their Motion? And this is the Case we are speaking to. They were impell’d to ascend, or recede from the Centre, and it was easier for them to ascend laterally, than to ascend directly: Upon an inclined Plain, than upon a perpendicular one. Why then should we not suppose that they took that Course? Methinks the Observator, who seems to be much conversant in the Cartesian Philosophy, might have conceived this Detrusion of the Waters towards the Poles by the Resistance of the superambient Air, as well as their flowing towards, and upon the Shores, by the Pressure of the Air under the Moon. And if the Moon continued always in the same Place, or over the middle of the Sea, that Posture of the Waters would be always the same: 438Though it be an Ascent, both upon the Land and into the Rivers. And this, methinks, is neither Contradiction, nor Absurdity. But an Enemy, that is little us’d to Victory, makes a great Noise upon a small Advantage.

He proceeds now to shew, p. 195. that it was improbable that the Figure of the first Earth should be oval, upon other Considerations. As first, because of its Position; which would be cross to the Stream of the Air, that turns it round, or carries it about the Sun: As a Ship, he says, that stands side-ways against a Stream, cannot sail. But if that Ship was to turn round upon her Axis, as a Mill-Wheel, and as the Earth does, what Posture more likely to have such an Effect, than to stand cross to the Stream that turns it? And the Stream would take more hold of an oblong Body, than of a round. Then, as to its annual Course, which he mentions, that’s nothing, but so many Circumvolutions: For in turning round it is also progressive, as a Cylinder in rowling a Garden: And three hundred sixty five Circumgyrations compleat its annual Course. So that this Argument turns wholly against him, and does rather confirm the oval Figure of the Earth.

His second Argument against the oval Figure of the first Earth, is the spherical Figure of the present Earth. And how does he prove that? First from Authorities, Anaximander, Pythagoras, and Perminedes thought so. But how does he prove that their asserting the Earth to be round, was not meant in Opposition to its being plain; as the Epicureans and the Vulgar would have it? That was the Question Socrates promis’d himself to be resolv’d in by Anaxagoras, Plat. in Phæd. πότερεν ἡ γῆ πλατεῖα ἔπις, ἢ αρογγύλη. Whether the Earth was flat or round. And ’tis likely the Dispute was generally understood in that Sense. However the Theorist hath alledg’d many more Authorities than these, in favour of the oval Figure of the Earth. For besides Empedocles in particular, and those whom Plutarch mentions in general, the Philosophy of Orpheus, the Phœnician, Ægyptian, and Persian Philosophers, did all compare the Earth to an Egg; with respect to its oval external Form, as well as internal Composition. These you may see fully set down in the Theory: Lat. Theor. li. 2. c. 10. And it had been fair in the Exceptor to have taken some notice of them, if he would contend in that way of Authorities. But he has thought fit rather to pass them over wholly in Silence.

439His Reasons, p. 197. to prove the Figure of the present Earth to be spherical, and not oval, are taken first from the Conical Figure of the Shadow of the Earth, cast upon the Moon. But that cannot make a Difference sensible to us at this Distance, whether the Body that cast the Shadow was exactly spherical or oval. His second Reason is from the Place of the Waters; which, he says, would all retire from the Poles to the Equator, if the polar Parts were higher. But this has been answer’d before. The same Cause that drives the Waters thither, would make them keep there: As we should have a perpetual Flood, if the Moon was always in our Meridian: And whereas he suggests, that by this Means the Sea should be shallowest under the Poles; which, he says, is against Experience: We tell him just the contrary, That, according to our Hypothesis, the Sea should be deepest towards the Poles; which agrees with Experience. That the Sea should be deepest under the Poles, if it was of an oval Form, p. 186. he may see plainly by his own Scheme, or by the Theory Scheme: Theor. Lat. li. 2. c. 5. So that if his Observation be true, of an extraordinary Depth of the Ocean in those Parts, it confirms our Suspicion, that the Sea continues still oval. Lastly, he urges, p. 198. If this Earth was oval, Navigation towards the Poles would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, because upon an Ascent. But if there be a continual Draught of Waters from the Equator towards the Poles, this will ballance the Difficulty, and be equivalent to a gentle Tide, that carries Ships into the Mouth of a River, though upon a gradual Ascent.

Thus much we have said in Complacency to the Exceptor. For the Theorist was not oblig’d to say any Thing in Defence of the oval Form of the present Earth, seeing he had no where asserted it: It not being possible, as to what Evidence we have yet, to determine in what Order the Earth fell, and in what Posture the Ruins lay after their Fall. But however, to speak my Mind freely upon this Occasion, I am inclinable to believe, that the Earth is still oval or oblong. What Things the Anti-theorist hath suggested, will not decide the Controversy; nor, it may be, any natural History, nor any of those Observations that we have already. The Surface of the Sea lies more regular than that of the Land, and therefore I should think that Observations made there would have the best Effect. 440I should particularly recommend these two: First, That they would observe toward the Poles, whether the Sun rise and set, according to the Rules of a true Globe, or of a Body exactly spherical. Secondly, That they would observe whether the Degrees of Latitude are of equal Extent in all the Parts of a Meridian; that is, if the Quantity of Sea or Land that answers to a Degree in the Heavens, be of equal Extent towards the Equator as towards the Poles. These two Observations would go the nearest of any I know, to determine whether the Figure of the Earth be truly spherical or oblong.

Chap. X

This Chapter is concerning the original Mountains, and that they were before the Flood, or from the Beginning; which the Exceptor endeavours to prove from Scripture; not directly, but because Mention is made of them in the same Places where the Beginning of the Earth is mentioned, p. 291. as Psal. xc. 1, 2. and Prov. viii. 25. therefore they must be co-eval and contemporary. We have, I think, noted before, that Things are not always Synchronal that are mentioned together in Scripture. The Style of Scripture is not so accurate, as not to speak of Things in the same Place, that are to be referr’d to different Times. Otherwise we must suppose the Destruction of Jerusalem, and of the World, to have been intended for the same Time; seeing our Saviour joins them in the same Discourse, (Mat. xxiv.) without any Distinction of Time; or with such a Distinction, as rather signifies an immediate Succession, (ver. 29.) than so great a Distance as we now find to be betwixt the Destruction of Jerusalem and the End of the World. Greater than that, betwixt the Beginning and the Flood: So in the Prophets sometimes, in the same Discourse, one Part is to be referr’d to the first Coming of our Saviour, and another Part to the second. Isa. ix. 6, 7. Isa. ix. 1. &c. Luke i. 31, 32, 33. without making any Distinction of Time, but what is to be gather’d from the Sense. Neither is there any Incongruity in the Sense, or in the Tenor of the Words, if those Expressions in the Psalmist be referr’d to different Times. God existed before the Mountains were brought forth, and the Earth and the World were 441made. This is certainly true, whether you take it of the same or different Times. And if you take it of different Times, ’tis a way of Speaking we often use. As suppose a Man should say, concerning the Antiquity of Troy, that it existed before Rome and Carthage; that does not necessarily imply, that Rome and Carthage were built at the same Time; but only that Troy was before them both. And so this of the Psalmist may be very well thus exprest, by a Gradation from a lower Epocha to an higher. Then as for that Place, Prov. ch. viii. it would be very hard to reduce all those Things that are mentioned there, (from ver. 22. to 30.) to the same Time of Existence; and there is no Necessity from the Words that they should be so understood. The Design and Intention of the Holy Ghost is plain in both these Places: In the one to set out the Eternity of God, and in the other, of the Logos in particular. And this is done by shewing their Præ-existence to this Earth, and to all its greatest and most remarkable Parts.

He mentions also, p. 202. Deut. xxxiii. 15. where the Hills are call’d Lasting, and the Mountains Antient. And therefore they were before the Flood. This is a hard Consequence. The River Kishon is call’d the antient River, Judg. v. 21. but I do not therefore think it necessary, that that Brook should have been before the Flood. Things may very well deserve that Character of lasting or antient, though they be of less Antiquity than the Deluge. If one should say the lasting Pyramids, and antient Babylon, none could blame the Expression, nor yet think that they were therefore from the Beginning of the World.

After these Allegations from Scripture, p. 205. he descends to a natural Argument taken from the Mountains in the Moon; which, he says, are much higher than the Mountains upon the Earth: And therefore, seeing her Body is less, they could not be made by a Dissolution of that Planet, as these of the Earth are said to have been. Though we are not bound to answer for the Mountains in the Moon, yet however, ’tis easy to see that this is no good Argument: For, besides that the Orb there might be more thick, all Ruins do not fall alike. They may fall double, or in Ridges and Arches, or in steep Piles, some more than others, and so stand at a greater Height. And we have Reason to believe that those in the Moon fell otherwise than those of the Earth; because we do not see her turn round: Nor can we ever get a Sight of her Backside, 442that we might better judge of the Shapes of her whole Body.

From this natural Argument, p. 206. he proceeds to an historical Argument, taken from the Talmudists and Josephus. The Talmudists say, that many Giants sav’d themselves from the Flood upon Mount Sion. But this, the Exceptor confesses, is wholly fabulous. What need it then be mentioned as an Argument? Then he says, Josephus reports, that many sav’d themselves from the Flood upon the Mountain Baris in Armenia. But this also, p. 207. he says, is false in the Gross, and a formal Fiction. Why then, say I, is it brought in as an Argument? Lastly, he quotes a Passage out of Plato, who says, when the Gods shall drown the Earth, the Herdsmen and Shepherds shall save themselves upon Mountains. And this (ibid.) the Exceptor calls a Piece of confus’d Forgery. Why then, say I still, is it alledged as an Argument against the Theory? But however, says the Exceptor, these Things argue that many thought there were Mountains before the Flood. But did the Theorist ever deny, that it was the vulgar and common Opinion? Therefore such Allegations as these may be of some Use to shew Reading, but of no Effect at all to confute the Theory.

Yet the Exceptor is not content with these Stories, but he must needs add a Fourth; which, he says, p. 208. is a plain Intimation that there were Mountains in the Beginning of the World. Take his own Words for the Story, and the Application of it. I will only add that traditional Story which is told of Adam; namely, how that after his Fall, and when he repented of his Sin, he bewailed it for several hundred of Years, upon the Mountains of India. Another plain Intimation that THERE WERE MOUNTAINS in the Beginning of the World. This is a plain Intimation indeed, that those that made this Fable, thought there were Mountains then: But is it a Proof that there really was so? As you seem to infer. Does the Exceptor really believe, that Adam wander’d an hundred Years upon the Mountains of India? If the Matter of Fact be false, the Supposition it proceeds upon may as well be false. And he does not so much as cite an Author here, for the one or the other.

We are now come to the main Point, a new Hypothesis concerning the Original of Mountains, which the Exceptor, p. 208, 209, &c. hath vouchsafed to make for us: And, in short, it is this. When the Waters were 443drain’d off the Land on the third Day, while it was moist and full of Vapours, the Sun, by his Heat, made the Earth heave and rise up in many Places, which thereupon became Mountains. But lest we mistake or misrepresent the Author’s Sense, p. 209. we will give it in his own Words. Now the Earth, by this Collection of the Waters into one Place, being freed from the Load and Pressure of them, and laid open to the Sun, the Moisture within, by the Heat of his Beams, might quickly be turn’d into Vapours. And these Vapours being still increased by the continued rarifying Warmth from above, at length they wanted Space wherein to expand or dilate themselves. And at last, not enduring the Confinement they felt, by Degrees heaved up the Earth above; somewhat after the Manner that Leaven does Dough, when it is laid by a Fire; but much more forcibly and unevenly. And lifting it up thus in numberless Places, and in several Quantities, and in various Figures, Mountains were made of all Shapes and Sizes; whose Origin and Properties, he says, upon this Hypothesis, will be obvious, or at least intelligible, to thinking and philosophick Minds.

I must confess I am none of those thinking and philosophick Minds, to whom this is either obvious or intelligible: For there seem to me to be a great many palpable Defects or Oversights in this new Hypothesis: Whereof this is one of the grossest, that he supposes the Sun, by his Heat, the third Day to have raised these Mountains upon the Earth; whereas the Sun was not created till the fourth Day, p. 51. the fourth Day was the first Day of the Sun’s Existence: So that it had this powerful Effect, it seems, one Day before it came into Being.

But suppose the Sun had then existed: This is a prodigious Effect for the Sun to perform, in so short a Time, and with so little Force. The greatest Part of that Day was spent in draining the Waters from off the Land; which had a long Way to go, from some inland Countries, to reach the Sea, or their common Receptacle. And he says, p. 209, without an extraordinary Power, perhaps they could not have been drained off the Earth in one Day. Let us then allow, at least, half a Day for clearing the Ground; for the Sun might begin his Work about Noon; and before Night he had rais’d all the Mountains of one Hemisphere. It will require a strong philosophick Faith, to believe this could be all done by the Action of the Sun, an in so short a Time. Besides, we must consider, that the Sun, by Noon, had past all the Eastern Countries, 444yet covered with Water, or not well drain’d: So that after they were dried, he could only look back upon them with faint and declining Rays. Yet the Mountains of the East are as great and considerable as elsewhere. But there is still another great Difficulty in the Case, as to the Northern and Southern Mountains of the Earth; for they lie quite out of the Road of the Sun; being far remov’d towards either Pole; where, by reason of his Distance and Obliquity, his Beams have little Force. How would he heave up the Riphæan Mountains, those vast Heaps of Stone and Earth, that lie so far to the North? You see what Observations the Exceptor hath made(p. 119, 120.) concerning the Cold of those Countries: And it falls out very untowardly for this new Hypothesis, that the Northern Parts of the Earth, as Norway, Swedeland, Iseland, Scythia, Sarmatia, &c. should be such mountainous and rocky Countries; where he had before declar’d the Sun had so little Force. And, indeed, according to his Scheme, all the great Mountains of the Earth should have been under the Equator, or, at least, betwixt the Tropicks.

But to examine a little the Manner and Method of this great Action, and what kind of Bodies these new Mountains would be; either the Sun drew up only the Surface and outward Skin of the Earth, as Cupping-Glasses raise Blisters; or his Beams penetrated deep into the Earth, and heaved up the Substance of it, as Moles cast up Mole-Hills. If you take the first Method, these superficial Mountains would be nothing but so many Bags of Wind; and not at all answerable to those huge Masses of Earth and Stone, whereof our Mountains consist. And if you take the second Method, and suppose them push’d out of the solid Earth, and thrown up into the Air, imagine then how deep these Rays of the Sun must have penetrated in a few Hours Time, and what Strength they must have had, to agitate the Vapours to that Degree, that they should be able to do such Prodigies as these. Several Mountains, upon a moderate Computation, are a Mile high from the Level of the Earth. So that it was necessary that the Beams of the Sun should penetrate at least a Mile deep, in so short a Time; and there loosen and rarify the Vapours, and then tear up by the Roots vast Loads and Extents of Ground, and heave them a Mile high into the open Air: And all this in less than half a Day. Such Things surely are beyond all imagination, and so extravagant, that one 445cannot, in Conscience, offer them to the Belief of a Man. Can we think that the Sun, who is two or three Hours in licking up the Dew from the Grass in a May Morning, should be able, in as many more Hours, to suck the Alps and Pyreneans out of the Bowels of the Earth; and not to spend all his Force upon them neither? For he would have as much Work in other Countries. To raise up Taurus, for instance, and Imaus, and frozen Caucasus in Asia; and the mighty Atlas, and the Mountains of the Moon in Africk; besides the Andes in America, which, they say, far exceed all the Mountains of our Continent. One would be apt to think, that this Gentleman never saw the Face of a mountainous Country; for he writes of them, as if he had taken his Idea of Mountains, and the great Ridges of Mountains, upon the Earth, from the Devil’s Ditch, and Hogmagog Hills: And he raises them faster than Mushrooms out of the Ground. If the newborn Sun, at his first Appearance, could make such great Havock, and so great Changes upon the Face of the Earth, what hath he been doing ever since? We never heard nor read of a Mountain, since the Memory of Man, rais’d by the Heat of the Sun. We may therefore enquire, in the last Place,

Why have we no Mountains made now by the same Causes? We have no Reason to believe that the Heat or Strength of the Sun is lessen’d since that Time; why then does it not produce like Effects? But I imagine he hath an Answer for this: Namely, that the Moisture of the first Earth, when it was new drain’d and marshy, contributed much to this Effect; which now its Dryness hinders. But besides, that the Dryness of the Earth should rather give an Advantage, by the Collection of Vapours within its Cavities: However, we might expect, according to this Reason, that all our drain’d Fens and marshy Grounds, should presently be rais’d into Mountains; whereas we see them all to continue arrand Plains, as they were before. But if you think these are too little Spots of Ground to receive a strong Influence from the Sun, take Ægypt for an Instance: That’s capacious enough, and ’tis overflow’d every Year, and by that Means made soft and moist to your Mind, as the new Earth when it rises from under the Abyss. Why then is not Ægypt converted into Mountains, after the Inundation and Retirement of Nile? I do not see any Qualification wanting, according to the Exceptor’s Hypothesis: Ægypt hath a moist Soil, and a 446strong Sun, much stronger than the Alps or Pyreneans have; and yet it continues one of the plainest Countries upon the Earth. But there is still a greater Instance behind against this Hypothesis, than any of the former; and that is, of the whole Earth after the Deluge: When it had been overflow’d a second Time by the Abyss, upon the Retirement of those Waters it would be much what in the same Condition, as to Moisture, that it was in the third Day, when it first became dry Land. Why then should not the same Effect follow again, by the Heat of the Sun; and as many new Mountains be rais’d upon this second Draining of the Earth, as upon the first? These are plain and obvious Instances, and as plainly unanswerable. And the whole Hypothesis which this Virtuoso hath propos’d concerning the Origin of Mountains, is such an Heap of Incredibilities, and Things inconsistent one with another, that I’m afraid I shall be thought to have spent too much Time in Confutation of it.

In the Conclusion of this Chapter, p. 215. he hath an Attempt to prove that there were Mountains before the Flood, because there were Metals; which are commonly found about the Roots of Mountains. But the Theorist, he says, to shun this great Inconvenience, fairly consents to the abolishing of Metals out of the first State of Nature. Yet he is hard put to it, to prove that the Theorist hath any where asserted, whatsoever he thought, that there were no Metals then. The first Citation he produces, only recites the Opinion of others, and says, p. 216. he thinks they do not want their Reasons. Of the two other Citations out of the Preface, the first does not reach home, making no mention of Metals. And the second is wholly misconstrued, and perverted to a Sense quite contrary to what the Author intended, or the Context will bear. But however the Theorist appears doubtful, whether there were Metals or no in in the first World: And, upon this Doubt, the Exceptor lays this heavy Charge, p. 215. li. 24. Thus the Fidelity of Moses* is assaulted, and another intolerable Affront put upon the HOLY GHOST: For do not both inform us, that the City* Enoch was built, and the Ark prepared, before the Flood? But how could either be done without Iron-Tools? But does either Moses, or the Holy Ghost tell us, that there were Iron-Tools in building that City, or the Ark? If they do not, we only affront the Consequence, which the Exceptor draws from the Words, and not the Authors of them. By what divine Authority does the 447Animadverter assert, that there was Iron, or Iron-Tools, in Building this City, or that Ark? I’m sure Scripture does not mention either, upon those Occasions. And seeing it mentions only Gopher Wood and Pitch for the Building of the Ark, Gen. vi. 14. ’tis a Presumption rather, that there were no other Materials us’d. And as to the City, ’tis true, if he fancy the City which Enoch built, to have been like Paris, or London, he has Reason to imagine, that they had Iron-Tools to make it. But suppose it was a Number of Cottages, made of Branches of Trees, of Osiers and Bulrushes, (and what needed they any other House, when the Air was so temperate?) or, if you will, of Mud-Walls, and a Roof of Straw, with a Fence about it to keep out Beasts, there would be no such Necessity of Iron-Tools. Consider, pray, how long the World was without knowing the Use of Iron, in several Parts of it, as in the North, and in America: And yet they had Houses and Cities after their Fashion. For the Northern Countries you may see Olaus Magnus, li. 12. c. 13. For America, Pet. Martyr. Dec. 1. But the Exceptor will save you your Pains, as to the Indians, for he says himself, p. 250. in another Place, that they had no Instruments of Iron, when the Spaniards came amongst them. And if in those late Ages of the World, they were still without the Use of Iron, or Iron-Tools, we have less Reason to believe that the Children of Cain had them four or five thousand Years before.

It is also worthy our Consideration, how many Things must have been done, before they could come at these Iron-Tools. How came the Children of Cain to dig into the Earth, I know not to what Depth, to seek for a Thing they had never heard of before, when it was so difficult to dig into the Earth without such Tools? More difficult, methinks, than to build an House without them. But suppose they did this, we know not how; and, amongst many other Stones, or Earths, found that which we call Iron-Ore: How did they know the Nature and Use of 448it? Or, if they guess’d at that, how did they know the Way and Manner of preparing it, by Furnaces, Wind-Forges, and Smelting-mills? These would be as hard to make or build, without Iron Tools, as dwelling Houses. And when they had got a Lump of Iron, till they knew how to temper it, they could not make Tools of it still. Unless Cain’s Children had an Inspiration from Heaven, I do not see how they could discover all these Things, in so short a Time. And this is only to make good what the Theorist said, that such an Hypothesis does not want its Reasons. And as to Tubal-Cain, let those that positively assert that there was no Iron in the first World, tell us in what Sense that Place is to be understood. For, I believe, Iron or Brass is not once mention’d in all the Theory.

Chap. XI

This Chapter is to prove that the Sea was open before the Deluge. ’Tis something barren of philosophical Arguments, but we will begin with such as it has, which are taken from this Topick, That the Fishes could not live in our Abyss: p. 224. and that for three Reasons. First, because it was too dark. Secondly, too close; and thirdly, too cold. As for Coldness, methinks he might have left that out, unless he suppose that there are no Fish in the frozen Seas, towards the North and South; which is against all Sense and Experience: For cold Countries abound most in Fish. And according to Reason, there would be more Danger of too much Warmth, in those subterraneous Waters, than of too much Cold, in respect of the Fishes.

Then as to Darkness and Closeness, this minds me of the Saying of Maimonides: That no Man ever would believe, that a Child could live so many Months, shut up in its Mother’s Belly, if he had never seen the Experience of it. There’s Closeness and Darkness, in the Highest Degree. And in Animals, that, as soon as born, cannot live without Respiration. Whereas Fishes, of all Creatures, have the least need of Respiration, if they have any. And as for Darkness, how many subterraneous Lakes have we still, wherein Fishes live? And we can scarce suppose the main and fathomless Ocean to have Light to the Bottom; at least when it is troubled or tempestuous. How the 449Eyes of Fish are, or might be, form’d or conform’d, we cannot tell, but we see they feed and prey on the Night Time, and take Baits as greedily as on the Day. But it is likely they were less active and agile in that Abyss, than they are now; their Life was more sluggish then, and their Motions more slow, Job xxxviii. 8. as being still in that Womb of Nature that was broke up at the Deluge. And as to Air, they would have enough for their imperfect way of breathing in that State. But if they have a more perfect now, which is still a Question, they might have some Passages in their Body open’d, (at the Disruption of the Abyss) when they were born into the Light and free Air, which were not open’d before. As we see in Infants, upon their Birth, a new Passage is made into their Lungs, and a new Circulation of the Blood, which before took another Course.

So much for pretended Reasons and Philosophy. The rest of this long Chapter is spent either in Consequences made from Scripture, or in a prolix Discourse about Rain. As to Scripture, p. 219, 220. he makes this the first Objection, that, whereas Adam had a Dominion given him over the Fish of the Sea, it could have no Effect, if they were inclosed in the Abyss. Adam had no more Dominion given him over the Fish of the Sea, than over the Fowls of the Air; which he could not come at, or seize at his Pleasure, unless he could fly into the Air after them. Adam was made Lord of all Animals upon this Earth, and had a Right to use them for his Conveniency, when they came into his Power: But I do not believe that Adam was made stronger than a Lyon, nor could master the Leviathan, or command him to the Shore. He had a Right, however, and his Posterity, to dispose of all Creatures for their Use and Service, whensoever, upon Occasion offered, they fell into their Power.

Next he says, p. 225, 226. The Waters were gather’d into one Place, and a Firmament was made to divide the Waters from the Waters. Well, allow this, tell us then what was that Firmament? For it is said there, Gen. i. 17. that God set the Sun, Moon, and Stars, in the Firmament. Therefore you can argue nothing from this, unless you suppose supercelestial Waters: Which, when you have prov’d, we will give you an Account of the subcelestial, and of the subterraneous. And here the Exceptor cites some Things from the Theory, that are not in 450the second Edition, and therefore the Theorist is not concern’d to answer them.

Lastly, The Exceptor comes to his long Harangue in Commendation of the Clouds and of Rain: Which takes up a great Part of this Chapter. In his Exordium he makes this Compliment to the Clouds, p. 234. Sometimes they mount up and fly aloft, as if they forgat, or disdain’d the Meanness of their Origin. Sometimes again they sink and stoop so low, as if they repented of their former proud Aspirings, and did remorseful humble Penance for their high Presumption. And though I may not say they weep to expiate their Arrogance, or kiss the Earth with bedewed Cheeks, in Token of their Penitence, yet they often prostrate in the Dust, and sweep the lowest Grounds of all, with their misty foggy Trains. One while they, &c. This Harangue about the Clouds and Rain, is pursued for fourteen or fifteen Pages, and, with Submission to better Judgments, I take it to be a Country Sermon, about the Usefulness of Rain: And, I believe, whosoever reads it, will, both from its Matter and Form, be of the same Opinion. I do not speak this in Derogation to his Sermon, but he would have done better, methinks, to have printed it in a Pamphlet by it self; there being no Occasion for it in this Theory.

Towards the Conclusion of the Chapter, p. 246. he answers an Objection made by the Theorist against the supposed Islands and Continents in the first Earth. Namely, That it would render the Propagation of Mankind difficult, into those broken Parts of the World. And the many imperfect shifting Answers which the Exceptor gives, or conjectures without Authority, do but confirm the Objection of the Theorist, or make his Words true, quod Res esset difficilis explicatu. Which is all that the Theorist said upon that Subject.

Chap. XII

This is a short Chapter, and will be soon dispatch’d. ’Tis to prove that the Rainbow was before the Flood. And notwithstanding that, a good Sign that there should never be a Flood again. This is to me a Paradox, but he confirms it by a greater Paradox: For he says, God might as well (as to Significancy, or Authenticalness) have appointed the Sun, as the Rainbow, for a Sign that there never 451should have been another Flood. So that if God had said to Noah, I do assure thee there shall never be a second Deluge, and for a Sign of this, Behold I set the Sun in the Firmament: This would have done as well, he says, as the Rainbow. That is, in my Judgment, it would have done nothing at all more than the bare Promise. And if it had done no more than the bare Promise, it was superfluous. Therefore if the Rainbow was no more than the Sun would have been, it was a superfluous Sign. They to whom these two Signs are of equal Significancy and Effect, lie without the Reach of all Conviction, and I am very willing to indulge them in their own Opinions.

But he says, p. 257. God sometimes has made things to be Signs, that are common and usual. Thus the Fruit of a Tree growing in Paradise, was made a Sign of Man’s Immortality. But how does it appear that this was a common Tree; or that it was given to Adam as a Sign that he should be immortal? Neither of these appear from Scripture. Secondly, he says, 2 Kings xiii. 17. Shooting with Bow and Arrows upon the Ground, was made a Sign to Joash of his prevailing against the Syrians. This was only a Command to make war against Syria, and a Prophecy of Success; both deliver’d in a symbolical or hieroglyphical Way. The Command was signify’d by bidding the King shoot an Arrow, which was the Sign of War. And the Sign of Victory or of divine Assistance, was the Prophet’s strengthening the King’s Hands to draw the Bow. This is nothing as to a Sign given in Nature, or from the natural World, in Confirmation of a divine Promise: Which is the thing we are only to consider.

All the rest of this Chapter is lax Discourse without Proof. And as to the Significancy of the Rainbow, upon Supposition that it was a new Appearance; and its Insignificancy upon Supposition that it was an old Appearance, we have spoken so fully in the Theory it self, Eng. Theor. Book 2. ch. 5. that it would be needless here to make any longer Stay upon this Argument.

Chap. XIII

This Chapter is concerning Paradise; but our Author fairly baulks all the Difficulties in that Doctrine, and contents himself with a few Generals, which every body knows. The Doctrine of Paradise consists chiefly of two Parts; the Site or Place of it; and the 452State or Properties of it. As to the first, if the Exceptor would have confuted the Theory, he should have let down the Conclusions that are advanc’d by the Theory, (Eng. Theor. Book. 2. c. 7.) concerning the Place of Paradise, which are these; first, the Place of Paradise cannot be determin’d by Scripture only. Neither the Word Mekeddem, (Gen. ii. 8.) nor the four Rivers mentioned there, make the Place of it defineable. Secondly, The Place of Paradise cannot be determin’d by the Theory. Seeing then neither Scripture, nor Reason determine the Place of Paradise, if we will determine it, it must be by Antiquity. And if we appeal to Antiquity in this Case, we shall find, First, That it was not in Mesopotamia. Secondly, That according to the Plurality of Votes, both amongst the Heathen and Christian Authors, it was plac’d in the other Hemisphere. And this is all the Theory says upon that Point. As you may see, Eng. Theor Book 2. ch. 7. and Lat. Theor. Edit. 2. p. 194. and p. 214, 215. Wherefore if the Animadverter would undertake to confute the Theory in this Point, he should have confuted those four Particulars. But he slips over these, p. 265. and gives us only a Paraphrase upon Verses in the second and third Chapters of Genesis, which says little to this Purpose, and yet more than it proves.

In the second Place, as to the State and Properties of Paradise, or the ante-diluvian World; the Longevity of the Ante-diluvians is the Thing he insists upon. But this he handles so loosely, p. 273. that in the Conclusion of his Discourse, one cannot tell whether he affirms it, or denies it. This sceptical Humour of the Exceptor hath been taken notice of before, and ’tis continued in this Chapter, where there is little or nothing positively determin’d. The Theorist, on the contrary, expressly affirms the Longevity of the Ante-diluvians, and gives these Reasons for his Assertion. First, Because all the Lives, and all the Generations recorded in Scripture, before the Flood, from Father to Son, in a Line of sixteen hundred Years, are longeval: Of six, seven, eight, nine hundred Years a-piece. Secondly, Antiquity, both Greek and Barbarian have attested the same thing, and recorded the Tradition; see the Table of both. Thirdly, The Generations recorded in Scripture after the Flood, as they exceed the Term of succeeding Ages, Eng. Theor. p. 204. so they decline by degrees from the ante-diluvian Longevity. Lastly, Jacob complains of the Shortness of his Life, and lowness 453of his Days, in Comparison of his Forefathers, when he had liv’d one hundred and thirty Years; Gen. xlvii. 9. which had been a groundless Complaint, if his Ancestors had not lived much longer.

These two last Reasons the Exceptor has not thought fit to take notice of. And, in Answer to the two former, he hath only the usual Subterfuges: As, that the long Lives of the ante-diluvian Patriarchs was a Thing extraordinary and providential, confin’d to their Persons; not of a general Extent, nor according to the Course of Nature. But how does this appear? It must be made out, either by Scripture or Reason. Scripture makes no Distinction, nor Exception of Persons in this Case; all, whereof it hath left any Account, as to Term of Life, are declar’d to have liv’d several hundred of Years. And why should we not conclude the same Thing concerning the rest? Then as to Reason, you cannot suppose Longevity, in that World, against Reason or Nature, unless you first suppose the Form and Constitution of that World to have been the same with the present: Which is to beg the Question. Admitting that Form and Constitution of the first Heavens and Earth, which the Theory hath given, Longevity will be a natural Consequence of it. Theor. Book 2. ch. 3, & 4. And having such a Course of Nature laid before us, as agrees with the Reports of Scripture, and with general Tradition, why should we quit that, to comply with an imaginary Presumption; that these were miraculously preserv’d, and all the rest were short-liv’d? I know he pretends, p. 277. we may as well conclude all Men were Giants in those Days, because Moses says, There were Giants upon the Earth in those Days, Gen. vi. 4. as conclude that all Men were long liv’d in those Days, because Moses mentions some that were so. There had been some Pretence for this, if Moses had made a Distinction of two Races of Men in the first World, long Livers and short Livers; as he hath distinguish’d the Giant from the common Race of Mankind: Or, as he hath said in one Case, There were Giants on the Earth in those Days; so if he had said in the other, There were long Livers upon the Earth in those Days, and upon that, had given us a List of the long-liv’d Patriarchs: This indeed would have made the Cases pretty parallel. But, on the contrary, Moses makes no such Distinction of long-living and short-living Races, before the Flood; nor yet notes it as a Mark of divine Favour, 454or extraordinary Benediction upon those Persons that liv’d so long. Therefore, not to suppose it general to Mankind at that Time, is a groundless Restriction, which is neither founded upon Scripture nor Reason.

As to the second Argument for ante-diluvian Longevity, taken from Tradition and the Testimony of the Antients, he objects, p. 276, 277. that Josephus does not seem to be firm in that Opinion himself. But what then? The Theorist lays no Stress upon Josephus’s single Opinion, but refers to the Testimonies of those Authors, whether Greeks, or such as have given on Account of the Ægyptian, Chaldean, and Phœnician Antiquities: Which are call’d in by Josephus, as Witnesses of this Truth or Tradition, concerning the long Lives of the first Men. And at last, the Exceptor seems content, this Tradition should be admitted, p. 278. seeing the Authors are too many, or too considerable, to have their Testimonies question’d or rejected. But then he will make a further Question, Why there should not also be a Tradition concerning the perpetual Equinox, or perpetual Spring, upon which this Longevity depended? But this Question is fully answer’d, and the Tradition fully made out before, in the eighth Chapter, which I need not here repeat. In like manner, all the secondary Questions, which he then mentions, depending upon, and being included in this first, receive their Resolution from it. For when a perpetual Equinox is once truly stated, there is no Difficulty concerning the rest.

After these Contests about Traditions, he hath one or two Reasons against this ante-diluvian Longevity, p. 279, 280. First, because the Earth, by this Means, would have been over-stock’d with People before the Time of the Deluge. Secondly, They should all have been of the same Longevity before the Flood. Neither of these, me-thinks, have any Strength in them. As to the first, That Earth was much more capacious than this is, where the Sea takes away half of its Surface, and renders it uninhabitable. And whereas he suggests, as a Recompence, ibid. That Mountains have more Surface and Capacity than Plains; that’s true, but they are also less habitable, by Reason of their Barrenness and Ruggedness. Who can believe that there are as many People in Wales, as in other Parts of England, upon the same Compass of level Ground? Or no more in Holland, than upon a like Number of Acres upon the Alps or Pyreneans? There would 455be room enough for twice as many People as there are in the World, and twice as many Animals, if there was Food enough to nourish them. But here I have two things to complain of, as foul Play: First, the Exceptor cites the Theory partially. Secondly, he does not mark the Place whence he takes that Citation; as if it was on purpose to hide his Partiality. The Words he cites are these: If we allow the first Couple, at the end of one hundred Years, or of the first Century, to have left ten Pair of Breeders, which is an easy Supposition, there would arise from these in fifteen hundred Years, a greater Number than the Earth was capable of; allowing every Pair to multiply in the same decuple Proportion the first Pair did, Eng. Theor. p. 32. Here the Exceptor stops, and makes this Inference; that upon an easy Supposition, which the Theorist makes and allows, the Earth would have been over-stock’d in fifteen hundred Years. This is an easy Supposition for the first Century, as the Theorist put it; but it would be a very uneasy one for the following Centuries, when they came to be at any considerable Distance from the Beginning. And therefore the Theorist tells you, in that very Page, The same Measure cannot run equally through all the Ages. And in his Calculation you see, after the first Century, he hath taken only a quadruple Proportion for the Increase of Mankind. As judging that a moderate and reasonable Measure betwixt the highest and the lowest. This the Exceptor might easily have observ’d, ibid. and as easily avoided this Misapplication of the Words of the Theorist.

His second Reason against the ante-diluvian Longevity is slighter than the first, p. 280. For he pretends that all Ante-diluvians, upon that Supposition, should have been equally long-liv’d. You may as well say, that all the Children of the same Parents, and that live in the same Place, should now be equally long-liv’d; the external World being the same to them all. But, besides Accidents, their Stamina and Constitutions might then be of a different Strength, as well as now; tho’ they were born of the same Parents, and liv’d in the same Air. Lastly, he moves a Difficulty about the Multiplication of Animals in the first World, p. 281. that they would have been too numerous before the Flood. I can say nothing to that, nor he neither, upon good Grounds: Unless we knew what Species of Animals were then made, and in what Degrees they multiplied. The Theorist always supposes a divine Providence to superintend, proportion, and 456determine, both the Number and Food of Animals upon the Earth; suitably to the Constitution and Circumstances of every World. And seeing that Earth was no less under the Care and Direction of Providence, than the present, we may conclude that due Measures were taken for adjusting the Numbers and Food of Animals in such manner, as neither to be a Burden to one another, nor to Man.

Chap. XIV

This Chapter is against the Explication of the Deluge by the Dissolution of the Earth. That Dissolution, as is pretended, being unfit or insufficient to produce such an Effect. And to prove this, the Ante-theorist gives us five Arguments, whereof the first is this; p. 285. Moses having left us an accurate Description of Paradise, according to the proper Rules of Topography, such a Description would have been improper and insufficient to determine the Place of Paradise, and consequently useless, if the Earth had been dissolv’d; and by that means the Bounds of those Countries, and the Channels of those Rivers, broken and chang’d. This Objection, I’m afraid, will fall heavier upon Moses, or upon the Exceptor himself, than upon the Theorist. However, one would have expected that the Exceptor should have determin’d here the Place of Paradise in virtue of that Description. So learned and sagacious a Person, having before him an exact Draught of Paradise, according to the proper Rules of Topography, could not fail to lay his Finger upon the very Spot of Ground where it stood. Yet I do not find that he has ventur’d to determine the Place of Paradise, either in this Chapter, or in the preceding: Which gives me a great Suspicion, that he was not satisfy’d where it stood, notwithstanding the Mosaical Topography. Now if it cannot be understood or determin’d by that Topography, one of these two things must be allow’d, either that the Description was insufficient and ineffectual; or that there has been some great Change in the Earth, whereby the Marks of it are destroy’d; namely, the Bounds of Countries, and the Courses of the the Rivers. If he take the second of these Answers, he joins with the Theorist. If the first, he reflects, according to his way of arguing, upon the Honour of Moses, or confutes himself.

But here is still a further Charge, p. 286. Moses’s Description of Paradise would have been told (which he 457notes for horrid Blasphemy) if the Earth was broken at the Deluge: For then those Rivers, by which Moses describes Paradise, could not have been before the Flood. But why so, I pray? The Theorist supposes Rivers before the Flood, in great Plenty; and why not like to these? And if their Channels were very much chang’d by the Flood, that’s no more than what good Interpreters suppose. Being unable, upon any other Submission, to give an Account why it is so hard (notwithstanding Moses’s Description) to determine the Place of Paradise. Now where is the Blasphemy of this? Ibid. Horrid Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost? A rude and injudicious Defence of Scripture, by Railing and ill Language, is the true Way to lessen and disparage it: Especially when we make our own Consequences to be of the same Authority with the Word of God; and whatsoever is against them, must be charg’d with Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Is it not a strange Thing, that the Dissolution of the Earth should be made Blasphemy, when the Prophets and inspir’d Authors speak so often of the Disruptions, Fractions, Concussions, and Subversions of the Earth? See Review, p. 380, &c. And that very Expression, that the Earth is dissolv’d, is a Scripture Expression, (Psal. lxxv. 3. Isai. xxiv. 19. Amos ix. 5) which, methinks, might have been enough to have protected it from the Imputation of Blasphemy. But there is nothing safe against blind Zeal, and opinionative Ignorance; which, by how much they find themselves weaker in Reasons, by so much they become more violent in Passions.

But to return to the Objection; upon the whole Matter, he casts the Burden of the Charge upon Moses himself, as we noted before: For take whether Hypothesis you will, that the Earth was, or was not broken, the Question still returns, if the Mosaical Topography was exact and sufficient, why can we not yet find out the Situation of Paradise? ’Tis now above three thousand Years since Moses died, and Men have been curious and very inquisitive in all Ages, to find out the Place of Paradise; but it is not found out to this Day to any Satisfaction: So that, methinks, upon the whole, the Theory, which supposeth the Earth very much chang’d, makes the fairest Apology both for Moses and Mankind, in this Particular. But to proceed to his second Argument.

Secondly, says the Exceptor, p. 288. The Dissolution of the Earth could not be the Cause of the general Flood, because 458it would have utterly destroy’d Noah*’s Ark, and all that were in it*. I thought the Theorist had effectually prevented this Objection, by putting the Ark under the Conduct of its Guardian Angels, and of a miraculous Providence; Eng. Theor. p. 147. These are his Words: I think it had been impossible for the Ark to have liv’d upon the raging Abyss, or for Noah and his Family to have been preserv’d, if there had not been a miraculous Hand of Providence to take Care of them. Now, either the Exceptor did not take notice of this Passage in the Theory, or he does not allow that a miraculous Hand was sufficient to preserve the Ark; or thirdly, he made an Objection, which he knew himself to be impertinent. And, I confess, I am inclinable to think the last is true: For as to the first, he confesses (p. 354.) that the Theory represents the Ark, with its Guardian Angels about it, in the Extremity of the Flood. And as to the second, he himself makes use of a miraculous Power to preserve the Ark upon his Hypothesis; in Answer to the eighth Objection, p. 351, 352, &c. Why then may not we make use of the same Power, and with the same Effect? It remains therefore, that he was conscious to himself that he made this Objection to no purpose.

But that is not all: He has also us’d foul Play in his Citation: For whereas the great Danger of the Ark would be at the first Fall of the Earth, or the Disruption of the Abyss; the Theorist, he says, to prevent this, makes the Ark to be a-float by the Rains, before the Abyss was broken. But is that all the Theorist says in that Place? Does he not assign another Way how the Ark might be a-float? Namely, in a River, or in a Dock. These are the Words of the Theory, p. 133, 134. So as the Ark, if it could not float upon these Rain-Waters, at least taking the Advantage of a River, or of a Dock or Cistern made to receive them, it might be a-float before the Abyss was broken open. And these Words being in the same Place whence he makes his Citation, it must be a wilful Dissimulation not to take notice of them. But he saw they would have taken off the Edge of his Objection, and therefore thought fit not to touch upon them. But after all, there is no Necessity that the Ark should be a-float before the Earth broke: Those Things, were premis’d in the Theory, only to soften the Way to Men that are of hard Belief in such extraordinary Matters: For the Angels (whose Ministry we openly own, upon these grand Occasions) could as easily 459have held the Ark a-float, in the Air, as on the Water. And the Ark, being an Emblem of the Church, God certainly did give his Angels Charge over it; that they should bear it up in their Hands, that it might not be dash’d against a Stone. And this having been more than once profess’d by the Theorist, we must again conclude this Objection superfluous and useless.

The third Objection is this. If the Earth had been thus dissolv’d, p. 289. The present Earth would have been, in likelihood of another Figure, than what now it bears. These are his Words; but I suppose he means, that it would have been of another Form, as to Sea and Land. And the Reason he gives is this: Because, says he, it would have broke first in the Equator, and consequently that Part falling down first, would have been swallowed up by the Waters, and become all Sea. Whereas we find, that under the Equator that then was (which he supposeth (ibid.) the present Ecliptick) the dry Ground is of most spacious Extent and Continuity. We need not examine his Account of Sea and Land, because it proceeds upon a false Supposition, (See p. 27. before.) He relapses here into his former astronomical Error, or to his first adds a second; viz. That the Earth, when it chang’d its Situation, chang’d its Poles and Circles. This is a great Mistake; the Change of Position in Respect of the Heavens, did not change the Places of its Circles in Respect to its own Globe. As when you change a Sphere or a Globe out of a right Situation into an oblique, the Circles do not change their Places, as to that Sphere or Globe; but have only another Position to the Heavens. The Earth’s Ecliptick runs thorough the same Places it did before; and the equinoctial Regions of that Earth were the same with the equinoctial Regions of this, only bear another Posture to the Heavens and the Sun. These Circles have not chang’d Places with one another, as he imagines; and which is worse, would father this imagination upon the Theory, in these Words, Under the Ecliptick (which, in the present Situation of the Earth, (ACCORDING TO THE THEORY) was its Equinoctial, and divided the Globe into two Hemispheres, as the Equator does now) the dry Ground, &c. He that affirms this, with Respect to the Earth, neither understands the Theory, nor the Doctrine of the Sphere. But let’s press no further upon a Mistake.

The fourth Objection is this; p. 290. That such a Dissolution of the Earth, would have caus’d great Barrenness 460after the Flood: Partly by turning up some dry and unfruitful Parts of the Earth; and partly by the Soil and Filth that would be left upon its Surface. As to the first, I willingly allow, that some of the interior and barren Parts of the Earth might be turn’d up; as we now see in mountainous and wild Countries; but this rather confirms the Theory, than weakens it. But as to the second, that the Filth and Soil would have made the Earth more barren, I cannot allow that. For good Husbandmen overflow their Grounds, to make their Crop more rich. And ’tis generally suppos’d, that the Inundation of Nile, and the Mud it leaves behind it, makes Ægypt more fruitful. Besides, this Part of the Objection lies against the common Explication of the Deluge, as well as against that which is given by the Theory. For if you suppose an universal Deluge, let it come from what Causes you please, it must overflow all the Earth, and leave Mud and Slime and Filth upon the Surface of it: And consequently cause Barrenness, according to this Argumentation.

He adds another Consideration under this Head, p. 292. namely, that if the Earth had been dissolv’d in this manner, All the Buildings erected before the Flood, would have been shaken down, or else overwhelm’d. Yet we read of some that outstood the Flood, and were not demolish’d. Such were the Pillars of Seth, and the Cities Henochia and Joppa. As to Seth’s Pillars, they are generally accounted fabulous; and I perceive the Exceptor will not vouch for them: For he concludes, (p. 295) I know the very Being is question’d of Seth*’s Pillars*, &c. If he will not defend them, why should I take the Pains to confute them? I do not love to play with a Man, that will put nothing to the Stake; that will have his Chance to win, but can lose nothing, because he stakes nothing. Then as to the City Henochia, it hath no Authority, but that of Annius Viterbiensis, and his Berosus: A Book generally exploded, as fictitious. Lastly, As to Joppa, the Authority indeed is better, tho’ still uncertain. But however, suppose the Ruins of one Town remain’d after the Flood, does this prove that the Earth was not dissolv’d? I do not doubt, but there were several Tracts of the Earth, much greater than that Town, that were not broken all to Pieces by their Fall. But you and your English Historian, are mistaken, if you suppose the Altars and Inscriptions mention’d by Mela, to have been ante-diluvian Altars and Inscriptions: Unless you will make the Fable of Perseus 461and Andromeda, and the Sea-Monster, to have been an ante-diluvian Fable. Neither hath your Historian been lucky in translating those Words of Mela, cum religione plurima, with the Grounds and Principles of their Religion, which signify only, with a religious Care of Superstition. But to leave Fables, and proceed:

His last Argument against the Dissolution is this, p. 296. Had the Dissolution of the Earth been the Cause of the Deluge, It would have made God’s Covenant with Noah, a very vain and trifling Thing. So much is true, That the Deluge, in the course of Nature, will not return again in the same Way. But unless God prevent it, it both may, and will return in another Way. That is, if the World continue long enough, the Mountains will wear and sink, and the Waters in Proportion rise, and overflow the whole Earth; as is plainly shewn, by a parallel Case, in the first Book of the Theory, ch. iv. Besides, God might, when he pleas’d, by an extraordinary Power, and for the Sins of Men, bring another Deluge upon the World. And that is the Thing which Noah seems to have fear’d, and which God, by his Covenant, secur’d him against. For, as the Exceptor hath said himself, in answering an harder Objection, (p. 152.) When God assigned to the Waters the Place of their Abode, he did not intend to fortify them in it against his own Omnipotence, or to divest himself of his Soveraign Prerogative of calling them forth when he pleased. This being allowed, with what we said before, that Covenant was not vain nor trifling, either in Respect of an ordinary or extraordinary Providence.

Thus we have done with all the Exceptions against the Theory: For the two next Chapters are concerning a new Hypothesis of his own; and the last of all excepts not against the Truth of the Theory, but the Certainty of it. In Reflection upon this whole Matter, give me leave to declare two Things: First, That I have not knowingly omitted any Objection that I thought of moment: Secondly, That I have not, from these Exceptions, found Reason to change any Part of the Theory, nor to alter my Opinion, as to any Particular in it. No doubt there are several Texts of Scripture, which, understood according to the Letter in a vulgar Way, stand cross, both to this, and other natural Theories. And a Child, that had read the first Chapters of Genesis, might have observ’d this as well as the Exceptor; but could not have loaded his Charge with so much Bitterness. Some Men, they 462say, though of no great Valour, yet will fight excellently well behind a Wall. The Exceptor, behind a Text of Scripture, is very fierce and rugged: But in the open Field of Reason and Philosophy, he’s gentle and tractable. Eng. Theor. Book 2. c. 9. at the End. The Theorist had declar’d his Intentions, and oblig’d himself, to give a full Account of Moses his Cosmopœia, or six Day’s Creation; but did not think it proper to be done in the vulgar Language, nor before the whole Theory was compleated. This might have spared much of the Exceptor’s Pains; but till that Account be given, if the Exceptor thinks fit to continue his Animadversions, and go through the two last Books, as he hath done the two first, it will not be unacceptable to the Theorist; provided it be done with Sincerity, in reciting the Words, and representing the Sense of the Author.

Chap. XV

In this Chapter the Ante-theorist lays down a new Hypothesis for the Explication of the Deluge, p. 299. And the War is chang’d, on his Side, from offensive, to defensive. ’Tis but fair that he should lie down in his Turn; and if some Blows smart a little, he must not complain, because he begun the Sport. But let’s try his Hypothesis, without any further Ceremony, p. 299, 300. The first Proposition laid down for the establishing of it, is this: That the Flood was but fifteen Cubits high, above the ordinary Level of the Earth. This is an unmerciful Paradox, and a very unlucky Beginning; for under what Notion must this Proportion be received? As a Postulatum, or as a Conclusion? If it be a Postulatum, it must be clear from its own Light, or acknowledg’d by general Consent. It cannot pretend to be clear from its own Light, because it is matter of Fact, which is not known, but by Testimony. Neither is it generally acknowleg’d; for the general Opinion is, that the Waters covered the Tops of the Mountains; nay, that they were fifteen Cubits higher than the Tops of the Mountains. And this he confesses himself, in these Words, p. 300. We shall find there is a great Mistake in the common Hypothesis, touching their Depth: Namely, of the Waters. For whereas they have been supposed to be fifteen Cubits higher than the highest Mountains: They were indeed but fifteen Cubits high in all, 463above the Surface of the Earth. And this Opinion, or Doctrine, he calls, p. 329. lin. 19. c. 31. The general standing Hypothesis: The usual Hypothesis: p. 339. lin. 18. The usual Sense they have put upon the Sacred Story. It must not therefore be made a Postulatum, that such an Hypothesis is false, but the Falsity of it must be demonstrated by good Proofs. Now I do not find that this new Hypothesis, of a fifteen Cubit Deluge, offers at any more than one single Proof, namely, from Gen. vii. 20. But before we proceed to the Examination of that, give me leave to note one or two Things, wherein the new Theorist seems to be inconsistent with himself, or with good Sense.

At his Entrance upon this new Hypothesis, he hath these Words, (p. 300.) Not that I will be bound to defend what I say, as true and real, &c. But why then does he trouble himself or the World, with an Hypothesis, which he does not believe to be true and real? Or, if he does believe it to be so, why will he not defend it? For we ought to defend Truth. But he says moreover, (p. 302. lin. 19.) Our Supposition stands supported by Divine Authority; as being founded upon Scripture. Which tells us, as plainly as it can speak, that the Waters prevailed but fifteen Cubits upon the Earth. If his Hypothesis be founded upon Scripture; and upon Scripture, as plainly as it can speak, why will not he defend it as true and real? For to be supported by Scripture, and by plain Scripture, is as much as we can alledge for the Articles of our Faith; which every one surely is bound to defend.

But this is not all the Difficulty we meet with. The whole Period which we quoted, runs thus: Not that I will be bound to defend what I say, as true or real; any more than to believe (what I cannot well endure to speak) that the Church of God has ever gone on in an irrational way of explaining the Deluge: Which yet the must needs have done, if there be no other rational Method of explaining it, and no other intelligible Causes of it, than what the Theory has propos’d. Now for the Word Theory, put the Word Exceptor, or Exceptor’s Hypothesis, and see if this Charge, that the Church of God has ever gone on in an irrational way of explaining the Deluge, does not fall as much upon the Exceptor’s new Hypothesis, as upon the Theory. If the Church Hypothesis was rational, what need he have invented a new one? Why does he not propose that Hypothesis, and defend it? I’m afraid it will be 464found that he does not only contradict the Church Hypothesis, but reject it as mistaken and irrational. For what is the Church Hypothesis, but the common Hypothesis? (p. 300. l. 24.) The general standing Hypothesis; the usual Hypothesis; the usual Sense they put upon the sacred Story; all these he rejects and disputes against, as you may see in the Places fore-cited: And also he calls them, p. 312. ult. such Inventions, as have been, and justly may be disgustful, not only to nice and squeamish, but to the best and soundest philosophick Judgments. And p. 319. he says, by his Hypothesis, We are excused from running to those Causes or Methods, which seem unreasonable to some, and unintelligible to others, and unsatisfactory to most. And to name no more, he says, p. 330. the ordinary Supposition, that the Mountains were cover’d with Water in the Deluge, brings on a Necessity of setting up a new Hypothesis for explaining the Flood. Now, whose Methods, Inventions, and Suppositions are these, which he reflects upon? Are they not the commonly receiv’d Methods and Suppositions? ’Tis plain, most of those which he mentions, (p. 310, 311, 313, 314, 318.) are not the Theorist’s: For the Theorist had rejected before, (Eng. Theor. ch. 2, and 3.) those very Methods and Inventions, which the Exceptor rejects now; and so far he justifies the Theory^[18]^: These Reflections therefore must fall upon some other Hypothesis; and what Hypothesis is that, if it be not the Church Hypothesis? To conclude, I argue thus, in short, to shew the Exceptor inconsistent with himself in this Particular. The Church Way of explaining the Deluge, is either rational, or irrational. If he say it is rational, why does he desert it, and invent a new one? And if he says it is irrational, then that dreadful Thing, which he cannot well endure to speak, that the Church of God has ever gone on in an irrational Way of explaining the Deluge, falls flat upon himself.

Thus much in general, for his Introduction. We proceed now to examine particularly his new Hypothesis: Which, as we told you before, consists chiefly in this, 465That the Waters of the Deluge were but fifteen Cubits higher than the common unmountainous Surface of the Earth. This, which seems so odd and extravagant, he says, p. 301. is the Foundation of the Hypothesis. And, which is still more surprizing, he says this Depth, or rather Shallowness of the Waters of the Deluge, is told us by Scripture, as plainly as it can speak, p. 302. l. 23. This must needs raise our Curiosity, to see that Place of Scripture, which has been overlook’d by all the Learned hitherto. Well, ’tis Gen. vii. 20. in these words, Fifteen Cubits upwards did the Waters prevail. This, methinks, is somewhat general; for the Basis of these fifteen Cubits not express’d in these Words. But why does our Author stop in the middle of a Verse? Why does he not transcribe the whole Verse; for the last Part of it is as good Scripture as the first? And that says plainly, that the Mountains were cover’d with the Waters. The whole Verse runs thus: Fifteen Cubits upwards did the Waters prevail; AND THE MOUNTAINS WERE COVERED. Now, if the Basis of these fifteen Cubits was the common Surface, or plain Level of the Earth, as this new Hypothesis will have it; how could fifteen Cubits, from that Basis, reach to the Tops of the Mountains? Are the highest Mountains but fifteen Cubits higher than the common Surface of the Earth? 1 Sam. xvii. 4. Goliah was six Cubits and a Span high; so Pic Tenariff would not be thrice as high as Goliah: Yet David flung a Stone up to his Forehead. Take what Cubit you please, sacred or common, it does not amount to two Foot. So the Height of the greatest Mountains, from Bottom to Top, must not be thirty Foot, or ten Paces, according to this new Hypothesis. Who ever measured Mountains at this Rate? The modern Mathematicians allow for their Height a Mile perpendicular, upon a moderate Computation; and that makes three thousand Foot: How then could Waters that were not thirty Foot high, cover Mountains that were three thousand Foot high? That the highest Mountains of the Earth were cover’d with the Waters, you may see express’d more fully in the precedent Verse, Gen. vii. 19. And the Waters prevailed exceedingly upon the Earth. And all the high Hills that were under the whole Heavens were cover’d. There can scarce be Words more plain and comprehensive. The Exceptor says, the Scripture tells us, as plainly as it can speak, that the Waters were but fifteen Cubits high from the common Surface 466of the Earth: And I say, the Scripture tells us as plainly as it can speak, That all the high Hills under the whole Heaven were covered with Water. And it must be a strange sort of Geometry, that makes fifteen Cubits of Water reach to the Top of the highest Hills. Lastly, the same History of Moses says, the Tops of the Mountains were discover’d, when the Waters begun to decrease, Gen. viii. 5. Is not that a plain Demonstration that they were cover’d before, and cover’d with those Waters?

We may therefore safely conclude two Things: First, that this new Hypothesis, besides all other Faults, is contrary to the general Exposition of the Text of Moses^[19]^. Secondly, that it is contrary to the general receiv’d Doctrine of the Deluge. And if he has deliver’d a Doctrine, contrary to the two, methinks it should be hard for him to maintain his Ground, and not pronounce, at the same Time, what he dreads so much to speak, That the Church of God has ever gone on in an irrational Way of explaining the Deluge. But let’s reflect a little upon this fifteen-cubit Deluge; to see what Figure it would make, or what Execution it would do upon Mankind, and upon other Creatures. If you will not believe Moses as to the overflowing of the Mountains, at least I hope you will believe him, as to the universal Destruction made by the Deluge. Hear his Words, Gen. vii. 21, 22, 23. we’ll take only the last Verse, which is this, And every living Substance was destroyed, which was upon the Face of the Ground, both Man and Cattle, and creeping Things, and the Fowl of the Heavens; and they were destroyed from the Earth; and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the Ark. Now I would gladly know, how this could be verified in a fifteen-cubit Deluge? The Birds would naturally fly to the Tops of Trees, when the Ground was wet; and the Beasts would retire, by Degrees, to the Mountains and higher Parts of the Earth, as the lower begun to be overflow’d: And if no Waters could reach them there, how were they all destroy’d, while they had so many Sanctuaries and Places of Refuge?

467Or if you suppose some of these Creatures had not Wit enough to save themselves, (though their Wit and Instincts lie chiefly in that) at least Mankind would not be so stupid; when Men see the Waters begin to rise, they could not fail to retire into Mountains: And tho’ the upper Stories of their Houses might be sufficient to save them from fifteen Cubits of Water; yet if Fear made them think themselves not secure there, whither could it drive them, but still into higher Places? And an House seated upon an Eminency, or a Castle upon a Rock, would be always a safe Retreat from this diminutive Deluge. I speak all this upon the Suppositions of the Exceptor, p. 215, 216, 292, &c. who allows, not only Mountains and Rocks, but also Castles and Cities before the Deluge, built of good Timber, and Stone, and Iron, and such substantial Materials. But how, in such a Case, and in such a State of Things, all Mankind (except Noah and his Family) should be destroy’d by fifteen Cubits of Water, is a Lump of Incredibilities, too hard and big for me to swallow.

But there is still another Difficulty, that we have not mention’d: As those that were upon the Land might easily save themselves from Ruin, so those that were upon the Sea in Ships, would never come in Danger. For what would it signify to them, if the Sea was made a few Fathoms deeper, by these new Waters? It would bear their Vessels as well as it did before, and would be no more to them than a Spring-Tide. And lastly, how shall we justify the Divine Wisdom, which gave such punctual Orders, for the Building of an Ark, to save Noah, and a Set of Creatures for a new World, when there were so many more easy and obvious Ways to preserve them without that Trouble?

These Objections, in my Opinion, are so plain and full, that it is not needful to add any more: Nor to answer such Evasions as the new Theorist attempts to make to some of them. As, for Instance, to that plain Objection from Moses’s Words, p. 330. that the Mountains were covered with the Waters; he says, first, that it is a Synecdoche, where the Whole is put for a Part: Or, secondly, ’tis an Hyperbole, where more is said than understood: Or, thirdly, ’tis a poetical History: Or, lastly, if none of these will do, by the Tops of the Mountains is to be understood the Bottoms of the Mountains, p. 331, 333. and that cures all. The Truth is, he has taken a great deal of Pains in 468the next Chapter, to cure an incurable Hypothesis. We will give you but one Instance more: ’Tis about the Appearance of the Tops of the Mountains at the Decrease of the Deluge; which argue strongly that they were cover’d in the Deluge. But take it in his own Words, with the Answer, p. 337. It is recorded, Gen. viii. 5. that the Waters decreased continually until the tenth Month, and on the first Day of the Month WERE THE TOPS OF THE MOUNTAINS SEEN. Now if the Mountains had not been quite under Water, and so invisible for the Time they were overwhelmed, how could they be said to become visible again, or to be seen upon the Floods going off? This is a plain and bold Objection: And after two Answers to it, which he seems to distrust, his third and last is this, p. 339. If these two Considerations will not satisfy, we must carry on the Enquiry a little farther, and seek for a third. And truly some one or other must needs be found out.—Thirdly, therefore we consider, that the Tops of the Mountains may be said to be seen at the Time mentioned, upon account of their EMERGENCY OUT OF DARKNESS, NOT OUT OF WATERS. This is his final Answer. The Tops of the Mountains, at the Decrease of the Deluge, were seen; not that they were covered before with Water, says he, but with Darkness. Where finds he this Account: ’Tis neither in the Text, nor in Reason. If it was always so dark, and the Tops of the Mountains and Rocks naked and prominent every where, how could the Ark avoid them in that Darkness? Moreover, if the Deluge was made in that gentle way that he supposes, I see no Reason to imagine that there would be Darkness, after the forty Days Rain. For these Rains being fallen, and all the Vapours and Clouds of the Air discharg’d, methinks there should have ensued an extraordinary Clearness of the Air, as we often see after rainy Seasons. Well, ’tis true: But the Rains he supposes were no sooner fallen, but the Sun retracted them again in Vapours, with that Force and Swiftness, that it kept the Air in perpetual Darkness. Thus he says afterwards, p. 341. He’s mightily beholden to the Sun, upon many Accounts; and the Sun is no less beholden to him; for he gave him a miraculous Power to raise Mountains, and draw up Waters. ’Tis well the Sun did not presently fall to his old Work again, of raising Mountains out of this moist Earth, as the Exceptor says he did, when the Earth was first drain’d. See Chap. 10. That he contented himself to suck up the Waters only, and 469let the Earth alone: We are not a little beholden to him for this. For he seems to have had the same Power and Opportunity, at the Decrease of the Deluge, of making new Ravages upon the Earth, that he had before when it was first drain’d. But let’s see how, or when, these Waters were suck’d up, or resolv’d into Vapours.

Upon the Expiration of the forty Days Rain, whether was the Air purg’d of Vapours and clear, or no? Yes, it was purg’d, he says, (p. 343.) The Atmosphere was never so exhausted of Vapours, and never so thin, as when the Waters were newly come down. Then, in that clear Air the Tops of the Mountains might have been seen, if they lay above Water. But Moses says, Gen. viii. 5. it was in the tenth Month that they begun to be seen, when the Waters were decreas’d; ’twas therefore the Waters, not the gross Air, that hinder’d the Sight of them before. And according to this Method of the Exceptor, after the first forty Days, the Deluge begun to decrease. For the Sun forthwith set his Engines a-work, and resolv’d the Waters into Vapours and Exhalations at such a Rate, p. 341. that he presently made the Atmosphere dark with thick Mists and Clouds; and, in Proportion, lessen’d the Waters of the Deluge. But we do not read in Moses, of any Abatement in the Deluge, till the End of one hundred and fifty Days; (Gen. viii. 3.) which is four Months after this Term. The Truth is, the whole Notion of spending the Waters of the Deluge by Evaporation, is no better than what the Exceptor suspected it would be thought, p. 343. A mere Fancy, a whimsical groundless Figment. For what could the Sun do, in the Northern and Southern Parts of the World, towards the exhaling of these Waters? And in the temperate Climates, why should they not fall again in Rains, (if he had a Power to exhale them) as they do now? Was not the Earth in the same Position, and the Sun of the same force? Besides, where does he find this Notion in Scripture, that the Waters of the Deluge were consum’d by Evaporation? Moses says, the Waters returned from off the Earth, in going and returning, Gen. viii. 3, 5. That is, after frequent Reciprocations, they settled at length in their Channels; where Bounds were set them, that they might not pass over; that they return not again to cover the Earth. Seeing therefore this Notion hath no Foundation, either in Scripture or Reason, ’tis rightly enough stil’d, in the Exceptor’s Words, a mere Fancy, and groundless Figment.

470But I think we have had enough of these Shifts and Evasions. Let us now proceed to the second Part of his new Hypothesis, which is this, p. 303. That the Abyss, or Tehom-Rabbah, which was broken open at the Deluge, and (together with the Rains) made the Flood, was nothing but the Holes and Caverns of Rocks and Mountains; which open’d their Mouths at that Time, and pour’d out a great Quantity of Water. To support this new Notion of Tehom-Rabbah, he alledgeth but one single Text of Scripture, Psal. lxxviii. 15. He clave the Rocks in the Wilderness, and gave them Drink, as out of the great Depths; that is, copiously and abundantly, as if it were out of the great Deep. So the next Verse implies, and so it is generally understood: As you may see both by Interpreters, and also by the Septuagint and Vulgate Translations, and those of the Chaldee Paraphrase, and the Syriack. But the Exceptor, by all Means, will have these Holes in the Rocks to be the same with the Mosaical Abyss, or great Deep, that was broken open at the Deluge: So the great Deep was not one Thing, or one continued Cavity, as Moses represents it, but ten thousand Holes, separate and distant one from another. Neither must the great Deep, according to him, signify a low Place, but an high Place: For he confesses these Caverns were higher than the common Level of the Earth^[20]^. But I do not see how, with any tolerable Propriety, or good Sense, that which is higher than the Surface of the Earth can be called the great Deep. An Abyss in the Earth, or in the Water, is certainly downwards, in respect of their common Surface, as much as a Pit is downwards; and what is downwards from us, we cannot suppose to be above us, without confounding all Dimensions, and all Names of Things; calling that low which is high, a Mountain a Valley, or a Garret a Cellar.

Neither is there any Thing in this Text, Psal. lxxviii. 15. that can justly induce us to believe the great Abyss to be the same Thing with Caverns in Rocks. For whether you suppose it to be noted here as a miraculous Thing, that God should give them Water out of a Rock, or out of a 471Flint^[21]^, as plentifully as if it had been out of the great Abyss; or whether you understand the Original of Fountains to be noted here, which are said in Scripture to come from the Sea, or the great Abyss; neither of these Senses make any Thing to the Purpose of the new Hypothesis, and yet they are the fairest and easiest Sense that can be put upon the Words; and that which agrees best with other Places of Scripture, where the same Matter of Fact, or the same History is related: And therefore there can be no Necessity, from this Text, of changing the general Notion and Signification of Deep, or Abyss; both from that which it hath in common Use, and that which it hath in Scripture Use.

I say, as in the common Use of Words, Deep, or Abyss, signifies some low or inferior Place; so the general Use of it in Scripture is, in the same Sense, either to signify the Sea, or some subterraneous Place. Who shall descend into the (Abyss, or) Deep? says the Apostle, Rom. x. 7. Is that as much as if he had said, Who shall ascend into the Holes of the Rocks? And when Jacob speaks of the Blessings of the Abyss, or of the Deep, he calls them the Blessings of the Deep that lyeth under, Gen. xix. 25. In like Manner, Moses himself calls it the Deep that couched beneath, Deut. xxxiii. 13. And I know no Reason why we should not understand the same Deep there, that he mentioned before in the History of the Deluge; which therefore was subterraneous, as this is. Then, as for the other Use of the Word, namely, for the Sea, or any Part of the Sea, (whose Bottom is always lower than the Level of the Earth,) that is the most common Use of it in Scripture. And I need not give you Instances which are every where obvious.

One must needs think it strange, therefore, that any Man of Judgement should break thorough both the common Use of a Word, and so many plain Texts of Scripture, that show the Signification of it, for the sake of one 472Text, which, at most, is but dubious; and then lay such Stress upon that new Signification, as to found a new Doctrine upon it: And a Doctrine that is neither supported by Reason, nor agrees with the History of the Deluge. For, as we noted before, at the Decrease of the Deluge, the Waters are said to return from off the Earth, Gen. viii. 3. Did they not return to the Places from whence they came? But if those Places were the Caverns in the Rocks, whose Mouths lay higher than the Surface of the Deluge, as he says they did, p. 303, 305. I see no Possibility of the Waters returning into them. But the Exceptor hath found out a marvellous Invention to invade this Argument. He will have the returning of the Waters to be understood of their returning into their Principles, (that is, into Vapours,) not to their Places: In good Time: So the Dove’s returning was her returning into her Principles; that is, into an Egg, not into the Ark. Subtleties ill-founded, argue two Things, Wit and Want of Judgment. Moses speaks as plainly of the local Return of the Waters, in going and returning; as of the local going and returning of the Raven and Dove. See Gen. viii. 3, and 5. compar’d with Verse seventh and ninth.

Lastly, That we end this Discourse; the whole Notion of these Water-Pots in the Tops of Mountains, and of the broaching of them at the Deluge, is a groundless Imagination. What Reason have we to believe, that there were such Vessels then, more than now, if there was no Fraction of the Earth at the Deluge, to destroy them? And he ought to have gag’d these Casks, (according to his own Rule, Ch. 3.) and told us the Number and Capacity of them, that we might have made some Judgment of the Effect. Besides, if the opening the Abyss at the Deluge had been the opening of Rocks, why did not Moses express it so; and tell us, that the Rocks were cloven, and the Waters gushed out, and so made the Deluge? This would have been as intelligible, if it had been true, as to tell us that the Tehom-Rabbah was broken open. But there is not one Word of Rocks, or the cleaving of Rocks, in the History of the Flood. Upon all Accounts, therefore, we must conclude, that this Virtuoso might have as well suspected, that his whole Theory of the Deluge, as one Part of it, p. 343. would be accounted a mere Fancy, and groundless Figment.

Chap. XVI

This Chapter is made up of eight Objections, against his own Hypothesis. And those that have a mind to see them, may read them in the Author. I have taken as much Notice of them as I thought necessary, in the precedent Chapter; and therefore leave the Exceptor now to deal with them all together. I omitted one Objection (p. 311.) concerning the shutting up of the Abyss, and the Fountains of the Abyss, because it was answer`d before in the English Theory, p. 143. namely, there were Fountains in the Abyss, as much as Windows in Heaven; and those were shut up, as well as these; that is, ceas’d to act, and were put into a Condition to continue the Deluge no longer.

Chap. XVII

There is nothing in this Chapter against the Truth of the Theory; but the Author is blam’d for believing it to be true: I think it had been more blame-worthy, if he had troubled the World with a Theory which he did not believe to be true, and taken so much Pains to compose what he thought himself no better than a Romance. As to what the Theorist has said in Reference to his Assurance or Belief of the Theory, which the Exceptor calls Positiveness, upon Examination, I cannot find any Thing amiss in his Conduct, as to that Particular. For, first, he imposes his Sentiments upon no Man; he leaves every one their full Liberty of dissenting. Preface to the Reader at the End. Lastly, in Things purely speculative, as these are, and no Ingredients of our Faith, it is free to differ from one another in our Opinions and Sentiments; and so I remember St. Austin hath observed upon this very Subject of Paradise. Wherefore, as we desire to give no Offence our selves, so neither shall we take any at the Difference of Judgment in others; provided this Liberty be mutual, and that we all agree to study PEACE, TRUTH, and a GOOD LIFE. And as the Theorist imposes his Sentiments upon no Man; so, as to Matter of Certainty, he distinguisheth always betwixt the Substance of the Theory, and Particularities. So, at the latter End of the first Book, this Profession 474is made, Eng. Theor. p. 207. I mean this only, speaking about Certainty, as to the general Parts of the Theory. For as to Particularities, I look upon them only as problematical; and accordingly I affirm nothing therein, but with a Power of Revocation, and a Liberty to change my Opinion when I shall be better inform’d. And accordingly he says in another Place, Eng. Theor. p. 12. I know how subject we are to Mistakes, in these great and remote Things, when we descend to Particularities. But I am willing to expose the Theory to a full Trial, and to shew the Way for any to examine it, provided they do it with Equity and Sincerity. I have no other Design than to contribute my Endeavours to find out Truth, &c. Lastly, to cite no more Places, he says, Eng. Theor. p. 402. There are many particular Explications that are to be consider’d with more Liberty and Latitude; and may, perhaps, upon better Thoughts, and better Observations, be corrected, &c. The Theorist having thus stated and bounded his Belief or Assurance, and given Liberty of dissenting to all others, according to their particular Judgments or Inclinations, I see nothing unfair or undecent in this Conduct. How could the Observator have made it more unexceptionable? Would he have had the Theorist to have profess’d Scepticism, and declar’d that he believ’d his own Theorist no more than a Romance or fantastical Idea? that had been both to bely his own Conscience, and to mock the World. I remember I have heard a good Author once with, that there were an Act of Parliament, that whoever printed a Book, should, when he took a License, swear, that he thought the Contents of his Book to be true, as to Substance: And I think such a Method would keep off a great many Impertinencies. We ought not to trouble the World with our roving Thoughts, merely out of an Itch of Scripturiency, when we do not believe our selves what we write. I must always profess my Assent to the Substance of that Theory; and am the more confirm’d in it by the Weakness and Inefficacy of these Exceptions.

We need not take Notice of the particular Citations he makes use of, to prove this Positiveness of the Theorist; for they only affirm what we still own: That the Theory is more than an Idea, or that it is not an imaginary Idea, or that it is a Reality: And, together with its Proofs from Scripture, especially from St. Peter, hath more than the Certainty of a bare Hypothesis, or a moral Certainty. These are the Expressions he cites, and we 475own all, that, in fair Construction, they amount to; and find no Reason, either from the Nature of the Thing, or from his Objections, to change our Opinion, or make any Apology for too much Positiveness.

I wish the Exceptor had not more to answer for, as to his Partiality, than the Theorist hath, for his Positiveness. And now, that we draw to a Conclusion, it will not be amiss to observe, how well the Exceptor hath answered that Character, which he gave himself at the Beginning of his Work. These are his Words, p. 43. This I will endeavour to do, namely, To examine the Theory, with all Sincerity; and that only as a Friend and Servant to Truth: And therefore, with such Candor, Meekness, and Modesty, as becomes one who assumes and glories in so fair a Character: And also with such Respect to the Virtuoso who wrote the Theory, as may testify to the World, that I esteem his Learning, while I question his Opinion. ’Tis of little Consequence what Opinion he has of the Virtuoso, as he calls him: But let us see with what Sincerity and Meekness, he has examin’d his Work. As to his Sincerity, we have given you some Proofs of it before, (p. 26.) both in his defective and partial Citations; and also, in his never taking Notice of the last Edition of the Theory; where several Citations he has made use of, are not extant. Now, by his own Rule, he ought to have had regard to this; for he says, (p. 356.) he will there take Notice only of the English Edition, as coming out after the other; and so with more Deliberation and mature Thoughts of Things. By the same Reason, say I, he ought to have taken Notice of the last Edition of the Theory, as being the last Product, and the most deliberate and mature Thoughts of the Author. But this, it seems, was not for his Purpose.

So much for his Sincerity: Now for his Meekness. So impatient he is to fall upon his Adversary, that he begins his Charge in the Preface, and a very fierce one it is, (p. 3.) The Theorist hath assaulted Religion, and that in the very Foundation of it. Here I expected to have found two or three Articles of the Creed assaulted or knock’d down by the Theory. But that is not the Case, it seems, he understands something more general, namely, our contradicting Scripture: For so he explains himself in the next Page. In several Things (as will appear by our Discourse) it contradicts Scripture; and by too positive asserting the Truth of its Theorems, makes that to be false, upon which our Religion is founded. Let us remember, 476that this contracting Scripture here pretended, is only in natural Things; and also observe, how far the Exceptor himself, in such Things, hath contradicted Scripture. As for other Reproofs which he gives us, those that are more gentle, I easily pass over; but somewhere he makes our Assertions, p. 78. too bold an Affront to Scripture. And in another Place represents them, as (either directly, or consequentially) p. 286. Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which is the unpardonable Sin, Matt. xii. 31.

There is no Pleasure in repeating such Expressions, and dreadful Sentences. Let us rather observe, if the Exceptor hath not made himself obnoxious to them. But first, we must state the Case truly, that so the Blame may not fall upon the Innocent. The Case therefore is this, Whether, to go contrary to the Letter of Scripture, in Things that relate to the natural World, be destroying the Foundations of Religion, affronting Scripture, and blaspheming the Holy Ghost? In the Case propos’d, We take the Negative, and stand upon that Plea. But the Exceptor hath taken the Affirmative; and therefore, all those heavy Charges must fall upon himself, if he go contrary to the literal Sense of Scripture, in his philosophical Opinions or Assertions. And that he hath done so, we will give you some Instances, out of this Treatise of his; p. 314. He says, It it most absurd to think, that the Earth is the Center of the World. Then the Sun stands still, and the Earth moves, according to his Doctrine. But this is expressly contrary to Scripture, in many Places. The Sun rejoices, as a strong Man, to run his Race, says David Ps. xix. 5, 6. His going forth is from the End of the Heaven, and his Circuit unto the Ends of it, Josh. x. 12, 13. 2 Kings xx. 10, 11. Isa. xxxviii. 8. No such Thing, says the Exceptor; the Sun hath no Race to run; he is fix’d in his Seat, without any progressive Motion. He hath no Course from one End of the Heavens to the other. In like manner, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, says the sacred Author, and the Sun stood still. No, says the Exceptor, ’twas the Earth stood still, upon that Miracle; for the Sun always stood still. And ’tis absurd, yea, most absurd, to think otherwise, p. 157. And he blames Tycho Brahe for following Scripture in this Particular. Now, is not this, in the Language of the Exceptor, to destroy the Foundations of Religion, to affront Scripture, and blaspheme against the Holy Ghost? But this is not all: The Exceptor says, (Chap. 10.) the Sun rais’d up the Mountains on the third 477Day; and the Sun was not in being till the fourth Day, according to Scripture, Gen. i. 14. The Moon also, which, according to Scripture, was not created till the fourth Day, he says, would hinder the Formation of the Earth, which was done the third Day. Lastly, in this new Hypothesis, *p.*74. he makes the Waters of the Deluge to be but fifteen Cubits higher than the Plain, or common Surface of the Earth; which Scripture affirms expressly to have cover’d the Tops of the highest Hills, or Mountains, under Heaven, Gen. vii. 19, 20. These two Things are manifestly inconsistent. The Scripture says, Gen. viii. 5. they cover’d the Tops of the highest Mountains: And the Exceptor says they reached but fifteen Cubits about, or upon the Skirts of them. This, I think, is truly to contradict Scripture; or, according to his Talent of loading Things with great Words, p. 216. This is not only flatly, but loudly contradictory to the most express Word of the infallible God.

These Observations, I know, are of small Use, unless, perhaps, to the Exceptor himself. But, if you please, upon this Occasion, let us reflect a little upon the literal Style of Scripture; and the different Authority of that Style, according to the Matter that it treats of. The Subject Matter of Scripture is either such as lies without the Cognizance and Comprehension of human Reason, or such as lies within it: If it be the former of these, ’tis what we call properly and purely Revelation; and there we must adhere to the literal Style, because we have nothing to guide us but that. Such is the Doctrine of the Trinity, and the Incarnation; wherein we have nothing to authorize our Deviation from the Letter and Words of Scripture: And therefore the School-Divines, who have spun those Doctrines into a Multitude of Niceties and Subtleties, had no Warrant for what they did, and their Conclusions are of no Authority.

The second Matter or Subject of Scripture is such as falls under the View and Comprehension of Reason, more or less; and, in the same Proportion, gives us a Liberty to examine the literal Sense; how far it is consistent with Reason. and the Faculties of our Mind. Of this Nature there are several Things in the holy Writings, both moral, theological, and natural, wherein we recede from the Letter, when it is manifestly contrary to the Dictates of Reason. I will give some Instances in every kind: First, as to moral Things. Our Saviour says, Mat. v. 29, 30. If thy right Eye offend thee, pluck it 478out: If thy Right Hand offend thee, cut it off. There is no Man that thinks himself obliged to the literal Practice of this Doctrine; and yet it is plainly delivered, you see, in these Terms in the Gospel. Nay, which is more, our Saviour backs and enforces the Letter of this Doctrine with a Reason: For it is profitable for thee that one of thy Members should perish, and not that thy whole Body should be cast into Hell: As if he had intended, that his Precept should have been really executed according to the Letter. In like manner our Saviour says, If any Man wilt sue thee at Law, and take away thy Coat, let him have thy Cloak also. And yet there is no Christian so good-natur’d as to practice this, nor any Casuist so rigid as to enjoy it, according to the Letter. Other Instances you may see in our Saviour’s Sermon upon the Mount, where we do not scruple to lay aside the Letter, when it is judg’d contrary to the Light of Nature, or impracticable in human Society.

In all other Things also, that lie within the Sphere of human Reason, we are allowed to examine their Practicability, or their Credibility. To instance in something theological, the Words of Consecration in the Sacrament. Our Saviour, when he instituted the last Supper, us’d these Words: This is my Body, taking the Bread into his Hand; which Words, join’d with that Action, are very formal and expressive; yet we do not scruple to forsake the literal Sense, and take the Words in another Way: But upon what Warrant do we this? because the literal Sense contains an Absurdity; because it contradicts the Light of Nature; because it is inconsistent with the Idea of a Body, and so destroys it self. In like Manner, upon the Idea of the Divine Nature, we dispute absolute Reprobation, and Eternity of Torments, against the Letter of Scripture. And, lastly, whether the Resurrection Body consists of the same individual Parcels and Particles, whereof the mortal Body consisted, before it was putrefied or dispers’d? And, Phil. iv. 3. Apoc. iii. 5 and xx. 12. whether the Books of Life are to be understood in a literal Sense?

The last Head is of such Things as belong to the natural World. And to this may be reduced innumerable Instances, where we leave the literal Sense, if inconsistent with Science or Experience. And the Truth is, if we should follow the vulgar Style and literal Sense of Scripture, we should all be Anthropomorphites, as to the 479Nature of God: And as to the Nature of his Works in the external Creation, we must renounce Philosophy and natural Experience, if the Descriptions and Accounts given in Scripture, concerning the Heavens, the Earth, the Sea, and other Parts of the World, be received as accurate and just Representations of the State and Properties of those Bodies. Neither is there any Danger, lest this should affect or impeach the Divine Veracity; for Scripture never undertook, nor was ever designed to teach us Philosophy, or the Arts and Sciences: And whatsoever the Light of Nature can reach and comprehend, is improperly the Subject of Revelation. But some Men, out of Love to their own Ease, and in Defence of their Ignorance, are not only for a Scripture Divinity, but also for a Scripture Philosophy. ’Tis a cheap and compendious Way, and saves them the Trouble of farther Study or Examination.

Upon the whole, you see, it is no Fault to recede from the literal Sense of Scripture; but the Fault is, when we leave it without a just Cause: As it is no Fault for a Man to separate from a Church, or for a Prince to make War against his Neighbour, but to do the one or the other, without a just Cause, is a real Fault. We all leave the literal Sense in certain Cases, and therefore that alone is no sufficient Charge against any Man. But he that makes a Separation, if I may so call it, without good Reasons, he is truly obnoxious to Censure. The great Result of all, therefore, is this, to have some common Rule to direct us, when every one ought to follow, and when to leave, the literal Sense. And that Rule which is generally agreed upon by good Interpreters, is this, Not to leave the literal Sense, when the Subject-Matter will bear it, without Absurdity or Incongruity. This Rule I have always proposed to my self, and always endeavoured to keep close to it. But some inconsiderate Minds make every Departure from the Letter, let the Matter or Cause be what it will, to be an Affront to Scripture: And there, where we have the greatest Liberty, I mean in Things that relate to the natural World, they have no more Indulgence or Moderation, than if it was an Intrenchment upon the Articles of Faith. In this Particular I cannot excuse the present Animadverter; yet, I must needs say, he is a very Saint in Comparison of another Animadverter, who hath writ upon the same Subject; but neither like a Gentleman, nor like a Christian, nor like a Scholar. And such Writings answer themselves.

A SHORT CONSIDERATION OF Mr. Erasmus Warren’s DEFENCE OF HIS EXCEPTIONS AGAINST THE THEORY of the EARTH

In a Letter to a Friend.

SIR,

I have read over Mr. Erasmus Warren’s Defence of his Exceptions against the Theory of the Earth; which, it may be, few will do after me; as not having Curiosity or Patience enough to read such a long Pamphlet, of private or little Use. Such Altercations as these, are to you, I believe, as they are to me, a sort of Folly; but 481the Aggressor must answer for that, who makes the Trouble unavoidable to the Defendant. And ’tis an unpleasant Exercise, a kind of Wild-goose-chase; where he that leads must be followed, through all his Extravagancies.

The Author of this Defence must pardon me, if I have less Apprehensions both of his Judgment and Temper, than I had before: For, as he is too verbose and long-winded ever so make a close Reasoner; so it was unexpected to me to find his Style so captious and angry, as it is in this last Paper. And the same Strain continuing to the End, I was sorry to see that his Blood had been kept upon the Fret, for so many Months together, as the Pamphlet was a making.

He might have made his Work much shorter, without any Loss to the Sense. If he had left out his popular Enlargements, juvenile Excursions, Stories and Strains of Country-Rhetorick, (whereof we shall give you some Instances hereafter) his Book would have been reduc’d to half the Compass: And if from that reduc’d half, you takeaway again trifling Altercations and pedantick Repartees, the Remainder would fall into the Compass of a few Pages. For my part, I am always apt to suspect a Man that makes me a long Answer; for the precise Point to be spoken to, in a multitude of Words, is easily lost, and Words are often multiplied for that very Purpose.

However, if his Humour be verbose, it might have been, at least, more easy and inoffensive; there having been no Provocation given him in that kind. But let us guess, if you please, as well as we can, what it was in the late Answer, that so much discomposed the Exceptor and altered his Style: Either it must be the Words and Language of that Answer, or the Sense of it, without Respect to the Language. As to the Words, ’tis true, he gives some instances of Expressions offensive to him; yet they are but three or four, and those, methinks, not very high, p. 31. tho’ he calls them the Brats of Passion; they are these, indiscreet, rude, injudicious and uncharitable. These Characters, it seems, are applied to the Exceptor, in some part of the Answer, upon Occasion offer’d; and whether those Occasions were just or no, I dare appeal to your Judgment. As to the Word rude, which seems the most harsh, I had said indeed, that he was rude to Anaxagoras; and so he was, not to allow him to be a competent Witness in matter of Fact, whom all Antiquity, sacred and prophane, hath represented to us as one of the greatest 482Men amongst the Antients. I had also said in another Place, that a rude, and injudicious Defence of Scripture, by Railing and ill Language, is the true way to lessen and disparage it. This I still justify as true; and if he apply it to himself, much good may it do him. I do not remember that it is any where said, that he was rude to the Theorist; if it be, ’tis possibly upon his charging him with Blasphemy, horrid Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, for saying, the Earth was dissolv’d at the Deluge. And I appeal to any Man, whether this is not an uncharitable, and a rude Charge. If a Man had cursed God, or call’d our Saviour an Impostor, what could he have been charg’d with more, than Blasphemy, horrid Blasphemy? And if the same things be charg’d upon a Man, for saying, the Earth was dissolv’d at the Deluge, either all Crimes and Errors must be equal, or the Charge must be rude. But however it must be rude in the Opinion of the Theorist, who thinks this neither Crime nor Error.